Abounds like the pumping of water out of a fountaine the more it is drawne the faster it comes We grant indeed that the Lord being the Fountaine of life doth allow the Creature in regard of life temporall some subordinate operation and concurrencie in the worke of preserving life in us But we must also remember That the Creatures are but Gods Instruments in that respect and that not as servants are to their masters Living instruments able to worke without concurrence of the superior cause but Dead instruments and therefore must never be separated from the Principall Let God subduct from them that concourse of his owne which actuates and applies them to their severall services and all the Creatures in the world are no more able to preserue the body or to comfort the mind then an axe and a hammer and those other dead instruments are able by themselues alone to erect some stately edifice It is not the corne or the flowre but the staffe of bread which supports the life and that is not any thing that comes out of the earth but something which comes downe from heaven even the blessing which sanctifies the Creature for man liveth not by bread alone but by the word which proceedeth out of Gods mouth The Creature cannot hold up it selfe much lesse contribute to the subsistence of other things unlesse God continue the influence of his blessing upon it As soone as Christ had cursed the figge-tree it presently withered and dried up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frâ—m the rootes to shew that it was not the roote alone but the blessing of Christ which did support the figge-tree The Creatures of themselues are Indifferent to contrary operations according as they have been by God severally applied Fire preserved the three children in the furnace and the same fire lick'd up the instruments of the persecution Fire came downe from heaven to destroy Sodome and fire came downe from heaven to advance Elias the same sea a Sanctuarie unto Israel and a grave unto Egypt Ionah had been drown'd if he had not been devour'd the latter destruction was a deliverance from the former and the ravine of the fish a refuge from the rage of the sea pulse kept Daniel in good liking which the meat of the kings table could not doe in the other children for indeed Life is not a thing meerely naturall but of promise as the Apostle speakes Let the promise be removed and however a wicked man lives as well as a righteous man yet his life is indeed but a breathing death onely the cramming of him to a day of slaughter When the blessing of God is once subducted though men labour in the vâ—ry fire turne their vitall heate with extremity of paines into a very flame yet the close of all their labour will prove nothing but Uanitie as the Prophet speakes We should therefore pray unto God that we may live not onely by the Creature but by the word which sanctifieth the Creature that wee may not leane upon our substance but upon Gods promises that we may not live by that which we have onely but by that which we hope for and may still finde God accompanying his owne blessings unto our Soule But here the vanitie and wickednesse of many worldly men is justly to be reproved who Rest on the Creature as on the only staffe and comfort of their life who count it their principall joy when their corne and wine and oyle encreaseth who magnifie their owne arts sacrifice to their owne net and drag which is the Idolatrie of Covetousnesse so often spoken of by the Apostle when all the trust and hope and glory and rejoycing which men have is in the Creature and not in God They boast saith the Psalmist in the multitude of their Riches Nay so much sottishnesse there is in the nature of man and so much sophistrie in the Creature that the proud foole in the Gospell from the greatnesse of his wealth concludes the length of his life Thou hast much laid up for many yeeres and the certainety of his mirth and pleasure Take thine ease eate drinke and be merry Their inward thought is that their houses shall endure for ever and their dwelling places to all generations And David himselfe was over-taken with this folly I said in my prosperity I shall never be moved Yea so much seed is there of pride in the heart of man and so much heate as I may so speake vigour in the Creature to quicken it as that men are apt to Deifie themselves in the reflection on their owne greatnes to deifie any thing else which contributes to the enlargement of their ambitious purposes The greatnesse of the Persian Emperors made them all usurpe religious worship from their subiects The like insolence we finde in the Babilonish monarchs they exalted themselves above the height of the clouds and made themselves equall to the most high Esai 14. 14. yea their pride made them forget any God save themselves I am and there is none besides me Esai 47. 7. 8. It was the blasphemous arrogance of Tyrus the rich citty I am a God I sit in the seate of God I have a heart like the heart of God Ezek. 28. 26. neither are these the sinnes of those times alone the fountaine of them is in the nature and the fruites of them in the lives of those who dare not venture upon the words For albeit men with their mouths professe God there is yet a bitter roote of Atheisme and of Polutheisme in the mindes of men by nature which is mightily actuated by the abundance of earthly things Where the treasure is there is the heart where the heart there the happinesse and where the happinesse there the God Now worldly men put their trust in their riches set their heart upon them make them their strong citty and therefore no marvell if they be their Idoll too What is the reason why oftentimes wee may obserue rich and mighty men in the world to bee more impatient of the Word of God more bitter scorners of the power of religion more fearefully given over to the pursuite of fleshly lusts and secular purposes to vanity vaine-glory ambition revenge fierce implacable bloudy passions brasen and boasting abominations then other men but because they have some secret opinion that there is not so great a distance betweene God and them as betweene God and other men but because the abundance of worldly things hath brawned their heart and fatted their conscience and thickned their eyes against any feare or faith or notice at all of that supreme dominion and impartiall revenge which the most powerfull and just God doth beare over all sinners and against all sinne What is the reason why many ordinary men drudge and moile all the yeere long thinke every houre in the Church so much time lost from their life are not able to forbeare their
his worship Thus all those phantasticall felicities which men build upon the Creature prove in the end to have been nothing else but the banquet of a dreaming man nothing but lies and vanitie in the conclusion Lastly They Deceive us likewise in respect of evill No Creatures however they may promise Immunitie and deliverance can doe a man any good when the Lord will be pleased to send evill upon him And yet it is not for nothing that a truth so universally confessed should yet bee repeated in the Scripture That silver and gold and corruptible things are not a fit price for the soules of men Doubtlesse the holy men of God forsaw a time when false Christs and false Prophets should come into the world which should set salvation to sale and make merchandise of the Soules of men as wee see at this day in popish Indulgences and penance and the like no lesse ridiculous then impious superstitions Neither is it for nothing that Salomon tells us That riches yea whole Treasures doe not profit in the day of death a speech repeated by two prophets after him For surely those holy men knew how apt wealth and greatnesse is to bewitch a man with conceits of Immortality as hath been shewed Who were they that made a covenant with death and were at an agreement with hell to passe from them but the scornfull men the Rulers of the people which had abundance of wealth and honour Who were they that did put far away the evill day in despight of the Prophets threatnings did flatter themselves in the conceite of their firme and inconcussible estate but they who were at ease in Sion who trusted upon the Mountaines of Samaria who lay upon beds of I◅orie and stretch'd themselves upon their couches But we see all this was but deceite they go captive with the first of those that go captive the banket of them that stretched themselves is removed All earthly supports without God are but like a stately house on the sand without a foundation a man shal be buried in his owne pride He that is strong shall be to seeke of his strength he that is mighty should deliver others shall be too weak for his own defence he that is swift shall be amaz'd and not dare to fly if he be a bowman at a great distance if he be a rider have a great advantage he shal yet be overtaken and he that is couragious adventures to stand out shall be faine to flye away naked at the last What ever hopes or refuges any Creature cā afford a man in these troubles they are nothing but froth vanity the Lord challenges derides them al. And the Prophet Esay gives a sound reason of it all The Egyptians are men and not God their horses are flesh not spirit when the Lord shal stretch out his hand both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is helpen shal fal down and they al shal faile together Before wee proceed to the last thing proposed here is a question to be answered If the Creatures be so full of Vexation It should seeme that it is unprofitable and by consequence unlawfull either to labour or to pray for them Which yet is plainely contrary to Christs direction Give us our daylie bread and contrary to the practice of the Saints who use to call for the fatnesse of the earth and dew of heaven peace of walls and prosperity of Palaces upon those whom they blesse To which I answere That which is evill by accident doth not prejudice that which is Good in it selfe and by Gods ordination Now the vexation which hath been spoken of is not an effect flowing naturally out of the condition of the creature but ariseth meerely by accident upon the reason of its separation from God who at first did appoint his owne blessed communion to goe along with his Creatures Now things which are good in themselves but accidentally evill may justly be the object of our prayers and endeavours And so on the otherside many things there are which in themselves alone are evill yet by the providence and disposition of God they have a good issue they worke together for the best to them that love God It was good for David that he had been afflicted yet wee may not lawfully pray for such evils on our selves or others upon presumption of Gods goodnesse to turne them to the best Who doubts that the calamities of the Church doe at this time stirre up the hearts of men to seeke the Lord and his face and to walke humbly and fearefully before him yet that man should be a curse and prodigie in the eyes of God and men who should still pray for the calamities of Sion and to see the stones of Ierusalem still in the dust Death is in it selfe an evill thing for the Apostle calles it an enemy 1. Cor. 15. yet by the infinite power and mercy of God who delights to bring good out of evill and beauty out of ashes it hath not onely the sting taken away but is made an entrance into Gods owne presence with reference unto which benefit the Apostle desireth to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. Now notwithstanding this goodnesse which death by accident brings along with it yet being in it selfe a Destructive thing we may lawfully in the desires of our soule shrinke from it and decline it Example whereof we have in the death of Christ himselfe which was of all as the most bitter so the most pretious and yet by reason of that bitternesse which was in it hee prayes against it presenting unto his Father the desires of his Soule for that life which he came to lay downe as his obedience to his Father and love to his Church made him most willingly embrace death so his love to the integritie of his humane nature and feare of so heavy pressures as he was to feele made him as seriously to decline it And though the Apostle did most earnestly desire to be with Christ yet he did in the same desire decline the common rode thither through the darke passages of death 2. Cor. 5. 4. Vnlawfull indeed it is for any man to pray universally against death because that were to withstand the Statutes of God Heb 9. 27. but against any particular danger wee may as Ezechiah did 1. King 20. 1 2. reserving still a generall submission to the will and decrees of God For we are bound in such a case to use all good meanes and to pray for Gods blessing upon them which amounts to a prayer against the danger it selfe So then by the Rule of contraries though the Creatures be full of vanitie and vexation yet this must not swallow up the apprehension of that goodnesse which God hath put into them nor put off the desires of men from seeking them of God in those just prayers which he hath prescribed and in those
Divels to confesse him and God will have sinne to be felt and seene but as a dutie not as a temptation in his owne Word not in Satans false glasses to draw us unto him not to drive or deterre us from him When the spirit convinceth of sinne it is to amend us but when Satan doth it it is onely to affright and confound us And commonly hee drives to one sinne to cover another Againe the spirit opens sinne in the soule as a Chirurgian doth a wound in a close roome with fire friends and remedies about him but the divell first draw's a man from the Word from Christ from the promises and then strips the soule and opens the wounds thereof in the cold aire onely to kill and torment not to cure or releeve In such a case therefore the Soule should lay the faster hold upon Christ and when there is no light should trust upon the name of the Lord and stay upon his God Thirdly In spirituall desertions exercise faith to see God when Hee is absent goe into the watch Tower review thine owne and other mens experiences of Gods dealing resolve to trust him though he kill thee resolve to cleave to him as Elisha to Eliah though he offer to depart from thee resolve to venture upon him when he seemes angrie and arm'd against thee resolve to runne after him when hee hath forsaken thee endure rather his blowes then his absence therefore he removes that thou shouldst crie after him therefore he hides from thee not that thou shouldst lose him but onely that thou shouldest seeke him And there is most comfort in a life recovered Difficulties sweeten our fruition and there is a fulnesse in Chtist which will at last be an ample reward of all preceding discomforts Secondly the life which we have by Christ is a plenteous and aboundant life I am come saith he that they might have Life and that they might have it more aboundantly Hee that beleeveth on mee out of his bellie shall flow rivers of living water like the waters of Ezekiels vision which swelled from the ancles to the loynes and from thence to an unpassable Streame So the Apostle saith that the Lord had shed forth the spirit aboundantly in the renewing of his Saints And it is an observation which you may easily make that sundrie times in the Apostles writings the Graces of the Gospell are called the riches of Christ and the riches of his Grace and the riches of his mysterie and the riches of his Glory and the riches of his reproaches and the treasure of a good heart By all which is expressed the pretiousnes and the aboundance of the Spirit which wee have from the Life of Christ. Therefore the Spirit is compared unto water and that not onely to sprinkle and bedew men but to wash and baptise them ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost As water knowes no bounds within it selfe is onely limited by the vessell which holds it so the Spirit is of a very spreading and unlimited propertie it selfe and is onely straitned by the narrownesse of those hearts unto which it comes Yee are not straitned in us saith the Apostle or in our ministery wee preach aboundance of Grace unto you but ye are straitned in your owne bowels you are like narrow mouthed vessels though floudes of knowledge fall downe The Earth shall bee full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea yet but drops fall in This is a great grieving of the Spirit of Life and indignitie done to the springing and abounding vertue which he brings for us by our supinnes and securitie to damme up this fountaine to let this garden of spices be over growne with weedes to nippe stifle and keepe under the Graces of Christ not to receive a proportionable measure of growth to those meanes and influences which hee affords us Lastly the Life which we have from Christ is a Safe an Abiding an Eternall Life the longer it continues the more it aboundes It is such a life as runnes not into death Our earthly life is indeede but a dying and decaying life but our Spirituall life is a growing life It is called in the Scripture our abiding in Christ to note that our estate in him is a fixed constant and secure estate Life can End in Death but upon two reasons either by an inward principle and proponsion carrying it through slow and insensible progresses to a dissolution or by the assaults and violence of outward oppositions either it must be a naturall or a violent death Now the life which we have from Christ hath no seedes of mortalitie in it selfe because it comes from Christ and as hee saw no corruption so nothing that riseth from him doth of it selfe tend to corruption for Christ dyeth no more death hath no more power over him He now liveth ever not onely by himselfe but over his members not onely as man but as a member of his owne Bodie which Body of it selfe and as it is His Body in that Spirituall and Heavenly Constitution and under that denomination can no more die then Christ suffer againe For the Body of Christ quà tale hath no seedes of corruption in it from him For the Apostle saith that the seede by which we are regenerated is Incorruptible seede All the danger then must be from forren assault and externall violence But against all this we have the power and strength of Christ himselfe to oppose He is able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by Him Let us consider more particularly the violences which may be offered to our Life in Christ. First the world assaults us with manifold tepmtations On the left hand with skorne misreports persecutions and cruell mockings with Giants and sonnes of Anak On the right hand with allurements objects promises dalliances and 〈◊〉 with midianitish women How shall wee secure our lives against such a siege of snares Our Saviour quiets us in that case be of good cheere I have overcome the World Alas may the Soule answere If Sampson should have seene a little childe under the paw of a Lion and should thus comfort him be of good cheare for I have overcome a Lion what safety or assurance could hence arise to him who had not the strength of Sampson But wee must know that Christ overcame not for himselfe but for us and as hee hath overcome the world for us so he doth it In us likewise by his Grace This is the victorie which overcommeth the World even your Faith Secondly nay but Sathan is a more powerfull subtill deepe wilie working adversarie then the world Where shall I have protection and securitie against him I answere in that promise to man and curse to the Serpent The seede of the woman shall bruize thy head and thou shalt bruize his heele He thy Head Hee shall teare out thy sting and crush thy
Gods Iustice and hereby the heart is framed to an humble feare of reproaching voiding nullifying unto it selfe the Death of Christ or by Continuance in sinne of crucifying the Lord Iesus againe It is made more distinctly in the sufferings of Christ to know that infinite guilt and hellish filthinesse which is in sinne which brought so great a punishment upon so great a person And hereupon groweth to a more serious Hatred thereof and carefulnessâ—… against it as being a greater enemie unto his Iesus then Iudas that betraid or the Pharisees that accuâ—…ed or the souldiers that Crucified him as being more sharpe to the soule of Christ then the nailes or speares that pierced his sacred body How shall I dare thinkes the faithfull soule to live in those sinnes by which I may as truely be denominated a betrayer and Crucifier of him that saved mee as Iudas or Pilate were Thirdly It lookes on him as Our Forerunnerinto Glorie whither he Eâ—…tred not but by away of bloud From whence the heart easily concludes if Christ Entred not into his own glory but by suffering how shall I enter into that glory which is none of mine if I shed not the bloud of my lusts and take order to Crucifie all them before I goe So then none can Conclude that Christ died for him who findes not himselfe Set against the life of sinne within him in whom the body of Corruption is not so lesned as that it doth no more â—…ule to wast his conscience or enrage his heart If a man grow worse and worse his heart more hard his Conscience more senselesse his resolutions more desperate his â—…are more dead his courses more carâ—…all and worldly then before certainely the fellowship and vertue of the bloud of Christ hath hitherto done little good to such a man And what a wofull thing is it for a man to live and die in an estate much more miserable then if there never had beene any Iesus given unto men For that man who hath heard of Christ at whose heart he hath knocked unto whose Conscience he hath beene revealed and yet never beleeveth in him unto righteousnesse or sanctification but lives and dies in his filthinesse shall be punished with a farre sorer Condemnation then those of Tyre Sydon or Sodome that knew nothing of him O then let us labour to shew forth the power of Christs Death and that he died not in vaine unto us Though wee cannot yet totally kill yet let us crucifie our corruptions weaken their vigor abate their rage dispossesse them of the throne in our hearts put them unto shame and in as much as Christ hath Suffered for sinne let us cease from sinne and live the rest of our time not to the will of the flesh nor to the lusts of men but to the will of God The second part of our fellowship in sufferings with Christ is the conformitie of ours to His. In all our afflictions he is afflicted and Saint Paul cals His sufferings the filling up of that which is behinde of the afflictions of Christ. Not as if Christs sufferings were imperfect for By one offering Heâ—… hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified But as Christ hath Personall sufferings iâ—… corpore proprio in His humane Body as Mediator which once for ever He finished So He hath generall sufferings in corpâ—…re mystico in His Church as a member with the rest Now of these sufferings of the Church we must note that they have no conformitie with Christs in these two things First not in Officio in the office of Christs sufferings for His were meritorious aâ—…d satisfactorie Ours onely miniâ—…teriall and for edification Secondly not in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not in the weight and measure of them not so bitter heavie and wofull as Christs were For the sufferings of Christ vpon any other Creature would have crushed him as low as Hell and swallowed him up for ever In other respects there is a conformitie of our sufferings to Christs so that He esteemeth them His. Our sufferings are First such as wee draw upon our selves by our owne folly and even in these afflictions which Christ as the King â—…ver His people inflicâ—…eth upon them yet as their Head and fellow member Hee compassionateth and as it were smarteth with them For Christ is so full of tendernesse and so acquainted with sorrowes that wee may justly conceive Him touched with the feeling of those paines which yet He Himselfe seeth needefull for them Secondly such as are by God imposed for triall and exercise of those graces which himselfe gives and in these we have a twofold Communion and conformitie to Christ First By association Christ giveth us His Spirit to draw in the same yoke with us and to hold us under them by His strength That Spirit of Holynesse by which Christ overcame his sufferings helpeth our infirmities in ours Secondly in the manner of undergoing them with a proportion of that meeknes and patience which Christ shewed in His sufferings Thirdly such as are casâ—… upon us by the injuries of Satan and wicked men And these also beare conformitie unto Christs as in the two former respects so thirdly in the cause of them for it is Christ only whom in his members Satan and â—…he world doe persecute All the enmitie that is betweene them is because of the seede of the woman If Christ were now amongst us in the fashion of a servant and in a low condition as once he was should convince men of their wickednesse as searchingly as once he did Hee would doubtlesse be the most hated man upon the Earth Now that Hee is conceived of as God in glory men deale with him as Ioaâ—… with Abner they kisse and flatter him in the outward profession of His Name and Worship and they stabbe and persecute Him in the hatred of His wayes and members And this is the principall reason why so many stand of from a through embracing of Christ and his wayes because when they are indeede in His body they must goe His way to Heaven which was a way of suffering They that will live godly in Christ Iesus must suffer persecution and be by wicked men esteemed as signes and wonders to bee spoken against and that not onely amongst pagans and professed enemies to the Truth but even in Israel and amongst those who externally make the same profession But this should comfort us in all our sufferings for Christs sake and for our obedience to His Gospell that wee drinke of our masters owne Cuppe that wee fill up that which is wanting of His afflictions that Christ Himselfe was called a Samaritane a Divell a wine-bâ—…bber entrapped spied snared slaine and Hee who is now our Captaine to leade us will hereafter be our Crowne to reward us wee may safely looke upon Christs issue and know it to bee ours First wee have Christs fellowship in them and if it were possible
spue and rise up no more even that fierce and bitter indignation in the pouring out of which the Lord shall put to his right hand his strong arme not onely the terror of his presence but the glory of his power I say the Lord could let drunkards alone till at last they meet with this Cup which undoubtedly they shall doe if there be either truth in Gods word or power in his right hand if there be either Iustice in heaven or fire in hell till with Belshazzar they meet with dregs and trembling in the bottome of all their Cups but yet oftentimes the Lord smites them with a more sudden blow snatcheth away the Cup from their very mouths and so makes one Curse anticipate and preuent another Though Haman and Achitophel should have liv'd out the whole thred of their life yet at last their honor must have laine downe in the dust with them Though Iudas could have liv'd a thousand yeares and could have improv'd the reward of his Masters bloud to the best advantage that ever Vsurer did yet the rust would at last have seiz'd upon his bags and his monie must have perished with him but now the Lord sets forward his Curse and that which the moth would have been long in doing the gallows dispatcheth with a more swift destruction Thus as the body of a man may have many summons and engagements unto one death may labour at once under many desperate diseases all which by a malignant conâ—…unction must needs hasten a mans end as Cesar was stabd with thirty wounds each one whereof might have serv'd to let out his soule so the Creatures of God labouring under a manifold corruption doe as it were by so many wings post away from the Owners of them and for that reason must needs be utterly disproportionable to the condition of an Immortall Soule Now to make some Application of this particular before wee leave it This doth first discover and shame the folly of wicked worldlings both in their opinions and affections to earthly things Love is blinde and will easily make men beleeve that of any thing which they could wish to bee in it and therefore because wicked men wish with all their hearts for the love they beare to the Creatures that they might continue together for ever the Divell doth at last so deeply delude them as to thinke that they shall continue for ever Indeed in these and in the generall they must needs confesse that one generation commeth and another goeth but in their owne particular they can never assume with any feeling and experimentall assent the truth of that generall to their owne estates And therefore what ever for shame of the world their outward professions may be yet the Prophet David assures us That their inward Thoughts their owne retir'd contrivances and resolutions are that their houses shall endure for ever and their dwelling places to all generations and upon this Immortality of stones and monuments they resolve to rest But the psalmist concludes this to be but brutish and notorious folly This their way is their folly they like sheepe are laid downe in their graves and death feeds upon them And indeed what a folly is it for men to build upon the sand to erectan Imaginarie fabrick of I know not what Immortality which hath not so much as a constant subsistence in the head that contrives it What man will ever goe about to build a house with much cost and when he hath done to inhabit it himself of such rotten and inconsistent materials as will undoubtedly within a yeere or two after fall upon his head and bury him in the ruines of his owne folly Now then suppose a man were lord of all the World and had his life coextended with it were furnished with wisedome to manage and strength to runne through all the affaires incident to this vast frame in as ample a measure as any one man for the governement of a private family yet the Scripture would assure even such a man that there will come a day in which the heavens shall passe away with a noise and the elements shall melt with heate and the earth with the workes that are therein shall be burnt up and that there is but one houre to come before all this shall be Behold now is the last houre And what man upon these termes would fix his heart and ground his hopes upon such a tottering bottome as will within a little while crumble into dust and leave the poore soule that rested upon it to sinke into hell But now when we consider that none of us labour for any such inheritance that the extremitie of any mans hopes can be but to purchase some little patch of earth which to the whole World cannot beare so neere a proportion as the smallest molehill to this whole habitable earth that all we toyle for is but to have our loade of a little thicke clay as the Prophet speakes that when wee have gotten it neither wee nor it shall continue till the universall dissolution but in the midst of our dearest embracements we may suddenly be puld asunder and come to a fearefull end it must needs be more then brutish stupidity for a man to weave the Spiders webs to wrappe himselfe up from the consumption determined against the whole earth in a covering that is so infinitely too short and too narrow for him Wee will conclude this particular with the doome given by the Prophet Ieremy As the Partridge sitteth on egges and hatcheth them not shee is either caught by the fowler or her egges are broken so he that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his dayes and in the end shall bee a foole Secondly this serves to justifie the wisedome and providence of God in his proceedings with men The wicked here provoke God and cry aloud for vengeance on their owne head and the Lord seemes to stop his eares at the cry of sinne and still to loade them with his blessings he maketh their way to prosper they take roote and grow and bring forth fruite they shine like a blazing Comet and threaten ruine to all that looke upon them they carry themselves like some Tyrant in a Tragedy that scatters abroad death with the sparkles of his eyes and darts out threats against the heaven aboue him they are like Agag before Samuel clothed very delicately and presume that there is no bitternesse to come And now the impatiency of man that cannot resolve things into their proper issues that cannot let iniquitie ripen nor reconcile one day and a thousand yeeres together begins to question Gods proceedings and is afraid leâ—…t the World be governed blindfold and blessings and curses throwne confusedly abroad for men as it were to scramble and to scuffie for them But our God who keepeth times and seasons in his owne power who hath given to every Creature under the Sunne limits
Romane Games wherein men kill'd one another to make sport for the people and yet resolving though hee went with his body to leave his heart behind him and for that purpose to keepe his eyes shut that he might not staine them with so ungodly a spectacle yet at last upon a mighty shout at the fall of a man he could not forbeare to see the occasion and upon that grew to couple with the route and to applaud the action as the rest did In another place of the same booke wee reade of Monica the mother of that holy man that she had so often used to sip the wine that came to her fathers table that from sipping shee grew to loving and from thence to excessive drinking which particulars are by him reported to shew the deceitfulnesse of sinne in growing upon the conscience if it can but win the heart to consult to deliberate to indulge a little to it selfe at first for it is in the case of sinne as it is in treason qui deliberant desciverunt to entertaine any the modestest termes of parley with Gods enemy is downe-right to forsake him And if it bee so in any thing then much more in the love of the World for the Apostle tels us 〈◊〉 that is a Roote and therefore we must expect if ever it get 〈◊〉 in us partly by reason of its owne fruitfull qualitie partly by reason of the fertile soyle wherein it is the corrupt heart of man partly by reason of Satans constant plying it with his husbandry and suggestions that it will every day grow faster settle deeper spread wider in our soules By which meanes it must needs likewise create abundance of vexation to the spirits of men For as Manna in the Wildernesse when the people would not be content to have from God their daily bread but would needs be hoarding and multiplying of it bred wormes and stanke so when men will needs heape up wealth and other earthly supplyes beyond stint or measure they do but store up wormes to disquiet their minds that which will rot and annoy the owners They pant after the Dust of the Earth on the head of the poore saith the Prophet of those cruell oppressors that sold the righteous for shooes it notes how the fiercenesse of a greedy and unsatiable desire will weare out the strength of a man make him spend all his wits and even gaspe out his spirits in pursuing the poore unto the dust sucking out their very livelihood and substance till they are faine to lye downe in the dust Woe unto him saith the Prophet that encreaseth that which is not his enlarging his desires as Hell and death that loadeth himselfe with thick clay that is in other expressions that storeth up violence and robbery that heapeth treasures against the last day the words shew us what the issue of vehement and indefatigable affections is they doe but create vexations to a mans owne soule and all his wealth will at length lye upon his conscience like a load and mountaine of heavy earth The third Degree of vexation is from the enioyment or rather from the use of earthly things For though a wicked man may be said to use the Creatures yet in a strict sense he cannot be said to enjoy them The Lord maketh his Sunne to shine upon them giveth them a lawfull interest possession and use of them but all this doth not reach to a Fruition For that imports a delightfull sweet orderly use of them which things belong unto the blessings and promises of the Gospell In which respect the Apostle saith that God giveth unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things richly to enioy This is the maine sting and vexation of the Creature alone without Gods more especiall blessing that in it a man shall still taste a secret curse which deprives him of that dearenesse and satisfaction which he lookes for from it False joy like the crackling of Thornes he may find but still there is some flie in the oyntment some death in the pot some madnesse in the laughter which in the midst of all dampes and surprizeth the soule with horrour and sadnesse there are still some secret suggestions and whisperings of a guilty conscience that through all this Iordan of pleasure a man swimmes downe apace into a dead Sea that all his delights do but carry him rhe faster unto a finall Iudgement Ressevera est verum gaudium True joy saith the Heathen Man is not a perfunctory a floating thing it is serious and massy it sinkes to the Center of the heart As in Nature the Heavens we know are alwayes calme serene uniforme undisturbed they are the clouds and lower regions that thunder and bluster The Sunne and Starres rayse up no Fogges so high as that they may imprint any reall blot upon the beauty of those purer bodies or disquiet their constant and regular motions but in the lower regions by reason of their nearenesse to the earth they frequently raise up such Meteors as often breake forth into thunders and tempests so the more heavenly the minde is the more untainted doth it keepe it selfe from the corruptions and temptations of worldly things the more quiet and composed is it in all estates but in mindes meerely sensuall the hotter Gods favours shine and the faster his raine falles upon them the more Fogges are raised the higher Thornes grow up the more darkenesse and distractions do shake the soule of such a man As fire under water the hotter it burnes the sooner it is extingvished by the over-running of the water so earthly things raise up such tumultuary and disquiet thoughts in the minds of men as doth at last quite extingvish all the heate and comfort which was expected from them Give me leave to explane this Vexation in some one or two of Salomons particulars and to unfold his enforcements thereof out of them And first to begin with that with which he begins The Knowledge of things either naturall in this present text or morall and civill vers 17. of both which he concludeth that they are Uanitie and vexation of spirit The first argument he takes from the weakenesse of it either to restore or correct any thing that is amisse That which is crooked cannot be made strait Wee may understand it severall waies First All our knowledge by reason of mans corruption is but a crooked ragged impedite knowledge and for that reason a vexation to the minde for rectitude is full of beauty and crookednesse of deformity In mans Creation his understanding should have walked in the strait path of truth should have had a distinct view of causes and effects in their immediate successions but now sinne hath mingled such confusion with things that the minde is faine to take many crooked and vast compasses for a little uncertaine knowledge Secondly The weakenesse of all naturall knowledge is seene in this that it cannot any way either
the holy Ghost takes notice of often in the nature of wicked men that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implacable men whom no bounds not limits nor covenants will restraine or keepe in order and againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fierce headstrong violent rash they know not where not when to stop Therefore the Scripture compares it to a breaking forth or violent eruption like that of fire out of an Oven or of mire and dirt out of a raging Sea Men flattet themselves in their sinnes and thinke when they have gone thus or thus farre they will then give over and stop at their pleasure Sed modo modo non habent modum as Austen said of his counterfeite and hypocriticall promises sinne can never finde a center to rest in a fit place to stop at These are but like the foolish conceits of children who not being able to discerne the deception of their owne senses and seeing the Heavens in the Orizon seeme to touch the earth resolve to goe to the place where they conceive them to meete and there to handle and play with the Starres but when they are come thither they finde the distance to be still the same so is it with the foolish hearts of men they conceive after so much gaine or honour or pleasure I shall have my fill and wil then give over but as long as the fountaine within is not stopt the pursuites of lust will bee as violent at last as at first As he in the Fable Expectat dum defluat amnis at ille Labitur labetur So though men thinke that their lusts will at last grow drie and they shall easily step over them unto God yet the truth is the cutragious desires of men will grow stronger and stronger even as a river the farther it goes from the fountaine doth of ten times spread it self the wider The heart is strongly set upon its owne sinne as any Creature is upon its owne motion They set their heart saith the Prophet on their iniquity the heart of the sonnes of men saith Salomon is fully set in them to doe evill As impossible it is for lust to stop it selfe as for the Sea to give over swelling or the fire devouring the matter that is before it The man possest with a Legion of Divels is a notable Emblem of a mans sinfull nature for indeed sin makes a man of the Divels blood yee are the children of your Father the Divell Ioh. 8. 44. He is conversant with nothing but death dead workes dead companions death the service and death the wages He is full of hideous affections he cuts and teares his owne soule the presence of Christ is horrible and affrightfull to him and if hee worship him 't is out of terror and not out of love his name may well bee called Legion for the swarmes the services the strength the warre of lusts in the heart 'T is a torment to lust to come out of a man and to a man to be dispossest of his lusts there will be paine at the parting of sinne the uncleane spirit will teare when he must come out but in this principally was he the picture of our evill nature in that hee was exceeding fierce and untameable no man durst passe by him no chaines were strong enough to hold him and this is the character of wicked men To breake bands and cords asunder and to bee their owne Lords Examples of this fiercenesse of nature the Scripture doth give us abundantly The Iewes are for this propertie compar'd to a swift Dromâ—…dary or to a wilde Assefull of desires that snuffeth up the winde as the use of Horses is in their lust and cannot be turned To a Horse rushing into the battell 't is a similitude from the inundation and precipitancy of torrents that carry downe all before them To a backesliding Heiser whom no bounds can hold but he will breake forth into a large place and have roome to traverse his wayes To a wilde Aâ—…se that goes where his owne will and lust carries him alone by himselfe no Rider to gvide him no bridle to restraine him no presence of God to direct him no Law of God to over-rule him but alone by himselfe as his owne Lord. With very fiercenesse they did even weary themselves in their way Notably did this rage shew it selfe in the Sodomites they reject Lots entreaties they revile his person they grow more outragious and pressed in even to teare open the house Like where unto was the rage of the Pharisies and Iewes against Christ when he had fully convinc'd them of their sinne and his owne innocency and they could hold dispute to longer with him they run from arguments to stones and raylings Thou art a Samaritane and hast a Divell And elsewhere it is said That they were filled with madnesse at the sight of the Miracles which Christ wrought Such was the rage of those which stoned Stephen they gâ—…ashed their teeth they stopped their eares they shouted with their voyce they ran with one accord and stoned him and Saul who was one of them is said to have breathed out threatnings like a tyred Wolfe unto which some make the Prophecy of Iacob touching Beniamin of which Tribe Saul was to allude and elsewhere to have wasted the Churches and to have dragg'd the Saints into prison and to have been exceeding mad against them And such measure himselfe afterwards found combinations uprores assaults draggings wrath clamors confusions rushings in casting off of clothes throwing of dust into the aire any thing to expresse rage and madnesse But you will say All these were at the time wicked men what is that to nature in common Have the Saints such fierce and intemperate affections too Surely while we carry our flesh about us wee carry the seeds of this rage and fury Simeon and Levi were Patriarches of the Church and Heads of the Congregations of Israel yet see how Iacob aggravateth and curseth their fiercenesse In their anger they slew a man in their wrath they diggeâ—… downe a wall Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruell Peter was a holy man yet when the windes blew when the sluces were open and the water had gotten a little passage see how it gathers rage how fierce and mad it growes even against the evidences of his owne heart against the conscience of his owne promises a deniall growes into an oath and that multiplies into cursings and damnings of himselfe for so the word imports an imprecating of Gods wrath and of separation from the presence and glory of God upon himselfe if he knew the man Ionah was a holy Prophet and one whose rebellion and fiercenesse against God might in reason have been quite tam'd by the Sea and the Whale yet looke upon him when his nature gets loose
Adams sinne may be thus farre said to be unto posterity imputed as that by reason of it they become obnoxious unto Death namely to an eternall dissolution of body and soule without any reunion and an eternall losse of the divine vision without any paine of sense yet that death which to Adam in his person was a punishment is not so to his posteritie but onely the condition of their nature Thirdly they say that that which is called originall sinne is nothing else at all but onely the privation of originall righteousnesse and that concupiscence was 〈◊〉 contracted and brought upon nature by sinne but was originally in our nature suspended indeede by the presence but actuated by the losse of that righteousnesse Fourthly they say That that Privation was not by man contracted but by God inflicted as a punishment upon Adam from whom it comes but onely as a condition of nature unto us that man in his fall and prevarication did not Throw away or actually shake off the Image of God but God pull'd it away from him which if God had not done it would have remained with him notwithstanding the sinne of the first fall Fifthly they say That in as much as the privation of originall righteousnesse was a punishment by God upon Adam justly inflicted and by Adam unto us naturally and unavoidably propagated It is not therefore to be esteem'd any sinne at all neither for it can God justly condemne any man nor is it to be esteem'd a punishment of sinne in us though it were in Adam because in us there is no sinne going before it of which it may bee accounted the punishment as there was in Adam but onely the condition of our present nature Lastly they say that Adam being by God deprived of originall righteousnesse which is the facultie and fountaine of all obedience and being now constituted under the deserved curse all the debt of legall obedience wherein he and his posteritie in him were unto God obliged did immediately cease so that whatsoever outrages should after that have beene by Adam or any of his children committed they would not have beene sinnes or transgressions nor involv'd the Authors of them in the guilt of iust damnation That which unto us reviveth sin is the new covenant because therein is given unto the law new strength to command and unto us new strength to obey both which were evacuated in the fall of Adam Vpon which premises it doth most evidently follow that unlesse God in Christ had made a covenant of grace with us anew no man should ever have beene properly and penally damned but onely Adam and he too with no other then the losse of Gods presence For â—… Hell and torments are not the revenge of Legall but of Evangelicall disobedience not for any actuall sinnes for there would have beene none because the exaction of the Law would have ceased and where there is no Law there is no transgression not for the want of righteousnesse because that was in Adam himselfe but a punishment and in his posteritie neither a sinne nor a punishment but onely a condition of nature not for habituall concupiscence because though it be a disease and an infirmitie yet it is no sinne both because the being of it is connaturall and necessary and the operations of it inevitable and unpreventable for want of that bridle of supernaturall righteousnesse which was appointed to keepe it in Lastly not for Adams sinne imputed because being committed by another mans will it could bee no mans sinne but his that committed it So that now upon these premises we are to invert the Apostles words By one man namely by Adam sinne entered into the world upon all his posterity and death by sinne By one man namely by Christ tanquam per causam sine quâ non sinne returned into the world upon all Adams posteritie and with sinne the worst of all deaths namely hellish torments which without him should not haue beene at all O how are wee bound to prayse God and recount with all honour the memorie of those Worthies who compiled Our Articles which serue as a hedge to keepe out this impious and mortiferous doctrine as Fulgentius cals it from the Church of England and suffers not Pelagius to returne into his owne country There are but three maine arguments that I can meet with to colour this heresie and two of them were the Pelagians of old First that which is naturall and by consequence necessarie and unavoidable cannot be sinne Originall sinne is naturall necessarie and unavoidable therefore it is no sin Secondly that which is not voluntarie cannot be sinfull Originall sinne is not voluntarie therefore not sinfull Thirdly no sinne is immediatly caused by God but originall sinne being the privation of originall righteousnesse is from God immediately who pull'd away Adams righteousnesse from him Therfore it is no sinne For the more distinct understanding the whole truth and answering these supposed strong reasons give me leave to premise these observations by way of Hypothesis First there are Two things in originall sinne The privation of righteousnesse and the corruption of nature for since originall sinne is the roote of actuall and in actuall sinnes there are both the omission of the good which we ought to exercise and positive contumaâ—…ies against the Law of God therefore a vis formatrix something answerable to both these must needs be found in originall sinne This positive corruption for in the other all agree that it is originall sinne is that which the Scripture cals flâ—…sh and members and law and lusts and bodie and Saint Austin vitiousnesse inobedience or inordinatenesse and a morbid affection Consonant whereunto is the Article of our Church affirming that man by originall sinne is farre gone from righteousnesse which is the privation secondly that thereby he is of his owne nature enclined unto evill which is the pravitie or corruption and this is the doctrine of many learned papists Secondly the Law being perfect and spirituall searcheth the most intimate corners of the soule and reduceth under a law the very rootes and principles of all humane operations And therefore in aâ—… much as well being is the ground of well working and that the Tree must be good before the fruite therefore wee conclude that the Law is not onely the Rule of our workes but of our strength not of our life only but of our nature which being at first deliver'd into our hands entire and pure cannot become degenerate without the offence of those who did first betray so great a trust committed unto them Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God Exâ—…ni valdâ—… tuo with all thy might saith the Law it doth not only require us to love but to have mindes furnish'd with all strength to love God so that there may be life and vigoâ—… in our obedience and love of him The Law requires no
after all death it selfe For though these things may be where there is no guilt imputed and so properly no punishment inflicted neither the blinde man nor his parents had sinned that he was borne blinde as in the same ship there may bee a malefactor and a Merchant and to the one the voyage is a trafficke to the other a banishment yet to the wicked where they are not sanctified they are truely punishments and fruites of Gods vindicative justice because they have their sting still in them For the sting of death is sinne Secondly Spirituall and those threefold First Purishment of losse separation from the favour and fellowship with God expulsion from Paradise the seat of Gods presence and love Aliens forreiners farre from God Secondly Of sense the immediate strokes of Gods wrath on the soule wounds of Conscience scourges of heart taste of vengeance implanting in the soule tremblings feares amazements distracted thoughts on a cleare view of the demerit of sinne evidences of immortality and presumptions of irreconciliation with God This made Cain a runnagate and Iudas a murtherer of himselfe yea some touches of it made David cry out that his bones were broken and marrow dryed up and his flesh scortched like a potsheard It is able to shake the strongest Cedars and make the mountaines tremble like a leafe The sonne of God himselfe did sweate and shrinke and pray against it and with strong cries decline it though the suffering of so much of it as could consist with the holinesse of his person were the worke of his office and voluntary mercy Thirdly of sinne when God in anger doth forsake the soule and give it over to the frenzie and fury of lust to the rage and revenge of Satan letting men alone to joyne themselves unto idoles and to beleeve lies Now as the operation of the sunne is strongest there where it is not at all seene in the bowels of the earth or as lightning doth often blast and consume the inward parts when there is no sensible operation without so the Iudgements of God doe often lie heaviest there where they are least perceiv'd Hardnesse of heart a spirit of slumber blindnesse of minde a reprobate sense tradition unto Satan giving over unto vile affections recompencing the errors of men with following sinnes are most fearefull and desperate judgements But doe we then make God the Author of sinne God for bid In sinne we may consider the execution and committing of it as it is sinne and this is onely from man for every man is drawne away and enticed by his owne lust and the Ordination of it as it is a Punishment and this may be from God whose hand in the just punishment of sinne by sinne in obstinate contemptuous impenitent sinners may thus farre be observed First Deserendo by forsaking them that is taking away his abused gifts subtracting his despised Graces calling in and making to retire his quenched and grieved spirit removing his candlesticke and silencing his Prophets and giving a bill of divorce that either they may not see nor heare at all or hearing they may not understand and seeing they may not perceive because they did not see nor heare when they might Secondly Permittendo when he hath taken away his own Grace which was abused unto wantonnesse he suffers wicked men to walke in their owne wayes and because they like not to retaine him in their knowledge nor to live by his prescript therefore he leaves them to themselves and their owne will Thirdly Media disponendo ordering objects and proposing meanes not onely to Try but to punish the wickednesse of men and to bring about whatever other fixed purposes of his hee hath resolved for the declaration of his wonderfull wisedome to execute and as it were to fetch out of the sinnes of men as the conspiracie of Pilat Herod and the Iewes which their former wickednesse had justly deserved to have them given over unto was by God order'd to accomplish his determined and unchangeable counsell touching the death of Christ. Excellent is the speech of Holy Austin to this purpose The Lord enclineth the wils of men whither soever pleaseth himselfe whether unto Good out of his mercie or unto evill out of their merit sometimes by his manifest sometimes secret but alwayes by his righteous judgement and this not by his patience onely but by his power Fourthly Perversas voluntates non invitas flectendo sed spontaneas suo impetu faciles ulterius Satanae praecipitandas tradendo By giving over perverse wilfull rebellious sinners to the rage and will of Satan to hurry and enrage them at his pleasure unto further sinfulnesse When Iudas had listued to the Temptation of Satan to betray Christ had set himselfe to watch the most private opportunitie had been warned of it by Christ and that upon a question of the most bold and impudent hypocrisie that was ever made Master Is it I though it is not an improbable conjecture that Iudas at that very time upon the curse that was pronounced might secretly and for that time seriously resolve to give over his plot and upon that resolution to aske the question then at last Christ by a sop did give Satan as it were a further seisin of him and the purpose of Christ was that that which he was to doe hee might doe quickely He was now wholly given up to the will of Satan whose temptation haply before though very welcome in regard of the purchase and project of gaine which was in it had not fully silenc'd nor broken through all those reluctancies of Conscience which were very likely to arise upon the first presentment of so hideous a suggestion but now I say whether out of a sinister Construction of our Saviours words That thou doest doe quickly as if they had been not as indeed they were a giving him over to the greedinesse of his owne lust and to the rage of Satan but rather an allowance of his intention as knowing that hee was able to deliver himselfe out of their hands unto whom he should bee betraide and so his treason should onely make way to Christs miracle and not to his crosse or whether it were out of a secret presumption that notwithstanding Christ had made him know how his conspiracie was not hid from him yet since he was of all the company singled out whom Christ would Carve unto therefore his conspiracie was not so vile but that Christ would redâ—…re in gratiam countenance and respect him after all that and that as by the plot hee had not so lost him but that hee had gain'd him againe so also hee might doe after the execution too Now I say after that soppe and those words without further respect to the strugglings and staggerings of his Conscience hee goes resolvedly about that damned businesse for he was now delivered unto the will of Sathan The like libertie and commission was that which God gaue to
this place dehorteth us Having in the former Chapter set forth the doctrine of Iustification with those many comfortable fruites and effects that flow from it he here passeth over to another head of Christian Doctrine namely Sanctification and Conformitie to the holinesse of Christ the ground wherof he maketh to be our Fellowship with him in his death and Resurrection for Christ carried our sinnes upon the Tree with him and therefore we ought with him to die daily unto sin and to live unto God This is the whole argument of the precedent parts of the Chapter and frequently elsewhere used by the Apostle and others 2. Cor. 5. 14 15. Gal. 2. 20. 3. 27. 5. 24. Ephes. 2. 6. Phil. 3. 10. Col. 2. 12. 13. 26. 3. 1. 4. Heb. 9. 14 1. Pet. 4. 1. 2. Now the words of the Text are as I conceive a Prolepsis or answer to a tacite objection which might be made A weake Christian might thus alledge If our fellowship in the death of Christ doe bring along with it a death of sinne in us then surely I have little to doe with his death For alas sinne is still alive in me and daily bringeth forth the workes of life To this the Apostle answeres Though sinne dwell in you yet let it not raigne in you nor have its wonted hold and power over you Impossible it is while you carry about these tabernacles of flesh these mortall bodies that sinne should not lodge within you yet your care must be to give the kingdome unto Christ to let him have the honour in you which his father hath given him in the Church to Rule in the midst of his enemies those fleshly lusts which fight against him By Mortall bodie we here understand the whole man in this present estate wherein he is obnoxious to death which is an usuall figure to take the part for the whole especially since the body is a weapon and instrument to reduce into act and to execute the will of sinne Before I speake of the power of sinne here are Two points offer themselves from the connexion of the words to those preceding which I will but only name First Sinne will abide for the time of this mortall life in the most regenerate who can say I have made my heart cleane I am free from my sinne David had his secret sinnes which made him pray and Paul his thorne in his flesh which made him cry out against it To the reasons of this point before produc'd wee may adde that God suffers our sinnes to dwell in us first to magnifie the glory of his mercy that notwithstanding he be provoked every day yet he doth still spare us It is said in one place that when God saw that every Imagination of the thoughts of mans heart was continually evill he said I will destroy man whom I have created from off the face of the earth yet afterwards God said I will not againe curse the ground any more for mans sake for the imagination of mans heart is evill from his youth The places seeme at first view to be contradictory to one another But we are thus to reconcile them After there had been a propitiatory offering made by Noah unto God upon an Altar which was the type of Christ it is said that God smelt a sweete savour and resolved I will no more curse the earth not Because but Although the imagination of mans heart be evill from his youth that is though men are so wicked that if I would Iure meo uti take advantage to powre out againe my displeasure upon them I might doe it every day yet I will spare them notwithstanding their lusts continue in them For we are not to understand the place as if it tended to the extenuation of originall sinne as some doe I will take pitty upon them Because of their naturall infirmities but onely as tending to the magnifying of Gods mercy and patience I will take pitty upon them though I might destroy them For so the originall word is elsewhere taken Thou shalt drive out the Cananites Though they have iron chariots c. Secondly to magnifie the Glory of his powerfull patience that being daily provoked yet he hath power to be patient still In ordinary esteeme when an enemie is daily irritated and yet comes not to revenge his quarrell we accompt it impotency and unprovision but in God his patience is his power When the people of Israel murmured upon the report of giants in the land and would have made a Captaine to returne into Egypt and have stoned Ioshua and Caleb so that Gods wrath was ready to breake out upon them and to disinherite them this was the argument that Moses used to mediate for them Let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken The Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy Thou hast shewed the Power of thy mercy from Egypt untill now even so pardon them still If we could conceive God to have his owne justice joyned with the impotency and impatiency of man wee could not conceive how the world should all this while have subsisted in the midst of such mighty provocations This is the only reason why he doth not execute the fiercenesse of his wrath and consume men because he is God and not man not subject to the same passions changes impotencies as men are If a house be very weake and ruinous clogg'd with a sore waight of heavy materials which presse it downe too there must be strength in the props that doe hold it up even so that patience of God which upholds these ruinous tabernacles of ours that are pressed downe with such a waight of sinne a waight that lies heavie even upon Gods mercy it selfe must needs have much strength and power in it The second point from the Connexion is That our Death with Christ unto sinne is a strong argument against the raigne and power of sinne in us Else wee make the death of Christ in vaine for in his death hee came with water and bloud not onely with bloud to justifie our persons but with water to wash away our sinnes The Reasons hereof are first Deadnesse argues disability to any such workes as did pertaine to that life unto which a man is dead Such then as is the measure of our death to sinne such is our disability to fulfill the lusts of it Now though sinne be not quite expir'd yet it is with Christ nail'd upon a crosse They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts so that in a regenerate man it is no more able to doe all its owne will then a crucified man is to walke up and downe and to do those businesses which he was wont to delight in He that is borne of God sinneth not neither can sinne because he is borne of God and his seede abideth in him Secondly Deadnesse argues disaffection A condemned man
cares not for the things of this World because he is in Law dead and so reserv'd to an execution and utterly devested of any right in the things hee was wont to delight in the sight or remembrance of them doth but afflict him the more A divorc'd man cares not for the things of his wife because in law she is dead vnto him and hee unto her So should it bee with us and sin because we are dead with Christ therefore we should shew it no affection Thirdly Deadnesse argues liberty unsubjection justification He that is dead is freed from sinne as the woman is from the husband after death And therefore being freed thus from sinne we should not bring our selves into bondage againe but stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath set us free and sinne should appeare in our eyes as it is in it selfe a dead thing full of noisomenesse horrour and hideous qualities We therefore should labour to shew forth the power of the death of Christ in our dying to sinne for this is certaine we have no benefit by his sufferings except we have fellowship in them we have no more fellowship in them then we can give proofe of by our dying dayly to sinne For his blood clenseth from all sinne Let us not by raigning sinne Crucifie Christ againe for he dieth no more In that hee died hee died once unto sinne Death hath no more power ovâ—…r him to shew that sinne must have no more power over us but that being once dead to sinne we should thenceforth live unto him that died for us There is a speech in Tertullian which though proceeding from Novatianisme in him doth yet in a moderated and qualified sense carry the strength of the Apostles argument in it Si possit fornicatio moechia denno admitti poterit Christus denno mori If fornication and adultery may bee againe committed by a man dead to sinne in that raging and complete manner as before if raigning sinne after it hath beene ejected out of the Throne and nail'd to a Crosse can returne to its totall and absolute soveraigntie as before Christ may dye againe for the sinnes of a Iustified and regenerate man are Crucified upon his Crosse and in his body Now I proceede to the maine thing in the Text namely the Regall power of sinne It is an observation of Chrysostome and Theodoret on the Text which though by some rejected as too nice I shall yet make bold to commend for very pertinent and rationall The Apostle did not say say they Let not sinne Tyrannize for that is sius owne worke and not ours as the Apostle sayeth Now then is it no more I that doe it but sinne that dwelleth in me all the service which is done to a tyrant is out of violence and not out of obedience But he sayes Let it not raigne in you for to the raigne of a King the obedience of the Subjects doth as it were Actively concurre whereas the subjects are rather patients then agents in a tyranny So then in a Raigning King there is a more Soveraigne power then in a Tyrant for a Tyrant hath only a Coactive power over the persons but a King hath a sweete power over the wills and affections of his Subiects they freely and heartily love his person and rejoyce in his service which rule though it be not perpetuall in the letter and in civill governements for the unwillingnesse of a people to serve a Prince may not onely arise from his tyrannie but even when he is just and moderate from their owne rebellion yet it is most generall and certaine in the state of sinne which is never a King over rebellious subjects who of themselves reject its yoke and governement For the better discovery then of the power of sinne we must note first that there are but three wayes after which sinne may be in a man First as an usurping Tyrant and seditious commotioner either by surprizall invading or by violence holding under or by projects circumventing a man against his will taking advantage of some present distemper of minde or difficultie of estate as in David of idlenesse in Peter of teare and danger or the like And thus sinne doth often incroach upon the Saints of God and play rhe Tyrant use them like Captives that are sold under the power of sinne It was thus a Tyrant in Saint Paul we reade of him that hee was sold under sinne and wee read of Ahab that hee was sold to sinne but with great difference the one sold himselfe and so became willingly the servant of sinne the other was sold by Alam from which bondage hee could not utterly extricate himselfe though hee were in bondage to sinne as the Creatures are to vanity not willingly but by reason of his act that had subjected him long before Secondly As a stâ—…ve a Gibeonite or Tributarie Cananite as a spoyled mortified crucified dying decaying sinne like the house of Saul growing weaker and weaker and thus sinne is constantly in all the faithfull while they are iâ—… the field the chaste is about them Thirdly As a raging and commanding King having a throne the heart servants the members a counsell the world flesh and Divell a complete armorie of lusts and temptations fortifications of ignorance malice rebellion fleshly reasonings lawes and edicts lastly a strict judicature a wise and powerfull rule over men which the Scriptures call the gates of Hell And of the Power of this King we are to speake In a King there is a Two fold Power A Power to command and a Power to make his commands be obeyed Sinne properly hath no power to command because the kingdome of it is no way subordinated to Gods Kingdome over us but stands up against it And even in just and annointed kings there is no power to command any thing contrary to that Kingdome of Christ to which they are equally with other subject But though sinne have not a just power to command the soule yet it hath that upon which that power where it is is grounded namely a kinde of Title and right over the soule Sinne is a spirituall Death and man by his first fall did incurre a subjection to every thing which may be called Death so that then a man did passe into the possession of sinne whence that phrase spoken of before Thou hast sold thy selfe to worke evill Now Quod venditur transit in potestatem ementis when a thing is sold it passeth into the possession of that to which it is sold. This is the covenant or bargaine betweene a Sinner and Hell Man purchaseth the pleasures and wages of sinne and sinne takes the possession of man possession of his nature in Originall sinne and possession of his life in Actuall sinne The tryall of this title of sinne that wee may discerne whether we are under it or no must be as other Titles are we must first
but their sins that though our words bring fire and fury with them yet they are still in the hand of a Mediator that the Law is not to breake them unto desperation but vnto humiliation not to drive them unto furie but unto Faith to shew them Hell indeede but withall to keepe them from it if we doe not by these meaneâ—… save their Soules yet we shall stop their mouths that they shall be ashamed to blaspheme the commission by which we speake Secondly The people likewise should learne to rejoyce when the Law is preached as it was published that is when the Conscience is thereby affrighted and made to tremble at the presence of God and to cry unto the Mediator as the people did unto Moses Lâ—…t not God speake any more to us lâ—…st we die Speake thou with us and we will heare For when sinne is onely by the Law discovered and death laid open to cry out against such preaching is a shrewd argument of a minde not willing to bee disquieted in sinne or to be tormented before the time of a soule which would have Christ and yet not leave her former husband which would haue him no other king then the stump of wood was to the frogges in the fable or the moulten Calfe unto Israel in the Wildernesse a quiet idol whom every lust might securely provoke and dance about As the Law may be preached too much when it is preached without the principall which is the Gospell so the Gospell and the mercie therein may bee preached too much or rather indeede too little because it is with lesse successe If wee may call it preaching and not rather perverting of the Gospell when it is preached without the appendant which is the Law This therefore should in the next place teach all of us to studie and delight in the Law of God as that which setteth forth and maketh more glorious and conspicuous the mercy of Christ. Acquaintance with our selves in the Law wâ—…ll First keepe us more loâ—…ly and vile in our owne eyes make us feele our owne pollution and poverty and that will againe make us the more delight in the Law which is so faithfull to render the face of the Conscience and so make a man the more willing and earnest to be cleansed Their heart saith David is as fat as grease but I delight in thy Law The more the Law doth discover our owne leannesse scraggednesse and penurie the more doth the Soule of a Holy man delight in it because Gods mercie is magnified the more who filleth the hungrie and refrâ—…sheth the weary and with whom the fatherlâ—…sse findeth mercie Secondly It will make us more carefull to live by Faith more bold to approach the throne of Grace for mercie to cover and for Grace to cure our sores and nakednesse In matters of life and death impudence and boldnesse is not unseasonable A man will never die for modesty when the Soule is convinc'd by the Law that it is accursed and eternally lost if it doe not speedily pleade Christs satisfaction at the Throne of Grace it is emboldned to runne unto him when it findes an issue of uncleanenesse upon it it will set a price upon the meanest thing about Christ and be glad to touch the hemme of his garment When a Childe hath any strength beautie or lovelynesse in himselfe he will haply depend upon his owne parts and expectations to raise a fortune and preferment for himselfe but when a Childe is full of indigence impotencie crookednesse and deformity if he were not then supported with this hope I have a father aâ—d Parents doe not cast out their Children for their deformities he could not live with comfort or assurance so the sense of our owne pollutions and uncleanenesse taking off all conceits of any lovelynesse in our selves or of any goodnesse in us to attract the affections of God makes us râ—ly onely on his fatherly compassion When our Saviour cald the poore woman of Syrophenicia Dogge a beastly and uncleane Creature yet shee takes not this for a deny all but turnes it into argument The lesse I have by right the more I hope for by mercy even men afford their Dogges enough to keepe them alive and I aske no more When the Angell put the hollow of Iacobs thigh out of joynt yet hee would not let him go the more lame hee was the more reason hee had to hold The Prodigall was not kept away or driven of from his resolution by the feare shame or misery of his present estate for he had one word which was able to make way for him through all this the name of Father He considered I can but be rejected at the last and I am already as low as a rejection can cast me so I shall loose nothing by returning for I therefore returne because I have nothing and though I have done enough to bee for ever shut out of dores yet it may bee the word Father may have rhetoricke enough in it to beg a reconcilement and to procure an admittance amongst my fathers servants Thirdly It will make us give God the Glory of his mercy the more when wee have the deeper acquaintance with our owne miserie And God most of all delighteth in that worke of Faith which when the Soule walketh in darknesse and hath no light yet trusteth in his Name and stayeth upon him Fourthly It will make our comforts and refreshments the sweeter when they come The greater the humiliation the deeper the tranquillitie As fire is hottest in the coldest weather so comfort is sweetest in the greatest extremities shaking settles the peace of the heart the more The spirit is a Comforter as well when he convinceth of sinne as of righteousnesse and judgement because he doth it to make righteousnesse the more acceptable and Iudgement the more beautifull Lastly acquaintance with our owne foulnesse and diseases by the Law will make us more carefull to keepe in Christs company and to walke according unto his Will because he is a Physitian to cure a refiner to purge a Father and a Husband to compassionate our estate The lesse beautie or worth there is in us the more carefully should we studie to please him who loved us for himselfe and married us out of pittie to our deformities not out of delight in our beautie Humilitie keepes the heart tractable and pliant As melted waxe is easily fashioned so an humble spirit is easily fashioned unto Christs Image whereas a stone a bard and stubborne heart must bee hewed and hammered before it will take any shape Pride selfe-confidence and conceitednesse are the pâ—…nciples of disobedience men will hold their wonted courses till they be humbled by the Law They are not humbled saith the Lord unto this day and the consequent hereof is neither have they feared nor walked in my Law If you will not heare that is if you will still disobey the Lords messages my Soule shall weepe in
us to the uttermost and to preserve his owne mercies in us to whose office it belongs to take order that none who are given unto him be lost undoubtedly that Life of Christ in us which is thus underpropped though it be not priviledg'd from temptations no nor from backeslidings yet is an abiding Life He who raised our Soule from death will either preserve our feete from falling or if we doe fall will heale our backflidings and will save us freely Infinitely therefore doth it concerne the Soule of every man to bee restlesse and unsatisfied with any other good thing till he find himselfe entitled unto this happy Communion with the Life of Christ which will never faile him As all the Creatures in the world so man especially hath in him a twofold desire a desire of perfection and a desire of perpetuitie a desire to advance and a desire to preserve his Being Now then till a mans Soule after many rovings and inquisitions hath at last fixed it selfe upon some such good thing as hath compasse enough to satiate and replenish the vastnesse of these two desires impossible it is for that Soule though otherwise filled with a confluence of all the glory wealth wisedome learning and curiositie of Salomon himselfe to have solid contentment enough to withstand the feares of the smallest danger or to outface the accusations of the smallest sinne Now then let us suppose that any good things of this World without the Life of Christ were able to satisfie one of these two desires to perfect and advance our nature though indeede it bee farre otherwise since without Christ they are all but like a stone in a Serpents head or a Pearle in an Oyster not our perfections but our diseases like Cleopatra her pretious stone when she wore it a Iewell but when she dranke it an excrement I may boldly say that as long as a man is out of Christ he were better be a begger or an idiote then to bee the steward of riches honours learning and wisedome which should have beene improv'd to the Glory of Him that gave them and yet to bee able to give up at that great day of accompts no other reckoning unto God but this Thy riches have beene the authors of my covetousnesse and oppression thy honours the steppes of my haughtinesse and ambition thy learning and wisedome the fuell of my pride But now I say suppose that nature could receive any true advancement by these things yet alas when a man shall beginne to thinke with himselfe may not God this night take me away like the foole in the Gospell from all these things or all these from mee May I not nay must I not within these few yeeres in stead of mine honour be laid under mens feete In stead of my purple and scarlet be cloathed with rottennesse In stead of my luxurie and delycacies become my selfe the foode of wormes Is not the poore soule in my bosome an immortall soule Must it not have a being as long as there is a God who is able to support it And will not my bagges and titles my pleasures and preferments my learning and naturall endowments every thing save my sinnes and mine adversaries and mine owne Conscience forsake mee when I once enter into that immortalitie When a man I say shall beginne to summon his heart unto such sad accompts as these how will his face gather blacknesse and his knees tremble and his heart be even damp'd and blasted with amazement in the middest of all the vanities and lyes of this present world What a fearefull thing is it for an eternall soule to have nothing betweene it and eternall misery to rest upon but that which will moulder away and crumble into dust under it and so leave it alone to sinke into bottomlesse calamitie O Beloved when men shall have passed many millions of yeeres in another world which no millions of yeeres can shorten or diminish what accession of comfort can then come to those glorious joyes which we shall bee filled with in Heaven or what diminution or mitigation of that unsupportable anguish which without ease or end must bee suffered in Hell by the remembrance of those few houres of transitorie contentments which we have here not without the mixture of much sorrow and allay enjoyed What smacke or rellish thinke you hath Dives now left him of all his delicacies or Esau of his pottage What pleasure hath the rich foole of his full Barnes or the young man of his great possessions What delight hath Iezabel in her paint or Ahab in the Vineyard purchased with the innocent blood of Him that owned it How much policie hath Achitophel or how much pompe hath Herod or how much rhetoricke hath Tertullus left to escape or to bribe the torments which out of Christ they must for ever suffer O how infinitely doth it concerne the Soule of every man to finde this Life of Christ to rest upon which will never forsake him till it bring him to that day of Redemption wherein he shall be filled with blessednesse infinitely proportionable to the most vast and unlimited capacities of the Creature And now when we can secure our Consciences in the inward true and spirituall renovation of our heart in this invincible and unperishable obsignation of the spirit who knitteth us as really though mistically unto Christ as his sinewes and joynts do fasten the parts of his sacred body together how may our heads bee crowned with joy and our hearts sweetly bathe themselves in the perfruition and preoccupation of those rivers of glory which attend that Spirit wheresoever he goeth Many things I know there are which may extremely disharten us in this interim of mortalitie many things which therein encounter and oppose our progresse The rage malice and subtilty of Satan the frownes flatterles threates and insinuations of this present World the impatience and stubbornnesse of our owne flesh the struglings and counterlustings of our owne potent corruptions the daily consciousnesse of our fall's and infirmities the continuall entercourse of our doubts and feares the ebbing and languishing decaying and even expiring of our Faith and Graces the frequent experience of Gods just displeasure and spirituall desertions leaving the Soule to its owne dumpes and darknesse Sometimes like froward children we throw our selves downe and will not stand and sometimes there comes a tempest which blowes us downe that we cannot stand And now whither should a poore Soule which is thus on all sides invitoned with feares and dangers betake it selfe Surely so long as it lookes either within or about it selfe no marvell if it be ready to sinke under the concurrent opposition of so many assaults But though there be nothing in thee nor about thee yet there is somthing above thee which can hold thee up If there be strength in the merit life kingdom victories Intercession of the Lord Iesus If there be comfort in the Covenant Promises and Oath of