Conscience stands firm and quick it will not fail to detect all its Sorceries To speak out of my own experience it hath already manifested four of its gross Deceits Of the first in the day of Vocation for until then it shews not the depths of its Craft because all Men by Nature set forth into the World much leavened with the Love Lusts and Vanities of the Flesh and as long as the Soul is content to take part with it in wallowing in Sin so long the Heart troubleth not the Soul nor Satan the Heart because his desires prosper in that way which is most pleasing to him because most destructive to Souls neither will he tempt in this State to Superstition or Idolatry because it makes better for his end that neither God nor Religion should come within his thoughts But if the Soul shall become sensible of this Bondage and threaten to leave Egypt that it may sacrifice to God in the Wilderness then the Heart leavened by Satan sets on foot all its Stratagems and if God in favour of the Design raise up a Moses in it and smite the Heart with some noisom Plague or Affliction it cannot bear it makes shew of Repentance and promiseth that if God will remove his Hand it will become a true Leige-man but no sooner is that taken away but it hardens it self as Pharaoh did and will not consent that the Elect Seed shall depart out of its Slavery until the ten Egyptian Plagues have passed upon it for in that Story the Conflicts of the Spiritual and Natural Seeds upon Vocation are shewn in Allegory The second is That after the Soul is manumitted by a strong hand the Heart also enters into Covenant taking upon it the Oath of a holy Life and promising to perform all that Jehovah commands but yet upon the first strait or want murmurs starts aside like a broken Bow oft wishing it self in the Pleasures of Egypt again as sometimes the Sons of Israel did for God will put Trials on his called Ones in the first Journeying and these are to teach us to beware of the like Evils as it is written Now all these things happened unto them for example the original Types and are written for our Admonition upon whom the ends of the World i.e. Age are come Another Admonition we have in good Peter whose Heart being warmed with Love to his Master strait way boasted And though all should be offended with thee yet will not I vehemently affirming that he could die with him rather than deny him and doubtless the good old Man intended to do all he professed but so far his false Heart deceived him as on the appearance of Danger he denied his Master thrice before the next Cock's Crow was finished Which also serves for our Instruction fore-warning us not to boast in our own Strength always to distrust our Hearts and if perchance we be overtaken in Peter's Snares that we may with him renew our selves by bitter Tears The next Deceitfulness of the Heart is now when it entred on the Rule and whole Course of Obedience and persuades it-self its Works are upright before God and done upon the pure Principle of Love towards God and Man but indeed is meerly hypocritical moving upon mercenary hope of Reward or a base servile fear of Punishment not loving Justice and Mercy for Christ's sake not doing good to others for love of them but because they love themselves and hope to be Gainers by their Gift And this I fear is a frequent Evil as Experience teaches for whose was once zealous in Obedience in Duties and Charity and after upon the Incomes of Grace and hope that the Scourge is over becomes cold and remiss therein let them boast of what new Light and Gospel-Liberty they please they will be found Hypocrites Bastards and not Sons and so they may behold themselves in the Glass of their own Conscience For if the Command for Duties be still the same and thy Brother in want as before and thou shalt not communicate in both as formerly where is thy Love or Obedience and how were they formerly sincere No assuredly because thy Fear of Punishment is vanished so also Love and nothing more certain than that it was founded upon some base Foundation And thus the false Heart makes many play the Hypocrite persuading that those Hypocritical Sacrifices were acceptable to God which were verily little better than Swine's Blood And therefore here is great need of watching over the Buddings of the Heart and if upon this account Zeal or Charity languish it ought to be brought before the Judg and its Hypocrisy manifested and that if possible that may be renewed which was ready to die And if this be not done by thy self be assured that he that searcheth the Heart and Reins rendring to every one according to the Fruits of their working will do it and appoint thy portion amongst the Hypocrites But now the fourth and last Treachery of the Heart is whilst it is indeed zealous and perhaps competently faithful in these Duties and pretends that all its performances are as Dross and Dung and i◠〈◊〉 uprofitable â—â—rvant and therefore hath no dependence in them but sâ—â—ply on free Grace but nevertheless doth in its secret thoughts say Soul take thy rest for thou hast much Riches laid up for many Years And this is a sore Evil and frequent and thus Experience discovers it If the Heart say to the Soul Take thy rest there is assuredly some shreds of it but if it say to another who fears the Lord and walks by the Rule whereunto it hath attained Get thee far from me for I am more righteous than thou it hath taken a deep root Or if it boast with the Pharisee I thank God I am not as this Man I fast twice in the Week I pay my Tithes I pray in Spirit and read the Scriptures in Understanding and this Man is carnal he prays by a form of words and reads and understands not the Case is clear For how canst thou prefer thy Holiness to another's that believes in the same Christ and owns him to be Righteousness except thou suppose thou hast inhanced thy Merit by some false Vertue or Performance for this is but the vain boasting of the Heart puffed up with knowledg not considering that not many Wise are called but that God hath chosen the foolish and base things of this World to confound the Wise for it is not the Whole but Sick that stand in need of the Physician of Souls therefore seeing the humble and poor in Spirit are the fit Objects of Grace and Christ hath promised them Blessedness why should not the Heart taught to speak the Truth rather boast that it is enrolled amongst these for I know that whatsoever it thinketh yet it will openly profess that it must be saved by Grace and how knowest thou but he that is the Fool in thine eyes hath more Humility Meekness yea is greater in
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
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
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
which God will bottle up or in a Groan mayest offer up a well-pleasing Petition which could not be uttered in words therefore be not deceived of thy Birth-right for 't is not to abolish the Duty that this befals thee but thy whorish Pride and Deceit for formerly thou boastest in thy many and pleasant words proceeding from head to head in method and tho when thou hadst finished thy deceitful Heart said it is naught it is naught yet in secret boasted with the Pharisee I thank thee I am not as this Man I pray without Book now I have obliged God to do me good in blessing and confessing him in Spirit but learn thou That the sighings of the Poor and needy God will not forget And this being fully set upon thy Heart God will enlarge thy Mouth again and thy Tongue shall be like a Hind let loose Hast thou given Alms and thy Heart recoileth upon thee that it was not in pure Charity but to stop the mouth of a guilty Mind or to obtain a better Reward for thy self yet by no means withdraw thy hand but even now whilst this Sentiment is upon thee make haste and go and give again more largely than before for thy Mind cannot tax thee now that thou givest for base ends whilst thou believest such Gifts bring no Blessing but rather a Curse Perhaps thou hast heard or read a gracious Promise and thy Soul found no relish in it yet hear and read again if it be but for the Commands sake and that Obedience is better than Sacrifice And again consider the Promise is here it cannot fail because the Promiser is faithful and just to forgive Sins if we confess them But thou wilt say Truth but the Promise belongs not to me because I cannot believe This indeed I grant is a strong pang but no strange thing for thou must also resign the Promises as Abraham did for in sacrificing the Promised Seed he resign'd back the Promise for if in Isaac's both Abraham and all Nations must be blessed then with him sacrificed and as yet without Seed must the Promise cease and in it all Hopes save in the Promiser alone therefore this is the great Point and there remains nothing but that thou give it back in Abraham's Faith which is in assurance that thou shalt receive it again and not in a Figure but Essence for indeed it is but required of thee in the Figure Besides there is not a Promise in the whole Book of God but thou hast put thine own construction upon it mis-shaping it to the purpose of thy legal and carnal Heart and so believed in it so as in truth thou didst not believe in the pure Promise of God but in an Idol thy Invention had form'd out of it and it is but this Idol thou must offer up for the Fundamental Promise is The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's Head and as thy Fathers mis-shaped it so hast thou they thought he would do it in Power and Might but it was fulfilled in Infirmity and Death in due time as thou knowest and now the Promise being Believe baptize and be saved thou thoughest a formal Baptism with some few shreds of thine own Righteousness would carry thee up to Heaven on Eagles Wings but thou wast mistaken God's Ways are not as thy ways nor his Thoughts as thine for thou must baptize in his Death all thy Righteousness must go into his Grave thy Merit must become as rags and thou and all thy Vertues must stand still as Israel did at the Red-Sea while he treadeth down the Seed of the Serpent under thy feet for he will make good his Promise but not in thine but his own Way and therefore indeed thou givest it not up but thy own mis-shapen construction of it and therefore yield it freely and know nothing beside thy own unworthiness but him and trusting in him abhor thy self repent in Ashes and the thing is done as a ripe Fruit thou shalt drop into the Land of the Living And here let me interpose one word of Advice to them in whom this Confusion and Division have taken hold that is when Brother and Sister-Gifts begin to accuse and criminate each other then stop thine Ears against the Accusation but if any accuse it self then hear with tender compassion for if my Experience deceive not That is Satan in the form of an Angel of Light And thus is Christ teaching us to judg our selves that is If Faith stand up and perswade that it hath laid hold of the Promises aright and without doubting believed but Obedience Prayer Charity c. have stoln the Wedg and Babylonish Garment and troubled Israel in this then be assured this is not Faith but bold-fac'd Presumption rigged forth by Satan in the out-side form of Faith and therefore send him out of the Camp in the Vally called Achor unto this day And so if Obedience Prayer Good-works or any Gift stand up upon such-like terms reject them as Accusers of their Brethren perswaded by Satan to act his part but if Faith accuse it self or being accused by others as the Acan is ready to confess the Fact I have sinned these are innocent I had a great trust in the Army I carried the Shield but fiery Darts falling as thick as Hail I fainted and fled away I am the guilty Jonas cast me over-board and ye shall live Now in this state call every Grace to its station let the Rowers row hard let the Steerage be plied and call to him whom the Wind and Sea obey but if the troubled Conscience still foam and the Spirit bluster from on high and no hope to bring it safe to Land there 's no Remedy over-board it must but yet shall not perish for out of the Belly of Hell it shall cry and be heard and after a while perhaps three Days and three Nights it shall sing to the Lord a New Song Thou hast brought me from Corruption my Soul fainted in me and I remembred thee my Prayer came before thee They that observe lying Vanities forsake their own Mercy And thus do thou with every Gift which hath its more immediate Life in God as Faith Hope Love c. such I say as if a Man could give his whole Substance for it would be contemned But if a practical Gift commanded by God as an Offering from thee fall under this Self-condemnation then neither be so hasty to call others to its assistance nor yet to cast it out because he that so commanded hath also given it a certain Talent to perform at least in some measure but rather stir it up to take an Oar into its own hand that is if Prayer say I am formal I profit not I have no life in me If Charity say I am a Merit-monger and my Alms hypocritical If Fasting say I am vain-glorious and Pharisaical cast us over-board and be safe do not humour them at all in this but encourage them to ply afresh
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
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
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
Mercies bountifully as to Noah after the Flood to whom the everlasting Covenant was given to Abraham after his great Sacrifice By my self I have sworn saith Jehovah because thou hast not with-held thy Son thy only Son in blessing I will bless thee c. Also Job was abundantly redintegraced Again at the Waters of Strife where God proved the People and they did but competently sustain it for they murmured yet there he made a new Statute and Ordinance he proved them and gave them a new Promise of which David thus Thou calledst in Trouble and I delivered thee I answered thee in the hiddeness of Thunder Now these things are written for our Instruction and ought to be great consolation to us in the height of our Tribulations when brought by God yea tho both the worldly Cross and Cross of Christ meet upon us at once as they did upon Job yet ought we to undergo them with his Patience and Faith the Lord gives and shall he not take I know I shall come forth as Silver tried in the Fire I know I shall see my Redeemer with these Eyes nay as St. James saith with Joy knowing all things shall be destroyed which are enemies to our Happiness and that preferved purified multiplied and exalted which is a Friend In Ezek. 14. there is this remarkable Passage If I send the Sword Famine noisom Beasts Pestilence to cut off Man and Beast tho Noah Job and Daniel were in it As I live saith the Lord they should neither deliver a Son or a Daughter they should but deliver their own Souls Yet therein shall be left an Escape of Sons and Daughters brought forth and they shall come forth to you and ye shall see their Way and their Actions and ye shall be comforted upon the Evil I have brought upon Jerusalem and you shall be comforted when you see their Way and shall know that I have not done what I have done without cause saith the Lord Jehovah Now this in an Allegory refers to this Trial and these four Evils to that Famine and Plagues which God shall bring in this Day For the Soul shall then hunger after Righteousness and not be satiated in its daily Bread because Christ is withdrawn and that is the Famine And all our Lusts shall perish by the Sword of the Spirit by the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and Pestilence by Noon-day Only the Famine of the Preacher of Righteousness by consumption the Patience of Job and self-judging Wisdom of Daniel shall deliver themselves And out of them shall spring forth a new-born Nature in which shall be comfort and we shall rejoice in the Wisdom and Goodness of God and perceive with Joy how he hath ordered all these to work together for the Good of them that love him and have kept the Word of his Patience 21. Whence therefore I say we ought to pray that we may not be led into this Trial and yet having so done to rejoice in it when the Spirit of God drives to it because he will keep us and that Saying shall be verified in us 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no Temptation befallen you but such as is common to Men but God is faithful and will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able but with the Temptation will make a way to the Escape of Noah Job and Daniel and their Sons that you may be able to bear it But it is also remarkable how the Apostle bounds this before and after with the next Context even with those Bounds all the Faithful ought in this Warfare to confine within The first is Wherefore let him that standeth take heed lest he fall namely not to err by presumption of our own Strength or thrust into the Battel as the Horse for who doth so if he fall he hath his amends in his own hands The other bound is Wherefore my Beloved fly from Idolatry which is When the Call cometh make not Duties a Nehushtan but gird up your Loins and follow your Captain believe his Conduct and Banner are sufficient Pledges of Victory for now to rely on Horses or Chariots of your own setting forth is flat Idolatry and Idolatry is the Rock of Perdition in the way And he that thus stands upon his Guard at his Post and confined Station let him count his Temptation all Joy but if he go beyond these let him thank himself for all the Losses and Buffetings he finds 22. Lastly All Men ought to watch hourly for this Hour as oft is admonished under Penalties and Blessings As our Lord Watch for the hour comes as a Thief in the Night Watch for you know not the hour the Lord cometh Be ready for in an hour you think not of the Son of Man cometh and blessed is the Servant who when his Lord cometh he findeth so doing Which is not smiting his fellow-Servants or reproaching them as if he were more holy than they but being humble of Mind sensible of Infirmity diffident of his best performances knowing the Lord will come to try his Heart and Reins And this must be a most excellent preparative Posture foreseeing the far end of the Account is to subdue the Arm of Flesh and to account all our Righteousness by Works as loss and dung for the Cross of Christ it must needs be a good Introduction to know all Flesh is vain and light in the Ballance Now therefore thus prepared set thy Conscience for Watch-man bid it declare whatsoever it seeth and call by Night as well as by Day Watchman what seest thou what of the Night And if he says Behold my Lord comes as a Lion and it is the dead of the Night cease thou from folding thy Hands together rouze up and offer a Peace-Offering and if it shall not be accepted as formerly and thy Watch-man chargeth thee not with Omission Commission or lack of Zeal above wonted Infirmity suspect thy Hour is at hand and if thy Hunger after Christ encrease and satiation in Duties decrease be assured thy Lord cometh to prove thee how far for him thou canst deny all things And if thou be an eater of Herbs observer of Days or a truster in Ordinances of Man or beggarly Elements of the World these will be first required which quickly shake off as the Fig-tree doth her untimely Fruit when shaken by a great Wind. But perhaps next even commanded Duties may be brought under disgrace and then thy Case will be more difficult for they are Holy yet Christ being hid they cannot satiate for it is not the Ordinance that sanctified Christ but Christ the Ordinance thou hast stayed in Prayer and thy Heart was sleepy thy Tongue slow and thy return as blasted Fruit thou hast tried again and wert as a dumb Man without utterance but be not cast down but go the third yea the seventh time perhaps it may be granted thee to sigh and mourn in Spirit how knowest thou but thou mayest find a Tear of Godly Sorrow
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
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
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.
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
If thou believe in me and ask in my Name all shall be granted and hast thou not both believed and asked and yet hast not received but thy answer was Thou askest and hast not because thou askest to bestow upon thy Lust Is not this thy case Knock without him and none will open seek him to knock for thee and he hideth himself What therefore canst thou do more to this Master than thou hast already done yet what evidence hast thou got or what evidence hast thou that thy Works are accepted Why therefore dost thou spend thy time and self for nothing Break off this sullen obscure Life take a little ease before thou go hence and vanish into soft Air Hast not thou Parts and Gifts to make thee eminent among Men Art not thou as able to stand before Princes as many others who by a blameless compliance have gotten great Honour and Riches Be not therefore wise or righteous too much why wilt thou make thy self desolate Leave therefore this simpering Life and trie but my Service and the Riches and Pleasures of the World shall be thine which thou mayest use as thou pleasest none shall say why art thou good why prodigal why hoardest thou up why hast thou done thus And now I say if in this great Temptation the Soul stand fast it shall shortly tread down Satan under its Feet 19. And tho to answer Satan with our Lord Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only c. is the sovereign Cordial of all yet seeing for our further Instruction the holy Writers have enlarged further it behoves we enquire into their teachings St. James thus Chap. 5.8 Be patient Brethren until the coming of Lord. Be patient stablish your Hearts for the coming of the Lord draws nigh Ver. 10. Take the Prophets who have spoken in the Name of the Lord for an example of suffering Affliction and of Patience Behold we count them happy who endure Ye have heard of the Patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that he is pitiful and of tender Mercy But above all things swear not c. Whence it is manifest that Patience in this Crisis is a strong Fortress and Job's Patience and Example particularly recommended and above all things pernicious to swear in our own strength Thirdly not to murmur He gave he hath taken blessed be his Name Fourthly not to offend in words It also is of moment to observe at what the advice of Job's Friend tended and what he more righteously defended for their Plea still was that the Innocent and Righteous were never cut off and therefore Job was deep in Sin Self-confidence c. His Answer was that he was as righteous as they and therefore boasted much of his Righteousness in Tummim I cannot says he depart from it yet defending it was God's just Prerogative to afflict the Righteous as he pleased and yet to suffer the Tents of the Robbers to flourish but the end of these are miserable and those full of happiness And therefore sometimes he desires God not to spare Job 6.9 10. as if he would say Tread hard for nothing in me that is good wilt thou harm but the evil which makes me unripe for thy Mercy thou wilt consume And doubtless in this to conform to him is acceptable that is still holding his Faith I know my Redeemeer liveth Job 19.25 20. Another Example we have from the Prophet David Psal 77.2 In my Straits I sought the Lord my hands failed or were poured forth and ceased not my Soul refused consolation I remembred God and I tumultuâ—ted I meditated and my Spirit fainted Thou heldest mine eyes waking I was shaken and I spake not I considered the ancient days of Mountain-Worship and the Years or Changes of the Gospel-Ages to come I remember in the Song in former Darkness in my Heart I did contemplate and my Spirit made diligent search Will the Lord cast off in the hidden Age Will he be bountiful no more Is his Mercy clean gone for ever his Sayings to generation and generation quite failed Hath God forgot to be merciful hath he in anger shut up his Mercies Then said I This is my Infirmity these are the changes of the right-hand of the Most High I called the Works of Jah i. e. Christ to mind for thy marvellous Works from the ancient times I will remember Who is so great a God as our God! With thine Arms thou hast redeemed c. Which gives yet further light how we may fortify and ease our minds in this state namely to consider all former experiences of God's gracious dealing with us under the Law and Gospel and other particular Trials and thence argue Did God call us in our Natural State and save us in our Legal Warfare and will he now cast us off in the Gospel-State and break the Promises of Grace And lastly to conclude this is through my Infirmity and these are but the Changes of the Most High upon all his Elect for their good as in another place Psal 55.19 Because they have no Changes therefore they fear not God thence implying that all fearing God must undergo like Changes and therefore why shall I take this as if some strange thing had happened to me but rather rejoyce my Lot is fallen with Job David nay with Christ whom I will call to mind what he did for me in the War under the Cross and ever since I first knew him Who is so great a God who so powerful a Redeemer as He c. In Allegory this Trial by Fire is represented by the Burning at Taborah but in a far more tragical manner even unto blood for as the failing so the Penalty Numb 11. For after many Blessings and Mercies and as yet no defects in their Tents the People fell a lusting after base and mean Usury and murmured offending in Heart and Tongue for they had the Tabernacle newly reared and the Cloud by day and Fire by night which were sure Signals that the Divine Presence was with them and and they could not be out of the right way And for Food they had Angels Bread so qualified as he that gathered most had no spare nor he that gathered least any lack he that ate most could not surfeit nor who least went not away hungry yet so mercenary was their Spirits and greedy after gain and lastly so meritorious they thought their forsaking of Egypt at God's call was as they murmured at their Penny The Hebrew reads The People as it were made themselves complain or lament that is they made cause of complaint where no curse was for their pretence was That Angles food was not good enough All we have is Manna our Souls are dried up And their cry was In Egypt we had dainty Sallads forgetting that they had Brickils too and we have forsaken them at Jehovah's call who will give us Flesh which verily taken in the Gospel-sence are the express words of a Gospel-Usurer I
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