undertaken to beare thy losse yea to pay thee a hundred fold and thou shalt not stay for it till another world Again thou ought'st not to feare flesh Our Saviour Mat. 10. thrice in the compasse of sixe verses commands us not to feare man if thy heart quailes at him how wilt thou behave thy self in the list against Satan whose little finger is heavier then mans loines The Romanes had arma praelusoria weapons rebated or cudgels which they were tried at before they came to the sharp If thou canst not beare a bruise in thy flesh from mans cudgel and blunt weapon what wilt thou do when thou shalt have Satans sword in thy side God counts himself reproached when his children feare a sorry man therefore we are bid Sanctifie the Lord and not to feare their feare Now if thou wouldest not feare man who is but flesh Labour First to mortifie thy own flesh Flesh only feares flesh when the soule degenerates into carnal desires and delights no wonder he falls into carnal feares Have a care Christian thou bring'st not thy self into bondage perhaps thy heart feeds on the applause of men this will make thee afraid to be evil spoken of as those who shuffled with Christ John 12.42 owning him in private when they durst not confesse him openly for they loved the praise of men David saith the mouth of the wicked is an open Sepulchre and in this grave hath many a Saints name been buried but if this fleshly desire were mortified thou would'st not passe to be judg'd by man and so of all carnal affections Some meat you observe is aguish if thou settest thy heart on any thing that is carnal wife childe estate c. these will incline thee to a base feare of man who may be Gods messenger to afflict thee in these Secondly set faith against flesh Faith fixeth the heart and a fixed heart is not readily afraid Physicians tell us we are never so subject to receive infection as when the spirits are low and therefore the antidotes they give are all cordials When the spirit is low through unbelief every threatening from man makes sad impression Let thy faith take but a deep draught of the Promises and thy courage will rise Fourthly comfort thy self Christian with this that as thou art flâ—sh so thy heavenly Father knows it and considers thee for it First in point of affliction Psal 103.14 He knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are but dust Not like some unskilful Emperick who hath but one receipt for all strong or weak young or old but as a wise Physician considers his Patient and then writes his bill men and devils are but Gods Apothecaries they make not our physick but give what God prescribes Balaam loved Balâ—ks see well enough but could not go an hairs breadth beyond Gods Commission Indeed God is not so choice with the wicked Isa 27.7 Hath he smitten him as he smote those that smote hâ—m In a Saints cup the poison of the affliction is corrected not so in the wickeds and therefore what is medicine to the one is ruine to the other Secondly in duty he knows you are but flesh and therefore pities and accepts thy weak service yea he makes apologies for thee The Spirit is willing saith Christ but the flesh is weak Thirdly in temptations he considers thou art flesh and proportions the temptation to so weak a nature 't is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a temptation as is common to man a moderate temptation as in the margin fitted for so fraile a creature Whenever the Christian begins to faint under the weight of it God makes as much haste to his succour as a tender mother would to her swooning childe therefore he is said to be nigh to revive such lest their spirits should faile SECT III. The second thing follows The conjuncture of the Saints enemies We have not to do with naked man but with man led on by Satan not with flesh and blood but Principalities and Powers acting in them There are two sorts of men the Christian wrestles with good men and bad Satan strikes in with both First the Christian wrestles with good men Many a sharp conflict there hath been betwixt Saint and Saint scuffling in the dark through mis-understanding of the truth and each other Abraham and Lot at strife Aaron and Miriam justled with Moses for the wall till God interposed and ended the quarrel by his immediate stroak on Miriam The Apostles even in the presence of their Master were at high words contesting who should be greatest Now in these Civil wars among Saints Satan is the great kindle-coale though little seen because like Ahab he fights in a disguise playing first on one side and then on the other aggravating every petty injury and thereupon provoking to wrath and revenge therefore the Apostle dehorting from anger useth this argument Give no place to the devil as if he had said Fall not out among your selves except you long for the devils company who is the true souldier of fortune as the common phrase is living by his sword and therefore hastes thither where there is any hope of war Gregory compares the Saints in their sad differences to two cocks which Satan the Master of the pit sets on fighting in hope when kill'd to sup with them at night Solomon saith Prov. 18.6 The mouth of the contentious man calls for stroakes Indeed we by our mutual strifes give the devil a staffe to beat us with he cannot well work without fire and therefore blows up these coales of contention which he useth as his forge to heat our spirits into wrath and then we are malleable easily hammer'd as he pleaseth Contention puts the soul into disorder and inter arma silent leges The Law of grace acts not freely when the Spirit is in a commotion Meek Moses provok't speaks unadvisedly Me thinks this if nothing else will should sound a retreat to our unhappy differences that this Joab hath a hand in them he sets this evil spirit betwixt brethren and what folly is it for us to bite and devoure one another to make hell sport we are prone to mistake our heat for zeal whereas commonly in strifes between Saints it is a fire-ship sent in by Satan to break their unity and order wherein while they stand they are an Armado invincible and Satan knows he hath no other way but this to shatter them when the Christians language which should be one begins to be confounded they are then neare a scattering 't is time for God to part his children when they cannot live in peace together Secondly the Christian wrestles with wicked men Because you are not of the world saith Christ the world hates you The Saints nature and life are Antipodes to the world fire and water heaven and hell may assoon be reconciled as they with it The Heretick is his enemy for truths sake the prophane for holinesse to both the Christian is an abomination
willing to live here so long as now it is to perswade them to be willing to die so soon CHAP II. Wherein is shewed what is meant by flesh and blood how the Christian doth not and how he doth wrestle against the same SECT I. NOw followes the description of the Saints enemies with whom he is to wrestle First described Negatively Not with flesh and blood Secondly Positively But against Principalities and Powers c. First for the Negative part of the Description we are not to take it for a pure negation as if we had no conflict with flesh and blood but wholly and solely to engage against Satan but by way of comparison not only with flesh and blood and in some sense not chiefly It is usual in Scripture such manner of phrase Luke 14.12 Call not thy friends to dinner but the poore that is not only those so as to neglect the poor Now what is meant here by flesh and blood there is a double interpretation of the words First by flesh and blood may be meant our own bosome-corruptions that sin which is in our corrupt nature so oft called flesh in the Scripture The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and sometimes flesh and blood as Matth. â—6 17 Flesh and blood hath not revealed this that is this Confession thou hast made comes from above thy fleshly corrupt minde could never have found out this supernatural truth thy sinful Will would never have embraced it So 1 Cor 15.20 Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God that is sinful mortal flesh as it 's expounded in the words following So Gal. 1.21 I consulted not with flesh and blood that is carnal reason Now this bosome-enemy may be called flesh partly from its derivation and partly from its operation from its derivation because it 's derived and propagated to us by natural generation thus Adam is said to beget a son in his own likenesse sinful as he was as well as mortal and miserable yea the holiest Saint on earth having flesh in him derives this corrupt and sinful nature to his childe as the circumcised Jew begat an uncircumcised childe and the wheat cleans'd and fann'd being sowen comes up with a husk John 3.6 That which is borne of the flesh is flesh Secondly it s call'd flesh from the operations of this corrupt nature which are fleshly and carnal The reasonings of the corrupt minde fleshly therefore called the carnal minde uncapable indeed of the things of God which it neither doth nor can perceive As the Sunne doth obsignare superiora dum revelat inferiora hide the Heavens which are above it from us while it reveales things beneath so carnal reason leaves the creature in the dark concerning spiritual truths when it is most able to conceive and discourse of creature-excellencies and carnal interests here below What a childish question for so wise a man did Nicodemus put to Christ though Christ to help him did wrap his speech in a carnal phrase If fleshly reason cannot understand spiritual truths when thus accommodated and the notions of the Gospel translated into its own language what skill is it like to have of them if put to reade them in their original tongue I mean if this garment of carnal expression were taken off and spiritual truths in their naked hue presented to its view The motions of the natural will are carnal and therefore Rom. 8.5 They that are after the flesh are said to minde the things of the flesh All its desires delights cares feares are in and of carnal things it savours spiritual food no more then an Angel fleshly Omnis vita gustu ducitur What we cannot relish we will hardly make our daily food Every creature hath its proper diet the Lion eats not grasse nor the horse flesh what is food to the carnal heart is poison to the gracious and that which is pleasing to the gracious is distastful to the carnal Now according to this Interpretation the sense of the Apostle is not as if the Christian had no combate with his corrupt nature for in another place it 's said the Spirit lusts against the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit and this enemy is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sin that besets the Christian round but to aggravate his conflict with this enemy by the accesse of a forreign power Satan who strikes in with this domestick enemy As if while a King is fighting with his own mutinous subjects some out-landish troops should joyne with them now he may be said not to fight with his subjects but with a forrein power The Christian wrestles not with his naked corruption but with Satan in them were there no devil yet we should have our hands full in resisting the corruptions of our own hearts but the accesse of this enemy makes the battel more terrible because he heads them who is a Captain so skilful and experienced Our sin is the engine Satan is the Engineer lust the bait Satan the Angler when a soule is enticed by his own lust he is said to be tempted James 1.14 because both Satan and our own lust concur to the compleating the sinne First let this make thee Christian ply the work of mortification close it is no policy to let thy lusts have armes who are sure to rise and declare against thee when thine enemy comes Achish his Nobles did but wisely in that they would not trust David in their army when to fight against Israel lest in the battel he should be an adversary to them And darest thou go to duty or engage in any action where Satan will appear against thee and not endeavour to make sure of thy pride unbelief c. that they joyne not with thine enemy Secondly are Satan and thy own flesh against thee not single corruption but edged with his policy and backed by his power see then what need thou hast of more help then thy owne grace take heed of grapling with him in the strength of thy naked grace here thou hast two to one against thee Satan was too hard for Adam though he went so well appointed into the field because left to himself much more easily will he foile thee cling therfore about thy God for strength get him with thee and then though a worme thou shalt be able to deal with this Serpent SECT II. Secondly flesh and blood is interpreted as a periphrasis of man We wrestle not with flesh and blood that is not with man who is here described by that part which chiefly distinguisheth him from the Angelical nature Touch me saith Christ and handle me a Spirit hath not flesh Now according to this Interpretation observe First how meanly the Spirit of God speaks of man Secondly where he layes the stresse of the Saints battel not in resisting flesh and blood but Principalities and Powers where the Apostle excludes not our combate with man for the war is against the Serpent and his seed As wide as
Christians that are not instructed in the grounds of Christianity The want of this is the cause why many are so unstedfast First of this way and then of that blown like glasses into any shape as false Teachers please to breath Alas they have no center to draw their lines from think it no disgrace you who have runne into error and lost your selves in the labyrinths of deep points which now are the great discourse of the weakest professors to be set back to learn the first principles of the Oracles of God better too many are as Tertullian saith in another case pudoris magìs memores quà m salutis more tender of their reputation then their salvation who are more ashamed to be thought ignorant then careful to have it cured Fifthly If thou wouldst attain to divine knowledge wait on the Ministery of the Word As for those who neglect this and come not where the Word is Preacht they do like one that should turn his back on the Sunne that he may see it if thou wouldst know God come where he hath appointed thee to learn Indeed where the meanes is not God hath extraordinary wayes as a Father if no School in Town will teach his childe at home but if there be a publick School thither he sends him God maketh manifest saith Paul the savour of his knowledge by us in every place 2 Cor. 2.14 Let men talk of the Spirit what they please He will at last be found a quencher of the Spirit that is a despiser of Prophecy they both stand close together 1 Thes 5.19 20. Quench not the Spirit Despise not Prophesying But it is not enough to sit under the meanes Wofull experience teacheth us this there are some no Sun will tan they keep their old complexion under the most shining and burning light of the Word preached as ignorant and prophane as those that never saw Gospel-day and therefore if thou wilt receive any spirituall advantage by the Word take heed how thou hearest First Look thou beest a wakefull hearer Is it any wonder he should go away from the Sermon no wiser then he came that sleeps the greatest part of it away or heares betwixt sleeping and waking It must be in a dreame sure if God reveales any thing of his mind to him So indeed God did to the Fathers of old but it was not as they prophanely slept under an Ordinance O take heed of such irreverence He that composeth himselfe to sleep as some do at such a time or he that is not humbled for it and that deeply both of them betray a base and low esteeme they have of the Ordinance Surely thou thinkest but meanly of what is delivered if it will not keep thee awake yea of God himselfe whose message it is See how thou art reproved by the awfull carriage of a Heathen and that a King Ehud did but say to Eglon I have a message from God unto thee And he arose out of his seate Judge 3.20 And thou clapest downe on thy seat to sleep O how darest thou put such an affront upon the great God How oft did you fall asleep at dinner or telling your money And is not the Word of God worth more then these I should wonder if such Sermon-sleepers do dreame of any thing but hell-fire 'T is dangerous you know to fall asleep with a candle burning by our side some have been so burnt in their beds but more dangerous to sleep while the candle of the Word is shining so neare us What if you should sinke downe dead like Eatychus here is no Paul to raise you as he had and that you shall not where is your security Secondly Thou must be an attentive hearer He that is awake but wanders with his eye or heart what doth he but sleep with his eyes open It were as good the servants should be asleep in his bed as when up not to minde his Masters businesse When God intends a soul good by the Word he drawes such a one to listen and hearken heedfully to what is delivered as we see in Lydia who 't is said attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul And those Luke 1948. The people were attentive to heare him They did hang on him as you shall see Bees on some sweet flower or as young birds on the bills of their dammes as they feed them that is the soul which shall get light and life by the Word Heare ye children and attend to know understanding Prov. 4.1 Labour therefore in hearing the Word to fixe thy quicksilver-minde and set thy selfe to heare as 't is said Jehosaphat did to pray and that thou maiest before thou goest get thy heart into some deep sense of thy spirituall wants especially of thy ignorance of the things of God and thy deplored condition by reason of it till the heart be toucht the minde will not be fixt Therefore you may observe 't is said God open'd the heart of Lydia that she attended Acts 16.14 The Minde goes of the Wils errand we spend our thoughts upon what our hearts propose If the heart hath no sense of its ignorance or no desires after God no wonder such a one listens not what the Preacher saith his heart sends his mind another way They sit before thee as my people saith God but their heart goeth after their covetousnesse They do not come out of such an intent or desire to heare for any good to their soules then they would apply themselves wholly to the work no it is their covetousnesse hath their hearts and therefore as some idle servant when he hath waited on his Master brought him to his pew then he goes out to his good fellowes at the Alehouse and comes no more till Sermon be almost done so do the thoughts of most when they go to the Ordinance they slip out in the street market or shop you may finde them any where but about the duty before them and all because these have their hearts more then God and his Word Thirdly Thou must be a retentive hearer without this the worke will ever be to begin againe Truths to a forgetfull hearer are as a seale set on water the impression lasts no longer then the seale is on the Sermon once done and all is undone be therefore very carefull to fasten what thou hearest on thy memory which that thou maiest do First receive the truth in the love of it An affectionate hearer will not be a forgetfull hearer Love helpes the memory Can a woman forget her childe or a maide her ornaments or a bride her attire No they love them too well Were the truths of God thus precious to thee thou wouldest with David think of them day and night Even when the Christian through weaknesse of memory cannot remember the very words he heares to repeate them yee then he keeps the power and savour of them in his spirit as when sugar is dissolved in wine you cannot see it but you may taste it
when meat is eaten and digested it is not to be found as it was received but the man is cheered and strengthened by it more able to walke and work then before by which you may know it is not lost so you may taste the truths the Christian heard in his spirit see them in his life Perhaps if you aske him what the particulars were the Minister had about faith mortification repentance and the like he cannot tell you yet this you may finde his heart is more broken for sin more enabled to rely on the promises and now weaned from the world As that good woman answered one that coming from Sermon ask't her what she remembred of the Sermon said she could not at present recal much but she heard that which should make her reforme some things as soon as she came home Secondly meditate on what thou hearest by this David got more wisdome then his teachers Observe what truth what Scripture is cleared to thee in the Sermon more then before take some time in secret to converse with it and make it thereby familiar to thy understanding Meditation to the Sermon is what the harrow is to the seed it covers those truths which else might have been pickt or washt away I am afraid there are many proofs turned down at a Sermon that are hardly turned up and lookt on any more when the Sermon is done and if so you make others believe you are greater traders for your souls then you are indeed as if one should come to a shop and lay by a great deal of rich ware and when he hath done goes away and never calls for it O take heed of such doings The hypocrite cheats himself worst at last Thirdly discharge thy memory of what is sinful We wipe our table-book and deface what is there scribled before we can write new There is such a contrariety betwixt the truths of God and all that is frothy and sinful that one puts out the other if you would retain the one you must let the other go CHAP. VI. Of the Spirituality of the devils nature and their extreme wickednesse Against spiritual wickednesse THese words are the fourth branch in the deseription Spiritual wickednesses and our contest or combate with them as such exprest by the adversative particle Against in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word for word Against the Spirituals of wickednesse which is say some against wicked spirits that is true but not all I conceive with many Interpreters not only the spiritual nature of the devil and the wickednesse thereof to be intended but also yea chiefly the nature and kinde of those sins which these wicked spirits do most usually and vigourously provoke the Saints unto and they are the spirituals of wickednesse not those grosse fleshly sinnes which the herd of beastly sinners like swine wallow in but sin spirituallized and this because it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not spirits but spirituals The words present us with these three doctrinal Conclusions First the devils are spirits Secondly the devils are spirits extremely wicked Thirdly these wicked spirits do chiefly annoy the Saints with and provoke them to spiritual wickednesses First of the first SECT I. First they are spirits Spirit is a word of various acception in Scripture Amongst other used often to set forth the essence and nature of Angels good and evil both which are called spirits The holy Angels Heb. 1.14 Are they not all ministring spirits The evil There came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said I will perswade him 1 Kings 22.21 that spirit was a devil How oft is the devil call'd the unclean spirit foule spirit lying spirit c. Sin did not alter their substance for then as one saith well that nature and substance which transgrest could not be punish't First the devil is a spirit that is his essence is immaterial and simple not compounded as corporal beings are of matter and forme Handle and see me saith Christ to his disciples that thought they had seen a Spirit a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have Luke 24.39 If they were not thus immaterial how could they enter into bodies and possesse them as the Scripture tells us they have even a legion into one man Luke 8.30 one body cannot thus enter into another Secondly the devils are spiritual substances not qualities or evil motions arising from us as some have absurdly conceived So the Sadduces and others following them deny any such being as Angel good or evil but this is so fond a conceit that we must both forfeit our reason and deny the Scriptures to maintain it where we finde their Creation related Col. 1.18 the fall of some from their first estate Jude 6. and the standing of others called the Elect Angels The happinesse of the one who behold Gods face and their employment are sent out to attend on the Saints as servants on their Masters heirs Heb. 1. The misery of the other reserved in chaines of darknesse unto the judgement of the great day and their present work which is to do mischief to the souls and bodies of men as far as they are permitted all which shew their subsistence plain enough But so immerst is sorry man in flesh that he will not easily beleeve what he sees not with his fleshly eyes upon the same account we may deny the being of God himself because invisible Thirdly they are entire spiritual substances which have every very one proper existence and thus they are distinguish't from the souls of men which are made to subsist in a humane body and together with it to make one perfect man so that the soule though when separated from the body it doth exist yet hath a tendency to union with its body again Fourthly they are though entire spiritual substances yet finite being but creatures God only is the uncreated infinite and absolutely simple Spirit yea Father of all other spirits Now from this spiritual nature of the devil we may further see what a dreadful enemy we have to grapple with First as spirits they are of vast intellectual abilities Sorry man while in this dark prison of the body hath not light enough to know what Angelical perfections are that they excel in knowledge all other creatures we know because as Spirits they come nearest by Creation to the Nature of God that made them the heavens are not lift higher from the earth then Angels by knowledge from man while on earth Man by Art hath leatn't to take the height of the stars of heaven but where is he that can tell how far in knowledge Angels exceed man 'T is true they have lost much of that knowledge they had even all their knowledge as holy Angels what now they know of God hath lost its savour and they have no power to use it for their own good What Jude saith of wicked men may be said of them What they
of these then the other There is hardly a fleshly lust but hath some spiritual sinne analogical to it as they say there is no species of creatures on the land but may be pattern'd in the sea Thus the heart of man can produce spiritual sinnes answering carnal lusts for whoredom and uncleannesse of the flesh there is idolatry call'd in Scripture spiritual adultery from which the seat of Antichrist is call'd spiritual Sodom for sensual drunkennesse there is a drunkennesse of the minde intoxicating the judgement with errour a drunkennesse of the heart in cares and feares for carnal pride in beauty riches honour there is a spiritual pride of gifts graces c. Now Satan in an especial manner assaults the Christian with such as these it would require a larger discourse then I can allow to runne over the several kindes of them I shall of many pick out two or three As first Satan labours to corrupt the mind with erroneous principles he was at work at the very first plantation of the Gospel sowing his darnel assoon almost as Christ his wheate which sprung up in pernicious errours even in the Apostles times which made them take the weeding-hook into their hands and in all their Epistles labour to countermine Satan in this design Now Satan hath a double design in this his endeavour to corrupt the mindes of men especially Professours with errour SECT I. First he doth this in despite to God against whom he cannot vent his malice at a higher rate then by corrupting his truth which God hath so highly honoured Psal 138.2 Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name Every creature bears the Name of God but in his Word and truth therein contained 't is writ at length and therefore he is more choice of this then of all his other works he cares not much what becomes of the world and all in it so he keeps his Word and saves his truth Ere long we shall see the world on a light flame the heavens and earth shall passe away but the Word of the Lord endures for ever When God will he can make more such worlds as this is but he cannot make another truth and therefore he will not lose one iota thereof Satan knowing this sets all his wits on work to deface this truth and disfigure it by unsound doctrine The Word is the glasse in which we see God and seeing him are changed into his likenesse by his Spirit If this glasse be crackt then our conceptions we have of God will mis-repesent him unto us whereas the Word in its native clearnesse sets him out in all his glory unto our eye Secondly he endeavours to draw into this spiritual sin of errour as the most subtil and effectual means to weaken if not destroy the power of godlinesse in them The Apostle joynes the Spirit of power and a sound minde together 2 Tim 1.7 Indeed the power of holinesse in practice depends much on the foundnesse of judgement Godlinesse is the childe of truth and it must be nurst if we will have it thrive with no other milk then of its own mother Therefore we are exhorted to desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow 1 Pet. 2.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if this milk be but a little dash't with errour it is not so nutritive All errour how innocent soever any may seem like the Ivy draws away the strength of the souls love from holinesse Hosea tells us Whoredom and wine take away the heart now errour is spiritual adultery Paul speaks of his espousing them to Christ when a person receives an errour he takes a stranger into Christs bed and it is the nature of adulterous love to take away the wises heart from her true husband that she delights not in his company so much as of her adulterous lover and do we not see it at this day fulfill'd do not many shew more zeal in contending for one errour then for many truths how strangely are the hearts of many taken off from the wayes of God their love cool'd to the Ordinances and Messengers of Christ and all this occasioned by some corrupt principle got into their bosomes which controuls Christ and his truth as Hagar and her son did Sarah and her childe Indeed Christ will never enjoy true conjugal love from the soule till like Abraham he turns these out of doors Errour is not so innocent a thing as many think it it is as unwholesome food to the body that poisons the spirits and surfeits the whole body which seldom passeth away and not break out into sores As the knowledge of Christ carries a soule above the pollutions of the world so errour entangles and betrayes it to those lusts whose hands it had escaped Thirdly Satan in drawing a soule into this spiritual sin hath a designe to disturb the peace of the Church which is rent and shattered when this fire-ship comes among them I hear saith Paul there are divisions among you and I partly beleeve it for there must be heresies 1 Cor. 11.18 19. implying that divisions are the natural issue of heresie Errour cannot well agree with errour except it be against the truth then indeed like Pilate and Herod they are easily made friends but when truth seems to be overcome and the battel is over with that then they fall out among themselves and therefore it is no wonder if it be so troublesom a neighbour to truth O Sirs what a sweet silence and peace was there among Christians a dozen years ago me thinks the looking back to those blessed dayes in this respect though they had also another way their troubles yet not so uncomfortable because that storme united this scatters the Saints spirits is joyous to remember in what unity and love Christians walk't that the Persecutors of those times might have said as their Predecessours did of the Saints in primitive times See how they love one another but now alas they may jeere and say See how they that loved so dearly are ready to pluck one anothers throats out SECT II. The application of this shall be only in a word of exhortation to all especially you who bear the Name of Christ by a more eminent Profession of him O beware of this soul-infection this leprosie of the head I hope you do not think it needlesse for 't is the disease of the times This plague is begun yea spreads apace not a flock a Congregation hardly that hath not this scab among them Paul was a Preacher the best of us all may write after and he presseth this home upon the Saints yea in the constant course of his preaching it made a piece of his Sermon Acts 20.30 31. he sets us Preachers also on this work Take heed to your selves and to all the flock for I know this that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things therefore watch And then he presents his
own example that he hardly made a Sermon for several yeares but this was part of it to warn every one night and day with teares We need not prophesie what Impostors may come upon the stage when we go off There are too many at present above board of this gang drawing disciples after them And if it be our duty to warn you of them surely 't is yours to watch lest you by any of them be led into temptation in this houre thereof wherein Satan is let loose in so great a measure to deceive the Nation May you not as easily be sowered with this leaven as the disciples whom Christ bids beware Are you priviledged above those famous Churches of Galatia and Corinth many of which were bewitched with false teachers and in a manner turned to another Gospel Is Satan grown Orthodox or have his instruments lost their cunning who hunt for souls In a word is there not a sympathy between thy corrupt heart and errour Hast thou not a disposition which like the fomes of the earth makes it natural for these weeds to grow in thy soile Seest thou not many prostrated by this enemy who sate upon the mountain of their faith and thought it should never have been removed surely they would have tooke it ill to have been told you are the men and women that will decry Sabbaths which now ye count holy you will turn Pelagians who now defie the name you will despise Prophecie it self who now seem so much to honour the Prophets you will throw family-duties out of doors who dare not now go out of doors till you have prayed there Yet these and more then these are come to passe and doth it hot behove thee Christian to take heed lest thou fallest also and that thou mayest not First make it thy chief care to get a through change of thy heart If once the root of the matter be in thee and thou beest bottom'd by a lively faith on Christ thou art then safe I do not say wholly free from all errour but this I am sure free from ingulphing thy soule in damning errour They went out from us saith Saint John but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us 1 John 2.19 As if he had said they had some outward Profession and common work of the Spirit with us which they have either lost or carried over to the devils quarters but they never had the unction of the sanctifying Spirit By this verse 20. he distinguisheth them and comforts the sincere ones who possibly might feare their own fall by their departure But ye have an unction from the Holy One and ye know all things 'T is one thing to know a truth and another thing to know it by unction An hypocrite may do the former the Saint only the latrer It is this unction which gives the soule the savour of the knowledge of Christ those are the fit prey for Impostors who are enlightened but not enlivened O it 's good to have the heart establish't with grace this as an anchor will keep us from being set a drift and carried about with divers and strange doctrines as the Apostle teacheth us Heb. 13.9 Secondly ply the work of mortification Crucifie the flesh daily Heresie though a spiritual sinne yet by the Apostle reckon'd among the deeds of the flesh Gal. 5.20 because it is occasioned by fleshly motives and nourisht by carnal food and fuel Never any turn'd Heretick but flesh was at the bottome either they serv'd their belly or a lust of pride 't was the way to Court or secur'd their estates and saved their lives as sometimes the reward of truth is fire and fagot some pad or other is in the straw when least seen and therefore it 's no wonder that heresies should end in the flesh which in a manner sprang from it The rheume in the head ascends in fumes from the stomack and returnes thither or unto the lungs which at last fret and ulcerate Carnal affections first send up their fumes to the understanding clouding that yea bribing it to receive such and such principles for truths which imbraced fall down into the life corrupting that with the ulcer of profanenesse So that Christian if once thou canst take off thy engagements to the flesh and become a free-man so as not to give thy vote to gratifie thy carnal fears or hopes thou wilt then be a sure friend to truth Thirdly waite conscionably on the Ministery of the Word Satan commonly stops the eare from hearing sound Doctrine before he opens it to embrace corrupt This is the method of soules apostatizing from truth 2 Tim. 4.3 4. They shall turn their eares from the truth and shall be turned unto fables Satan like a cunning thief drawes the soul out of the road into some lane or corner and there robs him of the truth By rejecting of one Ordinance we deprive our selves of the blessing of all other say not that thou prayest to be led into truth he will not hear thy prayer if thou turnest thine eare from hearing the law He that loves his child when he sees him play the truant will whip him to school If God loves a soul he will bring him back to the Word with shame and sorrow Fourthly When thou hearest any unusual Doctrine though never so pleasing make not up the match hastily with it have some better testimony of it before you open your heart to it The Apostle indeed bids us entertain strangers for some have entertain'd Angels unawares Heb. 13.3 but he would not have us carried about with strange Doctrine vers 9. by this I am sure some have entertained devils I confesse 't is not enough to reject a doctrine because strange to us but ground we have to wait and enquire Paul marvelled that the Galatians were so soon removed from him who had called them unto the grace of Christ unto another Gospel they might sure have stayed till they had acquainted Paul with it and asked his judgement what no sooner an Impostour come into the countrey and open his pack but buy all his ware at first sight O friends were it not more wisdom to pray such new notions over and over again to search the Word and our hearts by it yea not to trust our own hearts but call in counsel from others If your Minister have not such credit with you yet the most holy humble and establish't Christians you can finde Errour is like fish which must be eaten new or it will stink When those dangerous errours sprung up first in New England O how unsettled were many of the Churches what an outis was made as if some mine of gold had been discovered but in a while when those errours came to their complexion and it was perceived whither they were bound to destroy Churches Ordinances and Power of Godlinesse then such as feared God who had stept aside returned back with shame and
God proclaims so much and would have the proud man know where-ever he meets him he will oppose him he resists the proud Great gifts are beautiful as Rachel but pride makes them also barren like her Either we must lay self aside or God will lay us aside Secondly pride of gifts hinders the receiving of good from others Pride fills the soule and a full soul will take nothing from God much lesse from man to do it good Such a one is very dainty It is not every Sermon though wholesom food nor every prayer though savoury will go down he must have a choice dish he thinks he hath better then this of his own and is such a one like to get good And truly we may see it that as the plain Plowman that can eate of any homely food if wholesome hath more health and is able to do more work in a day then many enjoy or can do in their whole life that are nice squeamish and courtly in their fare so the humble Christian that can feed on plain truths and Ordinances which have not so much of the Art of man to commend them to their palate enjoy more of God and can do more for God then the nicer sort of Professours who are all to be served in a lordly dish of rare gifts The Church of Corinth was famous for gifts above other Churches 1 Cor. 1. but not in grace none so charged for weaknesse in that 1 Cor. 3.2 he calls them carnal babes in Christ so weak as not able to digest mans meat I havé fed you saith Paul with milk and not with meat for hitherto ye were not able to beare it neither yet now are ye able Why what is the matter the reason lies verse 3. Ye are carnal there is among you envie and strife v. 4 One saith I am of Paul another I am of Apollos Pride makes them take parts and make sides one for this Preacher another for that as they fancied one to excel another And this is not the way to thrive Pride destroyes love and love wanting edification is lost The devil hath made foul work in the Church by this engine Zanchy tells of one in Geneva who being desired to go hear Viretus that preach't at the same time with Calvin answered his friend If Paul were to preach relicto Paulo Calvinum audirem I would leave Paul himself to heaâ— Calvin And will pride in the gifts of another so far transport even to the borders of blasphemy what work then will pride make when the gifts are a mans own SECT II. Vse 1 Doth Satan thus stir up Saints to this spiritual pride of gifts first here is a word to you that have mean gifts yet truth of grace be content with thy condition Perhaps when thou hearest others how enlargedly they pray how able to discourse of the truths of God and the like thou art ready to go into a corner and mourn to think how weak thy memory how dull thy apprehension how straitened thy spirit hardly able though in secret to utter and expresse thy minde to God in prayer O thou art ready to think those the happy men and women and almost murmur at thy condition well canst thou not say though I have not words I hope I have faith I cannot dispute for the truth but I am willing to suffer for it I cannot remember a Sermon but I never hear the Word but I hate sin and love Christ more then ever Lord thou knowest I love thee Truly Christian thou hast the better part thou little think'st what a mercy may be wrapt up even in the meannes of thy gifts or what temptations their gifts expose them to which God for ought I know may in mercy deny thee Josephs coat made him finer then his brethren but this caused all his trouble this set the Archers a shooting their arrows into his side thus great gifts lift a Saint up a little higher in the eyes of men but it occasions many temptations which thou meetest not with that art kept low what with envie from their brethren malice from Satan and pride in their own hearts I dare say none finde so hard a work to go to heaven as such much ado to bear up against those waves and windes while thou creepest along the shore under the winde to heaven It is with such as with some great Lord of little estate a meaner man oft hath money in his purse when he hath none and can lâ—nd his Lordship some at a need great gifts and parts are titles of honour among men but many such may come and borrow grace and comfort of a mean gifted brother possibly the Preacher of his poor neighbour O poor Christian do not murmur or envy them but rather pity and pray for them they need it more then others his gifts are thine thy grace is for thy self thou art like a Merchant that hath his Factour goes to sea but he hath his Adventure without hazard brought home Thou joynest with him in prayer hast the help of his gifts but not the temptation of his pride Vse 2 Secondly doth Satan labour thus to draw to pride of gifts this speaks a word to you to whom God hath given more gifts then ordinary beware of pride that is now your snare Satan is at work if possible he will turne your Artillery against your selfe thy safety lies in thy humility if this lock be cut the legions of hell are on thee Remember whom thou wrestlest with spiritual wickednesse and their play is to lift up that they may give the sorer fall Now the more to stir up thy heart against it I shall adde some soul-humbling considerations First consider these spiritual gifts are not thy own and wilt thou be proud of anothers bounty Is not God the Founder and can he not soon be the Confounder of thy gifts thou that art proud of thy gourd what wilt thou be when it is gone surely then thou wilt be peevish and angry and truly thou takest the course to be strip't of them Gifts come on other termes then grace God gives grace as a free-hold it hath the promise of this and another world but gifts come on liking though a father will not cast off his childe yet he may take away his fine coat and ornaments if proud of them Secondly gifts are not meerly for thy self As the light of the Sun is ministeriall it shines not for it self so all thy gifts are for others Gifts for the edifying of the body Suppose a man should leave a chest of money in your hands to be distributed to others what folly is it in this man to put this into his own Inventory and applaud himself that he hath so much money Poor soul thou art but Gods Executour and by that time thou hast paid all the Legacies thou wilt see little left for thee to brag and boast of Thirdly know Christian thou shalt be accountable for these talents now with what face
thy own works thou doest worse by Christ and shalt thou excel in grace Perhaps some of you have been long Professours and yet come to little growth in love to God humility heavenly-mindednesse mortification and 't is worth the digging to see what lies at the root of your Profession whether there be not a legal principle that hath too much acted you Have you not thought to carry all with God from your duties and services and too much laid up your hopes in your own actings Alas this is as so much dead earth which must be thrown out and Gospel-principles laid in the room thereof try but this course and see whether the spring of thy grace will not come on apace David gives an account how he came to stand and flourish when some that were rich and mighty on a sudden withered and came to nothing Lo saith he this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches But I am like a green olive-tree in the House of God I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever Psal 52.7 8. While others trust in the riches of their own righteousnesse and services and make not Christ their strength do thou renounce all and trust in the mercy of God in Christ and thou shalt be like a green olive when they fade and wither Secondly Christian you will not thrive in true comfort so long as you rest in any inherent work of grace and do not stand clear of your own actings and righteousnesse Gospel-comfort springs from a Gospel-root which is Christ Phil. 3.3 We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Now a soule that rests on any holinesse in himself he graffs his comfort upon himself not Christ he sucks his own breast not Christs and so makes Christ a dry nurse and what comfort can grow on that dry tree The Spirit is our Comforter as well as our Teacher and Counsellour Now as the Spirit when he teacheth comes not with any new or strange truth but takes of Christs owne what he findes in the Word so where he comforts he takes of Christs own his righteousnesse not our own Christ is the matter and ground of his comfort all cordials are but Christ distill'd and made up in several promises his acting not ours his suffering not ours his holinesse not ours he doth not say Soul rejoyce thou art holy but Soule triumph Christ is righteous and is the Lord thy righteousnesse Not Soul thou prayest sweetly feare not but thou hast an Advocate with the Father Christ the righteous so that the first step to the receiving of comfort from the Spirit is to send away all Comforters of our own As in learning of the Spirit he that will be taught by him must first become a fool that is no way lean to his own understanding so he that would be comforted must first be emptied of all self-supports must not lean to his owne comforts As a Physician first bids his Patient cast off all others he hath tampered with he asks what Physick he hath had from them takes off their plaisters throws away their Physick and goes about the work de novo So the Spirit when he comes to comfort a poor soul First perswades the soule to send away all its old Physicians O saith the soule I have been in the hand of such a duty such a course of obedience and have thought sure now I shall be well and have comfort now I do this duty set upon such a holy course Well saith the Spirit if you will have me do any thing these must all be dismist in point of confidence Now and not till how is the soule a subject fit to receive the Spirits comforts And therefore friends as you love your inward peace beware what vessel you draw your comfort from Grace is finite and so cannot afford much 'T is leaking and so cannot hold long thou drinkest in a riven dish that hast thy comfort from thy grace 'T is mixt and so weak and weak grace cannot give strong consolation and such thou needest especially in strong conflicts Nay lastly thy comfort which thou drawest from it is stollen thou doest not come honestly by it and stollen comforts will not thrive with thee Oh what folly is it for the childe to play the thief for that which he may have freely and more fully from his Father who gives and reproacheth not that comfort which thou wouldest filch out of thy own righteousnesse and duties behold it is laid up for thee in Christ from whose fulnesse thou mayest carry as much as thy faith can hold and none to check thee yea the more thou improvest Christ for thy comfort the more heartily welcome we are bid to open our mouth wide and he will fill it CHAP. XI The third kinde of spiritual Pride viz. Pride of Priviledges THe third kinde of pride spiritual pride I mean is pride of Priviledges with which these wicked spirits labour to blow up the Christian to name three First when God calls a person to some eminent place or useth him to do some special piece of service Secondly when God honours a Saint to suffer for his truth or cause Thirdly when God flowes in with more then ordinary manifestations of his love and fills the soule with joy and comfort These are Priviledges not equally dispensed to all and therefore where they are Satan takes the advantage of assaulting such with pride SECT I. First when God calls a person to some eminent place or useth him to do some special piece of service Indeed it requires a great measure of grace to keep the heart low when the man stands high The Apostle speaking how a Minister of the Gospel should be qualified 1 Tim. 3.6 saith he must not be a Novice or a young Convert lest he should be lift up with pride and fall into the condemnation of the devil as if he had said this calling is honourable if he be not well ballast with humility a little gust from Satan will tople him into this sin The Seventy that Christ first sent out to preach the Gospel and prevailed so miraculously over Satan even these while they trod on the Serpents head he turn'd again and had like to have stung them with pride which our Saviour perceived when they return'd in triumph and told what great miracles they had wrought and therfore he takes them off that glorying left it should degenerate into vain glory and bids them not rejoyce that devils were subjest to them but rather that their names were writ in Heaven As if he had said It is not the honour of your calling and successe of your Ministery will save you there shall be some cast to the devils who shall then say Lord Lord in thy name we have cast out devils and therefore value not your selves by that but rather evidence to your soules
of Saints falling from grace gives a sad dash to the sweet wine of the Promises the soul-reviving comfort that sparkles in them ariseth from the sure conveyance with which they are in Christ made over to believers to have and to hold for ever Hence called the sure mercies of David Acts 13.34 mercies that shall never faile This this indeed is wine that makes glad the heart of a Saint though he may be whipt in the house when he sins yet he shall not be turned out of doores As God promised in the type to Davids seed Psal 89.33 Neverthelesse my loving kindnesse will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile and v. 36. His seed shall endure for ever Could any thing separate the believer from the love of God in Christ this would be as a hole at the bottome of his cup to leak out all his joy he might then feare every temptation or affliction he meets would slay him and so the wickeds curse would be the Saints portion His life would ever hang in doubt before him and the fearful expectation of his final miscarriage which he sees may befall him would eat up the joy of his present hope Now how contrary such a frame of heart is to the spirit of adoption and full assurance of hope which the grace of the new Covenant gives he that runs may reade in the Word Vse 2 This truth prepares a sovereign cordial to restore the fainting spirits of weak believers who are surprised with many feares concerning their persevering and holding out to the end of their warfare Be of good cheer poor soule God hath given Christ the life of every soule within the Ark of his Covenant Your eternal safety is provided for Whom he loves he loves to the end Jâ—h 13.1 Hath he made thee willing in the day of his power to march under his banner and espouse his quarrel against sin and hell the same power that overcame thy rebellious heart to himself will overcome all thy enemies within and without for thee say not thou art a bruised reed with this he will break Satans head and not cease till he hath brought forth judgement into compleat victory in thy soule He that can make a few wounded men rise up and take a strong city can make a wounded spirit triumph over sin and devils The Ark stood in the midst of Jordan till the whole Camp of Israel was safely got over into Canaan Josh 3. And so doth the Covenant which the Ark did but typifie yea Christ Covenant and all stand to secure the Saints a safe passage to Heaven If but one believer drownes the Covenant must drown with him Christ and the Saint are put together as co-heires of the same inheritance Rom. 8.17 If children then heires heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ. We cannot dispute against one but we question the firmnesse of the others title When you heare Christ is turn'd out of heaven or himself to be willing to sell his inheritance there then poore Christian feare thy coming thither and not till then Co-heires cannot sell the inheritance except both give up their right which Christ will never do nor suffer thee Vse 3 Thirdly this truth calls for a word or two of caution Though there is no feare of a Saints salling from grace yet there is great danger of others falling from the top of this comfortable doctrine into a carelesse security and presumptuous boldnesse and therefore a battlement is very necessary that from it we may with safety to our soules stand and view the pleasant prospect this truth presents to our eye That flower from which the Bee sucks honey the spider draws poison That which is a restorative to the Saints grace proves an incentive to the lust of a wicked man What Paul said of the Law we may truly of the Gospel Sin taking occasion from the grace of the Gospel and the sweet promises thereof deceives the carnal heart and works in him all manner of wickednesse Indeed sin seldome grows so rank any where as in those who water its roots with the grace of the Gospel Two wayes this doctrine may be abused First into a neglect of duty Secondly into a liberty to sin Take heed of both First beware of falling into a neglect of duty upon this score if a Christian thou canst not fall away from grace Take for an antidote against this three particulars First there are other arguments to invite yea that will constrain thee to a constant vigourous performing of duty though the feare of falling away should not come in or else thou art not a Christian what nothing make the childe diligent about his fathers businesse but feare of being disinherited and turned out of doors There is sure some better motive to duty in a Saints heart or else Religion is a melancholy work Speak for your selves O ye Saints is self-preservation all you pray for and heare for should a messenger come from Heaven and tell you Heaven were yours would this make you give over your spiritual trade and not care whether you had any more acquaintance with God till you came thither O how harsh doth this sound in your eares There are such principles engraven in the Christians bosome that will not suffer a strangenesse long to grow betwixt God and him He is under the Law of a new life which carries him naturally to desire communion with God as the childe doth to see the face of his deare father and every duty is a Mount wherein God presents himself to be seen and enjoyed by the Christian Secondly to neglect duty upon such a perswasion is contrary to Christs practice and counsel First his practice Though Christ never doubted of his Fathers love nor questioned the happy issue of all his temptations agonies and sufferings yet he prayes and prayes again more earnestly Luke 22.44 Secondly his counsel and command He told Peter that Satan had begg'd leave to have them to sift them But withal he comforts him who was to be hardest put to it with this But I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not Sure our Saviour by this provision made for him and the rest means to save them a labour that they need not watch or pray No such matter after this as you may see v. 40. He calls them up to duty Pray that ye enter not into temptation Christs praying for them was to strengthen their faith when they should themselves pray for the same mercy not to nourish their sloth that they needed not to pray Christs prayers in Heaven for his Saints are all heard already but the returne of them is reserved to be enclosed in the answer God sends to their own prayers The Christian cannot in faith expect to receive the mercies Christ prayes for in Heaven so long as he lives in the neglect of his duty on earth They stand ready against he shall call for them by the prayer of faith and