4 When we look at a wrong end when as in our pastime we look at no higher end than our own pleasure whereas Paul saith Whatsoever ye do do it for the glory of God we should hereby be the better fitted for Gods service Lastly When we abuse our pastime in regard of gain though carding were lawfull yet to make a gain of it Aristotle could reprove it as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for pastime should be for our delight and not to make a gain of it is not a vendible matter to pay for our pastime that a man should sell his pastime is filthy lucre indeed if you play for no more than you would spend betwixt you or give to the poor it is not unwarrantable but to make a gain of recreation is an abuse of the pastime The last lust of the flesh is the lust of Idlenesse or ease or sleepinesse for it is the body that craves sleep and ease and is satisfied with it sleep begets drowsinesse and case begets Idlenesse now these both young and old are to be weaned from Q. 1. How is a man carried inordinately to ease or sleep First Either in unseasonable objects or secondly In excessive measure or thirdly when we use them not to a right end 1 When we sleep at such times as are unseasonable to sleep and be drowzy 1 In holy duties when we are so drowzy that we cannot attend to them the very inclination to sleep is now a sinfull lust this lust fell heavily on Eutiches Acts 20.29 an heavy sleep fell on him and an heavy hand of God followed it which shewed his judgement though he restored him because he would not have such assemblies scandalized but alwayes some hand of God or other falls on them either in body or soul however the spirit gets such a cold by such sleepinesse and drowsinesse that a man findes it lustfull 2 So in the duties of a mans calling if a man be drowzy this is a lust of the flesh Prov. 10.15 He that sleeps in harvest is a shamefull Son he shames himselfe and his Master and indeed the fitnesse of his work implies that in harvest he should be at it early and late not but that a man may take a little sleep to fit him for his work but when the Sun is risen and calls him to his businesse he loves his bed this is a lust of the fl sh and this is called deceitfull working Cursed is he that doth his work deceitfully that is with such deceit as comes from slacknesse for so it is interpreted Prov. 10.14 and the Metaphor is taken from a bow that is slack bent which deceives Psal 68.57 a man never reaches the mark he aimes at because it is not strongly bent so when a mans heart is not strongly bent to his businesse he will never reach to his businesse throughly to purpose and so it is a deceitfull work cursed is he that aimes at any businesse with a slack bent hand Prov. 29.9 He that is sloathfull in his businesse is Brother to a great waster a sloathfull man and a prodigal are both of one womb bred of the same lust of the flesh and so wasts that which he might have increased Eccl. 4.5 6. Better is an handfull with ease c. saith the sluggard but such a one shall come to beggery Prov. 26.21 Idlenesse will cloath a man with rags rags will be their rayment Prov. 19.15 he doth not onely mean that an Idle person shall want outward means but were he of better means yet he shall finde his body shall be so distempered that he shall have no stomach to his meat so that an idle person shall either want meat or a stomach to eat it when as a diligent shall have both but that is not all for it may be extended to the soule by rising late and being drowzy he is so distempered that he either omits good duties or else he findes no favour nor life nor strength in them In Gods ordinances we complain of sluggishnesse but is not the fault in our selves better fares a sluggish soul with an handfull with ease c. so a sluggish man rosteth not that which he catcheth in hunting it hath no warmth no spirit in it our bodies and souls should be as a burnt sacrifice therefore must not be cold and to this end he exhorts us not to be sluggish in businesse Eccl. 9.7 whatsoever thou doest doe it with all thy might therefore when we have any work to doe that requires diligence yea though it were to slaughter the enemy as he understands it Jer. 48.10 Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully that keeps back his sword from blood 2 It is a lust of the flesh when a man is carried to sleep above due measure Prov. 5.9 10 11. poverty comes on such a one suddenly and strongly most mens natures require seven hours sleep some eight and that is the most and if we observe it we shall finde the same distempers arise from too much sleep that arise from want of sleep it makes the body drowzy and the brain dull and makes a man unfit for any thing 3 This love of Sleep and Rest is a lust of the flesh when we use it not to a right end now the end of all Sleep and Rest is to refresh the Spirit and strengthen the body and help digestion like the unbending of a Bow to make it stronger if a Bow stand always bent it weakens it therefore so much Sleep as may help digestion and comfort and refresh a mans body and spirit God allows God knows all the Comforts of this life are little enough to uphold us against vexations and discouragements but when a man is grown to love Sleep and Ease a little more Sleep a little more Slumber one ease after another and never looks how to imploy it to Gods service now he propounds no right end but we ease our selves that we may be eased and never look further than Ease and Sleep and so we rest in the Creature and never look up to God to whom all our Ease and refreshment should tend otherwise it s a Lust of the Flesh because we look no further but to satisfie the Flesh Prov. 26.14 As a door sometimes turnes this way and that way but is never off the Hinges so a sluggard would tosse himself from one side to another the door hath some end in turning upon the Hinges to open and shut but a Sluggard doth no good by it but rowls himself from one side to another after he is satisfied with Sleep but cannot get up and then when he is up hee doth nothing but rowl himself from one thing to another hee hath no setled businesse to imploy himself about but takes care what to do he goes from one Company to another from one Game to another till he shuts out the day and then he returns to his Rest and Ease and sleep again as it was with
suffer death for us Heb. 2.9 which God could not doe Fourthly That he might be the better compassionate of our infirmities Heb. 2.17 18. The Reasons why Christ became not an Angel which the Schoolmen render are divers principally these First Angels being created all at once and not propagated one from another by generation though many of them fell yet God lost not the whole kind because many of them stood but men proceeding all from one stock or root he being corrupt all his Off-spring were in the same Estate so that if God had not provided this means of Christs incarnation for him he had lost the Creature wholly But to this I answer God might have made many men once as well as Angels and so might have provided another means of saving some of them as he did the Angels but that he would set forth the abundant riches of his love to man in saving them by giving of his own Son Again though all men had perished they had had but their desert and God might have had more service by one Angell redeemed than by many millions of men Secondly The Angels fell of themselves but man by their procurement To this also I say That the greater the Angels sin was the greater is their misery and the greater their misery is the greater mercy had God shewed to have redeemed them Thirdly The Angels conceiving things not by discourse but by a present view of all things that any way pertain to those things they turn themselves unto they doe all things with so full resolution that they cannot alter their mind or repent but man conceiving things by discourse findeth them in the event many times to prove otherwise than he expected and so may come to alter his mind and be fit to be brought to repentance To this take this answer That the Angels being of a finite nature must needs conceive one thing after and upon another which is discourse and so subject to error and so of themselves capable of repentance was not the Devill deceived in Job Job 1.11 Fourthly The Angels being pure immateriall intellectuall Spirits dwelling in the presence of God and in the light of his countenance could not sin by error or mis-perswasion but of purposed malice which is the sin against the Holy Ghost irremissible but man fell by error and mis-perswasion For answer hereunto take this That though the Devills dwelt in the presence of God which cannot be proved yet they received no more light than God would communicate to them and who can say that God communicated so much to them but that upon wilfull not attendance to him they might be deceived Fifthly As men have a time after which there is no place left for helping or altering their Estate so was it meet Angels should have the like that time to men is bodily death which because Angels are not subject to it was not unmeet their time should be their first spirituall death their first sins hence Damascen saith Hoc est Angelis casus quod hominibus mors To this I say That the Angels might have had another time beyond which there hath been no place for repentance namely not their first sin but their wilfull rejecting of a Saviour if he had pleased to have offered them any Thus you see that all these and so are the rest but mens devices and conjectures the true reason you have John 3.16 Gods love to us which also causeth the Lord to say as Jer. 8.4 God neither turneth nor returneth Angels turn but return not men both turn and return through this unspeakable love of God Vse 1. To confute the Heresies of Eutiches and the Maniches who taught Christ had no true but a phantasticall body Secondly To stir us up to some duties 1 of Meditation 2 of Practice First Of Meditation and that 1 Concerning God and 1 Concerning his Justice so severe against sin as all the meer men in the world could not satisfie for it and therefore Christ became man and that is the reason why the damned are tormented because they cannot satisfie Secondly His mercy and and love to us the Father to abase his Son the Son to abase himselfe for us Thirdly His Wisdome to find out such a means to save us when he passed by the more glorious Angels Secondly Concerning our selves who were in so wretched a condition as the blood of Bulls and Goats could not save us men and Angells could not help us onely the Son of God must empty himselfe of Glory and Majesty and become man for us if therefore thou hast not part in Christ Jesus the same sins which plucked Christ from Heaven to Earth will pluck thee from the Earth to Hell Secondly It may stir us up to some duties of practice 1. To teach us Humility Phil. 2.6 7. Psal 22.6 1. By Considering our own Estates and the misery thereof which caused him to take upon him the form of a servant 2. By Considering his example who took upon him the form of a servant to be serviceable to us so ought we to abase our selves to be serviceable to our Brethren Secondly To stir us up to labor to be united to his nature as he was to ours 2 Pet. 1.4 he became the son of man that we might become the sons of God we cannot answer the intent of his incarnation better Thirdly To move us to an holy thankfulnesse and joyfullnesse in the Lord as 1. Zachary blessed the Lord in this behalfe Luke 1.68 2. Mary magnified him Luke 1.46 3. John leaped at it for joy in his Mothers belly Luke 1.41 4. Abraham long before John 8.56 he saw it in the promise and laughed Gen. 17.16 17. and hereupon called his Son Isaac 5. The Angels who have lesse benefit than we hereby Luke 2.14 And sure if John wrote every Doctrine in this Epistle that our joy might be full as chap. 1.4 then hence also let us raise up our hearts to this holy affection this is the fittest exercise for Christmas otherwise usually spent in carnall delights because men have no part in this joy Doct. If the Apostles saw and heard these things of the word of life then blessed were they Luke 10.22 23. Why Because of his comely beauty and goodly proportion no Isa 53.2 and then Judas had been an happy man as happy as the rest of the Apostles But the Reasons are these First By this means they had a greater measure of knowledge Luke 10.22 23. he expounded to them the secrets of the Kingdome of God Mat. 13.11 16. Mark 4.34 hence is that of the Samaritan woman John 4.34 hence it was that John Baptist was more excellent than others Mat. 11.11 So that as Solomons servants were happy 1 Kings 10.8 so much more Christs Disciples who saw and heard a greater than Solomon Secondly Their Faith also by this means was more strengthned in the truth of this great promise of the Messias which had been deferred so long John 20.29
confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins as if he should say If we should confesse our Sins truly and yet finde no pardon it would violate the faithfulnesse and righteousnesse of God Obj. You will say you have confessed your sins oft before God and yet have found no pardon Answ Have you confessed your chief sins by which you have most dishonoured God if you hold back any no wonder if God hold back comfort he that hides his sin shall not prosper Prov. 28.13 Obj. You will say you have dealt plainly with God as far as you can tell Answ I ask you hath your Confession been serious heartily grieving for dishonouring of God giving him the praise of his Justice that you have deserved nothing but Hell and doe you magnifie his Mercy and humble your Souls why in this case God may suspend the feeling of pardon but you are in the way to pardon would you commit those sins again you confesse do you hate and abhor them then you are cleansed from them if sin be your greatest burthen then it is pardoned and you could not be cleansed from sin unless sin were pardoned for the same bloud of Christ mortifies Sin that justifies us Therefore as ever you desire to finde pardon go to God confesse your Sins deal plainly and seriously that your hearts may be humbled and you shall finde pardon he doth not indeed limit the time he may make good this promise to some sooner to some later but there is none but he will make it good to them if they wait upon him Vse 3. Of consolation to every Soul that doth confess Sin to God that doth truely and seriously confesse and grieve and mourn for his Sins that confesseth those Sins whereby he hath most dishonoured God and wounded his own soul 1 Sam. 12.19 if you doe thus God will certainly passe by all your transgressions God that hath pawned his Faith and Truth and Justice on it will certainly doe it an honest man will not fail in such a case therefore we may build on Gods Promise for it is as impossible he should deny pardon to such a one as it is for him to be unfaithfull or untrue and though you shall finde many corruptions yet you may conclude you are in the way to further comfort and cleansing therefore let every one that desires to finde comfort in the pardon of his Sin and cleansing from it confesse his Sin to God God hath promised to doe it therefore if you desire to finde pardon and cleansing increased you must look up to him that so you may have your Sins pardoned and cleansed through Christ And cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse Doct. It is a filthy thing to lie in Sin unpardoned or sin unpardoned is filthinesse and uncleannesse it is an unclean and filthy thing Ezek. 36.25 Zech. 13.1 There is a Fountain set open for Sin and for uncleannesse 2 Cor. 7.1 where we see he calls Sin filthinesse and uncleannesse there are many other expressions in this kinde God is willing to possesse men with this truth therefore he compares it to most filthy things 1. To mire and dirt which the Sea casts out Isa 57.20 which is meant of casting forth sinfulnesse 2 Pet. 2. ult it is compared to a vomit and a Sows wallowing in the mire which is loathsome Ezek. 24.6 it is compared to scum which is cast into the fire or into ashes Jer. 16.17 it is called the carkasse of detestable and abominable things hence it is that our best duties are sometimes compared to a menstruous cloath Isa 64.6 so it is called uncircumcision Col. 2.14 and therefore wicked men are compared to dung Psal 83.10 Mal. 2.3 God saith he will cast the dung of their solemn Feasts upon their faces that is their sinfull carriage of holy Ordinances so that God counts sin mire and scum and dung c. he would have us to look at sin as a congeries of all filthinesse if you would put it all together sin would comprehend all Hence it is that the best performances of wicked men are unclean Titus 1.15 the sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination Prov. 28.9 why is sin so loathsome 1. Because it is that which comes naturally from man corrupt it is the naturall issue of corrupt nature therefore loathsome the excrement of a clean person is loathsome much more of a corrupt now this is but the issue of a corrupt nature Lev. 15.8 That which is born of the flesh is flesh John 3.6 Job 25.5 Job 14.4 Vse 1. A ground of reproof to any that boast in sin if it be as mire or scum or dung or a vomit how vainly doe they glory that glory in sin they glory in their shame Phil. 3.19 they glory in dung in their vomit in their base filthinesse Isa 3.9 it is a wofull case to professe filthiness openly if men doe thus woe be to them Vse 2. It should stir us up not to lie in sin one day to an end if a child should lie in its dung or if we should we would think we were unfit for civill company yet such are we as long as we lie in sin unpardoned it should therefore spur us on to repentance and not to rest till we get sin pardoned we shall then be washed from our filthinesse Vse 3. To move us to help one another out of sin we should count it beastly and sluttish if we should let a Child lie in its filth so are we if we let any that we can help lie in their own defilements of sin and were our mindes as quick to smell as our bodies we should as much loath the smell or presence of sin as of filthy dung it is for want of spirituall sence that we are no more affected with it Vse 4. To provoke us to more earnest wrestling for cleansing from sin when we have defiled our selves with sin none can help us out but God others may help the work forward but none can effectually cleanse us but God therefore we should come before God as the Saints of God have done Ezra 9.6 Jer. 31.18 19. Dan. 9.7 we must not come before God with extenuation like Adam we should be ashamed to come into company with defiled bodies we should not say it is our infirmity or a loosenesse we are subject to we have our spirituall loosenesse from God from prayer from our callings from holy duties this is a loathsome thing to pretend loosnesse or infirmity in filthy things therefore let us take shame to our selves and strive for cleansing Psal 51.7 he would be thorughly cleansed Vse 5. It may stir us up to take heed of evill company without and corruption within a man should loath to keep company with base filthy unclean fellows Drunkards Swearers c. 2 Cor. 6.17 and the same Apostle exhorts to cleanse our selves from all filthinesse within 2 Cor. 7.1 we would be loath to have any filthy unclean thing about
restrained it from any fellowship with them 2 As Chirurgions apply Corrosives so Christians to mortifie their lusts apply such Corrosives may subdue their lusts Rom. 8.13 If ye walk after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live either kill your lusts or else you will kill your souls therefore mortifie your lusts through the Spirit that you may live which is a notable Corrosive to mortifie them by the Spirit of God so another Corrosive is when a man applies the threatnings of God to his soul and against his Lusts if you shall lay to heart all the dangers of your lusts it will eat out the corruption of the flesh Another special Corrosive is the Death of Christ when we consider Christ dyed for us and we are dead in him how then should we live any longer to sin Rom. 6.1 to 6. 3 As Chirurgions cut off that Member that is thus mortified so Christians that they may not love their lusts must cut off those lusts and cast them away Matth. 18.8 9. were our lusts as near and precious to us as our right eye were they never so convenient or necessary even as our right hand though we should dis-inable our selves in our Callings yet cut them off it is better you should be lame in your businesse better you should goe with reproach and shame in the world than at length be cast body and soul into Hell fire cut off the members of sin which are as near and dear and necessary unto you as right eyes and hands in regard of your worldly employments yet away with them mortifie them Like to this phrase of Mortifying is the Crucifying of the flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5.24 they that are in Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts they have crucified the whole body of sin partly in the affections which are not sinful in themselves but as they are inordinate but they keep in their affections and passions in such order that they sinne not in anger or joy or love c. and partly their lusts of the flesh also covetousnesse pride vanity wantonnesse they are crucified they look at all their lusts as Crucifying Christ and they look up to Christ for the pardon of sin and so also for the healing of sin for pardoning and healing goes together Hos 14.3 4. 1 Joh. 1.7 8. they that are Christs looking up to the vertue of Christs Death they find their lusts not only pardoned but healed crucifying of our lusts hath some resemblance with Christs Death as 1 They attach Christ seek him out and are content to give money rather than to find him so will a Christian doe in regard of his lusts 2 He layes them open as enemies to Caesar to the great God and desires vengeance on them 3 He considers that Christ is dead for him and he is crucified with Christ therefore what hath he to doe to live to the world or the lusts thereof Reas 1. Why all should be weaned from lusts from the enmity which these lusts have against God which is a sufficient motive to weane us from the world Gal. 5.17 if they be enemies to God then a Christian hath reason to hate them as enemies to his best friend and indeed he cannot love God and those lusts too He that loveth the world the love of the Father is not in him he is not fit for any duty he that loves the world cannot accomplish the will of the Father every lust hinders spiritual duties hearing of the Word Prayer receiving of the Sacrament any one lust tolerated or lived in hinders all Spirituall duties Reas 2. From the enmity they have against our souls 1 Pet. 2.11 Dearly beloved as strangers and pilgrimes abstain from fleshly lusts which fight against your souls they fight against your souls and so fight that either you must kill them or they will kill your souls either mortifie them or they will mortifie your souls either captivate them or they will captivate your souls Therefore seeing they are so contrary to God and any Spiritual life and our own souls as we would not have our lusts hinder our peace with God and eat out our grace as we would maintain our communion with God and the life of our souls Love not the world nor the lusts of the world Vse 1. To teach us it is not enough for us to abstaine from outward gross sins but love not your lusts thou mayest refrain from the outward acts of sin but yet thy heart may be strongly affected towards sin and thou mayest delight therein if thou dost thou lovest the world and the things of the world therefore labour to cleanse your selves from secret lusts Circumcision was the cutting off the fore-skin of a secret member and yet God would have another Circumcision more secret and that is of the heart we must not content our selves with outward reformation but circumcise our hearts Levit. 3.3 4. God took speciall care that he might have all the Kidnies and Fat the Kidnies and Fat are our strongest desires and lusts why when we come to offer Sacrifice we must bring them before the Lord and burn them there is no savour so sweet in Gods nostrils as the burning of our strongest lusts the more our lusts stink in our nostrils the more sweet smelling savour it is to God so long as our lusts smel sweet in our nostrils so long we are loathsome to God Vse 2. It must teach us it is not enough to cut off some lusts but those that we love most a good husband that hates prodigality you shall not need to exhort him to frugality so prodigality cannot endure covetousnesse it hates basenesse and pinching he cannot abide it it is not his own lust so another he cares not for this pride and bravery so he may ly close at the pot or an Harlot why this is no great matter to cry out against those lusts that are not ours but it is a Christian duty not to love our own lusts covetousnesse is not thy lust but if prodigality be thy lust doe not thou cry out against covetousnesse and thou which art covetous doe not thou stand out against another mans prodigality but strive against thy own covetousnesse there are lusts which are to us as Eves apple fair to the eye such lusts as our souls lust after Rev. 18.14 look thou to these lusts which thy soul lusts after let them depart from thee Vse 3. This reproves our aptnesse to cherish and nourish our own lusts when we are commanded not to love them to mortifie them not to make provision for them if we then provide for them we are justly to be reproved Job 24.15 Prov. 7. Woe be to them that draw iniquity with the cords of vanity and sin as it were with Cart-roaps Isa 15.18 that take occasion to fulfill their sins that draw them on with Cart-roaps that give way to such
reasons and such intentives as draw on a lust woe be to them that put away all feare of judgement and so draw on lusts with the cords of vanity Vse 4. To teach us all to wean our selves from these lusts Young men I write unto you love not the World nor the things of the Werld and old men have nothing to doe with them refrain from them apply such corrosives such threatnings such promises Christs death and cut off all occasions of sin root it out challenge your hearts arraign them before God bring them as enemies to your souls and labour to cut them off utterly If any man love â—he world the love of the Father is not in him Doct. It is not the having but the love of the world that keeps our hearts from the love of the Father It is not the having of the World for Davids mountaine was strong Joseph had his will in Aegypt Abraham was rich but though they had the World yet they had not the love of the World Jam. 4.3 4. whosoever is a friend to the World is an enemy to God it is not the Lordship of the World but the friendship of the World that is enmity against God for the time shall come that they that take the Lambs part shall be Princes of the World and Saint James calls the love of the World Adultery as a woman that makes her selfe a friend to another man and bestows that love upon him which her Husband only should injoy is an enemy to her Husband so a man that is a friend to the World or to the lusts of it is an enemy to God alienated from him and he would have them know that there is no worldly covetous man but he knows that his love of the World is enmity against God it is the World that hinders you from the Word and Prayer and good duties Reas 1 From the amplitude of that love which we owe to God which cannot therefore be divided to others Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and minde and strength Mat. 22.37 then we must love the World no further than it may help us in his service and we may imploy it to his advantage if we love it more we sin against the great Commandement if we must love the Lord with all our heart and mind and strength then what sorry weake affection is due to the World even an heartless faint love all our love and vigour of our spirits is to be set on God now if a man love the World he cannot thus love God for if he love the World his first and chiefest care is for wealth and riches and then it may be he will a little look towards God first let me bury my Father first let me stock my Farm and try my Oxen and then if I have any time I will come to the Feast 2 A covetous or a lustfull or a proud man when he hath the World and the lusts thereof he is fully satisfied with his portion without God Psal 17.8 so Luk. 12.19 Soul take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for many years he wraps up the comforts of his soul in these outward things if he have wealth or pleasure he is content without God the more he hath of the World the lesse he cares for God as the Moon when it is at the full it is most opposite to the Sun so is it with a worldly man 3 The love of the World will make a man part with God rather than with the World he will rather part with Grace and Heaven too than leave the World he will rather part with eternal life than his wealth as the young man in the Gospel Mat. 19. from 16. to 22. he had rather part with Christ and an expresse promise of heaven than part with his possessions so we see how the love of the World keeps us from the love of God Notable is that speech of Christ Mat. 6.24 No man can serve two Masters c. God and this World are as two Masters such is the amplitude of Gods service that he that serves God as he ought hath no time to serve the World No man that hath a servant but he looks that his whole time should be spent in his service so if we spend any time in the service of the World we cannot be servants to God Indeed if services be subordinate we may serve many so we may seek and take pains for the World but be sure it be in subordination to Gods service look that it may make you more free to Gods service Vse 1. To discourage any man from the love of the World there is no greater discouragement than to say If we love the World the love of the Father is not in us As if a Father come to a childe and say if you love such a young man or woman you cannot love me and I shall take you for my utter enemy and you shall never make it up againe would not any ingenuous childe rather than he would be an enemy to his Father part with any so when God saith If you love the World you cannot love me I shall look at you as my enemies were not this enough to make any christian out of love with the World therefore chuse whether you will love God or the World if you love the one you cannot love the other therefore it is not a matter of frugality or providence to love the World for I say If any man loves the World he makes the World his God therefore covetousnesse is called Idolatry Col. 3.5 a mans belly may be his God the love of the World is directly against God the love of God requires all your hearts souls and strength therefore no part to be set on the World Vse 2. It may exhort Christians to mortifie their love to the World you must either crucifie your love to the World or to God If you love the world you cannot love God if you love God you cannot love the world you cannot serve God and Mammon Motives 1 If a man can but withdraw his mind from the World he may be Master of the field in any temptation that befals him what is the World all that is in the world is either profit or pleasure or credit and we regard the World no further so that if thou beest weaned from thy profit or pleasure in meat or drink or Pastime if thou beest weaned from credit thou shalt bereave Satan of the weapons he fights against thee with for how doth he keep men back from Religion but that it will not stand with his credit and applause in the World what hinders them from holy duties but love to their profits and pleasures therefore could but a man wean himself from them he might easily overcome the wicked one how did Josephs Mr. work on him was it not from pleasure and if Joseph be content to leave the lusts of the flesh he
hath the Law of God in his heart else he could not sin for sin is the transgression of the Law Satan at first had the image of God stamped upon him he was created in holinesse and righteousnesse having all the Commandements of the first and second Table written in his heart Job 1.6 They are called the Sons of God but sinning against holinesse and righteousnesse they did transgresse the Law of God 2. It confutes the Anabaptists that say by the parents sin enters into the world not by propagation but by imitation onely whence it follows that children sin not tiill they are capable of imitation But why doth David then complain he was born in sin 3. It exhorts us all to a threefold duty 1. It teacheth us for to walk more circomspectly against Satan for he knows all the wayes and methods of the Sons of men therefore we had need pray daily deliver us from evill and lead us not into temptation 2. It teacheth us to loath sin and all the wayes of it You cannot walk in a way of sin but you have Satan for your companion 3. Take heed especially of continuing long in any sin Many there are who not onely now and then fall into sin but ever from the beginning to the end walk in sin Are they not herein truly patterns of the devill Vse 4. This may teach Gods servants never to be weary of well-doing The Devill is not weary of sin he is alwayes imployed therein and yet is not weary It is his meat and drink to sin to draw in others to sin And if Satan find such pleasure in sin then you may much more finde comfort in well-doing If he be not weary to aggravate his own sin and misery be not you weary in getting grace and peace to your selves and others As he is industrious in sinning and accusing the brethren so let Gods servants take heed of accusing their brethren Take heed of slander do not beleeve Satan he is a deceiver he is an accuser he is your enemy In the former verses seducers were crept into the Church now to prevent the seducement of the people of God to prevent future delusion and withdraw them from present errors St. John sets down two principles of Christian practice 1. He that doth righteousnesse is righteous 2. He that sins is of the devill First because the devill sinned from the beginning The second argument is from the contrary end of Christ comming Thirdly from the practcie of every child of God vers 9. From the second argument taken from the end of Christs coming note Doct. The end of Christs coming into the world was to dissolve and loose the works of Satan This was expresly foretold Gen. 3.15 The seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head that is the projects and plots of Satan When as the devill did plot to bring our first parents into sin and so into eternall misery and fellowship with him therein Head is taken for dominion and power which he hath in our hearts What is it to loose and dissolve It implieth that the work of the Devill was knit in divers hnots A three fold knot 1. He had tyed our nature to sin that you cannot draw mere nature but you must draw his corruption Gen. 6.5 John 3.6 Rom. 7.14 2. There is a binding of one sin to another Draw one sin and you draw all Deut. 29.19 3. If we draw sin we shall inevitably draw punishment Rom. 6. ult Gen. 2.17 Gal. 3.10 What is a curse That is a curse that sets us further off rom God Heb. 2.14 Prov. 1.32 Christ came into the world to loose these knots But how did Christ coming into the world loose works of Satan By Christs manifestation you must understand the whole worke of Christs meditation Christ by his innocent birth holy life righteous and holy suffering hath procured pardon of sin and having gotten it sin and punishment is dissolved But may not our natures be corrupt though our sins are pardoned Gal. 4.4 5. The same Spirit that makes us cry Abba Father Rom. 8.14 15 16. leads us into all wayes of holinesse righteousnesse Hence our wayes are healed and our course of sin broken off But though God hath broken off the wicked course of a mans life Luke 19.48 Yet we are still bittery intangled with the corruptions of our owne hearts Hos 4.8 9. Vse 1. To teach such as live in any sin or are the Authors of any sin that this is a sign that they are of the Devill because they tye those knots which Christ came to loose 2. Of tryall whether we be indeed born of God or not Would you know whether Christ came effectually for you if he did then he hath untyed those knots and snares 3. This may be a ground of exhortation to two or three severall duties 1. Take heed of all sin and allow not your selves in any If you do the work of Satan you dissolve the work of Christ 2. This exhorts all that finde their souls so intangled to labour to dissolve the work of Satan Now none can dissolve it but Christ he came for this end therefore make we our moan to him And because this will not serve unlesse we give up our selves wholly to be ruled by him therefore let us resigne up our souls to him wholly to be wrought upon by the Word of God 3. To exhort us to comfort our selves who have given up our selves to Chirst If we see that Christ hath begun to pardon our sins to cut us off from sin and to mortifie it he will perfect this good worke Deut. 32.4 Rom. 16.22 1 JOHN 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God THE third argument whereby St. John proveth that he that committeth sin is of the Devill is taken from the common practice of Gods children who are so far from gratifying the Devill by commission of sin that whosoever is born of God sinneth not In the Verse there are three things 1. The course of a childe of God He doth not commit sin 2. The cause of it The seed of God is in him 3. This is amplified from an impossibility of sinning which is in regard of his new birth Doct. The seed of God in the hearts of Gods children preserves them not onely from sin but from possibility to sin To be born of God is the same with the seed of God What is this seed of God 1 Pet. 1.23 The Word of God is an immortall seed and that not in the letter but in the spirit To be born again is when the Word and Spirit hath framed a man to the image of God A man is then born again when the Word and Spirit hath done the work of seed For many a man knows the Word is true the Devill knows the Word well enough but the Word is then seed when the soule of a man doth
his own sufficiency and depends on Christ for assistance and hath respect to Gods commandements as his rule Psal 119.6 and aimes at the glory of God as his end Zech. 7.5 6. When ye fasted did ye fast unto me at all Did ye it to bring any service or glory to me Did ye it not for your selves for your own safety and deliverance Why if we goe upon such principles we want life till we be in Christ we detain all the graces we have in unrighteousnesse to magnifie our selves to bring about our own ends Obj. May not a good Christian have his heart so dead that he is unfit for prayer or hearing or any holy duty that he is unwilling to pray at all or to receive the Sacrament at all Will you say such a soul is dead because unfit for motion Answ True there may fall such a deadnesse on the heart of a Christian as whereby he may be both unable and unwilling to good duties to which God usually leaves us when we go about things in our own strength and grow selfe-sure but when by this God hath schooled us and taught us thereby that all our life is hid in Christ why in this case God is wont to make us sensible of this sinfull disloyalty and that in us dwells no good thing that we of our selves are unable to doe any good duty and for this distemper we mourn and grieve heartily Why this very sence of deadnesse is an act of spirituall life which in time will work him to a farther dependence on Christ and to be more heedfull of Gods Woâ—d and by how much the more we strive thus so much the more life we have A second effect of life is feeding This signe Christ gives John 6.54 Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternall life This is not meant of the Sacrament for it was not then instituted but of Christ himselfe but when God hath instituted ordinances this is a sure signe of life if in every ordinance we partake in we feed on Christ on his blood he that feeds not lives not he that forbears his meat and forbears it long he cannot live Indeed for a time a mans stomach may be so distempered that he cannot eat but he recovers himselfe and falls to his food Q. How shall we know whether we feed on Christ A. 1. Doe you finde an inward longing after Christ in every ordinance that nothing will satisfie your soul but Christ he is a sweet savour to you as an hungry man give him silver and gold never so much he is not satisfied unlesse he have meat It was an argument of life in the Spouse that she sought Christ diligently in every ordinance and her soul was grieved because she found him not If a man therefore come to the ordinances and it never troubles him though he goe home without Christ this man feeds not on Christ 2. Feeding implies a finding of sweetnesse and relish in our meat So consider how doe you finde Christ is he a sweet savour to you Doe you finde comfort and strength in him 2 Cor. 2.15 16. Why it s a signe of life that you relish your meat well nay it s a signe of health for a sick man cannot relish his meat and if a Christian finde no relish in the ordinances he complains of it as his sicknesse and looks up to God for help against it 3. In all feeding there is a taking of the meat down we doe not spit it out and when it is down it must continue there we must not cast it out So if Gods Word abide in us and we hide it in our souls by a wise applying of it to our souls Psal 119.11 and therefore give up your selves to be guarded by it this is a signe of life and strength 4. All feeding implies a conversion of the aliment into the thing nourished so that in time our meat is so digested that it s turned into our own nature and this is more then receiving Christ by faith for when we receive him and apply him to our selves this is faith but to be conformed to him in every thing to be fashioned according to his nature this is a farther act of life When a Christian so feeds on Christ that he is of the same nature with him meek lowly and patient as he was this is a signe of life When we are turned into his nature by feeding on him and he into ours why this very feeding on spirituall food implies a spirituall life è contra he that eats not the flesh of Christ hath not Christ he means not a Cannibal-like eating of his very naturall body and blood for if a man should indeed eat the flesh of Christ and suck out his blood it would profit him nothing John 6.63 And this the Capernaites thought a monstrous thing to eat the flesh of Christ therefore it is not the flesh of Christ but the Spirit that quickeneth and giveth life A third effect of spirituall life is growth that which lives grows untill it comes to full maturity and then it either stands at a stay or begins to decay but a spirituall life grows up to full perfection and then it continues in that perfect estate for ever in heaven 1 Pet. 2.2 3.18 Eph. 4.11 12. Col. 2.19 If a Christian grows he lives Obj. Doth not many a Christian stand at a stay or oft-times go back and lose his first love and fruitfulnesse Answ True for a time he may as a living man by sicknesse may lose his strength and vigour and be made unfit for any employment but if he strive to recover himselfe it s a signe of life so a Christian by some corrupt lusts may wast his best graces like a thiefe in a candle but if he be a living Christian he strives against them and prays with David O spare me a little that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more seen If he find a decay he considers from whence he is faln and he recovers himselfe and doth his first works Rev. 2.4 Repentance is the purge of the soul it expells out evill lusts and then we doe more at last then at first Rev. 2.17 So then a Christian is continually a growing if not in the bulk of grace yet in more sweetnesse and mellownesse as apples at their full bulk yet grow more ripe and sweet so a Christian though he grow not to more tallnesse yet he may grow to more rootednesse in Christ 2. In more sweetnesse of spirit that is in more love to his Brethren and care of Gods glory A fourth effect of life is this life hath an expulsive power to expell that which is noysome and dangerous to it it will cast it out either by purging or sweat or vomit any noysome humour is burdensome to nature so if grace be living there is a power to expell every thing that is superfluous much more what is noysome and hurtfull nature