some it seems I am sure there are some now that all the liberty and freedome they hear of from the Gospel or by getting off from the law it is nothing in the world but that they may go on more in sin and enjoy their lusts more freely this is to pervert the Gospel And what the end of these people shall be you may see in 2 Pet. 1. and in the Epistle of Jude they are appointed to damnation and their damnation slumbereth and sleepeth not that is they are going on amain they are going faster towards Hell then any Drunkard or Whoremonger A Malefactor never goeth so fast to death as these do to destruction when all the knowledge of liberty that they have is onely to give occasion to provide more for their lusts then before Let us consider and take heed of that 2. Another thing is seeing you have liberty by walking according to the Spirit for where the Spirit is there is freedome that is certain use it not for the offence of your Brethren As some there are that when they hear they are free are ready to say I care not what all the world say I know this is not a sin and therefore I will do it Beloved that is far from walking worthy according to the Gospel I became all things saith Paul to all men that I might win sâ—me I am under the law to them that are under the law and without law to them that are without law I became all things to all men that I might gain some so we must not please our selves but one another for edification Rom. 15. and condescend to men of low sort Rom 12. Who is weak saith the Apostle and I am not weak If thou see a man under the law fumbling and wallowing upon Mount Sinai without the knowledge of the Gospel despise him not and say He is a Legallist and what have we to do with him but endeavour to frame thy heart and thy language and carriage so suitable to him that thou mayest win upon him and so with others This is the language of the Gospel and the true way of the Spirit of God when a man knows his freedome and yet he becomes all things to all men that he may do them good There is one word that I think is the word and will of God and I desire that thou mayest take it so and carry it with thee 2. A second thing that I advise you to that are Spiritual that the Lord hath revealed a little of the Gospel to it is this that you would endeavour to walk humbly O walk humbly Why so I will tell you why because a man when he is under the law he shall be twenty years striving for a little knowledge or grace and shall hardly get them but as soon as ever a man comes rightly to Christ and to know him then there is such a flood of grace and such abundance of revelations it is the Scriptures word there is such abundance of manifestations of God and of the Image of God when they begin to come in that it is a hard thing then to keep the soul down for Spiritual things when they come in rightly when the flood-gates are open they come in as waves one upon the neck of another For Spiritual Gospel-truths multiply in the Soul a thousand-fold one lesson from another and one Scripture opens another and then there is no end and then it is hard to keep the soul humble Therefore in 2 Cor. 12. when Paul was wrapt into the third Heavens because of the abundance of revelations that he had seen for he had seen and heard things that he could not utter and speak to others he was ready to be proud to be lifted up and lest he should be so God sent a messenger of Satan to buffet him It implies it was a hard thing for Paul the Apostle when abundance of revelations came into his soul not to be lifted up And this spoils some honest hearts I hope they are so and that God will bring them home that having been kept bare of food as some Souldiers that went to relieve Glocester when they came home to the City they killed themselves with eating full and good food so when poor souls have gone upon the bare Mountains of Sinai and then have come to the Pastures of righteousness they go so greedily and are so taken that if God be not wonderful merciful they will be undone by being lifted up Therefore beware of this learn from Paul's example to seek to the Lord to keep your hearts humble 3. A third thing is this Endeavour to walk simply I mean to keep to the simplicity of the Gospel The Gospel though there be glorious Mysteries in it to feed the soul yet notwithstanding it is a plain simple thing Now here the Devil endeavours to undo souls as it is ordinary in this City when men come once to understand a little of the Gospel and to taste the sweetness of it the Devil screws them up to sublimare all Religion into Notions to cleave a hair and Religion will be all in Idea's and conceits of the Nature of God and of the Creature whereas the Gospel is a plain thing Paul desired to know the death of Christ and the power of his resurrection and Paul teacheth Servants how to obey their Masters and Masters how to carry themselves to their Servants and Wives to their Husbands and such simple plain things Now these are accounted nothing and that is the reason that many among us they do more and more lose the Word of God unless it be about some sublime Notions If a Minister be upon such Points some high Idea's for they feed upon such that is worth the while but if a Minister speak of things that concern their Calling or their Sex and Condition that is plain it hath no taste in it no more then the white of an Egge It is a hard thing to keep to the simplicity of the Gospel As the Devil tempted our first Parents God gave Adam and Eve sufficient knowledge to do his will and they had sufficient Natural knowledge for they named all the Creatures yet notwithstanding she must needs go from the simplicity of Gods will and be curious and she must know good and evil there was the distinction good and evil thought she what kinde of good and evil she goes to this sublime conceit and so was lost Now saith Paul I am afraid of you lest the Devil should beguile you so I am loth to offend you for I had rather win you or else I could instance in twenty or forty conceits and distinctions of things Idea's that are above the simplicity of the Gospel and that is enough to make us leave them because they are above the simplicity of the Gospel and the excellency of the Gospel is not in those Idea's but in knowing the power of plain things as the death of Jesus Christ Every man in Jerusalem
that the Father hath given the Son that honour and respect in heaven as to come and sit at his right hand we may see it was not a breaking of prison but a real paying of the debt and a fulfilling the law before he could come there This may give a little light how the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us through Jesus Christ Now the use of it I named in the morning I was not able to express it neither can I now fully utter it I beseech you consider the more of it Vse 1. The first Use we may make of it is this that you should learn from what I have said where your justification doth lye your justification doth not lye or is not built upon any thing that is in you or that is done by you or that you may hope to do hereafter you are not justified by your own personal good or unjustified by your own personal evils you are not one jot the more just when you have done all the good you can in the world and you are not one jot the less just when you have committed all the weaknesses and fallen into all the frailties that a Saint can fall into because your justification is built onely upon Christ and upon what he did and suffered My justification is built upon the death of Christ and his resurrection he hath fulfilled the law he hath paid the debt and he is out of prison the Father is satisfied here is my justification and I believing this I am happy Now you shall finde that you lay a great part of your justification upon something in your selves therefore when you are enlarged in good then you think you are more justified and when you fall into sin you think you are more unjust then you were before and you look strangely upon God Now the Lord hath put it out of our hands Adam should have been justified by that that was in him and that should have been done by him but blessed be God he would not trust us with that good any more but hath put all in the hands of Jesus Christ and there is the whole foundation of our justification Therefore it is not for a Christian to come and say Sir I fear I am no childe of God I fear I shall prove an hypocrite why so because I finde so much sin and so many lusts in me It is very well that you finde and feel sin and that you mourn for and strive against sin but that therefore you should think there is a flaw in your justification that you should make any good that is in you a prop to support your justification or any evil in you a thing that might crack your justification this is Popery My justification depends not on this that I am justified the more when I am strong or less justified when I am weak but whether I be weak or strong whether I do much or little for God whether I give thanks or be humbled seeing Christ is dead and risen again I am justified that is still intire because it is not built upon me but wholly upon the death and resurrection of Christ In Rom. 4. Abraham is laid down as a pattern of believing Abraham had the word of faith So shall thy seed be and without hope or reason or any thing he believed that is he cast himself on that word so it is said he was justified without works What a strange thing is that for it is impossible there should be true faith but that all good works should in some measure follow after but if we speak properly and look to the thing as it is in it self how a man is justified he is justified wholly without works Abraham did many good things he offered his son Isaac and he relieved his Kinsman when he was in misery and did teach his Family and relieved the King of Sodom he did many good works though these good works did justifie his faith to the world that they knew he was a believer by it and he himself did know it by it yet never a one of these were an ingredient into the justification of his person that was by the righteousness of God without works We must get good works after This is the rule of the word Charge them that believe to maintain good works that is after they believe charge them to avoid the evil and do the good and to abound But for the point of justification which is the main thing for your Soul and mine to feed on that is built on another foundation upon the grave of Christ and upon the death of Christ Therefore you shall finde those speeches of the Apostle Paul when he speaks of this glorious condition he speaks alway of his union with Christ I am crucified with Christ and I am buried 〈◊〉 Christ and I am dead but Christ lives in me Learn this lesson that you may come to this for if you had learned it spiritually when you had done the most for God if you could do ten times more then Abraham or Paul and yet Paul preached from Jerusalem to Illyricum yet then thou wouldest say I am an unprofitable servant there is not one grain that I have done that is an ingredient into the death and resurrection of Christ to help to make me a just man or to procure the favour and love of God And when you had done evil and it may be failed in carelesness and committed sin O what a glorious thing were it to go home and fall upon thy knees and say Lord I have sinned grievously but yet I am not one jot the less just before thee because my justice and my righteousness is not depending upon my sinning or my unsinning upon my holiness or my unholiness but upon Jesus Christ Then you would finde by experience your hearts melt in pieces you would be able to look upon sin in the vastness and unkindness of it against a dear Father then you would see your selves the vilest objects you would not so think or speak of any man in the world as of your selves even for the least frailty For then the love of God as oyl working with iron would press your hearts then you shall know and not before what it is to be truly humbled and then you shall have power to reform then you would be able to say My soul is truly humbled I can mourn for sin till I am weary of weeping then you will be able though you make not those covenants and resolutions there will be such an impression upon the soul that you cannot chuse but mourn and loath your selves and avoid the occasions of sin seeing your selves just men in Jesus Christ for when a man sees himself unjust he can never mourn kindly for sin if he see God on Sinai as a Judge there will be but untoward mourning for sin But when a man sees the coast clear then he can say I have been the greatest sinner in
acceptation of flesh a borrowed kinde of speech and so it is to be understood in this place Now to open this to you I shall shew you First in general what is meant by flesh Secondly particularly By flesh therefore in general you are to understand in this place and the like every thing let it be what it will be that is against Jesus Christ or his Spirit or his Worship or any thing else that belongs to it any thing that is not of faith or of Christ is it flesh in general Let me speak more plainly Any thing that is of Old Adam is flesh whether it be good or evil and any thing that is of and from the New Adam that is Spirit Now you know we receive two things from Old Adam some natural moral good some reliques of that that he had the fulness of and we receive evil when he was corrupted Now both these take them in the largest extent they are both called flesh in Scripture whatsoever is of or comes from Old Adam is called flesh therefore flesh in many places in the New Testament it is the very same with the old man and you have them taken promiscuously Our old man is crucified Rom. 6. And in another place Those that are Christs have crucified the flesh not onely the corruption or evil that Original sin as we say that is within us but whatsoever of the image of the old man is upon us whatsoever we have had whether it be good or evil from the old man And indeed in the New Testament it is more frequently taken for the moral good of Old Adam then the evil though it be taken for both yet I say most frequently the good of Old Adam especially the wisdom of Old Adam The wisdom of the flesh is enmity to God Rom. 8. as in the New Adam the Lord Jesus Christ the wisdom of the holy Ghost is a most excellent piece so the wisdome of Old Adam is the unhappiest and most miserable thing of all That you may understand this you must conceive that all the principles of this world I mean of all Mankinde all their motions and actions do wholly spring and flow from two roots two principles as the Heathen Philosophers said in another sense they held that all this world did rise from two Beginnings from two Beings from two Principles there was one good and another evil that set all things on work so all things in every man in this world the principles and motions and actions and thoughts and inclinations and wisdome and reasoning and doing whatsoever is within or without man springs from one of these two roots that is it is either from Old Adam â— mean not nature in you but it flows from Adam that was once in Paradise or else from the New Adam Christ Jesus for there were but two men that ever in the world were publick persons that were the Fountain of the principles and proceedings of Mankinde Adam in Paradise natural Adam and the Lord Jesus Christ the Spiritual Adam All Mankinde was made after the Image of the first Adam We have born the image of the earthly Adam 1 Cor. 15. and indeed all the Saints shall bear the image of the heavenly Adam too hereafter at the least Now both these Adams are as two Springs in a hill conveying their streams to two rivers they are springs from whence arise all the thoughts and imaginations and actions and proceedings all the wisdome and righteousness whatsoever is in us it springs either from the second Adam the Lord Jesus planted in the Soul or else it flows from Old Adam from natural Adam that is in us therefore they are called the roots the Lord Jesus is called the root of Jesse Why so because all the new Creation all the work of grace all the principles thoughts and actions of a Saint so far as they are of grace they rise from the New Adam the Lord Jesus Christ Therefore I say to understand this a little in general before I go further A man that walks according to the flesh who is he A man that walks according to any thing of Old Adam whether it be good or evil And usually in the New Testament it is taken for the good 1 Cor. 1. there flesh is taken for the good of Old Adam when a man walks according to the wisdome of Adam according to natural wisdome and according to the righteousness of Old Adam that is done by us or when we walk according to the sins and lusts and corruptions of Adam for both are put together and all makes but flesh and whole flesh strives against whole Spirit Now I say take it in a general sense to walk after the flesh is not onely to walk sinfully and carnally but when a man walks though devoutly and righteously in the eye of the world yet if it be after the principles of Old Adam if he do not walk by a principle planted in him from the New Adam the Lord Jesus Christ all this is but flesh Now then for a man to walk according to the Spirit What is that All his principles spring from the root of Jesse from the Spirit of the Lord Jesus all his actions are upon another ground Now I say all the principles and actions of every man and woman in the world springs from one of these therefore it is convenient and necessary that you consider how the two Adams are the two Springs of all Mankinde the two pillars as it were upon which God hath laid all Mankinde and all that is done in the world and those that walk after the one walk after the flesh and those that are after the other walk after the Spirit So much in generall Now more particularly by walking after the flesh in this place there are three things meant The first thing meant by walking after the flesh according as most of our godly and learned translate it is when a man walks according to the dictates and suggestions of corrupt nature So flesh is taken for Original sin that is that corruption of nature that is prone to every evil and that is an enemy to all good So a man that walks according to the flesh is when the course and bent of a mans soul and life goes after sin though he do some good sometimes yet when his course is that way that is his continuedness and contentedness is after sin this is to walk after the flesh First when it is his continued course for walking is not a step or a leap or a stride but walking is a thing of many paces So it is called a going from iniquity to iniquity Rom. 6. And then there is in walking contentedness and sweetness a man is not said to walk when he is tired or when he goes in danger but walking it pleasant to all young and old So when he saith they that walk according to the flesh that is not onely when men are overtaken by lusts and sin
waiting for the Adoption to wit the redemption of our body The meaning is there is no man knows what that glory is that is to be revealed nor no man what it is to look for it and expect it The word in the Original is as one saith as a woman looks for deliverance when her pains are on her Oh! she would fain be delivered or as a man in Prison that looks for his Friend out of a window he puts out his head and looks but he cannot get out though he fain would Such an earnest hope and expectation and desire there is in the Saints that walk according to the Spirit to see Jesus Christ come and to enjoy that glory that is to be revealed There are many more expressions there that are the fruits of it as the spirit of supplication ver 26. and there is also a triumphing over all our spiritual enemies ver 31. What shall we say 〈…〉 God be with us who can be against us c And then there is an absolute dependance upon God for all things He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him give us all things And then there is also a patient suffering of all afflictions saith the Apostle ver 18. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed And then there is lastly an absolute eternal union with Jesus Christ in respect of his love I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor any thing shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. These are the expressions of the fruits of the Spirit of God in the Soul when men walk according to the Spirit when they walk according to grace Take a man that walks according to the flesh or according to the law you shall finde none of these kinde of things in his soul So much concerning that Use Vse 3. In the next place as this Doctrine is a Touchstone whereby you may try and judge of mens persons so hereby also you may try your services and actions I say this is a rule whereby you may come to know what your services are what worth is in them For as they onely are Saints who walk according to the Spirit let the world judge how they will and those that walk carnally according to the flesh according to the law are not Saints so I say those actions or services of ours that proceed from the spirit of God they are only pleasing to God and those that proceed from the flesh from Old Adam they are not pleasing to him Now I say by this we may try our services and actions as well as our persons for there is the same reason for both in all my actions all that I expect from them is that they be pleasing to God that is the end of all that we do for they cannot justifie us that is done already or if it be not they cannot do it but all is to be pleasing to God Now then the main Rule by which I am to judge of my actions it is this not to judge of them according as they are plausible to men or according as they have affection or enlargement in them as we call it but we are to judge of our actions chiefly if not principally by the principle that they flow from if it be the weakest and meanest action if it be the least sigh or prayer if it proceed from the New Adam the Lord Jesus it is sweet and pleasing to God it is an acceptable sacrifice But if it be the most glorious thing in the world if it proceed from Old Adam not only from sinful Adam but from naturall Adam as he is called the naturall man 1 Cor. 15. I say that that riseth from natural wisdome and invention and understanding and memory c it is but flesh and whatsoever is born of flesh is flesh and as we say Pepper is Pepper that is it is dear so flesh is flesh that is it is a filthy abominable thing to God as it is in this Chapter They that walk according to the flesh cannot please God So that that is born of the flesh that service that ariseth from the flesh that is done from the flesh cannot please God Quest But you will say Cannot the actions that proceed from the principles of natural Adam be pleasing to God Every man knows that of corrupt Adam cannot but cannot that of natural Adam As a man may pray meerly by a naturall wit and bravely to please man and to please himself and he may Preach by a natural wit and do other Exercises and do them finely cannot they be pleasing to God Answ No this is a certain rule that there is nothing that comes from flesh from a principle of Old Adam whether it be naturally good or evil there is nothing whether from pure Adam or from corrupt Adam that is pleasing to God The reason is this Because as it is Gen. 3. 5. that when Adam sinned against God you know his punishment was that he should die he was not to eat or touch the forbidden fruit lest he should die Now when Adam eat of that fruit you know the Curse came upon him and in reference to this you shall finde those phrases in this Epistle Whosoever walks according to the flesh shall die whosoever walks as Old Adam is in the state of the old Curse He shall die and O miserable man who shall deliver me from this body of death He calls it a body of death alluding to the main Curse of Old Adam which was that he should die Now when the Lord said that Adam should die for sin conceive not that the meaning is onely that he should die personally that his person now should be subject to the wrath of God to damnation of soul and body for ever in Hell that is not the onely meaning of it it is true he fell under that but the meaning is this also that whole Adam Adam as thou art a publick person thou shalt die that whereas I made and appointed thee to be the Spring and Foundation of all Mankinde and every man in the world is to have thy Image on him and I have filled thee with righteousness and wisdome and good things that may tend much to thy happiness and thy posterity that thou mayest derive a principle to them to be like thee in good and to be pleasing to me But when Adam sinned now saith God thou shalt die I made thee a happy Creature and put abundance of excellencies in thee for thy self and thy posterity as a publick person but now thou hast sinned and extinguished all that good Now I will blast them all thy wisdome and thy righteousness thy soul and thy body thy very being Adam shall die Thy person as thou art a private man and as
thou art a publick man soul and body flesh and bone all that is in thee and all that comes from thee shall die This is that great Curse that God laid on him a Curse of a great extent Therefore I say whatsoever now ariseth from the sons of Adam that springs from Old Adam be it good or evil it is condemned to die it must die it cannot please God As Adam when he had eaten the forbidden fruit the Lord set an Angel with a Sword to keep the Garden that he should come in no more Just so now since Adams fall the Lord hath set a Sword as it were to keep men from all the Principles of Adam that those things shall never please God any more Or I may say of it as Joshua speaks of Jericho when he had pulled down and destroyed it Cursed be the man that buildeth this City any more So when God pulled down Adam for sin the Lord laid that Curse upon him that he should never be a blessing that way any more God would never look on him or any thing that should come from him any more God would bethink himself of another way but that way he would not meddle with But now this is our fault we are still going to build Jericho again we are every man more apt to righteousness then to sin such a righteousness as it is we are apt to go and build up the ruines of Old Adam when we go about the service of God and to do any thing for him Or as the people of Israel Deut. 1. God bids them Arise and go into Canaan and then they would not but by and by they would go and then God tells them they should never go So the time was that we might have gone the way of Old Adam when God made him righteous if we had continued so it had been well and the more we had endeavoured to be righteous that way the more blessed we had been But now we are fallen and God hath cursed Adam to die now any one that goes that way is cursed that goes about to repair those old ruines no saith God do not now anger me in seeking to be holy in that way as Old Adam was We must labour now to go a new way and get the New Adam Jesus Christ into our souls This is the reason why as it is clear in 1 Cor. 15. men must die why godly men must die as well as the wicked It is appointed to all men to die Why so The reason is this Because God in Paradise condemned old Adam wholly to die therefore Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdome of God no piece of old Adam therefore he being a publick person and we in him that Curse must be fulfilled and we must die All that belongs to old Adam must die one time or other Nolens volens Therefore as we bear the Image of old Adam though we have some beginnings of new Adam yet because we have the disposition of old Adam I speak not of sin but of natural Adam we are earthly as Adam was therefore we must lay down this flesh and body because of that great Curse in Paradise that Adam should die and all that are of him Quest But you will say Why then doth not corruption that is a part of old Adam die in the wicked in Hell You say whole Adam corrupt Adam and natural Adam must die Now the wicked in Hell they have sin and corruption world without end for Cain is a Murtherer and Judas is a Traytor to this time Answ It is true that corrupt Adam in the Saints must die but that comes not by the curse but it is by Christ and is a blessing and that corrupt Adam sinful Adam lives for ever in them in Hell it is a part of the Curse for to live in sin is to die properly Now in that we shall have this flesh and blood dissolved and shall have natural wisdome and the like all dashed out therein we are common with them that is of the Curse though God after by an after-game as we may speak with reverence turned it to a blessing But for the dying of corruption in us that is the blessing of Jesus Christ and no curse It is a curse to live in sin therefore though Adam be wholly to dye yet the wicked continue in sin World without end even in Hell I mean there are the sins of the heart at the least And in those places of the New Testament I conceive the holy Ghost alludes to this as that in Rom. 8. They that walk after the flesh shall dye Why doth he not say the plague of God shall come on them but they shall dye It is as if he had said doe you not remember that God threatened a curse in Paradise to flesh and he that walks after that shall dye for God hath said Flesh and Adam shall dye And so Rom. 7. Who shall deliver me from this body of death that is from this body that God hath condemned to dye Therefore I say whatsoever spirngs in us and comes from us from old Adam it is a dead thing that God cursed even in paradice and therfore cannot be acceptable to him Take the best piece of old Adam and offer it to God and it is as that strange fire that Nadab and Abihu offered it cannot please God Let me give you one chief instance that makes my heart bleed when I think of it That thing that you call Divinity or those that you call Divines they are good words of themselves for John is called the Divine but that which you call Divinity which is the great Idol of the World it is nothing but old Adam a kind of godliness learned in a naturall way a man learned after the old Adam as we learn Logick or other things in the Universities and such a one comes and scatters this among people and this you call Divinity and he is a Divine and yet this is abominable to God And that is the reason why there are many Divines that preach excellently and yet God curseth it Why It is old Adams wisedome and invention and brave parts but God curseth the soule he curseth that Fig tree that it shall bring forth no more O Beloved that we would not suffer our selves as Children I had almost said as fooles to be carried on wheeling in a Profession of Religion and to think it enough to carry it plausibly in duties in observing Fast-dayes and dayes of Humiliation c. But that thou and I may be content to let all the Professors in the Town to go before us that way let them be more gallant Professors in outward performances in all they do let it be thy care and mine to glean the Spirit of God after them let people say there is such a man made such a brave piece of work and such a man prayed excellent well and prayed so long let us pass by these things and if I
knowledge the minde cannot be good that is till a man have a stock of knowledge of things he can never act his understanding and minde about it There are two short Reasons why those that are carnal and fleshly those that are after the flesh they minde the things of the flesh and they minde nothing else nor cannot and those that are after the spirit minde the things of the spirit because they know them they understand them and understanding them they cannot choose as David saith Psal 1. but exercise themselves in them day and night they exercise their thoughts and affections and all in them Now for the opening of it unto you here are three questions First What is meant by being after the flesh And secondly What is meant by the things of the flesh and the things of the Spirit I will put them both together for the one will open the other And thirdly What is meant by minding the things of the flesh and by minding the things of the Spirit First by being after the flesh it is in effect the same that I told you before to walk after the flesh therefore if you have not forgotten that you will easily understand this But yet to make it clearer you must understand that a man is said to be after the flesh or carnal for so they reade it in Latine Qui carnalis c. Men are said to be carnal or after the flesh three wayes The first is when a man is a true Saint but hath but a little measure of grace and hath much corruption much flesh It pleaseth the holy Ghost many times to denominate such a man by the greatest part that is in him which is flesh and so to call him Carnal as in Rom. 7. saith Paul speaking how spiritual the law is but saith he I am carnal sold under sin sold to sin not that there was no grace in Paul but that there was such abundance of corruption at least in his feeling So in 1 Cor. 3. Are ye not carnal saith Paul have ye not need of milk are ye not babes When I hear there are such divisions that some are for Paul and some for Apollos and some for Cephas Are ye not carnal are ye not after the flesh that is Is there not a world of corruption in you doth not corruption rule and bear sway over that little grace that is in you So in Gal. 6. 1. If any man be overtaken with sin you that are spiritual restore such a one that is as if he had said There are some carnal and they cannot keep themselves from being overtaken frequently with sin and much less can such restore others but a spiritual man one that the spirit hath prevailed in some measure over the flesh in keeping him from the foils and falls that weak men fall into and making him able in some measure to raise and heal others Now so we are not to understand it here in this place when he saith They that are after the flesh Secondly a man may be said to be after the Flesh or to be carnall A man that is a true Saint may be called carnall when he doth some one action that may in a sence be wholy carnall For a Saint may do an action that he nor none about him may perceive any thing but carnallity in As in Mat. 16. 23. Compared with Mark 8. 32. There you shall see a godly Saint Peter by name when his Master was Preaching to him what he should suffer at Jerusalem and how he should be put to death and the like Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying Be it far from the Lord this shall not be unto thee This was a Fleshly speech a meer carnall speech Christ was going to Jerusalem to die for Peter and for other poore sinners and Peter takes him aside and rebukes his Master and tells him it should not be so Far be it from thee Christ takes him ahd tells him Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence to mee for thou savourest not the things of God but the things of men Thou speakest as a carnall fleshly man thou hast no tast of spirituall things If thou diddest looke on it spiritually thou wouldest rejoyce and pray the Lord to help thee to suffer in that temptation with thy Master or to make a spiritual use of it but thou art carnall and savourest of Flesh Now when the Apostle sayeth here They that are afeer the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh he doth not properly mean that neither But thirdly and lastly a man is said to be after the flesh when he is in his pure naturals when he is meerly carnal when he is wholly flesh when he is destitute of the spirit of God when men are so flesh and fleshly in their principles and actions that there is nothing of the Spirit of God in them So it is principally to be taken here Though for the former two I may say this that as far as a Saint either in the measure of his graces or in his actions is fleshly he mindes fleshly things but a man that is wholly fleshly wholly mindes fleshly things And so much concerning the first Question The second thing is What is meant here by the things of the flesh and by the things of the spirit If you remember what I have told you of flesh before you will understand much what is meant by the things of the flesh I told you Flesh was Old Adam both in his good and in his evil pure Adam and corrupt Adam and every thing that came from him or every thing that leads to him that was Flesh So the things of the flesh are these things and all opportunities belonging to them in general But that you may understand it a little better I will shew you what the holy Ghost calls these things of the flesh and the things of the spirit that so by the Scriptures you may understand Scriptures We will put them both together the one will open the other to you In 1 Cor. 2. 11. there you shall see the things of the flesh are called the things of a man For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him The things of a man The things of the flesh are the things of a man that is proper to a man as man Therefore Mark 8. 32. they are called The things that be of men The things of the flesh are called the things that men deal about the things that men as men naturally deal about and look after the things of men But the things of the Spirit of God in that 1 Cor. 2. you have divers expressions of them ver 9. they are the things that Eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor hath entred into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him What are these things these glorious things that no carnal man hath ever seen or
by a day or a week or an hour or an action see how much in that action of day or hour or week thou art carried clearly upon spiritual reasoning so much of godliness so much of true pure grace there is Look into thy life and actions good or evil that is not a jot matter so much of thy life as is carried upon spiritual reasonings so much godliness there is It is not how much thou fastest or prayest or the like but how much thou art carried by spiritual reasoning As in Egypt they have a Pillar and figures upon it and when Nilus flows up they know by those figures how farr the River riseth higher or lower and accordingly they set their rates on things and accordingly things will be dearer or cheaper Or as by your weather-glasses you know whether it will be rain or fair weather So this Rule would be a weather-glass a Grace-glass and a flesh-glass that is if thou lay up this in thy soul hereby thou mayest know the ebbings and flowings of thy soul whether thou walk better this week then before It may be Lust may drive a man to a good thing but to go to spiritual rationallity that is the essence of a Christian as the other rationallity is the essence of a man Hereby thou mayest know whither thou be nearer to God this week then thou wert the week before or whether thou be further from him Vse 2. The other lesson and a special lesson for you to remember from what I have told you concerning spiritual reasoning is this hence learn why wise men so oft miss the will of God it is a blessed lesson why do we see godly men many times miss the will of God and are quite out in matters of judgement and action and yet are holy and godly men It is not because they reason not rightly concerning such things but because the reason whereby they reason it is more carnal then spiritual As for instance I could name a Book that was written about the Common Prayer not long ago a Book of admirable reason full of rationality and by a godly man too and yet he mist the will of God in it How came it Not because he did not reason rightly but because the reason he reasoned by was natural and not spiritual And so among Ministers they reason things throughly and rightly and draw deductions from them but here they miss they look not what reason they reason by it may be it is natural reason and that may lead to naturals but it cannot to spirituals This is a rare rule for Christians when thou art reasoning and thy thoughts are busie about a case and thou deductest one thing from another but ask thy self I reason but what is this reason I reason by is it carnal or spiritual as men that weigh gold or other things they first heave up the scales to see if they be right we do not do so and therefore we ordinarily miss in this As when a man is in anger he thinks he never speaks better reason than then he speaks powerfully and he thinks every word is Gospel and every word is reason but it is corrupt reason and so it appears to him next day Now any lust may transport a man so let a lust set natural reason on work and a man will reason bravely and rightly but he doth not take up the Scales before and say I judge right but what is it that I judge by A man may say he can judge well of the colour of Cloth by the light of a dark Shop but is that light right a man should examine that And so in the Synod and other places we should see that the reason that we judge things by be spiritual but we take any reason and if it prove natural reason we shall have things go naturally but if it be not spiritual reason we go by we shall never attain to judg of spiritual things SERMON X. Rom. 8. 5. For they that are after the flesh do minde the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit BEloved I would willingly end what I had to say to this Text at this time and I doubt not but by Gods assistance I shall do it and therefore I would but only lead you a little because we were driven to break off abruptly that you may understand which way we have been going when the Lord hath been teaching us hitherto from these words I told you the Apostle in the 4th verse had laid down a great priviledge and then he shews who are the partakers of this priviledge They that walk after the spirit and not after the flesh but this is but general and therefore he shews it more particularly by the best part of the man the minde Beloved I have spoken a little in general concerning the minde and to follow the Apostles method I have culd out the chief things in the minde that is the reasoning of the minde from whence I have taught you this Lesson That those that are fleshly they are led and swayed with fleshly reasoning and those that are spiritual they are led and swayed by spiritual reasoning My end is to discover to you whether you have this priviledge or no and therefore in the Apostles method I would bolt it out as far as I could I told you man is a rational creature and no man doth any action but there is some reasoning about it and though the action be never so suddain yet the mind is so quick that it hath some kind of reasoning or other Now for the Explication I told you there was three minds carnal corrupt and spiritual and from those three minds flowed three reasonings corrupt natural and spiritual Now for the further prosecuting of it I told you there were three things I had to premise before hand before I came to prove it One is that there is the best reason in the world in godliness and religion godliness hath in it all along the excellentest the best the profonndest reason that can be this I proved at large godliness is not as some carnal people account it a vain giddy thing but goes all upon reason it is the act of reasoning as they say of Logick and not like our natural Logick from probabilities and the like but it is all upon demonstration that 's one thing I opened to you and we had divers uses then with which I will not now trouble you Now the second thing I was to premise was this That the reasoning of the soul it is the highest act of the minde As I told you the minde is the highest faculty in the soul so the reasoning is the first and strongest and most immediate act of the mind and therefore as the minde is the chiefest seat of Christ if he dwell there or the chiefest garrison of the Devil if he dwell there so the reasonings of the soul are the chiefest weapons of the minde because
I told you that these they do come immediately from it The third thing was that the reasoning is the chief character of a man as reason in a man considered in a natural way is the most proper way of distinguishing of him from other things because it is most essential to him for you cannot distinguish a man so properly from a horse because he hath two legs and that a horse hath four but by his essence he is a rational creature and therefore I told you a man may know good excellently a man may love good and godliness and a man may do good and suffer for good and yet be an Hypocrite yet be a carnal man Why Because he may do good and love good and suffer for good and all out of carnal reasoning he may love the good because of some fine circumstantial things And therefore I concluded last day with two words of use but I must endeavour to make good my promise Now the last thing is how it comes to pass for I have as in reference to the Doctrine you heard That spiritual men are swayed with spiritual reasons How comes it to pass that they are enabled so to reason and to be so guided by such Reasons Beloved in general certainly it is only by the same spirit of God for I must advance the spirit still not in opposition to the Scriptures mistake me not for the spirit takes of the things of Christ and in the Scriptures sheweth you them but it is the spirits teaching you And therefore it is said they are after the spirit that do minde spiritual things because it is the spirit that doth work them to mind spiritual things ye would never mind spiritual things else All the learning in the World and all the wit in the World will never teach a man to make one sincere Argument to do good or draw him from evil But you will say how doth the Spirit do this Beloved I told you heretofore that I do not approve of those that do endeavour to shew you too particularly and disbiastly how the spirit of God works in the soul as many men have done and many a godly man but they have lost much time and have puzelled the souls of poor people for thou knowest not how a child is formed in the wombe how his eye is made and how his nose is made And how are we able to discover how the Spirit of God works grace in the soul which ordinarily is done that he doth this first and then that and will not do this until he hath done that which hath brought forth a deal of curiosity and needless distinctions troubling the people of God But I will give you some particulars how he doth it The wayes whereby he doth without curiosity not saying he doth this first or that first He doth it by a Creation by spiritual Creation he doth make a Creation in the soul which is called the new man Thou that art there now sitting in a Pew that Creature that old Creature cannot reach the spirit of God It cannot be mended for we have hearts of stone that will not be cobled nor mended but taken out wholly our natures are so naught that they cannot be mended but God comes and by his holy spirit makes a new Creature in the soul As man is said to be a man and hath not his denomination from the grosser part as his Legs or the like but from the more noble part his soul and his minde for where as in one place it is said What will it avail a man to get the World and lose his Soul in another it is lose himself So as my soul is my self So there is an old man not according to outward age but according to the inward Now he makes thee a new Creature not new Legs and Hands but new minde new affections and new powers in thy soul Now most people say that the Lord doth infuse new qualities into ths soul that whereas thou hast an understanding and it is rotten and all is full of bad qualities thou shalt have new qualities thou shalt have an understanding that will minde heavenly things Beloved that is true but I very much doubt whether there be not something more because the Lord calls it a man and we never read in the Scripture where he will work new qualities but a new man we are created a new creature Now that is the way and therefore if ever thou wilt be a spiritual man thou must have the Lord to make thee a new Creature Now the Saints heretofore pray understand me did not look upon things as we do we have had so many false distinctions and subdistinctions we have not the same notions and distinctions they had They alwayes looked upon the inward man or the new Creature Now we look without saith Paul my inward man gaineth dayly If any man be in Christ he is a new creature Beloved that ye may understand this bear with me a little I do finde in the Scripture that a man is made a Saint made spiritual and holy two wayes One is by renewing a man to that which he was in old Adam Secondly by creating things in him that were never there before And we have these two expressions in Scripture Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and created unto good works So that a Saint he is made up unto that condition two wayes either God hath renewed in him those things he had in Adam or else God hath created in him that which was never there before As for instance God revealeth in him sobriety and continuance and the like these things were in Adam and now when a man is made a Saint they are renewed only upon a new foundation And withal the Lord creates something that was never in Adam as for instance he creates faith there that is the faith of the Gospel There was a faith in Adam without doubt but that faith of the Gospel to believe in another to renounce his own righteousness this was not in Adam because it was point-blank contrary to his own condition for he was to have righteousness in himself and to renounce it was contrary to his condition Now God creates such a faith in us And Beloved there is another thing and it may be there are many things more I have had many thoughts of it with submission to the godly and wise I think that Gospel goodness is a piece of the New man which was not in Adam as to do good to Enemies to love them that hate us to give drink to a thirsty Enemy When one is wicked and ungodly and doth deal despightfully with us as Christ saith then to do him good and bless when he curseth and pray for him that injureth us Beloved this is Gospel-goodness I have had many thoughts of it had I time to prove that this Gospel goodness is a piece of the New creature that was not in old Adam There was goodness in
Adam but not this as for instance there are divers things we finde among Professors that in the last day will be found to be nothing but the old Adam but Ishmaels that are humbled to the height and ye shall see in them a great deal of diligence in Gods service but where will you finde a Professor one of 500. and I speak with the least that you may clearly reade Gospel-goodness in him that you may say yonder is a man that if you curse him he will love you and if you do him hurt and that despitefully he will pray for you It is an easie thing to kindle a brand that hath been once lighted to do that which Adam did but to do this is a higher matter As man was created after the Image of God so the Creatures in a sort were created after the image of man now as in Creatures in a Dog there is love and the like But where is there a creature that if you do him mischief will not endeavour to do you the like again or at least wise run away But where is a piece in the old Creation that doth love his Enemies And whereas it is said Adam was created after the Image of God and God loves his Enemies I answer God then in that Covenant was not in a disposition to love his Enemies but to hate his Enemies and sinners and curse them and damn them but now in Jesus Christ he loves his Enemies and therefore according to his minde he revealed to Adam it was not so and many other reasons I had but this I present to you with submission I do not speak curiosities but I finde and see very little of this scarcely any there was a candid goodness in the Primitive Church which is not now to be which is not now to be found now nothing but biting and tearing and devouring one another well there is one word he doth it by a spirittal Creation Then Secondly he brings the soul to this way of spiritual reasoning by spiritual illumination he created faculties before and now he casteth in Light as he did in the old Creation you know he made Heaven and Earth in the lump and then said Let there be Light Now that is the reason when the Gospel is preached and there is the spirit of God going with the Word and thou art dark and canst not receive this light the new Creature is not framed in thee if thou hast no eyes thou canst not see and if a man have eyes he cannot see in a dark room Now when the new man is made then the Lord sends in light and it is not every light for there are many Lights a blinde man as it were an Hypocrite hath them but it is a powerful Light that God puts in for we do finde that there is a kinde of Light in Hypocrites but yet there is no power in them there is not Light to bring them to such kinde of reasoning as will bring them to any good or from any evil they will talk of Drunkenness and Whoredome and the like but have not power to bring them off from any of these things indeed a Saint may be overcome of his Lusts that war in his members but there is a Law in his minde that is there is a Light that is like unto a Law that hath power in it that he seeth Christ doing them away I am sorry I have not time to open this unto you further but remember it Thirdly the Lord will do it by suggestion that is the spirit of God puts light into the soul he puts a measure of light to dwell in every new creature and that powerfully But because the way of the saints are so dark in this World and thorow so much difficulty the spirit of God prompts a Saint alwayes when he is at a loss As among Schollars we shall see sometimes a man is almost born down and then another giveth him an Argument or Distinction to help him and then he carries it and so the flesh hath reason and arguments as we are going along and now though there be a measure of light a stock of light dwelling in us yet we are nonplussed by the flesh and then the spirit of God suggesteth somewhat to us and we are carried thorow as you have it in Mat. 20. When you are brought before Governours it is not you that speak but the spirit of God that prompteth you Fourthly the spirit doth it by conviction that is another way we have it Joh. 16. saith Christ when I go I will send my spirit and my spirit shall convince the World of sin reprove you have it he shall convince the World of sin of righteousness and Judgement The word signifies when he saith the spirit will convince that is by way of Argument the meaning is that in every carnal mans heart there are arguments against faith and for his own destruction and strong ones too And when we preach to you ye bring reason against reason and so go away unconvinced unconverted but the spirit will convince you that is he will bring such strong arguments as Doctor PRESTON saith from Heaven that will convince you As when a stronger man cometh he disarmeth the other as before we thought godliness nothing but Heresie and Puritanism and the like but now the Spirit convinceth you you see this is the onely way and out of this way I shall never see God and the like 5. Another way I find the spirit doth it by is commemoration by minding us of what we have heard of somthing we have known before it it is our remembrancer Therefore saith Christ I will send my Spirit and he shall bring to your remembrance what you have heard not that you shall remember a whole Sermon and Repeat it every word but thus it is he will either suggest thoughts we never had before or bring to our remembrance a word we have heard of such a preacher in such a place or read in such a place or thought in such a walke or the like and so setteth on and carrieth on the worke 6. And he doth it by consolation he is the Comforter the consolation of the spirit Beloved this is certaine that ye know trouble of minde exceedingly hinders the acts of reason That is the reason men are mad because some fumes rise up in the braine and trouble the minde that they cannot reason but are mad Beloved our troubles of minde and soule they are like fumes that come up into the braine and distract us A spirituall man is many times as it were a distracted man there are so many sumes such horrour and guilt that he is almost stark mad he can talke of naturall things but in spirituall things he is as it were mad the Chaine of spirituall reason is broken and now the spirit is the Comforter and he quiets the the spirits and when a man is in a quiet temper the disease is gone and the reason
comes into the minde and as the Philosopher said ye know in naturall things a man can reason when he is not troubled so it is in the spiritual 7. Another way is by Sanctification by the Spirit he is the Spirit of Sanctification it makes the soul holy it takes away lust and sin from the soul This I finde in Mat. 6. 22 23. I would open that place but cannot therefore pray consider saith Christ The light of the body is the eye if therefore thy eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light He doth oppose singleness unto evil if thine eye be single that is if thy eye be purged from all guile that there is no sin there not when a man hath one eye to God and the other to sin to the world but if thy eye be evil that is sinful then thy whole body is full of darkness Therefore blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God 8. Well lastly there is another way there are divers more but I will name but one more and that is The Spirit of God doth teach the Saints thus to reason by exercising that is helpeth them to exercise and improve that light that they have There is a little light natural light and there is a kinde of spiritual light that an hypocrite hath but the Spirit of God doth not help him to improve that light and therefore that light dieth he blows not up the fire you know men come to reason by reasoning and exercise of reason makes men rational I mean makes them know how to reason Now hypocrites do not thus as you may see Rom. 1. there they knew God and because they glorified him not as God they became vain in their imaginations or in their reasonings as it is in the Original God gave them up to a reprobate minde because they glorified not God Vse Beloved I have three or foure uses but I feare I shall not reach them all I am overloath to tire you and my self Therefore I will conclude with one word and that is this That from hence from this that hath been said you may see what is the Fountain of all goodness and of all evil in the soul 1. Of all good as I have at large lookt upon it but can but touch Take any good and you shall see it is carried on by spiritual reasoning as take Faith Abraham reasoned He that gave him a Son at a hundred years old could raise him up again Take your Consolation it comes out by spiritual reasoning take Paul and Silas they were in prison and ready to be brought out the next day to die now one would think they were mad there to sing but they did it upon spiritual reasons for they accounted themselves blessed to suffer for Christ and if they die they shall then be with Christ for hating of evil you shall see whence is it as pulling out the right eye or cutting off the right hand that is one would think a most unreasonable thing but Christ giveth a reason for it It is better to go into Heaven it is better to enter into life halt or maimed rather then having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire So a Saint can reason spiritually and thus he loves the Saints and hates sin and denieth himselfe and performeth every dutie he so reasoneth that it is the blessed will of God he should do it 2. And so for evill whence comes sin from vanity of the minde whence comes persecution they think they do God good service there is reason it is a good thing to suppress these Schismaticks say some and to have Conformity and be all of one minde and to banish them and let them all go whence is this it is either from corrupt or natural reason And so when men hear the Word of God and forget it they like it well as a man doth that sees his face in a glass but they go away and forget it and whence is it why James tells you Deceive not your selves Deceiving your selves the word in the Original is by false reasonings A man hears the Word and thinks surely I am in this evil condition and I am out of the way and I must look after Christ and the like but afterwards comes natural reason saying these are but new denies and what is become of our fathers and the like Beloved all good is carried into the soul upon the wings of spiritual reason and all evil upon natural and corrupt reason and therefore I conclude all beseeching you that you would study and endeavour to get up your souls and your conversations accordingly to be swayed and carried on by a spiritual minde by spiritual reasoning for here we speak of your Consciences not of your lives so much as of your hearts and mindes And that you may so do take the Motive which follows in the Text which I did purpose had God given me strength and time to open but take it in the gross For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Be perswaded to go home and pray the Lord to create this in you yea and enlighten you For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Two things I have here to say To be carnally minded is death you must expound it by the other that oposeth it its contrary to life and peace it is death and trouble and the other is life and peace Death and trouble if thou wilt be a carnal man and go on so there is nothing in all thy course but death and trouble that is there is death at the end of it Remember that the end of thy Journey is death Remember as the Apostle saith Phil. 3. They minde earthly things and I write weeping that their end is destruction It is a fine thing to be carried all our life long from one carnal thing to another and provide for my Honour and Wealth and Preferment and the like and do this and that good action upon carnal reasons and with a carnal eye but God hath put a sad end to it it is Death And now the other it is Life eternal life though it be rough for me every day to dispute with my carnal heart and not onely carry on good but deny my self in good upon spiritual reason this is a warfare but the end is life and it is peace too This is a hard work you will say and therefore we will take the easiest and smallest work Beloved I say there is more ease and sweetness and contentedness in going on in the wayes of God spiritually upon spiritual reasons an hundred-fold then in the other for the other will be rough and God hath cast it so God hath put a Curse upon all Old Adam he curseth it with death and therefore he must die that walks carnally and that is the reason all your natural thoughts and actions are so bitter God hath cursed them they must die and now all the wayes of Holiness have enough to induce thee to endeavour to walk holily as one saith The gleanings of the Saints are better then the harvest of the wicked men if there were no Hell nor Heaven hereafter but onely the wicked to have the pleasures of sin here and the Saints to have the Consolations of the Spirit dwelling in them it is more an hundred-fold the one is nothing but crackling of thorns under a pot and the end is smoke and stink and the other is sweet here and in the end blessed eternally if it were not suppose though the way to Heaven be bitter here yet it is sweet in the end and the way of the world sweet here and bitter in the end yet you should choose Holiness as a Philosopher said If a man were to take a bitter and sweet thing which were he best to take first saith he to take the sowre or the evil first and the sweet for the hope of the good to come will sweeten the present evil but when a man hath the good first the fear of the evil to come will marre all but therefore seeing there is a reward in the way in Holiness as well as in the end for Holiness it should move us to labour after Holiness FINIS