356 V! R. s.2.. An Expo/itto1f, withNotes CHA 'P·3. world. 1. How ever bewail thefe failings, the evils that abound in your hearts, in your duties, that you cannot ferve God as intirely as 0 , ~ , 9 you ferved Satan; your evil worl<s were meerly evil,but ~our good E'f~£~y n- are n~r purelygo~d; th~re Y.our hear~ was o poured our, here 'tis O'd.V. 14 ·I 1 • reflumed; there ts filrhmefs myour nghteoufnefs, Ifai. 64· Obfervat. 3• · 3· To ,be able to bridle the tongue, ,u an argument of fome growth and happy progrefs iu grace, You fhall fee not only our 1 Apoille, b'ur the Scripture every where makerh it amatter of great weight and mommt ; Prov. I 8. 2I. Death amtlife are in the power afthe tongue: Upon the right or ill ufing ofit, a mans fafety cloth depend. And let1: you fhould think the Scripture only intend~th \ temporal fafety or ruine, fee iWif.t. I l·37• By thy Words foalt thou be ptftified,and by thy Words condemned: One of the prime things that fhall be brought forrh to Judgment are your words. SoProv. I 3-3- He that ~epeth hi& mouth, ,k,tepe,th hislife: but he that o- \ peneth wide his lip.r, foal! have deftrufJion. He intimatethaGmi– limde of a City befieged; to open the Gates b.etrayeth the fafety of it; all Watch and Ward is about the Gate: So the tongue is the gate or door of the Soul, by which it goeth out in converfe and communication; to keep it open, or loofe guarded, letteth.in an enemy, which prove rh the death of the Soul. So In other places \ 'cis made the great Argument and Sign of fpiritual and holy Pru– dence; 'Prov.IO.I9· [n .the multitude ofT¥ords there wanteth not fin; but he that 1·.:jraineth_ his lips, is ·wife : Empty veffels are full of fou9d; difcreet Gience, or a wife ordering of fpeech, is a token of grace. So 'Prov. I 7· 27. He that hath k_nowledg, jparethhis words; and a man of underf!anding u of an excellent JPirit: In \ the original 'tis of acoel[pirit, not rafh and hot, ready to pour out his Soul in wrath. So David maketh it to be a great Argument or Sign of our interefi in the Promifes; P[a/.34· I 3• What miln is he thAt defireth life, and lrn;eth marry days, th.1t he may foe good? k.!ep thy tonrrue from evil, and thy lips from JPeak};ng guile; that's the firH Dir~dion: So elfewhere he maketh it the CharaCler of a godly man, Pf;z/. 15. 3· I have heaped up thefe. Scriptures:, tbat the matter of keeping the tongue may not {eemltght and m– vial: The Spirit ofG0 d, you fee, giveth Exhortation upon Exhor– tation, and fpendetb many Scriptures upon this Argument. Ther<: were alfo fpecial 'Reafons why our Apofile lhould be fo much in prdling it. I. ~ecauf~ this was the fin of that age, as appear~~
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