in yea yea to perform his determinate purpose And in the resisting of evil he ought to behave himself in the like manner only this distinction admitted if he have resisted evil sin calamities c. And hath not obtained he ought to say with Job Shall we receive Good at the hand of God and not Evil and yet to mourn with them and bear a share of their grief upon whom the Calamity fal's and yet so to mourn as not mourning knowing that his Resistance his not Succeeding his Mourning and Calamity work all together for the accomplishing the Counsels of God 29. Whence I say as far as this heavenly Fire hath consumed our lusts and subdued our wills to the will of God so far have we Peace and Rule as Kings with God and what is short retain's a Leaven which may produce bitterness and though few or none have attained yet no one which ought not to press hard after this mark as Paul Phil. 3.14 First despising Legal Righteousness touching which he was blameless He next rejoyceth in the Cross of Christ being made conformable to his Death And 3dly Speaks of a third state of perfection which he laboured after and had not attained which I suppose was that we now speak of For say's he If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead not as if I had already attain'd or were perfest but I follow after that I may apprehend that for which Christ apprehended me Bretheren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to the things that are before I press towards the mark for the prize of the high Calling of Christ Now these things manifestly refer to things of a sublime matter not yet attain'd by Paul but were attainable The first is To attain to the Resurrection of the dead Which by comparing 1 Cor. 15.51 52. We shall not all sleep but we shall he changed with 1 Thes 4.15 We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep Whence I take this that Paul press'd after to be the perfection the dead in Christ shall arise in or that those which remains alive at his coming shall in this Life have attain'd namely that Innocency which in a moment may be changed into Incorruption And the second to apprehend that for which I am apprehended c. is much the same thing as by comparing these with 1 Thes 5.10 Who died for us that is apprehended us that whether we awake to the last or in the interim fall asleep we should live together with him And the third The prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ is the Close and Crown of all as in another place I have fought the good Fight I have finish'd my Course I have kept the Faith henceforth a Crown of Righteousness the Prize of the high Calling is laid up for me And now I say the burnings up of the lusting of the humane Spirit is the Threshold of this Resignation and it of these three attainments Paul pressed after for it consumates Perfection in Soul in Body and Spirit also it works in Gold in the Spirit of Love Faith Patience for greater Love on the part of mortals cannot be than to give up himself and all his to his Beloved nor greater Faith than in full ease and assurance to trust him withal nor greater Patience than to be sick of Love and yet to charge the Solliciters of her Nuptials by the Hinds and the Roes not to awake her Beloved until he please And surely this Resignation signed there remains nothing save such like Love passages until the day of Espousals come 30. Not taking a or the Reward upon Innocency or upon the Innocent for so all read and in both senses it may pass as of so necessary a performance as they that transgress cannot attain the immoveable State for a whole current of Scripture requires all men the Magistrate especially to defend the cause of the Innocent Widdow Fatherless and Oppressed recording it as a principle part of that Religion which is pure and undefilled in the sight of God And whereas the Scripture describes Justicers to bear to the Image of God the just Judge af the whole Earth above other high Callings among the Sons of men and placeth Justice upon two Pillars bringing the wicked to just punishment and rescuing the Innocent from oppression it rather gives the right hand of fellowship to this second part and to say all in one word God ownes it among the lofty Attributes ascribed to himself And our Lord among these weighty matters the Father required him to execute in the Earth Art thou a Magistrate surely then thou hast a Gift in thy hand which may promote thee to great honour in Heaven and in Earth but beware that thou abuse it not for to justify the Wicked and condemn the Innocent will make thee stink on Earth and gnash thy teeth in Hell 31. But yet this hath a further and more Spiritual meaning namely That man being emptied of all his fleshly confidence and spiritual Pride and drawn near to that Innocency capable to be attained by mortals This Precept the last Link of this golden chain teacheth him how to receive the reward that is not upon the account of his Innocency but still as the free gift of Grace Isai 33. hath it thus who shaketh off his hands from being supported in the reward that is not serving as a Hireling or expecting the reward as having obeyed but leaves all to the bounty of his Master whose Love he hath so often proved Now therefore the tenour of this Precept is that though a man have obtained all that perfection and innocency that Tammin the Cross and Resignation the Fire of God can give yea all that perfection Paul pressed after yet may he not upon this account stretch forth his hand to receive the reward but take it upon naked and free Grace from one that owes him nothing and that verily all his Perfection and Innocency only makes him capable of receiving what Grace offers 32. For the better understanding of this it behoveth that we first enquire what Innocency is and upon what it stand's for it remarkably differs from the rest of the Sisterhood of Gifts and Vertues First in its Original for of all it was first born before man even with the first void and empty Earth next in the Light Air Water Earth and first Elements of things so as it most especially before it was in Act In-bread and not acquired which is rare in other Vertues for Love is not Love until it doth Love nor is Patience until it suffer patiently c. Again of all other it is neat curious and gentle serene as Chrystal but tender as a bubble of Water in some respect and strong as Iron in another for from without itself no Enemy can harm it though Sin
and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life and Man became a living Soul to which adjoin 1 Cor. 15.45 it clears the last part of the Assertion The first Man Adam was made a living Soul and the last Adam a quickning Spirit So that the Elect Seed is first subdued into a Body and Soul and lastly united and made one with the quickning Spirit by being again subdued by it in the good fight and while thus the Spirit subdues the Soul and the Soul the Body the Elect Seed is gathered from the East and from the West from the North and from the South and Christ's Victory atchieved in the glorifying every Hoof that is in the Commission of Election and condemning the Reprobate to the Pit of their appointment and for this end Christ took upon him our Bodies Souls Spirits and whatsoever is ours that his Body being glorified might glorify ours his Soul our Souls his Spirit our Spirits and lastly That his Conquest over us might compleat our happiness and this the Apostle strongly implies 1 Thess 5.23 And the very God of Peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ And besides these divers other Scriptures attest that there is a hidden excellency appertaining to the Body as Rom. 8.23 Even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the redemption of the Body which compared with the context before implies a farther Mystery than we who are dull of hearing can receive for secret things belong to God and those things which are revealed to us Dan. 29.29 So again Rom. 12.1 Now I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service So 1 Cor. 6.13 The Body for the Lord and the Lord for the Body Also the 19. So as such a voluntary Humility which debases the Body beyond the Rule or denies those Refreshments it allows is not pleasing unto God 6. The second part of this Humility is when a Man thinks himself not worthy to go to Christ immediately himself but by the intercession of Angels or Saints Col. 2.18 But this perswasion is a great wrong to him who purposely came to save Sinners and vouchsafed to wash his Disciples Feet who took our Nature upon him that he might be touched with our Infirmities and tempted like us and all that he might be a merciful and expert Mediator and therefore himself calls to them heavey laden to come to him and also gives authority to us to go in his Name a begging immediately to the Father assuring us That in that Name we shall be heard and hence the Apostle Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and sind Grace to help in the days of our Conflicts And therefore in humble and reverential Gratitude let us be assured There 's no more need of a Mediator betwixt Christ and us than betwixt God and Christ for as he is in the Father and one with him so we in Christ namely those that are baptized into his death and therefore those that go to other Mediators have with Esau rejected one of the greatest Priviledges of their Birth-right and therefore true Humility consists not in debasing the Body or denying it its Rights and then calling it Vile and esteeming the martyrdom of it in the secret of the Heart meritorious but in being a careful Keeper of it as a piece of purer Clay upon which Christ designeth to engrave his Image and therefore it behoves us to deck it with all Ornaments Divine and Natural true Humility can shape for it and when all is done to esteem it and every Gift we have by nature vile and contemptible and the Body thus presented by the hand of Faith shall be a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God 7. The next Sister of this Divine Off-spring is Meekness in all things so like to the former as we need not to enlarge upon it for what is well said of the one appertains of right to the other It is first ascribed to Moses the Type Meek above all Men upon the face of the Earth and next to Christ the Anti-type Take up my Yoak and learn of me for I am meek and lowly or humble of Heart and ye shall find rest in your Souls Which first shews We ought in all things to imitate Christ and more particularly in Meekness And secondly that the Reward shall be Rest to the Soul Another saith Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the Earth And our Psalmist He the Lord will save all the Meek of the Earth he will beautify them with Salvation The third is the great Vertue Patience which indeed is both first and last in our Warfare for from the first blow in the former on-set it was the Soul's Buckler and unto the last must be a Support So Job began in Patience and in the virtue thereof did not offend with his Tongue and was become a perfect Scholar therein before he was throughly humbled for he was not vile enough in his own sight until he perceived God by the eye which was in the period of his Trial And hence the Apostle Brethren count it all joy when ye fall under divers temptations knowing the trial of your Faith worketh Patience and let Patience have its perfect Work that ye may be perfect lacking nothing so as this vertue consummates the Work in that fulness as nothing is lacking Whence also by comparing this with former Texts it appeareth that the Temptations and Trials here spoken of the Tribulations bringing Patience afore-mentioned and the Warfare of the Cross are all one thing only differing as Majus and Minus for the former refer to the Cross of our Lord as he did and we ought to bear it daily and our Warfare refers to it in the more critical and especial Hour for all work Patience and Patience under all upholdeth the Soul and sows the Seeds of Experiences of the gracious workings of God And though no Tribulations in the present seem joyous yet at the long-run Experience convinceth that they are the very effects of Love which Love sheddeth it self abroad in the Heart so as to be perfect in Tribulations in Trials and bearing the Cross is the perfection of Patience Patience of Experience Experience of Love and Love fortified by Patience that it may wait until God see it fit to give the Crown of Glory is that perfection in the Life of the Body which lacketh nothing and therefore as it is written Blessed is he that endureth that patiently waits until the end until the Soul can say with the Captain of its Warfare It is finished I have fought the good Fight Again Patience is the fixing and confirming of a Saint as the Apostle saith Be patient establish your Hearts Behold ye
the Hungry for they shall be filled c. Wo to the Rich for they have received their Consolation Wo to the Full for they shall hunger c. Luke 6.10 Now compare this with Mat. 5.2 and it is clear that the Poor and Hungry are spiritually meant and therefore it were hard to suppose the Rich and Full are only literal Again They that will be rich fall into Temptation and many hurtful Lusts which drown in Perdition For the Love of Money is the Root of all Evil Which whilst some have coveted they have been seduced from the Faith and pierced through with many Sorrows Which is more effectual in Spirit than Letter Solomon thus There is one that makes himself rich and is not there is another that makes himself poor and Riches abound Which is as much as There is one who would save his Life and loseth it and another who would lose his Life and saveth it He that hastens to be rich shall not be innocent And sundry Texts to the like purpose And thus whilst the Word is interpretable in both sences it cuts as a two-edged Sword teaching two Duties in one Precept for the one doth not interfere with the other but each mutually interprets the other And if I mistake not this is more frequent than they are supposed For the Spiritual things signified by Man and Wife do not disanul the Literal Duties of Wedlock nor doth Spiritual Whoredom which is Idolatry excuse the Sinfulness of Fornication no more than a Spiritual Sodom and Egypt deny that that once was and this yet is in the Letter So there is a Spiritual Adam Israelite Jerusalem c. And therefore the Precept Promise and Punishment belong to both Spiritual and Literal Obeyers or Transgressors and in most Cases more especially to the Literal yet not always namely because the Letter is direct plain to all and the other is in a Mystery Again what the Letter requires is oft-times manifest to be just in the Glass of Nature so as none can pretend Ignorance but the Spiritual sence is oft mistaken and the Usurer and Adulterer oft do evil whilst they think they do well 5. Now this Usury or Covetousness is in respect of the nature of Works either Legal or Evangelical that trusting in such Merit as is gained by the Arm of Flesh and this hopes for Gain in the Works of its own Spirit mistaking its own which lusteth after Vanity for the Spirit of God and worketh as the Apostle calls it Spiritual Wickedness in high Places into which whilst some boast of the Spirit have fallen supposing themselves wise and righteous until Christ come to try the Spirit Heart and Reins And this usually falls in when having received a new Talent in Grace we fall chearfully to the Work and supposing our Work much better as indeed it is than under Legal Services we presently say with Peter What shall we now that we work in Spirit and Grace have greeding after Usury from God when indeed we ought to put our Talent to the Money-Changers upon his account and patiently to wait for the encrease First knowing that he who runs best so runs because God is with him and blesseth him and himself no better than Nay nay Secondly That God alone knows what and when to give Thirdly That yet a very little while and he that is to come will come and will not tarry beyond the fitness of Time and will reward us both with Principal and Interest Well done thou good and faithful Servant c. Thou hast been faithful over a little rule thou over ten Cities 6. And now this Precept Give not thy Money c. in this Acceptation falls in close with the Link aforesaid that is Having now followed the Captain of our Salvation into Death forsaking all for him and acknowledging our selves vile yet love the meanest of his Fold and lastly having his Promise and given our Yea and Nay to him at the first setting forth we fall to the Work in great hope and cheerfulness and as one whose Heart is warmed in Love not doubting to give a good account of our Stewardship hoping with Micha I know that the Lord will now bless me seeing I have a Levite for my Priest that is have the Spirit for my Priest and work in Grace not yet perceiving as the Parable hath it that Christ having again set us right in the New Covenant goes into a far Country not forsaking us but withdrawing his more immediate Presence from us but to prove us how we can manage our new Talent and thence teach us that in our best State we are as nothing without him 7. And now tho this our Confidence is not without cause yet rarely is it free from Spiritual Ostentation yet not the old one which leaned upon fleshly Confidence for together with the Old Man that perished but another which riseth up in the New Man and makes its boast of worshipping in the Spirit and is but a change from carnal to spiritual Wickedness and Idolatry For before we made the Flesh and now we make the Spirit Co-partner and Fellow-workman with Christ to effect what lacketh which again stops the willing Rivolets of free Grace which is incompatible with a Helper for if it give not simply upon the account of its sole Goodness no respect had to any other Workman or Work it loseth both Name and Nature for as Infiniteness is not infinite if it have an end so neither can Grace be Grace if it have any respect to another's Work or Merit Not that now the Faculties of the Mind ought to rest or Working is ceased but verily the Soul Body and Spirit ought now to labour more abundantly because until this was known they could not labour in pure Grace which is the Harvest for unless the Reaper doth labour much and not in Merit the Garners cannot be filled with pure Wheat And therefore Satan taking advantage of the Spirit of Man lusting to Pride set forth an Imp of Antichrist in the appearance of a Spirit of Light which joining it self to the Spirit of Man enlightned as was said seeks to persuade it it is the Spirit of God and like as the false Spirit deceived Ahab beguiles the Soul of its encrease in Grace and pure Religion save only as Grace that it may appear gracious steals in here a little and there a little in those Periods when least expected for sense of Infirmity and Breach of Spirit are the Opportunities of Grace 8. And now when Christ comes to prove all by Fire it proceeds much in the manner of our former Warfare but as I may say in a reverted Order as Peter's Crucifying was the reverse of our Lord's his Feet upwards of which Christ solemnly admonished him John 21.19 Follow thou me and we may presume was written for our Instruction And in such Order our first and second Trials differ For in the first carnal Confidence was smitten down and a way opened
to exalt the Spirit and in this we wrestle against Principalities and Wickedness in Heavenly Places Then Satan's Interest was to uphold Vows Merit in Touch not taste not c. to persuade that the Spirit was a meer Chymaera or Sound only heard in deluded Ears and now he cries up the Spirit as all pure and perfect that it doth not nay cannot lust after Envy upright in all its ways and no Word or Work or Way holy or acceptable without it be its simple Act and so the Reason Sense and Body are esteemed vile things and the Service odious to God And thus Satan wrests to every extreme our Minds and Christ in his Bounty so defeats this old Serpent the Deceiver as in the first Warfare presumptuous Flesh is beaten down and under the Gospel the Spirit apt to be puffed up is humbled that all things both in Heaven and Earth in Soul and Body might bow to the exalted Name of Christ yea that every thing which is proud or exalts it self may be brought down and that he that glories may find nothing to glory in save Christ alone and lastly that the Spirit upheld in its Humiliation by the Spirit of the high-exalted Name may uphold the Body and the Body minister to the Soul until it become a fit Temple for the holy Spirit to dwell in and that Christ at his coming may find us perfect in Soul in Body and in Spirit 9. And lest some might take it amiss that now in our Gospel-day the Worship whereof consists in Spirit and Truth we should speak of a Warfare against the Spirit and of an acceptable Service from the Body I shall explain my self a little further First I say our Lord doth not teach that this Worship is of Spirit only but Spirit and Truth and against them united there is no Law For this In Spirit and Truth implies a Worship where the very Spirit of Truth is present and assisting the Spirit of Man and helping its Infirmities which Spirit also dwelleth in us and is that which raiseth up Christ and also that quickens our mortal Bodies and therefore to subdue this Spirit were to reject God and Good in as deep Rebellion and Blasphemy as the Angels reserved to Blackness and Darkness ever did But there are two other Spirits one of God and yet is not his very immediate Spirit aforesaid of which the beloved Apostle thus Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits if they are of God for many false Prophets and consequently Spirits are gone forth Hereby we know that Spirit which is of God the Spirit that confesseth Christ is come in the Flesh is of God That Spirit which confesseth not so is not of God but of Antichrist Whence observe two Spirits one of God another not of him Secondly Consider that Confession which distinguisheth these Spirits namely Christ in the Flesh which cannot be meant of an historical Confession because also confessing must have had that Spirit of God and verily it is incompatible with the outward Profession to deny the History as far as concerns Flesh and Blood nor amongst those various Delusions touching his Nature which went abroad few or none held that Opinion Again the Spirit which denies this is the Spirit of Antichrist Now Antichrist doth not deny Christ in the Flesh but rather supposeth that he is extant as Flesh in the Bread to this day And lastly to make this the Caracter were to make Antichrist a Pagan which he is not but rather the Spirit which historically confesseth both God and Christ and sets up it self against them And this is that Spirit which in this Warfare ought to be made to bow the Knee And forasmuch as the Apostle affirms that this Spirit is of Antichrist the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition the best way to discern it is to apply to a fuller description of them 2 Thess 2.4 Who opposeth God and exalteth himself above all called God or that is worshipped So that he sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God And now this must be a Spiritual Wickedness set in high Places usurping Authority in the Temple of God which Temple we are and the Spirit i.e. of God dwelleth in it 1 Cor. 3.16 And again Chap. 6.19 Your Body is the Temple of the Holy-Ghost in you which ye have of God and ye are not your own for ye are bought with a Price Wherefore glorify God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's And now I ask what this which is spiritual Wickedness can be but the Spirit of Man lusting after Evil deluded by the Spirit of Satan whose first and original Crime was to make himself equal with God and shall again once more shew his foolish Pride as in the description of Antichrist is further shewn Ibid. vers 9. Whose Coming is after the working of Satan with all Power and lying Wonders and with all deceivableness of Vnrighteousness in them who perish because they received not the Love of the Truth that they might be saved And for this Cause God gave them up to strong Delusions that they should believe a Lie and that they might be damned who believed not the Truth but had pleasure in Vnrighteousness And besides this Text the holy Writers give sundry Admonitions to beware of the Pride and Deceitfulness of our own Spirits Jam. 4.5 Do you think the Scripture saith in vain The Spirit which dwelleth in you lusteth to Envy Which is a double Proof First as from James secondly as another Scripture cited by him tho perhaps we find it not So our Lord Ye know not what Spirit ye are of 1 Tim. 4.1 In the latter times shall come seducing Spirits and Doctrine of Devils 2 Cor. 7.1 Let us cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of the Flesh and of the Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God Mal. 2.15 Therefore take ye heed to your Spirits and let none deal treacherously with the Wife of his Youth see also ver 16. Where the Spirit refers to the Man or Spirit of Teaching and the Wife to Obedience as in the Allegory afore-mentioned and from the Context is as much as The Spirit and Wife are one Flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the end they may bring forth Seed or Children to God and therefore let the Spirit beware it deal not perfidiously with the chast Form of Obedience that is go a whoring after strange Forms So as a Man's Spirit is as his Heart deceitful setting up spiritual Wickedness in high Places and dresseth them in so specious Forms of Light as who can find them out For doubtless to discern its workings from those of the Holy Spirit is me judging above measure difficult and few or none who do not sometimes mistake that for this And therefore we ought to take heed to our Spirits and above all to supplicate the Father of Spirits whom foul Spirits obey that himself would watch over them For in vain do the
the Servant of Corruption 2 Pet. 2.19 and thy latter end worse than the beginning And next follows Usury the Soul boasting of the Spirit and its Works in Grace to a rejection of what it thinks is useless and superstitious it now looking upon it self as pure in Spirit and rich in Grace it asks with Peter I have forsaken all for thee and what shall I have In which Christ's Answer to Peter is our best Directory namely Inasmuch as thou hast followed me into Regeneration thou shalt not lose thy Reward but when I sit on my Throne fitting Thrones shall also be prepared for thee and over many things thou shalt judg but the hundred-fold Reward the everlasting immoveable State is not yet ready thou must first forsake Father and Mother Wisdom and Understanding Wife and Children Obedience tho in Regeneration and Fruits begot by thee the humane Spirit upon it thou must esteem them too slight to expect Usury upon them And in a word all thy acquired Substance thou must but enjoy as if it were not Thou O Spirit thinkest thy self first but thou must be last and the last first There is an empty Innocence which comes last and yet will be in Glory before thee And to this our Lord adjoins the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard shewing that neither long Labour nor bearing the heat of the Day nor repining at our short Pay will obtain Interest-Money but that must at the length come through free Grace giving to all where none have merited And if we can thus work and be content with our Penny driving away Usury as well as Sloth and patiently wait until he see fit to reward us with his precious Gifts then all shall do well with us But if we say Our Service is faithful our Ways right and our Works in Grace we are in favour with God so as he hath already given us Wisdom and Knowledg above our Teachers we hope before long to have the Gift of Prophecy of Healing of Miracles of Interpretation for so vain is this Spirit of Man as to these things it dare aspire and boastingly call our own Spirits the Spirit of God when indeed it is the Spirit of Man led by the Spirit of Antichrist who always pretends to Prophecy and Miracles and verily in the universal Warfare shall obtain them to the deceiving of many Revel 19.20 And tho in the particular it hath not so far attained as yet yet hath it often pretended to such things a Dream a Vision a Prodigy which it interprets and thinks God is obliged to make its words good And of the same Spirit and Leaven they are who by their Prayers hope to prevail or rather to charm God to do Miracles on their behalf whose Faith is Presumption their Prayers Charms and their Religion spiritually Drunkenness And now when Satan hath brought the Spirit to this pass it resolves to give one Push more for the Dominion Come let us slay the Heir and the Inheritance shall be Ours For now the Spirit of Antichrist claims all Dominion to it self exalting it self above all called God and as God sitteth in the Temple of God the Body denying in substance That Christ is come in the Flesh or hath any Right there but counts it its Slave and Reason and all things besides it self Unclean and Rejected things And now shall this Wicked One fill the measure of its Iniquity and be revealed and the Lord shall consume it with the Spirit of his Mouth and destroy it with the Brightness of his Coming 12. And now the Great Trial draws near Where first Observe That in the Pequeerings aforesaid we have alwayes stated the Case in the Extreams That is when the Soul resists the Temptation as it ought according to the Example of Christ Who was tempted in all things like unto us but without sin which whilst we imitate tho in sin this Trial will end in few throws rather Rebukes of Love than Anger But on the contrary as we represent it Overcome by the Tempter it oft perisheth by the way or at the best is but saved as a Brand pluck'd out of the Fire and these are rare Cases and most usually the Lot is cast between both in various degrees and still according to the measure of faithfulness or of failing so the ease or difficulty of the trial and in this mediocraty in the ensuing we represent it that is as in part faithful to its Yea and Nay in part overcome by Antichristian Pride 13. And things come to this pass Christ who like the true Shepherd loves the Sheep and will not loose a Hoof of what was given him returns in the nick of Time long before foreseen and decreed and demands an account of the improvement of his new lent Talent bringing that Fire with him whereby he will try every mans Work and forasmuch as the trial by Fire sometime hinted at by the Apostles is the same with this it behoves that we first take our Measures from 1 Pet. 4.12 Beloved think it not strange touching the Fiery Trial which is to try you as if some strange thing happened unto you but rejoyce inasmuch as ye are made partakers of Christs Sufferings that when his Glory shall be revealed ye may be glad with exceeding Joy Whence it appears First That this Trial is a common thing and none exempted Secondly That even our Lord did partake with us therein That is tho he Suffered but once for all yet in that once he suffered all that his Members suffer at many times Thirdly To rejoyce in it because thence exceeding Joy shall accrue to us when He shall so appear Fourthly From vers 14. We must then be reproached for Christ Who shall be evil-spoken by them i. e. Antichrists but glorified on our part Lastly Vers 19. That now it behoves We commit the keeping our Souls unto God who created them and is faithful Again besides what Paul teacheth of the Universal Day of which before again thus 1 Cor. 3.10 I have laid the Foundation namely Christ and other Foundation can no man lay than that is laid Now if any man Build upon this Foundation Gold Silver Pretious-Stones Wood Hay Stubble every mans Work shall be made manifest for the Day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by Fire and the Fire shall try every mans Work of what sort it is If any mans Work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a Reward if any mans Work be burnt he shall suffer Loss but he himself shall be Saved yet so as by Fire Know ye not thae ye are the Temple of God and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you See unto vers 22. And now whereas before all Saints now all Works must pass this Trial. 2. This Trial is that whereby our Bodies are made Pure Temples to the Spirit of God namely That which confesseth Christ to be come in the Flesh and that the Dominion thereof belongs to him Vers 17.
and Satan assault it with Hammer and Anvil it laughs and smiles at the Attempt without paine or loss but so tender from within as to tast of a forbidden Apple makes it vanish quite away for such a constiution it hath that the least spot or blemish in any part defiles it in the whole and so defiled it is no longer innocency and therefore was early chassed out of the Earth and returned not again until the Immaculate Lamb of God espoused it and brought it back again but neither did Innocency restored long inhabit the Earth in one entire piece but returned to Heaven with its Spouse yet not so departed as it hath forsaken its Interest on Earth or forgot the end of its taking upon it the seed of mortality but dispersing its beams in the spotted nature of the Elect cast's in a leaven which shall leaven the whole lump and lives unspotted in spotted nature because it being rooted in immutability it self doth also remaine it-self immutable 33. Now therefore to clutivate this heavenly branch so as it may fill the whole land is the duty of the Servants of Jesus Christ which is effected two manner of wayes The one strange and contrary to the usual course of Propagation suffering and not acting enticeing and not receiving for Innocency once defiled can never be redintigrated by doing good but by purging out of its evil for by this meanes room is made for Innocency to take root and the two chief leading causes of this are more immediately from God namely the Warfare of the Cross and fiery Trial and also there are others in which man may cooperate Conviction Confession Self-condemnation Repentance and Godly Sorrow thus spotted Mary Magdalene became innocent and so all must do that are defiled and who is without spots even the Mother of the Lord is not excepted though blessed among Women though she come prepared by God in a Chast Seed a pure Virgin for Chastity above all other Vertues imitates Innocency in most of its Qualifications The other way of its cultivation is in acquiring such other vertues as most readily receive its leaven of which Love is chief for it cannot rest in ease until it appear innocent in the Eye of its beloved next Mercy Humility Meekness Patience c. For all these desire to wash in Innoency and to be clean so the first cultivation consist's in weeding out such stinking weeds as choak it and the other Plants such wholsom herbs as may nourish it and readily transform into its nature 34. The Hebrew which I think never gives Names at random calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is * Lex Heptag Lot Empty Wasted Pure Guiltless implying that it is obtained by evacuating of what is impure and therefore this being the last Diameter of ascent into the immoveable State our Prophet in all this Ps presseth hard after it First Consumption in Tammin Secondly emptying the Heart of deceit the Tongue of reproach the Arm of Flesh of all Power and to appear vild and contemptibly Thirdly To deal with the Spirit to the emptying it of its Pride Lusting and greediness in Usury And lastly to resign it Self Will and Wisdom unto God for assuredly as long as any parcel of these are retained there can be no Innocency and in part retained they must be until Soul Body and Spirit be given up to the will of another even God and his Christ so as Innocency is the utmost perfection whither we sleep or wake until Christ come that we can attain until Christ verily be come 35. In the Gospel Text Innocency is scarse read in our Versions but is signified by purity and cleanness and indeed they are but one thing Sometimes in both old and new it is Aligorically expressed by White Isa 1.18 Dan. 11.35 12.10 So Rev. 3.18 I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tried in the Fire referring to the fiery trial and white raiment that the shame of thy nakedness appear not Again Thou hast a few Names which have not defiled their Garments and they shall walk with me in white He that overcommeth shall be cloathed in white Another thus What are these arrayed in white Robes These are they which came out of great Tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Rev. 19.7 All which Whites refer to that Innocency which never was defiled or being spotted is washed in Tribulation and Blood of the Lamb. And lastly 19.7 Let us be glad and rejoyce for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine Linnen clean and white for fine Linnen is the Righteousness of the Saints That is it was granted that the Spouse of Christ should be cloathed with Innocency and that was her Righteousness not Righteous in her own works or Usury nor rich in some Portion or Dowry brought from her Mothers House but in being cleansed from Spots by washing in that Baptism which gives the answer of a good Conscience and purged in that Fire which consumes our dross and thus also the Souldiers of the Armies of the Word of God were cloathed riding upon white Horses in fine Linnen pure and white And surely natural Argument is able to compass this namly that Innocency cannot receive upon merit for seeing it is not Innocent by working Good and much less in any other work and only to him that worketh is the Reward given of due therefore this Spouse though fairest amoung Women and no spot in her must receive the Glory of her Nuptials from the Grace and Beauty of her Beloved Again reason consenteth that the Vessel filled with dreggs cannot make room to receive the choice Wine offered it and consequently that the Soul full of the trash of its own righteousness and antichristian pride cannot receive the Grace and Merit of Christ Were not the Beggar rediculously sottish who being invited to a marriage Supper under promise that whatsoever Vessels he brings all shall be filled with choice things should offer such as are already stuffed full of old mouldy stinking fragments And yet is this a great Stone of stumbling even during our whole race so prone is man to believe he can do something that is good and so distrustful of Christ that he wants bounty to replenish him with his own Gifts except he bring a valuable price in his hand which yet never any Son of a man was able to do for it is the hungry empty and they that have no mony or price to purchase with that he filleth with good things and the rich whom he sends away empty 36. Now therefore when thou makest ready for thy Nuptials take no care for gorgious Apparel but only for the mariage garment white Linnen the Righteousness of the Saints nor yet for a rich Dowry but only those few shreds of Gold and Silver which thy Beloved reserved for thee in the day
of trial and in all other manner of Substance make thy self empty and know that thy Beloved is not only bountiful in giving but hath inexhaustible stores of all manner of good things so as though he gave mountains yet shall his store Houses be no emptier and therefore let not thy Poverty affright thee but rather embolden thee for what is poor shall be filled with durable riches what is cloathed in simple white shall be cloathed upon with Immortality what is empty shall be filled with all manner of pleasant and good things Consider the first Earth in its deformity and now behold the beautiful Structure raised out of it was it not empty dark confused a non Ens and did not the first seat of the same Master-Builder call forth the beautiful Light out of a darkness far more black than that of Egypt also the Air Sun Moon and Stars and many more heavenly Bodys without count and lastly the Soul of Adam all good beautifull innocent And whence now may we suppose he got these large stores with which he hath filled and beautified all these was it not out of himself did not his Word beget all and his Will bring all forth Can Infinity which fills all places and is all things seek to places or things for something it hath not Can he that hath no bounds step out of his own Territories to snatch and catch at somthing he wants in anothers bounds Therefore it must be him even thy Lord and Husband in whom all fulness dwels still abounding still running over Fear not threfore thou poor empty Spouse for thy emptyness is thy Innocence thy Innocence thy Rigtheousness thy Righteousness thy Beauty and thou art fairest among Women and thy Creator is thy Husband he is espousing thee in everlasting Love he will give thee of his own Grace for Grace Beauty for Beauty Glory for Glory and all he requires of thee is that thou take them not of due but of his own free Goodness and bounty and now let none deceive thee of thy reward 37. Who doth these things shall never be moved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ever or until Eternity or most properly in or until the Age but the Hebrew word as also the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being of great mystery and to long to be discoursed here and the English giving a well agreeing Paraphraise we shall close with it And now that which is the last close of all fitly falls in with the last exposition he that doth these things that is that attaineth the wedding Garment shall in the day of his Espousals be so closely united with his immutable Creator as neither hight nor depth things present or to come shall be able to remove him as is writ I give unto them Eternal Life they shall never perish nor shall any pluck them out of my hands and if Christ was thus Zealous for his Sheep not yet passed over with him into regeneration how much more for them espoused unto him in everlasting Love 38. Before we conclude we shall resite the two other Sister Texts and to avoid prolixity in exposition give them in a brief Paraphrase yet with respect to the Hebrism and first minding that Psal 24.3 doth in a more peculiar manner refer to the Warfare of the Cross And Isa 33. To the Tryal by Fire yea verily so like are these wayes and proceedings as what is said truly of one is applicable to both and some Scriptures as Mat. 24. seem to refer interchangably to both and indeed the chief difference seems to be in the subject matter upon which they work For the Trial of the Cross is in opposition to the pride of the Arm of Flesh in outward carnal Idolatry and the trial by Fire is against Spiritual pride and wickedness in highth or as the Original is heavenly places 39. Psal 24.3 Runs thus Who shall dwell in the pleasant Contemplation of Salvation Sanctification and future Glory with thee until thou having subdued our Lusts wilt bring us into the Nuptial Chamber arrayed in white Who is he that shall find a covering for his Sins under typical Signs and Seals until the avenger of bloods Commission is expired he whose hands are clean from blood oppression and bribes whose Heart is free from Hypocrisy whose Soul is meek and humble not carried away with lies or vain hopes in its own righteousness and sweareth in yea yea nay nay to his Sheepherd and Friend and keeps his Oath religiously and faithfully this man shall never be moved Blessing from the Lord and Righteousness from his Saviour he shall receive Of these the Generation of the new birth consists them that walk in thy wayes O thou Wrestler with Angels Lift up your heads O ye strait and terrible Gates and be you lifted up ye Doors of Hulam the hidden Age and Messiah shall come in Who is this Messiah He is all Glorious he is Lord of Hosts mighty in Battle subduing all things Now this is a manifest Prophesy of the passing over from the Legal Holy Place to the Church of the new born in Christ referring to the strait Gate and narrow Path leading to eternal Life 40. Isa 33.9 Thus the Body Soul and Spirit and all the lofty things of nature are whithered and now saith Christ I will return and will exalt and raise up the withered Soul c. But first he will convince you that your righteousness is chaff and your works stubble and out of the Spirit a fire shall proceed which shall burn up the dross of your works wrought in Silver and lay your hay and stubble in Ashes 12. They shall be as burnt Lime as Superstition cast into the consuming Fire they crackle and consume 13. Hear ye that are without ye not gathered within my pale what wonders I have done and ye that are near fighting the Good fight in your inwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know ye my might 14. A Sinner though shrouded in Sion my holy Mountain shall fear in Pachad servile fear Trembling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall surprise the Hypocrite Who is he that shall sojourn in the Baptism by Fire Who is he that shall abide the fiery Trial 15. He walking in Tammin and working in the Righteousness of Christ contemning riches gotten by Usury not working for servile hireling wages but is supported in all his painfull labour by the love and bounty of his Beloved At the name of persecution he stoppeth his Ears and shutteth his Eyes lest sin and vanity should enter by them This man shall dwell in the City which is above a Rock shall be the foundation of his Bulwark and God will appoint Salvation for the Walls thereof hidden Mannah shall be his food and of the Waters of Life he shall drink 17. The King of Glory he shall see in the beauty af Holyness The Holy Land of the rest of God he shall behold a far off And thus this elegant Prophet set forth in few Words what
Church And this is a sore Evil I fear frequent in our Land for saith our Lord Whosoever shall say to his Brother Thou Fool is in danger of Hell-Fire I perceive not fully what is meant by Thou Fool for I do not confine it wholly to the literal sence but however it leaves it without controversy that to reproach a Brother is a great Offence Which Evil began even yet before the Apostles had finished their course and in this Age hath taken so deep root as if that day were come in which the Love of many shall wax cold For if any differ from that Form which is constituted to the Generality of a Nation and is practically used by all as well he that sweareth and he that feareth an Oath or professeth not Godliness as he that doth he is strait way reproached with Names of Contempt and but to name a Worship more in Spirit and Truth than this is is a matter to be brought before the Judg And which yet is more to be lamented even those that desire to sacrifice in Spirit deride and bite one another in such matters as are but form so as Pulpits and Books writ in Vinegar take this way of reproaching To whom I say nothing save in the words of the Apostle The Tongue is an unruly Evil full of deadly Poison with the same Mouth yea and Breath bless we God even the Father and curse Men which bear his similitude yea even such as earnestly seek to be more and more conformed to Christ My Brethren these things ought not to be so Was ever the Church of Christ in all things of one persuasion No not in the Apostles days But did Paul ever reproach them of the Concision who believed in Christ and yet were zealous for the Law Acts 21.20 Was not the great Decree of the first General Council held by the Disciples at Jerusalem Acts 15. in order to the binding up of all in the Bands of Unity And when the Church multiplied did not differences in Judgment increase And when it was most free from difference was it not most shadowed under Superstition and ignorant Zeal as is most manifest if we look but two Centuries back Why therefore should we reproach one another as long as we all agree in that great Fundamental That Jesus is come in the Flesh and that he is the Christ of God and the Lamb that takes away the Sins of the World How therefore seeing by this Confession John 1.42 we know the Spirit of God is there how shall we escape if we say to such a Believer and Confessor Thou Fool Thou poor deluded Soul was not this the Message from the beginning 2 John 3.11 Love one another not as Cain the wicked one who slew his Brother because his Works were more righteous than his But above all things beware that thou persecute not thy Brother for filthy Lucre's sake or because he stands as an Umbrage to thine outward Interest Riches or Glory for as Godliness is great Gain so to convert Godliness into Gain is utter Shipwrack For a Bishop ought to be blameless not given to Wine no Striker not given to filthy Lucre but patient not a Brawler not covetous not high-minded not reviling his Reviler but seeking the Peace and Good of the Church Are there not some that have the form of Godliness without the power Are there not others that whilst they boast of the Power despise the Form to their own Loss And hath not God a choice People who taking the safe and middle Path join both in good weight and measure And doth it not behove that the Strong bear with the Weak and consequently because no Professor but in his own Persuasion thinks he is joined to the Strongest Therefore ought every one to bear with every one as it is written Let us therefore as many as are perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk in the same Rule let us mind the same things Lastly I say Whosoever so confines Christ to any one Form of Worship as to persuade himself none save they walking in that way can be saved is a Reproacher of the whole Church of God not walking in that Form Or whosoever excludes any one Form so far as to pronounce no Observer thereof can find Grace he is a Reproacher of all under that Form tho they believe that Christ is come in the Flesh is the Son of God and able to save Sinners of whom he is one amongst the chief And surely if Christ was so severe as this Man O Lord who might abide it Be not high-minded but fear Blessed are the meek humble poor in Spirit blessed are the Merciful and Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Go and learn what this meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice and then you will not condemn the Guiltless Love covers a multitude of Sin Love is the fulfilling of the Law And if Christ hath magnified his Love in giving his Life for us whilst Enemies will he not much more magnify it for that loving Servant who is ready to lose Life House and Goods in the confession of him Fear not therefore thou Worm who lovest so but persevering in Love walk humbly reproach not be faithful to the end and so receive thy Crown But now the far end of the Precept is Reproach not thy Reproacher If a wicked or prophane Person or a Drunkard not having God in all his thoughts or one making a Gain of Godliness shall make thee their Song and Scorn yet do not thou if thou wilt not offend with thy Tongue retort upon them for as Solomon saith There is a Fool not to be answered in his Folly lest thou be like unto him But whoso reproacheth a Reproacher becomes a Reproacher and consequently this Fool. But this is almost as difficult as to go and sell all that we have and give it to the Poor But however if we cannot so bridle our Tongues wholly let us strive to do as much as we can and when Passion hath transported us let us at least confess the evil of our Hearts and mourn under it For that this is the Rule we should walk up unto is manifest from our Lord 's walking whom we ought in all things to make our Example as it is written For this is thank-worthy if a Man for Conscience towards God endure Grief suffering wrongfully For even hereunto were we called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his Steps who did no Sin neither was Guile found in his Mouth Who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously And again 1 Pet. 3.8 Finally my Brethren be all of one mind have compassion one to another love as Brethren be pitiful be courteous not
thee leave thy Gift there go thy way and be first reconciled to thy Brother and then offer thy Gift Mat. 5.23 But on the contrary if in the Fear of God Love of Christ and Charity with all Men thou sacrifice who will lay any thing to thy charge Is it not God that justifies Is not Christ at his right-hand And if he died for thee yet an Enemy will he now refuse thee bringing a Gift in the hand of Love his most beloved Grace that Grace which covers a Multitude of Offences fulfills all Precepts and without which no Gift can be acceptable And now to speak what hath been upon my Heart I fear the neglect of this Duty not returning Evil for Evil hath provoked God more against his praying People than any other Sin they through common Infirmity are subject unto and the more because it hath rather been indulged as a Vertue than contended against as an Evil as judging a small yea and uncertain Error worse than a manifest Breach of a Command ten times repeated deceiving themselves with that common saying which oft comes from a false Heart I love his Person but hate his Error Whatever therefore thou offerest do it in Love O how displeasing and broken must those Prayers be where all should be of one mind but indeed one asks one thing and another the contrary where one blesseth another curseth Ask saith our Lord in my Name and have but we ask and have not And what can be the cause save what the Apostle objects Jam. 4.3 We ask amiss to bestow it upon our Lusts Malice Pride Wrath for the Promise of Christ cannot fail but to him Glory to us Confusion of Faces belongs But O how powerful would Prayers be proceeding from a beloved and chosen People and centering in perfect Love towards God and Man when they meet together at the Throne of Grace not seeking their own but the Honour of God Good of the Church and mutual Edification one of another for hereby the return would be Ask of me things to come touching my Sons and concerning the Work of my hands command ye me Whence we see how great a thing and acceptable to God Love is perfectly fulfilling the Law and all the Prophets require in order to the establishing of our Peace for he that loves all Men cannot reproach his Reproacher nor wilfully do evil unto him that doth evil unto him 8. Not bringing Reproach upon his Inwards or Warfare that is upon his Mind or Conscience in the Conflict between the Law of his Mind and the Law of his Members which is whilst we are fighting the good Fight to ascribe any part thereof to the Merit of our own Sword or Bow as the false Heart is apt to do And that which seems parallel to this in Psal 24. is Not lifting up his Soul to Vanity or a Lie For there is no Lie or Vanity like that which would ascribe the beating down of Satan our Enemy to its own Arm no greater Reproach to the Judg the Conscience which hath so often discovered and condemned the Infirmities and Vanities thereof This indeed is read otherwise by Interpreters namely reproach upon his Neighbour And tho the Sister-Text doth favour our reading yet lest I might seem to have transgressed in departing from the old footsteps I shall give some further Reasons and submit all to the correction of the Pious and Learned First It is manifest from all the Questions Who shall dwell and Applications in all the three Sister-Texts that the Duties required in the Answers are those essential Vertues which are the price of the immoveable and immortal Crown which indeed are such things as Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard nor hath entred into the Understanding of Man And therefore not reproaching a Neighbour being but a Moral Vertue known to all Men by the Light of Nature so expresly as debauched Man tho he do not practise it cannot blot it out I do not think it was the Prophet's most legitimate intention And furthermore because this whole Verse may be practised from a Natural Moral Principle by Men who yet may miss of immoveable Reward promised in the Close not that I deny that as Moral they are pleasing to God Secondly If we compare the first Clause of the Verse with this they differ little in words but in effect are the same For Thou shalt not backbite with thy Tongue and Thou shalt not reproach thy Neighbour are the same for tho thy Tongue is not expressed in the latter nor Neighbour in the former yet that both are necessarily understood is manifest because one is the Instrument of Backbiting the other the Object thereof without both of which it could not exist Reproach cannot be save by the Tongue nor can it be said we backbite any thing but a Man or a Neighbour for in Scripture-Language most usually by thy Neighbour every or any Man is meant So as so reading it is but a reduplication of the same which in Scripture which avoids Tautologies unnecessary Words or gingling Phrases is very rare and indeed I think never save for emphasy sake And therefore Gospel-Precepts which doubtless are the best and safest Interpreters of the Law Prophets avouching that the Graces accordingly as we express them are the price of immortal Life and the Hebrew it self according to the true legitimate root favours our reading as fully as the other and as I think more also I have adventured tho still confessing my self unskilful in the Sacred Tongue to depart from the trodden Path having this for my satisfaction that tho I may fall short of the pure Hebraism yet as long as I make it agree with a Gospel-Interpretation I cannot sow any dangerous or unwholesom Error but if any contend I shall submit 9. Of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have already said something namely that it is that intimate part in Man where God writes his Law and in which the Spirit of Man resideth which I take to be the Mind or Conscience where indeed the Law of God is writ and God vouchsafeth to converse with Man Again it signifies the middle of a thing or within because the Mind is the very middle Center or Life of the Soul sitting there as God's Vicegerent exhorting reproving accusing condemning or excusing in great Majesty and Authority for where the Answer of a good Conscience is who can condemn When it is wounded who can bear it As the Apostle saith Which shews the Work of the Law is written in their Hearts their Consciences witnessing with them and their Thoughts between or within themselves accusing or excusing one another Thirdly 'T is a Battel or Warfare shewing that the Mind or Conscience is the middle part or Lists wherein the Spiritual Warfare is fought which is very often taken notice of by the holy Writers as Paul saith I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind Which Law I take to
be the Law of God writ in my Conscience And again I take the Word in the Heart and Mouth to differ very little from the Law in the Mind namely that God speaks immediatly in the Mind the sound thereof goeth forth into the Heart writing the same Law there and the Tongue speaking according to the abundance of the Heart declareth the Law to the whole Man as conceived by the Heart So as the Line goeth forth through the whole Earth of the little World and where the Heart is faithful God dictates from the Mind it believeth unto Righteousness and the Mouth doth confess unto Salvation but where the Heart takes part with the sensual Part Satan prevails in that Warfare and the Voice of God from the Conscience becomes a severe Judg and Executioner Whence I understand this thus He that bringeth no Reproach upon his Mind nor whom his Conscience reproacheth not who brings no scandal upon his Warfare nor Captain-General our Lord but like a faithful stout Souldier followeth him wheresoever he goeth 10. Now this is the sixth Link of the same Chain for until we have learned to walk in Love not to reproach or do evil to them that revile us we cannot keep our Consciences free from Spots nor follow our Captain 's steps who when he was reviled reviled not again But for those so learned we are in a capacity of being enrolled in his Host by which we as yet may not conclude that all Tears are already wiped from our eyes but to hope that by our Faithfulness we are in a sure way of obtaining it but not without Bickerings and many Blows Thorns in the Flesh and Buffetings from our irreconcileable Enemy Satan whom yet at length God shall tread under our feet Now this Spiritual Warfare is the keeping a good Conscience and the preserving of it unspotted is the fighting this good Fight As Paul to Timothy 1 Tim. 16. This Charge I commit unto thee That thou by them mightest war a good Warfare holding Faith and a good Conscience And the Weapons thereof as he next sheweth Chap. 6.11 are Righteousness and Godliness by consumption Faith which is the Shield Love Patience and Meekness with which saith he Fight the good Fight of Faith lay hold on Eternal Life And the Enemies against which we are to fight are not only the Flesh and Blood but Principalities and Powers Rulers of Darkness Eph. 6.12 That is You are not only to strive against those Spiritual Lusts and Infirmities which proceed from the Flesh as common to all Men but also those Spiritual Evils of the Heart and Mind which Satan would ensnare you in Superstition Idolatry Dependencies in Duties in Angels Spirits of just Men or any Power in Heaven or in Earth which is under Christ our Sun and Shield For when the Soul will not be captivated by the Lusts of the Flesh Satan that he may not lose his possession will transform himself into an Angel of Light and will preach even from Scripture-Texts Spiritual Idolatry as he did to our Captain-General For setting him upon a Pinacle above the Temple and holy City which were Gospel-Types he takes a Text and produces a Promise wherein a great Christian Prerogative is contained and all to ensnare our Lord in presumptuous Sin If thou beest the Son of God cast thy self down for it is written He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee c. Now this is a Spiritual Wickedness because he ensnared therein abuseth Grace and Love from Heaven into Wantonness a sore Evil and frequent in our Days So when Satan would persuade to live upon the Bread of our own purveying and not of the Word made Flesh 't is one of his Strong-Holds against which we are to fight in the way and words of our Captain-General Man lives not by Bread onely c. And therefore the Apostle adds Take the whole Armour of God the Breast-plate of Righteousness Helmet of Salvation Sword of the Spirit Prayer and Supplication but above all the Shield of Faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery Darts of the wicked One That is will be able to preserve the Answer of a good Conscience from all Guilt which wounds it as a flaming Fire Again which helps to clear this our Exposition 2 Cor. 10.4 For tho we walk in the Flesh yet do not we war after the Flesh for the Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of Strong-Holds casting down Imaginations or Reasonings and every high thing that exalts it self against God and bringing into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ That is The Strong-Holds of Satan or Nature or whatsoever thing it be that would set up it self in our Hearts as a Mediator or Saviour or any way pretend to the Offices of our Lord must be utterly subdued and cast down Again 2 Tim. 2.4 Thus thou therefore endure Hardship as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ No Man that warreth intangleth himself with the Affairs of Life to the end he may please him who hath chosen him to be a Souldier And if a Man also strive for Masteries yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully Wherein again three Duties more are required in this Warfare First That he resolve to undergo all hardships and temptations the frost of Winter and heat of Summer want of Bread or Water in the Wilderness he must neither yield to the hardships of Legal Duties nor to the ease or pleasure of the Flesh Secondly He must not intangle himself with Martha in the Cares of this World but with Mary chuse the better Part or with Moses rather chuse to be afflicted with his Brethren and Fellow-Souldiers than to enjoy the Contents of a Carnal Life for a Season wholly give himself up to the Service of God who elected and called him to the War and be in all things obedient to his Captain And lastly He must strive lawfully not doing violence to any accusing no Man falsly nor murmuring at his hard Service and shortness of Pay but be content with such Wages and Rewards as God sees fit both when and how to give him and patiently wait for the Crown the final Reward neither must he break Parrole with an Enemy or tell a lie for the honour of his Captain because thereby he indeed defames him as if he could not conquer without Sin when indeed the end of the Warfare is by perfect Righteousness to subdue Sin and all its Supporters Lastly We shall add one Text more which shews the Reward of the Faithful Souldier 2 Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto every good Souldier of Jesus Christ Which agrees exactly with the intent of the Prophet for what Paul calls a Crown David
calls an immovable immortal Stability And indeed as in this so in all things they both mind the same thing their Weapons which David calls Integrity Tummim Righteousness Truth c. are the same with the Apostle's Armour of Righteousness Now therefore having found out what are the Weapons of this Warfare who the Enemies and what the strong Holds are which we are to subdue we shall now proceed to the manner of the War where first I say 't is perpetual from the day of a Believer's Call until his Consummation Secondly Universal in all Ages and to all the Elect. Lastly One Lord one Christ one Captain of Salvation unto all and as he was made perfect by Suffering so must all his Souldiers Now the first denouncing or proclaiming of this War was in the beginning of Time together with the first Promise of our Leader I will put enmity between thee and the Woman thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy Head thou shalt bruise his Heel Gen. 3.15 Therefore early and irreconcileable was this War and no Cessation of Arms or Parley until one become absolute Victor Also it produces various Successes for sometime the Serpent and his Angels shall prevail as Amalech did against Israel cutting off some of the hindermost weary and slothful but the end shall be the destroying the Beast and false Prophet and taking Captivity captive Lastly It is Universal as the Preacher saith Eccles 8.8 No Man hath power over the Spirit to retain it neither power in the day of Death nor no discharge from this Warfare neither shall wickedness deliver her espoused Ones for this is that Hour of temptation that shall come upon all Flesh and happy shall they be that keep the Word of his Patience 11. Now though the whole Life of a Christian is a perpetual Warfare as no wary Christian who hath made any competent Essays in following and imitating Christ can be ignorant yet are there some more notorious Conflicts and one above all most Certain and Critical Certain because it must come upon all Flesh Critical because none knows the day it shall come and yet according to the decision thereof the success of the future War dependeth and therefore the Magnum Oportet of the Gospel-Church for first there are warrings in the Soul when a Man is called from a natural to a spiritual Estate which at first is legal and again another War when from this legal State we pass over into a State of Grace which indeed is the great and critical Battel c. Lastly There is a perpetual War even under this state of Grace and all these are represented to us in Scripture The first in the case of the Chrildren of Israel the Elect Seed out of Bondage pleasures of the natural Life figured by Pharaoh and his Egyptians in which we are chiefly to contend with Flesh and Blood for as yet spiritual Wickednesses have not molested us because as long as Satan hath the Soul fast in those carnal Fetters he never once troubles it with the Baits of Superstition because his Snares of Lusts do more surely and deeply inthral and plung the Soul into that destruction he aims at and as Pharaoh Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so the carnal Powers and Wisdom of Man resists by crafty Sorceries the first breathings after God and so desireable is the vassalage of the Spirit of Nature whilst it serveth its Lusts as nothing can break its Chains but Plagues and Miracles from Heaven nor indeed until they be with Pharaoh sunk down into the bottom of the Sea And now here the Soul first inrolls it self as a Souldier in the Warfare of God and hence Jehovah is called The Lord of Hosts the Congregation of Israel the Hosts of God and the Books recording these Passages the Books of the Wars of God particularly mentioning what he did at the Red-Sea and Brooks of Arnon But yet this is not that inrolment which makes the true Souldier of Christ not a Volunteer serving freely and from Love but as I may say a Prest or Mercenary restrained and obedient through the severe Laws of Martial Discipline answering to a legal Obedience which yet in some manner happens even to all in our Gospel-Day for no Man upon his first inlightning becomes straitway a perfect Man of God but must bring it about by beating down one strong Hold after another for though the Power of the Law and the Sting of Death was taken away in Christ's Death yet still the Rule of Evangelical Obedience is to us a Law and as long as a Man legally or litterally obeys it or his false Heart perswades him that by the Works thereof he can work righteously or merit even so long is this Soul under a legal Yoke for what is not purely and simply of Grace that is legal for there is no medium betwixt these so as whilst a Man fights with the Spiritual Weapons legally he is but a legal mercenary Souldier which things by a Figure are represented to us by the Israelites often murmuring in the Wilderness clearly shewing they were led by a mercenary Spirit having their Desires fixed Moses Caleb and Joshua excepted upon the fertility and pleasure of the Promised Land and therefore upon any want of Food Water or the like were ready to forsake Moses the Type of Christ their Leader and to make themselves a Captain and return for Egypt as I fear many Gospel-Professors yet under legal hopes do who perceiving the great ease that Men of the World live under and finding themselves in their legal Performances under straits pinch'd with hunger and thirst and finding no saturity or peace of Mind in that way do again wish they could return to their natural Estate And that this Allegory is according to Truth the Apostle fully witnesseth for says he 1 Cor. 10.2 The Fathers were all baptized into Moses implying in the same similitude as we are into Christ with many of whom God was not well-pleased Now these things were our Greek A Type or Figure Ensamples c. vers 11. written for our admonition that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted not Idolaters not Superstitious not Fornicators not making the Ordinance of God an Idol not tempting of Christ not disponding that he will not or is not able to save in all straits for that which above all displeased God was that upon the return of their Spies they dispaired Moses or rather God was able to drive out their Enemies and give them possession of the promised Land which in all our murmurings ought to teach us that we ought not above all things to distrust our Captain as not able to bring us into the true Rest of God for hitherto God winked at their Rebellions but now sware in his Wrath They shall not enter into his Rest which therefore being a Figure unto us upon whom the ends of the * Gr. Ages World are come Therefore vers 12. let him that
to imitate in all for he not being called to that Trial tho he well knew he was to pass it before thirty years of Age he did not hast into it but was as Nature requires subject to his Mother and supposed Father Joseph and having received the Baptism of John and confirmation of his Witness This is he of whom I spake He that cometh after me c. And lastly a Testimony from the Father This is my beloved Son c. Yet did he not straitway challenge Satan to the Combat but stayed till he was led or as St. Mark hath it driven or compelled by the Spirit to be tempted of the Devil So as from his example we must not thrust our selves upon this Trial until a certain spiritual Compulsion impose it And the like we are taught by a Figure from those Israelites who first murmured because they thought the War was too hard for them but after finding God was angry at their diffidence then they would make their Peace with a presumptuous Attempt before their Call to it and were smitten and pursued unto Hormah by interpretation a cursed thing So as it is desperate to thrust our selves upon this good Fight that is to hasten out of our Legal and Wilderness-Estate until Christ leads and by a certain Spiritual Enforcement drives us unto it 16. But now to discern the time I say when a faithful Servant of Christ begins to perceive in the Inwards of his Mind that he doth not find that lively Relish Peace and Comfort in hearing the Word Prayer and other Duties as formerly he was wont I counsel him straightway to call his Heart under strict examination and betimes to be careful he bring not reproach upon his Conscience for some great matter is at hand either for better or worse And first let him enquire upon this account whether his Soul grow heavy and slothful in his wonted Performances without any trouble from his Conscience And if he do let him be assured it is of Satan who hath gotten a desperate advantage against him and if he beware not will bring him back to Egypt before he is aware and his latter end shall be worse than the beginning But if on the contrary he finds that in this juncture his Hungers and Thirsts after Righteousness encrease and his Desire to Duties and Love to his Brethren faint not then may he hope it is of Christ who now is ready to lead him forth to the Trial of his Faith whereof he may be further assured if he straight shall perceive disorder in his Soul and Mind that is to say Warrings and rumors of Wars For now shall his Heart charge the Conscience that its Government is too rigid and severe that it the Heart hath done all its Commands with faithfulness and yet cannot procure one smiling Look from it And the Conscience shall charge the Heart that it reserves still some hypocritical Corner and darling Sin in a dark place and therefore threatens it with the Law And in the mean time a Thorn in both and a certain Irksomness and fore-dooming in the whole Houshold that Wrath is at hand Persuasion rising against Persuasion and Duty against Duty one charging another with the cause of this Disturbance Faith says Thou hast neglected me and doted upon Works and Duties and Works say No but Sloth in Duty and Alms hath brought these Evils upon us and Prayer says If thou hadst been fervent in my way none of these things had befallen us And this as our Lord foretold is the beginning of Sorrows In the mean while the hungry thirsting Soul is ready to try all ways but if it say with it self 'T was Unbelief and I will now believe it will find no footing for Faith but Distrust increasing If it say My Duties have been few but now I will hear and pray twice for my former once it will be in fact easy to do so but they shall not satiate because he grounds upon a Spiritual Delusion believing that he hath it in his own Fingers by Works to save himself Now if the Soul finding it felf frustrated be convinced that Man lives not by Bread only but by the Word made Flesh a Spiritual Strong-Hold is beaten down and Christ hath got his end But seldom is Satan so easily cast forth and therefore the hungry Soul straight flies to another Delusion namely That it heard not with that attention and diligence it ought to have done Which is a most just Charge upon all and perhaps proceeds from Christ who is now watchful over it for indeed it points at that Confession and Self-condemnation which is the root of the Matter yet still hath a secret implication that it is in a Man's Power to hear with such diligence as may accomplish Peace But upon trial finding that he cannot so set and fix his Heart but it will run after its imaginations in two minutes forgetting its last good resolutions yea perhaps may in the middle of the next Duty fall asleep and he in vain seeks to rouze it up or yet as it happened to the Apostles even in the Combat of our Lord when he bad them watch with him the natural Eyes so heavy as the Soul in all its Vertues cannot persuade them to watch one hour with it Now again if upon this Conviction the Soul concludes 't is a weak unworthy Hearer and cannot hear as it ought unless Christ vouchsafe to hear in it then shall it raze to the ground one of Satan's Master-pieces a Fort-Royal And this may happen in part in a pliant and gracious Soul Yet not usually is the proud Heart of Man so easily humbled but having drawn it in from the Breast of its first Mother will thrust its own Fault upon another Either the Preacher spake not in Spirit and in Life or the Prayer was not lively or Text not well chosen seeing says it I went with a prepared Heart it could not have been if he had spoken to it that such a Sloth could have befallen me and therefore I will go hear another but tho thou change ten times yet assure thy self as long as thou layest the blame here or upon any but thy self thou shalt not tho an Angel preach to thee hear with comfort This therefore being found Vanity and vexation of Spirit the hungry Soul casts about again saying Surely the Ordinances are not rightly administred either the Minister is not rightly called or his laying on by hands was not Orthodox as the Apostles appointed or he is not gifted for the Ministry or the Ordinance it self is not administred in the right Form Now in this as in many of the former there may be a certain truth because these have been and still are disposed for private ends gain and self-interest made sale of even at Simon Magus's price and may call for reformation But to apply it to the present Crisis I say tho these should be reformed to the exact Rule of the Apostles yet
thee but forgetting things Above thou hast set thy self in the earnest pursuit of these beggarly shadows of Happiness prizing a moment of false Pleasure more than an Eternity of true Joys Was it not of Mercy therefore to reprove thee and stop thy career to utter Perdition and could I do it with more tenderness than by hedging in thy ways that thou mightest not follow thy Paramours in whom thou vainly trustedst but being forsaken and left comfortless by them thou mightest hope for no Peace in any but my Father who hath loved thee and now hath sent me to speak to thy Heart And for the truth of these things I upbraid thee with let thy Conscience and Inwards give record let them also tell thee if he hath not dealt with thee in great Love And as for me knowst thou not that for thy sake I left my Heavenly Mansion put on the form of a Servant and died an ignominious Death and can greater Love be shewn than for a Man to lay down his Life for his Friends Have I not in my wounded Side hid thy Life from the Avenger and secured thy Soul's fair hope and heap of Treasure there so that thou couldest not finger or imbezil it among thy Paramours as the Prodigal did his Portion Now therefore because hearing of me by the Ear was not enough to perswade thee I now manifest my self to thine Eye that thou mayest perceive thou art poor and naked destitute and hitherto blind and counsel thee to cast away thy rotten Rags and to take of me Gold tried in the Fire for where I love I rebuke and to humble thy self before my Father for the Humble he loveth and the Meek and poor in Spirit are his delight but the proud haughty Merit-monger his Soul abhorreth and therefore he killeth that he may make alive he bringeth to the Pit that he may raise up the Beggar he lifteth up from the Dunghil that he may set him among free-born Princes Remember therefore the Battel and do no more and Me even Me he hath anointed to preach good Tidings to proclaim to Mourners and them sitting in Darkness and shadow of Condemnation the acceptable change 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Lord and if thou art one of these thou art one of mine and I will not lose one of them nor leave a Hoof belonging to them behind me but will give thee Beauty for Ashes Oil of Joy for Mourning a Garment of Praise for Heaviness And now I say If this Soul shall not reproach its Captain and Shepherd and without wrong to its Inwards say with Job I see thou knowest all things no Thought is hid from thee for the very Deceits of my Heart which I saw not thou hast ripped up I have bin proud and foolish uttering what I knew not I formerly heard of thee by the Ear but now my Eye seeth thee full of Grace and Truth yea my hands seem to handle thee as it were the Word of God made Flesh And therefore I abhor my self and repent in Dust and Ashes Lord I believe help thou mine Unbelief I say whilst it is even yet speaking its Darkness shall be made Light and its Mourning turned into Joy But the Soul that will not hear but still runs after its own beggarly Superstitious Righteousness it shall lie down in Sorrow as it is written Who among you feareth the Lord that obeyeth the Voice of his Servant yet walketh in Darkness and hath no Light Let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Behold all ye that kindle a Fire compassed in Sparks walk in the Light of your Fire and in the Sparks you have kindled This shall ye have of my Hand in Sorrow ye shall lie down 18. Now touching these things I know well they shall sound to some as Romances or as a Tale that is told for how shall he that hath seared his Conscience beating the broad way without remorse perceive those Warrings which are between the Law of the Mind and Members But there may be some who love Christ and are Friends to his Cross who may not be able to take a right measure thereof for tho 't is in every Mouth Let us take up the Cross and follow Christ into his Death yet all have not learned what that Cross and Death is but esteem such worldly Afflictions as are common to all Men a part thereof bewraying a carnal Perswasion in themselves that to have a share in the Riches and Honour of this World is part of God's Covenant and Promise and therefore if any outward Cross befal them and they take it patiently they think the Promise due to the Cross of Christ is theirs when indeed they have suffered nothing but what all Men as well they who swear as they who fear an Oath receive from the common Events of Nature and indeed are far distant from the true death of the Cross For tho they that with Mary have chosen the better part have much freed themselves from such Incumbrances as the Worldly Cross brings yet neither Mary nor any other Saint is free from the Real Cross of our Lord for the wise Man in respect of Nature doth he not die as the Fool and one event unto all Is not Sickness Poverty loss of Goods by Land or Sea the lot of all walking in this Vale of Tears Are not the Wife Son Brother or Friend of the Just Man mortal as well as of the Unjust And therefore for a Professor to hope that he or his should be by a Miracle freed from common Calamities were proud and presumptuous for his Hopes must be because he thinks himself more Righteous than others and deserves better things at God's Hand which is before the Holy God as a Sacrifice of Swines Blood Wherefore I say That Cross which is the common Fate of all Men is not the Cross of Christ First Because most of these Crosses were incompatible with the Natural Life of Christ for he who lives above all natural Concernments is above the Cross of Nature and therefore no such Cross could befal Christ except indeed the Death of the Body be a part thereof but what is the true Cross he took and bare in the fulness thereof and the like must all they that follow him in their measure do as he taught Luke 9.23 And he said to them all If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow me for who so will save his Life shall lose it but whoso will lose his Life for my sake shall save it Secondly I say the worldly Cross which befalleth Reprobates as well as Elect cannot be Christ's Cross because to it the Promise of Eternal Life belongs in which the Reprobates have no right and therefore such things as the Regenerate have in common with natural Men cannot be the Holy Cross Yet do I not hence affirm that this Cross shall not fall upon the Wicked
and Performances in his own right are Loss and Dung even as the Blood of a dead Man And finally be left so desolate as he may cry out with our Lord My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me before he can perfect the Work of the Cross for this is to die with Christ And indeed so terrible is it as if he had not both opened and made easy the Way and is still at hand to help in the hour of Distress there were no Flesh that could abide it 19. Now in general this is the Warfare but happens in divers manners and degrees for some perish in the way others scape through great Terrors and Amazements some only mourn so as if they rejoiced but none without some throws Again in some it makes a quicker and fuller Work in others a partial and intermitting yet shall not these be less precious in the sight of God but the first shall be last and the last shall be first For it is not in the Will of any Man to make this War longer or shorter total or partial because this is the Warfare that no Man can undertake at his own charge nor may rush into it as a Horse into Battel nor seek or provoke his Enemy till Christ lead him forth for in so doing he goes in his own strength runs into Temptations of his own procuring and is sure to suffer Loss For as in Martial Discipline some Souldiers are ordered for the Field some for Garrisons and some to abide by the Stuff and none may without License depart from his Post nor may at his list go upon forlorn Hopes and yet at the end every one shall receive equal Pay and share in the Prizes So also in the Spiritual War For as it is written God will not suffer any of his to be tempted above what they are able to bear and therefore in great Wisdom and Love he appoints to every one that Armour and Service he is fittest for and to be faithful therein is enough For if two Talents be given but four will be required and where five are given less than ten will not make up the expected Account For if one be placed upon a high and safe Tower and his Orders are only to watch diligently because therein the safety of many depends it sufficeth that he do so in sfety while others are in hazard But if to another it be said In the Defence of this Pass or Breach the safety of the Army depends and thou being a Man of Strength and Virtue I commit it to thy Charge and require thee to keep it unto uttermost hazard of thy self surely not either to keep it or receive deep Wounds deserveth Death And therefore 't is not in Man to order this War as he liketh or to make it easy or hard but to take as God disposeth it better or worse not prying into the nakedness of a Seal or Sign but as Christ discovers it by his withdrawing his appearance in them yea and then to beware he deride not at them as Cham the Father of Egypt did at the nakedness of his Father the Preacher of Righteousness lest his Curse follow but to cover them with Shem and reap his Blessing For tho it satiate not yet hath the Command put upon it a reverential Fear requiring Obedience Keep saith Solomon the Word of the King because of the Word of the Oath of God Be not hasty to go from his Presence for he doth what he pleaseth who may say to him What dost thou Who keeps the Commandment shall know no evil and the Wise of Heart discerneth Time and Judgment for to every good Will there is a set Time and Judgment But when it the Judgment shall be he knoweth not for who can tell when it shall be No Man hath Power over the Spirit to restrain the Spirit neither Power in the Day of Death neither dismission from the Warfare neither shall Impiety or Superstition or Presumption upon Grace deliver her Espoused So as every good Will of God is holy in its season and we may not say This or that is naked or unprofitable why hast thou commanded it For in so doing we despise that which God hath predestinated as the Means of our Salvation neither when they satiate not may we esteem them as abolished things to us neither tho slain by the Beast and their dead Bodies lie in the Tents of Cham which is Spiritual Sodom and Egypt ought we to rejoice as delivered from their Yoak for they shall live again for it is not the Ordinance but the Idolatrous using that shall perish for the word is Do these things until I come And no Power or Principality in Heaven or in Earth can abolish any Decree of God save the same good Will that gave it and therefore haste thou not out of the presence of the King but in awful reverence fear before him for indeed this is no other than the Legal School-Master that brings to the Yoak which is easy and Burthen that is light For surely no Man at his first Obedience to the Call of God doth straightways arrive at the new Birth or is made free in that Freedom in which the Spirit maketh free but sets forth in bondage to Ordinances which God winketh at permitting the Soul to be eager therein until he sees the fit time of thrusting Thorns into its Flesh and so by piece-meal levels the Pride thereof For so incident it is to Flesh and Blood to make Reason the Interpreter of the Command and so naturally it falls in with it to believe God cannot be pleased without working of Righteousness and Merit according to its own Interpretation of the Rule that the Soul will not be beaten out of this way until full Experience hath convinced it which Experience must arise from many zealous Essays made and the Conviction from the Ineffectualness of the Essays and the Ineffectualness from Christ's hiding the Ordinance And hence it is that where zealous Performances are not there can be no Conviction and therefore 't is most necessary that the Soul should be zealous in them until this Conviction be wrought which as I said cannot be till Christ be withdrawn out of them and the Flesh be pierced with many Sorrows And hence also it comes to pass that no Man can come to this Warfare before Christ lead him nor make it total as he pleaseth For seeing God will not suffer any Man to be tempted above what he is able to bear and some are weaker than others it often falls out that the Warfare is begun in one Ordinance and that least weighty to the end the Soul may be initiated and trained up to harder Service and this being well fought that is the Legal Use gently resigned and Spiritual enforced God may either presently or after a long Interval and Refreshment call it to another and another as he sees best and happy is it for poor Adam that he hath taken the Management into
honour thy Father and Mother is fully required and if any other be less manifestly commanded yet it is in the general implied for Christ came not to take away any one but to fulfil all But some may then say How is the heavy Yoak we nor our Fathers were able to bear taken away How is Christ's Yoak easy and Burden light Or what profit is the Gospel To this I reply Much every way For first we are set free from Circumcision which alone was a grievous Yoak and all the Ceremonial Law which in the whole Bulk was heavy But verily if this were all the advantage would be but small but our great Charter is that we are freed from the Power and Condemnation of the Law For of old it was Do this and live and now Believe and live yet not so to believe as to forgo Obedience in what we are able but having done all we can and through Infirmity falling short we have a way opened to lay hold on the Righteousness of Christ to fill up what on our part lacketh And then it is no more we that disobey but Sin that dwelleth in us because we do that which we would not as it is writ For we know the Law is spiritual but I am carnal for that which I do I allow not If then I do that which I would not I consent not only that there is a Law but that it is good and I ought to perform it Now then as long as I break the Law but strive to fulfill it it is no more I that do it but Sin that dwelleth in me For I delight in the Law of God after the Inward Man But I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind So then with the Mind I serve the Law of God but with the Flesh the Law of Sin From whence it is manifest we are under a Service to a Law and that that Law is of God spiritual and holy also that it remains as the second part of our Warfare in obedience to this Law to resist the Law in our Members Now if any shall think this is not the Law I see not any cause why we should contend only this I affirm that this new Commandment differs no otherwise from the old save that it requires a more full Obedience and is larger making that Sin which before was not as is said before Again I say if there be no Law then are all Men lawless and without Sin for no Law no Transgression and if without Sin what need of Grace or a Mediator or Faith And therefore all Perswasions of this kind ought to be rejected for altho their Rise may be from a desire to give to Grace the Honour due to it yet gathering Strength it unhingeth the Mind from close Obedience opens a way to undermine reverential Fear of God and to let loose the Flesh to a dissolute Life and Grace in such a Vessel is like a Jewel in a Swine's Snout now returning to his wallowing in the Puddle of Licentiousness Again another Advantage is That through Grace we have the Holy-Ghost the Comforter leading into all Truth and bearing witness with us that we are the Sons of God which the Patriarchs had not For tho the holy Men of old spake as the Holy-Ghost inspired them yet that was but to a few but now is to the whole Church and not to them neither in the full effects of a Witness and Comforter as now for saith our Lord If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you And besides these there are sundry other Advantages mentioned before A Son instead of a Servant an everlasting Priesthood instead of a temporary the Church of the First-born instead of a Mount burning with Fire Wherefore the Sum of all is this When any of the Fathers sinned against the Law then in Power they had no Mediator at hand but only one in the Promise afar off in which through Faith they obtained a good Report yet could not be perfect without us But if any now set up the Law in its power and sin against it he hath no Mediator nor Hope afar off because the first Promise is fulfilled and no other to come in which he may believe but if he only take the Law as a Rule of Obedience and believe in the Grace already come if through Infirmity he sin he hath a Mediator ready If his own Heart condemn him God is greater than his Heart faithful and just to forgive Sin If he have a Thorn in the Flesh or be buffeted by the Messenger of Satan and seek to him he hath his Promise that his Grace is sufficient for him But I say if we walk without all Law shall we not walk according to the Flesh And what hath the Flesh to do with the heavenly Gift 3. Wherefore hitherto the Soul wrought Righteousness by consumption and descent like Naomi who went out full but returned empty and bitter Call me not Naomi but Mara For upon Vocation it sets forth in hopes of the Promise according to its own construction and of performing all Duties in its own Wisdom and Strength but now returns naked with Job and humbled with the Prodigal Dust and Ashes no more worthy to be called a Son and now bringing along with it the Graces formerly learnt it begins to build anew upon this Foundation contemned and despised in its own Eyes A Lesson so fundamental as never to be forgotten and the rather because it is so incident to Mankind upon the least Gale of Prosperity to be puffed up Now this Foundation being laid there straight springs up an Off-spring of lovely Sister-Vertues Humility Meekness of Spirit Patience Mercy and Temperance which are like Clouds and Shadows by day to the Soul when it comes into the full Shine of Grace The Apostle hath this Passage And not only so but we glory in Tribulation knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience Patience Experience Experience Hope and Hope maketh not ashamed because the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy-Ghost that is given us Which Text in a harmonious gradation of which the good Fight is the first Step teacheth in what order other Graces succeed until Love the top-stone of the Fabrick be accomplished For this Tribulation is that which happens in the Warfare namely the Straitness and Confusion our afflicting Friend lays upon us in the day of Trial weaning us from the World begets Patience under which the whole Sisterhood Contempt of our selves Humility Meekness are comprehended for Patience is a meek waiting and a meek waiting is Patience and where these are Humility Mercy Temperance cannot be far off Now saith he these lead on to Experience under which are all the species of holy Knowledg contained which are by Adoption the first Stone of which is laid when the Soul hath found by the Work wrought in it that Christ hath been gracious to it namely That from Conviction of
Death he hath raised it into a Capacity of Life Which Experience worketh Hope and Experiences multiplied strengthen Faith and give assurance as David I have slain a Lion and a Bear God helped me in both and so he will against this Philistine And now the Soul begins to be a stout Champion and ready to say I have found by experience the Lord is on my side I will not fear what Man can do unto me And lastly this well-grounded Assurance like Oil supples the Heart and the Holy-Ghost diffuseth Love into it And thus Tribulation builds up Love the Top-stone ever And that this Self-contempt is the right Foundation is manifest from Christ the Corner-Stone of the Universal Church for he was the Contempt of Men His Visage saith the Prophet so marred more than any Man and his Form more than the Sons of Men despised rejected of Men no Form or Comeliness a Man of Sorrows c. And thus the Jews said of him Is not this the Carpenter's Son Are not his Brethren with us And they despised him Yea and according to this Scripture he in all things humbled himself making Fishermen Publicans and Children his Companions Now none are poorer than Fishers none more despised than Publicans nor none more simple than Children yet upon twelve such Pillars he founded his Church And hence Paul We are made the Filth of the World and Offscouring of all things And assuredly thus must every one be in his own Eyes before Christ can be born and crucified in him and the Birth of a new Creature consummated 4. And now to add a few words of those lovely Sisters which hence take their Original I say they are the very Balast of the Soul in this second Warfare And first touching Humility It is mighty in virtue as well under the former as latter Warfare for under the Law it helps to undermine the Pride of the Heart and boasting of the Tongue and in the Gospel it prepares the Soul to hear and receive the glad Tidings of Grace Indeed under the Law it grows and is made perfect and in the Gospel's breaking forth it is the Foundation upon which Grace builds and the Soul works it self upwards In confirmation of which divers Scriptures concur 1 Pet. 5.5 Yea all of you be subject one to another and be cloathed with Humility for God resisteth the Proud and giveth Grace to the Humble Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Which well agrees with the frequent Doctrine of our Saviour He that is greatest among you let him be Servant of all Mat. 18.4 23.11 Mark 9.35 Luke 14.11 18.14 So Jam. 4.10 Humble you selves in the sight of God and he shall lift you up Prov. 29.23 A Man's Pride shall bring him low but Honour shall uphold the Humble in Spirit So also Chap. 15.33 18.12 22.4 So that for a Man to be wasted and vile in his own Eyes is to be humble and to be humble is to be in the way of Exaltation and Ascension into the Image of our Saviour 5. But here it is to be observed that it is not all kind of Humility that pleaseth God namely not that which the Apostle calls Voluntary and is two-fold one in the neglect of the Body in Meats Drinks Apparel and sometimes imposing upon it more than a merciful Man would do to his Beast which things indeed have a shew of Wisdom in Win-worship and Humility and neglecting of the Body but not in any honour for the satisfying of the Flesh Col. 2.18 23. that is not humbling it by such an affective Humility as goes before Honour or depresseth the Body so as God will therefore make it full and exalt it for the excellency of the Body is not in being beaten down with long Fastings Perigrinations and voluntary Afflictions impoverishing it in the denial of such necessaries as are not forbidden in the Rule of Obedience indeed it is a Duty to restrain it from all excess and that with a strict hand because in its own nature 't is a licentious Beast and may if not kept under enter into Warfare with thee and therefore to curb it and keep it under as Paul did when it dares contend against the Rule is necessary but what is more than this is to bruise and break it and is of sin a voluntary Humility an Invention of thy own a Service not required at thy hands and indeed not true Humility but the effect of a proud heart boasting in Self-Righteousness as if it would do all and yet more than the Rule requires when indeed it can do no good thing for the Body is a Creature of God and therefore good and owes a Duty in its Generation which is good also and therefore its Mouth ought not to be musled while it treads out the Corn indeed it is in its right use the Ass of the Soul and ought to carry it to and fro and do all its grosser work for without it the Soul cannot perform the Ministry of its Generation either to God Neighbour or Nature Therefore as Christ rid upon an Ass in triumph to Jerusalem so ought the Soul to ride upon the Body towards its Hosanna and as that was deekt with Garments its Way spread with Palm-Branches so ought this to be decently provided for and from hence says Solomon Eccles 9.8 Let thy Garments be white always and let thy Head want no Oil that is keep thy Body in innocent chearfulness Furthermore it 's manifest from Scripture that the Body is capable of giving and receiving Divine Honour Phil. 1.20 So that as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by Life or by Death And again Phil. 3.21 Who shall change our vile Body that it may be fashion'd like unto his glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Which Scripture is of great Mystery and plainly implies That Christ hath a work upon our Bodies for Glory to be effected in that same operation he subdues and conquers all things to himself which Conquest is the very consummation of that Work for which he took upon him our Flesh Nature and Body 1 Cor. 15.27 and which God prepared for him that thereby he might work upon and change our Bodies namely those vile in their own eyes into his Image and by that Conquest may conquer all things to himself for without doubt when the first Earth was in its deformity Tohu and Bohu even then a precious Seed of the Election of Grace was in that sensless confusion but yet even then it was in the fore-knowledg of God and under the decree of his Will when and how it should be called cleansed sanctified and glorified the first step to which was to give it a Body a Soul and a Spirit as it is written Gen. 2.7 And the Lord formed Man out of the Dust of the Ground
count them happy which endure ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that is Patience will make you strong to endure to the end and see wherefore God gave Job Afflictions and Patience namely that he might be perfect lacking nothing Again our Lord speaking of the Great Trial saith In your patience possess your own Souls implying that the hasty and impatient of Spirit over-runs or leaps out of his Soul leaving it to be possessed of Anger Revenge Murmurings and such like brutish Passions But Patience keepeth the possession thereof in meekness and submission to the good pleasure of God so as Patience is one of the seven Pillars of our Warfare cementing and knitting together our Joints that we may stand under the Cross and lastly cryeth Grace Grace to the top Stone of the Building and therefore is the beginning and consummation of the Perfection of that Obedience that Man oweth to his Maker 8. The last of this beautiful Sisterhood is Mercy which is indeed rather two than one The first altogether Divine ever gracious and serene in countenance always present with the most High and dwelleth not in Houses of Clay but so propitious as it is always looking down upon the Sons of Men and so bountiful as there are none who have not tasted of its tenderness but our Subject leading to such Vertues as vouchsafe to dwell on Earth we shall pass this over The other also is of Heavenly Seed begot by the same Father but born of a Mother sprung from the Womb of Sarah to the end it might pitch its Tent among Men and instruct them to imitate the Father of all in Love Patience Long-suffering and pity towards all Men but especially to the Poor Hungry Naked or under Tribulation or Wants and also to minister in agreeable Supplies to them and therefore is of larger Heart and Arms than her other Sisters for whilst they only take care of things for the Family at Home this like it's Father in liberality careth for and extends its Goodness into every corner of the Land for it is the Mother of Charity and Founderess of Hospitals and Alms-Houses Yet if we consider it in reference to her Mother's House it is but of low and despised Parentage for the Seed thereof is vileness and contempt in its own Eyes For until the Soul hath fully learned by sure experience what need it stands of that Mercy which dwells above it can never be perfect in its Duty beneath because that is the Key that openeth its Bowels towards others and therefore our Lord that he might be perfect in all things touching our Redemption vouchsafed to take such a state upon him as stood in need of Mercy from above as it is written He took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham for in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a merciful and a faithful High Priest for in that he suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted so as by suffering under the Cross Christ learned this Vertue and so must we Eminent also is it amongst Graces drawing upon it self all the sweet and comfortable Blessings its Heavenly Sister hath prepared above as our Lord saith Blessed are the Merciful on Earth for they shall find Mercy from Heaven And so our Psalmist With the Merciful thou God wilt shew thy self merciful And again The Righteous is ever merciful and lendeth and his Seed is blessed so as Heavenly Gifts Blessings are intailed-Rewards upon the Merciful upon Earth It was well said of the Heathen Orator It shall never repent thee that thou hast shewn Mercy when it was in thy power to have executed Revenge Again saith Solomon He that is merciful doth good to as if he would say have mercy upon his own Soul Our Lord also enjoyneth it in these pressing words Love your Enemies do good and lend hoping for nothing and ye shall be the Children of the most High for he is kind to the unthankful and evil be ye therefore merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful So that to be merciful on Earth as God is in Heaven is to love to do good to lend and expect nothing to be kind to the Unthankful and Evil and the Reward is to be the Children of the most High Again in reproof to the Pharisees They that are whole need not a Physician go and learn what this meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice where Mercy is preferred to the Rule of commanded Duties under the Law and doubtless also in our day to those Gospel-Duties which in the Divine Allegory are figured by Sacrifices And in another place Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees ye pay tithe of Mint Annise and Cummin but have omitted the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith 9. And now here to express my own Doubts I fear lest some of us nay indeed all in some degree do even as the Scribes did too slightly pass over these more substantial parts of Holy Duties and put too much weight upon a formal hearing or reading of the Word and Prayers oft I fear used more out of custom than a gracious sence of our own Spiritual Wants as if in these the Sinews of Religion consisted when indeed they are but preparatory Means and supporting helps in and for our fuller and stedfaster performance of the other for we ought not to hear for hearingsake or to spend one day in seven in a solemn meeting together with the old leven of Malice and lustings of the Flesh in our Hearts But the great ends of Hearing is first That we believe in the Promises for Faith comes by hearing Another end of Hearing is That we may be instructed from the Word in the Vertues Graces and Duties God requires at our Hands which are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance against which there is no Law And again Add to Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledg Temperance Patience Goodness Brotherly-Kindness Charity for if these things abound they make that we shall neither be barren or unfruitful and to these we need not add Humility and Mercy because in them they are fully complexed so that we hear not that we may be present at the Duty or as if in it the measure of our Righteousness were fulfilled but we hear that we may learn the Promises and we learn them that we may believe and obtain Faith which is a Master-Builder and also that we may know what those Graces are in which Faith is made perfect which is this Sisterhood for Faith is not perfect until so meek and humble as it sees all Duties yea Vertues and it Self too vile in its own eyes and be so established in Promises and Experiences as stedfastly and without wavering it believeth that Christ is able to save to the uttermost and willing to do it for all that so
than a Teacher abounding more in Alms in Charity in washing of the Feet of the Saints and those other Vertues which will not suffer her to be barren in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ than a Master in Arts yet is not skilful in the greater Mysteries of Redemption but well skilled in a naked Christ and in chearful Obedience freely cast in her two Mites into his Treasury and consequently gives more than many others of far greater Abilities 17. And now the consideration of this reneweth upon us the great Commandment of Love more strongly than before For it is not enough only to love but also to honour And what then shall we say of our selves if we convert Honour into Dishonour and Love into Hatred Persecutions Envyings Defamations May not two of different Minds or Ways in many things both fear the Lord And shall that difference which is not manifestly decided in the Word but from the doubtfulness thereof and abilities of the Professors springs up into two Opinions break this so positive and often enforced a Command of Honour and Love Whence is it that some doubt in Mind touching the Service of God Is it not for fear of offending And is not that Fear rooted in the Fear of God How then shall we persecute and compel a Doubter seeing it is also a plain Text He that doubteth is damned because it is not of Faith Neither surely doth this Text need an Interpreter When ye so sin against your Brethren and wound their weak Consciences ye sin against Christ Canst thou give Bail for the Sin of another drawn into the Offence by thy means Canst thou bring back thy weak Brother for whom Christ died and is now perished by thy inducement If thou canst not who will plead thy Cause In what City of Refuge wilt thou hide thy Head from the Avenger of Blood Shall it not be less tolerable for thee than for him in the Day of Judgment And therefore I judg it a safe and excellent Rule Honour them that fear the Lord. 18. Here another Query offers namely Seeing this Fear Jara is an initiating Grace so necessary through the whole Warfare as without it no attaining of the immoveable State why the Psalmist did not at first require it and impose it as a Requisite To which I answer Tho it is not expresly named yet it is fully required for if it make every poor Cottage of Clay honourable where it is found much more is it self honourable and desirable If it was gross Idolatry in the Pharisees to prefer the Gold to the Temple and Gift to the Altar because those were the Sanctifiers and these but sanctified by them it is without controversy that the Gift which maketh honourable is more honourable than the thing by it made honourable Secondly The reason why it was not before required was not because it was not of special use before for as the Apostle hints all godly Conversation ought to be coupled with Fear and which is more our Obedience is vain without it our Warfare must miscarry and we left without the Seal of Sonship But because that even now a time draws near wherein its Master-piece-Service will be required And again because it now ought to appear in a renewed or rather regenerated State dying to tormenting Fear and living in the Love of Christ For in this great Crisis of our dying with Christ he makes all things new and not only so but he permits Satan to send for his Principalities of Darkness in new counterfeit Angels of Light For under the Legal State whilst it was Do this and live his Text was Live upon carnal Ordinances Stones made Bread and not to have regard to the Words or Spirit proceeding out of the Mouth of God but to walk on confidently and without fear in the Merits of his own Arm like the rich Man Soul take thy rest But now these Strong-holds being broken down he flies to a new Text teaching free Grace to Security and Presumption Fear not to dash thy Foot against a Stone for Angels shall bear thee up And now against this regenerate or Gospel-Fear which takes more of Love is the best Weapon for verily under the Law this Fear did oft-times put on frowardness and when Satan persuaded Confidence in superstitious Works and posted on to Idolatry this Fear armed the Conscience and it thrust thorns into the Flesh resisting the Pride thereof and convincing it was not able to perform what was required and consequently urged it to such Duties of Humiliation and Contrition as the Law required and still wrought more by fear and terror of Evil and Judgment to come than by the more gentle and noble Principles of Love But now the Table 's turned the whole Man and Pride of the Flesh become vile in its own eyes Do this and live abolished and in place thereof Believe and be saved and a Canopy of Love spread over them Satan also changes the Weapons of his Assault for if in the way of his old Deceit he should say Do and live one Whisper of free Grace would have rendred his Temptation ridiculous if he should sollicit the Arm of Flesh to buckle on its Armor again it would cry out O thou Deceiver from the beginning I am bruised and broken in thy Service I am less than a Worm And therefore he now comes in a new Disguise knowing his former Visage was discovered-and detested instead of Do and live he saith Stand still and live and for Work out thy Salvation by thine own Arm Work not at all thy doing and working is rotten and filthy they contaminate and hinder the work of the Spirit in thee sit still and let Grace make a perfect Work And now I say is the time that the regenerated Fear of God girds up its Loins to resist this Hypocritical Mocker with its two-edged Sword Legal and Evangelical threatning and entreating How darest thou O Worm as thou knowest thou art tempt the Lord thy God whom by late experience thou perceivest is a consuming Fire How canst thou hope for Salvation without giving all diligence to make thy Election sure in fear and reverence Then turning the other Edg I grant as the Tempter said Do and live is abolished but consider who brought it about if it was it self then go on and boast but if it was another then forget not how from thee a perishing Wretch he took that heavy Burthen which pressed thee deep as Hell and laid upon thee another which was easy and light and wilt thou not bear it for his sake Consider how he raised thee from Death and made thy dead Carcase a living Member of himself and wilt thou take his Members and make them the Members of an Harlot in Sloth and Lust If he hath given thee much dost therefore owe him less If all thy legal and painful diligence could not deliver thee will Abuse of Grace and Contempt of thy Deliverer carry thee to the far end
Watchmen wake if the Lord do not keep the City 10. And now this I say is the Spiritual Wickedness which in this Warfare we are to contend against but yet are not to expect it now in that great and terrible manner as here it is described because he here speaks of it as it shall appear in the day of Christ's coming to take vengeance of the Man of Sin then to be revealed and also as it shall fall upon the Universal Church of God in the full Spirit and Strength of this Delusion And therefore he vers 2. bidds them not be shaken in Mind or troubled as if the Day of Christ were at hand of which more by and by which I take it is the same spoken of Rev. chap. 19 20. touching the Battel of Gog and Destruction of the false Prophet the Spirit of Delusion working the Signs and lying Wonders mentioned by Paul Vers 9 c. But that we speak of is as it doth fall upon particular Saints and Churches according to the measure of the Spirit of Delusion as it is already come for in early days it set forth as is written 1 John 4.3 2 Thess 2.7 Whereof ye have heard that it should come and even now already it is in the World But of this universal we shall add no more save that the particular works in the same express manner but in all respects in a much fainter measure If there was there a falling away first a shaking in Mind and revelation of the Son of Perdition so here also must be as it were a little Wheel within a great Wheel For as in the day of the Law many Sons of Israel David Solomon Isay Joel c. had a prospect of the abolishment thereof nakedness of Sacrifices and felt some Throws of the Cross unto Regeneration and some tastes of the sweetness of Grace and yet could not become perfect in either nor liable to the Temptations thereof in their full strength until the day of those things came in power So in our Gospel-day many have a prospect of this Day and a sense of the Glory Workings and Temptations thereof in their as I may say little Wheel 11. Now to come to the particular Trial I say it consisteth as that of the Cross did in many smaller Bickerings and Assaults but is determined in an universal deciding Battel which happens not until the Soul comes near to the measure of Perfection it can in this Life attain for as the great Day of Christ's Victory over Gog and Magog was before the general Consummation but a short space so is this in the particular And to this John seems to allude 1 John 2.18 Little Children it is the last time and as ye have heard Antichrist shall come Even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know it is the last time Not hereby signifying that the last and great Antichristian Day and Trial or last Time was then come for not only he himself shews in the Revelation that that Day was far off but Paul also Be ye not shaken as if the Day of Christ were at hand And therefore here he must refer to some particular Church or Saints who were near to this particular Trial which in reference to them was the last time And to begin with the smaller Onsets I say Christ having made us once more right in his sight he departs into a far Country leaving us to the managing of the New Covenant on part In which the Spirit of Man having received Rule over the Arm of Flesh broken and vile in it self and verily a Commission to be chief Priest in offering all Sacrifices of Prayer Confession and Praises and also to work in free Grace it sets forth in great Zeal and Jollity resolving in Faithfulness as far as it knows its own Mind to keep its Yea and Nay little suspecting that the Seed of Antichristianism is in it brooding and ready to break forth yea and by the assistance of Satan shall be able to bring it into a more wretched Captivity than that of Babylonish Superstition was if its Lord do not return in due time to rescue it For now the Soul being a little puffed up with its high Privileges and the Spirit apt to lust after Vanity Satan takes his advantage for when we think we stand fastest we are in greater danger of slipping than when we are under sense of Infirmity for he that thinks he walks sure seeks not for further support but who fears he may fall seeks one upon whom he safely leans And therefore never was more need of regenerated Fear Jara than now But it being in this State very faint Satan who still applies to them he tempts in such Delusions as they are most prone to be ensnared in and therefore setting forth his Antichristian Brat in the form of pure Piety it extolls the excellencies of the Spirit No Sacrifice is acceptable without thee thou art not like that poor legal Soul that hungers and eats Husks greedily and yet cannot be satisfied but thou canst preach and pray and give praise hear read and interpret in Spirit And now perhaps this is in a good measure true and by giving the Glory to God saying It is so because thou art with me and keepest me the Temptation will slide off without much harm But if upon this the Spirit begin to think better of it self then hath Satan laid a Foundation upon which he will build Be not therefore high-minded but fear Next he will set it upon a Pinacle of the Temple See says he thou art above Ordinances and Forms the Holy City and Publick Assemblies are under thy Feet be assured God loves thee so well as he hath set a sure Guard upon thee to keep thee from all Evil the Sun by day nor Moon by night the Noon-day Pestilence nor Midnight-Arrow shall harm thee if thou shouldest fall thou canst not be bruised if thou shouldest chance to slip and sin God will not see any Sin in thee And now if thou answer Tho all thy words were true yet can I not take thy Counsel I dare not tempt the Lord my God I dare not break my Yea and Nay as far as my God will be with me and help me s far will I eschew all Sin and appearance of Evil then shall it go well with thee indeed But if these Delusions make any dint upon thee as it is deep and wide so shall thy Loss be that is If thou slight them that legally fear if thou thinkest meanly of the least Ordinance if thou nibble at Sin because Grace abounds surely thy Enemy hath got a great Victory over thee and which is worse he hath so blinded thine Eyes that thou criest Victory victory growest supine and boasts of thy new-gained Wisdom in that it hath shaken off so many needless Signs Forms and Criticisms which were useless Incumbrances to thee And verily if thy Friend awake thee not thou whilst thou promisest thy self Liberty art
was sufficient for thee I left with thee also my Cloud by Day and Fire by Night I sent before thee What could I have done more to my Vineyard than I have done And now how hast thou performed thy Yea and Nay To which the Soul must reply according as the Spirit of Antichrist hath obtained less or more Dominion and where that is much it boasts All that thou hast required I have done but whatsoever it be all its works must be brought to the Trial. And tho Antichrist knowing his time is short rage and bustles In thy Name we have Wrought Preached Prophecied done Miracles his Answer shall be I know thee not nor none of thine and so all Works which are of him or of Pride or Lust or Usury shall fall as stubble before the consuming Fire and that which the Soul esteemed a fair heap of lasting Treasure is brought to a small Remnant or perhaps to Nothing but all perished as Babylon did in one hour and Job's sad Messengers come one in the heels of another thy Plowing is at an end nothing left but Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices Fire from Heaven hath consumed them all thy Camels by Interpretation Retributions or Recompensations the Superstitious Chaldean have carried away thy Sons and thy Daughters supinely Banqueting in the House of they First-born the Wind from the Wilderness or the Spirit from the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 smote the House and it fell upon the young men and they are dead and we alone of all thy Servants are escaped to tell thee And now if the Soul with Job fall down to the Ground and worship Naked I came naked I go the Lord gave the Lord hath taken away and blessed is his Name and so not sin nor charge God foolishly the Heb. is not give to God a tastless thing all its Sorrow shall be turned into Joy and God shall reward it double 17. But Job being a man of Thummim raised up by God in the perfection of Patience to the end he might be an Example for us to follow read and consider Jam. 5. unto 12. which refer to this Trial Go howl ye Vsurers c. he yet saw fit to bring further Trials upon him for his Body tho he had kept it as the Temple of the Holy Ghost was smit with Leprosie from the Soal of his Foot to the Crown And lastly his Wife set her self against him Wilt thou still retain thy Thummim thy Perfection by Consumption Give a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some read Curse as the Engl. but the Heb. will not bear it Blessing to God in thine own actual Righteousness and Merit and so make thy Peace and Die Yet could not this nor his three Miserable Comforters provoke him to sin in his Lips Again we find here Satan a great promoter of Job's Misery Touch him but and he will forsake his Thummim and Bless thee to they Face And again Touch but his skin c. and all to the end he might either provoke him to Bless God in his own Righteousness or to make him Murmure and offend God in his Tongue and doubtless so Satan will do with all who with Job keep their Integrity Thummon and are jealous over their own Hearts and Ways as he was over his Sons lest they should work in Merit but sure it is not so in the other extream namely where the Son of Perdition hath prevailed to the obtaining the destruction he sought And here we are warned how it behoves all in this day to beware of these Evils Satan sought to plunge Job into as most desprate namely not to Bless God in Vsury or boasting with some Gift of our own c. Nor lastly Not to murmure repine or distrust God But forasmuch as Job sate down in Ashes and cursed his day Chap. 3.1 It is manifest he was under great Consternation and Confusion and so must all others be even trembling with Isaac and apt to murmure with Esau Hast thou not one Blessing for me Have I now followed thee long and endured much and hast thou forgot to be gracious 18. And now Satan knowing this is his last opportunity bestirs himselfe to draw this Dispondency into Dispair and Rebellion and to that end sets before the Soul its former faithfulness Thy complaints saith he are just an austere Master thou hast served in a long Pilgrimage and what could have done more to please than thou hast Out of the pleasantenjoyments of the World he called thee in the prime of thy Youth and thou followedst him into a howling Wilderness Next He gave thee a Sweat paid him the purest Sacrifice thou wast able all was rejected for no other reason but because they were thine own and now having quit all thy Wages due for them thou upon pleasing hopes of a New Covenant nailedst thine Ear to his Post and didest cast thy self upon his Grace and Bounty and yet new Sorrows seize upon thee and all as thy Case now stands thou art like to reap is the Labour for thy pains And then setting it upon a high Mountain surely saies he If thou hadst chosen me thy Master thou hadst had a more pleasant Service and bountiful Master and then shewing it all the vain Glory of the World all these saith he are at my disposal and if thou wilt yet Serve and Worship me I will give thee a large and Princely Portion therein and more also if thou ask it I will enhance thy Desires to utmost content and pleasure Let not That word Pleasure grate in thy Ears Sin as if Perdition follows it I mean Lawful Pleasure for I will not give thee upon conditions only accept and temper my Gifts with Love or Charity or Justice as thou wilt for I will require no account of the abundance I give thee for many of my servants have built Monasteries Almes-houses and Hospitales But again consider how often thou hast begged of thy Master with tears and gone away empty and what was it that thou didest ask was it not to do him better service Thon askedst Wisdom and if he had granted was it not in thy heart to set forth his Goodness and Praise If he had given thee the Gifts of Prophecy wouldest thou not have prophecied in his Name and to his People as to his Glory the Prophets of old did If the Gift of Tongues I know thou wouldest have expounded Law and Prophets Gospel and Epistles to the honour and good of his Kingdom and encrease and fealty of his Subjects If he had set thee among Princes and Magistrates wouldest thou not have done Justice and Mercy and pleaded the Cause of the Fatherless Widow Poor and Oppressed Hast thou not often beseeched him to enable thee to walk more closely and holily with him than formerly thou hast done How often hast thou desired to draw near unto him upon his promise that he would draw near to thee and yet he sets himself afar off from thee He hath told thee
have in a great measure subdued will and affections before this panting fire doth begin to work or the pulling them up Root and Branch is set on foot only some slender lopings have deluded us for though a man perceives will-worship cannot save nor works Justifie but that Salvation is of Grace and Grace the free Gift yet as often as a man murmurs that he hath not what he asks or waits impatiently for any thing though promised which God delays to give I say his will is not perfectly subdued Again there is not one amongst us who hath not as he perswades himself consented that the will of God is abundantly more pure Holy and Good then his and his Wisdom excelling his as Light doth Darkness and yet who is he hath not his desires eager and restless after things which are not nor never can be because in his Wisdom preordained they shall not be and again grieving and repining at things that are though his Heart in the mean time knows they must be and were from the beginning ordained by that One as good which can allow of nothing which is not perfectly good ordered by that all-wise which cannot be disordered or deluded and by an all-potent against which nothing can rebel And what then is this less then a preferring of our foolish Wills nay Lusts to the Wisdom and Will of the all Wise all Good and Almighty Is not this a spirit of lusting and murmuring a building with Hay and Stubble fit Fuel for the heavenly fire 27. Again it is writ For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God who are called according to his purpose And what Believer is there that reads not this with delight and is perswaded his heart is fixed in the belief thereof and yet repines at many things which fall out and consequently work together for that good wishing that they had never been angry at the Counsels and Instruments even to hate which brought them about and supposing that if the disposal of affairs had been left to them that they could have ordered them much for the better forgetting that all-wise had foreseen and decreed that in this way they work for the great and valuable good aforesaid and that to have put then out of that course which yet was impossible had been to have defeated that good end God had appointed them to bring to effect And what is this less than as far as in them lyeth a resisting the Wisdom of God and a manifest murmuring at his good Pleasure And is not this a pride of spirit which ought to be consumed And again they hence bewray great unbelief for if they had believed this promise they had by faith understood that all these wrought together for good to them and if they had so understood how could they have mourned or vexed at them as fore-runners of evil and therefore seeing God cannot will any thing save what is very good and we cannot descern what according to his hidden purposes makes for our Good or Evil what then remains on our part saving to resign our wills unto his will and not grudginly because we know what he willeth and hath but freely and chearfully as knowing it is of him who will certainly bring that to effect which infallibly is best and what is short of this verily is lacking of the Beauty of Holiness and short of that Peace which in these frail Bodies is attainable because to resist and grieve at what we cannot hinder is vanity and vexation of Spirit and to rejoyce in what is from God and must be is peace of mind 28. And now this is the scope of the fiery Trial namely a burning up of all self-wisdom conceits and pride which dare pretend in an Anti-Christian Spirit to oppose or have rule with God and thereby so to subdue our wills as if it were possible we might have no will at all which fully to obtain were to have Heaven upon Earth and a wiping away of tears whilest we yet walk in the vail of Sorrow For if our wills were conform'd to his we should then by complying Reign with him for whilst he accomplisheth his Will even ours also falls in our bosomes for that all things must obey his Will so shall they ours if ours be his and though to attain this fully seems to flesh and blood as impossible as for a Camel to pass the Eye of a Needle yet is it possible with God and he in his set time shall make it easie and though it is to be feared this is not that time yet must it be a well-pleasing enterprise for Saints in godly emulation alwayes to be striving who can press nearest this Mark and not less advantage to him that attains furthest who cannot do as well as he would is not discharg'd from doing as well as he can for as far as he shall attain he hath Peace and Rule so far with God and in what he cannot resign he is liable to loss and sorrow Yet do not I by this mean that any should therefore go out of the World or forsake or neglect his vocation for verily he that thinks this the right way of resigning his will deceives himself and at the first setting forth begin's in his own Spirit giving it the reines to that God never commanded and this Paul records among Antichristian Doctrines Forbidding to marry and abstaining from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving for every Creature of God is good 2 Tim. 4.2 And therefore no man ought to neglect his Calling in the World if some necessity compel not by taking away the means but this a man hath well considered and resolv'd upon some work lawful good and laudable or to prevent an aproaching evil I say it is not submission to the Will of God to neglect the meanes of effecting or as some do to say if it be the Will of God it shall be brought to effect or prevented though I sit still because his Will must take place for it shall be more tollerable for Sodom than for this Principle but he ought to follow Solomon's Council Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do with thy whole might and though this in respect of the end may be contrary to the Will of God yet doth he not resist against it because it 's his purpose men should so resolve and act but it is enough that when God by defeating man's purpose hath manifested it was not his Will to submit to it cheerfully nay if it be possible to rejoyce in his frustration because he perceives his purpose was contrary to the everlasting decree which ordered all things to work together for good and this is the Resignation here intended by us But if on the contrary that his purpose succeed's he ought more abundantly to rejoyce in as much as God hath put it into his Heart to will the same thing he willed from the beginning and is made an Instrument