the Spirit of Christ. For the First Eph. 6. 12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places Beloved The great work of Salvation is not then accomplished when we have through the power of God and the strength of Jesus Christ overcome the Lusts of the Body as Drunkenness Gluttony Whoredom and the like But we shall find a new task the taming of our proud Spirit For after our first conquest I mean the overcoming the Lusts of the Body then pride and haughtiness and contempt of our Neighbour the thinking of our selves some-body rigour and unmercifulness to our sinful Brother the magnifying of our selves in some conceited Opinions searching out and confidently concluding concerning the secrets of God censuring and contemning all men that are not of the same conceit in Divine Speculations with our selves These and many such like evil delusions the Devil will sow in our Hearts The Devil himself is neither Whoremaster nor Drunkard nor Glutton But he is Proud but he is Contemptuous but he is Hypocritical but he is a Blood-sucker a Murderer from the beginning full of self-love full of self-admiration full of cruelty under pretence of Religion full of deceit and injustice under pretence of Truth and maintenance of Godliness full of ambition and desire of rule even over the Souls and Consciences of men full of self-applause and arrogancy and strutting in his own supposed knowledge and power But true denyal of our selves and unfeigned deep humility a sensible apprehension of our nothingness as I may so say or real detestable vileness will cause such dreadful agonies in our Souls that no tongue can express nor heart conceive that hath not had experience of those bitter Sufferings With so great pain and torment are we torn and riven from our spiritual wickedness disjointed and dislimb'd as it were from our head that Prince of Pride and Father of Disobedience the Devil But I will now shew you the other kind of suffering which is the suffering in Spirit by reason of other mens wickedness When we are united to God and Christ in the union of Spirit then do those things that are contrary to the Spirit of God as all manner of sin trouble our Spirit Envious or cruel acts drunkenness deceit pride rigour fierceness folly and whatsoever else is sinful or vain our Spirit being enlivened by the Spirit of God is grieved and vext at these wickednesses or vanities Then we plainly see how Christ is cut and lash'd and hew'd and stab'd with our wicked deeds how he is crucified afresh as the Apostle speaketh Here may the true Church of God the Holy Ierusalem take up fitly that Lamentation in Ieremy Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow See how the Prophet David was affected with the wickedness of men Psal. 119. Mine eyes gush out with water because men keep not thy law I beheld the transgressours and was grieved because men keep not thy word So Lot was tormented at the wickedness of Sodom 2 Pet. 2. 7. And delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked For that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds So God complains in the Spirit of his Prophet Amos. Behold I am pressed under you as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves Amos 2. 13. And surely there is good Reason it should be so a sure Necessity For Fire is not more contrary to Water nor Light to Darkness nor any enmity in Nature or among men so strong as that betwixt the Spirit of God and the Spirit of the Devil that is in evil wicked men according to which they live and act So then when that detestable ugliness flowes out in their words or actions it must needs offend the Children of God God being of pure eyes and not abiding to behold wickedness Hence are they driven into consuming zeal or deep inexpressible grief And this is the second kind of suffering in Spirit But Beloved take this in by the way That he that can be angry at other mens faults and not much more angry at his own is a dissembler an Hypocrite Herein let every man examine himself But he that is so stupid that he is not moved at all with the wickedness of others or of himself is perfectly dead in Sin and is in the full power of Satan and is covered with Eternal Death and Darkness THIS Second Doctrine is now sufficiently plain That they that would be Heirs of the Kingdom of Christ must suffer with Christ. I will again here stir you up to an examination and tryal of your Spiritual state whether you have any interest in the Heavenly Inheritance The Sign and infallible Seal is our suffering with Christ. But not any suffering For the fuffering in Estate if we escape it yet may we be inheritors of Heaven But to be evil spoken of for Christ is harder to efcape yet admit we escape that too we may for all that be secure of our Eternal Inheritance Nor have all that are now with God been whip'd and tortur'd and put to death or martyrdom But yet we ought to be so minded that we had rather endure all these things than depart from Christ. But all the other sufferings as abstinence from voluptuousness from the delights of the flesh from priding our selves in any thing that God hath bestowed upon us a suppressing our anger abstaining from the sweetness of revenge denying of the ever-craving appetite of covetousness keeping our tongues from the delight of defamation and evil reports our ears from hearing evil of our Neighbour These be necessary All which endeavours will surely afflict and vex the corrupt Natural Spirit of a man But he that will not undergo this suffering believe it Beloved he is none of Christs he hath neither part nor portion in the Kingdom of Christ and of God But he that doth though with great agony of Soul and affliction of Mind fight against all this corruption of Flesh and Spirit He may bless God for his good condition and with good reason lay hold of the hope of Heaven They that are troubled in Spirit for the wickedness of men the prophanation of Gods name and any manner of sin and iniquity these men may conclude that they have the Spirit of God and consequently that they are the Sons of God And if sons then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ If so be that we suffer with him Which our own Spirit together with Gods Spirit doth testifie to us that we do and that we shall be certainly glorified with him Let every man herein examine himself that he may find a true ground of his hope of Eternal Salvation For none shall be saved but they that are
signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What a dismal darkness will there be then For the blind then leading the blind both will fall into the Infernal Pit THE meaning of the Text I conceive is now abundantly plain and that the scope and end of our Saviours uttering this Parable to his Disciples was to stir them up to a constant and earnest endeavour of utterly disentangling themselves from all the attractions of the relish of the Flesh or Spirit of the World and of joyning themselves entirely and cordially with and of dwelling wholly in the relish sense and life of the Spirit of God or of that Divine Spirit whose suggestions are no dictates of self-love or partial interest but the substantial concerns of the Kingdom of God and the good of the whole World For which he who has this Divine relish will not stick to lay down his Life if need require according to that endearing Example of our ever-blessed and adored Saviour Let it be therefore my task at this time to exhort you earnestly to endeavour after this great and indispensable attainment of this Single Eye this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Wisdom of the Spirit which this Parable of our Saviour points to and is indeed the proper Spirit of Christ concerning which S. Paul expresly declares He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his Which ought to be a rousing Argument to awaken us into a due sense of so great a want For unless we regain this Single Eye we shall never see the right way to Heaven There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus namely to such as walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath freed me from the law of sin and of death For the relish of the flesh or carnal-mindedness is death But the relish of the spirit or spiritual-mindedness is life and peace But the carnal mind is enmity against God because it cannot submit it self to the law of God but is in perpetual opposition against it ever suggesting what is contrary to it Wherefore we must wholly withdraw our selves out of that Principle as we hope to attain to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God And assuredly whosoever has that Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus it will free him and rid him from the power of all the urgings suggestions or subtil insinuations of that Law of the sinful flesh of self-love and self-interest Though he may feel these self-savouring suggestions and the more clearly discern them to be such by the perspicuity of the Single Eye the Spirit of Christ yet he is so freed from their power that he will never act according to them but constantly act according to the relish and suggestion of that pure Principle of the Spirit which has not the least tincture of self-love or carnal interest And there is a neceffity of perfectly clearing up at last into this Single-mindedness by reason of the war and enmity betwixt the Carnal Principle and this of the Spirit for without this there is no peace nor joy nor enjoyment in this Life nor in that which is to come The Law of the sinful life of the Flesh therefore is utterly to be abrogated nulled and annihilated and we are to judge and act in all things according to the discernments of that Single Eye or pure Principle of the Spirit of Christ. But I will rather confine the Arguments of my Exhortation to the Text and content my self with what it will afford namely the four Analogies I have produced and explained and so conclude 1. The light of the Body is the Eye What therefore the Eye is to the Body that is some vital and sensible leading Principle in the Soul to the Soul Is it not therefore of infinite consequence what this leading Principle is when it is of as much consequence to the Soul as the Eye is to the Body and the Soul of incomparably more worth than the Body What man would have the Eye of a Batt of an Owl or of a Mole for the guidance of his Body unless he were to have his abode under the Earth with the Mole or to venture abroad only in the Night with the Batt and Owl Every Animal is to have an Eye congenerous to its own Nature And therefore that Divine Animal which we call Man I mean the inward man the Soul is to have an Eye congenerous to hers she is to have this Single Spiritual Eye unless she will converse only with Brutes or Devils in their Kingdom of Darkness 2. Again The Single Eye makes the whole Body full of light that is it is a fit and faithful guide to it which way soever it goes And that is the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Iesus to the Soul Which assuredly is the Law of Divine love which is not the love of a mans self or any particular or partial Interest but the hearty love of God and a mans Neighbour that is of all mankind when with a single heart he wishes them and is ready to do them all the good they are capable of and himself in a capacity to administer to them This is that pure and lovely Eye of the Soul indeed which fills her full of Celestial light and enrolls her in the Book of Life and of the Children of Light This is that Vnction from the Holy one even from the Father of Lights whereby we know all things appertaining to Life and Godliness and that Iesus that stupendious Pattern of this Divine Love is the Lord and Christ And that that man of sin that exalts himself above all that is called God and supports his Power Pride and Pomp with gross Imposture and barbarous Bloodshed is that notorious Antichrist he that has this Single Eye easily discerns this and can hardly forbear to suspect that they that do not see it are blind through the Spirit of the World or else drunk with the steames of that Cup of abominations and see double This Simple and Unself-interested Spirit of Love is that Anointing of which S. Iohn saith that if it abide in us we need not that any man teach us but the same Anointing will teach us of all things and is truth and is no lie It is very Truth substantial and essential without any shadow of vanity or imposture in it and such as will seal our hearts with an eternal adhesion to our ever-blessed Saviour as being the communication of his own Spirit to us and be evermore a safe guide to us in our passage thorough this present life He that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him Wherefore as we tender our safe conduct through the wilderness of this World through all the dangers and perils of so difficult a journey we must earnestly endeavour the recovering of this Single-mindedness this amiable Eye of the pure love
of the Truth and sincere purpose of doing what is absolutely best and of cleaving to what is absolutely best in all things without any self-relish or self-respect whatsoever A thing so lovely and desirable that even the better sort of Heathen seem vehemently to have breathed after it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O my dear Soul when wilt thou become One and naked and simple It is the Exhortation of that excellent Emperour Marcus Antoninus to his own Soul as that brief monition also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simplifie thy self reduce thy self to perfect Sincerity and Single-mindedness These strains I confess are so near the Spirit and Genius of Christianity it self that I half suspect the Philosopher of playing the Plagiary and that he adorned himself at a distance with the Practical Philosophy of that Religion the truth of whose Mysteries either the shortness of his Reason made him dissent from or the Reason of State hinder'd him from making profession of But it may be a just reproach to the generality of Christians who though they publickly profess the Faith of Christ yet let the Life fall to the ground But I proceed 3. Thirdly But if thine Eye be evil thy whole Body will be full of Darkness that is If thou be carnally-minded and have not that Spiritual Eye above described thy Soul will be wholly left in the dark or closely surrounded with a Cimmerian mist or Egyptian fog thou wilt have no prospect nor be able to see thy way at all thou wilt be so closely besieged by the powers of darkness The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by that spiritual relish above-mentioned But he that is spiritual discerneth all things yet he himself is discerned of no man He has a full prospect of light a large Horizon lies open to his view so that where-ever he turns himself his way is plain before him But he that has not that holy divine and unself-interested Spirit of Love that Single Eye of the Soul he walks in the dark and knows not whither he goes because the darkness hath blinded his Eyes 1 Ioh. 2. 11. But in that the Apostle S. Paul saith Yet he himself is discerned of no man that is to be understood that no carnally-minded man can discern him according to what S. Iohn writes in his Gospel And the light shined in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not For that Maxime of the Ancientest Philosophers is most assuredly true here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There must be a corresponding Principle within to be able to discern what occurs to us from without As face answers to face so the heart of man to man And hence it is I mean from this darkness that the wicked give such rude justles against the truly-good namely because they cannot discern them For if they could duely discern them it were impossible that they should hate them as being Friends to every mans person and out of mere care and compassion to them being only Enemies to their Vices Needless broils and quarrels mistake upon mistake mischief after mischief this is the necessary condition of him that by reason of the Evil Eye of the Soul cannot see his way distinctly but is ever and anon caught in unexpected Angiports and tedious Labyrinths out of which he can find no exitus but is forc'd to go backwards and forwards and to make Indentures in his gate like a sot and drunkard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways By reason of his want of that Single Eye he has not yet discovered that one simple and indispensable object that his heart is eternally to cleave to And therefore his Eye being tainted and infected with the impurities of the Animal life as the inward Complexion of his Body changes or the Circumstances of external affairs alter he adhering to nothing upon sincere grounds may be now a Reveller anon a superstitious Bigot now a Sceptick anon an inept and unskilful Dogmatist make profession of one Religion to day of another to morrow and next day of neither and at last if it prove plausible or fashionable of none at all Such wild contrary sallies is he subject to that is under the guidance of the Double Eye But that which is Single and One can never run contrary to it self but will ever act uniformly and correspondently to one End the Express whereof is the known will of God and what is simply and absolutely the best It is that only Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus according to which we must act if we would walk as Children of the Light If we mingle any thing of the self-relish or Carnal Interest this will supplant our goings and we shall most certainly stumble in the dark and if the concerns in our Interest grow high we shall reel and stagger like a drunken man and be at our wits end Be things at other times never so plain yet all must be now obscure and uncertain we abhorring from all evidence that is evidently against our own worldly advantage to acknowledge and profess it Faithfulness and Uprightness towards God towards our Prince our Countrey our Friend it cannot be deny'd will some say but they are things very commendable and that this Justice is to be performed to them so far as it will consist with our private Interest and Security And Profession of Truth such especially as is of great concern to the Church of Christ and so Exemplarity of Life are things in themselves worthy and laudable and caeteris paribus to be embraced before their corrivals But if Truth and Vertue once become ridiculous and the object of reproach and obloquy or the indispensable Duties to God our Prince our Countrey or Friend hazardous to our fortunes liberty or life then the Evil or Carnal Eye does very gravely suggest that the great point of Wisdom and Prudence is to shift for one and save a mans own silly inconsiderable self whatever suffers through so base a perfidiousness No better possibly can come of this mixt and mongrel principle of Double-mindedness This is that ugly and hateful mode of plowing with an Oxe and an Ass or of wearing a Linsy-woolsy coat not more expresly forbidden by the letter of Moses than severely prohibited by that Law of the Spirit of life which is through Christ who has plainly declared in his Gospel that he that loves Father or Mother Son or Daughter more than him is not worthy of him And that he that loveth his life shall lose it but he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal Which Law of Christ notwithstanding let the Carnal mind judge of it as it will is not so rigorous but that some of the Heathen Philosophers have utter'd what is not much removed from it Aristotle himself
This last is chiefly the Word The other but dead signs or shadows of it differing as much from this as a picture of a man from a living man nay much more as much at least as the shadow of the Garland hanging on a Sign-post and projected on the ground differs from the best Wine in the Inne The Word spoken perisheth with the speaking Vox audita perit The written Word is indeed longer-liv'd but Paper and Ink is not incorruptible and immortal For the heavens shall melt away with a noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3. 10. The Word of God then is safe no where but in his own bosom cypher'd within himself in his own mind This is his eternal Wisdom and incorruptible Word the only incorruptible Seed Preaching and hearing and reading and discoursing they may be a kind of plowing or harrowing or some such piece of Husbandry But it is an hand out of the Clouds that sets this Seed of everlasting Life in our hearts Those are but some hungry talk of the best dishes or spreading the table This is the real food Those but a note under the Physitians hand This is the very Physick that restores to health Doct. IV. That this Word of God which is the Seed of the Soul is a living and everlasting Word This Word is no other than the inward Word of God which is his first-born Son the everlasting Wisdom of the Father which sat in Counsel with him when he made the World Prov. 8. Iohn 1. This Second Hypostasis is so acknowledged by the Heathen to be everlasting they make it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Life That it is a living Word we have an ample testimony Heb. 4. 12 13. For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Can these Attributes be given to any dead letter or any transient hand Can Words or Writings be so penetrating as to divied asunder the Soul and Spirit c. 'T is true Authors both Divine and Profane give very quick operations to the Words of the Tongue Prov. 25. 15. By long forbearing is a prince perswaded and a soft tongue breaketh the bone Psal. 57. 4. My soul is among lions and I lie even among them that are set on fire even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword Psal. 64. 3. Who whet their tongue like a sword and bend their bows to shoot their arrows even bitter words And in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to speak words that cut to the heart But for this consider that it is not the words that do then so wound the mind as the mind launceth it self and plagues it self by those unruly phantasms she then occasionally creates in her self upon such speeches One man being jear'd at a Comedy bears himself so carelesly and jollily that he walks cross the stage that all the people may take notice that he was the man that was so abused Another so used goes home and hangs himself which is a sure experiment to prove that it is not words but the Souls own thoughts that so wound and scorch her self Words of themselves are but empty shells and husks and can give no greater blow than the shadow of Hercule's Club lifted up in the Sun nor can no more administer comfort than an Ivy-bush can quench our thirst Wherefore it is plain that 't is the Soul her self that creates these joys or disturbances in things Natural or Moral But in real Conversion to God in unfeigned Repentance in the New Birth as the Letter or outward Word is excluded as has been cleared so the Soul her self is excluded as being unable to regenerate her self therefore what is left but God himself by his living Word That 's the immediate cause of Conversion and Regeneration the other but occasions If not there is no supernatural act at all in Conversion and Regeneration Again this Word of God is said to be a discerner of the thoughts c. all which are manifest Properties of Life Compareing therefore this place of the Hebrews with the Text it is plain that there is a living and everlasting Word and that that Word is meant in both these places And if so then it s the same with S. Iohns words In him was life and the life was the light of men THUS much for the Doctrines or Truths which are as so many enforcements to the great Duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The substance of the Duty is mutual Love which is charged with a double modification viz. of quality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of quantity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which implies extension and is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or intension and is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or extension is either in reference to the object or else duration and implies an universal Love and continued But no English word will fully answer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore our Interpreters have been forc'd to make use but of one of these senses fervently And they have with more judgment pitcht upon the sense of intension than extension because that intension in some measure implies extension but not è contra for that which is ex gr very hot has also a further extended sphear of calefaction and doth last longer hot than that which is at first but more remisly heated as is manifested in heated Irons To make any subtle disquisition of the nature of Love is not much to the purpose Every one knows what it is to love himself how he is affected towards himself Let him but transfer that affection which he is so sensible of in himself to his Neighbour and the Duty is done more substantially and completely than all Scholastical definitions and curious circumscriptions can be able to set it out Be so affected to other men as you would they should be to you or as you are affected to your self This is the Law and the Prophets THE Incitements to this Duty are many But I will confine my self to the Text and cull out some three As 1. From the Seed of the New Birth For what is this Seed but the Son of God by union with whom we also become the Sons of God petty Deities But sith that the Deity it self is nothing else but a sufficient and overflowing Goodness creating all things and sustaining them from no other principle than the Spirit of Goodness though we cannot act as this absolute Deity yet we may will according
meat and do all drink of the same spiritual drink and are all incorporate into one Body all quickened by the same Spirit all conspire into one Will through unity of the same Life so that all 's in peace and good order And thus much for the Persons assembled Which if you doubt of or are perswaded that you shall not continually enjoy their company yet I will shew you an assembly that so long as you enjoy a pure Conscience you shall alway enjoy their company in a true Paradise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Holy Paradise where are assembled Vertue Wisdom and all Decency and Discretion And these are excellent companions tho' they were known to no body but him that lives with them And He lives with them that hath a pure Heart for the Father of them abides in the sincere Spirit 2. But it were time now to speak of the Provision had I not spoke already somewhat of it almost before due time But no tongue can declare it I will rather use the Psalmists words O taste ye and see how gracious the Lord is For they that fear him shall lack nothing The lyons do lack and suffer hunger but they that do seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good So then here is apparatus non neglectus at least no want if not redundancy Ay but it 's a poor Feast you 'll say where there is no overplus If any man suspect he shall come to such a slender Dinner I will use the words of our Saviour Mat. 16. O ye of little faith why think you thus within your selves Do you not perceive neither remember the five loaves when there were five thousand men and how many baskets were taken up neither the seven loaves when there were four thousand men and how many baskets were taken up If Christ could satisfie such multitudes of men with so few loaves so that so many fragments were left Surely we need not fear but when he feeds us with himself who is that Heavenly Bread and the foecundity or fulness of God but that we shall be unspeakably satisfied and superabundantly refreshed So we have plainly seen how excellent our company how good our chear shall be I will interfeit one accomplishment which Varro omits in his Feast And that is Musick The concent of Musicians at a Banquet is as a Signet of Carbunoles set in Gold As the Signet of an Emerald well trimmed with Gold so is the melody of Musick in a pleasant banquet Ecclesiasticus 32. 5 6. Now that this Feast is not devoid of Musick will thus appear For Righteousness is nothing else but an harmony of the lower parts of a mans Soul with the upper of the Affections with Reason as the Pythagorists define it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Polus the Pythagorean When as the inclinations of a mans Will or Desire answer the dictates of true Reason these are Heavenly responses indeed fit for a Celestial Quire When Reason begins the point and all the Affections chearfully follow it as Philo comments upon that Song of Moses and Miriam I will sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider he hath over-thrown in the Sea The Lord is my strength and praise and he is become my salvation Who is like unto thee O Lord among the gods Who is like unto thee so glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders Then Miriam the rest of the women following her with Timbrels and with Dances takes up her Timbrel in her hand and answers Sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the horse and the rider hath he over-thrown in the Sea Such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as these such Triumphal Songs against our Spiritual Enemies will become this Feast well The same exultation of Spirit you shall find in the blessed Psalmist The Lord is my strength and my shield my heart hath trusted in him and I am helped Therefore my heart danceth with joy and in my song will I praise him Psalm 28. This is that which the Apostle exhorts to Eph. 5. Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Spirit speaking unto your selves with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts Hitherto then is this Feasting very compleat good Companions good Chear good Musick 3. But what is all this if not in a good convenient place Iobs Children you know as they were making merry at their elder Brothers a strong Whirlwind took a corner of the house and buried them with the ruins in the midst of their merriment But whosoever dwelleth under the defence of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty that is under the protection of him that is able to keep them safe Ps. 91. And at the 90th Psalm Lord thou hast been our habitation from generation to generation Before the mountains were made and before thou hadst formed the earth even from everlasting to everlasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou art the strong God a more sure sustentation than the steddy Earth a more strong safeguard than the massy Hills So then this Holy Assembly feast under a safe roof far from the reach of any tumult or tempest God is our hope and strength a very present help in trouble Therefore will we not fear though the earth be moved and though the hills be carryed into the midst of the sea Though the waters thereof rage and swell and though the mountains shake at the tempest of the same Yet there is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God the holy place of the tabernacle of the most high In all this danger and stir you see here 's secure Feasting and Joy in the Tabernacle of the most High The voice of joy and gladness is in the dwelling of the righteous safe pleasure and never fading delight in the habitation of the upright in Heart and pure in Conscience But if any man be not contented with the Safeness of the place but would curiously inquire into the Beauty of it that Description is done to our hands in the 21th of S. Iohns Revelation Gold and pearl and precious stones is a slight glimpse of the Glory of that Habitation and the Beauty of God 4. I will pass now to the fourth thing considerable in a Feast The convenience of time And no time surely is inconvenient to these Feasters who have the preeminence exceedingly above them that enjoy any outward delight For these men be confined to Seasons and Opportunities which be but poor small parcels of time But all Time and Eternity too is but one entire Opportunity for those Spiritual Feasters to enjoy themselves in A good Heart or a pure Spirit is one continual everlasting Feast It was well said of Diogenes to one that was too much taken with the seldom solemnity of an outward Feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What saith
unspatter'd and unspall'd upon by foul Tongues 'T is a thing as impossible as unprejudicial to the Soul her self That which is without a man defiles not the man but that which is within him What is meant by World S. Iohn doth fully unfold unto us All that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life is not of the Father but of the world Of these then we must keep our selves unspotted if we will be holy as our Heavenly Father is holy This is the World that we must keep our selves unstain'd of But for the Natural World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things are sacred and good 'T is Sensuality that soyles the Soul and fills the Mind full of impure thoughts unworthy desires that transform the Humane Nature which is capable of the Image of God into a loathsome Beast 'T is Covetousness that contracts the large Spirit of man and makes it shrivel up and wrinkle for want of that which can alone fill it those unspeakable treasures of Heaven that no tongue can number nor figures express How deformed is that mind whose are nothing but Bills and Bonds mouldy Money moth-eaten Housholdstuff and such like trash rusty Locks and Keys Iron Chests and strong hollow Vaults behung with Cobwebs This is the Covetous mans Soul if we could see within him nothing near so beautiful as the foulest pond or dunghil-puddle where if you cast your eye you may happily meet with the reflection of the Stars or the bright Circle of the Sun or the white moving Clouds or the pleasant blew-coloured Sky But such things as an Ingenuous man would scarce have the patience to look on be not only the continually desired Objects of the Worldlings sight but the perpetual Life and Energy of his mis-shapen Spirit And here though the Proud man may please himself in conceiting that this inward man is garnished with better bravery and is a more comely Creature his phansie glittering with the representation of Crowns and Scepters Silver Maces Purple and Scarlet Robes rich Stuffs and Holy Mitres Yet if we look upon the Beast that bears this glaring luggage his own dear Soul what is the very life and heart of it but Pride and Envy the two Essentials that constitute the ugliest of all Creatures the deformed Fiends of Hell And beside this innate ill-favouredness his whole Person is ordinarily besmear'd with the Bloud of the Innocent and his Garments drop and reek with the warm Tears of the Afflicted and Oppressed and are foul and greasie with the Sweat of the Poor This is the attire both of the Ambitious and Covetous man And certainly there is very little Religion in him that doth not heartily abhor so abominable a monster I◠but is there indeed much Religion in him that doth I confess that a man may be temperate for the Devil as we ordinarily conceive is not lyable to the sins of the Flesh and yet fall short of true Religion His constitution or some other strong but natural or secular design making him so Covetousness is also often but a complexion and Liberality may be no better in some men Some men are also born with a more low and quiet disposition which is not the Vertue of Humility but the lowness and stillness of their Natural Spirit But to be unspotted of the World is also to be free from the attraction of our own private Nature which is a piece of this dark deceivable World and to have our whole man acted and regulated by the Spirit of God Dull Phlegm is no Christian Patience nor all Fire true Zeal especially if it be fed by the fat of the Earth But that is true Zeal that flowes out in affliction and glories in the cross and tribulation He is not chast that never partak'd of the bed of defilement nor temperate that eats nor drinks to excess But he that enjoys the pleasure of the Creature only in reference to the Creator tasting the sweetness of his God even in his Meat and Drink lifting up his Soul to the Meat that perisheth not but endures to Eternal Life He is untouch'd of Covetousness that desires nothing for himself but is a faithful Steward of the manifold Blessings of God He is unstain'd of the Pride of life who is so dead to himself and the sense or cognoscence of his own power and will that he arrogates no good thing to himself but doth from the very ground of his Soul speak that of the Prophet Thou O Lord hast wrought all our works in us This is as I said before the right Idea or Paradigme of true Religion By how much more near we come to this by so much more near we are to Religion and the farther removed hence the farther off from true Religion If any man doubt of it I appeal to this judgment that cannot err even to God the Father and that 's included in my last particular viz. IV. That to visit the Fatherless and the Widows in their affliction and to keep our selves unspotted of the World this is pure and undefiled Religion even in the sight of God the Father I will dispatch this point in a word or two The Summ as you may remember of this description of Religion was comprised in these two words Charity and Purity Both these are so near the Nature of God that he is engaged as I may so say to give Sentence for them God is love and he that abideth in love abideth in God saith S. Iohn Can any thing then be more acceptable to God then Love To do good and communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased saith the Author to the Hebrews And our blessed Saviour Matth. 5. Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect So then there is no doubt of Gods sentencing that Religion for the best whose Nature consists in that which himself loves and likes and is the image of himself viz. Love or Charity And we have his Command for the other part thereof back'd with his own Example viz. Purity Be ye holy saith he for I am holy But what is now this Holiness or Purity of God Is it not this That whereas he is present in all things he is not immerse nor polluted of any thing So must our Souls be We are of necessity here in this Orb of Death and Corruption actors in the administration of the affairs of this lower World Let not our hearts sink into that that our eye must needs attend if we be not idle and useless Every man has a part or province committed to him by
God The righteous Nation in whom there is no guile As our Saviour saith of Nathanael Behold a true Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile And thus the Psalmist Surely God is good unto Israel even to such as are of an upright heart God continue his Goodness to them and encrease it sevenfold And encrease them in number above the Sands of the Sea and the Stars of Heaven that none may be able to count the dust of Jacob or to number the fourth part of Israel That the Heathen may be swallowed up of them and that the very memorial of wickedness may perish from off the Earth To the King of Saints the Holy one of Israel who inhabits Immortality and the Light inaccessible to the only Wise and All-powerful God be ascribed as is most due all Honour c. DISCOURSE XIII 1 PET. i. 22 23. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever THE Text is an Exhortation to Christian Love The Duty is enforced from a double Argument 1. From the end of our Sanctification in those words Seeing ye have purified your Souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto or for unfeigned brotherly love And this ushers in the Precept or Duty Love one another with a pure heart fervently 2. The other Argument follows of no less force than the former which is drawn from the condition of our new Birth Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever THE several Truths or Doctrines contained in the First Argument are these viz. Doctrine I. That the Christian mans Soul is Purified Purified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word synonymous to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both imply a purging or cleansing from filth They are both used together Iames 4. 8. in one signification But yet there is a more special sense belonging to them both they both signifie a Sacred and Ceremonial kind of cleansing and purification and after appropriation to God as Titus 2. 14. where the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with allusion to the Consecration of the Levites Numb 8. and their washing of their Cloths and sprinkling the Water of Purification is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that the purifying of the Soul in the Text implies cleansing and appropriation But the Objects are not here express'd yet very safely supposed we cannot miss of them if we would For from what should the Soul be purified but from its filth What is the filth of the Soul but Sin To whom should the Soul thus purg'd be appropriated or consecrated To it self It is not purg'd if not purg'd from it self To the Creature It is the height of Impiety palpable Idolatry To Sin It is not Sense To what then but to God its Creator and Redeemer who gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might purifie unto himself a peculiar people Tit. 2. 14. Thus is purified the Christians Soul which is true not only in that narrower sense of taking the Soul but also as it includes the Body or the Beast as the Platonists call it even the very Passions and more fiery motions which those Philosophers resemble to Horses drawing the Chariot of the Soul these also shall be Sanctified So that upon the reins of the Horses if I may speak with Zechary there is inscrib'd Holiness to the Lord. But certainly more properly and chiefly this Purification belongs to the Soul her self and from thence will sink through all the powers and faculties of the Body taking hold of them wielding them and ruling them at its own pleasure or at least not suffering it self to be over-ruled by them Now this purifying of a Christian implies that he was unholy and foul before And not only the whole man but also whole mankind is in this sinful state till wash'd and purified Rom. 3. 12. 1 Ioh. 1. 8 9 10. where we have both these points confirm'd 1. That we all have sinned and stand obnoxious before God 2. That by the worth and merit of Christ and the effectual working of the Divine Spirit we have forgiveness and that God doth cleanse us from all unrighteousness And this is the true Christian Mystery If we be Christians we must be as certainly purified as its certain we were once impure Doct. II. That the Christians Soul is purified in obeying the Truth Here meets us the unwelcome visage of Obedience but with its face turn'd upon a safe object the Truth Where we may note that it is not any Obedience that purifies but the Obedience to the Truth A man may toil like a Mill-horse in a circuir of Ceremonies and outward performances and yet but take his walk with the wicked unless the Truth be obey'd Again it is such a Truth as Obedience belongs to not an high aery speculative Truth not a Truth only to be believed but to be put in practice for we cannot be said properly to obey speculative Truth because the Soul there has no power to resist or disobey For the Devil himself would glady embrace and assent to all pure and inoffensive speculation that doth not touch his own interest and present condition and so would all his and Natures children the most wicked men that are And that the Devil is cast into a fit of trembling at this grand speculative Maxime There is a God is because his quick memory doth presently recollect that he is Just and that himself stands obnoxious to his Justice here is his interest toucht The Truth therefore here meant is not so much those general speculations of the Infinite Power and Wisdom of God the Incomprehensible Trinity c. which both good and bad men do easily spend their time in and promiscuously believe and yet sit securely upon their lees their hearts being untoucht unbroken unstir'd But the Truths which we are said most properly to obey are the Practical Truths such as Matth. 5. Chap. 16. 24. Chap. 11. ult Chap. 7. 13. c. The Purification of a Christian is in obedience to such Truths and Christ admits none for his that be disobedient workers of iniquity Matth. 7. 23. Doct. III. That the purified and obedient Soul is thus purged and obedient through the Spirit This is he of whom Malachi 3. 2 3. But who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like a refiners fire and like fullers sope And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and he shall purifie the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness We having then so powerful a Purifier what hinders but the Christian