If any man i. e. the Man of Sin corrupt this Temple him shall God destroy with the Spirit of his Mouth 18. Let no man deceive himself If any man think himself Wise in the Wisdom of his own Spirit let him be a Fool that he may be Wise in the Spirit of God 14. Next let us observe how in a gradation the Apostle proceeds from things which best abide the Fire to them that least abide it which in an Allegory aludes to such Works built upon the Sure Foundation as will best and worst abide or live in the everlasting Fires of Hulam But not to enlarge upon the particulars of the Allegory First Because it would be too long Secondly Because Conjectures are the best Evidence I shall briefly hint at some from sundry Texts Gold which abides the Fire without any loss seemes to refer to Works wrought in Spirit and Love or rather Spirit of Love and next Faith which seeing from one manifest Text it is the bearer of that Shield which can quench all the fiery darts of Satan we may not doubt our own experience witnessing that its Work 's not unstable in the Heavenly Flames Next Silver passeth not the Fire without some loss yet looseth not by its Trial because what it fails in matter of quantity it gains in quality i. e. Purity Now Silver is that we are forbidden to give in Usury therefore must be something which we are apt to put forth to that purpose and in that seemes to agree well with Workes of Obedience according to the true Rule or Form and saith our Prophet Psal 12.7 Thy words are pure words O Lord like Silver tried seven times in a Furnace of Earth Now this Word is the true Rule and Form of sound Obedience and tho through the vanity of our Hearts such Works we are apt to abuse to Usury yet may we affirm that such Works built upon the Right Foundation in the Spirit of Love are like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver for that rare quality pure Love hath as it cannot work for Usury or Reward but only to please its Beloved David again thus Psal 66.10 Thouâ— O God hast proved us thou hast tried us as Silver is tried We came through Water and through Fire through Baptism into the Death of the Cross and through the Fiery Tryal and thou hast brought us into an overflowing place Whence appears That David and the Patriarchs also had some throws of the Fiery Trial as well as the former Warfare and that Humane Spirit as well as Arm of Flesh ought to be subdued to Christ Next Precious Stones of which I have little to say for how far they will abide the Natural Fire I find not but probably some more some less They were used as deckings in Holy Things and also the Great Harlot gloried in them so that they seem such embelishments as shine forth both in Christ and in Antichrist The Brest-plate of Judgement was adorned with them according to the twelve Tribes also the twelve Foundations of the Heavenly Jerusalem which wrought in rows became the Frontispice of the Purse where the Vrim and Thummim lay by which the High Priest received Oracles and therefore Precious Stones may refer to Prophecy Vision gift of Tongues Knowledge in Spirit as they are from God and also to these in the Spirit of Antichrist but these must be melted down and cease when Charity shall abide 2 Cor. 13.8 Wood is easily consumed but is the common fuel which rightly disposed by Men is so useful as without it Man can scarcely and neatly subsist and so ought our Sacrifices and Performances to Burn to Cherish to Vanish in Smoak and all we may hope for is that God will accept them as a sweet savour Next Hay and Stubble is most combustible and burnt or not burnt useful for nothing and may refer to works in Antichristian Pride and gross Usury 15. But some may say What is this Fire how shall I know and find it To which I answer The last Quaery is not needful for it will find thee in due season and it is enough that thou give it free course for as the Spirit so may it be quenched And for the first Quaery It is as in my dimn Glass it appears not far distant from the Spirit John's Testimony of Christ was He shall Baptize with the Holy Ghost and with Fire That is through the Holy Ghost he communicates Gifts unto Men whereby they may work and by the Fires he consumes the Chaff and Stubble which grow up with those Works and yet both as it were but one Spirit exercising two Offices and know it thou mayest thus If any thing more thee in Meekness Gentleness Love Joy c. to Duties and raiseth thee up to good performance that call thou the Holy Spirit and if any spiritual searching any trying of Heart and Reins ensue examine if thou hast done all in Integrity without Usury Pride or Hypocrisy and burns down or destroys all wrought upon that account as Chaff and Stubble and leaves such a remorse and grating in thee as will make thee afraid to offend again in the like kind Know that this is the heavenly Fire first nibling at the Heel and after will bruise the Head of thy lusting Spirit So marest that that gently treads upon any thing which bears the Image of thy Creator or is Meek Merciful and Humble and yet with Feet of burning Brass tramples upon Pride Usury Lustings Call it this trying Fire As for Example one for many The Spirit saith Give Alms or Pray and so thou dost but after an Examiner comes Was this in Sincerity didst thou not Give or Pray for Gain or for vain Glory Pride c. and before thine eyes spares what thou hast wrought in Gold purifies thy Silver and consumes thy Hay and Stubble this I say is the fruit of the Fire of God which thus by the sence of thy loss and after regret not only consumes thy Work but by degrees undermines those Principles from whence this Building with vain Mortar proceeds and establisheth those Works which shall live in the everlasting Fires of Hulam 16. And now these things permitted we proceed to the Critical Trial to which because the Last Days are yet far off even every one though newly Regenerated cannot set their Seals to yet for some particular Assaults may have some prospect thereof Now I say when the Spirit of Antichrist hath prevailed in any Believer building upon the Right Foundation as far as the fore-known Decree had alowed to it bounds Hitherto and no further Christ comes to re-visit his Heritage and not in the company of Fishermen as poor and despised but in great Glory and companies of Angels like Refiners Fire and calling to the Soul for an account of its Stewardship This saith he was my Promise I will be with thee and keep thee which I have performed for tho I withdrew from thee yet my Grace which
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-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
ADVERTISEMENT THere is now in the Press the Continuation of the Diary of this Author which will shortly be compleated the same having been earnestly Solicited and Recommended by Persons of Eminent Worth out of several Nations And there are Daily more and more Excited some both in Neighbouring and in very Remote Countries to bear their Testimony to the Truths of the Kingdom of God declared therein of which there is one Instance added in the End that is very Peculiar and some likewise to suffer for the same very considerably Since the Year 1694 that these Writings began first to be Published in Germany and Holland it hath pleased GOD to bless them very Wonderfully and no manner of Oppositions or Prohibitions have been able to extinguish that Fire which they have been made a means of enkindling in many Hearts of all Ranks and Degrees A Judicious Writer in his Characters of the Mystical Authors in a Book Printed this very Year in Holland having just before spoken of Hermas Barnabas c. thence takes occasion to give a glance upon the Writings of this Author and the Conformity of their Character to such as are more generally allow'd to have been Written by the assistance of the Divine Unction and with a share of the Prophetical Spirit and tells us That they are full of Salutary Instructions and Lights as well as of Divine Revelations for the near Re-establishment of the Christian Church through the Renovation of the Life and Spirit of Jesus Christ and the Manifestation of the Wonders of his Kingdom And they that are in this Opinion saith he are not Persons of the least Judgment nor in few Places nor in a little Number Letre sur les Principes les Characters des principaux Anteurs Mystiques Spirituels When the Diary shall be Finished there may be an Abstract of all together in a Plain and Popular Way with a Methodical Account of the Sentiments therein dispersed and their Conformity with Scripture Lastly it is Advertised that both this that is above Written and the foregoing Preface was sent to the Press without the Advice Consent or Privity of the dear Author And without the Excitement or so much as the Knowledge of any one Soul whatever beside him who now holds this Pen and who is without all Aims and Ends but the Divine Glory The World is Crucified unto me And I unto the World THE Christian Warfare BEING Some Serious Humble and Practical REFLECTIONS On PSALM XV WHEREIN The Princely Prophet David's Great and Soul-ravishing Question divine Answer and Application are Considered By J. L. THEOPHILUS 2 Cor. 10.4 5. Arma enim Militiae Nostrae non Carnalia sunt sed Divinitus valida ad destructionem Munitionum Ratiocinationes evertendo omnemque sublimitatem quae sese extollit adversus cognitionem Dei in captivitatem redigendo omnem cogitationem ad obediendum Christo London Printed and Sold by John Gain Living in Merchant-Tailers Rents at the Lower-end of Moore-Lane 1680. PSAL. XV. Vers 1. LORD who shall * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or abide but most properly in ae strange Land It is also He feared implying a sojournment in fear sojourn in thy Tabernacle Who shall dwell in the Mountain of thy Holiness Vers 2. He walking in Integrity and working Righteousness and speaking the Truth in his Heart Vers 3. Not †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The root he reproached there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a tongue because the Instrument of reproach that is according to the Gospel-rule not retorting or reviling one reviling him reproaching upon his reproacher nor doing ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evil to his Neighbour or Friend so most read Which is so plain and well known a duty to Moral Nature that it sounds flat amongst these eminent Soul-exalting Graces and therefore the same Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being for both I so read it according to our Lord's Precept Love your Enemies bless them that curse you evil to his evil-doer nor bringing shame upon his ††〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He aproached or drew near most properly to conflict Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Battel also the Inwards of a thing especially of the Soul Spirit or Mind of Man Lex Heptag fully reads it Mind Thought I add another which from a Harmony of sundery Texts I have gathered namely Conscience which was the same I take it the Antients called Mens the Mind Jer. 31.33 I will put my Laws in their Kerab which the 70 renders Mind And the Apostle citing this Text reads the same Heb. 8. so And again he calls it 10.16 Heart not meaning the Bowel so called but Inward Mind and Conscience Isa 26.9 With my Soul I desired thee in the Night also in the Spirit of my Kerab Mind Conscience I will seek thee in the Morning See Psal 34.3 51.2.94.15 And besides this and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Heart the Hebrew Scripture hath not a Name for Mind or Conscience But neither could the holy Pen-men be ignorant of these nor fully express what appertains to a holy walking before God without sometimes making mention of them in the Law as the Apostles did in the Gospel and therefore I judge that by this and the Heart they signified Mind and Conscience And hence Kerab a Battel or Warfare because in the Mind and Conscience the Spiritual War is as the Apostle Rom. 7.3 I see the Law of my Members warring against the Law of my Mind And so I understand it here not bringing reproach upon his Conscience not making shipwrack thereof nor negligent in his Spiritual Warfare but behaving himself as a true Souldier of Christ Who doth these things shall not fail to do all things which lead to an immoveable Seat of Happiness Inwards Vers 4. Contemned in his own Eyes despised but honoureth them who fear the Lord ‖‖ Swearing to a Friend Some read swearing to his hurt but his is not in the Text indeed the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will bear either But the sence grates as if performance of rash Vows were a Pillar in Piety as Jephtha's or Saul's or the eleven Tribes to the loss of an only Child or a Son or a Tribe in Israel Surely it were better in bitterness to repent for vowing foolishly than to perform such Vows Some read Who swears to afflict himself which is much easier but neither was this except upon some solemn occasions practised by holy Men of old that we read of nor not so necessary to an immoveable Seat as to be reckoned as one of the Pillars thereof The Gospel-Precept is much otherwise Swear not at all and therefore this doubtless being ranked in so eminent place hath a more lofty meaning Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also a Friend a Shepherd and Christ sometimes manifestly signified by that word of which more hereafter and so I understand it here that is He who nails his ear to the door-post of the great
that Death and giving Life Eternal The second part of the Parallel hath respect unto their Houses Now Moses's House was a dead Tabernacle the Service of which stood in the sprinkling of Blood Meats Drinks and external Ordinances but Christ's Temple is built of living Stones a living House a Service in Spirit and Truth an holy Priesthood a chosen Generation even the Hearts of the Elect in which God himself vouchsafes to dwell And hence often the Elect Church is called the Temple of God 1 Cor. 3.16 6.19 Eph. 2.20 c. From whence how great the preeminence of the Antitype over the Type is in part appears and also how part of the Question of David is Evangelically to be understood 17. The next Scripture is Heb. 5.5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an High-Priest that is after the order of Aaron but he that said unto him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee As he saith also in another place Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedec Before Christ was compared with Moses who was the Legislator and Prophet and now with Aaron the Administrator of the Sin-covering Ordinances where the difference is that Aaron was but a Servant that could make nothing perfect but every day offered Sacrifice to keep in remembrance the hope of a full Mediation to come but Christ is a Son a beloved Son in whom fully and in whom alone God was well pleased who needed not daily to offer Sacrifice first for his own Sin and then for the Peoples but at once by offering up himself wrought Salvation to the uttermost And whereas the other Priests were often removed by Death Christ's Priesthood is eternal according to the Order of Melchisedec without beginning without end of days King of Righteousness King of Peace Look Heb. 8.5 6. 9.7 8 c. But that which most fully reacheth our intention is Heb. 11.18 For we are not come to the Mount which might not be touched and that burned with Fire nor unto Blackness Darkness and Tempest and the sound of the Trumpet and Voice of Words which they that heard desired that the Word should be spoken to them no more And so terrible was the Sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake But you are come to Mount Zion and unto the City of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable Company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judg of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the Blood of Sprinkling which speaketh better things than the Blood of Abel See ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much less shall we escape if we turn from him that speaketh from Heaven Now I say this Scripture fully answers our end states the Parallel shews the Gospel's preheminence and sets before us David's Question in the first part in its Evangelical Glory For this Mount that might not be touched was Sinai where Mountain-Worship gave up the Scepter to the Tabernacle and at this time were the Ten Commandments and Measures of the Tabernacle and all its Vessels given to Moses with this Charge See thou make all things according to the Patern shewed thee in the Mount And the Blackness Tempest and Majestick Voice of Words shew that awful Yoak which Jehovah in the Counsel of his Will thought fit to impose upon his Elect People only allowing a hiding-place in the Tabernacle till the evil day was past And on the other hand the Heavenly Jerusalem the General Assembly of the First-born from the Dead and Spirits of Just Men made perfect are those which came out of great Tribulation and have washed their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb and are before the Throne of God and serve him day and night So as the Tabernacle of Moses is become the Elect Church of the First-born and the purifyings and washings thereof changed for that fulling Soap which can make the Spirits of just Men perfect and the Wings of the covering Cherub are made a hiding-place which can save to the uttermost and which is more give a Kingdom which can never be shaken For they that are dead to Tabernacle-Worship are hid Col. 3.3 with Christ in God and when Christ their Life shall appear then shall they also appear with him in Glory So as the first part of David's Question in the mouth of the Followers of Christ is Lord who is he that thou wilt raise from Death and making his Spirit perfect wilt hide in the Bosom of thy Christ until he and they appear in that Glory he had with thee before Time was 18. Now concerning the latter part of the Question it must also be in the same manner sought after Now the Beauty of Mountain-Worship consisted in those Graces wherein the Worshippers were Types of Christ And first Noah figured him as he was the Preacher of Righteousness and forewarned of the Evil to come for it was not the Man Noah that preached to the Spirits then in Prison but Christ then figuratively spake by him 1 Pet. 3.18 whereby the World was condemned and only eight Persons saved But in the fulness of time Christ preached himself was heard seen and handled filling the Poor and Hungry with good things made the broken Hearts whole gave deliverance to Captives Luke 4.18 Eyes to the Blind and Light to them which sate in Darkness published the acceptable Year of the Lord to all Nations and Languages and teaching the Mystery of Salvation laid open a sure Path to the innumerable Companies of the Church of the Living God and to the making perfect the Spirits of Just Men. So also the Waters of Noah was a Type of Baptism by Water not as putting away the Filth of the Flesh but the Baptism of Christ was with the Holy-Ghost giving the Answer of a good Conscience 1 Pet. 3.20 21. Again Noah taught a reverential Fear of God but Christ perfect Love And Abraham the next Heir of Grace was a Type of Christ as both were Fathers of the Faithful but he according to the Flesh and Christ according to the Spirit And Abraham tho every where justly celebrated for his never-failing Faith yet so far did Legal Faith fall short of Evangelical as Abraham only attained to offer up the Promise in Isaac and by Faith to receive him in a Figure Gen. 15.6 Rom. 4.1 2. Gal. 3.6 9. Heb. 11.17 But Christ freely and really that is not in a figure offered up himself to an ignominious Death bore the Wrath of God kindled by our Sins and pacified it by his Blood obtained the promised Glory and made us Co-heirs thereof Again Abraham left his Country and by Faith followed God he knew not whither but Christ left his Possessions in Heaven
Life as he did to leprous Lazarus after he had lain four days in the Grave And lastly having done all thou canst call thy self Unworthy Servant know that thy Obedience or Works cannot profit God but only that Obedience is better than Sacrifice and a humble contrite Heart better than Rams or Rivers of Oil and in so doing thou shalt work Righteousness The sum of all is Judg condemn the Works of proud Nature roul upon Christ work in Humility and account all dead without the quickning Spirit and so shalt thou attain the second step towards the Rest of God in his holy Mountain Thus with the Heart thou mayest believe to Righteousness and with thy Mouth confess to Salvation thou shalt believe and not be ashamed thus mayest thou call on the Name of the Lord and be saved But in vain doth the slothful Soul expect a station in the holy Mount for the Believers Prerogative and that a great one too is that having presented his best Fruits how light soever in the Ballance of Justice they be he may by Faith lay hold on the Righteousness of Christ and calling it his own take what Sums to make up his Accompt his Faith can bear away for in that only is this Mans abundance stinted for if he strain at a Gnat such will his portion in Righteousness be and if his Faith can carry away a Mountain rather than he want Spiritual Food Jordan shall overflow its Banks So that as an Object an Eye and Light make up the pleasing Sense of Seeing so commanded Duties Obedience and Christ compleat the Works of a Believer for as an Object is vain without an Eye and both without Light so are Duties or Commands without Obedience and both nothing without Christ And as the Light is that which gives life and vigor to both the other so Christ is the Life of our Works and Duties And lastly even as the Light profiteth not without an Eye or Object so verily Christ is of no effect where Obedience and the Precept or Rule of working are sacking So as David's Answer thus far in Gospel-Language is He that walks in the Consumption of his own Righteousness yet holding fast the Rule of Obedience by Faith in Christ makes his Works perfect 3. And speaketh the Truth in his Heart Psal 24. saith He that is pure of Heart I say 't is He that speaketh Equity which are all univocal This is the third Link of this Golden Chain for before we can work Righteousness in the School of Christ 't is impossible to speak Truth in the Heart because all other Righteousness is Lies and Vanity But for the understanding of this it behoves that we first mind in what sence the Heart is taken in Scripture-Language not as a meer Bowel or Member of the Body but allegorically as the Body bears the Image of the Soul so the Members of that answer to the Gifts and Graces of the Soul Now in Scripture 't is sometimes taken in the better part sometimes in the worse as the Source of all evil for not rarely some effects are ascribed to to it consonant to the Conscience or Mind and doubtless it hath some affinity with it and yet is not altogether the same because some things imputed to it are incompatible with the Conscience as Dissimulation Flattery Forgetfulness of God c. I judg thus the Conscience is the most Divine part of the natural Man and hath the most immediate Converse with God and the Heart answers to those Faculties in the Soul which have immediate converse with it above and also with Sense and sensual Affections beneath capable of receiving Leaven from the Wisdom of that or Folly of this and consequently is that before which Life and Death also Will or Arbitrement are placed for the Conscience refrains all Commerce with Sensual Affections except as a Judg and Reprover of their Exorbitances but the Heart doth not and therefore the Scripture saith The Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 near thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart Which shews the Heart is a Faculty where the sound of the Word within is heard and again it ascribeth to it Imaginations Thoughts Passions Affections and Desires Love and Hate Appetite and Dislike Anger and Patience Grief Joy Fear and thence 't is accordingly as 't is leavened a great promoter of Vertue or Vice And therefore to order it aright so as it may learn to speak the Truth is the next part of our Warfare and ought to be an especial care in all who seek rest in the holy Mount as also 't is written Prov. 4.23 Before all keep the Out-goings Buddings of thy Heart for in it are the Issues of Life and consequently of Death also for between these there is not a third choice and therefore if it issue not Life it must bring forth Death And the keeping of the Heart as it is necessary so it is difficult because as is written it is deceitful above measure Jer. 17.9 desperately supplanting who can know it And again It is the Source of all evil Thoughts Murders Mat. 15.19 Adulteries Thefts False-Witness Blasphemies Now I say before we can successfully atchieve this great necessary Task three things are necessary First the last before spoken of namely to ascribe all Righteousness to Christ for as long as a Man believeth he has any of his own his Heart is a Liar and the Truth is not in him The second is to discover wherein its Falseness and Craft consists for these are hidden and not easily discerned from the specious pretences of Truth For if the Heart be so bold as it dare openly and avowedly tempt to known Sin this is not to be accounted any part of its Deceit but bold-faced Wickedness but there is its Deceitfulness namely when it obtrudes Evil under the Mask of Good or Impiety for Piety or Idolatry for pure Religion The third is to be diligently conversant in the use and management of those Helps God hath vouchsafed us to discover and undermine its Stratagems which are many but I comprize them under three General Heads The Word or Precept the Conscience and Experience The Word is the Law and Touchstone the Conscience Judg and Executioner and sometimes acts as a Witness Experience is a strict observer of its haltings also a Sollicitor mannaging the Evidence against it and it s own Reason Lusts and Satan are its chief Advocates The Law which is pure holy and manifest in all Essentials it defames as unreasonable and the written Word as obscure and dark nor will it stick to say the Wisdom and Morals of Aristotle and Seneca excell it The Conscience which will never lie flatter or play the Hypocrite it often deludes with false Glosses of the Law and Word Experience it rejects and at first easily because but weak at its first setting forth and perhaps brings but a single Witness but at length will so multiply and manage its Evidence as that the
Grace than thou and therefore thy Boast is not of Grace but pretended Merit and thy false Heart hath betrayed thee and thou in danger of being a Cast-away for when thou shalt say Lord have not I prophesied and cast out Devils in thy Name the Answer 't is to be feared may be Verily I know it not For assure thy self this one Ejaculation from the humble contrite Fool Lord be merciful to me a Sinner uttered in sence of Sin and Faith in Grace shall make a stronger Battery on the Gates of Heaven than a whole Quiver full of thy opinionated Abilities And therefore in this Case we ought again to bring our Hearts before the Judg and to know it is not enough before Men to cry out Unclean unprofitable a Worm a Wretch with the loudest but to teach our Hearts to speak this great Truth in secret between God and themselves their Consciences bearing witness And therefore let us beware lest we be not like Solomon's Buyer crying in the Market-place It is naught it is naught but being come home boasteth in secret of a rich Purchase for this is but confessing Christ in outward shew and our Hearts in the mean while far from him Wherefore when we come from Duties and especially when we hope we have performed best we ought to call our Hearts under examination and yet to suspect they will dissemble Art thou a Speaker and hopest that thou hast taught or spoken well to the Hearts of thy Hearers or prayed in Spirit yet let not thy Heart puff thee up but stop its Mouth by convincing it that it was not thee that spake but the Holy Spirit of Christ in thee and that out of a heap of Stones even of the Walls of that Auditory God can raise up a better Son and Teacher than thou art Art thou a Hearer and hast been attentive was thy Heart warmed in Zeal and Love so as it leaped for Joy at the words of the Salutation Then let it not boast but teach it to speak this great Truth That it was not in its Merit that thou thus heardest or didst understand but Christ in thee and that it was his Spirit that bare witness with thy Spirit that the Word is true and that thou art a Son of Adoption and in so doing thou shalt not unravel thy Joy but make it great sure and lasting But on the contrary if thou ascribe to it thy hopes are as the Grass upon the House-top it shall dwindle and wither away as it is writ Cursed is he that trusteth in Man or maketh Flesh his Arm for out of his Heart shall the Lord depart And Blessed is he whose hope is the Lord he shall be as a Tree planted by the Waters neither shall cease from yeelding Fruit. What shall we say to these things shall we bolster up our Hearts in proud and lying Hypocrisy or rather suspect them and watch over them as the most deceitful things in the World and yet have in them the Issues of Life and Death Weal and Wo trying them by the Word the Law the Conscience the Judg and setting Experience upon them as a Spy Informer and Sollicitor and at length teach them to speak the Truth namely That they are vain and deceitful above measure their Righteousness Loss their Merits a Shadow and that to God the Glory is due and to them Confusion of Face And so to attain the third Qualification which will entitle the Soul to a resting place in the holy Mountain of God Vers 3. 1. Not casting Reproach upon his Reproacher Now in the rendring of this and next Clauses also I confess I have departed from the Footsteps of the Flock for I think none do so read the English He that backbiteth not the Vulgar deceiveth not with his Tongue which seems not so agreeable to Gospel-Language because to backbite openly is only by the Tongue which tho restrained yet then the Heart not taught to speak the Truth may backbite more secretly and desperately and therefore I say Backbiteth not at all no not his Backbiter The learned Munster differs not much from us in effect for he reads Transgresseth not with his Tongue which comprehends all Backbiting and Reproach by it And indeed not to offend with the Tongue is a great and essential part in true Piety Hence it is said of Job that he offended not with his Tongue tho provoked thereto by his reproaching Friends And hence supposing the Hebrew will bear it as well as the other I read Not reproaching his Reproacher being well assured it is in fuller harmony with the Gospel-Precepts and a surer Step towards the holy Hill of Jehovah for saith our Lord Love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them that despitefully use and persecute you And in this sence I take our Prophet I grant indeed not to backbite a Neighbour is a good profitable Precept because the natural Man is prone to abuse Friendship but yet is it no more than Morality writ in the hearts of all People and Nations by Nature And indeed as usually read here Backbite not with thy Tongue the Precept is dressed in the slenderest attire Divinity can well shape for it for without all Controversy 't is but a slender Morality not to reproach a Neighbour or Friend who hath not reproached us but may have done us good for even half-debauched Nature would nauseate such an Action and they not so doing may yet fall short of the holy Hill But not to reproach a Reproacher to render Good for Evil is Saint-like nay Christ-like and may as far as any Grace lay claim to the Promise And if it be said It was of old Love your Friends and hate your Enemies and David spake ac-according to the then Institution yet I say admit it were a Command yet doth it not affirm that not to backbite at adventure was more than a Moral Vertue but indeed I suppose Hate your Enemies was not by a Command but Permission as Bigamy was because of the hardness of hearts for assuredly it was not our Prophet's practice for he hated only the Enemies of God and not his own upon his own account for he spared Saul's Life twice and rendred him Good for Evil and in the case of Shimei the Son of Gera he said Let him curse So Solomon Doth thine Enemy hunger give him Bread doth he thirst give him Drink And therefore in this sence I proceed to the Text. 2. Now hitherto the Precepts of our Prophet do chiefly belong to the first great Commandment in such Matters as lie between God and our Consciences but now he comes to such as refer to the second between Man and Man and yet still is this a Link of the same Chain For until the Heart be taught to speak the Truth it is impossible to keep the Heart from lying and reproaching because Out of the abundance of the Heart the Tongue speaketh And again With
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
and to speak my own sense I judg this the very great and critical Point of sowing the good Seed in Sorrow which shall come again rejoicing and bringing its Sheaves with it for neither can Prayer Charity Humility or any of the practical Sisterhood in this State sow in Hypocrisie Vain-glory Merit and such Canker-worms but only in that acceptable Obedience I will do all I can and call my self the most unworthy of thy Servants my Faith is dead my Performances without life yet I will obey Rev. 14.12 Here is the Patience of the Saints here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus Christ And a Voice from Heaven saying Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their painful labours and yet their Works shall follow them Behold the Harvest vers 14. is at hand 23. But yet this Battel being thus far succesfully atchieved yet do not say thy Warfare is wholly finished only that abundantly great is thy advantage for thou hast gotten a strong City the Bulwarks whereof are Salvation but yet Christ who enrolls thee now as a free Volunteer requires thou shouldst still watch and stand upon thy Guard for so inveterate and restless an Enemy is Satan as he will never give thee rest as long as thou art in this Body and is grown so crafty that he knows both where thy weak part is and how to form fit Weapons against it And tho this is not that we shall now insist upon yet against one most desperate snare we shall briefly enter a Caution which is That as soon as thy Enemy perceives thou hast escaped all his Stratagems laid to entangle thee in the Fetters of Superstition he next seeks to make thee drunken with the pleasant Wine of Free Grace and therefore suggests that seeing Duties are of no force but Grace alone effects Salvation and Peace therefore there is no need to be longer conversant therein for they are but legal and thou art dead to the Law and consequently free from them and so to weary thy self in that which profiteth not is to spend thy time and strength for nought Now this is not a less dangerous than pleasing Temptation even a voluntary rendring back to Satan a strong City which with much labour and sorrow thou by the help of thy affecting Friend hadst forced from him for to speak freely what is upon my heart I say No Man can make right use of Duties and Spiritual Weapons until he have found the nakedness thereof namely that they cannot to any purpose offend an Enemy or defend a Friend till they receive both Edg and Temper from Free Grace for to trust in their legal Force is but a painful labouring in Tears and sowing in Sorrow a Thorn in the Flesh but having received a due temper in Grace they reap in Joy therefore it were uttermost Folly yea spiritual Madness after Wisdom hath taught the right use of Ordinances and saving Vertues to cast them off in pride of Spirit like that Husbandman who plows in the sweat of his Brows visits his Corn early and late but now when it grows white towards Harvest breaks down his Fences and lays it open to the wild Boar Beasts of the Field and Birds of the Air not foreseeing Winter and Want shall break in upon him as an armed Man or like a Man unskilful yet at his Weapon but will seek out and provoke a strong and subtil Enemy tho often buffeted for his pains and sometimes through want of skill woundeth himself but being come so expert and redoubted at Arms as his Foe dares not openly withstand him but by subtilty seeks to entrap him casts away his approved Weapons and falls asleep in full security giving his Enemy the advantage he desired namely to bind him fast and imprison him in the Darkness of Egypt and Fetters of Sensuality where he may wallow for ever if his affecting Friend do not in tender mercy drive him forth as he did Lot out of Sodom and indeed so bountiful is our Captain as he will not willingly lose one Hoof that hath followed him throughout the warfare of his Cross but will save at least some of these by Fire 1 Cor. 13.15 He shall suffer loss but himself shall be saved yet so as by Fire of which more hereafter But I fear some may have ran beyond the limits of Compassion for but to have nibled at the Bait is of great loss and doubtless to swallow it greedily without remorse is as great a desolation as a Son of Adam can pull upon himself even utmost licentiousness full-summ'd prophaneness and boldness in Sin beyond what nature in a natural way dare perpetrate whom I take it the Apostle defines thus For many walk of whom I have often told you and now weeping They are Enemies of the Cross of Christ whose End is destruction whose God is their belly and whose Glory is their shame who mind earthly things Phil. 3.18 Again Jude 18. They the Apostles told you there should be Mockers in the last times who should walk after their own Lusts these be they who separate themselves not having the Spirit But ye Beloved build upon Faith and pray in the Holy Ghost love God look for Mercy through Christ and of some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the Fire Now these are them Paul speaks of in the former Texts and again another thus 2 Pet. 2.17 Wells without Water Clouds carried in a Tempest to whom the Mist of Darkness is reserved for ever for when they speak great vanity they allure through the Lust of the Flesh through great wantonness those escaped them conversant in Error whom whilst they promise Liberty are themselves slaves to Corruption and their latter end worse than their beginning For better had it bin for them not to have known God or Christ or an Ordinance than after having tasted the Heavenly Gift and bin made partakers of the Holy Ghost to fall back to such bold prophaneness or sensuality as is not known or heard of among Heathens Trees twice pluckt up by the Roots Brands in the Fire scarce capable to be plucked forth therefore I say watch and be sober be not high-minded but fear cast not away thy Soul 's fair hopes in Ordinances but hating the Garment spotted with the Flesh always take part with the Law of the Conscience in its Warfare against the Law of the Members But of this more anon Now it even of course falls out that the Soul which in the former Warfare was most rebellious and yet is at length subdued should be most subject to this Temptation for Man by nature is apt being convict of one extream to run out unto the other and besides as a Man soweth so shall he reap And hence as Experience confirms as a Man begins his Warfare so oft-times he finisheth it that is
beloved Teacher making him so happy in the Children of his Youth as he shall not need to be ashamed when he speaks with his Enemy in the Gate Let Doctrine pour forth the great Holy Name so in the sweet Odours of healing Ointments as the Virgin-Sisterhood may be sick of Love and reply Draw us that we may run after thee And so let them increase in Graces and Gifts as the Peace and Comfort thereof may make Obedience desirous to learn again and Obedience its Dutifulness may allure Doctrine to read study the Word and to enquire into the choice Treasures hid therein The sum is Hear and learn that thou mayest obey and so obey as thy great Teacher may delight to entrust thee For as thy Obedience is perfect so shall the holy-Holy-Ghost the Spirit of Truth enlarge thy Knowledg and so whilst Obedience is weak so shall thy Knowledg be And all this in Love namely lest the Servant great in Knowledg and weak in Obedience should be beaten with many Stripes And better is it never to learn than so to learn as not to obey 10. And here we observe that in the Dispositions of Religion which God at sundry times and in divers manners hath given the last whereof was spoken by his Son some consisted more in the Gifts of the Man or Doctrine and Knowledg as Mountain-Worship did others in the Gifts of the Woman Obedience and Form And lastly the Gospel stood in more equal disposition of both yet so as in all the pure and undefiled Religion of St. James was strictly required as from the before-recited Texts are manifest which is enough to shew how well-pleasing that Foundation is from whence they arise namely Contempt and Vileness in one's own Eyes And consequently to be conversant in that part of Obedience wherein chiefly these Vertues are required is a high Duty Secondly It is observable that in all those Lapses of the Church of old which brought Wrath upon them the neglect of these Duties was still laid to their Charge Thus Esay and Hosea reproved Judah and Israel before the Captivity Zachariah a little before the Restoration and our Lord also a little before the Scepter departed pronounced Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees upon this account All which confirm that Religion without these is a dry formal and unprofitable Service 11. And hence it behoves all Professors in this our day to examin their own Hearts lest they may have warped a little from this sound Form of obeying towards Pharisaical Leaven in their own Righteousness preferring a Gift of Knowledg of Teaching Expounding to the under-valuing of this Duty of Vile in our own Eyes Nay sometimes Men pretending to high Gifts running tatling from House to House who in the end have discovered themselves to be Boasters in meer words for a long time ride on Horse-back while others great in Humility Mercy Patience and Charity have been esteemed no more than good formal Christians And verily this I fear is a sore Evil and perhaps a common Vanity in our Land I have in my time heard some esteemed true Israelites thus bemoaning themselves That verily to wonder Knowledg Preaching Praying and Doctrinal Religion had spread the Cord of their Tent but in the mean time they rather were puffed up than humbled and Meekness Mercy brotherly Love and Charity lagged strangely behind We hear of good things by Whole-sale but the Retailers of Good are few But there is as Solomon saith a time and season to every Purpose of God under Heaven a time to speak and a time to be silent a time to learn and a time to obey what we have learned and the hand of God so in all as through his wise disposal all shall work together for good to them who love him and are called according to his purpose For first in the Gospel's setting forth both Doctrine and Obedience set forth together as Work-fellows equally yoaked together to the great increase of the Church but in process of time the Doctrinal Gifts began to shrink up and the Traditions of Man encroached upon the inspired Word blind Obedience began to speak and to usurp Authority over the Man teaching and setting forth the most gross and formal parts of her Form as pure Religion So Religion consisted in Zeal and Zeal in an ignorant benummed Obedience And now this having filled up Iniquity to a full measure of those Bounds God set them he in tenderness to his Church awaked the Spirit of Doctrine Teaching and Understanding and touching the Hearts of some chosen Instruments they began to enquire into the Touchstone of Truth Law and Gospel how far the imposed Innovations by the See of Rome had Divine Authority and finding that by this means many gross Idolatries were discovered and laid naked and that by reading preaching and expounding the Word Light sprang forth to many sitting in darkness and consequently perceiving in all this that abused Obedience placed the Snare and Knowledg breaking forth cut it off they did so far set their Affections and Interest upon the Doctrinal Part as the chief Streams of their Devotions and Labours turned into those Channels a little more to the Umbrage of Obedience than is now tho not perhaps then necessary But now Knowledg having for a long time even a whole Century rid on prosperously I hope the time is come that God will also yoak this together again in equal Fellowship and stir up his own to a more full Obedience in that part which is pure and spotless as by his Spirit he reproved the Church of Sardis Rev. 3.2 Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die for I have not found thy Works thy Obedience perfect before God Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent I come as a Thief in the Night But still to keep the Scales in equal Ballance and Hearing and Reading be by no means neglected we say That none can in seriousness hear or read too much but what we press after is that as by these Faith and Knowledg increase so pure and spotless Obedience may grow up with them And therefore seeing Doctrine and Teaching must precede Obedience let no Pretence delay us to hear and to read First because every new discovery of any Duty before unknown or not understood is like unto one of Jacob's new digged Wells flowing with living Streams of wholsom Water that is Every Precept Promise Admonition or what else is writ for our Instruction manifested is by faithful and upright Obedience made a replenisher of the Soul with good things Again our Saviour who was in all things tempted like us did upon every temptation stop the mouth of Satan with a Scripture-Text as Man lives not by Bread only and Thou shalt not tempt c. and he being our Example it behoves that we be ready at the same Weapon The Souldier that knows his Enemy will assault him but is ignorant whether by
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
hoped by this time to have been an Apostle or Prophet and to have fed upon the choice Mysteries of salvation and no secret too deep for me but these dry Ordinances are all my Food and therefore the Lord was sore displeased and the Fire of the Lord burnt amongst them and consumed the out-skirts of the Camp which yet at Moses his Prayer was quenched and the Place called Taberati i. e. the burning or brutish because the fire of the Lord burnt up their brutish lustings But for our teaching it's further observable that at Moses his Prayer though in his displeasure God to prove them gave them flesh dainty food as they lusted namely Quails by Interpretation Tranquility or ease which they receiving as due and still lusting as David reports it So they did eat and were filled for he gave them their Hearts desire but they were not estranged from their lusts the wrath of God came upon them and slew the wealthiest of them and smote the Chosen of Israel so as this was the soarer Evil for the former the fire only burnt the outcasts Hay and Stubble but this fell upon the choicest and the Place was called the Grave of lusts Whence it is again observable that to weeping though even murmuring Soules God somtime gives or as I may say humours with pleasant Gifts such as they lusted after more then their dayly bread which if they thankfully recieve and cease from Vsury and Murmuring it may go well with them but if they still lust God will bring their lustings to the Graves and Smite them in the choisest Gifts Secondly Though to covet the Golden Wedg is a great Sin yet it is much more displeasing when God condiscends to give Wisdom Knowledg Experience and you to abuse it to lust 22. But neither is this the utmost Tragedy which happens in this Trial for some loose all their Works and themselves though Saved yet throught Fire and sharp Trials some perish utterly for here abouts the Sin against the Holy Ghost seems to lie which are described 2 Tim. 3.1 more full 2 Pet. 3. and lastly Jude 17. which is thus Beloved remember the Words of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ that they told you that in the last Time should be Mockers who should walk after their own ungodly lusts these be they who seperate themselves Sensual not having the Spirit which is of God but ye beloved by building up your selves on the most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep ye your selves in the love of God looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life and of some have compassion making a difference and others save by feare pulling them out of the Fire Thus Lot was plucked out of Sodom but surely after a sheep hath followed Christ into regeneration though in great infirmity he will not willingly leave it behind him 23. But leaving the bitter part let us enquire after the End of the Lord as James calls it and as it is most fully represented in Job who meek and patient as he was yet was not by all his affliction from God and stripes from his Friends sufficiently humbled nor vile in his own Eyes until God spake to him and reproved him Job 28.2.40.2 And lastly until by the Eye of the Mind he perceived him 42.1 Then Job answered the Lord and said I know thou canst do all things no thought hid from thee Hear I pray thee and I will speak I will ask and do thou make me know by the hearing of the Ear I have heard thee and now my Eye seeth thee therefore I contemn my self and repent in Dust and Ashes And now as after this humiliation and ascription of all Glory to God his sorrows ended and after he had prayed for his Friends for Charity is never out of Date his Peace and Riches were doubled so shall it be to all them who with him thus close up this Trial no more rumours of War only some such Sicknesses and Ridintigrations of Love as for the absence of her beloved as the Song of Sons Celebrates 24. And now I say this Tryal burning up our Spiritual lustings is not only matter of Joy profitable but upon the tenure of our Lords promise and our yea yea nay nay is necessary for on his part it is I will be with thee and bless thee and on ours thou vouchsafing so to do we will be thine and have no God but thee And forasmuch as God will not lead them to whom he hath not given Power to follow nor none have Power given to follow him who have enslaved their own Minds and Affections to their own by mistaking the Guid taking their own Spirits in which the Spirit of Antichrist is begun to Work for the Spirit of Truth therefore a necesssary Fundamental on God's part is that he consume the tincture from Antichrist and subdue our Wisdom to his and that we in the Strenght he affords cheerfully resign them to him and therefore as long as our Hearts by dayly and full experience convince us that our own Counsels are the Compass by which we steer our Course and our vild affections the Loadstone at which our Compass points it is necessary that God in his fit and long before seen opportunity visit us with such corrasives as his Wisdom hath predestinated to cousume the wicked one and subduing the will and all other affections that stood in the Gap of that performance of our mutual Stipulations which is the heavenly fire and brightness of his comming 25. And now seeing the subduing and consuming of what is to be consumed and subdued is necessary it is not fit to question whither it shall be done in our way or Gods and yet assuredly the great Remora is that Man perâ—mtorily persists to have it in his own way that is to have it speeily easily and by Usury and Merit as the Sons of Zebedee who but now warmed under the Wings of Christ ask Master we would that thou wouldst do whatsoever for us we desire i. e. that we pray for and perhaps the first desire would have been a Serpent for a Fish Wisdom Prophesy Revelation Healing Miracles all which were prepared for them in the set time and what else might puff them up make them glorious in the eyes of men so boundless is self-love opinion of self-merit not considering how these would inflame that pride which was already too strong for them for surely as our Lord answered these petitioners we should ask we know not what as after James reproving himself saith Ye ask and have not because ye ask that ye might bestow it upon your own lusts And now God's way is that first this lustings might be burnt up our wills conformed to his and the Spirit of Anti-Christ consumed which cannot be if asking for our lusts we obtain and working in Usury we gain the Hire 26. And here is another sore Evil we all even the most perfect presume we
and in largeness or enlarging me Jah heard me Jehovah is for me I will not fear what Man can do unto me Jehovah is for me among my Helpers and I shall perceive them helping me It is better to trust in God than in free-born Princes Vers 10. All Nations compassed me about but in the Name of the Lord I will cut them off 11. They compassed me yea they compassed me but in the Name of the Lord I will cut them off 12. They compassed me like Bees they are extinguished as a blaze of Thorns in the Name of the Lord therefore I will destroy them 13. Pushing thou pushedst at me to cast me down and the Lord helped me Jah is my Strength and my Song he is my Salvation 15. The Voice of Praise and Salvation is in the Tents of the Holy the right hand of the Lord doth mightily 17. I shall not die but I shall live and declare the Works of Jah 18. Reproving Jah reproved me but he gave me not up unto Death 19. Open to me the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Root to estimate also to be in horror also it is rough or stern because in Israel the Gate was the Seat of Justice and therefore terrible to accused Persons to which Gate of Judgment and Condemuation the Prophet here abudes rough Gates of Righteousness I will enter them I will confess Jah 20. This terrible Gate is the Lord's the Righteous shall enter by it 21. I will praise thee because thou heardst me and wast my Salvation 22. The Stone which the Builders refused was Head of the Corner 23. This was from the Lord and marvellous in our Eyes 24. This day the Lord made or magnified we will rejoice and be glad in it c. Now this I take to be a Psalm of Praise for David's deliverance in this day of Trial where under the Name of Jah Christ is signified and not only here but in all other Places as he appeared to the Patriarchs in the Promise under the Law To insist upon a full explication of this Text would require as long a Discourse as the whole we here intend and therefore I shall only give the sense in a short Paraphrase When I was in the strait of my Warfare and Trial I prayed and Christ enlarged my heart if the Lord be for me I will not fear what the Arm of Flesh can do for he will teach me to discover my inward Enemies it is better to trust in him than in the wisdom of Man or free-will Offerings All Perswasions and Opinions touching the Worship of God came about me pretending to speak in the Name of the Lord as Job 's Counsellors did One said I ought to be more righteous in Works another said Faith without Works was the sure Guide this said Lo Christ is in the Chamber that in the Wilderness they flutter'd and were busy as Bees about me but I * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cut off or destroy so read here but in the pure Hebraism it is he circumcised read above thirty times in Scripture and always I take it circumcised save here except once in Phil. 3.3 Psal 90.6 10. and once in Isa 53.8 And for as much as Circumcision was a rowling away the reproach of Egypt from Israel Jos 5.9 I so read it namely a circumcising of the Heart which is the rowling away the carnal use of Duties not the Duty it self for hence we find that David in the very assault was earnest with God in Prayer rowled away their fleshly Deceits Satan sets my sins before me but God upheld me Christ was my strength therefore in dying I did not die but live again and will declare the mighty Works of Christ Indeed Christ did reprove me and as a Friend afflict me but would not let Death destroy me Open O Lord open to me the terrible Gates which lead into the Righteousness of Christ I will enter them boldly I will not be afraid even in the Jaws thereof I will judg and condemn my self and confess that Christ can save to the utmost This Gate be it never so terrible is the Lord's Christ entred by it and it is become the true Gate and who enter not by it are Thieves and Robbers but the Righteous shall enter by it and be saved Here I was straitned here I cried to thee and blessed be thy Name that thou heardst me The Builders in me pretended they would raise a Temple in me for thee to dwell in they wewed and squared Stones in their own Wisdom they adorned them with specious out-sides of Merit and Form Free-Grace they despised they thought it ridiculous that a Man should save his life by losing it but it is become the Foundation-Stone in the turning of the Corner upon which the whole Building standeth This is of the Lord he alone hath done it and wonderful are the Mysteries of Salvation This is the acceptable Day of the Lord he hath made it glorious and we will rejoice in it The Prophet Isaith thus Comfort ye comfort ye my People saith your God speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem and proclaim unto her that her Warfare is compleated for her Iniquity is become acceptable for she received from the Hand of the Lord the Double of all her Sins The Voice of one crying in the Wilderness Make smooth the Way of the Lord. Every Valley shall be exalted every Hill shall be made humble and the Glory of the Lord shall reveal it self and all Flesh shall see him in Vnion Three in One for the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it And besides these in the Analogy of the Flood of Noah the everlasting Covenant he made with God on the behalf of all breathing Animals is a Type of this also the Sacrifice of Isaac the passing the Red Sea and Wilderness-State Job's great Affliction and his three miserable Comforters and indeed the whole Course of that Book must indeed fully express these things also Hezekiah's Sickness Recovery and Prayer and lastly Jonah's Shipwrack in the Whale's Belly three days and nights together with his Prayer But we pass them over VERS 4. 1. Contemned in his own Eyes despised Thus most read but some as our English In whose Eyes a vile Person is contemned But neither doth this fully answer to the Hebrew or Context or indeed to Gospel-Rules or Scripture-Precepts for who shall be Judg of the Vileness of another For neither hath God given a Law or Character to us whereby we may discern or condemn any as vile but rather to judg and condemn our selves as is written Judg not that ye be not judged Seek not a Mote in thy Brother's eye but a Beam in thy own Again What have we to do to judg them without And therefore thus to judg condemn and lastly to contemn in our own Spirits were proud and Pharisaical oft contemning them more worthy than our selves as the Pharisee did the Publican and so render our selves contemptible before
God as is written Isa 65.5 Which say Stand by thy self come not near me for I am more holy than thou These are a Smoak in my Nose they remain among the Graves lodg in the Tombs and eat Swines flesh And indeed so prone is Humanity to judg well of it self and to think others vile as if it had a Divine Institution to justify it self by contempt of others it would have too great and bold a face in all Men. And therefore the whole Stream of Scripture-Precepts runs on of the contrary part And so I read this and so it falls in most fitly as the seventh Link of this seamless Chain For until this Warfare hath unravel'd all the Pride and high Conceits of Man by Nature 't is impossible he should be vile and despised in his own esteem and after he hath found that he is in himself poor naked and miserable this Precept easily may be engrafted And this the Psalmist aims at namely That in this nick of time we should lay a lasting Foundation of Humility For so apt is the Nature of Man to think well of himself that tho he have nothing of his own Merit that will bear out his boasting yet can he be proud in the Gift or Bounty of another So as Poor and Proud is a most fit Character for Mankind But I think the Precept looks both back and forwards that is Learn Humility from Adversity past and let not that natural propensity in us upon the Income of Grace unrivet its Junctures For tho Grace be not our own purchase but of meer Bounty yet are we exceeding apt to be puffed up with it and to boast of its Riches even to Security and Sloth and of I know not what Liberty which is often I fear made an occasion to Wantonness and Forgetfulness of God I dare boldly affirm both tend to great Loss And at this wise Agur levelled in his Prayer Two things I desire of thee Give me neither Poverty nor Riches Not Poverty lest I climb in by the wrong Door and become a Robber seeking Riches in beggarly lying Superstition not Riches lest I be full of Ease and Plenty and abuse thy free Gift to Wantonness So as indeed wretched Man is no sooner freed from fleshly and natural Pride but he runs the hazard of another which tho of a heavenly and spiritual Offspring yet is it not of less danger Only our great Advantages in this State are First That the former is rooted in us by Nature and had erected its Bulwarks before we were aware and not to be beaten down without Miracles from Heaven but on the contrary this is at first a Stranger weak of it self and our Hearts by late Humiliation fortified against it so as a little watchfulness may weed it up before it take root Secondly If indeed we have been faithful in our Warfare repented heartily and planted Love we have God's Promise he will watch over us And lastly We are assured we are in closer Union with God through our Lord than before we were capable of yet still so as the Captain of our Salvation requires us to watch and be upon our Guard And hence the Psalmist saith Be contemned be despised in thine own Eyes As if he would impress it upon us that the vileness of Man which is discovered in his Warfare should never be forgotten namely an utterly lost vile and condemned Creature in the Jaws of Hell until redeemed by one who owed him nothing nor yet expects any price O my Soul engrave this upon thy Heart write it upon thy Conscience make it a Frontlet between thy Eyes and let thy Philactery be large Bind upon thy left hand Was ever State more desperate and deplorable than mine was And on thy right Was there ever greater Love than this Write upon one Post of thy Gate Justice spare that Wretch he now is humbled And on the other If thou must have Blood turn thy Blade into my Side And whosoever can thus write speaking the Truth in his Heart it shall be said unto him Gird thy Sword upon thy Thigh and ride on prosperously in the rest of thy Warfare for Christ will lead thee out and bring thee in 2. Now hitherto Righteousness hath consisted in destroying and pulling down such Fortresses as rebellious Nature had erected and now we come to that which buildeth up adding Vertue to Vertue and Strength to Strength The first part was in putting off the Old Man the second in putting on the New That was by descent from the Life of the first Adam the living Soul to the Death thereof and this an ascent from that Death by the power of the working of the second Adam unto Life everlasting yet so as we are not as we minded before to cast behind us any of those Teachings which we before learned in Moses's or Abraham's Schools that is If we have learned with Abraham to believe in the Promise above Hope with Job Patience that we can say The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh blessed be the Name of the Lord or with Moses Obedience Meekness Humility and Contempt of our selves we are still to retain them as most choice Jewels as most necessary Weapons in managing the latter part of our Warfare for even Grace without these is an occasion of a supine Forgetfulness of him that bought us Neither ought any as I fear some do to suppose the Gifts of Grace have set them free from all Obedience to the Law contained under the two Tables but on the contrary have more forcibly imposed it and as Christ saith I came not to destroy but to fulfill the Law that is so to fulfill it as that we through him might also fulfill it Again Whoso shall break one of these least Commandments shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven and whoso shall do and teach them shall be greatest c. And again You have heard of old it was said Thou shalt not kill but I say Whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause is in danger of the Judgment Where it is manifest that this Law is so far from abolishment as it is exalted further than of old Again Of old it was Thou shalt not commit Adultery but now Whoso looketh on a Woman to lust is an Adulterer And again Adulterers and Adulteresses shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And therefore the Text is plain and positive these Commands are more strictly fixed upon us than before And tho our Lord in this Sermon doth not so expresly mention the rest of the Decad yet by other Precepts in the same Chapter he implies all and especially in that where he saith Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self for that fully includes all of the second Table And for them of the first it were madness to think we may have any other God or may make the likeness of any thing to worship it save our own God or yet to prophane his Name So to