unnaturall killings selfe murthers pollutions against nature passions of dishonour and the like Satan hath no naturall affection in him nor lust as lust hath none neither Satan hath no naturality in him for he lost all in his fall the law of nature was not given to him hee was not to hold order and termes of civillity and humanity amongst men and therefore there was not use of any such law to bee given to him All wee can say of him is that Satan is kept under held in awe by God restrained by feare within and ordered by Gods providence without it is awe not naturall law that keepes Satan within bounds Man hath indeed in him naturalnesse but lust which is our Originall sin hath no naturall affection in it some sins then are called unnaturall because they are against the law of nature in us which law of nature is no part of Originall sin for in it selfe it is good and the very unwritten law of God which law of nature as it is now in us doth neither see nor greeve at all sinnes but only at some greater sins which sins are therefore called unnaturall In every man there are two things the law of nature is one Originall sin the other for the law of nature some say it is a relique of the old Image left in Adam I thinke not for then man in Adam lost not all the Image of God then in man by nature there is some peece of goodnesse but the frame of mans heart is onely evill There is none that doth good no not one wee are all together become filthy Then it would follow that man brings w th him of his own into the world the seeds of vertue some roots of goodnesse which is Pelagianisme and condemned by the Church of God The seeds of vertue are not saith Prosper in the soule of man because they are utterly lost in the first sin of Adam neither can wee come by them except GOD who first gave them restore them againe I thinke rather to say that in things usefull to hold in the wild lusts that be in man GOD presently after all was lost by the fall all and every peece of the Image of God I say to maintaine discipline amongst men GOD planted in the heart of all mankinde an inward law checking many sins against God but more against men and accordingly GOD hath made a fuller and greater revelatiō to nature in the things of the second Table than in the first and what else is meant by the phrase where speaking of the power of nature to see into the booke of the creature it is said God shewed it unto them viz. by the law and light of nature which God hath given to all men as men they shewed it not to themselves God is said to shew it unto them Now then to come home to ou◠point Sins against nature are such as are against the law of nature lust hath in it all sins and when it is so great and breaketh out so grossely that nature cries shame of it why then wee call that sin an unnaturall lust a sinne against nature which sinnes have their roote in Original sin and would shew themselves and appeare were there no divell albeit herhaps not in that manner and measure as wee see some men who cannot bee said to bee haled to it by the divell but onely by their owne wicked lusts who when their lusts are in care no more for wife children friends brother father than they doe for a dog are moved no more with the teares of their owne bowels than with the whinening of a pigge Let lust alone and without any help from Satan it will make a man give over to bee a man shake off all humanity go beyond all shame all sense put off all naturall affection deliver a man up to obdurate heart not discerning betwixt good and evill either in morall or naturall respects as Paul shewes how some men put off all manhood become dogs yea worse than dogges for dogge with dogge useth not to commit filthinesse and some women shaketh off all woman-hood also for there is no who with lust for were it not for the watching providence of God over us and the restraining power of God with us and the law of nature in us men would fling out into all kind of wickednesse there would bee no being no living amongst men we would all bee such fooles as to thinke with our hearts and say with our mouthes there is no God Originall sin hath all Atheisme in it there will bee nothing but murther amongst us Husband would kill the wife and wife the husband father son sonne the father brother brother Caine Abel our houses and townes would bee full of parracides and fratricides and men would doe execution on themselves as common as might be oh the bottomlesse depth of Originall sin Our own lust is a fearefull murtherer it comes immediately from Satan at the first and he is a murtherer from the beginning Men would bee Wolues Beares Tygers Divels one to another neither would any shame keepe men and women from monstrous adulteries most infamous uncleanenesse Incests Rapes Beastiality what not Looke wee what is in any man that is by nature in the heart and lust of every man were it not for God restraining and natures law curbing should our Originall sinne be drawne forth and let out we should all doe as Caine did as Absalom did as Ammon did as the Sodomites did for what sin soever is forbidden in the Word and hath bin ever practised in the world that sin every man carries in his bosome there is no man but is of himselfe a dead dogge for why should God forbid that in the word to all if the nature of all were not subject to it Bestiality the foulest sin is forbidden to thee as well as to any other therefore it is in thy corrupt nature as well as in the nature of any other Besides wee are cut all out of the same cloth we are al alike in the guilt of Adams sinne one man hath not sinned more in Adam than another and therefore our Originall sin being the penalty of Adams sin must needs bee one and the same in all where the cause is just the same there the effect must needs bee the same Originall sin then by nature is no more no worse in one than in another it differs not so much as Magis minus In some what by reason of the tempter of the body education occasion tentations influences of Gods providence and chiefly by reason of the liberty of mans will man having his will at some command to sin I say by reason of that and other things lust is drawne forth more in one than in another and more to one sinne than another and that breakes out in the life of one which doth not in another but
tempter will come and bring seven worse with him than before and our lust will come againe and take us at some advantage and doe us a spoile in case wee thinke the tentation ended when there is a politike giving over to bite for a season onely What must wee doe to know when the ceasing is because the tentation is conquered and when it is onely by withdrawment for a time Many things might here bee said that which satisfies is to affirme that if wee have taken paines used Gods meanes waited Gods time then the worke is done as it should be but if meanes or all ordinary meanes to bee had have not beene used wee have not set God and prayer against the motion if we find that the lust is gone we know not how on a sudden no sooner come almost but gone hereis cause of suspicion to feare that all is but a practise of our great enemy a purpose to rock us in security that he may come and take us in the sinne or some other when we least thinke of it and and stand unprepared Againe if wee finde no good fruits and effects to follow no good to come of it to our heart and life that wee are no more humble no more if not lesse spirituall than before here is great doubt that the tentation is gone the wrong way for if we do drive this Divell away by GODS meanes which are spirituall as prayer reading watching spirituall seed-corne will leave behind it some spirituall fruit prayers and holy exercises use not to bee lost they fall not in the dust but mortifie and sanctifie they both must and doe and therefore if wee finde ease but not grace some quiet but not the quiet fruit of righteousnesse for all that I know as good the tentation had stayed as depart thus But if we finde that we have not onely a bare freed once from the stirre and power of the tentation but the tentation is over and good is left behind more modest humble fearefull of sin carefull of God then the worke is done by God and we have our comfort when a man then doth finde some respit by turning his thoughts over to thinke of the world that this or that is to be got or saved be set or sold here or there is a purchase to bee made this is not Gods cure but if the liberty we now have over we had be made ours by turning to God and his wayes then wee may boldly tell our selves and bid our consciences rest upon it that we have gone the right way to worke and that there is no mistake in the matter and as wee must not thinke wee have it when wee have it not so wee must not think we have it not when indeed and in truth we have Satan doth play on both sides and his devices to coozen us of our comfort this way are many what saith hee all that is nothing but a forbearing of old and wonted occasions and a wicked man may doe this indeed we must not lay the fault on the occasion as the Tipler doth on drinke that it is made so strong and the Glutton on his fare it is so choice that who can choose but feed by the belly for the creatures are no kind of cause Before the Floud when men did as great Divines conceive drinke water and feed upon plants wee see there was a world of abominations and therefore we must lay the fault on our lusts within not on the occasions without yet this I say that if a man finde that by the use of prayer and the word a man doth in conscience and with constancy shun all the occasions of that sin which heretofore hee neither could nor would there is a cure wrought for a brunt in some fit an unregenerate man may but to doe it still alwayes forever hereafter thus to doe is a signe of power of grace and after constancy we must see that wee doe it in conscience that we do not avoid the thing or person which were to us occasions of sinning out of hatred to the person or to the thing but to the sin that our stomack doth not rise at them as they are such or such things materially but formally as they are to us occasions of offending and that by reason of coruption not in them but in us He that can doe that that man may say that Sathan lyes when hee tels him that a wicked man may surcease by hiding himselfe from his old occasions for in this sense nothing but grace and the spirit and some power of the Holy Ghost can make a man shake off his old occasions a man in his sins will be so far from refusing occasions when they come in his way that hee will look and make after them and have them he will if hee may have them for love or money An hungry man will thorow stone wals for meate so where the love and raigne of sin is there a man will and must breake thorow fire and water to have his desires finished the occasions of that sin hee must and will follow what ever come of it I say it that nothing but grace can make a man abstain from the occasions of sinne when hee is tempted when not tempted the matter is not so much and some men without the strength of grace may forbeare but when the tentation is up and the passion is on fire though a man dye and without Gods mercy damne in the place he cannot possibly forbeare without the force of the spirit I dare affirme it that hee that can and doth in the order and manner I have set down either put the occasion from him or himselfe from the occasion of a sin he hath been and is tempted unto that man hath made an acceptable conquest of that lust and wee doe wrong our selves I cannot say how much when we suffer Satan to perswade us the contrary The next thing wee are to looke to is that we doe not coozen and deceive our selves so as to thinke we have not overcome the tentation why Because we are not rid of evill thoughts it is conquest enough that evill thoughts are borne as a burthen and that lust and Satan for their hearts are not able to bring it any further than thoughts I know God could if he would and would if hee saw it good and fit take away the swarme of evill thoughts but for our good they are suffered to flye up and down in our imaginations not onely to humble us for as the thoughts are so we should be if we were let alone they show our nature and when wee are come to some practise and growth wee are then apt to heave up with conceits of our selves above what is written to thinke that wee are not as other men are and therefore to prevent and discure the malady evill thoughts are left in us to remember us what wee are of our selves as also that by feeling the thoughts
continueth untill his crowne be put upon him in the meane time our comfort is that ere long wee shall bee out of the reach of all tentation the God of peace will tread downe Satan under our feet A carnall mans life is nothing but a strengthning and feeding of his enemie a fighting for that which fighteth against his soule Since Satan hath cast this seed of the Serpent into our soules there is no sin so prodigious but some seed of it lurketh in our nature It should humble us to heare what sins are forbidden by Moses which if the Holy Ghost had not mentioned we might have beene ashamed to heare of they are so dishonourable to our nature the very hearing of the monstrous outrages committed by men given up of God as it yeelds matter of thanks to God for preservation of us so of humility to see our common nature so abused and abased by sinne and Satan Nay so catching is our Nature of sin that the mention of it in stead of stirring hatred of it often kindles Fancie to a liking of it the discovery of divellish policies and stratagems of wit though in some respects to good purpose yet hath no better effect in some than to fashion their wits to the like false practises and the innocencie of many ariseth not from love of that which is good but from not knowing of that which is evill And in nothing the sinfulnesse of sin appeares more than in this that it hindereth all it can the knowledge of it selfe and if it once be knowne it studieth extenuation and translation upon others sin and shifting came into the world together in Saint Iames his time it seemes there were some that were not afraid to father their temptations to sinne upon him that hateth it most God himselfe whereas God is only said to try not to tempt Our Adversaries are not far from imputing this to God who maintaine Concupiscence the mother of all abominations to be a condition of Nature as first created onely kept in by the bridle of originall righteousnesse that from hence they might the better maintaine those proud opinions of perfect fulfilling the Law and meriting therby This moved Saint Iames to set downe the true descent and pedegree of sin wee our selves are both the Tempters and the Tempted as Tempted wee might deserve some pity if as Tempters wee deserve not blame in us there is both fire and matter for fire to take hold on Satan needs but to blow and often times not that neither for many if Concupiscence stirre not up them they will stirre up to Concupiscence So long as the soule keepes close to God and his truth it is safe so long as our way lieth above we are free from the Snares below all the danger first riseth from letting our hearts loose from God by infidelity for then presently our heart is drawn away by some seeming good whereby we seeke a severed excellencie and contentment out of God in whom it is only to be had After we have once forsaken God God forsakes us leaving us in some degree to our selves the worst guides that can be and thereupon Satan joynes forces with us setting upon us as a friend under our owne colours hee cannot but miscarry that hath a Pirate for his guide This God suffereth to make us better knowne to our selves for by this meanes corruption that lay hid before is drawne out and the deceitfulnesse of sinne the better knowne and so wee are put upon the daily practice of repentance and mortification and driven to fly under the wings of Iesus Christ Were it not for temptations we should be concealed from our selves our graces as unexercised would not bee so bright the power of God should not appeare so in our weaknesse we would not be so pitiful and tender towards others nor so jeâ—lous over our owne hearts nor so skilfull of Satans method and enterprises we should not see such a necessity of standing alwayes upon our guard but though by the over-ruling power of God they have this good issue yet that which is ill of it selfe is not to be ventured on for the good that commeth by accident The chiefe thing wherein one Christian differs from another is watchfulnesse which though it require most labour yet it bringeth most safety and the best is no farther safe than watchfull and not onely against sinnes but tentations which are the seeds of sinne and occasions which let in tentations the best by rash adventures upon occasions have beene led into temptations and by temptation into the sin it selfe whence sin and temptation come both under the same name to shew us that we can bee no farther secure from sinne than we be carefull to shun temptations And in this every one should labour so wel to understand themselves as to know what they finde a temptation to them that may be a temptation to one which is not to another Abraham might looke upon the smoake of Sodome though Lot might not because that sight would worke more upon Lots heart than Abrahams In these cases a wise Christian better knowes what to doe with himselfe than any can prescribe him And because God hath our hearts in his hand and can either suspend or give way to temptations it should move us especially to take heed of those sins wherby grieving the good Spirit of God wee give him cause to leave us to our owne spirits but that he may rather stirre up contrary gracious lustings in us as a contrary principle There is nothing of greater force to make us out of godly jealousie to feare alwayes Thus daily working out our salvation that God may delight to goe along with us and be our Shield and not to leave us naked in the hands of Satan but second his first Grace with a further degree as temptations shall encrease it is he that either removeth occasions or shutteth our hearts against them and giveth strength to prevaile over them which gracious providence you cannot be too thankfull for it is a great mercy when temptations are not above the supply of strength against them This care onely taketh up the heart of those who having the life of Christ begun in them and his Nature stampt upon them have felt how sweet communion and acquaintance with God in Christ and how comfortable the daily walking with God is these are wary of any thing that may draw away their hearts from God and hinder their peace And therefore they hate temptations to sin as sin it selfe and sinne as hell it selfe and hell most of all as being a state of eternall separation from all comfortable fellowship with God A man that is a stranger from the life of God cannot resist tentation to sin as it is sin because hee never knew the beauty of holines but from the beauty of a civill life he may resist tentations to such sins as may weaken respect and from love of his owne quiet may abstaine from
full of tongue of a talkative disposition for such cannot hold for their lives nor such as can keep nothing from their wives or husbands for women may bee fitter and in some cases make use of women rather than men nor such as bee of an inquisitive disposition a man willing to fish out our counsels is not a likely man to keepe our counsels indeed if we come to a man of purpose to reveale our selves and when wee come to the Tooth-drawer our teeth leave aking for a time if the tentation withdraw for the present or that wee are so oppressed that wee cannot utter in this case the friend shall doe full wisely to pierce us to draw it out of us to bid us write our minde lay it down and leave it behind us but except in some cases as these the man who hath this in him that he is desirous to know our minde who doth even itch after our secrets busie and inquisitive to know what aises us almost whether we will or not that man is not to be used he wil ten to one tell it to one or other looke out then for a man godly wise secret one who hath been sick of the same or the like himselfe an experienced man in himselfe and others a Physitian in practice and a friend too a bosome friend and if wee have him a David a Ionathan a sworne-brother a still grave sober spirited and humble-minded man and then confesse to him and spare not confesse to him and feare nothing and when wee have so done let us not distrust but wee shall see a good end and when we have spoken our minde to one or two and wee have our comfort under two or thee witnesses let 's not out with it to any body else in the world I know spirituall sorrowes are apt to vent themselves when once we beginne for when wee finde a little ease by opening the sore to one we thinke that the more wee open unto the more ease wee shall have and so wee are in danger to shew our case to all we meet and here Satan hath a Stratagem that when hee sees hee cannot make us secret our matters from a friend then hee will urge us to out with it to all and after wound us with a sore and heavy tentation that now wee have shamed our selves for ever and therefore my counsell here is that when wee have found a faithfull friend that then we begin and end with him except wee call in one or two at the most to have the matter under the teste of two or three witnesses and before I leave the particular I must make bold to call upon such as are made Physitians to the soules of their friend to make use of these things 1. That they bee not over-earnest to fish out mens secrets for if wee meane honesty and secrecy they are more bound to us that wee will heare them than wee that they will tell us for wee are thereby bound to one great duty more than wee were and that is to keepe secrecy 2. Wee must bee willing to bee made use of by men as by women by poore as well as by rich For as one speakes who was of great experience this way there lyes a great corruption in it when wee finde our selves more ready to take the confessions of Women than of Men of young women than of old of faire than of foule of Gentlemen and rich men than of poore and which we must see that wee humble for and avoid and bee rather for the poore than the rich for Men than Women c. 3. By all meanes wee must keepe councell except the matter stand so that wee sin in keeping close their secrets and here if wee have cause to doubt any thing as though his secrets would be pernicious wee shall doe well to tell him that if he aske for counsels sake that then we will heare him but if that he have a farther intent and his plot bee dangerous assure him we will breake friendship with him and rather lose a friend of him than keepe his sinfull secrets and lose a friend of God but if it may bee done then by all meanes keepe it from all and chiefest of all some secrets of the wife from the husband of the husband from the wife 4. Confesse againe to them when we our selves have beene healed of the like and say I was sick of the same disease and by taking such or such things by using my selfe to these or those courses I was cured and am as comfortable as ever I was in all my life ye would not beleeve how this will settle the heart of a poore Christian who hath a good opinion of us and our sincerity doe not stand thinking that they will never think well of us againe if they doe not an happy losse if we may thereby bring them to peace and comfort but the truth is these are but fancies If a man have a calling from God for the good of mens soules to open all his heart in the sight of all the Parish men will thinke never the worse of him but the better and indeed we can confesse nothing one to another but what we may in a manner know one by another before hand sith we have all one and the same heart cut out of the same rock of the same complexion and disposition as touching our lust and Originall sinne and therefore if they confesse to us to have comfort from us wee may doe well to tell them our sinnes and errours in a mutuall manner as they doe their wounds to us 5. We must pitty them and pray for them and helpe to carry their burdens wee of our selves can doe nothing but we must commend their state and case to God as hee is to pray for himselfe so we are to pray to God for him and the prayer of a righteous man availeth much and is of force where many may fitly come together in prayer the more the better but in this case of secrecy one onely is made acquainted with the matter and in this matter the prayer of one righteous man shall do the deed for it is not the worth or force of prayer but the promise of GOD which is all in all here we have a promise and by vertue of that promise the prayer of one will carry it The Generall Rules after the Tentation is over 1. Wee must not bee coozened so as to think the tentation is resisted and conquered when it is not nor yet suffer our selves by Satans deceipt and that of our owne hearts to be made beleeve it is not conquered when it is sometimes Satan doth for a time withdraw himselfe hee may and doth in skill cease to solicit and lust may sit still for a space and all to lull us asleepe as though all were done when nothing is done as though all were killed when it is as live as ever it was The
such a sin and I may fall againe Now where this full point lyes that a man may be able to speake it thus much I must and have grieved and am now come to the height of sorrow that is required and now I know I shall never fall the same fall againe These bee strange riddles the heart of man I know must come down it must melt and breake but yet a little sorrow doth it in one when a great deale doth but do it in another some mens hearts after sin are like hard wax great heate is required to melt it but others like soft wax a little will supple it as we finde that at mans first conversion some men turne to it without much adoe with legall sorrowes and the sinne before regeneration I hope hardens the heart more than the sinne after for before there is nothing but a stone nothing but sin and flesh but after be the sin committed never so great yet there is some spirit some grace abiding and so some softnesse with all We Divines doe use to teach that it is the love of God and not the sorrow for sinne which is the cause to keepe us from relapsing and that too much sorrow doth hurt and drive us from Christ We all agree that a man may goe too far when there is so much as doth bring us to Christ it is sufficient and that sometimes a lesser degree of humbling and mourning will doe that GOD doth not delight to see us in our ashes no further than he may heare of us and t is not terror of the law but the peace of God which doth garrizon and keepe our hearts and mind and therfore this reason is of no force it hangs the conscience on uncertainty and no man can determine when his sorrow is come to bee enough and serve the turne in this Divinity besides who sees not that wicked men doe grieve over and above out of feare or shame or both for some sins and more than godly men doe for the same or the like sinnes and yet who dares say that by reason of this their griefe they could never offend in the same againe Iudas did grieve and sob extraordinary for killing Christ yet I do not thinke but had the case come in his way hee would have murthered him againe no trusting him who presently after killed himselfe and we finde some who for murther fall into those flats of sorrow that they doe run upon their owne deaths and cause themselves for very remorse of conscience to dye a dogs death Let us then say that it is a dāgerous case for a godly man to sinne the same great sin after repentance what if it doe not put him out of Christ what if it do not hang him Yet it burnes him in the hand whips him up and down the towne my meaning is that it doth cast him into a bed of miserable sorrow but withall we must say that it may possibly be that after true hearty repentance for such a fault a child of God may chance to fal into the same sin againe and again how often I cannot tel but this I can tell that how often soever hee sinneth let him repent and returne and his pardon is ready They wrong GOD in his mercy and men in their comfort who doe say the contrary 3. The third duty that wee are to looke to after the tentation is that in case we do not finish the sin not act the fault but doe drive away this fury that then wee bee very thankefull to God t is his doing only t is his grace that moved him to stand for us when we were in danger to cast away our comfort it is a great mercy to rise againe but a greater too when God comes and stands betwixt us and the fall Of the two it is better not to sin the sin than to bee recovered after wee are down as it is in it self for a man to bee preserved from a disease than to be cured of the disease I confesse that wee have a greater experimentall taste both of the love and power of GOD when wee are recovered but yet as touching our peace and comfort I hope wee all see it is better not to sin the sin than having sinned to be healed we save a great deale of inward paine and bitter sorrow by the bargaine Christ I know tels us most Divinely and sweetly that to whom much is forgiven such doe love much but yet we must not sin many sins that so much may bee forgiven us and wee love much this were to turne the grace of God into wantonnesse and that which Augustine hath up and downe in his Tomes answers all that those also are to love much who have beene preserved by the providence and power of God from doing such and so many transgressions as some others have for why saith hee have we not sinned those sins was the cause in our nature Is the reason in our will No but only in the goodnesse of God wee are then to thanke him and love him for the sins we have committed and have had our pardon for them and for those many more which wee should have done had not the Lord beene all one as though wee had done them and had found a pardon of them and one degree more and that is that by reason of his meere mercy we have beene strongly preserved from so sinning against our God from so troubling the quiet of our owne hearts and in some particulars from so scandalizing the Church and people of GOD. 4. The fourth duty after the tentation is to make a good use of it to get some good out of it wee must come to some fruit after wee have beene so handled with such bitter plunges The Earth after Winter becomes fruitfull so must wee be now the good that comes by tentation is manifold 1. A sight of some corruption wee saw not before the beginning of all our comfort ariseth from an humble sight of our corruptions and t is fit that when we will not see them and abhor them by what we finde in the word we should have the experience of them in our selves then we say till now little did I thinke I had beene thus and thus given to such rebellions then wee cry ah wretched man that I am what a Beast what a divell am I This doth mightily empty us of our selves and then we quickly fill with God with Christ this is amends enough for all our toile that wee are made to see somewhat in our selves which wee never thought to bee in our hearts 2. The second is to see that ther is some sin not sufficiently and thorowly mortified that as yet wee have not gone to the quick of it and what that sin is and now to take it in hand againe and never give over till wee breake the heart of it lest it lye in the winde and doe us some spight against
for feare lest hee be out who could say perfect till hee came to say and a girle being threatned and terrified breaks the glasse only for feare of breaking it so when we are in feare joyned with discouragement Satan hath a great advantage and those sinnes amplified and set up doe mightily faint and discourage the heart and spirits of men and who can fight with any heart against an enemy that hee hath little or no hope to conquer Now when we doe make our sins worser than they are then it doth secretly steale away our hope and so we make no great hast to resist nor have no great heart to fight we then must learne not to make it lesse lest we be too slothful nor more lest we be too fearefull but just as the matter is as neere as we can that so wee may bee fitted and prepared to fight the good fight of faith with diligence and watchfulnesse 2. Wee must not suffer the thoughts of these horrible tentations to tarry in our mindes they are Gods and our greatest enemies and we must shut the doore against them what if we dislike and distaste them yet as one notes this rowling of them up and downe in our heads doth show that there is an insensible likening of them in our hearts we must set our hatred against them and thrust them away presently and hold it a dangerous thing to thinke of them God cannot take it well if wee mislike a thing in judgement and doe not set against it with the meanes God hath appointed and sanctified to that use Satan will coozen us as though that our very misliking of them were enough in things foule and that there were no feare of danger wheras nature it selfe doth looke sadly at these tentations and the mislike we feele may well come from the influence of the law and light of nature I have learned that we are never the further off from a tentation for our misliking it onely but the nearer except withall in affection we humble for it as well as distaste it in our judgments what if the dislike be not because it is a sin but because there is some feare or shame This is selfe-love and pride and this will worke in the sin if we goe no further and that by Gods just judgement our duty then is not to suffer the thoughts of such wounding and terrifying tentations to tumble up and downe in our mindes though we have no minde to them for either by discouraging us or enticing us they will get further hold but wee must cast them off set the word against them and turne our thoughts to some better subject and chiefly to thinke on those two great Dayes the day of Death and the day of Iudgement 3. Wee must of all see that we set not against those of our owne strength we can doe nothing by our owne power against any lust but least in these because what through feare horror in som what through the swinge and violent torrent of these two passions of anger and lust a man hath but little use of that reason he hath and so the more he strives this way the worse it is it doth but encrease our desires to the sinne our strength is here to pray and expect and laying all naturall and carnall weapons aside let God alone to doe all and out of grace it is that hee doth doe for us what he doth in our trials and conflicts and therefore Paul had his answer that all was to bee done by the grace and mercy of God and so we finde that the Lord said not to him my power but my grace is sufficient for thee wherefore we must put al upon the power and grace of God turne Satan to God to Christ for his answer set the grace of God against our sins when comming to prevent them when come to pardon them set the power of God against the strength of them all beleeve it that the grace of God is sufficient either to prevent us or preserve us He is in great danger who in any but of all in these potent tentations goes by his owne wit or reason or worth or strength Hee is in safe case who can say I deserve nothing I can doe nothing but hurt my selfe and make worke for sinne and Satan I meane to put all upon GOD who will worke mightily in me and for me but the grace of God which is with me he is all in all hee will doe all or nothing that he may have all the praise of his grace The helpes which serve in severall for every particular assault might be many some we will propose and first for those tentations which are in things of God then in things of man for God we are much assaulted to Atheisme and Blasphemy to Atheisme as the greatest sin that is in that it smites at the roote of all for to say the truth all sin is from Atheisme for who would sin did he then verily thinke that there were a God that saw all and would punish all and such a God God must be or no God and to Atheisme for when we have sinned sinne doth draw towards Atheisme exceedingly wipes out all notions of a Deity as much as it can and when wee are in sin wee must bee either willing to get out of it by repentance or else wee shall bee willing to turne Atheists the best of our play then being to feed our selves with a conceit that all is but talke to hold men in awe and that there is indeed neither heaven nor hell no place of torment that when wee dye all is gone no otherwise than with a Beast when the conscience will not get quiet by turning to God by repentance then it will seeke to quiet it selfe by unbeliefe bearing it selfe in hand that there is no such thing as hell to torment men in consider withall that Sathan doth all he can to make men Atheists because when there is no feare of God before mens eyes they will sinne all manner of sinnes that the divell would have them sin So Psal 14. The foolish hath said in his heart there is no God what followes They are corrupt they have done abominable works thus then when once men take to Atheisme they grow most corrupt and doe abominable workes there is no hoe in sinning then for what shold or can keep the wit and wil of man in when once wee conceit that there is no such thing as God the divell cannot bee a flat Atheist for he beleeves trembles and were it nothing but the sence he hath of the wrath of God tormenting why That is enough to prove that Satan doth fully undoubtedly acknowledge a Divine power He is not an Atheist because he cannot because he shall not but yet he beares good will to Atheisme because that sin doth much advantage his kingdome Saint Iames doth prove that God tempts no man
base corruptions or some dishonourable passions then this is from spirituall pride and all this is no true trouble of conscience at all we may know whether it be thus or not if that other sins as grosse and great in Gods sight which have in them or after them no shame nature shames not at them the world doth not cry shame of them but rather as many sinnes of profit and delight are in credit in the world and doe bring respect amongst men now if wee finde that such sins do passe without any such trouble the conscience saith as much as nothing though wee be convinced that they are sins if thus then the case is cleare that it is a trouble which wee make and not which sinne or God doth make It is shame as shame not sinne as sin that doth cause all this cry it is not for the sin but for the effect of sin that we thus complaine 2 If bad and not base whether to the face of the world or to the naturall principles which are in us then the troubles that wee feele in the conscience are spirituall and sincere they are for sinne as sinne because it is naught or rather because it is for bidden by God for many things have no morall naughtinesse in them yet are sins because they are forbidden by God and if these things trouble the minde such wounds come the right way and God will cure them as because wee heare not the Word receive not the Sacrament which in the dictates of nature were no sinnes had not Gods written law bin In a word when we finde that the blow our conscience doth give us is because the fact is a fault a thing forbidden by God here the matter doth run right and it is very conscience which moves in that case 3. When bad and base both the terror is great and it proves an occasion of great humiliation and casting a man downe wee are so proud and high in our owne conceits that base tentations which produce inward shame to the minde of a man and if they come abroad outward shame and scorne amongst men doe mightily abase a man and are an excellent cure for spirituall pride Here wee shall finde a mixt passion working feares in the heart and complaints in the conscience of a man for as the sin is bad so it doth trouble because it threatens the wrath of God and is accompanied many times with a fore-feeling of the wrath to come As it is base so it doth draw over the heart and conscience of a man an inward blushing and shame and I may say it that true internall shame making the conscience red againe with blushing testifies repentance more and rather than sorrow A wicked man may grieve but for this spirituall intrinsicall shame it is not in wicked men we must note that an outward shame is in the unregenerate when they have sinned some sins which the world doth point at this is a shame before man and there is some inward shame also which wicked men do feele in themselves too and that is in and for such sins as are against the law of nature and such conviction as generall illumination and common graces doe cause here the heart will blush but in such sins as are not knowne to be sins but by the conviction of the spirit here to shame to have an heart as red as fire with a blushing before GOD this is a good thing and proper to the godly and it is most when the sins are base thinke not that there is any sin which is not base in it selfe but to us and in comparison we use to name some speciall sins base sins this is that shame Paul meanes what fruit have you in those things wherof ye are now ashamed Ro. 6. 21 Yee are now which showes that when and whilst they were in the state of nature they were not ashamed of them Well then a wicked man may grieve for sin because of the punishment feared or felt or both because there is wrath hanging over his head by an haire because sins lyes at the doore and here are selfe-respects out of love and care to our skin because we would not be punished here or hereafter but this shame is not because sin is punishable but by reason that it is filthy it ariseth from the turpitude of sin and this is hearty to make a stand at sin because it is filthy and ugly To be ashamed of some effects of sin as Adam in his fall I meane at his nakednesse is in wicked men but to have this inward shame in the coÌ„science because of the innate filthinesse and turpitude of sin this is not in the wicked nor in their trouble of minde and was not in Iudas when I say there is not onely griefe for sin as bad as punishable as bad respecting God as punishable respecting our selvs but also a shame in the mind of a man that he cannot looke up for blushing then it is as it should be and the pang of conscience which comes from this sorrow and shame is many times very great and this is a troublesom estate while it doth last but it is not danger ouâ— To apply the three sins I mentioned viz. Theft Vncleannesse Murther doe smite home partly because they be bad and partly because they be base 1. To begin with Theft wee must beware that wee doe not filch the worth of a penny froÌ„ any man that which in our common notation is called theft is more base than the great sin of Rapine and Robery because that in rapine there is som manhood and fortitude showed such as it is but in theft is nothing but a base minde and because the law is so strict and flat against theeving the name of a theefe is odious and it doth pay our hearts home and there is very much trouble of minde because men doe use to spit at this sin and the reason is rather because it is a wrong to man than for that it is a sinne against God and sure wee must see that wee doe keepe cleane fingers that by no kinde of unjust alienation wee either take or keepe any thing from any body which in right is his wee all love to be truly and justly dealt with and therefore nature it selfe if it may bee heard speake will cry fye and shame upon a false finger Because then it maks a breach into the meum tuum of mâ—n which we see rather than for that it doth make a breach in the law of GOD which wee see not this sinne doth clogge the consciences of men what ever the ful cause be we finde that it doth pester the minde of man and the conscience held and hampered with a clogge is like a distempered lock which no key will open we must therefore to keep our conscience as free as may bee beware that wee doe not touch that which is anothers but if
mind but if a man have it in his hand about his meales or any other good use then to put the knife up ere one hath done out of these feares is to faint and come in too much to the devill and though one doe finde some seeming ease for the instant yet it is but like drinking cold Beere in the shakeing of an Ague the disease will grow the worse after Right so Satan will hold on his tentations with the greater violence the way to drive away our tentation is to keepe our knives about us and when out about some good and usefull imployment by no meanes to put them up for feare but to fight it out against Satan by setting the Word and Christ against him and do this a while and wee shall have peace so others dare not come or not abide in such or such a place bebause there they use to be tempted to selfe-murther but this is not the way have we businesse there or have we not If none What make we there Chiefly in the night or darke if wee have then go thither stay there out our time the tentation wil more fright us than hurt us and it will ere long settle us that we shall have as much quiet there as in any roome else some in their beds in tâ—e dead time of the night are assaulted they rise and think that the way if they rise to fit themselves the better to pray I say nothing to that I rather commend it but if we rise and avoid the bed chamber for very feare I like it not it never helpes the more wee rise the more we may we shall never have done rather wee shall grow worse and the tentation will grow upon us what then Lye still looke to God to his Word in any hand yeeld not to the divell to flye the roome the bed to call for candle it is to flye from the divell wee must abide by it fight it out by faith and Satan will flye from us God would have us stand and it is best to beate the divell in the selfe same place where Sathan thinkes to foile us I am at prayer by my selfe or meditating in a secret place within or without doores I am filled w th a feareful thought that sure Satan is behind mee what now Doe not flye the place goe on make an end Satan cannot hurt say we quake every joint of us yet hold on quake and pray quake and meditate and we shall make Satan quake and flye neither is it good to bee looking behinde one for it is a service and kind of obeying the divell a man shall never have done but stand our ground out-looke the divell say I am about a lawfull worke in my right place I will not turne my feet or face aside for all the divels in hell Satan is the Lords enemy and God cannot take it well that wee should doe any thing for feare of him Againe I never goe over such or such a bridge but I am tempted to cast my selfe in and therefore I go round about or if I goe over the bridge I run over to bee on the other side quickly for very feare alas the day what a miserable life this is we must not thus yeeld but goe over and not about and goe over as we use to go on the plaine ground and as others use to go over the same bridge doe thus with a constant heart and after a time or two we shall bee free from such horrors and feares else we shall hang in this misery perhaps while we live as not to dare to go over such a bridge but wee must runne O Cowards These be you think but toies beleeve it there is more in it than you are aware of it helpes against the divell it frees the heart of a man from a world of vexing and disquieting feares so for our nearest and dearest friends Satan doth sometimes push at the people of God to lay violent hands on their wives their children and that in the night now the way to helpe all is not to doe as some doe to rise to avoide the bed the chamber this is a kind of base fearing and yeelding to the divell lye still stirre not a foote Satan is soonest vanquished and our hearts best eased by resisting so for children when wee are assaulted with such hideous tentations many thinke to mend the matter by putting the children out of the roome out of the house out of sight this is but to shift their their place is to be in the house and roome where we are it is our duty to have them much in our sight it doth but skin over the matter for a time to put them away the best way is to stand to it and beat off Satan in those tentations our children standing by Now here wee must beware that wee doe not entertaine a tempting conceit as though we did not love our wives we did not care for our children and were with out naturall affection because we are haunted with such monstrous motions This proves indeed that Satans tentations are unnatural and would produce much unnaturall effects this proves that Satan cannot abide that families the ground-worke of all communion amongst men in Townes and States should accord and be in any peace this proves that if Satan might have his way he would have us all to be as he is but so many pititious murtherers First of our best friends and then of our selves it proves not that wee love not our friends because of these motions for a man may bee often assaulted to doe himselfe harme and yet for all that he doth love himselfe and tender his owne good too for all that and therefore a man may well bee a tender husband to a wife and parent to a childe for all these Satanicall suggestions for let any other touch the least haire of our heads and offer the least hurt to the worst and least member we have we doe startle at it and should any other person or thing come with any violence towards our children we will step betwixt them and the blow and even venter our owne lives to bee a meanes to save theirs and wee finde that such as are vexed with such sudden motions towards their children are yet so tender over them that they will scarce suffer the winde to blow upon them and sick with them wheÌ„ they are sick reckon of no pain no care for them when in any danger which showes naturall affection to abound A man is not to judge of the affections by the feeling motion of them nor by the stirring of them in his bowels nor at all by what he feeles himselfe to bee in the tentation but by the effects if there bee such fruits which nothing produceth but love and affection it is past all question that there is no such totall want and generall defect that way We cannot abide to heare God evill spoken of which showes that our heart
this may bee a way to heaven As I love not so I meane not to judge the way of charity is to leave Gods secrets to himselfe but I urge this that men would hold their tongues and pens as much as may be least in thinking to doe good they doe hurt and by going thus about the bush hoping thereby to ease the hearts of men doe mightily plague and disquiet them for what will Satan say dispatch man thou maist be saved for all this such a learned man hath so written hath so said And lastly wee must all worke it out with feare and trembling and know that wee have no safety no not from our selves but under the shadow of the Lord wee are alwayes to stand as in his hands and keepe our continuall acquaintance with and dependance on God know that without him we are poore weake creatures that we cannot beare our selves that the greatest earthly blessing under heaven life it selfe is quickly made a mans greatest burthen that no man can stand before a wounded conscience before an Angell we may stand but wee cannot stand before him when he is angry that man hath no spirit no courage in him if God leave him to himselfe keepe in with God and pray him to defend us from our selves The last is the lust of uncleannesse which doe presse upon the conscience as much if not more than any because they are very sensuall and of a beastiall and brutish nature deprives a man not onely of religion but of the free use of reason are many of them committed with and upon another and so a second person is brought within the guilt as also by reason of the concomitant fleshly delight for they are acted with very great willingnesse and when many of them are done though nature it selfe say No to them they are done with very much wilfullnesse and now where much will is there is much guilt where much guilt is there is much horror and then againe because these lusts do pervert the order and course of man-kinde irregulating the right succession of families and in the point of adultery and that kinde of bastardy it doth put in a strange bird to inherit the nest and weare away the feathers which is unspeakeable theft and to be confessed of the adulternesse lest to her foule adultery she adde horrible theft that the child of a stranger carry not away the goods or lands of the family These and many other concurrant or consequent absurdeâ—ies doe make this sinne cry aloud and it hath a speciall measure and order of uncleannesse above any sinne else All sins are uncleane and Satan is an uncleane spirit but there is something in it why the Apostle is so distinct as to call this sin above all other the lust of uncleannesse Great care and diligence is to be used to hold these lusts off They are in the Originall appointed to preserve the species of mankinde and as hunger is a potent desire it being ordained to preserve the person of man in the individuall so much more these motions are violent and mighty being made to make good the succession and propagation of the whole kinde of man mighty they are when they runne in the right channell but if wee suffer them to take a wrong bias and to fall into unlawfull courses where Sathan drives them on how then doe they beare downe all And cast a man into such a subjection and as I may call it voluntary compulsion that the Apostle saith such cannot cease to sin Againe I must borrow leave to put in this that wee are the rather to take heed of these pollutions because when we are in once by reason of the great sense of guilt they carry with them in that they flie in the face of both spirituall and naturall conscience at once they bring men to great terrors and inward horrors making men beleeve that there is no hope of such and from thence men run upon the rocks of selfe-murthering tentations and more I think have made themselves away out of inward feares arising from some uncleane prankes than for any one thing else and the cause hereof is because that these lusts bring great shame amongst men if once out but the maine is because they carry with them great inward â—â—â—â—e not only spirituall betwixt 〈◊〉 and ones selfe but naturall 〈◊〉 twixt a man and himselfe and as wee see in those actions of this nature where they are without sin yet there is a kind of naturall shame And now because there is such shame of all sorts men are wondrous loth to let any man know what the matter is that troubles them And in tentation of selfe-killing if a man keepe the core to himselfe he is in great danger but if a man doe once out with it after he hath beene with God and it will not doe I say if then one doe out with all to a wise and a trusty friend that he is in the tentation of murthering himselfe and the cause to be some foule uncleane pollution why then one would wonder upon what a sudden the heart will feele ease and the cure is as good as done But now because there is such shame and we are loth to out with it that we have beene uncleane and the burning fire will hardly quench except one breake up the Boile and vent the corruption by opening all our mind to some godly friend upon these considerations I propose it as an excellent peece of counsell to all to beware of the lusts of uncleannesse the sin is great the consequence greater Moreover this is a great matter in it too that we doe grow into troubles of minde for sin according as we do apprehend them in the greatnesse of them and we doe conceive much of the greatnesse of sin according as the opinion and judgement of the world goes These are not in our apprehension ever the greatest sinnes which the world saith are but which are most out of request with the world Now this lust of uncleannesse is a great eye-sore amongst men it is so rated at by many men as though God had made but onely the seventh Commandement whereas covetousnesse and pride far greater sinnes in themselves take them precisely are not so esteemed amongst men no nor amongst common Christians A man may goe for a great professor and yet be extreame covetous as we see in Iudas but if he be a man given to uncleannesse it is a sin so out of all credit that a man knowne to be infected with it cannot amongst men in their opinion goe for a professor as some tearme themselves and now because the world doth hoote at this sin wee are apt to â—ind exceedingly in our consciences when we are overtaken in this uncleane passion and to grow towards a bloudy conclusion as though the sinne had in it that greatnesse that there were now no hope of us And this may well
in many Nations And many particular persons have doted wonderfully after this preposterous lust and have taken more bruitish and hellish delight in it than in those passions which are according to nature This then must be avoided by all meanes and all occasions of it warily eschewed he sinne is great it is a corrupting and a rotting of the very rudiments of nature in all things looke what corrupts the foundation and principall of things must needs be worst The punishment was great in that utter overthrow of Sodome In the Deluge water from heaven drownds here as in their sinne they had over-turned the law of nature so in their punishment there was an inversion of the course of nature for not water but fire came from heaven and burned them whose lusts were thus set on fire of hell It is used as a type of hell it is a crying sin The cry of Sodome and Gomorrah is great Gen. 18. 20. There is no sin but hath a voice but this amongst many and above most other sins hath a lowd and a crying voice it is heard to heaven it hath a lowd mouth to accuse which cry is nothing else but the guilt of conscience and the justice of God the conscience being full of matter and ready to accuse and God to heare As a man through importunity is drawn to execute justice against his minde so this sin doth so put God to it that hee must needs proceed except we come with hearty repentance hee cannot res nor be just till hee have sorely and sharpely punished it The thing I urge then sith the sin and the guilt is so great and will make such a noise in the conscience is by all meanes to keepe from the sin and from all spice of it to shun all occasions of it to take heed of that which Quintilian puts off in a Schoole-Master which is Nimium est quod intelligitur and he is so strict this way that he will not have bigger and lesser youths sit much together We may see what wrought Sodome to this sin Idlenesse pride fulnesse of bread these must be heedfully avoided and such sins as wee read Rom. 1. were in the justice of God punished with and by this passion of dishonour we must be thankfull to God for the light we have and in some measure walke according to the truth wee see They made God like a foure-footed beast and GOD gave them up to a sin which did abase them into a worse condition than of beasts and for such as are unmaried and have not the gift and by the use of al the meanes cannot get it such must know that it is better to marry than to burne and if they will rather burne than marry they are in a foule way to fall into this scalding sin which sin if they commit brings with it a world of misery and after when such shall happen to marry by the just hand of God they are suffered for a punishment of the former wickednesse to forsake as Paul saith the naturall use and run into that which is unnaturall and these are most monstrous lusts when all is done by way of preparation disposition of our hearts and thoughts against these corruptions that which will save us from the staine of these filthy puddles must be the pure and holy Word of God Set the Word against the sin and the sin is laid set the Word against Satan in this his tentation and â—atan cannot abide by it Satan 〈◊〉 no more abide the light of 〈◊〉 Word than an Owle can 〈◊〉 â—â—ining of the Sun say I 〈…〉 doe it I may not I 〈◊〉 it is forbidden in such 〈◊〉 place and againe in such a place It is called not onely a sinne but which shewes an height of sinning abomination both of them have committed abomination saith the text The punishment of it by Gods own Law was death no lesse than death present death they shall surely bee put to death their bloud shall bee upon them and the law was flat and peremptory that no Sodomite must bee amongst the sons of Israel and in that never the like reformation Iosiah brake downe the houses of the Sodomites which were by the house of the Lord 2 Kings 23. 7. Asa the father and Iehosaphat the sonne had swept away those unclean nests in their dayes but we see they grew on againe till Iosiah came and made a ful purgation These and such other places show that this sin is strong â—â—â—den and severely 〈◊〉 to which adde the wrath 〈◊〉 God on such in hell 1 Cor. â— These are the best medicines that bee which being rightly used and applied doe ever doe the cure Next to provide against the worst say a man be a sinner in this great wickednesse yet he must not run away from his father that will marre all There be I know degrees in this sinne but say it bee at the worst yet there is mercy with God repentance will make it up againe it is good to make all hast to returne sith lasciviousnesse is a sin which useth to seare up the conscience till the time of reckoning for al comes and God doth sometimes after a while shut up his gates of mercy and then as Chrysostome notes often though Noah Iob Moses Samuel and Daniel shold intercede it would bee to no purpose They were men of God who in their times did by their prayers do great things and compasse marvellous matters for particular persons for Families for Countries and yet when the glasse is out and the decree determined is past when the time is over wherein God may be found their prayers for others come in too late it is good then to bee at it with the soonest I meane not that ever it is too late to repent or that if we repent we can misse of mercy No no the fountaine stands open alwayes open in the house of David for sin and for uncleannesse and this unclean person as Paul cals him if he repent he shall finde mercy God forbid we should have such a thought as though this sin could staine so deepe that the bloud of Christ could not fetch it out our meaning is that whilst the conscience is awake and we have a faire offer made us by the Word and Spirit knocking at our hearts it is good wisdome to take Gods offer delaies be dangerous for if we will not know the day of our visitation God may and what if in justice he shall refuse to give us to repent then let our friends move for us God will not heare were they as good at praying as ever Iob Daniel Noah and Samuel were Let such then who are in this offence come in by all meanes in all hast to the Lord and when the Angell moves the water step into this Bath this Fountaine know that GOD would never
to give us over unto this sinfull sinne 3. Such must be chast betwixt themselves beware of excesse and defect Divines tâ—ll of excesse but if there be too much there may be too little else what meanes that phrase of S. Paul lest Satan tempt you for your incontinencie there must bee quenching nor provoking of lust raging lust is a great enemie to love and it is raging and is loth to be contented with one and if not with one then indeed and upon the matter with none Dalliances are forbidden First words and talke full of obscenity betwixt them two is not lawfull they must not by words corrupt one anothers chastitie worse than to taint the chastitie of a stanger for that here is or ought to be most love What if no body be by yet God is by and chastity the honour and honesty of the estate is by Secondly the eyes must be pure and chaste else the next will be that the eyes of such will be full of adultery it crosseth the end of matrimony which is not to fire but to extinguish lust I have read that it is against the Law of Nature for one without necessary cause to see his owne nakednesse but what ever credit we give to the judgement of men we have it in the Word that Adam and Eve when there was no living creature by the very instinct of nature did teach them to make coverings to hide their nakednesse from the sight one of another this I am sure that the Lord doth use to correct such intemperate couses and practises with strong and vexing tentations after strange flesh this is the ordinary effect of this abuse and they who shall avoid such irregular prankes shall finde a sweet enjoyment one of another and true affections stirred up with more naturall delight and heavenly content Isaac I know sported with his wife but it was no body being by and what if it were such that the King who over-saw all knew thereby that shee was his wife yet it was in all modesty for no dâ—lliance nor sporting is allowed to a man with another woman this sporting did discover to an heathen that hee was her husband although he gave it out that he was her brother But it was not of that nature we now treat of that the Patriarches and Matriarches carried it with all possible modesty in those dayes we may see it cleare by the story of Iacob and Leah Beleeve it modesty is the best preserver of nuptiall chastity mariage is no stale nor cover to any uncleane and base practises love doth no unsightly nor unseemely thing 4. The bed must be sanctified and kept undefiled by the Word and Prayer The Word is as Divines show us up and downe a mighty healer of this corruption and it stands like a strong Tower against all these base and uncleane lusts To the Word there must be Prayer adjoyned else wee rely too much on the Physick and it is not like to doe and if Physicke workes not right it makes one worse and so here as we finde none so uncleane as some married people God must then be sent for to blesse the physick to the soule other things we know as eating and drinking must be sanctified by prayer prayer is then rather and more to bee used here because the passion is so strong and reason so weake where reason is in a manner put besides its present use there I hope prayer hath greatest place eating is to take away the naturall passion of hunger and drinke of thirst yet we are to pray over our meales but here the ordinance is to cure sin to worke on the soule to heale a strong corruption which cannot usually bee done without the influence of heaven and thence it followes that wee have cause to pray more in this case than in eating and drinking praying I say there ought to bee say by way of supposition that prayer at meat should take away ones minde to ones meate why then wee would counsell one to pray for a blessing before-hand so here to pray will bring in the blessing of God which is all in all in spirituall medicines as this is being as I said to cure the sin of the soule prayer will keepe men that they shall not surfet and so come to a loathing nor fall into a defect here must be a satisfying as Salomon sayes and drinking away our thirst at our owne Cesterne lest wee hanker after a strange fountaine prayer will make a man keepe himselfe from all base and absurd and abusive dalliances it will make and keepe the bed undefiled and encrease love and mutuall affection Love hath a sure foundation when it is built not on beauty or wealth but upon prayer and grace Satan cannot abide to see men and women in this estate to live in quiet and love and this makes him to use all the art and power hee hath to trouble the waters to blow up the affections after a wrong object for then when such lusts are in love goes out he knowes that the droppings of love will keepe us from such immoderate desires which makes him to goe all the wayes he can to worke to fill the head full of surmises and jealousies the heart full of extravagant lusts and all to marre the harmony which ought to be betwixt couples the house the towne is out of quieâ— when such are out of love all which cals upon such as are married to be as watchfull and carefull to keepe all right to remember that it is the convenant of the Lord that it is not made by man but by the Lord all covenants else that are lawfull are a far off the covenant of the Lord and done in his sight but here the Lord is a party and God hath a speciall hand in this bargaine and he sees as within book quite â—horâ—w and is acquainted with all our thoughts a far off wherefore wee must in thought in word and in deed keepe close to the party the Lord hath bound us unto and wherein we have entred into bond to the Lord for our faithfulnesse such then must be a covering to one anothers eyes else the heart will not stand cleane and the meanes before prescribed and other both naturall and morall directions which wee finde up and downe in Writers must be used with all care and conscience and much diligence and all little enough our nature is catching this way and once in it is not so easie to come off but rather to runne in this case further and further off or else grow into discontents pangs of conscience terrours of heart inward gripings out of which if wee come the right way it must bee with much bitternesse after we have waded first 〈◊〉 a kinde of purgatory if we never claw off those gripings the right way then such run into a seared conscience or which is worse breake prison and thrust themselves out of this
once caught to turne the eye away but the object of the eye must bee out of sight that it may be out of mind and then when another comes be before hand prevent the cunning of Sathan by keeping the eye off Iob as honest and as chast a man as lived yet he did make a covenant with his eyes that hee would not thinke on a maid by the course of the letter he shold have said that hee made a covenant with his eyes that hee should not looke on a maid but in stead of saying looke hee saith thinke because â—ooking usually brings thinking and thinking worse A maid hath an inclination in it in one sense and a cut loafe a covered cup carries strong poyson in it in another sense whether maid or maried hee doth best who binds his eyes from such looking that he be not overtaken and when the fire is once in he doth next best who puts the object out of sight and out of mind Some cry out on their eyes and doth even wish their eyes out and in this sense they may as well wish their hands off their feet off their eares off and member after member til al were off this is but to complain of God who made us these meÌ„bers and senses this is not the way it doth not please God and were it as we wish it would not please us for were we blinde all would bee one as long as the fire is unquenched within and our passions are suffered to bee up Wee know what Christ saith I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of this world but that thou wouldst sanctifie them through thy truth so we are not to wish our eyes out but our sin out and to pray him to sanctifie our hearts and eyes by his truth and then away out of doores with that which wee being led by our lust have made the object and occasion and it will mend and grow better It is true that if the object be removed the tentation for the time may cease and no victory as keepe a Sow from mire in a Meddow and the Sow wallowes not take away the Load-stone and the Iron moves not here is no reall change the intention of the minde is not changed nor the affection of the heart neither Such have a minde and a desire to the old lust still but if a man can remove the occasion of his owne proper motion not another take it away but hee himselfe put it away not be kept from it but keepe ones selfe of ones owne will from it this is from grace and here is a victory Vse these and the like means and hold on for a competent time in using of them and wee shal conquer the tentation must and will away Dis-may not though the conquest come not presently what Give over because the physick doth not heale at once taking Be out of heart because all is not done in a day It is not so easie to untie a knot in a silken thread the conscience is of a fine spinning and knots knit there and such as have bin long a knitting too will not bee undone on a sudden have patience give it time and now some and then some Gods medicines will heale and when wee finde the cure done and wee get some strength of grace by all meanes remember to be thankefull lest the tentation come againe and bring seven worse than its selfe But what if the ease I finde be onely because sin and Satan in skill doe cease to tempt if so then our danger remaines we keepe our weapon about us wee may know if it be onely a ceasing to tempt and the lust is onely for a time asleepe First if it bee done without using GODS meanes in Gods feare Secondly if we finde that the lust is only left not hated but if the sinne be hated then it is more than a bare ceasing from the sinne for Satan forbearing and sinne sleeping cannot bring us to an hatred of the sinne I speake not onely of a disapproving of the sin for so a civill man may doe and because it did molest us we may thence be brought to a dislike of it but if wee finde that we can hate it this proves that there is grace in us a divine nature which is contrary to that lust and that chastity is now in the place of the tentation and this cannot come onely from Satans ceasing and forbearing To cease is but a negative thing but chastitie is a positive qualitie which meere negative ceasing and giving over to solicite and tempt can never worke in us Thus when our chast affections are had out of the fire and we have attained this power by spirituall meanes used and waiting upon God for the successe Dispute nor say I have gotten the victory and the God of heaven hath eased mee of the vexation given mee a chast minde to my content and my comfort with body and soule both wee must exceedingly rejoyce in this vertue It is a grace which doth not onely sanctifie but grace and beautifie us all the paint in the world cannot cast such a shining vernish on the very body of a man as chastitie doth Thus much to shew the readie way how to prevent the tentation of lust and uncleannesse The last of all is in a word to helpe us out in case wee doe goe too far we must take heed of both the extreames 1. That we doe not run upon the Rocks of Despaire there is nothing got by discouragement during the time of huge and mightie terrors it may bee wee shall have no minde nor heart to tamper with those lusts againe but yet for other sinnes every way worse worse to God and worse to us we lye all open to them when we are in great dejection as Discontent Distrust a secret rising against God Vnthankefulnesse A finding fault with all that God either saith or doth No care of the Word to reckon no other of the Scripture than of our very Neck-verse and a world of mischiefes more which are the greatest sinnes indeed in these occasions wee are very apt to fall off from Gods mercie to frie in hellish sorrow no sins doe so fire the conscience of a man as these lusts of uncleannesse doe they stare in our faces looke upon our consciences as it were with the eyes of so many devils and in this respect wee must take great heed that wee be not quite out of heart when a man is past hope hee is in his own sense past grace and when a man is made a terrour to himselfe great danger is at hand and therefore when frights doe come and such doe finde themselves too to apt to joyne with the motion to despaire looke upon Gods love beare up in an apprehension and application of his mercie Looke upon instances in the Word of better men than wee are who in the same or the like have seene a good end of all and are now
lawes are in the substance of them the very lawes of nature and by the Decalogue there is in all cases of necessity still a propriety of goods the argument in Melancthon is firme The eight Commandement is a naturall law it stands Iure Divino but by the eighth Commandement there is established a distinction between mine and thine so it concludes strongly that propriety of things is not by law positive but by law Divine and naturall Moreover if that community of things were a law of nature it had bin immutable and al things shold and ought to be common in all times and cases Neither can any man shew why the eighth Commandement being a law of nature should be subject to be dispensed with by cases of necessity any more than any other or al the ten Commandements Al the rest stand firme in the body of theÌ„ against all necessities whatsoever and therefore this Next we prove our case out of the Word There is a stealing for need saith Salomon but if this be so that need maks all things common there can bee no stealing for need sith in cases of necessity what ever a man takes to supply his need he takes but his owne say they I am sorry then that any Protestant should write and print that in this case necessity taketh away all reason of sinning This is but to close with Bellarmine as though now in extreame necessity it were alienated no longer The onely objection worth the answering is from Mat. 12 1. where we read that the Disciples being an hungred did pluck and eate the eares of câ—rne and that therefore they doing well in it it is a lawfull thing to take that which is anothers in case of necessity The answer is that this was not done by theÌ„ on this ground because necessity tooke away propriety but because it was their owne they tooke by the gift of God who is the right chiefe owner of all the creatures in the World In Deut. 23. 25. God had given them a warrant so to doe in the Land of Canaan and that things were not then made common by necessity it is plaine by the words which follow in that very text But thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbours standing corn which might have been done without offence to GOD or wrong to man if this were true which Iesuites teach that in point of necessity not onely in respect of one person but also in respect of ones condition nothing is any mans but all things are every mans for the case may bee that a man and his family may be cast upon extreame need that a sickle put in his neighbours corne will not supply the hunger of him and his so much as the plucking the eares of corne did stay the stomacks and the hunger of the Disciples and yet I think that it was never held but as a thing forbidden to the Iewes by that law for a man in never so great necessity to put his sickle in his neighbours corne and that a Iew was rather to famish than so to doe which shewes the little truth that is in that assertion that necessity maks things common amongst men The Disciples did it because they had warrant and leave from God who was the owner of that corne and the law of God was on their side And for our times I doubt not but it is lawfull for one to pluck an apple or to take an eare or so of corne and eate it not only for ones very need but for ones delight and content The equity of that judiciall law of Moses saith somewhat but my ground is because a man in such cases hath an implicite and tacite consent the owner sometimes is by when we pluck plums and apples or so and wee never aske him leave though he looke on and in this case hee that saith not no saith yea and say he be absent and we know not who is the owner neither yet I thinke this lawfull because we have an interpretative consent wee have a morall perswasion that were the owner by hee would give us leave to pluck an eare to catch a peare with heart and good will which motion being in the heart of man doth free him from any theft and also wee see it a common matter which ordinarinesse of the thing helpes to make this good that there is in all men a kinde of consent and leave vertually given to all passengers and the like to pluck an eare an apple or apples a plum a peare or so and this is warrant enough if it bee not abused to save the conscience of a man harmelesse against that law of God Thou shalt not steale here is no stealing because here is a kinde of consent of the owner though not actuall yet vertuall and implicite and such a tacite consent is enough whether the fact be done before the owners face or behind his back Againe if need did make things so far forth common as might satisfie our need then where no need is we sin if we pluck a peare or so but wee may lawfully doe it onely for delight so also were this new Divinity right in case of need wee might satisfie our soule even against the consent of the owner he flatly forbidding us for in their sense who thus teach wee take but our owne all which is false wherefore we must rather speake with the truth and say that not only for need but for our very delight in the owners absence in case he directly forbid us not wee may I say lawfully pluck an â—are of corne or so by vertue of a common supposed consent intimated in the equity of that law of Moses which in such cases doth run thorow the veines of all mankinde Lastly I conceive this matter to bee put past al peradventure by the very law of God once in force amongst the Iewes commanding the theefe stealing for very need to make restitution to the forth and fifth and in a case to the seventh degree and if selling all to his very shirt would not make up the summe then by law hee was to bee sold and lose his liberty to make restitution for the principall not for the over-plus of his theft Now this Law of God had gone against sense if need did dispence with propriety and give a right and title to so much of ones neighbours substance as would serve to satisfie ones want for I hope reason it selfe is flat against it that a man should be thus bound to make restitution for taking that which by their Doctrine is his owne Aye common understanding it selfe at the first sight is against it that a man can be said to steale his owne can stand bound by Gods law thus to restore his owne and therefore to returne home again I conclude and say that our main point doth stand free and firme viz. That albeit in case of need as of some