To some I perfect hatred bear, q I'm bound to love my friends, s but yet I am oblig'd to hate my foes, u Yet bound to love and pray for those. v are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. p Exod. xx. 1, 2, &c. And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me, &c. q Psalm cxxxix. 21, 22. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. r 2 Chron. xix. 2. And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer, went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldst thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. s Lev. xix. 18. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge, against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord. t Luke xiv. 26. If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. u As they are the foes of God. Judg. v. 31. So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord; but let them that love him, be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. Psalm xvii. 13, 14. Arise, O Heart-love to men I'm call'd t' impart, By nature love, x by nature loathe. y Lord, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword; from men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. v Matt. v. 44. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. w Matt. xix. 19. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Chap. xxii. 37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 1 John v. 2. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. y Rom. viii. 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Col. i. 21. And you that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. SECTION V. MYSTERIES ABOUT FLESH AND SPIRIT, LIBERTY AND BONDAGE, LIFE AND DEATH. Much like my heart both false and true, a I have a name both old and new. b No new thing is beneath the sun; c Yet all is new, and old things gone. d a Jer. xvii. 9. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? Heb. x. 22. Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. b Rom. ix. 25, 26. As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people: and her, beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called, The children of the living God. Rev. ii. 17. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. Chap. iii. 12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name. Though in my flesh dwells no good thing, e Yet Christ in me I joyful sing. ƒ Sin I confess and I deny : For though I sin, it is not I. g : c Eccl. i. 9. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be and that which is done, is that which shall be done and there is no new thing under the sun. d Cor. v. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are past away, behold all things are become new. Rev. xxi. 5. And he that sat upon the throne, said, Behold, I make all things new. e Rom. vii. 18. For I know, that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. f Col. i. 27. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory. g Rom. vii. 14-20. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know, that in me, (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 1 John iii. 9. Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. I sin against and with my will; h My lowness may my height evince, l h Rom. vii. 21-25. I find then a law, that when I would do good evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death! I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. i Psalm xix. 13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. And cxxx. 3. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities: O Lord, who shall stand? j Psalm xxvii. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. k Psalm lxxxiv. 10. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand: I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. |