understandeth and knoweth that I am the Lord which execute loving kindnesse Iudgement and Righteousnesse in the earth As if hee should have said If these things could doe you good or hurt there were some reason that you might seeke them but there is nothing in them that you should desire them For it is I onely that execute Mercy and Iudgement all good and evill is from mee Therefore Psalme 62. we have this caveat given us If riches increase set not your hearts vpon them magnifie not your selves in them or for them for all good and comfort is onely from God else you might set your hearts on them but now all power and kindnesse is from him therefore your wealth can never doe it But it may bee objected That God doth comfort us and make us happie in this life by meanes and riches are the meanes Wherefore then may we not seeke to them to get this comfort To this I answer That God doth reward every man according to his workes not according to his wealth Yea hee can comfort us without these For he is the God of all Consolation 2. Cor. 1.3 and that both Inclusive and Exclusive all comfort is in him and from him none without him If wee thinke to have it from honours wealth or friends we deceive our selves for they are vaine and profit not 1 Sam 12.21.22 Turne yee not aside for then shall yee goe after vaine things which cannot profit nor deliver for they are vaine All these things without GOD will profit you nothing But will not health wealth and friends profit us No not all they are vanitie they are empty in themselves they cannot doe it they are in themselves but vanitie having the creature yee have but the huske without the graine the shell without the kernell The creature is but empty of it selfe except God put into it a fitnesse to comfort you all is vanity and nothing worth and this vanity is nothing but emptinesse And this serves to correct the thoughts of men who thinke that if they had such an estate all their debts paid if they had such and such friends then all would bee well with them and who is it that thinks not thus But let those that entertaine such thoughts consider the vanitie of the creature all our sinnes proceed from the over-valuing of the creature for sinne is nothing but an aversion of the soule from the immutable God to the creature Labour then to conceive of the creature aright to see that it is vaine this will keepe you right and hinder you from going from God and cleaving to the creature To presse this further consider these foure things first First if ye goe another way to worke beleeve all ye see and seeke comfort in the creature consider yee shall loose your labour It is not in the power of the creature to yeeld yee any comfort if yee busie your selves in seeking any comfort from it ye walke in a vaine shadow Psal. 39.6 Surely every man walketh in a vaine shadow surely they are all disquieted in vaine Hee heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them If we looke comfort from riches wee looke it but from a shadow all our labour is in vaine There is a shadow of the Almightie in which some men walke where they shall be sure to finde this comfort Others there are that walke in the shadow of the creature in the vanity of their mindes seeking comfort from it those who thus walke shall be deceived A shadow though it seeme to be something yet it is nothing it may seeme to have the lineaments of a man or some other body yet it is nothing So these outward things may seeme to have something in them but yet indeed they have nothing those who seeke for comfort in them commit two evills Ierem. 2.13 They forsake God the fountaine of living waters and digge unto themselves pits which will hold no water God having all comforts in him comforts never failing because there is a spring of comfort in him yet wee forsake him and dig to our selves pits which if they have any water it is but borrowed and not continuing and that water which they have is none of the best it is muddy and will not alwayes continue wherefore pitch your affections on the truâ— substantiall good not on vanities If wee see a man come to an orchard full of goodly fruits and hee should catch onely at the shadow of them netling his hands and spending his labour in vaine wee would account him either a foole or a mad-man yet wee in the cleare Sunne-shine of the Gospell such is our madnesse doe catch and seeke after shadowes with trouble of minde and sorrow of heart neglecting the substance Secondly Consider that you seeke your happinesse the wrong way in that you seeke it in worldly things they are not able to helpe or make you happy because they reach not to the inward man The body is but the sheath and case our happinesse lies not in it so in the creatures their happinesse consisteth not in themselves but in something else It lies in observing the rule that God hath appointed to them the fire observing the rule that God hath given it is sure so is it of water so of all creatures animate and inanimate their happinesse consists in observing the rule that God hath prescribed to them The Law of God is the rule that we must walke by following it as a rule we are happy hee that keepeth the Commandements shall live in them hee that departeth from them is dead Everie motion of the Fish out of the water is to death but every motion of it in the water is to life So let a mans motions bee towards God then they are motions to life but let him move after outward things and it is a motion to death and misery therefore if yee seeke this comfort from outward things yee goe the wrong way to get it Thirdly Consider that you make a wrong choise yee seeke not that which will doe it If you seeke for this comfort from God all is in one place but if yee seeke for it in the creatures yee must have a multitude of them to comfort you yee must have health wealth honours friends and many other things but one thing will doe it if yee goe the right way yee shall finde it onely in God Martha shee was troubled about many things when as one thing onely was necessary If yee seeke comfort in earthly things ye must have a thousand things to helpe it but godlinesse which hath the promise of this life and of the life to come doth yeeld this comfort of its selfe if that yee seeke it in it It is a great advantage for us to have all comforts in one thing Godlinesse onely hath all these comforts therefore seeke them in it Fourthly Consider that that comfort and happinesse which you have from the creature is but a
the subject on which Christ doth exercise his Divinitie and that is on dead men The dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and shall live Secondly the instrument by which he doth it and that is by his Word which is not meant onely the bare preaching and hearing of the Word but such an inward commanding powerfull operative word that makes men doe that which is commanded them Such a word was spoken to Lazarus being dead Lazarus come forth and he did it This word commands men and makes them to obey it Thirdly the time when he will exercise his divinity the houre is comming and now is that is the time shall come when as it shall bee abundantly revealed the fruit of the Gospell shall appeare more plentifully and fully hereafter but yet it is now beginning to appeare there is now some small fruit of it Lastly It is affirmed with an asseveration or oath Verily Verily I say unto you And these are the parts of this Text. Out of these words I purpose to shew you these three things First What the estate of all men is out of Christ. Secondly what we gaine by Christ. Thirdly What we must doe for Christ. First we will shew you what your state is out of Christ for this will make you to prize him more And the point for this is That every man out of Christ is in a state of death or dead man that is All men how ever they are borne living yet they are still dead men without the living Spirit the root is dead Hence are these places of Scripture Gen. 2.17 The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Mat. 8.22 Let the dead bury their dead Ephes. 2.1 You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sinnes Eph. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light The meaning is that all men are spiritually dead This will be of some moment to shew you that you are dead without Christ. Yee account it a gastly sight to see many dead men lie together it affects you much but to see a multitude of dead men walke and stand before us that affects us not The naturall death is but a picture or shadow of death but this spirituall death is death indeed As it is said spiritually of Christs flesh Ioh. 6.55 That it is meate indeed Now that you may know what this death is I will shew you First of all what this death is Secondly how many kinds of this death there are Thirdly the symptomes and signes of this death Fourthly the degrees of this death For the first what this death is it consists in two things First in death there is a privation of life then a man is dead when as the soule is separated from the body so a man is spiritually dead when as the soule is separated from the quickning spirit of Grace and righteousnesse This is all our cases In us there dwels no good there is no Spirit of life within us the Soule is so out of order that the spirit is weary of it and forsakes it When the body growes distempered and unfit for the Soule to use then the Soule leaves it Even as when the instrument is quite out of tune a man layes it aside whiles it is in tune he plaies on it So a man dwels in a house as long as it is habitable and fit to dwell in but when it becomes unhabitable he departs so as long as the body is a fit organ for the soule it keepes it when it becomes unfit it leaves it Even so the holy Ghost lives in the soule of man as long as it is in good temper but being distempered by sinne the holy Ghost removes You may see it in Adam as soone as hee did eate of the forbidden fruite the holy Ghost left him and he lost his Originall righteounes Secondly in this death as there is a privation so there is also a positive evill quality wrought in the soule whereby it is not onely void of goodnesse but made ill In the naturall death when a man dyes there is another forme left in the body so in this spirituall death there is an evill habit left in the soules of men This you may see Heb. 9.14 where the workes you doe before regeneration are called Dead workes there would be a contradiction in calling them dead workes if there were not another positive evill forme in man beside the absence of the quickning Spirit which forme is called Flesh in the Scriptures But it may be objected that sinne is a meere privation of good that it is a Non-ens therefore flesh cannot bee said to be an operative qualitie and forme of sinne To this I answer that though all sinne be a meere privation yet it is in an operative subject and thence it comes to passe that sinne is fruitfull in evill workes As for example take an Horse and put out his eyes as long as hee stands still there is no error but if he begins to runne once he runnes amisse and the longer hee runnes the further hee is out of the way wherein he should goe and all this because he wants his eyes which should direct him So it is with sinne though in its selfe it be but a meere privation yet it is seated in the soule which is alwayes active Anima nunquam otiosa The goodnesse that should inlighten it is taken away and there is a positive evill qualitie put into it that leades us on to evill Consider farther whence this death proceeds the originall of it is the understanding mind of man which is primū vivens ultimum moriens That which lives first and dies last The cause of life is the understanding inlightened to see the truth when the affections are right and the understanding straight then we live when it is darkened all goes out of order Ioh. 1.4 speaking of Christ it is said that in him there was life and the life was the light of men he was life because hee was light he did inliven men because he did inlighten them therefore Ephe. 5.4 the Apostle speakes thus to men Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light because light is the beginning of spirituall life Therefore it is said Iames 1.18 Of his owne will begot he them by the word of truth that is the word rectifies the understanding and opinion which is the first thing in this spirituall birth and Ephe 4.22.24 Put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts thereof and put on the new man which after God is created in holinesse and perfect righteousnesse The old man is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts that which is here called deceitfull lusts c. in the Originall signifies lusts proceeding from error and holinesse proceeding from truth Lust proceeds from error in mistaking things for lust is nothing
else but affection misplaced proceeding from error and that holinesse in which God delighteth in which his Image consists comes from truth When Adam was alive hee judged aright because then the wheeles and affections of his soule were right Being dead by reason of his fall he lost his sight hee saw no beauty in the wayes of God and this is the case of all unregenerate men but when the Spirit rectifies the judgement and convinceth men of sinn◠and righteousnesse then they beginne to revive To be dead is to have the understanding darkned the judgement erronious to be alive is to have the understanding inlightened and the judgement rectified And thus much for the first what this death is We come now to the kindes of this death which are three First there is a death of guiltinesse one that is guiltie of any offence that is death by the Law is said to be but a dead man So every one by nature is a dead man bound over to death though he be not executed Secondly there is a death in sinne that is opposite to the life of sanctification Ephe. 2.1 You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sinnes and there is a death for sinne that is contrary to the life of Glory Thirdly there is a death that is opposite to the life of joy in hell there is a life man is not quite extinguished but yet men in hell are said to be dead because they have no joy This death consists in the separating of God from the soule when God is separated from the soule then man dies this death of sorrow God joynes himselfe to the soules of good and bad to those that are not sanctified he joynes himselfe in a common manner and thence it is they have common joy common comfort common civility to the godly he joynes himselfe in an extraordinary manner by which they have extraordinary joy now when God is separated from the soule then comes a perfect death see it in the separation of God from Christs humanity God withdrawing himselfe from him but for a time he crieth out My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee As God withdrawes himselfe more or lesse so is our joy our sorrow more or lesse Thus much for the kinds of this death Wee proceed now to the Symptomes or signes of this death and they are foure The first is this men are said to bee dead when they understand nothing when as there is no reason exstant in them when they see no more than dead men The life is nought else but the soule acted then a man is said to live when the understanding part is acted So man is spiritually dead when as his understanding is darkened when as hee sees or understands nothing of Gods wayes because they are spirituall and he carnall But it may bee objected men understand things belonging to faith and repentance carnall men not yet sanctified have some understanding of these I answer that they may understand the materials belonging to godlinesse as well as others but yet they relish them not they see them not with a spirituall eye Tit. 1.16 They are to every good worke reprobate they cannot judge aright of any good workes as to like approve and love them to see a beauty in them as they are good Rom. 8.7 the wisdome of the flesh is enmitie with God for it is not subiect to the Law of God the Greeke word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the meaning is not that they understand it not but they like it not they relish it not they tast it not they thinke of Gods wayes that they are but folly 1 Cor. 2.14 They are at enmity with them they count them drosse The second symptome of death is want of motion where there is no motion there is death All men naturally want this motion they cannot judge or doe any good thing by nature they may doe the opus operatum but they cannot doe it in an holy manner their prayers their hearing receiving of the Sacrament and the like are dead workes without faith the principall of life how ever they may be faire in other mens eyes The third signe of a naturall death is sencelesnesse so men are spiritually dead when they are not affected with Gods judgements when they have hard hearts which cannot repent Rom. 2.5 when they have hearts as hard as a stone Ezek. 36.27 or when they are affected with them onely as naturall men apprehend evill not from a quickning Spirit but from a selfe-love Lastly in naturall death there is a losse of that vigor that beauty in the face and countenance which is in living men So in men that are spiritually dead there is no beauty no vigor they have death in their faces they may have painted beauty which may be like the living as he said pictum putavi esse verum verum putavi esse pictum they may be much alike yet they haue not that livelinesse and beauty as living men have Gods beauty the beauty of holinesse is not found in them But it may bee objected they have many excellencies in them they know much they excell in morall vertues I answer they may have excellencies as a dead man may have Iewels and chaines about him yet they are dead they have them but yet they are as Iewels of gold in a Swines snoute they are as Swine their good things make them not men they are beautifull yet they are but dead men as the evill workes of good men make them not bad men so the good workes of evill men make them not good Thus much for the signes of this Death We come now to the degrees of this death in all these deathes there are degrees First in the death of guilt if you have had more meanes the guilt is greater if you make no use of them The Gentiles they shall onely be condemned for breaking the Law of nature because they knew no other Law The Iewes they shall be condemned for sinning against the Law of nature and the Law of Moses they had a double Law and shall be condemned for the breach of it Christians having a treble Law the Gospell the Law of nature the morrall Law shall be condemned for all three and among all Christians such as have had more meanes and better education the greater shall their punishment be Secondly in the death opposite to the life of sanctification there are degrees Now yee must know that there are no degrees in the privative part of death but they are onely in the positive The lowest step in this second death is to have enmity to the wayes of God being fighters against God and enemies to the Saints this is the lowest step The second degree is when as men are not so active that way but yet are dead in pleasures ambition covetousnesse and the like There is a generation of men which trouble not
Christ it is not giuen us to keepe exactly for that is impossible it was impossible to keepe it through the weaknesse of the flesh Rom. 8.3 the Law was therefore given that wee might know our weaknesse not that we should keepe it but that Christs righteousnesse might bee fulfilled in us by faith Gal. 3.24 the Law is our schoolemasted to bring us to Christ that we might be iustified through faith that is the end of â—he Law But it will be objected that in as much as we are commanded to doe things impossible mans nature is destroyed for man is a free creature Secondly the command implies an absurdity an impossibility to bid a man doe that which hee cannot doe to bid a man that is in a deepe Well bound hand and foote to come out himselfe is foolish yee may blame him for falling in it is absurd to bid him come out To this I answer that there is a difference betweene the externall binding and the bonds wherewith a man is fettered by sinne There is an externall impediment which a man cannot remove as when he is fettered in the well but there is no externall impediment when as men are bound in the chaines of sin When wee command you to doe thus and thus all the businesse is with the wil we rather say men will not than they cannot come There is liberty when as a man hath eligibile or non eligibile when hee hath a thing in his owne choise when there is no impediment when hee may argue both wayes If a man out of the perversnesse of his nature doth it not it is not compulsory but free a beasts action is not free because hee cannot reason on both sides but man when hee considers arguments on both sides when hee can say doe not doe such a thing but doe such a thing when he can conceive arguments on both sides he is free there is no such externall impediment in him as to bid one in darkensse to doe a thing of the light or one bound hand and foote in a pit to come out since the chiefe impediment here is in the depraved wils of men which God doth rectifie and change by his grace and Spirit through the use of meanes If then every man out of Christ bee in an estate of death let every man examine himselfe and consider whether he be a dead man or no this is the great quere or question in this mutability and incertaintie of things Let us make the life to come sure our life is uncertaine here but have we this spirituall life are we living men then wee are happy but are we dead then he that is not partaker of the first resurrection shall not be partaker of the second It is too late to begin to live when we are dying certainely the time of our naturall death is a time of spending not of getting or inquiring after life If yee deferre this search while yee are in health when ye lie on your deaths bed when ye shall see heaven and hell immediately presented unto you this question will hold you solicitous and then you shall see that this spirituall life is the life indeed The time of this naturall life is not long the candle burnes not long if it burne out yet it is oftner blowne out than burnt out men oftner fall downe than come down from the tree of life this Tabernacle is often throwne downe before it fals downe therefore in this short life make your selves sure of eternall life Now there are two things which hinder this search and inquirie after spirituall life The first is a false opinion men thinke themselves in the wayes of life being in the wayes of death they thinke there is a greater latitude in the Gospell than there is The second is men are not at leasure there are millions of businesses in their heads so that they cannot hearken to the whisperings of conscience they have no spare time to be wise unto salvation It will be our wisdome therefore to consider our end Deut. 32.29 To helpe you therefore in this Quere whether you are dead or alive Consider first if ever you have beene dead Secondly if ye have beene dead whether yee are made alive First I say consider whether yee have beene dead or no I meane whether sin hath beene made alive in you that you might die Rom. 7.9.10 I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandement came sinne revived and I died that is the Commandement awakens my sinnes and they being aalive I died sinne when it affrights not a mans conscience then hee is dead when it wounds the conscience then hee is alive The Law being brought to the soule by the Spirit yee see the rectitude of the Commandement and your owne obliquity and crookednesse then sinne is alive and ye die Peter preaching to the Iewes Acts 2. recites to them their sinne in crucifying the Lord of glory which sinne was made alive and pricked them at their hearts Sinne was dead in David till Nathan and the Law came unto him afterward hee lived and was humbled Luke 5. Peter seeing Christs Divinitie by the draught of Fishes cries out Depart from mee Lord for I am a sinfull man hee had sinnes in him before but they were dead then they were made alive Paul hee had sinnes that were dead in him but when the outward light which was but a tipe of his light within did shine about him then he dies and his sinnes were made alive So Iosephs brethren had sinnes but they were not made alive till they were put in prison then their sinne in selling their brother Ioseph lived and they died Hath sinne ever beene alive in you by the commandement to slay you that is hath it bred such an apprehension in you as of death not a sigh or two for a day that is no slaying of you but ye must apprehend sinne as death as one that is to bee executed forthwith apprehends death so must you apprehend sinne then it is a signe that there is life within you Secondly are yee made alive againe Is there such a change in you as if yee were other creatures as if yee lived an other life Where this life is it works an alteration and a change gives us another being makes us to bee no more the same men Who ever is in Christ is a new creature it works a generall change from death to life it makes all our actions to bee vigorous like the actions of living men Old things passe away all things become new it makes men lead a new life If old acquaintance and lusts would draw us away we answer that we are dead that we live no moe to these that now we have not our owne wills Christ lives in us and workes in us Gal. 2.20 It is not I that live but Christ lives in me The same mind will bee in us that was in Christ Iesus Phil. 2.5 Now if ye desire
is not to have body and soule joyned together to be a living man in that sense we usually take life for if that were life then those in hell should not bee said to dye the death for you know in hell there is a conjunction of soule and body and yet men are not said to live there for it is death which is the punishment of sinne and indeed you shall finde that there is something a mans heart cleaves unto wherein hee rejoyceth which is the same with his life Therefore looke as the Soule enlivens the body so the conjunction of the present things which hee reckons his joy that is his life enliven his soule he cannot live without them Now if Christ be thy chiefe joy thou wilt finde this that thou canst not live without him as men are wont to say of their delights Such a man cannot live without such a thing so it is true of every man that hath taken Christ he is not able to live without him This life is no life and therefore if there be but a separation betweene thee and Christ if a mans conscience bee as it were clouded for a time hee findes no rest he doth as the Spouse in the Canticles She seekes from one place to another and gives her selfe no rest till she finde him and why because it was he whom her soule loved So you shall finde Beloved whatsoever it is that your soules love whatsoever you make your chiefe joy you will take no rest but as farre as you love and enjoy it Therefore for the finding of this whether Christ be thy life and thy chiefe joy consider what it is that thy thoughts feede upon every wicked man every man that is out of Christ there is something that his thoughts feed upon some things there are in contemplation of which the soule solaceth it selfe some pleasures that are past present or to come the very thinking of these are the greatest joy of his heart he roules them under his tongue even as a Servant that hath got some dainty bit out of his Masters presence and â—ates it in a corner so the soule of a man hath out of Christ some secret some stolen some unlawfull delights that it feeds upon and delights in Consider therefore well with thy selfe what breakfast thy morning thoughts have that I may so say what breakefast they have every morning what is that Pabulum that food of thy soule wherewith thy thoughts and affections are nourished and refreshed from day to day whether it be some carnall pleasure some reflecting on thy state upon thy wealth upon thy friends or whether it be on Christ. See as David exercised it whether be they thy songs in the night time All carnall men have something past whereby they comfort themselves something present where by they cheare up their hearts something to come something in hope So every man that is in Christ he hath the comforts of the Spirit the meditation of the priviledges that he hath in Christ the hope of Gods favour These are his appointed food these are the things that his soule feedes on in secret yea the very workes that he doth that seemes to be the hardest part of a Christians life the very workes that hee doth in serving the Lord from day to day even that is his meate and his drinke that is it is as sweet and acceptable to his soule as meate and drinke is to the hunger and thirst of his body Now consider with thy selfe whether it be so with thee whether that which is thy continuall feast without which thou canst not live bee Christ or the assurance thou hast that he is thine and thou art his whether it bee the priviledges thou hast in him and the things that belong to the kingdome of God See whether these be thy life the things without which thou couldst not live or whether it bee some thing else some stollen delights some unlawful pleasures some thing else that thy soule and affections are set upon This is the next thing by which thou maiest try thy selfe whether thou belong to Christ or no to consider whether he bee thy chiefe joy whether thy soule bee most filled and satisfyed with him And this is the third thing 4 The fourth is to know whether he be thy chiefe Refuge If thou bee one that hath tooke him and received him I say he is thy chiefe refuge For every man hath some refuge some castle or other to which his soule retires in all difficult and doubtfull cases by reason of that indigency that insufficiency to which the nature of man is subject There is something that hee must have to leane unto marke it for mankind is like that generation which the Wiseman speakes of You know it is sayd of the Connyes They are a generation not strong and what then and therefore they have their burrowes to hide themselves in I say such is the generation of mankinde he is a weake creature a generation not strong therefore there is something that he must leane to something out of himselfe some sufficiency besides himselfe some strong hold some refuge every man hath I say every man hath some refuge or other whither he thinkes his soule may goe and there hee may have succour in cases daungerous and in troubles Now consider what is thy refuge whither thy heart runnes in all such cases to what wing to what strong hold In daungerous cases you see every creature hath some refuge or other The Child runnes to his Mother The Chickens runne to the henne The Fox to his earth the Connyes to their burrowes so every creature to their severall corners and receptacles proper to them I say so it is with every man so hath every one of you to whom I speake there is somewhat that is a secret refuge to which your hearts fly Now consider whether that be Christ or somewhat else A covetous man or rather a man of this world he hath wealth for his strong hold in which his heart comforts it selfe well saith he what change of time so ever come yet I have an estate to hold me up and when he is ill spoken of abroad yet hee applaudes himselfe with that hee hath at home The Courtiers they have the Princes favour that is their refuge wherein they comfort themselves Those that are given to Company they have good fellowes such as they that are their compaâ—ions and so long as they speake well of them they â—are not who speake ill of them Some have a refuge of this kind some of another every man hath his refuge If you will looke into the Scriptures you shall see Davids refuge in any distresse upon any occasion At Ziglag he comforteth himselfe in the Lord his hart did fly to him as the chickens fly to the henne there he comforted himselfe there he shrowded himselfe there he encouraged himselfe in the Lord. When he fled from his son Absolon was not the Lord
themselves to oppose God and the Saints but give themselves to pleasures and like those Widowes 1 Tim. 5.6 are dead in pleasures while they are alive The last step in this death is the death of Civility Civill men come nearer the Saints of God than others they come within a step or two of heaven and yet are shut out they are not farre from them the kingdome of Heaven as Christ said to the young man yet they misse of it as well as others Thirdly for the death that is opposite to the life of joy the degrees of it are more sensible Some have legall terrors the beginnings of eternall death others have peace of conscience and ioy in the holy Ghost the beginning of eternall life And thus much for the degrees of these deaths Now hearing that all are dead in trespasses and sinnes yee may object If wee bee dead why doe you preach unto us If we be dead we understand not wee move not we are not capable of what you say To this I answer First there is a great difference betweene this spirituall death and naturall death For first those who are naturally dead understand nothing at all but in those who are spiritually dead there is a life of understanding by which they themselves may know that they are dead men who are naturally dead cannot know they are dead Secondly those who are spiritually dead may understand the wayes of life though they relish them not yet they may heare and receive them which those who are naturally dead cannot doe Thirdly those who are spiritually dead may come to the meanes to the poole in which the Spirit breathes the breath of life whereas naturally dead men cannot come to the meanes of life Secondly I answer that though yee are dead yet hearing may breed life the word can doe it There was an end why Christ spake to Lazarus that was dead Lazarus come forth because his word wrought life therefore though yee are dead yet because the word can worke life in you our preaching is not in vaine Lastly this death is a voluntary death Men who are naturally dead cannot put life into themselves no more can those who are spiritually dead when they have made themselves dead Men die this death in a free manner I cannot better expresse it than by this similitude A man that is about to commit the act of murther or treason his friends perswade him not to doe it for if hee doth hee is but a dead man yet notwithstanding he will do it we say of such a one that hee is a dead man willingly So wee tell men if they doe thus and thus that they goe downe to the Chambers of death yet they will doe it Hence is that Ezek. 18.31 Why will ye die O ye house of Israel implying that this spirituall death in sinne is a voluntary death But ye will object men are not quite dead there are some reliques of Gods Image still left in them how are they then dead To this I answer that there is a double Image of God first a naturall standing in the naturall frame of the soule as to be immortall immateriall So there is understanding will and reason and some sparkes of life left in us as the remainder of a stately building that is ruinated but yet there are no sparkes of the living Image of God left in us the spirituall Image of God consisting in holinesse and true righteousnesse remaines not the Papists indeed deny it but how will they answer the rule of the Fathers that Supernaturalia dona sunt penitus ablata naturalia quassata that supernaturall gifts are utterly taken away no sparkes of them remaine But it will be objected that though men by nature have nothing left yet there is now an universall ability and grace an universall sufficiency given unto them To this I answer that that which they call universall grace is the same thing that nature is but they put another tearme upon it it is found in nature and common to all wherever it is therefore it cannot be grace For in grace there is alwayes something that is peculiar Secondly if there should bee an universall grace the Saints would be no more beholding to God than other men if God give all alike to all it should not bee God but themselves that put the difference Thirdly if there were that generall sufficiency it would take away all election there might then be prescience but no election no predestination to death or life Fourthly if there were a generall grace what is the reason that Paul made it such matter of difficulty to answer that question of election Rom. 9. If Aristotle and other Heathen if every one have such a generall sufficiency Paul would not have made such a scrupulous answer and have cried out of the depth Fithly there is no such universall ability because that which is borne of flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the Spirit is Spirit we are all borne of the flesh and cannot therefore have this spirituall sufficiency But yet there are some spirituall gifts in men I answer that we cannot have these spirituall gifts if we are not borne of the Spirit that which is borne of the flesh is flesh Not Bellarmine himselfe nor any man else will say that all are borne of the Spirit It is our Saviours owne speech Iohn 15.2 Every branch in me not bearing fruite he taketh away and it is cast out and withered that is as the branch not being in the root bringeth forth no fruit so men as long as they are not ingrafted into Christ bring forth no buds no fruite at all they may heare the word but they cannot make use of it they cannot doe it without the Spirit and that is free it breatheth where it listeth cōpare Iohn 3.8 the Spirit breatheth where it listeth with Iohn 6.44 No man can come unto mee unlesse the Father draw him that is not as a sheepe is lead with a bough for Christ doth not say no man will come but no man can come except the Father draw him compell him as it were by force not perswade him by intreatie that is unlesse he changeth and taketh away his wolvish will But it will be objected that God drawes every man I answer that the context concludes against this For Christ doth bring this in to shew the reason why many did not receive his Doctrine and hee concludes with this that men therefore doe not receive it because God doth not draw them None can come unto me except the Father draw him I will answer one objection more and so conclude If we are dead to what end is the Law given why are wee commanded to doe thus and thus if we be dead To this I answer that the Law is given to this end to shew us our weaknesse and to leade us unto
the threatnings or promises the more life is in us Lastly dead men are speechlesse there is no breath in them Out of the aboundance of the heart the mouth speaketh The drie and empty channell drives not the mill but a full streame sets it on worke If the heart bee full of life the tongue is full of good speeches Prov. 10. The words of the righteous are as fined silver because there is a treasure within them but the words of the wicked are nothing worth because their hearts are evill As it is said of evill men that their tongues are set on fire of hell so the tongues of the righteous are set on fire by heaven Esay 19.18 they speake the language of Canaan In hypocrites there is loquacity as blasing meteors and in Saints there is sometimes an indisposition by reason of some sinnes which make them like to springs that are dammed up with stones and mudde Yet judge not of them by such fits but take them as they are in their ordinary course the mouth speaketh out of the abundance of the heart Every man is delighted in some genious operations in things that are sutable to him if there be aboundance of life aboundance of grace within a man he delights to speake of it as all men are severally disposed such are their speeches Now all these are privative signes of death I will adde one more that is positive Fiftly looke what life a man lives he drawes to him the things that nourish it and expelleth that which hinders it If a man bee alive to sinne he drawes that which is sinfull but holinesse and the meanes of grace he expels as contrary to him What doth satisfie his lusts that he doth he may doe good for a time but he is quickly sicke of it But I doe much good I abstaine from much evill may some men say To this I answer that if one member lives it is a signe the whole body lives so if one mortall sinne live in you it is a signe you are dead Truth of grace cannot stand with one mortall sinne unrepented unsubdued one disease kils a man as well as an hundred so one living lust kils you Doth any lust live and reigne in you it kils you But what is it to live and to reigne I answer when a man ceaseth to maintaine warre with his lust and resists it not when a man layes downe the weapons when he seeth his lust is naturall to him and therefore yeelds unto it then it reignes in him There is no man that lives the life of grace but hee hath this propertie that hee strives against all sinne to the utmost not in shew but in sinceritie he strives against the occasions of sinne though they foile him hee still maintaines warre against them and so they live and reigne not in him 2. If every man out of Christ be in an estate of death let us not deferre repentance but doe it whilst wee may Repentance makes a dead man to be a living man What is it that makes you deferre repentance Yee thinke yee can change your courses and sorrow when you list therefore ye deferre it If men be dead and repentance puts as it were a new soule into them makes them to passe from death to life then it is not so easie a thing Suppose yee had Ezekiahs warning is it in your power to make your selves live No it is beyond your power God onely can doe it Every man lies before God as that clod of earth out of which Adam was made God must breathe life into him else hee continues dead God doth not breathe life into all He quickens whom hee will It is your wisdome therefore to waite on him in his Ordinances if ye have good motions begun in you presse them forwards they are ofsprings of life Thinke seriously am I dead or alive If dead why then say it s not in my power to quicken me its onely in God to doe it and he doth this but in few those whom he quickneth are but as grapes after the Vintage or as the Olives after the beating how then shall I bee in the number Give your selves no rest know that it is God that breatheth and then depend on him Make that use of the doctrine of election with care and more solicitude to looke to your selves God workes both the will and the deede of his good pleasure worke out therefore your salvation with feare and trembling If repentance bee a passage from death to life if it bee such a change then labour for to get it The Spirit doth not alwayes strive with men yee are not alwayes the same yee will sticke in the sand grow worse and worse if yee grow not better and better No more power have you to change your selves than the Blackmore hath to change his skinne or the Leopard his spots the time will come when you shall say as Spira did O how doe I desire faith would God I had but one drop of it and for ought wee know he had it not Thirdly learne from hence to judge aright of naturall men for all the excellency they have yet they are but dead men If a man be dead wee doe not regard his beauty all excellencies in naturall men are but dead It is a hinderance in the wayes of God to over-valew outward excellencies and to despise others that want these trappings let us say for all these excellencies yet he is but a dead man wee know none after the flesh any more 2 Cor. 5.16 Againe for your delight in them know that this death differs from naturall death for these dead men are active and ready to corrupt others they have an influence that doth dead those who are conversant with them sinne communicates as well as grace Nothing so great a quench-cole as the company of bad men there is an operative vertue in them to quench mens zeale as the droppings of water will quench the fire though they cannot wholly extinguish it being once kindled Fourthly if all out of Christ are dead learne to judge of the Ordinances of God and the meanes of salvation let us not undervalue nor over-value them the Ordinances cannot bring life of themselves no not the Word nor Sacraments If yee are sicke and send for the Minister hee cannot quicken you the Ordinance is but a creature and cannot give life If we speake to the eare and Christ speake not to the heart it is nothing Let your eyes therfore be fixed on Christ beseech him to put life into you and pray to God for a blessing on the meanes the Ordinances are but dead Trunkes as Pens without Inke or Conduit-pipes without water Learne then that God doth convey life by the Ordinances that they themselves cannot give life therefore doe not over-valew them Yet know withall that God doth not worke but by his Ordinances the spirit breathes not in Taverns or
want his voyce ought to procure such Now if yee will not be at cost for a good Minister it is a signe you love your profit above Christ. Those that dwell where Christs voyce is not let them remove for they sit in darkenesse and in the shaddow of death Esay 9.2 If your dwelling be pleasant if you have bitter waters or no waters at all you will remove Have not your dwelling then where the water of life is not If the voyce of Christ be the onely meanes to beget life let men come to it It is a great fault men come not to this voyce hee that came not to the Sacrament must be cut off What shall be done to him that comes not to the Word Want of the Word preached is a great misery therefore David complaineth much of this case when he was not able to come to the Word O that I am constrained to dwel in Meshech and to have my habitation amongst the tents of Kedar The daily sacrifice being taken away it was the greatest desolation that could be and can men live there with comfort where the Word is wanting Is it a duty to come to heare the Word or is it Arbitrary to come or not to come If it be arbitrary then yee performe but a will worship when yee heare it if a duty then yee must heare it constantly and enquire where it is to be had But you have excuses To this I answer see how yee can excuse your selves to God How angry was Christ with those that came not to the marriage that is principally meant of comming to heare the Gospell It is a despysing of God and his ordinances not to come it is a contempt which brings forth a curse which brings a judgement that is like the sinne Those that despise you despise me saith Christ the word is the power of God to salvation there is no salvation without faith and there is no faith but by hearing Faith comes by hearing He that heares not you heares not me saith Christ. Therefore if you heare not this voyce of the Sonne of God take heed lest he heare not you at last FINIS THE DOCTRINE OF SELFE-DENIALL LVK. 9.23 And he said unto them all If any man will come after mee let him deny himselfe and take up his crosse daily and follow me WEe have formerly propounded three things unto you the first was to shew you what wee are out of CHRIST and that is wee are dead men the second is what wee gaine by CHRIST and that is Life eternall with all things belonging to it and these two wee have finished the third is what wee must doe for CHRIST And that is Wee must deny our selves take vp Christs Crosse and follow him and for this end I have chosen this Text. And hee saide unto them all If any man will come after mee let him deny himselfe and take vp his Crosse daily and follow mee As if hee should have said all expecting any benefit from me now I looke for this from them againe to deny themselves to take up my daily crosse and follow me The occasion of these words was this CHRIST told them before that the Sonne of man must suffer many things goe through many troubles and drinke this Cup now from this he makes this consectary Hee that will bee mine must doe the same things that I doe though not in the same measure He must deny himselfe hee must take up his daily crosse as I doe dye on the Crosse and follow mee The maine Poinct intended is this Who ever will have benefit by mee must follow mee Now there are two maine impediments that hinder men from following me The first is Pleasures or any thing that a man lusts after therefore hee that comes to me must deny himselfe The second is crosses hee that followes mee meets with many troubles crosses and afflictions from the Divell and the world now hee must not bauke the way or decline them when as he meeteth with them but hee must goe thorough with them and every day beare them therefore hee addes that hee that will come after him must not onely deny himselfe but likewise take up his Crosse daily and follow him The first point of Doctrine that ariseth from the words is this That whosoever lookes for any interest in Christ must deny himselfe Hee that comes after mee that is he that will bee saved by me united to me made one with me must deny himselfe that is though there be no precedent condition required of those that come to Christ wee Preach that if any man will come in hee shall be saved what ever hee hath beene there is no antecedent condition required but to desire CHRIST Rev. 22.17 Let him that is athirst come let whosoever will come and taste of the waters of life freely That is none will take him none will come in but such as thirst there is nothing required before hand but to take him yet yee must know that when yee have taken him you must bee his hee must bee your Lord and you must bee conformable to him this none can doe without denying himselfe PAVL followed Christ because hee denyed himselfe but DEMAS did not deny himselfe therefore 2 Tim. 4.10 Hee imbraced the present world and forsooke Christ. Numb 14.24 Iosh. 14.8 CALEB and IOSHVA followed God constantly they went through all and denied themselves the other heads of the Tribes did not Take ABRAHAM for example of Selfe deniall Gen 12.1 GOD bids him goe out of his Country to an unknowne Land and hee doth it Hee refused not to offer up his onely Sonne when hee was commanded to doe it hee served God constantly If our wills and Christs will were unisons coincident then there were no need to deny our selves but because they are contrary one to the other therefore we must deny our selves But what is it to deny our selves I answer it is nothing else but not to make our selves our aime and end but to make God our end and aime and to deny our selves as wee are contrary to him To deny that dulnesse and aversnesse of Nature that the Scripture calls the old man and the flesh to give this the deniall is to deny a mans selfe because this is reckoned a mans selfe Flesh and corruption of nature is called a mans selfe 2 Corinth 4.5 Wee preach not our selves but Christ That is wee preach not for our owne credit and ends but for Christ and his glory The corruption of Nature is reckoned a mans selfe 2 Corinth 12.5 PAVL saith that hee knew a man that was caught vp into Paradice c. Of such a one I will glory yet of my selfe I will not glory That is I will not rejoyce of my corruption but of the regenerate part of my selfe I am a lump◠〈…〉 of sinne But why is this reckoned a mans selfe I answer because it is spread
a straite rule opposite to us in all our obliquityes It is not from the policy of men for if it were what end should they have in it There is no content in it a man must deny himselfe mortifie every member and hee must have crosses too Againe a man must not thinke to have many following him not to bee Captaine of Companies here is nothing that will draw men after him If Christ had done as Cyrus did who proclaimed that if any man would follow him if hee were a husbandman hee would make him a Gentleman if a Gentleman he would make him a Noble-man then men would have flocked to him This justifies Religion against the dunghill gods of the heathen against the Mahometane religion that tels men what women and what pleasures and rewards they shall have if they follow it this argument therefore is a marke of the holinesse and purity of our religion Miracles they do but excite us they do but as the Bels that call us to the Sermon they cannot worke faith within us Rom. 10.14.17 That comes onely by hearing and reading this Word there is nothing in this that doth sute with our nature these inherent markes are they by which we know it to be the Word of God Wee propound onely the object we doe not propound sillogismes wee tell you onely what it is Moses in the beginning of Genesis propounds only what God hath done he propounds no arguments to make men beleeve it so the Apostles come with a naked message He that beleeveth shall be saved he that beleeveth not shall be damned In other sciences and so in all things else there must be principles else wee should run into infinites If one should aske you how know you colour You answer by the light but how know you the light You answeare by it selfe and then you goe no further So if one aske you how know you whether such a weight bee true you answeare by the standard but how know you the standard to be true Onely by it selfe But this is an argument that the Scripture comes from Heaven because there is nothing in it that pleaseth men Nihil hic humani there is nothing that is tempered and modificated to our dispositions Sixtly if the wayes of God are full of difficulty then labour for a full mortification of sinfull lustes do it not by halves Whence is it that religion is so hard All difficulty is from some disproportion and disagreement and this difficulty here is from the disproportion betweene the Law and us wee cannot bend the Law to us but wee must winde up our minds to it As we say of griefe that it is a reluctancy of the will so there is a reluctancy here betweene the corruption of our nature and the Law and this breeds the difficulty One of them must needs yeeld If you put fire and water together there is no quiet but a continuall strife till one of them get the victory then all is quiet So it is in sicknesses Let a man have a strong disease and a strong body hee shall never have any rest as long as they both continue in their strength But let one of them get the victory then there is rest and ease If nature get the victory then we have our perfect health If the disease get the victory yet we are at quiet and hence are those lucida intervalla before death So it is here if lustes get the victory then there is peace indeede such a peace as it is men have rest and content in their forlorne estate but if grace get the victory then there is a perfect peace To have quietnesse and sweetnesse in religion is to come to an agreement and without this agreeing there will be no facility the way to make it easie is to heale your natures Religion is not difficult in its selfe it is as light that is pleasant to good eyes but yet to bad eyes nothing is more offensive it is like good meate that is pleasant to a good stomacke but yet to a bad nothing is more odious Heale your natures and get perfect health then these wayes of God will be easie to you But you will say Who is there that can come to perfect health I answere that though you cannot attaine to perfect health it is no matter so as you can come to such a condition as to bee at rest the body may be at rest and quiet though there be distempers in some particular part of it If you would have joy in the holy Ghost peace of conscience which passeth understanding labour to make an agreement you cannot bend the Law but you must cleanse your hearts you must winde them up to the peg of holines and get Evangelicall holinesse which is required and accepted Lastly if the wayes of God be so full of difficulty then we had need to humble our selves if the Law be so holy and so good and we so averse from it it must be rebellion when as you see your selves so backward to do good so contrary to it Let this open a crevis of light to see your corruption this is very needful men complaine of the Law they say that it is hard and written in blood as Draco his Lawes were they are but flesh and blood and what can they do Beloved this we should not doe but let us reflect on our selves as Paul did and say with him Rom. 7.14 The Law is spirituall but we are carnall sold under sinne Let us bee humbled more for this badnesse of our nature than for our actuall sinnes the worser your natures are the greater and more sinfull are your sinnes for the more nature there is the greater is the sin the worser your natures are the more hatred is there to the Law therefore abhorre your natures reflect upon your selves justifie God and give him glory and his Law Psal. 19.8 The Statutes of the Lord are right and the commandements of the Lord are pure quarrell not then with the Law hate it not as all unregenerate men doe And thus much for the second Doctrine We come now to the last which is this That all who looke for any interest in Christ all that will receive benefit by him must follow him They must deny themselves take up Christs crosse follow him they must tread his steps be obedient to him in all things Ro. 8.24 Whom he did foreknow them also he did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Sonne that hee might bee the first borne among many brethren that is all that God hath chosen hee will have them to bee like their elder Brother Christ Iesus we must goe all in one livery we must be conformable to him in all things bee ready to doe like him as Gideon said to his soldiers Iudges 7.17 What you see me doe that do ye So Christ who is our Captaine and Generall saith to us All ye that will be saved by me must