Richard Coore {1616-1687}
Babel Builders
We have the building of Babel; in order whereunto it is said that “the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech;” and they said, “let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” {Gen.11:1-4} Here is the figure of all carnal religion; when man will be religious out of his own carnal wisdom, before that God reveal the Lord Christ to him; here is his intent through his own work and wisdom to get to heaven and to get him a name to be more holy than others, that he may be not accounted like other men of the earth; therefore Solomon exhorts, “be not righteous too soon;” for the house that is built too soon is built without a Foundation. Paul’s righteousness wherein he was touching the Law blameless was too soon, because it was before that Christ {who is the true Foundation of all Righteousness} was revealed to him; so that religion is mere hypocrisy whereby man seeks his own glory, to get himself a name or praise among men, as our Savior said the Pharisees and Sadducees did. “But all their works they do for to be seen of men.” {Mt.23:5} The children of God are quite contrary; as the Lord saith by the prophet, “I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders;” {Is.8:18;} and to whom, but to both the houses of Israel; even to all professors of religion, or to all that have a form of religion. And Paul speaking of them under the name of a true Jew, that hath the truth circumcision, saith that their “praise is not of men, but of God.” {Rom.2:29} Therefore as this building displeased God, and he confounded their language, and scattered them over all the earth, so doth this hypocritical religion, and he scattereth them into divers forms, and sets them at dissension one with another, upon any trifling conceit, or opinion, or circumstance; that even a rational man will think them mad, to place religion in such foolish and trivial things; thus as the builders of Babel, by that way which they thought to get them a name, that they should not be scattered over the earth, even by the same means they were scattered and confounded, so are all followers of formal religion. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Christ in all the Scriptures
Our Saviour saying, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me,” and “ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” {Jn.5:39,40} Men in their wisdom {which is always foolishness with God, and in their zeal which is always void of true knowledge} take this to be a Command or Exhortation, to Search into the Scriptures, either for rules and lessons, by obeying which, they may attain salvation; or when they hear a preacher, to test whether those things he delivers be so or not, both which declare man’s ignorance of the Doctrine of our Saviour; for he testifies to Nicodemus that no man can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven unless he be regenerate, thence it is manifest that he cannot be saved, nor understand the Scriptures, whether they testify of Christ or no, unless he be regenerate; namely, begotten of God and born of that Spirit which always gives testimony unto Christ; for the spirit that is in man lusts to envy, as James saith, {Js.4:5,} and the object of that envy is Christ and his elect as appears by Paul when he was a Pharisee; for the unregenerate, though ever so religious are children of the devil, which never cease to envy and persecute Christ and his saints; {as our Saviour tells the Pharisees;} therefore the true meaning of that saying of our Saviour is; first, that there is no portion of Scripture, but if it be rightly understood, that speaks not concerning Him. Secondly; that these Scriptures witness by the Spirit that no man can by any means attain to eternal life but by Him; and these two are abundantly testified in the Scripture; as first that all the Prophets prophesied of Him, and certainly all the Writers of the Scripture were Prophets; for they spake not out of their wit or reason, but as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, as Peter witnesseth; and again, every Word of God is in Him Yea and Amen; not yea and nay; which is as much to say, perfectly true by the general testimony of all the servants of God, without any denial; which is signified by the word Amen; used when the preacher hath delivered such a true testimony, that all the people say Amen to it; and again, unto the second it is plainly testified that “there is none other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved,” but the name Jesus; and therefore was he called Jesus, because he shall save his people from their sins, as Matthew saith; and Paul saith, “he is the author and finisher of our faith;” the Beginner and Perfecter of every good word and work. John calls him the “Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, &c.” These are sufficient and perfect testimonies! Hence is perfect direction given for the true reading of the Scriptures with understanding; namely, that every sentence of the Scripture is to be understood concerning Christ; if it speak not directly concerning Him, it is either a Type of Him, and evident testimony of the Operation of the Holy Spirit by Him, or of the evil spirit against Him and his Spirit; or it is a type or figure of those operations, so that all real, holy, good, righteous and honest thoughts, words and deeds are the operations of the Spirit of Christ in believers. – Hence every precept, exhortation or instruction must be so understood; as also all promises to be given to them that are in Christ, regenerate, begotten of God, born of the Holy Spirit, adopted sons and daughters of God, to whom alone these things are given. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Christ our Altar
See the doctrine of the sorcerer, “build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams,” {Num.23:1,} which figure out all hypocrites in their several forms of religion; all are for multiplying of sacrifices to God, {as Saul, when he saved the fat cattle of Amalek for sacrifices - I Sam.15:20-25} all are for doing much, striving to be blameless as touching the righteousness of the Law, and to outstrip all their companions; {as Paul did when he was a cruel persecutor of Christ and all his saints;} none remember that God will not be worshiped but in one Temple at Jerusalem, and one Sacrifice only; namely, the blood of Jesus Christ perfecting all that believe therein, and if any man join anything with it, he is fallen from grace, Christ shall profit him nothing; much less do they understand what it is that God will neither be worshiped at Jerusalem, nor in the mountain of Samaria, but in spirit and truth; for to be worshiped in the temple at Jerusalem only, and not at Jerusalem seem contrary; therefore understand that whatever place, or any external thing is appointed for the worship of God is but a figure whereby the inward true spiritual worship of God is figured out; as the Apostle to the Hebrews declares, that all are but patterns of heavenly things themselves; {Heb.8:5, 9:23;} therefore God will not be worshiped at Jerusalem, the city wherein the Temple and all the external service was, for these things were not forever; but Jerusalem signifies the Temple of peace, which is the body of Christ; by offering which, he made an everlasting atonement for sinners, and absolute peace betwixt God and sinful rebellious man, and by faith therein will he be worshiped forever. Now when Israel came to worship God they must have an Altar to offer sacrifice on, and a Tabernacle wherein to meet to perform their worship, and that was built in the wilderness, and a Temple must Solomon build for that service in Jerusalem; concerning the Altar they are commanded to build it of unhewn staves, for if they lift up a tool upon it, it was polluted; {Ex.20:25;} and concerning the Temple it is said, when it was reared, there was no sound of any tool heard in setting up that mighty and beautiful building, which figures out plainly the work of Christ, even the work of regeneration poured upon us abundantly through Christ by his Spirit, wherein if we do anything, we pollute it; and if we join anything with Him we are fallen from grace; and therefore also Christ was born of a pure virgin that had not known man to signify that man must not meddle at all in this vital work of regeneration, for it is God’s own work and he worketh all our works in us, working in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure; and this was also figured in commanding Israel not to yoke the ox and ass together, nor to weave linen and a woolen together, {Deut.22:10,11,} that the whole work of man’s salvation may be from his Free Grace in forgiving sins, sanctifying the soul, giving a new heart and a new spirit, renewing the mind, dissuading the affections from this world, and drawing them to Himself, whereby man may be wholly employed in praising the Lord. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Christ our Sabbath Rest
To keep the Sabbath signifies or figures out, a believer’s standing steadfast in the Grace of Christ; for that is our Sabbath, our rest, as the Apostle to the Hebrews declares at large, {chapter 4,} “we which have believed do enter into rest,” for Israel could not enter because of unbelief, therefore it was still cried to them, and is still cried to all, “today if you will hear his voice,” that you may enter into his rest, that you cease from all your works as God did from his; namely, to cease from your vain confidence, that any works of yours will avail to salvation. To save merely by free grace, to work all our works in us, to give his Son to us, to be unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, even all things necessary to salvation; in him and through him, to give us pardon of our sins, and assurance of everlasting life; this is his glory, and his glory will he not give to another; then doth man glorify him, when he trust not in himself, nor in any help of others, but trusts in the Lord alone, then doth man walk before him and is perfect when he believes Christ to be all sufficient. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Christ our Salvation
These only can worship the Lord in his glorious Sanctuary; namely, in Christ Jesus, for he alone is the Sanctuary, the holy place of God; for in Christ the Lord appeared to reconcile the world of his elect unto himself, and in Him he is well pleased. Also the Tabernacle and Temple made for to worship God in, were only types of Christ; and therefore as all worship was idolatry that was not performed in the temple at Jerusalem, so all religion is hypocrisy, but grace in Christ, whereby the soul of man is implanted into Him as the true Vine by the hand of God. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Christ – the Alpha & Omega
John was in the spirit on the Lord’s Day. {Rev.1:10} Some translations have ‘ravished in spirit,’ but the word ‘ravished’ is not in the original, nor should be here, for by being in spirit is to be understood that the power of God’s Spirit was upon him, to open his ear to the testimony of Truth, and by the Lord’s day is not to be understood the First Day which some celebrate, nor the Seventh which the Jews observe, but that day of eternal rest which we enter into by Faith in Christ, when we cease from all our own works, as God did from his; for he must live in this faith, and the power of the Spirit must be upon him, that hears and believes this great voice as of a trumpet behind him, saying, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last;” for all the wise and religious of the world reject this testimony, and by hearing this voice behind him, signifies no other but that Christ witnessed this Truth by all the Prophets and Witnesses of the Truth, that were before John; but none can understand them so, unless Christ be revealed, and the power of the Spirit be upon them, no not the Disciples of Christ themselves, while he was with them, for they had not yet received the Spirit, so Jesus was not yet glorified, therefore he called them, “O ye of little faith,” for how slow they were to believe all that was written of Him in the prophets. By “Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last,” {vs.11} understand, the whole worker and the whole work of our salvation, that nothing may be added, nor put in the midst neither, as in any ways necessary to our salvation, for that is to add to the testimony of this Book, and it is to diminish the sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then follows curse and judgment. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Christ the Bread of Life
And for the food of Israel amongst beasts, fowls, and fishes, some are appointed as clean unto them which they may feed upon, but others unclean, which they may not eat thereof, as also they are forbidden to eat the fat or the blood of their sacrifices, all which things are taken away by the coming of Christ, as Paul teacheth, that they should eat whatever was set before them, asking no question for conscience sake; as also the Lord taught Peter by the vision, to call nothing unclean; and therefore it is manifest that the clean creatures did signify the Lord Jesus Christ, who is that meat that feeds to eternal life; and the unclean things figure mans works, ways, wisdom, inventions, zeal, righteousness, &c., and all that proceeds from him, and these are all unclean because he is unclean, as our Savior teacheth by parable, “the evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit,” {Mt.7:18,} and the Apostle saith, “to him that is unclean even the very conscience is defiled.” {Tit.1:15} And therefore it is said again, “he that toucheth any unclean thing, or toucheth him that hath touched any unclean thing is defiled,” {Lev.15,} which figures unto us that they only are clean whom Christ hath cleansed, called and separated from the world; that they must not say a league, to whom others say a league, nor fear their fear, nor have any communion with them in their unfruitful works of darkness; and these that are called the unfruitful works of darkness are not only rioting, drunkenness, swearing, cursing, whoredom , thefts, murders, rape and the like lewd courses of profane persons; but also the zeal, wisdom, righteousness, prayer, praises and all religious exercises of hypocrites, for all these are abominable in the sight of the Lord, and therefore unfruitful to their souls. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Christ the Light
Whence this Light shined upon them that sat in darkness? {“The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.” Mt.4:16} Even from God who sent his beloved Son to give life and light to His children; who is made of God unto us true wisdom, that he that believeth in him, may not walk in darkness, but may have the light of everlasting life in Christ. {Jn.8:12} Hence is manifest this; that the Tree of Life which is kept by the Cherubims with the blade of a sword turning every way, {Gen.3:24,} is indicative of the truth that no man shall know the Father but he to whom the Son will reveal him. {Mt.11:27} No man hath any true knowledge of anything that belongs to the salvation of his own soul, unless it be given him in Christ; although all men in their several forms of religion can talk much of repentance, faith, and works of righteousness, even as it were with the tongue of an angel, all is nothing but as the sound of a tinkling cymbal; they having but stolen the truth from their neighbor, by reading the Scriptures, or hearing preachers, as some Christians declaring what God hath done for their souls; so it is begotten by the hearing of the ear, or seeing of the eye and conceiving of the heart, and therefore it is not that which God hath laid up for them that love him; therefore this bulwark remaineth sure, that gross darkness is upon every soul, {whereof that palpable darkness of Egypt was a figure,} until Christ that Light of God, {which was figured by the light continually shining in the House of God} is made known. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Christ the Living Word
“He sent his word, and healed them, and they were saved from their destructions.” {Ps.107:20} Here is the wisdom of God, the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom and power of God unto salvation, “for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved,” but the name Jesus; this is that Tree of Life whose leaves heal the maladies of all nations; and this is that Word that healed them; it’s not the written Word, for that they had before, and thought to justify themselves, and condemn all other forms of religion by it. This is given to all, which is a general call of God to call all from all their own ways of folly and wickedness into his ways of Truth and Righteousness; but this call prevails with few; therefore it is written, “many are called, but few are chosen;” but to whom he sends this living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, he heals them, they are saved from their destruction; for these are the elect or chosen ones of God, of whom it is written, “whom he hath called, them he hath sanctified, justified and glorified;” for he loves them to the end; and as Christ is the Author of Faith, so he is the Finisher of Faith; and as he is the Beginner, so he is the Perfecter of every good word and work, unto the praise and glory of the Father; so they are kept by him who is the Power of God unto salvation; therefore he saith; “Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” {Ps.107.21} Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Christ – the One Foundation
Here the Watchman {Ezekiel 33} is the Minister; the negligent watchmen is the false teacher, who though he presses his hearers to perform every duty that the Word requires, and to be constant in all exercises of religion, fervent in prayers, bountiful to the poor, zealous in fasting and keeping Sabbaths; yet he sees not the Sword come, for in thus doing he promiseth them peace, and says that the Lord hath said it, when the Lord hath not so spoken, nor sent them, but the true minister seeth the Sword; yea he draws out the Sword upon them, for the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of Truth, which is double edged, quick and powerful, and divides between the marrow and the bone; searches the secret intentions of the heart, and inward parts; therefore this messenger of God, this faithful watchmen tells them that they may do all these things, yea and beyond, give their goods to the poor, and their bodies to be burned, and be yet nothing but vaunting glossing hypocrites, like sounding brass and tinkling cymbals, unless they be regenerate, “born of the Spirit,” saith our Lord Jesus; “made new creatures in Christ,” saith Paul; “begotten of God,” saith James; “built upon Christ,” saith Peter, “born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God,” saith John; “have a new heart given, and the old stony heart taken away, and a right spirit, even the Spirit of God poured out upon them,” saith the Prophets. “This I would not have you ignorant of, that a fiery trial shall come upon all,” saith Peter; “every man’s work shall be tried by fire,” saith Paul; “our God is a consuming fire, and an everlasting burning, who can dwell with him,” saith David. Therefore the faithful watchmen saith, you that desire to be hearers of the Law; namely, to live in form of religion, the creed whereof is do this and live, behold the Sword cometh, for there is none of you that keepeth the Law, and yet you will not yield yourselves under the judgment of God by the Law; that every one that is under the works of the Law is under the Curse, that the Law might be a battering hammer to break in pieces your hard hearts, and a burning fire to destroy your pride, cruelty and oppression; that the Lord might meet you with this Sword drawn, and tear you in pieces like a lion, or as a bear robbed of her whelps, and from day to night make an end of you, till you yield, and recognize the voice of the Lord, who hath done it; and what shall we now say or can do? And you that profess Repentance; behold the Sword cometh, even the mighty Word of God, which saith not to you, “do you truly repent of your sins and steadfastly purpose to lead a new life?” The Lord puts not this work upon you, for he knows what is in man, and that there is no truth and steadfastness in him. “Every man is a liar,” saith David; and when the Lord gives repentance to any, he makes him to number his sins, that they are more than the hairs of his head, and makes him feel the weight of them, that they are too heavy for him to carry; he makes him to cast his gorgeous attire, and delicious diet, as John Baptist, that preacher of Repentance did; he makes him to confess not one or many sins, but cry out that he is a mass of sin, infinitely wicked, causing him to weep bitterly as Peter did, and making him to confess that he is the greatest of sinners, and that all his righteousness {as touching all external performances blameless} to be loss unto his soul and as filthy as a menstrous cloth or stinking dung in the sight of God; and he makes him seek from East to West, from Sea to Sea for a true minister, one that hath the tongue of the learned, even one taught of God, that can speak a word of comfort in due season to an afflicted soul, as he made Cornelius send to Joppa for Peter; and you that profess the Gospel, behold the Sword, for other Foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, even the Lord Jesus Christ; therefore let everyone take heed what he buildeth thereon; wood, straw, stubble, silver, gold or pearl; for some build upon it a base work, turning the grace of God into wantonness, and using Christian liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, which are compared to wood, straw or stubble; others build upon it a beautiful outside, seeming holiness in the sight of men, and these are compared to silver, gold and pearl; and of these are many sorts, even as many as there are several forms of religion, for the form always resists the Power, and the Gospel is not in word but in Power; for its the Kingdom whereby Christ takes unto him his great power, and reigns in the kingdoms of the earth, and whereby he makes us kings and priests unto our God. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Christ – the One Foundation
If you will hear the Gospel, you must come as lost and undone souls, hunger starved for bread, as the prodigal, crying “I have sinned, I have sinned,” that dare not look up toward heaven, but smiting your sinful and sorrowful breast, and crying for mercy in the realization that if you have not this wedding garment on, you must be bound hand and foot, and cast into outer darkness, to weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Behold the Sword. Christ is made of God unto us all things; the life, light, way and truth, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. If your life be in your own works, and not in Christ who is the Head, that came down from heaven and gives life to the world; if your light consists of your own perceptions in seeing, reading and hearing, and not in Christ making known the Father - the true God, and revealing all things of God to you by his Holy Spirit; if your way be the strict cleaving to your form of religion, and not to that Christ that hath sanctified a new way by his cross; if your truth be to follow that which you conceive most agreeable to the Word of God, and not in Christ manifesting the Father; if your wisdom be the guiding of your ways, after the letter of the Word, and not Christ confounding your wisdom, that the true wisdom of the Father may lead you by his Holy Spirit into all Gospel Truth; if your righteousness be the ordering of your life and conversation aright, according to the commands and exhortations in the Scripture, and not in suffering and dying with Christ, that you may also live and reign with him; if your sanctification be your walking holy in the sight of men, and not the renewing of the mind by faith in Christ, whereby you give up yourselves - body, soul and spirit unto God daily; yea, if you be not circumcised by Christ with a circumcision made without hands; if ye be not baptized into the fellowship of his death, and raised by him into the participation of his Life; if your Sabbath keeping be not standing steadfast in faith whereby you entered into his rest, ceasing from your own works that you may do the works of God. Nay, if you join the least thing with Christ as conducing to righteousness here, or salvation hereafter - behold the Sword, for Christ shall profit you nothing, you are debtors to the whole Law, to obey it in all its commands, and that continually in word and deed, or else you are cursed. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Christ – the Heavenly Manna
The Lord hath provided and given to man that trusts in Him, another food, even the True Manna; whereof that given to Israel, was but a figure, as our Lord Jesus told them; that their fathers did eat of that manna and were dead, but he that did eat of the manna that he should give, should live forever; {Jn.6:49-51;} but they not understanding that to be united to him by faith, that mighty gift of God, whereby men as separated from themselves and the world, which Paul calls, {Rom.11:24,} cut out of the wild olive, and planted into Christ by the Father’s hand, {which the Lord calls by Hosea,} to espouse them to himself in faithfulness and judgment, and mercy, and everlasting compassion; {Hos.2:19,20;} they {I say} not knowing that this is to feed upon Him, said, “how can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Even as Nicodemus not knowing that this was to be born again, without which, our Lord Jesus told them, that “no man can enter into the kingdom of God,” said, “how can these things be?” He knew no birth, but that from his mother’s womb; and they knew no eating, but that of the teeth to satisfy the belly; so our wise and learned teachers {as they would be called} because they have learned some doctrine and logic which teach entirely contrary to the Word of God, not knowing that this is the laver of regeneration, the true baptism of Christ, the baptizing with fire and the Holy Ghost, wherein whosoever is baptized is baptized into death, buried with Christ by baptism, wherein also he is raised up with Him by faith, in the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead, that they might walk in newness of life; these, I say not knowing, are busied, some to sprinkle water in the face of a child, and to sign it with the sign of the cross, and thereby declare that the child is regenerate; and others to cast men and women that have stolen the truth from their neighbors, and can tell a story of faith and hope which they have learned from them, although they themselves are unacquainted with the issues of death and life, that are from the Lord; yet they cast them into a river, and then these are numbered as such as do believe and are baptized, although they never knew themselves touching that Righteousness which the Lord requireth, nor the true Faith or Baptism, nor never knew that a man could be zealous in preaching and practicing, that hath not so much as heard tell of the Holy Ghost. {Acts 19:2} And again, our strong religious professors, not knowing this to be the eating of that bread which the Lord gives, and drinking that cup which is the New Testament in his blood that is shed for the remission of our sins, and that whosoever lives in this faith, feeds continually upon this bread, and drinks none other but of this cup; for this is the true Vine, even the Lord Jesus Christ which is the new food of the Father’s kingdom; therefore they feed upon this heavenly manna as they abide with {and partake of} Christ, and he with them; for without him they can do nothing; but by him strengthening them they can do all things; so that as oft as they eat this bread, and drink this cup, they remember the Lord’s death till he come; which they being ignorant of, are busy to eat a bit of bread and drink a cup of wine in remembrance of the death and doctrine of Christ, when they know nothing of his doctrine but after the letter, not remembering that he said, “the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life,” {II Cor.3:6,} “it is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life;” {Jn.6:63;} therefore great zeal they have to do all after the letter, to receive this their sacred sacrament often or seldom, sitting or kneeling, or the like trifles, as though these could kill and make alive, or comfort an afflicted heart. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Christ the Shepherd of the Sheep
“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things;” {Rom.8:32;} therefore he requireth nothing of us, but to believe in his Son, and this he gives unto us also, for we can believe nothing but the history which is declared of Him in the Gospel, how he was conceived and born and became man, and lived as a man amongst men, and preached mighty doctrine, and wrought great miracles, and was betrayed, and suffered a cursed death, and the like; all which the very devils believe and tremble, and many men believe and continue in their sins; some in rioting and drunkenness and the like, others in covetousness, hard heartedness, injustice, oppression and the like; others in pride, ambition and all vain-glorying; and hypocrites likewise believe and make a great show of zeal and devotion, and walking in all the ways of God, and all is but to be seen of men, their heart is not so; they do but flatter with their lips and dissemble in their double heart; but to believe in Him, and by believing to be implanted in Him, and to abide in Him, and He in us, and that we are His sheep, and know His voice, and follow Him, and not to follow strangers; and that he is the Door of the sheep-fold, and whoever enters by Him, goes in and out and finds pasture; and who they are that go in before Him, or climb up another way; and that He is the true Shepherd, and calleth His own sheep by name, and what that name is, or how he calleth them; and that he is the True Vine, and we branches that are implanted into Him by the Father, and how we bear fruit by Him, and cannot bear fruit without Him, and the like; a thousand glorious manifestations of God’s free grace and love to man through Him; as how He is a Fountain sealed, and also a Fountain opened for sin and for iniquity; all these are mysteries hid from the wise and prudent; the cherubim with that sword of God keeps the way of the Tree of Life still, the Law and Testimony is bound up and sealed among his disciples, {“bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples,” Is.8:16,} who are not taught by priests, nor parents, nor brothers, nor neighbors, but are all sons of Zion and are taught of God; and by that teaching they believe and know all things, and are filled with joy and peace in believing. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Doctrine of Christ
The making of differences in beasts, fishes and birds, calling some clean, and calling some unclean for Israel to feed upon, signified the Prophets or Ministers, and the Doctrines that man’s soul should receive and feed upon; so that if Israel touched but any unclean thing, he should be unclean, so if man receive and observe any Doctrine, but that which sets forth the Lord Jesus Christ to be all in all in the salvation of His people, all such hearing, and the righteousness that he performs thereby, and he, and all is abominable in the sight of God, as Paul testifies, when the false apostles had taught that it was necessary to salvation to be circumcised, and to keep the Law, he tells them, if any of them was circumcised, {in order to recommend himself unto the Lord,} he was a debtor to the whole Law, Christ should profit him nothing; and if any sought to be justified by the Law, he was fallen from Grace; and the Lord teacheth Peter by a clear vision, to call no man unclean; namely, to account no man unfit or unworthy to hear the Gospel of Christ; for that is the Doctrine that makes all clean, as our Savior saith to his disciples, “now ye are clean through the Word that I have spoken unto you;” {Jn.15:3;} that is the true food that feeds to eternal life. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Exaltation of Christ
“The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner; this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?” {Mt.21:42} There is the wisdom of the world manifested to be foolishness with God, yea enmity against God; for what Stone is this that is refused; even the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Foundation of all righteousness, wisdom, and all things that pertain unto the salvation of his people; and whosoever refuses this stone; even the builders, the teachers, ministers that profess to teach men the ways of God, how that they may attain righteousness, and obtain salvation; teaching them that they must read, hear, pray, and be rightly baptized, and receive the ‘sacrament,’ and when to bow, and how to kneel, and stand up, and make and keep a covenant, and wait on the light within, and repent, and believe, and wear decent apparel, and say “thou” and “thine,” and when to put off the hat or not; anything but Christ; namely, that Work of Regeneration, {without which no man shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,} is effected within us by the work of his Spirit; that he gives Light and Life to the dead and blind, that he is the Vine that makes all the branches of life fruitful, that he is the Shepherd that leads his sheep to green pastures, and sweet running waters; namely, leads his people to the Word of God, and feeds them with the sincere milk thereof; not with the letter that kills, but with the Spirit that quickens; that he is the Door that leads to the Father; for that none knows the Father, but to whom the Son will reveal him; that in him we are circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but that of the heart, which Israel after the flesh lacked; and in whom also we are buried by baptism, even by that of his baptism, which is by the Holy Ghost, which mortifies the deeds of the body, that we may live unto God; and that he is made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption; that in Him there is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, neither Jew nor Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; that He alone it is in whom the Church glories. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace;” {Is.9:6} and of his peace, and of his government there shall be no end, to sit upon the spiritual throne of David, to govern it, and to establish it even forever. Oh! Why are not the mouths of ministers opened to preach and set forth his praises? Is not here a Fountain opened to wash away all sin, iniquity and hypocrisy? Is not here a Cabinet opened of hidden treasures to enrich every soul with heavenly gifts? And moreover, is not He the Author and Finisher of our Faith? The Beginner and Perfecter of every word and work unto the praise and glory of the Father? Doth not he work all our works in us? What shall be joined with him? Were they not false apostles that would join circumcision and the keeping of the Law with Him? Does not Paul testify, if any were circumcised, Christ should profit them nothing? And if any sought to be justified by the Law, they were fallen from Grace, and Christ should be of no effect unto them? And does he not tell them, that false teachers bewitched them, and perverted the Truth? And again, is not he the Tree that yields twelve manner of fruits, ripe in every month, whose leaves heal all the maladies of his chosen nation? Doth not He tread the winepress of the wrath of God alone? Of all the people was there any that took part with him? Is it not he that saith to the Church, “I am like a green fir tree; from me is thy fruit found?” Is there any mortification of the flesh, or life of the Spirit in any man, unless he be in Christ? Did not Paul follow the council of flesh and blood in all his zealous religion until it pleased the Father to reveal his Son? Do not all men so in the zeal of their several forms of religion, wherein they strive to outstrip one another, and say in their hearts, “stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou?” Read, and consider “ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. And this Tower hath a strong bulwark, for God himself did say unto him, “thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee;” and he gave him the heathen as well as Israel, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession; he gave him to have life in Himself, and quicken whom he will; he gave him for a Covenant to the people, even a New Covenant of Grace; not like the former, that stood upon man’s works, but that which stands upon the work of God alone, wherein he saith, “I will write my laws in their hearts, and my fear in their inward parts;” I will cause them to understand my laws, and my judgments, and to do them, I will give them a new heart, and renew a right spirit within them; and all these things will I do unto them, and not forsake them; and all this will he do by Jesus Christ; for in him, and by him, and through him, and for him, are all things; to him therefore be glory and praise forever. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Footsteps of the Flock
The Lord to teach us here to go after the steps of the flock; {Song.1:8;} whence is testified, that though the servants of God are exercised divers ways in the sight of men, as Abraham in the offering of his son; Isaac in having two twin sons of contrary nature; Jacob in serving Laban for wives and wealth; Moses in prevailing against Pharaoh; David in overcoming Goliath; Jonathan in destroying the Philistines, and the like; yet will not avail any soul to do like to these or any of these; but the work of God in the hearts and inward parts of these and all the servants of God is all alike; namely, regeneration of the soul, pardon of sin, mortification of the flesh, sanctification or guidance of the Spirit, in which steps all must go that come to life; for this is that new way wherein no unclean thing shall, {Is.35:8,} and here must the children of God be fed; for here do the shepherds pitch their tents; {Song.1:8;} namely, the true ministers of God preach nothing else; though for this they are so persecuted of men, that they are ready to flee from one place to another, that they may teach to all the true Israel of God. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Free Grace Salvation in Christ Alone
In this 119th Psalm it is observed that one of these eight words is in every verse: the Word, the Law, the Testimony, the Decrees, the Statutes, the Commandments, the Precepts, and the Judgments. By the Word understand, the Lord Jesus Christ, the living Word. By the Law understand, that Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which makes us free from the Law of sin and death; not the Law of the Ten Commandments, which lays every man under the Curse. By Testimonies understand, the testimonies which God gave unto Christ, that he is his Son, and that in Him alone he is well pleased; and this giveth wisdom to the simple, that everyone may know, even the most simple, that God is pleased with Christ and not with the works of man, in any way of religion or holiness whatsoever. Decrees and Statutes are both one, and they are great. The first decree of God is, that “flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God;” the second is, that all the wisdom of man shall be confounded, and all his righteousness or obedience to God’s Word is abominable, because they proceed from his carnal mind; the third is, that his Law shall make known this sinful state, and bring every soul of his elect under condemnation, curse and death. The fourth is, that Jesus Christ shall loose those that are brought under curse by the Law, from their captivity to sin, and from the curse of the Law, and give them eternal life only by Free Grace. So likewise Commandments and Precepts are both one, and by them understand the Commands that God hath given to all concerning Christ, first that they shall hear Him, secondly that every one that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity; and this gives light to the eyes of the mind, that every soul may know, that the true and only obedience of God is to hear Christ; namely, to believe in Him for the whole of Salvation; that is, for the gift of eternal life by Free Grace, and that to believe in any other or to join their own holiness or anything else with Him is iniquity. By Judgments understand, the judgment of the great Whore, as it is called in Revelations the 17th; namely, hypocrisy, or man’s confidence in his own works, which hath made all the kings of the earth drunk with the wine of her fornications; namely, hath bewitched all forms of religion to trust in their own works, and not in the living God; or to join something with Christ; as the Galatians were bewitched to join Circumcision and the keeping of the Law; and now all forms are bewitched to join works of merit, or good endeavors, great zeal, and wisdom, or covenant keeping, right baptizing, right communion, right speaking and acting, as other holy men have done, or the like; anything that Christ may not be all; and therefore this hypocrisy is called Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of whoredom, and of all abominations of the earth; for she hath been in all professors of religions, and have corrupted all Administrations of God, &c., and therefore that judgments of God be poured out upon the carnal mind, in which she lives and acts, is to the servants of God sweeter than honey, and more to be desired than much fine gold. - It is Christ that must do all; man’s wit is diligently employed to bring something of man into the business of salvation; so the Spirit of God in his servants, never ceased either by parables, similitudes, or plain words to set forth the Free Grace of God in Christ doing all for us, and therefore our Savior saith, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me;” but, “ye will not come to me, that ye might have life;” {Jn.5:39,40;} whence I conclude that Holy Scripture is not rightly expounded, that witnesseth not every man concluded under sin that all may be saved by Christ. - The devil transforms himself into the likeness of an angel of light, and would deceive the elect if it were possible; but that God hath sealed them in the hand and in the forehead; and Satan hath made his false teachers like ministers of light, that with cunningly devised fables they may deceive the world, and draw all men after them. Thus the false apostles went out from the professors of truth; as John saith, “they went out from us, but they were not of us;” {I Jn.2:19;} and even so now all forms of religion, have crept away from the doctrine of Free Grace; as Papists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptists, Quakers, &c., for none of them deny that in some sense salvation is by free grace in Christ; but as John said, “they were not of us,” for if they had been of us, doubtless they would not have gone out from us; namely, if they had been regenerate, begotten by the Word of Truth, born of the Holy Spirit, and led by Him in all the ways of God, and had the free grace and operations thereof, and faith that worketh by love in their souls, they would have said it’s by Free Grace alone, and shouted his praises with us, who hath done all for us, casting their crowns to the ground, and crying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” {Rev.5:12} Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Glorying in Christ Alone
As Israel could not be freed from her bondage, but only by God himself, and that with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm in the pouring out his judgments upon Pharaoh and all Egypt; so cannot man’s soul be brought out of his carnal and hypocritical estate by any means but by the sheer power of God, by his vials poured out upon all green things, to destroy them; signifying the taking away all earthly things that gave contentment to the carnal mind, as also all pleasing ways of religion; and by vials being poured out upon the seat of the beast, signifying the carnal and hypocritical mind of man that delights in anything besides God; as Israel was said to worship all the host of heaven, beasts of the earth, fowls of the air, and even creeping things, anything but the true God; so now men worship their forms of religion, their Sabbath keeping, their baptism, their forms of baptizing, &c., anything except faith in Christ. Again; men lead one another from one form of religion to another; none destroys all but God, as he leaves nothing for man to look upon but Christ crucified. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Glorying in Religion
To him that glorieth in prayer, the Lord saith, “where art thou?” Art thou multiplying words like the heathen that think to be heard for their much babbling, or like the priests of Baal that called on him from morning till noon; knowest thou not that none call upon God but they that know him; and none know him, but they that believe in him; and none can obtain anything of God, but they that pray in Christ’s name; and none can come in his name, but they that are his, implanted into him by the Father; that is, to whom the Father hath given faith to believe in Christ, or upon whom he hath poured the laver of Regeneration through Christ; and knowest thou not that the prayers of the wicked and unregenerate are an abomination to the Lord; and that none can pray as he ought, unless he have the spirit of faith, and unity of a sound mind; and no man receives the Spirit by the works of the Law, but by the hearing of faith; and as long as man hath in his religion, “do this and live;” he is under the works of the Law, for he is not yet stripped naked, his heart is not yet humbled, his spirit is not broken; he is gaping after the praises of men, he is seeking to please God with his praying, praising, baptism, and other such actions. – And to him that glorieth in baptism, the Lord saith, “where art thou?” Art thou washing with nitre and much soap? {Jer.2:22} Art thou forming thyself after the fashion of the world, into some society of men, after their manner of will-worship? Knowest thou not that the baptism of Christ, {whereof it is said, “he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,} was not by water, neither sprinkled in the face, nor drenched into our head, but it was by fire and the Holy Ghost; what John the Baptist or the Disciples of Christ did, was but an outward figure of that inward washing of the Holy Ghost by the blood of Christ; wherefore it is said, “as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death;” {Rom.6:3;} and again, ye are “buried with him by baptism into death;” {Rom.6:4;} again “buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God;” {Col.2:12;} so that they that are baptized with him, are not gathered into any visible congregation of professors, but rather are separated from them all; as the Church saith, “For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid;” {Is.8:11,12;} of whom also our Savior saith by the prophet, “I and the children whom the LORD hath given me,” are accounted as a strange thing to both the houses of Judah and Israel; {Is.8:18;} which is as if he had said, to all that professed thy worship, for only Judah and Israel were worshipers of God then, and all other nations worshipers of idols. - To him that glorieth in the Lord’s Supper, the Lord saith, “where art thou?” Art thou binding the body and blood of Christ unto bread and wine, either in transubstantiation that it should be changed; {no, the unchangeable God cannot be changed into any created thing, nor the created thing into him;} or in consubstantiation; no, the invisible God cannot be joined to the visible creature, nor the visible into him, while it is visible; or by faith thou believest that he is the food of thy soul, as bread and wine is of thy body; and is he not so at all times, in all eating and drinking? Needs not thy soul food daily as well as thy body? And is he not also the covering to thy soul to cover it from nakedness and shame, and to defend it from heat and cold, and storms, as thy garment is to thy body; and is he not thy support in the day of weakness, as well as a staff to thee in old age? And is not he thy strength that gives the victory over thy soul’s enemies, as well as an army with an able commander, and weapons of war in the day of battle? Is he not thy wisdom to answer all gainsayers, and oppose thy soul’s enemies, as thy natural understanding and reason is in temporal things; therefore see how many ordinances are contained in this one, if thou refer to faith; are not all these outward visible signs of inward spiritual grace? Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Gospel Hermeneutics
In the beginning God created, &c., of which some glory that in the Hebrew, {which is the original language of the Old Testament,} it is given out in the plural number, thereby intimating the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead; and thereby infer how good it is that men understand the Hebrew tongue, as if that God had bound up the truth in that language; or as if anything availed thereto, but the work of God. Were not the Jews as great enemies to Christ as any people; or when God was pleased to confound languages, was he not the God of them all; and when he gave the Spirit to the apostles, did he not cause people of many nations to hear the Word and wondrous works of God in their own language? What a stammering is this; is it not the idolizing of that language; as if it should in any way avail to the true knowledge of God; when the Truth tells us no man knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Is not knowledge of tongues and languages a great part of worldly wisdom, which is foolishness with God; and whereof our Saviour exulting in Spirit saith, “I thank thee Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes, &c.” And the Apostle saith, “Where is the wise; where is the scribe; where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” Or what need is there that the words spoken in the plural number should set forth the plurality of persons; for Moses here setteth forth the Father the Creator, and John setteth forth the Son the Word, and Wisdom of the Father; by which all things were created, and that he was in the beginning with God, and was God, and that nothing was created without him; and this is testimony sufficient, if there were no more for to comfort and establish the hearts of believers, and to answer gainsayers and disputers; this is nothing but to multiply arguments to no purpose. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Idolatry
In the fifth chapter, the ark of God being set by Dagon, the idol of the Philistines, it falls down and is broken, the face, the beauty of it is spoiled, but the Philistines patch it and set it up again. {I Sam.5:3} This plainly figures out man’s form of religion which is his great idol, when any manifestation of God’s presence comes in, it falls down, but man’s heart is so idolatrous, that he is not thereby moved to turn to the living God, but he will repair it and set it up again; he will not say there is no hope, he hath not the understanding to say, it could not save itself, how should it save me; but he accounts that he hath not been zealous and careful enough, he will amend his ways and be more zealous for the ways of righteousness; but he will not yield that his righteousness is filthy, and that he is deluded, and that there is no hope apart from Christ. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Irresistible Grace
“And it was so.” {Gen.1:7-30} Here is the conclusion; every word that God speaks is fulfilled; every command that he gives is obeyed, as it is written, “the Lord gave the word; great was the company of those that published it.” {Ps.68:11} When he gives forth his voice, the dead shall hear and live; many come to hear the Word, but their ear is not opened, nor their heart turned; many hear the Word, but receive it not as the Word of God, but of man; but when God commanded the light to shine out of darkness, it was so; so when he commands the light of Everlasting Life to shine in our hearts, it will be so; otherwise the prophets may preach, but Israel will not be gathered, which made Isaiah complain, “Who hath believed our report; and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” {Is.53:1} Again; “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?” {Is.51:9} So David saith, “The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests; and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.” {Psa.29:7-9} It is not so with man, for the prophets are sent to a rebellious people, that some will not hear them, others hear, but hate and persecute them, others come and inquire of the prophet as if they desired to hear the Law, and to know the judgments, but all in dissimulation and hypocrisy; though the prophet is “unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument;” {Ez.33:32;} but when God commands, they will hear; and unto the people that sat in darkness a great light shines forth and “to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up;” {Mt.4:16;} therefore he saith, “they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest; {Heb.8:11;} for they shall all be taught of God; so that when the Lord saith; “Seek ye my face;” the Church answers, “Thy face, LORD, will I seek; {Ps.27:8;} for our hearts are in the “hand of the Lord,” and the Lord “turneth it whithersoever he will.” {Pv.21:1} Here therefore is manifest the order, as the Apostle saith, first that which is after the flesh, then that which is after the Spirit; first the teaching of man, and man comprehending the Word of God in his reason and carnal wisdom, and thus in his puffed up heart thinking that the whole work is wrought, but it is not so; but when God commands his servants to cry out, and they reply, “What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it; {Is.40:6,7;} and then it is so; so that David saith, “thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled,” {Ps.30:7,} his soul refusing comfort; so when the Church lies under affliction, the Lord commands, “Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins;” {Is.40:2;} and then it is so, “and the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken; the heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly; {Is.32:3,4;} the blind see, the deaf hear, the halt and lame leap for joy, and the dumb sing out the praises of their God; the Church is brought out of captivity to Zion with joy; everlasting rejoicing upon her head; for thou Lord in love to her soul hast freed it from the pit of corruption, therefore will I sing my song in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus
The preacher {as the word Ecclesiastes signifies} concludes that the whole duty of man is to “fear God and keep his Commandments;” {Ecc.12:13,14} and this is another shadow to hide the glorious mystery of Truth from the wise of the world; for now thinks man that he is sent back to Moses, to the Ten Commandments, that Law that saith, “do this and live;” not understanding, that the work of that Law is wrought when man is becomes sensible of his sin, and he and all his ways are condemned of folly and vanity, for by the Law is the knowledge of sin, and whosoever is of the works of the Law, is under the curse. {Gal.3:20} But now when he saith, the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his Commandments, he speaks of those Commandments whereof it is said that the days of that ignorance God winked at, but now hath commanded all to believe and obey the Gospel; for these are the commands of God, after that Christ is manifested; the Father carries not man back to Moses, nor yet bids him hear John the Baptist, nor any other; but calls upon all from heaven and commands all to hear his Son, and this is the work of God, to believe in the Son, for they that believe in him, are passed from death to life, and shall not come under condemnation; but they that believe not, are condemned already, because they believe not the record of God concerning his Son. Therefore God in mercy drives not man back to Moses, but when man sees his sin by the Law, he draws him to Christ through whom sin is pardoned, and the soul sanctified. Therefore the Apostle to the Hebrews saith, “ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest &c.,” {Heb.12:18,} which is as much as if he had said, “ye are not come to the Law of judgment;” for so was that Law delivered; but ye are come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, &c., and to Jesus the mediator of the New Testament, and to the blood that speaketh better things than that of Abel; {Heb.12:22-24;} namely, ye are come to the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, that frees from the Law of sin and death. {Rom.8:2} Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Light of Christ Shinning in Darkness
“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” {Gen.1:5} Here is set down the order of all things, the evening before the morning, the darkness before the light, following still the excellent allegory, as the Apostle also in Abraham’s two sons, for he that was after the flesh, was before him that was after the promise; that which is of man, is before that which is of God; therefore it is called the old man, and the other the new man; and so God makes two covenants, the one established in the works of man, saying, “Do this and live,” and this brings all under the curse; the other established in Christ, saying, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people, I will be their Father, and they shall be my sons and daughters.” The Apostle calls the first the ministration of death and condemnation, and that which is to be abolished; and the latter the ministration of faith and righteousness, and that which remaineth; so that the former is called the old covenant, and a covenant of works, and the latter a new covenant, a covenant of Grace; so that the whole Scripture or written Word is contained in two Testaments. In the first is the Law, in the latter is the Gospel or Covenant of Grace; thus we have the order, the evening is before the morning, darkness before the Light, flesh before the spirit, the old man, old testament, old covenant, works, curse, condemnation, death, before the new man, New Testament, New Covenant, grace, blessing, righteousness, eternal life; but the old ones are all to be abolished; as the Apostle saith, “old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.” So it is written, “sorrow may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” So the Spirit in all the prophets, pronouncing the judgment of God against all nations for sin, never speaks of a day, but when he foretells the mercies of God in Christ, and his wonderful works of redemption, justification, sanctification, and salvation of sinners; he saith of that day, or after those days, or the like; so here when God hath turned darkness into light, and separated the light from the darkness, and called the light day, and the darkness night, then the evening and the morning make a day. And this is the first day, before that God hath wrought his mighty work in the soul by Jesus Christ, all darkness; yea man himself is darkness. “Ye were sometimes darkness,” saith the Apostle, there is no day, no light, so that Peter tells the Church, “ye have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts;” till the day star, the Lord Jesus and those Gospel Truths concerning Himself arise in our hearts; as the prophet saith, “we sit in darkness;” therefore though the Word of Truth be clear and plain, for the vision is written in large characters, so that he that runs may read it, yet understand it not; for it is written, “the light shineth in darkness, but the darkness comprehends it not;” nay we pervert it, and turn the truth into a lie. Therefore see what great darkness we live in until God command the light of everlasting life to shine in our hearts; therefore the prophet compares it to being in a dungeon, where there is no light, under gates of brass and bars of iron, because there is none that can loose us out of the prison but Jesus Christ, who is the power of God and wisdom of God unto salvation; and the Apostle saith that, “the god of this world,” namely, the devil, “hath blinded our eyes, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ should shine in our hearts;” so that this state is called bondage, captivity, darkness, gross darkness, and the like; therefore this is the first day, when by the light of God we see what darkness we have lived in, and are ashamed of the blindness of our minds, of our vain pleasures, our lustful desires, the unfruitful works of darkness, wherein we are found in the day of our ignorance; and now we know that the issues of death and of life are from the Lord, and that our destruction is from ourselves; and that our salvation is of God; that there is no good thing in us; that we can do no good thing of ourselves, for we are not sufficient for one good thought, that God alone doth all, for it is He that worketh our works for us, and worketh in us both to will and to do according to his own good pleasure; and now we call all creation to praise the Lord with us; for God hath put a new song into our mouths, and hath filled our souls with his own works; as now he proceedeth after He hath created the light, to fill heaven and earth with his creation glory. “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” {Hab.2:3} Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Life of a Believer – Hidden in Christ
In that David entered into a cave, and lodged there, {I Samuel 24,} in some sense may figure out a Christian life as it is hid from the wise and prudent of the world. “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed;” {Song 4:12;} “the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not;” {I Jn.3:1;} “your life is hid with Christ in God;” {Col.3:3;} “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.” {Rev.2:17} These read, hear and meditate, and think to find out his way, and imitate him, but when they read and hear, they are deaf and dumb, for they have stopped their ears like the deaf adder; {Ps.58:4;} the Word of God is a letter sealed, a book sealed with seven seals, and there is none found able to open the seals, nor worthy to look therein, but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, {Rev.5:1-5,} and Him they abhor; for he is gone into a country far from them to receive a Kingdom, and they will not have Him to rule over them; {Lk.19:14;} when they meditate, they mind earthly things; for they are but shaping a god and a Christ like unto themselves, every form of religious worshipers make god and Christ like to themselves, well pleased with that form, and no other, as they are; therefore by David he saith, “thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself;” {Ps.50:21;} so the man of God is in a cave, but God speaks to him, he hath communion with God, as John saith, “truly our fellowship is with the Father,” {I Jn.1:3,} and the Lord said to him, “what dost thou here Elijah?” {I Kg.19:13} Why art thou thus separate from men in this secret solitary place? “I've been very zealous for the LORD God,” whereby I hoped to have had fellowship and comfort with them that professed thy name and worship, but “the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” {19:14} Where can I be? I must be hid from them all? Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Life of a Believer – Hidden in Christ
“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.” {Rev.2:17} A life that is hid with God in Christ. “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” {Col.3:3} It is that which neither eye have seen, nor ear hath heard, nor heart conceived, all professors seek for it, but they are stricken with blindness as the men of Sodom, for they cannot find the Door; {“Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep;” Jn.10:7;} for in praying, they pray but they ask amiss; in praising, they praise, but to the idol of their hearts, to a god that hath not taken away their stony heart, and given them a new heart and renewed a right spirit within them, to an idol that cannot kill and make alive; in baptism, they are indeed baptized, but not into death with Christ, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested; in Communion of the body and blood of Christ, they receive the Lord’s Supper, but it is not in the Unity of the Spirit, nor in fellowship with the Father of lights in whom is no darkness, and with our Lord Jesus Christ, for they that walk in darkness have no communion with Him; in believing, they do indeed believe, but not in Him that justifies the ungodly, that pardons sins freely, that rejects all the wisdom and righteousness of man, and testifies that harlots and publicans shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, before the strictest formalist in religion. No, they cannot believe the Truth of Free Justification in Christ alone, for Satan the god of this world hath given them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; for in their working of so-called righteousness, they indeed work, but not from love of God, but from lust, to be seen and praised of men; therefore they work to please God, but without the Mediator Christ, in whom alone he is well pleased. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Life of Faith in Christ
To all true believers, the just that live by faith; Dear brethren begotten by the Word of God, born of his Holy Spirit, poor pilgrims and strangers in this world, with whom, yet, you must live, as with a hateful stepmother, that will not give you, no nor suffer you to have bread, but leavened with her own leaven; nor sincere milk, but mixed with water; and yet not with the water of the Well of Life, but of her own broken cisterns. After you my spirit breathes, in you my soul rejoices, for you I give thanks to the God of all Mercies, that Christ is formed in you, and that your souls are established, rooted, and grounded in the Truth; because Satan your great adversary transforms himself into the likeness of an angel of light, and sends forth his ministers like ministers of the Light, and shapes the religions of the world into all seeming holiness, voluntary humility, will worship, self-denial, burning zeal, strong devotion, meek suffering, steadfast resolution, and everything that may make them seem to be Christ’s flock; that you may receive them, and join with them. And indeed it is very difficult for you to stand fast in the Faith, and to withstand their deceitful appearance, but that our gracious Savior hath forewarned us all to be aware of them that come to us in sheep’s clothing, for inwardly they are ravening wolves; but their show is so specious, that you are afraid to speak or think evil of them. Alas my dear brethren in Christ, look not on their outward appearance, regard not their words, for they are smooth as oil, soft as butter; but under their tongue is the poison of asps, and swords are in their hearts. These are those locusts come out of the smoke of the bottomless pit; they have faces of men, hair like women, but their teeth are of iron, there is stings in their tails. {Rev.9:7-9} In a word, as the Jews cried up the Law, the Temple, &c., so these cry “Lord, Lord, the Light, the Word, the Spirit,” &c., yet all is but to join men’s observation, devotion, zeal, diligence, &c., with the Son of God, that he may not be all in all to his Church, the Justifier of the ungodly; that he should die for his enemies, and give gifts for the rebellious, and quicken them that are dead in sin, and be both the Author and Finisher of Faith, the Beginner and Perfecter of every good word and work, and though the failings of his people should be great and many; yet he will heal them, and pardon all their backslidings, he will continue faithful, and by cords of love draw her to remember from whence she is fallen, and bring her to her first Love again, and then delight in her more than before; and briefly, that true Christian Religion should consist in nothing but man living in the sense of his daily failings, and mourning under the burden thereof, and receiving from the Lord the Cup of Salvation, even the forgiveness of his sins, and comfort of his soul daily. This the worldly wise in religion cannot endure; but are still devising some other way whereby they may be godly, that God may justify them in their godliness, and so they pacify their conscience, and beget in their minds a hope of happiness, and persuade themselves that they are beloved of God, as they live in security, and judge others that do not as they do, and dance not after their pipe. But you hath the Lord Jesus quickened, that you may live in brokenness of heart, in sense of our own sinfulness, and not in security with them, but continually watching lest your enemies that are so near you, even the world, the flesh and the devil should prevail against you, either to bring you back in neglect and forgetfulness of your redemption, or lift up your hearts in pride, to bring to God any other sacrifice than a broken heart and contrite spirit, and live in the sense of the freeness of his Love; that you cease not night and day to sound out his praises who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous Light, and with the price of his own blood hath redeemed you from sin and folly, and daily doth redeem you from your infirmities and failings, and the world’s allurements, the flesh lustings, and Satan’s temptations. Oh you little flock that have not bowed the knee to Baal, who are but as one of thousand, gathered out of the world, glorious in the power of your gracious Redeemer, who hath bought and brought you out of Egypt, an acceptable present unto the God of Glory, and hath given that living command in your hearts, that you should worship not the gods of the people among whom you dwell, nor say a league to whom they say a league, nor fear their fear; that is, not to join with them in their forms of religion; for their fear of God, and all their forms of religion is taught by the precepts of men; therefore by his power and daily preservation you walk as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, who hate you, and persecute you; and if at any time they favor you, take care that you eat not of their dainty dishes, but be content with your own pulse. Blessed and forever praised be the Lord, who hath vouchsafed so great grace, that there should be some amongst the sinful generations of men through his Mercy alone whom he brings to so great a Redemption; that all the world be not as the deluge and the destruction of Sodom, and the cities adjoined in that horrible spectacle of his dreadful judgment. Now what have I to say to you my dearly beloved brethren, ye children of Grace, but to communicate with you, though I know you not in the flesh, yet I see in the spirit how you with me are carried out by Divine Instruction to try all things, and hold fast to that which is good; that our souls are wearied with trying, yet finding nothing in men’s preachings, nor writings concerning that good Counsel of God, the Dictates of the Spirit of Truth and Comfort, that either by his sharp reproof, whereby He reproves of sin, righteousness and judgment, men might be sound in the Faith, or by His sweet consolations, souls sick of love, and daily grieved in seeing the filthy conversation of the men of the world, might be refreshed and upheld, and armed with patience to wait for the coming of their loving Bridegroom - the Lord Jesus, with joy and comfort; who in the meantime hath given us so many admonitions to take heed to what we hear, and how we hear; that we hear nothing but what the Spirit saith to the churches. So we need not to lend our ears, or spend our time in hearing their preachings and following their writings, which tend only to contention, and lift up men’s minds for one minister, and one form of religion, against all others; which even to hear and see, is very grievous to our souls, how they deceive and are deceived; but let us possess our souls with patience, and let the world alone, knowing that these things must be, for the wicked must be wicked still, and the blind must lead the blind, and both will fall into the ditch. Let us lift up our hearts more high, to extol his Name and Mercy towards us, that he hath granted us such grace, and called us with an holy calling, and made us to differ from the world, and hath abounded towards us in all good things through Jesus Christ; in whose Name let us pray unto the Father, to keep us even as the apple of an eye by his Power through Faith unto Salvation, that all the deceitful transformations of Satan may not draw us to be conformed to anything but the Life and Death of Christ, even that we may die daily to our own wills and lusts, and live unto and with our God and Savior, our Redeemer, both in this life, and that which is to come, forever and ever, world without end, Amen. Richard Coore {Preface to his Practical Expositor, 1683}
Light of Christ
“And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.” {Gen.1:18} Though all this be spoken to before, {vs.16,} yet this reverberation thereof by the Holy Ghost, signifies it to be a matter of consequence for the instruction of man, and needful to be diligently regarded; and the sum of it lies in this; that the lights from heaven must rule; the day and the night must have no establishment in themselves, but as the lights of heaven to rule over them by God’s Divine Appointment, and divide them one from the other; otherwise all earthly things tend to their own confusion and destruction; therefore also God saw that this was good, for his goodness is communicated by his creation, by his ordinances and appointment, to preserve the creature from ruining himself. So with man, by his own wisdom he runs headlong to perdition, breaks all bonds, perverts the Truth of God, and turns it to a lie, abuses the gifts of God, corrupts all his ways, likened to a wild ass in the wilderness that hastens to destruction; therefore God puts a hook in his nostrils, and a bit in his jaws, and brings him back by a way that he hath not known; and that is by a way of subjection, that the Light of God, even Christ, may rule over him, that he may no more rejoice in the ways of his own heart, or the works of his own hand; but that he may rejoice that his King cometh, that a Branch of the stem of Jesse ruleth, that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah hath prevailed, that the captives of Zion are brought again, and the shout of the King is in the midst of them. Oh how averse is the mind of man to this in nature! Pride and folly reigns in his heart, and therefore he himself would be king and lord alone; yea, Lucifer’s pride is in his heart, that he exalts himself above all that is called god, in heaven and in earth; but God that is good, communicates his goodness and casts down all that is high and haughty in man, and brings every thought into subjection unto the obedience of Christ. Thus the Light of God rules over man both night and day, and divides between that which is of God and that which is of man; for man in his pride and folly would ruin himself, and doth cast himself into captivity; for pride goeth before the fall, and a haughty mind before destruction; but God preserves the lowly in heart, and gives grace to the humbled and meek; therefore he saith, “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help Israel,” {Hos.13:9,} thy destruction is of thyself, thy salvation is of me; and God saw that this was good, that when nothing but evil was left in man, it should be reduced to goodness, and established there by the goodness of God himself, and all man’s seeming goodness should be discovered to be evil, his wisdom to be foolishness, his light to be darkness, and that a perfect division should be made, to separate that which is of man, from that which is of God forever. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Lord’s Supper
The Rock yielding water to Israel in their great thirst, and the Lord giving manna from heaven, is a perfect figure of the feeding the soul with the body and blood of Christ, as Moses also testifies, when he saith that Rock was Christ; for hereby is signified, that the souls hunger can be satisfied with nothing but Food from heaven, and that administered miraculously by the power of God; therefore the due preparation of man for the Supper, is that his soul is hungry and thirsty for such food, which is figured out in the prodigal, whom nothing could satisfy but the Bread of the Father’s house; as also expressed by David. “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures;” {Ps.36:8;} “blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts; we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple;” {Ps.65:4;} “hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them…then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.” {Ps.107:5,19} But to examine himself whether he repent him truly of his former sins, steadfastly purposing to lead a new life, to have a lively faith in God’s mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his Death, and to be in charity with all men, is to fill a man’s heart with a good conceit of his Christian-like condition, which makes him not hungry, but full; and the full stomach loathes the honeycomb. “The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” {Prov.27:7} So such men receive the Supper for nothing, but because it is a custom for men to do so, or because it is an order of the Church, and therefore they ought to do it. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Number of the Beast
“Here is wisdom,” saith John, “let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” {Rev.13:18} Here is man numbered, and his time numbered unto him, the time of his work, all that God wrought was very good, but all that man works is complete vanity, he himself is “lighter than vanity.” {Ps.62:9} So his number is the number of a Beast, for he is like the beast that perisheth without understanding; so his number is six, the days of work, though he attain to six in all the dimensions of it, 666 and 6666 and 66666, all is but six, for he cannot attain to seven; for seven is the day of God, the day of rest, the day of the manifestation of Christ, whom none can know except the Father reveal him; but man sits still in darkness, and labors in the very fire for complete vanity, which our wise and learned men not understanding, busy themselves to put this beastly name upon others; some upon the Turk, some upon the Pope, to be the Beast, and the Antichrist, because they know not that it is in themselves until the Lord reveal it. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Old Testament Types Fulfilled in Christ
True believers worship God in Spirit, live by faith, in subjection to all ordinances of man for the Lord’s sake; and suffer in peace, and praying for their persecutors when their rulers would force them to do whatever would tend to deny the name of Christ, and the true life of Faith. And these things were fully shadowed out by Moses and all the Prophets in perfect figures and visions; as every believer in whom Christ is manifested, to the crucifying of the flesh, and the life of the spirit, doth fully understand; as that, Israel’s bondage in Egypt plainly holds forth man’s slavery to Satan, sin, and lust, and their delivery by God’s own hand, and mighty power in many signs and wonders, and a stretched out arm, shows that nothing but Christ {who is the power and wisdom of God unto salvation} and that by a cursed death, deep anguish, bitter passion, and glorious victory over hell and death, can deliver man from this captivity; therefore our Saviour bids us, search the Scriptures, for they testify of Him; and Moses was commanded to build the tabernacle according to the pattern showed him in the mount, whereupon the Apostle to the Hebrews shows, that the sacrifices, shewbread, table, alter, candlestick, and all their rights and ordinances, were not heavenly things, but the pattern of heavenly things, all which is Christ, for in Him is every word fulfilled; and the prophet plainly saith, “to the Law and to the Testimony, if they speak not according to these things, it is because there is no light in them.” Namely, if man have the light of the Truth in him, then he sees all things in both Old and New Testament, plainly and fully witnessing the truth of God in Jesus for the Salvation of sinners. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Outside the Camp with Christ
Then comes the doctrine of the scapegoat; whereby all the Israel of God are sanctified. Of two goats presented unto God, the one being offered unto God as a sin offering, and that is man, that is constrained to fall down before the throne of God and confess that he is a sinner, even a mass of sin, so was he conceived, and so hath continued adding sin to sin, there is no goodness in him, he is dead in sin. The other is the Scapegoat, even our Lord Jesus Christ; the priest confessing all our sins upon his Head; for then preaches he Christ truly, when he lays all our iniquities upon Him, and thus declares that by His stripes alone we are healed, sent away into the wilderness, into the land of forgetfulness, carrying all our sins, that they may never be remembered against us anymore, and there {in the proclamation of the Gospel of Grace,} Christ remains in the wilderness, and all the saints of God with him, the children which God hath given Him; for he and they are counted a strange thing unto the wise and religious of the world, and rejected as the scum and off scouring of all things. All the wise and prudent cannot find them, they seek them among the zealots, holy, religious ones of the world, but they are in the wilderness as the Apostle John saith. {Rev.12:6,14} God has given them wings of gold, whose feathers are of the Word of Truth, and they fly into the wilderness, from the face and fury of their adversaries, and yet not to flee from persecution; for to suffer for his Name is their crown and glory; for their Redeemer and Comforter is with them to wipe all tears from their eyes and give them joy in life and death, for to them to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Persecution
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him; and Cain slew Abel because Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to God. This holds forth the bitter enmity of every carnal mind against the servants of the Lord; for there is nothing so cruel, as it regards no friendship, bond, or covenant; but breaks through all, father rising against son, and son against father, &c. Hence came invention of so many cruel torments, and tormenting devices as fire, axes, saws, &c., as the carnal man plays the hypocrite, pretending some other thing; but this is the bottom, his mind frets, his heart burns, his spirit rages, because of this, shall he be preferred before me? He is a deceiver, a seducer, a heretic; therefore I will have him put to death. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Preaching the Gospel of Christ
For the building of the Tabernacle; God calleth Bezaleel and Aholiab, and giveth them wisdom to work in gold, and silver, and brass, and set precious stones, and all curious workmanship, for the making of the Tabernacle, which signifieth the ministers, that they must be called of God and endued with wisdom, for the work of the ministry. {Ex.36:1} It is not human learning, nor any natural endowments or abilities, that makes man fit for that work; all those things and all the wisdom of this world; yea, and the words that man’s wisdom invents must be laid aside, that man may preach the Word in demonstration of the Spirit and Power of the Truth; for it is Christ only that makes us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the Letter but of the Spirit; as Paul himself testifies, and our Savior himself also tells his disciples, “as the Father hath sent me, so send I you, freely you have received, freely give;” all that preach out of natural or acquired wisdom, preach nothing but the Letter, and are like the false prophets, and false apostles, and as the Lord testifies by Jeremiah they shall do the people no good; no, they shall delude all that receive their doctrine for the word of Micaiah to Ahab is fulfilled in them, the Lord having put a lying spirit into all their mouths to seduce them, {I Kg.22:23,} and this is the righteous judgment of God upon the world, because they will not receive the true ministers of the Gospel whom he sends, but kill some, and stone others, and evil entreat his servants, and have itching ears and heap unto themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will not suffer sound doctrine, and turn from the truth, and are given over to fables. Alas, is it not so even now? That there is scarce a minister that doth not account it the ornament of his ministry to bring in poetical fictions and fabulous histories; and do not the people love to have it so? When they account them that most abounds in these things, the most learned and able ministers. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Preaching the Gospel of Christ
“The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those that published it.” {Ps.68:11} What is this they published? Even the Gospel, that Covenant of Grace, Salvation by Free Grace, Glad Tidings to souls afflicted, and overladen with sin; these poor in spirit, that they may be comforted; that though they have been born blind, lame, deaf, they shall hear and see the beauty of the Salvation of God, and shall leap and dance for joy, and shall walk firmly in all the ways of truth and uprightness, and the dumb shall shout the praises of God that sits upon the throne, and of the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne; yea, though dead in sins, sins shall be pardoned, souls sanctified, and they raised to the life of righteousness, by, in, and with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord our Righteousness; yea these publishers shall preach salvation by free grace, whereby the Law of God is not made void, but established in the souls of believers; whereby their sins and failings and backslidings are discovered, and they judge and condemn themselves, and are not judged of God; but He is merciful to them in their frailties, and heals their backslidings, and loves them freely, and this love begets such a love in them, that they love the Lord with all their heart and soul, and might and strength, and this love is the fulfilling of the Law. And how come they to preach this Doctrine? Have they been at the University? Are they approved and ordained by a Bishop or Presbytery? No, a true Jew is not approved of men, saith Paul; and the Lord Jesus saith by the prophet, “I and the children whom the LORD hath given me,” are accounted as a strange thing to both the houses of Judah and Israel; {Is.8:18;} yea, the scum and off scouring or basest of all things, and those two houses {Judah and Israel} the only worshipers of God; and all other people being heathen idolaters; well may the Church cry, “my leanness, my leanness,” but some will say, that this was a time of defection in Israel, and now is a time of the Gospel flourishing; yea, after the wisdom of men, whereof our Savior foretold his disciples, “that they should be hated and persecuted of all men for his name sake;” and of what sort? Even they that accounted it was good service to God to kill them; therefore Paul plainly declares that he was an Apostle of Jesus Christ, not of men, nor by man, and how have these preachers this doctrine? David saith therefore that, “the Lord gave the word;” whence is manifest both, that this doctrine is the Word of God, and that none can preach it, except it be given to them of God; they that preach this doctrine are they, that are truly sent of God, and all others preach nothing but their own conceits or what they have seen or heard, or conceived in their deceived and deceitful hearts. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Providential Reign of Grace
God teacheth us that it is “in Him we live and move and have our being,” {Acts 17:28,} and as the prophet testifies in regards to the Lord who “created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work;” {Is.54:16;} so that any weapon that is formed against his people shall not prosper, the sword cannot wound, the water cannot drown, the fire cannot burn, nor can anything or anyone destroy those whom God will preserve; for he brought the greatest monarch and the strongest creature from nothing by his Word, and he orders all their ways at his pleasure, and cuts them off in a moment by the most contemptible creature; as Pharaoh and his sorcerers by lice, locusts, caterpillars etc., and Herod by worms; so preserves he his own children against all their wrath, and bitterness; as Daniel in the lion’s den, and the three children in the fiery furnace, so our God sees all our goings out, and comings in; he knows the secret counsel and imaginations of our heart, and we cannot fly from his presence, or hide ourselves in the depth of the sea, or darkness of the night, {Ps.139:1-7;} therefore to trust in Him alone is our greatest strength; to seek to hide ourselves or our ways from him is our greatest folly; for by Him kings reign and princes decree judgment; he puts down one and sets up another at his pleasure; therefore the prophet saith, “blessed are all they that put their trust in him;” and again, “cursed is he that maketh flesh his arm, &c.,” as also they that have their confidence in graven images. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Sacrifice of Christ
The sacrifices all did figure the one sacrifice of Jesus, as the Apostle to the Hebrews declares; therefore as there was no sin of commission or omission, or ignorance, but there was a sacrifice appointed for it, which signifies that not the least sin can be taken away but by the sacrifice of Christ; and whosoever thinks to do it in any other way, or to join his works or any other thing with Him, he deprives himself of all, he loses all; for Christ shall profit him nothing. Again, when the sacrifice was laid upon the Altar, and all things in readiness, the Lord sent fire down from heaven which did consume the sacrifice, which fire was to be continued in the Temple that never must be suffered to go out, and so was continued until the captivity of Babylon. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron that brought other fire, were smitten down to death by the Lord suddenly to show his jealousy; to show that it is a great abomination to think that anything can avail to the sanctification of the soul but that which is from Himself. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Separation unto Christ
Not to marry strange wives, figures our joining ourselves to nothing but God, therefore the work of God is called by Hosea, a espousing us to Himself in faithfulness. “I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the LORD.” {Hos.2:19,20} So all sinfulness is called adultery, and hypocrites are called an adulteress generation; so that when man accounts anything needful to salvation but the Lord Jesus Christ, he espouses his soul to idols, and not unto the Lord his first lover, and thereby loses his first Lover, even God in Christ, as the Apostle saith to the Galatians; “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace;” {Gal.5:4;} and whosoever is circumcised, Christ shall profit him nothing; therefore here is the zeal of all true servants of God, especially after desertions, whereby they have learned to know, that the service of God is perfect freedom, but the service of other lords, as drunkenness, covetousness, &c., is absolute slavery; then stand they on their watch night and day, lest Satan deceive them with his wiles, to draw their souls from faith in Christ or to join any other thing with it, for forms of religion, man’s wisdom in understanding and expounding the Scriptures, giving goods to the poor, long prayers, and great praises of God, hearing, reading, meditating, and the like, all these seem beautiful to man, but Solomon advises to beware of the wine, when it looks red in the cup, {PV.23:31,} and the Lord bid Samuel not to read the goodly stature and comely countenance of Eliab; {I Sam.16:7;} and our Savior by parable, compares the kingdom of heaven to a grain of mustard seed, and a little leaven, {Mt.13:31,} for faith is a little thing, and unlovely in the eyes of men, but it is of great value with a believer whose hope is in Christ alone. Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}
Valuation of Christ
“God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas; and God saw that it was good.” Gen.1:10. Here is the Truth of God that gives to everything its proper name; for he calls not the churl liberal, nor the niggardly bountiful; all of the wisdom and professed righteousness of the world is on the contrary, as it calls light darkness, and darkness light; it takes evil for good, and good for evil; condemns the generation of the just, and speaks good of the covetous whom God abhors; this is that which in the Scripture is called the language of Canaan, and the language of Ashdod; the Word of God, and what God speaks to the soul of man, and what he teacheth his people to speak is the language of Canaan, for he makes them all of a pure language, to speak the truth every man to his neighbor; but that man which speaks in all human wisdom, in all external righteousness, religion and zeal is the language of Ashdod, for it is all falsehood and deceit; {“In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab; and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.” Neh.13:23,24,} for men in nature are all deceivers and deceived; therefore David saith, “let God be true, and every man a liar.” God only, or man by the wisdom of God calls everything by its own name; and this is good, and God seeth it to be good; while man in his natural state knows not the earth to be Earth, for he takes it for heaven, and makes his resting place there, so man calls his house or lands after his own name, and thinks that his memorial shall endure forever, so he takes the devil to be god, and worships him; another makes his belly his god, as the luxurious and the covetous idolize their riches, and bless themselves in their great plenty; saying, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry;” and all these things, because blind man knows them not by their right name, but esteems them everlasting treasures; but Paul saith, “trust not in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;” and again, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” How imperative that man know everything by its own name, that all things under the sun are vanity and vexation of spirit; that man, the chief of God’s creatures is lighter and vainer than vanity itself; that he trust not in the arm of flesh, and though riches come in well gotten, that he set not his heart upon them, but give his heart to God, and love Him and serve Him, worship, honor and desire Him above all; yea, and nothing but Him; therefore “the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward;” {Gen.15:1;} and David said, “the LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” {Ps.18:2} Richard Coore {Practical Expositor, 1683}