bent on it, and our Wills fixed and reſolved about it, and the Opera- tions of all the executive Powers of our Pcrions put forth to the ut- moſt Degree, fo as Q.| the Duties necetlary thercunto, as attendance on a/i Ordinances, and the conſtant Exerciſe of Faith and Ovedieiice, muſt he fitting us for, and bringing us into the full poileffion of tne cternally blefled and glorious Reſt of God, 2 Pet. 1.5. to 12+ 4 That not any particular Perton may fall into Sin, and the Cou- ſequents or it; the Particle & may be read into, and then it implies, leſt any of you prove Rebels and Apoſtates. Or, it is read by, or i | after, and then 1t 154 fall to Deſtrution and Hell, with all the Mue- _ CI>HLg j ries that thoſe teel whoare ſhut out of God's Reft, as their unbeltev- ; ins Fore-fathers were. God ſpared neither Apoſtate Men nor An- els, and will not ſpare others if they fin as thoſe did. Our Judg- ments may. be rather ſorer, being warned by their Example, 1 Cor. 10. I1. comp. Heb. 10. 26, 27, 29, They were contumacious, and diſobeyed the Goſpel! of God's Reſt, theretore he deſtroyed them in the Wilderne!s, and thruſt them down to Hell for ever : Avoid you their Sin, as you would labour to avoid their Puniſh-
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thcreunto, even the Law and Doftrine of the Goſpel brought by the Incarnate Word from Heaven, preached by him to the World, ditta- ted and infpired into the holy Pen-men both of the Old and New Teſtament by the Holy Ghoſt, and written by them art his Call and Order ,. 2 Pet. 1. 15, 20, 21. repreſenting all thoſe Precepts and Prohibitions, Promiſes and Threatnings by which God will judge thoſe to whom this Goſpel hath been preached by that Man whem he hath appointed. Compare chap. 2. 1, 2. and verſe x, 2, of this. And this Word was written by David, Pialm.95. even a Word ot Exhortation, Promiſe and Threatning, as opened before, and ſhews the PerfeQion of this Goſpel-Law in its Adminiſtration by Chriſt, This Word, like the Incarnate Word, is Zr, not only a living Word, but a guickn:ng Word, making dead Sinners living Chriſtzans; Souls dead in Sins and Treſpailes, alive to God, This Word, the Breath of God cenveycth Spirit and Life te them, 2 Tim. 3. 16. 1 Pet. I. 23. fo David experienced it, preſerving the Lite it breathed 1nto him, Pfalm 119. $0. and the Members of the Church, r Cor. 4. 15. comp. 2 Cor, 3.6, 17,18, and as a Rule it guideth and diredteth them through Chriſt, unto eternal Life, John 6. 68. g *Evgyic, It's an aive Word, powerful in its Effe&s, the very miniſtration of the Spirit, 2 Cor. 3. 8, Moſl efficacious and energetical for convincing, converting, comforting; and for condemning, kilung : It adts like the Power of God; ſo Rom. 1. 16, 18. h T:2wrm OO ignifieth « cutting Sharpneſs, as becometh ſeveral Uſes, as ſearching, letting out Corruption, or for killing; all which agree to this Divine Word ſharper than any Sword with two Mouths, The Hebrews ſtile the Edge the Mouth, that which bites, teareth, or woundeth ; as Rev. I. 16. and 2. 12, The Word for ſpiritual Execution upon Souls 1s more ſharp, and aboveevery other Sword ; there is none ſo piercing for cutting the Heart, or killing Sin in it. So is it uſed, Eph. 6. 17. comp. Affs 2. 37. and 7. 54. It is Chriſt's Weapon of Offence and Defence for his People, and it cuts without Reſiſtance ; with 1t he is defending his Truth, and ſmiting his Enemies, 1/a. 11. 4. comp. Rev. 19. 12, 15, 21, 7 Aux piercing or going through what 1s ſmitten with it, which way ſoever it is turned it forceth its way through all Oppoſition to a dividing into Parts, and ſe- parating the moſt nearly united and cloſely joyned things, laying open the very Entrails, the moſt inward in a Man z where the Meta- phors taken from the cloſeſt parts of the Perſon are applied to the Soul. k +404 may denote not ſo much the natural Life and the Facul- ties of that, but that which is ſtiled the Rational Soul as unregenerate, ſce 1 Cor. 2. 14. Such an animal carnal Soul as 1s purely humane, 1 Cor. 3. 3. which wants both a Principle, Light and Faculty to dif- :ern the things of God, as no natural Eye can ſee a Spirit,Rom. 8, 5, tog. | r:vyal» the Soul of Man regenerate and ſpiritualizd, called Spirit, £ Theſſ. 5. 23. The Soul enlightned, renewed, and governed by the Holy Ghoſt, not altered as to its Subſtance, but as to its __—_— whoſe Underſtanding, Will and Afffections are ſpi- ritualiz'd, manifeſted in its A&ions agreeable to the ſpiritual Will of God, 1 Cor. 2.10, 12, 14,15. Theſe are both of them under the piercing Power of the Word, and the Spirit can reach them by it as he pleaſeth. - m-'Apugy are not,” the Members, but the Nerves, Membranes, Muſcles, whereby the Members or Limbs are joyned one to another, ſo as not without Inciſton to be. diſcovered, and the Marrow within the Bones, there muſt be a breaking or perfora- ting them'to reach it. By which-Metaphors are ſet out the hardeſt, compa#-(t, and msſt intimate Parts of a Sinner, the moſt ſecret -hidden ones, which no natural one can reach, yet the Word of God pierceth them, to diſcover either the evil or good of them, and to infli Wrath, cr communicate Comfort according to their Conditions. n The Word of God is a moſt nice, exaf, an1- critical Tudze, difcern- inz the Pravity and Reftitude of them ; it diſcovers and diſtinguiſh eth them as they are, or not agreeable to it ſelf, the fundamen- tal Truth; and is capable, as a Judge, to charge or diſcharge as its Author will, by it, Rom. 2. 12,15, 16. compare 1 Cor. 14. 24, 25. It diſcovers the moſt inward, cloſe, ſecret and conſtant Motions, both ſpeculative and praGtical, of the Soul of Man inſeparably united to the Heart, and one with another, whether they are Opinions, Conceptions, Reſolutions, or Decr-es, ſo ſubtile and fo ſecret, as who can know them, but who made the Heart, Gen. 6. 5, fer. 17.9.