Practical Exposition of the Ten Commandments, Title page – Dedication
A Practical EXPOSITION OF THE X. Commandements. WITH A Resolution of several Momentous QUESTIONS AND Cases of Conscience.
By the Learned, Laborious, and Faithful Servant of Jesus Christ, JAMES DURHAM, Late Minister of the Gospel at Glasgow.
Thy Commandements are exceeding broad, Psal. 119.
LONDON, Printed for Dorman Newman, at the Kings Armes in the Poultry; and the Ship and Anchor at the Bridge-foot on Southwark-side, 1675.
To the Right Honourable, Truly Noble, and Renowned Religious LADY, My Lady Marquess of Argile.
Noblest Madam,
HAD it so seemed good to the Soveraign Holy, and Infinite Wise God, he might at the first moment of his Peoples Conversion, have quite expelled all, even the very least remainders of indwelling Corruption, and perfectly conformed them to his own Image in Holiness; but he hath in the depth of his insearchable Wisdom, otherwise disposed for ends best known to himself: concerning which (whatever may be, even here, our strongly-probable, and, in a good measure quieting Conjectures as to some of them) it will be our Wisdom to make a reference for full satisfaction to the day of that great Solemn and Celebrious general Assembly of the first Born, wherein all such references shall be called and satisfyingly discussed: And seeing he hath thought it fit that some relicts of sin (but exanctorated of its ringe and dominion) should indwell; and that thereby the spiritual constitution of sojourning Saints should be a mixture of Grace and Corruption (each of these, notwithstanding, retaining still its own natural irreconcileable Antipathy with the other, and lusting against the other; so that in all their actings, both gracious and sinful, they are still divided; and neither one, as they were before Regenerating Grace, nor as they shall be in Glory) its highly congruous and sutable to the same infinit Wisdom, that there should be a proportionable and correspondent mixture in the dispensations of his Providence towards them while on this side Heaven, some more smiling, and some more cross: the Flesh and Unregenerate part requiring crosses to whip it up, and drive it forward; and the Spirit and Regenerate part calling for them also, to keep it awake and on its guard, against the surprising prejudice and hurt it may sustain from the restless ill Neighbour, and troublesome Companion, a Body of Death, that cleaveth close to them, as a Girdle doth to the Loins of a Man, by reason of which they have not many hours, let be days, to do well to an end: When their Constitution cometh to be purely Grace, perfectly defecat and resined from all the dreggy and drossy mixture of indwelling Corruption, then will their Lot be pure Solace and Joy, even perfection and perpetuity of Joy, without any the least mixture of Sorrow or Trouble of what ever sort; but till then (and Blessed Eternally be God, it is not long to that, even but a moment). Trouble and Sorrow, less or more, will wait on them who through much Tribulation must enter into the Kingdom of God: Yet on a just reckoning there will be found no real nor well grounded Reason of dissatisfaction with this wise disposal of Divine Providence, since He never afflict …th, nor are they in heaviness through one or more, or even manifold Temptations; but when there is Need, and such need that a few serious reflections will constrain the Patient to acknowledge it, and to say, This same particular Cross so and so circumstantiated, could not well have been wanted without a greater prejudice; nay, considering the inseparable connection that God in his Eternal and Unalterable Decree, hath established betwixt the end and all the means that lead to it; When ever such and such a Cross is actually met with, there is ground to think that it is as necessary as the Salvation of the Christian is; that Cross being appointed as one mean with others, to bring about the purposed end, to wit, the Salvation of such a Person: which one consideration (That they are dvpointed thereunto, as the Apostle, writing to the Thessaolni …ns, afserteth) well pondered, would contribute not a l …ttle to reconcile the most sadly Crossed and Afflicted Children of God, a great deal more to their respective Crosses; and would make them to be taken up and borne more patiently, pleasantly, and chearfully; and would with-all, make them to look out on them with a less formidable and more amiable Aspect than ordinarily they do. And since, in the second place, all their Afflictions are afflictions only of this present time, for a season, and but for a moment, not protracted according to desert one minute beyond Death, let be Eternities length; Since moreover the heaviest Loads, and greatest measures of them are but light and moderate Afflictions, and His severest correctings of them are in measure with Judgment and Discretion; He stayeth his rough Wind in the day of his East Wind, and doth in great Wisdom sute and proportion the tryals, of his People to their strength and standing; in His faithfulness, not suffering them to be tempted above what they are able, but with the temptation making a way to escape that they may be able to bear it: Its not his manner to put new Wine into old Bottles, nor to sew a piece of new Cloath unto an old Garment. He that teacheth the Husband-man discretion, about the fit time and season of Plowing, Tilling Sowing, Harrowing, and Reaping of every kind of Seed and Grain, according to its Nature; and how to Thresh out these several sorts of Seed and Grain by fit means and instruments, can, being wonderful in Counsel, and excellent in Working, with infinitely more wisdom, skill, judgment, discretion, and tenderness, pitch the fittest seasons, kinds▪ measures and durations of his Peoples Afflictions, according to their several Necessities, Dispositions, Standings, Capacities, and Abilities. And since withal, our Soveraign Lord the King, the King of Saints, out of the absoluteness of his Dominion, and the super-aboundance of his richest Grace hath imposed upon every Cross that his People meet with, not excepting (to say so) Vessels of the greatest Burden of Affliction that Sail up and down the Sands, as it were, of the troublesome Sea of this World, the Tole and Custom of some spiritual Good to be payed to them▪ Allowing, Warranting, and Commanding them by his Commission granted to them under his Great Seal for that effect, to demand, require, and exact it from every occurring Cross and Affliction: And if there shall be any demur or delay, let it be seeming den …al to pay this Custom ▪ to wait and search for it, and, with a piece of holy peremptoriness, to persist in the exacting of it, as being most certainly, without a possibility of misgiving, to be got there; for which the Commission (more and more endeavoured to be really believed and made use of according to the Gran …er's mind) should be produced; wherein he hath given the highest security that All things (having a special look at all their Afflictions, as the context, in the confession of most, if not all Judicious Commentators putteth beyond debate) shall work together for good to them that love God, and are the called according to his purpose, where he hath, to speak so with reverence to his Maiesty condescended some way, to abridge his own Soveraignty and absolute Dominion, ingaging himself by Covenant, that though he may do what he will, yet he shall will to do nothing but what shall be for his Peoples good; so that in all his dispensations towards them, his absolute Dominion and his good Will shall be commensurable, and of equal extent, the one of them never to be stretched one hairs▪ breadth beyond the other; and even in the most dark, involved, intricate, obstruse, and mysterious providences wherein they can read and take up least of his mind; and wherein he (seeming to walk either in the greatest absoluteness of his Dominion, or in the sharpest severity of his Justice) refuseth to give a particular account of his matters and motions, hath wonde …fully stooped and condescended to give this general, sweetly-satisfactory Account, That they shall work for good, even their spiritual good and profit, The purging of sin, and their further participation of his Holiness: O! that all the gradiously sincere Lovers of God, and the effectually called according to his purpose, might from the lively Faith of this, be perswaded and prevailed with, to set themselves down at the Receit of these Customs from the many Crosses and Afflictions that come their way, with a fixed resolution to suffer none of them to pass without paying the Custom imposed by the King; The faithful, diligent, close, and constant following of this imployment would inspeakably inrich, and more than make up all their Losses, infinitly beyond what gathering in the Customs of the rarest and richest Commodities of both the Ind …es could possibly do, were they all ingrossed and monopolized to that most honourable Society of the Godly; and would help them to bear out a great spiritual rank and port, sutable to the state of the King, and as it becometh them that are priviledged to be Collectors of such Customs under Him.
It is now, Noble Madam, a long time, not far from towards 30. years (what ever was before) since your Ladyship was known by some to be helped, through G …a …e, seriously to sit down at the receit of these Customs from the cross and afflicting dispensation … which then occurred to you, whereby ye did observably improve better, and increase your spiritual stock and state, some-way to the admiration of Standers-by; and since that time, for most part of it, you have been in the holy Providence of God, tryed with a tract of Tribulations, each of them more trying than another; and some of them such, that I think (as once the blest Author of this Treatise on occasion of a sad and surprising stroak, the removal of the desire of his eyes, his gracious and faithful Wife, after a whiles silence, with much gravity and great composure of spirit, said, Who could perswade me to believe that this is good, if God had not said it:) if all the world had said and sworn it, they could very hardly, if at all, have perswaded you to believe that they were good: But since God, that cannot lye, hath said it, there is no room left to debate or doubt of it, let be to deny it; and if your Ladyship (as I hope you have) hath been all this while gathering up the Customs of spiritual good and gain, imposed upon these many, various, and great tribulations, wherewith the Lord, no doubt, on a blessed design of singular good to you, hath thought fit to exercise you beyond most persons living, at least of your so noble station and extraction: O! what a va …t Stock and Treasure of rich and soul-inriching precious experiences of the good and profit of all these Afflictions and Tribulations must you needs have lying by you? What humility and soft-walking, what contrition and tenderness of heart; what frequency and fervency, what seriousness and spirituality in Prayer? what sitting alone and keeping silence because he hath done it? what justifying of God, and ascribing Righteousness to Him in all that he hath done? what sweet Soli-loquies communings with the heart on the Bod, self-searchings and examinations? what delightsome meditations on God, and on his Law? what Mortification of Lusts, what deadness and denyedness to, and what weanedness from all Creature-comforts and delights of the sons of Men? What solicitous securing of the grand Interest amid'st these shakings-loose of all other interests? what coveting of, and complacency in fellowship with God the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, while your other fellowship is made desolate? what accounting of all things, so much in account amongst men, to be but loss & dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledg of Jesus Christ the Lord? what growing disconformity to the World, by the renewing of your mind? what transforming into the Image of God from Glory to Glo …y, as by the Spirit of the Lord? what examplary holiness in all manner of conversation? what postponing of all particular and self-interests to the publick interest of his Glory▪ what waitings and longings for the Coming of his Kingdom? what desires and designs faithfully to serve your Generation according to His Will; and when that is done, what groanings to be uncloathed and cloathed upon with your House from above? and what lively longings, with sweet submissions to his Will to be dissolved, and to be with Jesus Christ, which is best of all? How much in the mean time of a Stranger's & Pilgrim's deportment with published practical plain declarations to the world that this is not your Country? but that you are in expectation of one, even a Heavenly Country, so that God is not ashamed to be called your God? finally, What practical and experimental knowledge of, and clear insight in, that notable and none-such art of making out of God, and making up in Him what is missing amongst the Creatures? a little of whom can go far, inconceivably far, to fill up much empty and voyd room, through the removal of many and most choice Creature-comforts? What possibly loss or want is it that cannot be made up in him? who is God all-sufficient, and in whom, what-ever is desirable and excellent amongst them all, is to be found in an eminently transcendent, and infinitely more excellent way; and from whom, as the inexhaustible full Fountain, and incomprehensibly vast, immense, shoarless, boundless, and bottomless Ocean of all delightful, desirable, imaginable, and possible perfections, the small drops, and little …ivulets of seeming and painted perfections scattered amongst the Creatures, issue forth: O! beautiful and blest fruits of afflictions, yet not brought forth by afflictions of themselves, but by his own grace working together with, and by them; a part of whose Royal and Incommunicable Prerogative, it is (not communicate nor given out of his own hand to any dispen…ation, whether of Ordinances, or of Providences more smiling or more cross, abstractly from his Blessing and Grace) to teach to profit. If your Ladyship be not thus inriched, and if your Stock and Revenue be not thus bettered, I take it for granted that it is your burden, and more afflicting to you than all your other Afflictions; and that it is with-all singly aimed at by you, and diligently driven as your greatest design in the world. I could from my own particular certain knowledg and observation, long agoe, and of late (having had the honour and happiness to be often in your company, and at some of the lowest ebbs of your outward prosperity) and from the knowledge of others more knowing and observing than I, say more of your rich in comes of gain and advantage, of your improvements, of the countervailings of your dammage, and of the up-makings of all your losses this way, than either my fear of incurring the construction of a Flatterer with such as do not know you as I do, will permit; or your Christian modesty, sobriety, and self-denyal will admit; and to undertake to say all that might truly, and without complementing (too too ordinary in Epistles Dedicatory) be said to this purpose, would be thought by your Ladyship as far below you to crave, or expect, as it would be above me sutably to perform.
Now Madam, being fully perswaded that this savoury, sound, solid, soul-searching, and soul-setling Treatise, will be acceptable to, and improved by your Ladyship, for furtherance of this your spiritual good and advantage, beyond what it will be to, and by most others: I find no need of any long consultation with my self, To whom to address its Dedication, you having in my poor esteem on many accounts, the deserved preference of many (to say no more) Ladys of Honour now living; and since withall I nothing doubt, had the precious, and now perfected Author been alive, and minded the publication of it with a Dedication to any Noble Lady, Your Self would have been the Person, of whom, I know, he had a high esteem, having himself, before his Death, signified his purpose of Dedicating his piece on the Canticles to your Ladyships Noble and much noted Sister in Law, my Lady Vice-Countess of Kenmure. It needs no Epistles of commendation to you, who was so thoroughly acquainted with its Author; the reading of it will abundantly commend it self, and as a piece, though posthumous, of his work, commend him in the Gates. I shall only now say, which will much indear it to you, and to all the honest-hearted Students of Holiness, that it is for most part, very practical (and what is polemick in it (at that time much called for) is by a true information of the judgment directly levelled at a sutable practise) and your Ladyship knoweth that the power, yea, the very soul and life of Religion lyeth in the due practise of it; and indeed we know no more in God's account than we do through Grace, singly and seriously design and endeavour to practise; they all, and they only having a good understanding, that do his Commandements, and to do, and keep them, being his Peoples Wisdom and Understanding in the sight of the Nations who hear of these Statutes, and are constrained to say, surely this is a Wise and Understanding People; The greatest measure of merely apprehensive and speculative knowledge of the Truths and Will of God, doth not make truly Wise, because not Wise to Salvation, nor evidenceth the Persons that have it to be really Happy, the Lord not having pronounced them to be such that only know, but who knowing these things do them; though, alass, many not at all, or but very little considering this, seek to know only, or mainly, that they themselves may know, or that they may make it known to others that they do know (a notable disappointment of the end of all sound Scripture-Theologie, which is as to the Whole, and every Part, Head, and Article thereof, Practise, and not mere Speculation) the great Soul-ruining practical error of many Professors of this knowing age upon the one hand; as there is another error in practise, lamentably incident to not a few well-meaning Souls, on the other hand, whereby desiring and delighting only to hear, read, and know what speaks to their present case and spiritual exercise, or immediatly presseth somewhat in practise, they much weary of, and listen but little to what serveth for more full and clear information of their Judgments in the litteral meaning of the Scriptures, in the Doctrinal part of Religion, and in what may increase, better, and advance their knowledge in the principles thereof, till they be sound in the Faith, established in the present Truth, and have their loins girt about with it; whereby it comes to pass, that although some such may, through grace, have chosen the better part which will not be taken from them; yet they are no … only through their ignorance filled with many confusions, and with perplexing, and almost inextricable fears and doubts about their own spiritual state and condition, but are also eminently exposed to the dreadful hazard of being catched and carryed away as a ready prey, by every error and Sect master, plausibly pretending but any the least respect to the practise and power of Godliness, which hath been very prejudicial to the Church of God in all Ages, and most observable in this, as there is much ground to fear it may yet further be, if we be tryed with warm and sutable tentations. Happy therefore, yea, thrice happy they, who are by the skill and conduct of him that is given to be a Leader and Pilot to his People, helped …o stemm the Port, and to steer a streight and steddy course betwixt the Shelves and Rocks of these Extreams, on the right and left hand, on which thousands have split and made Shipwrack; and to make it their business as to seek diligently after knowledge of the truths of Religion; to cry and lift up their voyce for it as for Silver and for hid Treasure; and to run to & fro thorow the use of all Divinely appointed means that knowledge may be increased; so, vigorously to drive it as their design, to practise all they know, and to have their practise foot-side with, and marching up, the full length of their knowledge and profession. That your Ladyship may more and more (as you, through Grace, already in great a measure do) thus stemm the Port, fetching some more Wind to fill your Sails from God's Blessing on this Judgment-instructing and affection-moving practical Treatise, till you arrive with a plerophory of Faith with upSails Top and Top-gallant, at that peaceful Port and Heavenly Harbour of Rest, prepared for the People of God, is the serious Desire of
Noble Madam, Your Ladyships much Obliged, and Devoted Servant for Christs sake.