thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkenesse be as the noone day then thy waters shall not lye unto thee that happinesse which it falsly promiseth unto other men it shall performe unto thee And so much be spoken touching the great disproportion between the Soule of man and the Creature in regard of the Vanitie of it The next disproportion is in their Operation They are vexing and molesting things Rest is the satisfaction of every Creature all the rovings and agitations of the Soule are but to find out something on which to rest and therefore where there is Vexation there can be no proportion to the soule of man and Salomon tels us That All things under the Sunne are full of labour more then a man can utter He was not used as an Instrument of the Holy Ghost to speake it onely but to trie it too the Lord was pleased for that very purpose to conferre on him a confluence of all outward happinesse and inward abilities which his very heart could desire that he at last might discover the utter insufficiency of all created Excellencies to quiet the Soule of man But if we will not beleeve the Experience of Salomon let us beleeve the authority of him that was greater then Salomon who hath plainely compar'd the things and the cares of the earth to Thornes which as the Apostle speakes Pierce or bore a man thorough with many sorrowes First They are Wounding Thornes for that which is but a pricke in the flesh is a wound in the spirit because the spirit is most tender of smart and the wise man cals them Vexation of spirit The Apostle tels us they beget many sorrowes and those sorrowes bring death with them If it were possible for a man to see in one view those oceans of bloud which have been let out of mens veines by this one Thorne to heare in one noise all the groanes of those poore men whose lives from the beginning of the world unto these dayes of blood wherein we live have been set at sale and sacrificed to the unsatiable ambition of their bloody rulers to see and heare the endlesse remorse and bitter yellings of so many rich and mighty men as are now in hell everlastingly cursing the deceite and murther of these earthly Creatures it would easily make every man with pitty and amazement to beleeve that the Creatures of themselves without Christ to qualifie their venome and to blunt their edge are in good earnest Wounding Thornes Secondly they are Choaking Thornes they stifle and keepe downe all the gratious seeds of the word yea the very naturall sproutings of noblenesse ingenuity morality in the dispositions of men Seed requires emptinesse in the ground that there may be a free admission of the raine and influences of the heavens to cherish it And so the Gospell requires nakednesse and poverty of minde a sense of our owne utter insufficiencie to our selves for happinesse in which sense it is said that the poore receive the Gospel But now earthly things meeting with corruption in the heart are very apt First To Fill it and secondly To Swell it both which are conditions contrary to the preparations of the Gospell They Fill the Heart First with Businesse Yokes of oxen and farmes and wives and the like contentinents take up the studies and delights of men that they cannot finde out any leisure to come to Christ. Secondly They Fill the Heart with Love and the Love of the world shuts out the Love of the father as the Apostle speakes When the Heart goes after covetousnesse the power and obedience of the word is shut quite out They will not do thy words saith the Lord to the Prophet for their heart goeth after their covetousnesse A deare and superlative Love such as the Gospell ever requires for a man must love Christ upon such termes as to bee ready without consultation or demurre not to forsake onely but to hate father and mother and wife and any the choisest worldly endearments for his Gospels sake I say such a Love admits of no Corrivalty or competition And therfore the love of the world must needs extingvish the love of the word Lastly they fill the heart with feare of forgoing them and feare takes of the heart from any thoughts save those which looke upon the matter of our feare when men who make Gold their Confidence heare that they must forsake all for Christ and are sometimes haplie put upon a triall they start aside choose rather securely to enjoy what they have present hold of then venture the interuption of their carnall contentments for such things the beauty where of the Prince of this world hath blinded their eyes that they should not see For certainly till the minde be setled to beleeve that in God there is an ample recompence for any thing which wee may otherwise forgoe for him it is impossible that a man should soundly embrace the love of the truth or renounce the love of the world Secondly as They Fill so they Swell the Heart too and by that meanes worke in it a contempt and disestimation of the simplicity of the Gospell We have both together in the Prophet According to their pasture so were they Filled they were filled and their heart was Exalted therefore have they forgotten me Now the immediate child of Pride is selfe-dependence and a reflection on our owne sufficiencie and from thence the next issue is a contempt of the simplicity of that gospell which would drive us out of our selves The Gentiles out of the pride of their owne wisedome counted the Gospell of Christ foolishnesse and mocked those that preached it unto them and the Pharisees who were the learned Doctors of Ierusalem when they heard Christ preach against earthlie affections out of their pride and covetousnesse Derided him as the Evangelist speakes Nay further they stifle the seeds of all noblenesse ingenuity or common vertues in the lives of men from whence come oppression extortion bribery cruelty rapine fraud iniurious treacherous sordid ignoble courses a very dissolution of the Lawes of nature amongst men but from the adoration of earthly things from that Idol of covetousnesse which is set up in the heart Thirdly they are Deceitfull Thornes as our Saviour expresseth it Let a man in a tempest go to a thorne for shelter and he shall light upon a thiefe in stead of a fence which will teare his flesh in stead of succouring him and doe him more injury then the evill which he fled from and such are the Creatures of themselves so farre are they from protecting that indeed they tempt and betray us The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee thou that dwellest in the Clefts of the Rockes thou that sayest in thine heart Who shall bring me downe I will bring thee downe saith the Lord to Edom. Lastly they are vanishing Thornes nothing so apt nothing so easie to catch fire and be
of us the other from the predominancy of lust which overswayes the heart unto evill Good motions and resolutions in evill hearts are like violent impressions upon a stone though it move upwards for a while yet nature will at last prevaile and make it returne to its owne motion Secondly a Heart set on lusts mooves to 〈◊〉 ends but its owâ—…e and selfe-ends defile an action though otherwise never so specious turnes zeale it selfe and obedience into murder hinders all faith in us and acceptance with God nullifies all other ends swallowes up Gods glory and the good of others as the leane Kine did the fat as a Wenne in the body robs and consumes the part adjoyning so doe selfe-ends the right end Thirdly the Heart is a fountaine and principle and principles are ever one and uniforme out of the same fountaine cannot come bitter water and sweet and therefore the Apostle speakes of some that they are double-minded men that have a heart and a heart yet the truth is that is but with reference to their pretences for the Heart really and totally lookes but one way Every man is spiritually a married person and he can be joyned but to one Christ and an Idoll as every â—…ust is cannot consist he will have a chaste spouse he will have all our desires and affections subject unto him if the Heart cannot count him altogether lovely and all things else but dung in comparison of him he will refuse the match and with-hold his consent Let us see in some few particulars what impotency unto any good the Creatures bring upon the hearts of men To Pray requires a hungry spirit a heart convinc'd of its owne emptinesse a desire of intimate communion with God but now the Creature drawes the heart and all the desires thereof to it selfe as an ill splene doth the nourishment in a body Lust makes men pray amisse fixeth the desires onely on its owne provisions makes a man unwilling to be carried any way towards heaven but his owne The Young Man prayed unto Christ to shew him the way to eternall life but when Christ told him that his riches his covetousnes his bosome lust stood betweene him and salvation his prayer was turned into sorrow repentance and apostacy Meditation requires a sequestration of the thoughts a minde unmixt with other cares a syncere and uncorrupted relish of the Word now when the heart is prepossest with lust and taken up with another treasure it is as impossible to be weaned from it as for an hungry Eagle a Creature of the sharpest sight to fixe upon and of the sharpest appetite to desire its object to forbeare the body on which it would prey as unable to conceive aright of the pretiousnesse and power of the Word as a feaverish palate to taste the proper sweetnesse of the meate it eates In Hearing the Word the heart can never accept Gods Commands till it be first empty a man cannot receive the richest gift that is with a hand that was full before Now thornes which are the cares of the World filling the heart must needs choake the feede of the Word The Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsell of God against themselves because their pride would not let them yeeld to such a baptisme or to such a doctrine as requires emptinesse confession of sinnes justifying of God and condemning of themselves for these were the purposes of Iohus Baptisme and of the preaching of repentance That man comes but to bee rejected who makes love to one who hath fixt her heart and affection already A man must come to Gods Word as to a Physitian a meere patient without reservations or exceptions he must set his corruptions as an open marke for the word to shoot at hee must not come with capitulations and provisoes but lay downe the body of sinne before God to have every earthly member hewed of Till a man come with such a resolution as to be willing to part from all naughtinesse hee will never receive the ingrafted Word with meeknesse and an honest heart a man will never follow Christ in the wayes of his Word till first he have learned to denie himselfe and his owne lusts Nay if a man should binde his devotion to his heart With vâ—…ws yet a Dalila in his bosome a lust in his spirit would easily nullifie the strongest vowes The Iewes made a serious and solemne protestation to Ieremie that they would obey the voyce of the Lord in that which they desired him to enquire of God about whether it were good or evill and yet when they found the message crosse their owne lusts and reservations their resolutions are turned into rebellions their pride quickly breakes asunder their vow and they tell the Prophet to his face that hee dealt falsly between God and them a refuge which they were well acquainted with before Some when then conscience awakens and begins to disquiet them make vowes to bind themselves vnto better obedience and formes of godlinesse but as Sampson was bound in vaine with any cords so long as his haire grew into its length so in vaine doth any man binde himselfe with vowes so long as he nourisheth his lusts within a vow in the hand of a fleshly lust will be but like the chaines and fetters of that fierce â—…unatick very easily broken asunder This is not the right way First labour with thy heart clense out thy corruptions purge thy life as the Prophet did the waters with seasoning and rectifying the fountaine T is one thing to give â—…ase from a present paine another thing to roote out the disease it selfe If the chinkes in a ship bee unstopt 't is in vaine to labour at the pumpe so long as there is a constant in let the water can never be exhausted so is it in these formall resolutions and vowes they may ease the present paine let out a little water restraine from some particular acts but so long as the heart is unpurged lust will returne and predominate In a word whereas in the Service of God there are two maine things required faith to begin and courage or patience to goe through lust hinders both these How can yee beleeve since yee seeke for glory one from another Ioh. 5. 44. when persecution arose because of the word the Temporary was presently offended Matth. 13. 21. Thirdly and lastly in one word A man ought not to set his Heart on the Creature because of the Noblenesse of the heart To set the heart on the creature is to set a diamond in lead None are so mad to keep their Iewels in a cellar and their coales in a closet and yet such is the profannesse of wicked men to keepe God in their lips only and Mammon in their hearts to make the earth their treasure and heaven but as an accessorie and appendix to that And now as Samuel spake unto Saul set not thine
of holinesse and grace which in Christ wee haue receiued For as sense of sin as a cursed thing which is legall humiliation doth arise from that faith whereby wee beleeve and assent to the truth of God in all his threatnings which is a legall faith so the Abominating of sinne as an uncleane thing and contrary to the image and holinesse of God which is evangelicall repentance doth arise from evangelicall faith whereby we look upon God as most mercifull most holie and therefore most worthie to bee imitated and served Secondly Renovation and that two fold First inward in the constitution of the heart which is by faith purified Secondly outward in the conversation and practice when a man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and as he hath received the Lord Iesus so walketh in him Now in all our obedience wee must observe these three Rules First that binding power which is in the law doth solely depend upon the authority of the Lawgiver who is God Hee that customarilie and without care of obedience or feare of displeasure or antipathy of spirit breaks any one Commandement ventures to violate that authority which by one and the same ordination made the whole law equally binding by consequence is habitually in praeparatione animi a transgressor of the whole Law And therefore Obedience must not bee partiall but vniversall as proceeding from that faith which hath respect equally to all Gods will and lookes upon him as most true and most holy in all his commands Secondly As God so his Law is a spirituall and a perfect Law and therefore requires an inward universality of the subject as well as that other of the Precepts which wee walke by I meane such a spiritual and sincere obedience of the hart as may without any mercenary or reserv'd respects uniformely sway our whole man unto the same way and end Thirdly In every Law all matter Homogeneall and of the same kind with the particular named every sprig seede originall of the Dutie is included as all the branches of a tree belong unto the same stock And by these rules wee are to examine the truth of our obedience Before I draw downe these premises to a particular Assumption and Applycation I must for Caution sake premise that faith may be in the heart either habitually as an actus primus a forme or seede or principle of working or else actually as an actus secundus a particular Operation and that in the former sense it doth but remotely dispose and order the soule to these properties but in the later it doth more visibly and distinctly produce them So then according as the heart is deaded in the exercise of Faith so doe these properties thereof more dimly appeare and more remisly worke Secondly we must note that according as faith hath severall workings so Satan hath severall wayes to assault and weaken it There are two maine workes of Faith Obedience and Comfort to purifie and to pacifie the heart and according unto these so Satan tempts His maine end is to wrong and dishonour God and therefore chiefly hee labours to disable the former vertue of Faith and tempts to sinne against God But when hee cannot proceede so farre hee labours to discomfort and crush the spirits of men when hee prevailes in the former he weakens all the properties of Faith when in the later onely he doth not then weaken all but onely intercept and darken a Christians peace For understanding this point we must note that there are many acts of faith Some direct that looke outward towards Christ others reflexive that looke inward upon themselves The first act of faith is that whereby a man having beene formerly reduced unto extremities and impossibilities within himselfe lookes upon God as Omnipotent and so able to save as mercifull and in Christ reconcileable and so likely to save if he be sought unto Hereupon growes a second act namely a kinde of exclusive resolution to be thinke himselfe of no new wayes to trust no inferiour causes for salvation or righteousnes to sell all to count them all dung not to consult any more with flesh or blood but to prepare the heart to seeke the Lord To resolve as the Lepers in the famine at Samaria not to continue in the state he is in nor yet to returne to the Citie to his wonted haunts and wayes where he shall be sure to perish and from this resolution a man cannot by any discomforts bee removed or made to bethinke himselfe of any other new way but onely that which hee sees is possible and probable and where he knowes if he finde acceptance hee shall have supplyes and life enough and this act may consist with much feare doubt and trembling The Syrians had food and Samaria had none therefore the Lepers resolve to venture abroad Yet this they cannot doe without much doubting and distrust because the Syrians whom they should meete with were their enemies However this resolution over-rul'd them because in their present estate they were sure to perish in the other there was roome for hope and possibilitie of living and that carried them co Esters resolution If we perish we perish such is the Act of Faith in this present case It is well assured that in the case a man is in there is nothing but death to bee expected therefore it makes him resolve to relinquish that It lookes upon God as plenteous in power and mercie and so likely to save and yet it sees him too as arm'd with Iustice against sinne as justly provoked and wearied in his patience and therefore may feare to bee rejected and not saved alive Yet because in the former state there is a certainty to perish in the later a possibility not to perish therefore from hence ariseth a third act a conclusive and positive purpose to trust Christ. I will not onely deny all other wayes but I will resolve to trie this way to set about it to go to him that hath plenty of redemption and Life If I must perish yet He shall reject me I will not reject my selfe I will goe unto Him And this act or resolution of faith is built upon these grounds First because Gods Love and free Grace is the first originall mover in our salvation If God did beginne His worke upon prevision of any thing in and from our selves we should never dare to come vnto Him because wee should never finde any thing in our selves to ground His mercie towards us upon But now the Love of God is so absolute and independant that it doth not only require nothing in us to excite and to cal it out but it is not so much as grounded upon Christ himselfe I speake of His first Love and Grace Christ was not the impulsive cause of Gods first Love to mankinde but was Himselfe the great gift which God sent to men therein to testifie that Hee did freely love them before God so
in the Church of Rome yet I doubt whether they have yet enough to conjure themselves out of that circle which the agitation of these questions doe carry them in But secondly there are sundry lights there is light in the Sunne and there is light in a blazing or falling starre How shall I difference these lights will you say surely I know not otherwise then by the lights themselves undoubtedlie the spirit brings a proper distinctive uncommunicable Majesty and luster into the soule which cannot be by any false spirit counterfeited and this spirit doth open first the eie and then the Word and doth in that discover not as insit as veritatis those markes of truth and certainty there which are as apparant as the light which is without any other medium by it selfe discerned Thus then we see in the general That saving faith is an assent created by the word spirit We must note further that this knowledge is two fold first Generall mentall spâ—…culative and this is simply necessary not as a part of saving faith but as a medium degree passage thereunto For how can men beleeve without a teacher Secondly particular practicall Applicative which carries the soule to Christ and there â—…ixeth it â—…o whom shall wee go thou hast the words of eternall life wee beleeve and are sure that thou art that Christ. I know that my Redeemer liveth That yee being rooted and grounded in Love may be able to comprehend and to know the Love of Christ. I live by the faith of the Sonne of God who loved me and gave himselfe for me By his knowledge shall my righteous servant iustifie many This saving knowledge must bâ—…e commensurate to the object knowne and to the ends for which it is instituted which are Christ to be made ours for righteousnesse and salvation Now Christ is not proposed as an object of bare and naked truth to bee assented unto but as a Soveraigne and saving truth to do good unto men He is proposed as the Desire of all flesh It is the heart which beleeves With the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse and Christ dwelleth by faith in the heart If thou beleevest with all thine heart thou maist be bapâ—…ized And the hâ—…art doth not onely looke for truth but for goodnesse in the objects which it desireth for an allsufficiencie and adequate ground of full satisfaction to the appetites of the soule such a compasse of goodnesse as upon which the whole man may test and relie and unto the which he may have a personall propriety hold-fast and possession So then in one word faith is a particular assent unto the truth and goodnes of God in Christ his sufferings and resurrection as an allsufficient and open treasurie of righteousnesse and salvation to every one which comes unto them and thereupon a resolution of the heart there to fixe and fasten for those things and to looke no further Now this faith is called knowledge First in regard of the principles of it The word and spirit both which produce faith by a way of conviction and manifestation Secondly in regard of the ground of beleeving which is the knowledge of Gods will revealed for none must dare demand or take any thing from God till hee have revealed his will of giving it He hath said must be the ground of our faith Thirdly in regard of the certainty and undoubtednesse which there is in the assent of faith Abraham was fully perswaded of Gods pow'r and promise now there is a twofold certainty a certainty of the thing beleeved because of the power and promise of him that hath said it and a certainty of the minde beleeving The former is as full and sure to one beleever as to any other as an Almes is as certainly and fully given to one poore man who yet receives it with a shaking and Palsie hand as it is to another that receives it with more strength But the mind of one man may bee more certaine and assured then another or then it selfe at some other time sometimes it may have a certainty of evidence assurance and full perswasion of Gods goodnesse sometimes a certainty onely of Adherence in the midst of the buffets of Satan and some strong temptations whereby it resolveth to cleave unto God in Christ though it walke in darkenesse and have no light Fourthly and lastly in regard of the last Reflexive Act Whereby we know that we know him and beleeve in him And yet both this and all the rest are capable of grow'th as the Apostle here intimates we know heere but in part and therefore our knowledge of Him may still increase The heart may have more plentifull experience of Gods mercie in comfotting guiding defending illightning sanctifying it which the Scripture cals the learning of Christ and thereupon cannot but desire to have more knowledge of Him and Communion with Him especially in those two great benefits His Resurrection and sufferings And the power of His resurrection The Apostles desire in these words is double First that he may finde the workings of that power in his soule which was shewed in the resurrection of Christ from the Dead that is the Power of the Spirit of Holynesse which is the mighty principle of Faith in the heart That Spirit of Holynesse which quickned Christ from the Dead doth by the same glorious power beget Faith and other graces in the Soule It is as great a worke of the Spirit to forme Christ in the heart of a sinner as it was to fashion Him in the wombe of a virgin Secondly that He may feele the resurrection of Christ to have a Power in Him Now Christs resurrection hath a twofold Power upon us or towards us First to apply all His merits unto us to accomplish the worke of His satisfaction to declare his conquest over death and to propose himselfe as an All-sufficient Saviour to the faithfull As the stampe addes no vertue nor matter of reall value to a piece of gould but onely makes that value which before it had actually applyable and currant So the resurrection of Christ though it was no part of the price or satisfaction which Christ made yet it was that which made them all of force to His members Therefore the Apostle saith that Christ was Iustified in Spirit In His Death Hee suffered as a malefactor and did undertake the guilt of our sinnes so farre as it denotes an obligation unto punishment though not a meritoriousnesse of punishment but by that Spirit which raised Him from the Dead Hee was Iustified Himselfe that is He declared to the world that Hee had shaken of all that guilt from Himselfe and as it were left it in His Grave with His Grave clothes For as Christs righteousnesse is compared to a robe of triumph so may our guilt to a garment of Death which Christ in His Resurrection shooke all of to note that Death
as much as Adams legall obedience of workes could no more in any vertue of its owne but onely in Gods mercifull contract and acceptance merit everlasting life then our Evangelicall Obedience of faith can now Only the difference betweene the mercie of the first and second Covenant and it is a great difference is this God did out of mercie propose Salvation unto Adam as an Infinite Reward of such a finite Obedience as Adam was able by his owne created abilities to have performed As if a man should give a Day-laborer a hundred pound for his daies worke which performe indeed hee did by his owne strength but yet did not merit the thousandth part of that wages which he receives But Gods mercy untous is this That he is pleased to bestow upon us not onely the reward but the worke and merit which procured the reward that he is pleased in vs to reward another mans worke even the worke of Christ our head as if when one onely Captaine had by his wisedome discomfited and defeated an enemie the prince notwithstanding should reward his alone seruice with the advancement of the whole armie which he led But this by the way Certaine in the meane time it is that God created man with such capacities and desires as could not be limited with any or all the excellencies of his fellow and finite Creatures Nay looke even upon Corruptednature and yet there we shall still discover this restlesnesse of the minde of man though in an evill way to promote it selfe whence arise distractions of heart thoughts for to morrow rovings and inquisitions of the soule after infinite varieties of earthly things swarmes of lusts sparkles of endlesse thoughts those secret flowings and ebbes and tempests and Estuations of that sea of corruption in the heart of man but because it can never finde any thing on which to rest or that hath roome enough to entertaine so ample and so endlesse a guest Let us then looke a little into the particulars of that great disproportion and Insufficiencie of any or all the Creatures under the sun to make up an adequate and suteable Happinesse for the soule of man Salomon here expresseth it in Two words Vanitie and Uexation From the first of these wee may observe a threefold disproportion betweene the Soule and the Creatures First in regard of their nature and worth they are base in comparison of the Soule of man When David would shew the infinite distance betweene God and man in power and strength he expresseth the basenesse of man by his vanitie To be laid in the ballance they are altogether lighter then vanitie Psal. 62. 9. And surely if we waigh the Soule of man and all the Creatures under the Sunne together we shall finde them lighter then Vanitie it selfe All the Goodnesse and honour of the Creature ariseth from one of these Two grounds Either from mans coining or from Gods either from Opinion imposed upon them by men or from some Reall qualities which they have in their nature Many things there are which have all that worth and estimation which they carry amongst men not from their owne qualities but from humane institution or from some difficulties that attend them or from some other outward Imposition When a man gives monie for meate we must not thinke there is any naturall proportion of worth betweene a piece of silver and a piece of flesh for that worth which is in the meate is its owne whereas that which is in the monie is by humane appointment The like we may say for great titles of honour and secular degrees though they bring authoritie distance reverence with them from other men yet notwithstanding they doe not of themselves by any proper vertue of their owne put any solid and fundamentall merit into the man himselfe Honour is but the raising of the rate and value of a man it carrie nothing of substance necessarily along with it as in raising the valuations of gold from twenty shillings to twenty two the matter is the same only the estimation different It is in the Power of the king to raise a man out of the prison like Ioseph and give him the â—â—xt place unto himselfe Now this then is a plaine argument of the great basenesse of any of these things incomparison of the Soule of man and by consequence of their great disability to satisfie the same for can a man make any thing equall to himselfe can a man advance a piece of gold or silver into a reasonable a spirituall an eternall substance A man may make himselfe like these things he may debase himselfe into the vilenesse of an Idoll They that make them are like unto them hee may under-value and uncoyne himselfe blot out Gods Image and Inscription and write in the image and inscription of earth and Satan he may turne himselfe into brasse and iron and reprobate silver as the Prophet speakes but never can any man raise the Creatures by all his estimations to the worth of a man we cannot so much as change the color of a haire or adde a cubite to our stature much lesse can we make any thing of equall worth with our whole selves We read indeed of some which have sold the righteous and that at no great rate neither for a paire of shooes Ioel 3. 6. Amos 2. 6. but we see there how much the Lord abhorr'd that detestable fact and recompenc'd it upon the necke of the oppressors How many men are there still that set greater rates upon their owne profits or libertie or preferments or secular accommodations then on the Soules of men whose perdition is oftentimes the price of their advancements but yet still Saint Pauls rule must hold For meatâ— destroy not the worke of God for money betray not the bloud of Christ destroy not him with thy meate with thy dignities with thy preferments for whom Christ died We were not redeemed with silver and gold from our vaine Conversation saith the Apostle 1. Pet. 1. 18. and therefore these things are of too base a nature to be put into the ballance with the soules of men and that man infinitely undervalues the worke of God the Image of God the bloud of God who for so base a purchase as monie or preferment any earthly and vaine-glorious respect doth either hazard his owne or betray the Soules of others commended to him And therefore this should reach all those upon whom the Lord hath bestow'd a greater portion of this Opinionative felicitie I meane of money honour reputation or the like First not to Trust in uncertaine Riches not to relie upon a foundation of their owne laying for matter of Satisfaction to their Soule nor to boast in the multitude of their riches as the Prophet speakes Psal. 49. 6. for that is certainely one great effect of the Deceitfulnesse of Riches spoken of Matth. 13. 22. to perswade the Soule that there is more in them then indeed there is and the Psalmist
of Christ that even by that meanes they may be rich in faith and dependance upon God as Saint Iames spake Having nothing and yet possessing All things Secondly All is ours in regard of Christian liberty though our hands are bound from the possession yet our Consciences are not bound from the use of any Thirdly Though the faithfull have not in the right of their inheritance any monopolie or ingrossement of the Creatures to themselves yet still they have and shall have the service of them All. That is thus If it were possible for any member of Christ to stand absolutely in neede of the use and service of the whole Creation All the Creatures in the world should undoubtedly waite upon him and bee appropriated unto him The Moone should stand still the Sunne goe backe the Lions should stop their mouths the Fire should give over burning the Ravens should bring him meate the Heavens should raine downe bread the Rockes should gush out with water all the Creatures should muster up themselves to defend the Body of Christ. But though no such absolute necessity shall ever be yet ordinarily we must learne to beleeve That those things which God allowes us are best suteable to our particular estate God knowing us better then we doe our selves that as lesse would haply make us repine so more would make us full and lift up our hearts against God and set them on the world so that All is ours not absolutely but subordinately serviceably according to the exigence of our condition to the proportion of our faith and furtherance of our Saluation The third particular inquire into was How we doe by Prayer sanctifie the Creature to our selves This is done in these three courses 1. In procuring them We ought not to set about any of our lawfull and just callings without a particular addressing our selves unto God in Prayer This was the practise of good Eleazer Abrahams servant when he was emploi'd in finding out a wife for his masters sonne O Lord God of my master Abraham I pray thee send me good speed this day and this also was the practise of good Nehemiah in the distresses of his people I prayed unto the God of heaven and then I spake unto the king And surely the very Heathen themselves shall in this point rise up in judgement against many prophane Christians who looke oftner upon their gold then upon their God as Salvian speakes We reade often in their writings that in any generall Calamitie they did joyntly implore the peace and favour of their idolatrous gods that in any matter of consequence they made their entrie upon it by Prayer commending the successe thereof to the power and providence of those deities which they beleeved In so much that we read of Pub. Scipio a great Romane that he ever went to the Capitole before to the Senate and began all the businesses of the Common-wealth with Prayer How much more the◅ ought we to doe it who have not onely the Law and Dictate of nature to guide us who have not deafe and impotent idols to direct our Prayers to as their gods were but have first The Law of Christ requiring it Pray Alwayes Pray without ceasing In every thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thankesgiving let your requests be made knowne to God Who have secondly the Example of Christ to enforce it for not onely Morning and Evening was it his Custome to Pray but upon every other solemne occasion Before his Preaching before his Eating before the Election of his Disciples before his Transfiguration in the mount before and in his Passion Who have thirdly from Christ That Legitimate Ordinarie Fundamentall Prayer as Tertullian cals it The Lords Prayer as a Rule and Directorie by him framed to instruct us how to Pray and to bound and confine our extravagant and vast desires Who lastly have also the Altar of Christ to receive the Incense of Christ to perfume the Name and Intercession of Christ to present our Prayers unto God by who have Christ sanctifying and as I may so speake praying our prayers unto hi◅ Father for us as we read of the Angell of the Covenant who had a golden Censer and much incense to offer up the Prayers of the Saints which was nothing else but the mediation of Christ bearing the iniquitie of our holy things as Aaron was appointed to doe nothing but his intercession for us at the right hand of his Father I say how much more reason ◅ave we then any Gentile could have to consecrate all our enterprises with Prayer unto God Humbly to acknowledge how justly he might blast all o◅r businesses and make us labour in the fire that unlesse he keepe the City the watchman watcheth but in vaine that unlesse hee build the house their labour is in vaine that build it that unlesse he give the increase the planting of Paul and the watering of Apollo are but emptie breath that it is onely his blessing on the diligent hand which maketh rich without any sorrow that unlesse he be pleased to favour our attempts neither the plotting of our heads nor the solicitous◅esse of our hearts ◅or the drudgerie of our hands nor the whole cōcurrence of our created strength nor any accessorie assistances which we can procure will be able to bring to passe the otherwise most obvious and feasible Events and therefore to implore his Direction in all our counsels his concurrence with all our Actions his blessing on all our undertakings and his glory as the sole end of all that either we are or doe For by this meanes we doe First acknowledge our dependencie on God as the first cause and give him the glory of his soveraigne Power and Dominion over all second agents in acknowledging that without him we can doe nothing and the power of God is the Ground of Prayer Secondly by this meanes we put God in minde of his Promises and so acknowledge not our dependence on his power only but on his Truth and Goodnesse too And the Promises and Truth of God are the foundation of all our Prayers That which encouraged Daniel to set his face to seeke unto God in Prayer for the restitution of libertie out of Babylon was Gods Promise and Truth revealed by Ieremie the Prophet that hee would accomplish but s◅ventie yeeres in the desolation of Ierusalem That which encouraged Iehosaphat to seeke unto God against the multitude of Moabites which came up against him was his Promise that he would heare and helpe those that did pray towards his house in their affliction That which encouraged David to pray unto God for the stability of his house was the Covenant and Truth of God Thou hast revealed to thy Servant saying I will build thee an house therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this Prayer unto thee And now O Lord thou
spue and rise up no more even that fierce and bitter indignation in the pouring out of which the Lord shall put to his right hand his strong arme not onely the terror of his presence but the glory of his power I say the Lord could let drunkards alone till at last they meet with this Cup which undoubtedly they shall doe if there be either truth in Gods word or power in his right hand if there be either Iustice in heaven or fire in hell till with Belshazzar they meet with dregs and trembling in the bottome of all their Cups but yet oftentimes the Lord smites them with a more sudden blow snatcheth away the Cup from their very mouths and so makes one Curse anticipate and preuent another Though Haman and Achitophel should have liv'd out the whole thred of their life yet at last their honor must have laine downe in the dust with them Though Iudas could have liv'd a thousand yeares and could have improv'd the reward of his Masters bloud to the best advantage that ever Vsurer did yet the rust would at last have seiz'd upon his bags and his monie must have perished with him but now the Lord sets forward his Curse and that which the moth would have been long in doing the gallows dispatcheth with a more swift destruction Thus as the body of a man may have many summons and engagements unto one death may labour at once under many desperate diseases all which by a malignant conâ—…unction must needs hasten a mans end as Cesar was stabd with thirty wounds each one whereof might have serv'd to let out his soule so the Creatures of God labouring under a manifold corruption doe as it were by so many wings post away from the Owners of them and for that reason must needs be utterly disproportionable to the condition of an Immortall Soule Now to make some Application of this particular before wee leave it This doth first discover and shame the folly of wicked worldlings both in their opinions and affections to earthly things Love is blinde and will easily make men beleeve that of any thing which they could wish to bee in it and therefore because wicked men wish with all their hearts for the love they beare to the Creatures that they might continue together for ever the Divell doth at last so deeply delude them as to thinke that they shall continue for ever Indeed in these and in the generall they must needs confesse that one generation commeth and another goeth but in their owne particular they can never assume with any feeling and experimentall assent the truth of that generall to their owne estates And therefore what ever for shame of the world their outward professions may be yet the Prophet David assures us That their inward Thoughts their owne retir'd contrivances and resolutions are that their houses shall endure for ever and their dwelling places to all generations and upon this Immortality of stones and monuments they resolve to rest But the psalmist concludes this to be but brutish and notorious folly This their way is their folly they like sheepe are laid downe in their graves and death feeds upon them And indeed what a folly is it for men to build upon the sand to erectan Imaginarie fabrick of I know not what Immortality which hath not so much as a constant subsistence in the head that contrives it What man will ever goe about to build a house with much cost and when he hath done to inhabit it himself of such rotten and inconsistent materials as will undoubtedly within a yeere or two after fall upon his head and bury him in the ruines of his owne folly Now then suppose a man were lord of all the World and had his life coextended with it were furnished with wisedome to manage and strength to runne through all the affaires incident to this vast frame in as ample a measure as any one man for the governement of a private family yet the Scripture would assure even such a man that there will come a day in which the heavens shall passe away with a noise and the elements shall melt with heate and the earth with the workes that are therein shall be burnt up and that there is but one houre to come before all this shall be Behold now is the last houre And what man upon these termes would fix his heart and ground his hopes upon such a tottering bottome as will within a little while crumble into dust and leave the poore soule that rested upon it to sinke into hell But now when we consider that none of us labour for any such inheritance that the extremitie of any mans hopes can be but to purchase some little patch of earth which to the whole World cannot beare so neere a proportion as the smallest molehill to this whole habitable earth that all we toyle for is but to have our loade of a little thicke clay as the Prophet speakes that when wee have gotten it neither wee nor it shall continue till the universall dissolution but in the midst of our dearest embracements we may suddenly be puld asunder and come to a fearefull end it must needs be more then brutish stupidity for a man to weave the Spiders webs to wrappe himselfe up from the consumption determined against the whole earth in a covering that is so infinitely too short and too narrow for him Wee will conclude this particular with the doome given by the Prophet Ieremy As the Partridge sitteth on egges and hatcheth them not shee is either caught by the fowler or her egges are broken so he that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his dayes and in the end shall bee a foole Secondly this serves to justifie the wisedome and providence of God in his proceedings with men The wicked here provoke God and cry aloud for vengeance on their owne head and the Lord seemes to stop his eares at the cry of sinne and still to loade them with his blessings he maketh their way to prosper they take roote and grow and bring forth fruite they shine like a blazing Comet and threaten ruine to all that looke upon them they carry themselves like some Tyrant in a Tragedy that scatters abroad death with the sparkles of his eyes and darts out threats against the heaven aboue him they are like Agag before Samuel clothed very delicately and presume that there is no bitternesse to come And now the impatiency of man that cannot resolve things into their proper issues that cannot let iniquitie ripen nor reconcile one day and a thousand yeeres together begins to question Gods proceedings and is afraid leâ—…t the World be governed blindfold and blessings and curses throwne confusedly abroad for men as it were to scramble and to scuffie for them But our God who keepeth times and seasons in his owne power who hath given to every Creature under the Sunne limits
presently extingvished They are quenched like a fire of Thornes To consider yet more distinctly the vexation of the Creature we will observe first the Degrees secondly the Grounds of it and thirdly the Vses which we should put it to Five Degrees we shall observe of this Vexation First the Creatures are apt to molest the spirit in the procuring of them even as Thornes will certainely pricke in their gathering They make all a mans dayes sorrow and his travell griefe they suffer not his heart to take rest in the night as the Wise man speakes What paines will men take what hazards will they runne to procure their desires Paines of body plotting of braine conflicts of passions biting of conscience disreputation amongst men scourge of tongues any thing every thing will men adventure to obtaine at last that which it may bee is not a competent reward for the smallest of these vexations How will men exchange their salvation throw away their owne mercy make themselves perpetuall drudges and servitors to the times fawne flatter comply couple in with the instruments or authors of their hopes hazard their owne blood in desperate undertakings and staine their consciences with the blood of others to swimme through all to their adored haven Adâ—…rare vulgus iacere oscula omnia serviliter pro imperio The Historian spake it of Otho that Romane Absolom he worshipped the people dispenced frequently his courtesies and plausibilities crouched and accommodated himselfe to the basest routs that thereby he might creepe into an usurped honour and get himselfe a hated memory in after ages And that the like vexation is ordinary in the procurement of any earthly things will easily appeare if wee but compare the disposition of the minde with the obstacles that meete us in the pursuite of them Suppose we a man importunately set to travell unto some place where the certainty of some great profit or preferment attends his comming the way through which he must goe is intricate deepe unpassable the beast that carries him lame and tired his acquaintance none his instructions few what a heavie vexation must this needs bee to the soule of that man to be crossed with so many difficulties in so eager a desire Iust this is the case with naturall men in the prosecution of earthly things First the desires of men are very violent which the Scripture useth to expresse by making haste greedy coveting a purpose to be rich Qui Dives fieri vult citâ—… vult fieri they that will be rich cannot be quiet till their desires are accomplished and therefore wee finde strong desires in the Scripture-phrase expressed by such things as give intimation of paine with them The Apostle describes them by groâ—…ing and sighing the Prophet David by panting and gasping the Spouse in the Canticles by sicknesse I am sicke with love Thus Ammon grew leane for the desire of his sister and was vexed and sicke thus Ahab waxed heavy and laid him downe on his bed and turned away his face and would not eate because of Naboths Vineyard So that very importunity of desires is full of vexation in itselfe But besides the meanes for fulfilling these desires are very difficult the instruments very weake and impotent peradventure a mans wits are not suteable to his desires or his strength not to his wits or his stocke not to his strength his friends few his corrivals many his businesses tough and intricate his counsels uncertaine his projects way-laid and prevented his contrivances dashed and disappointed such a circumstance vnseene such a casualty starting suddenly out such an occurrence meeting the action hath made it unfeasible and shipwrack'd the expectation A man deales with the earth he findes it weake and langvid every foot of that must often times lye fallow when his desires doe still plow with men hee findes their hearts hard and their hands close with servants he findes them slow and unfaithfull with trading hee findes the times hard the World at a stand every man too thrifty to deale much and too crafty to be deceived so that now that vexation which was at first begun with vehemency of desire is mightily improued with impatiency of opposition lastly much encreased with the feare of utter disappointment at last For according as the desires are either more urgent or more difficult so will the feares of their miscarriage grow and it is a miserable thing for the minde to bee torne asunder betweene two such violent passions as Desire and Feare The second Degree of vexation is in the multiplying of the Creature that men may have it to looke upon with their eyes and to worship it in their affections And in this Case the more the heape growes the more the heart is enlarged unto it and impossible it is that that desire should be ever quieted which growes by the fruition of the thing desired A Wolfe that hath once tasted blood is more fierce in the desire of it then hee was before experience puts an edge upon the Appetite and so it is in the desires of men they grow more savage and raging in the second or third prosecution then in the first It is a usuall selfe-deceit of the heart to say and thinke If I had such an accession to mine estate such a dignitie mingled with mine other preferments could but leave such and such portions behind me I should then rest satisfied and desire no more This is a most notorious cheate of the fleshly heart of man first thereby to beget a secret conceit that since this being gotten I should sit quietly downe I may therefore set my selfe with might and maine to procure it and in the meane time neglect the state of my soule and peradventure shipwracke my conscience upon indirect and unwarrantable meanes for fulfilling so warrantable and just a desire And secondly thereby likewise to inure and habituate the affections to the love of the world to plunge the soule in earthly delights and to distill a secret poyson of greedinesse into the heart For it is with worldly love as with the Sea let it have at the first never so little a gap at which to creepe in and it will eate out a wider way till at last it grow too strong for all the bulwarkes and overrun the soule Omne peccatum habet in se mendacium there is something of the lie in every sinne but very much in this of worldlinesse which gets upon a man with slender and modest pretences till at last it gather impudence and violence by degrees even as a man that runnes downe a steepe hill is at last carried not barely by the impulsion of his owne will but because at first hee engaged himselfe upon such a motion as in the which it would prove impossible for him to stop at his pleasure Wee reade in Saint Austens confessions of Alipius his Companion who being by much importunity overcome to accompany a friend of his to those bloody
officious lie to compasse the redemption of the whole world yet so weighty and universall a good must rather bee let fall then brought about by the smallest evill Thirdly when the manner of it is good and that is first when the Care is moderate Phil. 4. 5 6. Secondly when it is with submission to the will and wisedome of God when wee can with comfort of heart and with much confidence of a happy issue recommend every thing that concernes us to his providence and disposall can bee content to have our humours mastered and conceits captiuated to his obedience when we can with David resolve not to torment our hearts with needlesse endlesse projects but to rowle our selves upon Gods protection If I shall finde favour in his eyes he will bring me againe and me shew both the Arke and his habitation But if he say thus unto me I have no delight in thee let him doe to me as seemeth good unto him Such was the resolution of Eli It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good Such the submission of the disciples of Cesarea when they could not perswade Paul to stay from Ierusalem The will of the Lord be doâ—…e Cleane contrary to that wicked resolution of the King of Israel in the famine This evill is of the Lord what should I waite for the Lord any longer Now in this respect care is not a vexation but a duty he is worse then an Infidel that provides not for his own Our Saviour himselfe had a bag in his familie and Salomon sends foolish and improvident men unto the smallest Creatures to learne this care Prov. 6. 8. That Care then which is a branch of this Vexation is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cutting dividing distracting care against which wee ought the rather to strive not onely because it is so apt to arise from the Creature coupling in with the corruption of mans heart but also because of its owne evill quality it being both Superfluous and sinfull First Irregular cares are superfluous and improper to the ends which we direct them upon and that not to our maine end onely Happinesse which men toyling to discover in the Creature where it is not doe insteed thereof finde nothing but trouble and vexation but even to those lower ends which the Creatures are proper and suteable unto For unto us properly belongs the Industry but unto God the care unto us the labour and use of meanes but unto God the blessing and successe of all Though Paul plant and Apollo waters it is God onely that can give the increase he must be trusted with the events of all our industry Peter never began to sinke till he began to doubt that was the fruit of his carking and unbeliefe Which of you by taking thought can adde one cubit to his stature saith Christ our cares can never bring to passe our smallest desires because I say the care of events was ever Gods prerogative and belonged wholly to his providence Vpon him wee must cast our care upon him we must vnlode our burdens and he will sustaine us Wee are all of one family of the houshold of God and of faith now we know children are not to lay vp for parents but parents for children If we should see a childe carke and toyle for his living wee should presently conclude that he was left to the wide world and had no father to provide for him and that is our Saviours argument take no thought for your heavenly Father knoweth you have need of these things Let us therefore learne to cast our selves upon God First Infaith depending vpon the truth of his promises He hath said I will not faile thee nor forsake thee and upon the All-sufficiency of his Power our God whom we serve is able to deliver us This was that which comforted David in that bitter distresse when Ziglag was burnt by the Amalekites his Wives taken captive and himselfe ready to be stoned by the people He encouraged himselfe in the Lord his God This was that which delivered Asa from the huge hoste of the Lubims and Ethiopians because he rested on God and all which afterwards hee got by his diffidence and carnall projects was to purchase to himselfe perpetuall warres That which grieved the Lord with his people in the Wildernesse was their distrust of his power and protection Can he spread a Table in the Wildernesse Can hee give bread also and flesh for his people And indeed as Caines despaire so in some proportion any fainting under temptation any discontent with our estate proceede from this that we measure God by our selves that wee conceive of his power onely by those issues and wayes of escape which we are by our owne wisedomes able to fore-cast and when we are so straitened that wee can see no way to turne there we give over trusting God as if our sinnes were greater then could be forgiven or our afflictions then could be removed It is therefore a notable meanes of establishing the heart in all estates to have the eye of Faith fixed upon the power God to consider that his thoughts and contrivances are as much above ours as Heaven is above the Earth and therefore to resolve with Ieroboam that when wee know not what to doe yet we will have our eyes upon him still Sonne of Man saith the Lord to Ezekiel can these dead bones live and hee answered O Lord God thou knowest Thy thoughts are aboue our thoughts and where things are to us impossible they are easie unto thee Secondly by Prayer This is a maine remedy against carefull thoughts When the Apostle had exhorted the Philippians that their Moderation that is their Equanimitie and calmenesse of minde in regard of outward things should bee knowne unto all men he presseth it with this excellent reason The Lord is at hand he is ever at home in his owne family he is neere to see the wants and to heare the cries of all that come unto him therefore saith hee Bee carefull for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thankesgiving thankesgiving for what you have and prayer for what you want let your requests be made knowne unto God and hee shall furnish you with peace in all estates A notable example of which promise we have in Anna the Mother of Samuel In the bitternesse of her soule she wept and did not eate namely of the Sacrifices which were to be eaten with rejoycing then she prayed and vowed a vow unto the Lord and having cast her cares upon him she then went her way and did eate and her countenance was no more sad Ezekiah in his sicknesse chattered like a Swallow and mourned as a Dove but after his prayer he sung songs of deliverance to the stringed instruments Habaknk before his prayer trembled
heart upon it They will not set their heart upon us say the people to David for thou art worth ten thousand of us that is they will no whit regard us in comparison of thee so then a mans heart is set on the Creature when he prizeth it above other things and declareth this estimation of his heart by those eager endeavours with which he pursueth them as his God and Idoll Thirdly to relie upon to put trust and affiance in the Creature and this is imported in the word by which the Prophet expresseth riches which signifieth strength of all sorts vires and propugnaculum the inward strength of a man and the outward strength of munition and fortification therefore saith Salomon the rich mans wealth is his strong city and rich men are said to Trust and Glorie in their riches examples whereof the Scripture abundantly gives in Tyre Babylon Ninive Edom Israel c. Now a man ought not thus to set his heart on the Creature first because of the Tendernesse and delicacie of the spirit which will quickely be bruiz'd with any thing that lies close upon it and presseth it As men weare the softest garments next their skinne that they be not disquieted so should we apply the tenderest things the mercies and the worth of the bloud of Christ the promises of grace and glory the precepts and invitations of the Spirit unto our spirits And now as subterraneous winde or ayre being pressed in by the earth doth often beget concussions and earth-quakes so the spirit of a man being swallow'd up and quite clos'd in earthly things must needs beget tremblings and distractions at last to the soule The word heere which we translate Vexation is rendred likewise by Contritio a pressing grinding wearing away of a thing and by Depastio a feeding on a thing which makes some render the words thus All is vanitie and a feeding upon winde That as windie meates though they fill and swell a man up they nourish little but turne into crudities and diseases so the feeding upon the Creature may puffe up the heart but it can bring no reall satisfaction no solid nutriment to the soule of man The Creature upon the spirit is like a worme in wood or a moth in a garment it begets a rottennesse of heart it bites asunder the threads and sinewes of the soule and by that meanes workes an ineptitude and undisposednesse to any worthy service and brings a decay upon the whole man for cares will prevent age and change the colour of the haire before the time and make a man like a silly Dove without any heart as the Prophet speakes Secondly because the strength of every man is his spirit Mens cujusque is est quisque Now if the Creature seize on a mans strength it serues him as Dalilah did Sampson it will quickely let in the Philistines to vexe him Strength hath Two parts or offices Passive in undergoing and withstanding evill and Active in doing that which belongs to a man to doe Now when the heart and spirit of a man is set upon any Creature it is weakned in both these respects First it is disabled from bearing or withstanding evill We will consider it First in temptations Secondly in afflictions First A man who hath set his heart inordinately upon any Creature is altogether unfit to withstand any temptation In the Law when a man had new married a wife he was not to goe to warre that yeere but to rejoyce with his wife One reason whereof I suppose was this because when the minde is strongly set upon any one object till the strength of that desire be abated a man will be utterly unfit to deale with an enemie so is it with any lust to which a man weds himselfe it altogether disables him to resist any enemie after Hannibals armie had melted themselves at Capua with sensualitie and luxurie they were quite strangers to hard service and rigid discipline when they were againe reduc'd unto it The Reason hereof is first The subtiltie of Satan who will be sure to proportion his temptations to the heart and those lusts which doe there predominate setting upon men with those perswasions wherewith he is mos likely to seduce them As the Grecians got in upon the Trojans with a gift something which they presum'd would finde acceptance The divell dealeth as men in a siege casts his projects and applies his batteries to the weakest and most obnoxious place Therefore the Apostle saith that a man is tempted when he is led away of his owne lust and enticed the divell will be sure to hold intelligence with a mans owne lusts to advise and sit in counsell with his owne heart to follow the tyde and streame of a mans owne affections in the tempting of him Adam tempted in knowledge Pharaoh by lying wonders the Prophet by pretence of an Angels speech Ahab by the consent of false prophets the Iewes by the Temple of the Lord and carnall priuiledges the heathen by pretence of vniversalitie and antiquitie When Dauids heart after his adultery was set vpon his owne glory more then Gods how to saue his owne name from reproach we see as long as that affection preuailed against him as long as his heart was not so throughly humbled as to take the shame of his sinne to himselfe to beare the indignation of the Lord and accept of the reproach of his iniquity hee was ouercome with many desperate temptations he yeelds to be himselfe a temper of his neighbour to unseasonable pleasures to drunkennesse and shame to bee a murtherer of his faithfull seruant to multiply the guilt that hee may shift of the shame of his sinne and provide for his owne credit Peters heart was set upon his owne life and safetie more then the truth of Christ or his owne protestations and Sathan fitting his assault to this weakenesse prevailes against a rocke with the breath of a woman They that will be rich saith the apostle who set their hearts upon their riches whose hearts runne after their couetousnesse fall into temptation and a snare into many foolish and hurtfull lusts Such a heart is fit for any temptation Tempt Achaâ—…s covetous heart to sacriledge and hee will reach forth his hand to the accursed thing Tempt Iudaes his covetous heart to treason and he will betray the pretious blood of the Sonne of God which is infinitely beyond any rate of silver or gold for a few pieces of silver the price of a little field Tempt Gehazies covetous heart to multiply lie upon lie and he will doe it with ease and greedinesse for a few pieces of money and change of rayment Tempt Sauls covetous heart with the fattest of the Cattell and hee will venture on disobedience a sinne worse then witchcraft which himselfe had rooted out Tempt the covetous heart of a Iudge in Israel to doe iniustice and a paire of shooes shall spurne righteousnesse
out of dores and pervert iudgement Tempt the covetous heart of a great oppressor to blood and violence and he will lie in waite for the life of his neighbour Tempt the covetous heart of a proud pharisee or secure people to scorne the word out of the mouth of Christ or his prophet and they will easily yeeld to any infidelitie The like may bee said of any other lust in its kinde If the heart bee set on Beautie Tempt the Sonnes of God to forsake their covenant of marrying in the Lord the Israelites to the idolatrie of Baal Peor Sampson to forsake his vow and calling easily will all this bee done if the heart haue the beauty of any creature as a treacher in it to let in the temptations and to let out the lusts How many desperate temptations doth beauty cast many men vpon bribery to lay downe the price of a whore gluttonie and drunkennesse to inflame and ingenerate new lusts contempt of the Word and Iudgements of God to smother the checkes of conscience frequenting of Sathans palaces playes and stewes the chappels of Hell and nurseries of vncleannesse challenges stabbes combats blood to vindicate the credit and comparisons of a strumpets beauty to revenge the competition of uncleane Corrivals Thus will men venture as deepe as Hell to fetch fire to powre into their veines to make their spirits frie and their blood boyle in abhorred lust If the heart bee set on wit and pride of its owne conceits tempt the Libertines and Cyrenians to dispute against the truth the Greekes to despise the Gospell the wise men of the world to esteeme the ordinance of God foolishnes of preaching the false teachers to foist their straw and stubble upon the foundation Achitophell to comply with treason Lucian to reuile Christ and deride religion easily will these and a world the like temptations bee let into the heart if pride of wit stand at the dore and turne the locke Whence is it that men spend their pretious abilities in frothy studies in complements formes and garbes of salute satyrs libels abuses profanation of Gods Word scorne of the simplicitie and power of godlinesse with infinite the like vanities but because theâ—… hearts are taken up with a foolish creature and not with God and his feare If the heart be set on Ambition tempt Corah to desperate rebellion Absolom to unnaturall treason Balaam to curse the church Diotrephes to contemne the Apostles and their doctrine Iulian to apostacie Arius to heresie the Apostles themselues to emulation and strife easily will one lust let in these and a thousand more What else is it that makes men to flatter profanenesse to adore golden beasts to admire glistering abominations to betray the truth of the Gospell to smother and dissemble the strictnesse and purity of the wayes of God to strike at the sins of men with the scabberd and not with the sword to deale with the fancies of men more then with their consciences to palliate vice to dawbe with untempered morter to walke in a neutralitie and adiaphorisme betweene God and Baal to make the soules of men and the glory of God subordinate to their lusts and risings but the vast and unbounded gulfe of ambition and vaine glory The like may be said of seuerall other lusts But I proceede Secondly a Heart set on any lust is unfit to withstand temptation because temptations are commonly edged with Promises or Threatnings Now if a mans heart be set on God there can no promises bee made of any such good as the heart cares for or which might be likely to ouer-poise and sway to the temptation which the heart hath not already spirituall promises the Divell will make few or if he doe such a heart knowes that evill is not the way to good if hee make promises of earthly things such promises the heart hath already from one who can better make them 1 Tim. 4. 8 neither can hee promise any thing which was not more mine before then his for either that which he promiseth is convenient for me and so is Manna foode for my nature or else Inconvenient and then it is Quailes foode for my lust If the former God hath taught mee to call it mine owne already giue us our Bread and not to goe to the Divels shambles to fetch it If the other though God should suffer the Divell to giue it yet he sends a curse into our mouths along with it And as such a heart neglects any promises the Divell can make so is it as heedlesse of any of his threatnings because if God be on our side neither principalities â—…or powers nor things present nor things to come can ever separate from him stronger is hee that is with vs then hee that is with the world it is the businesse of our calling to fight against spirituall wickednesses and to resist the Divell But when the heart is set on any creature and hath not God to rest upon when a man attributes his wine and oyle to his lovers and not to God his credit wealth subsistency to the favours of men and not to â—…he all-sufficiency of God then hath the Divell an easie way to winne a man to any sâ—…ne or withdraw him from any good by pointing his temptations with promises or threatnings fitted to the things which the heart is set on Let the Divell promise Balaam honour and preferment on which his ambitious heart was set and he will rise early runne and ride and change natures with his Asse and be more senslesse of Gods fury then the dumbe creature that he may curse Gods owne people let the Divell promise thirty pieces of silver to Iudas whose heart ranne upon covetousnesse and there is no more scruple the bargaine of treason is presently concluded Let the Divell tempt Michaes Levite with a little better reward then the beggerly stipend which he had before Theft and Idolatry are swallow'd downe both together and the man is easily wonne to be a suare and seminary of spirituall uncleannesse to a whole tribe On the other side Let Sathan threaten Ieroboam with the losse of his kingdome if hee goe up to Ierusalem and serve God in the way of his owne worship and that is argument enough to draw him and all his successors to notorious and Egyptian idolatry and the reason was because their hearts were more set upon their owne Counsels then upon the worship or truth of God Let the Divell by the edicts and ministers of Ieroboam lay snares in Mizpah and spreade nets upon Taber that is use lawes menaces subtilties to keepe the people from the City of God and to confine them to regall and state-Idolatrie presently the people tremble at the iniunction of the king and walke willingly after the Commaundement Let 〈◊〉 erect his prodigious â—…dole and upon on paine of a 〈◊〉 furnace require All to worship it and all people nations and languages are presently upon their faces Let
the Divell threaten Demas with persecuâ—…ion and presently hee forsakes the fellowship of the Apostles and imbraceth this present world And as it was heretofore so is it still If a mans heart be not set on God and taught to rest upon his providence to answer all Satans promises with his All-sufficiencie to reward vs and all his threatnings with his All-sufficiency to protect us how easily will promises begvile and threatnings deterre unstable and earthly minds Let the Divell tell one man All this will I give thee if thou wilt speake in a Cause to pervert judgement how quickly will men create subtilties and coine evasions to rob a man and his house even a man and his inheritance Let him say to another I will doe whatsoever thou sayst unto me if thou wilt dissemble thy conscience divide thy heart comply with both sides keepe downe the power of godlinesse persecute zeale set up will-worship and superstiâ—…ions how quickly shall such a mans religion bee disgviz'd and sincerity if it were possible put to shame If to another thou shalt by such a time purchase such a Lordship out such a neighbour swallow up such a prodigall if thou enhance thy rents enlarge thy fines set unreasonable rates upon thy Farmes how quickly will men grinde the faces of the poore and purchase ungodly possessions with the blood of their tenants If to another beware of laying open thy conscience of being too faithfull in thy Calling too sâ—…rupulous in thy office least thou purchase the dis-favour of the World lest the times cloud overthee and frowne upon thee lest thou be scourged with persecuted names and make thy selfe obnoxious to spies and censures how will men be ready to start backe to shrinke from their wonted forwardnesse to abate their former zeale to coâ—…ple in with and connive at the corruptions of the age in one Word to tremble when Ephraim speakes and not to tremble when God speakes So hard is it when the heart is wedded to earthly things and they are gotten into a mans bosome to beare the assaults of any temptation Lastly this comes from the just and secret wrath of God giuing men over to the deceitfulnesse of sinne and to the hardnesse of their owne hearts to beleeve the lies and allurements of Satan because they rejected the counsell of God and the love of his truth before In the influences of the Sunne we may observe that the deeper they worke the stronger they worke the beames nearer the Center meeting in a sharper point doe consolidate and harden the very Element so the Creatures by the justice of God when they meete in a mans Center reach as farre as his heart doe there mightily worke to the deceiving and hardning of it the eye nor any other outward sense can finde no more in the Creature then is really there it is the heart which mis-conceives things and attributes that Deity and worth to them which the senses could not discover If men then could keepe these things from their spirits they should ever conceive of them according to their owne narrow being and so keepe their hearts from that hardnesse which the Creatures destitute of Gods blessing doe there beget and so worke in the soule a disposition suteable to Satans temptations Secondly a Heart set upon any lust is unfit likewise to beare any affliction The Young man whose heart was upon his riches could not endure to heare of selling all and entring upon a poore and persecuted profession First Lusts are choice and dainty they make the heart very delicate and nice of any assaults Secondly they are very wilfull and set upon their owne ends therefore they are expressed by the name of concupiscence and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wills of the flesh and wilfulnesse is the ground of impatiency Thirdly they are naturall and move strongly to their owne point they are a Body and our very members no marvell then if they be sensible of paine from afflictions which are contrary unto nature The stronger the water runnes the more will it roare and some upon any opposition lust is like a furious beast enrag'd with the affliction the chaine that binds it Fourthly Lusts are very wise after a fleshly and sensuall manner and worldly wisedome is impatient of any stoppage or prevention of any affliction that crusheth and disappoints it Therefore the Apostle doth herein principally note the opposition betweene heavenly and carnall wisedome that the one is meeke peaceable and gentle the other divelish and full of strife Fifthly Lusts are proud especially those that arise from abundance of the Creature and pride being set upon by any affliction makes the heart breake forth into impatience debates and stoutnesse against God a proud heart growes harder by afflictions as Metals or Clay after they have past thorow the furnace It is said of Pharaoh that he did not set his heart to the Iudgements of God but exalted himselfe against his people Pride grew stronger by Affliction Besides pride in earthly things swallowes up the very expectation of Afflictions and therefore must needs leave the heart unprepared against them Sixthly Lusts are rooted in selfe-love and therefore when Christ will have a man forsake his lusts he directs him to denie himselfe Now the very essence of Afflictions are to be grievous and adverse to a mans selfe Seventhly Lusts are contentious armed things and their enmity is against God and therefore utterly unfit to accept of the punishment of sinne and to beare the â—…ndignation of the Lord or to submit unto any afflictions Eighthly Lusts resist the truth set up themselves against the Word and thereby utterly disable men to beare Afflictions for the Word sanctifies and lightens all Affliction the Word shewes Gods moderation and intention in them an issue out of them the benefits which will come from them the supplies of strength and abilities to beare them the promises of a more abundant exceeding weight of glory in comparison whereof they are as nothing Lastly if wee could conceive some Afflictions not contrary to lust yet Afflictions are ever contrary to the provisions of lust to the materials and instruments of lusts such as are health pleasure riches honours c. And in all these respect a Heart set upon lust is weakened and disabled to beare Afflictions Secondly when the Heart is set upon the Creature it is utterly disabled in regard of its active strength made unfit to doe any duty with that strength as Gods requires First because Bonum fit ex causâ integrâ A good duty must proceede from an entire Cause from the whole heart Now lust divides the Heart and makes it unstedfast and unfaithfull unto God There is a twofold unstedfastnesse one in degrees another in objects the former proceeds from the remainders of corruption and therefore is found in some measure in the best
heart upon thine Asses for the desire of Israel is upon thee Why should a Kings heart be set upon Asses so may I say why should Christians hearts be set upon earthly things since they have the desires of all flesh to fix upon I will conclude with one word upon the last particu lar How to use the Creatures as Thornes or as vexing things First Let not the Bramble be King Let not earthly things beare rule over thy affections fire will rise out of them which will consume thy Cedars emasculate all the powers of thy Soule Let Grace sit in the throne and earthly things be subordinate to the wisdome and rule of Gods Spirit in thy heart They are excellent servants but pernicious Masters Secondly Be arm'd when thou touchest or medlest with them Arm'd against the Lusts and against the Temptations that arise from them Get faith to place thy heart upon better promises enter not upon them without prayer unto God that since thou art going amongst snares he would carry thee through with wisedome and faithfulnesse and teach thee how to use them as his blessings and as instruments of his glory Make a covenant with thine heart as Iob with his eyes have a jealousie and suspicion of thine evill heart lest it be surpriz'd and bewitched with finfull affections Thirdly touch them gently doe not hug love dote upon the Creature nor graspe it with adulterous embraces the love of mony is a roote of mischiefe and is enmity against God Fourthly use them for Hedges and fences to relieve the Saints to make friends of unrighteous Mammon to defend the Church of Christ but by no meanes have them In thy field but onely About it mingle it not with thy Corne least it choake and stifle all And lastly vse them as Gedeon for weapons of Iust revenge against the enemies of Gods Church to vindicate his truth and glory and then by being wise and faithfull in a little thou shalt at last be made ruler over much and enter into thy Masters Ioy. FINIS THE SINFVLNES OF SINNE Considered in the State Guilt Power and Pollution thereof By EDWARD REYNOLDS Preacher to the Honourable Societie of Lincolns Inne PAX OPVLENTIAM SAPIENTIA PACEM FK LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostocke 1631. THE SINFVLNESSE OF SINNE ROM 7. 9. For I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandement came Sinne revived and I died WEE have seene in the foriner Treatise that man can finde no Happinesse in the Creature I will in the next place shew That he can find no happinesse in Himselfe It is neither about him nor within him In the Creature nothing but vanitis and vexation in Himselfe nothing but Sinne and Death The Apostle in these words sets forth three things First The state of Sinne Sinne Revived Secondly the Guilt of Sinne I Died or found my selfe to be a condemn'd man in the state of perdition Thirdly the evidence and conviction of both When the Commandement came which words imply a conviction and that from the spirit First a conviction for they inferre a conclusion extremely contradictory to the conclusions in which Saint Paul formerly rested which is the forme of a conviction Saint Pauls former conclusion was I was alive but when the commandement came the conclusion was extremely contrary I Died. Secondly It was a spirituall conviction For Saint Paul was never literally without the Law but the vaâ—…le till this time was before his eyes he is now made to understand the Law in its native sense and compasse the Law is spiritual v. 14. and he is enabled to discerne it spiritually Absurd is the Doctrine of the Socinians some others That unregenerate men by a meere natur all perception without any divine superinâ—…us'd light they are the words of Episcopius and they are wicked wordes may understand the wholâ—… Law even all things requisite unto faith godlines Foolishly confounding and impiously deriding the spirituall and divine sense of holy Scriptures with the grammatical construction Against this we shall need use no other argument then a plaine Syllogisme compounded out of the very words of Scripture Darknesse doth not comprehend light Ioh. 1. 5. 〈◊〉 men are Darkenesse Eph. 5. 8. 4. 17. 18. Act. 26. 18. 2. Pâ—…t 1. 9. yea Held under the power of darkenesse Col. 1. 13. and the word of God is light Psal. 119. 105. 2. Cor. 4. 4. therefore unregenerate men cannot understand the â—…d in that spirituall compasse which it carries There is such an asymmetry and disproportion betweene our understandings and the brightnesse of the word that the Saints themselves have prayed for more spirituall light and vnderstanding to conceive it That knowledge which a man ought to have for there is a knowledge which is not such as it ought to be doth passe knowledge even all the â—…ength of meere naturall reason to attaine unto peculiar to the sheep of Christ. Naturall men have their principles vitiated their faculties bound that they cannot understand spirituall things till God have as it were â—…nplanted a â—…ew understanding in them framed the heart to attend and set it at liberty to see the glory of God with open face Though the vaile doe not keepe out Grammaticall construction yet it blindeth the heart against the spirituall light and beauty of the Word We see even in common sciences where the conclusions are suteable to our owne innate and implanted notions yet he that can distinctly construe and make Grammar of a principle in Euclide may be ignorant of the Mathematicall sense and use of it much more may a man in divine truths bee Spiritually ignorant even where in some respect hee may be said to know For the Scriptures pronounce men ignorant of those things which they see and know In divine doctrine obedience is the Ground of knowledge and Holinesse the best qualification to understand the Scriptures If any mâ—…n will doe the will of God he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God The 〈◊〉 will he teach his way and â—…eale his secret to them that feare him to babes to those that conforme not themselves to this evill world To understand then the words we must note first that there is an opposition between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those two Clauses in the Text Once and When the Commandement came It is the conceite of some that the latter as well as the former is meant of a state of unregeneration and that Saint Paul all this Chapter over speaketh in the person of an unregenerate man not intending at all to shew the fleshlinesse and adherency of corruption to the holiest men but the necessitie of righteousnesse by Christ without the which though a man may when once the Commandement comes and is fully revealed will good hate sinne in sinning doe that which he would not
meeke and peaceable In the same will a delight in the Law of God and yet a bias and counter-motion to the law of sinne In the same understanding a light of the Gospell and yet many relikes of humane principles and fleshly reasonings much ignorance of the purity excellency and beauty of the wayes of God In the same heart singlenesse and sensiblenesse of sinne and yet much secret fraud and prevarication hardnesse and dis-apprehension of sin and wrath In the same affections love of God and love of the World feare of God and feare of men trust in God and doubting of his favour Lord I beleeve helpe thou mine unbeliefe was the cry of the poore man in the Gospell and such must bee the complaints of the best of us Lord I will helpe thou mine unwillingnesse Lord I heare thee helpe thou my deafenesse Lord I remember thee helpe thou my forgetfulnesse Lord I presse towards thee helpe thou my wearinesse Lord I rejoyce in thee helpe thou my heavinesse Lord I desire to have more fellowship with thee helpe thou my strangenesse Lord I love and delight in thy Law helpe thou my failings Such tugging is there of either nature to preserve and improve it selfe Iacob was a man of contention and wrestling from the beginning Contention with his brother in the birth contention for the birth-right contention with an Angell for the blessing contention for his wife and for his wages with Laban He was a Typicall man his name was Israel and he was a patterne to the Israel of God We must be all men of contention wrestlers not onely with God in strong and importunate prayers for his blessings but with our elder brother Esau with the lusts and frowardnesse of our owne hearts The Thiefe on the Crosse was a perfect embleme of the sinne of our nature he was naild hand and foot destin'd unto death utterly disabled from any of his wonted outrages and yet that only part which was a little loose flies out in reviling and reproaching Christ Our old man by the mercy of God is upon a Crosse destin'd to death disabled from the exercise of that wonted violence and dominion which it used and yet so long as there is any life or strength left in him hee sets it all on worke to revile that blessed spirit which is come so neere him The more David prevailes the more Saul rageth and persecuteth him As in the wombe of Tamar there was a strife for precedencie Zarah thrust out his hand first and yet Pharez goâ—… foâ—…th before him so in a Christian many times the 〈◊〉 thruâ—… out the hand and begins to worke and presently the flesh growes sturdie and boisterous and gets first into the action A man sets himselfe to call upon God lifts up his hand with the skarlet thred the blood of Christ upon it is in a sweete preparation to powre out his complaints his requests his praises to his father and ere he is aware pride ln the excellencie of Gods gifts or deadnesse or worldly thoughts intrude themselves and justle-by Gods spirit and cast a blemish upon his offring A man is setting himself to heare Gods word begins to attend and rellish the things that are spoken as matters which doe in good earnest concerne his peace begins to see a beauty more then ordinary in Gods service an excellencie with David in Gods Law which hee considered not before resolves hereafter to love frequent submit beleeve prize it more then he had ever done presently the flesh sets up her mounds her reasonings her perverse disputes her owne principles her shame her worldlinesse her want of leisure her secular contentments and so resists the spirit of God and rejects his counsell I have enough already what needs this zeale this pressing this accuratenesse this violence for heaven strive wee what wee can our infirmities will encompasse us our corruptions will bee about us But yet Beloved as in a pyramide the higher you goe the lesse compasse still you finde the body to bee of and yet not without the curiositie and diligence of him that fram'd it so in a Christian mans resurrection and conversation with Christ in heaven the neerer he comes to Christ the smaller still his corruptions will bee and yet not without much spirituall industry and christian art A Christian is like a flame the higher it ascends the more thinne purified and azurie it is but yet it is a flame in greene wood that wants perpetuall blowing and encouragement A man sets himselfe with some good resolution of spirit to set forward the honor in questioning in discovering in shaming in punishing within the compasse of his owne calling and warrant the abuses of the times in countenancing in rewarding in abetting and supporting truth righteousnes his flesh presently interposeth his quiet his security his relations his interests his hopes his feares his dependencies his plausibility his credit his profit his secular provisoes these blunt his edge upbraid him with impoliticknes with malecontentednes with a sullen cynicall disposition against men and manners and thus put I know not what ill favor'd colours upon a good face to make a man out of love with an honest busines In a word good is before me the glory the service the waies of God I see it but I cannot love it I love it but I cannot doe it I doe it but I cannot finish it I will but yet I rebell I follow and yet I fall I presse forward and yet I faint and flagge I wrestle and yet I halt I pray and yet I sinne I fight and yet I am Captive I crucifie my lusts and yet they revile me I watch my heart and yet it runnes away from me God was at first the Author of nothing but peace within me what envious man hath sowed this warre in my bowels Let the Apostle answer this question saith Saint Austen By one man sinne entred into the world That which I would be I am not and that which I hate I am O wretched man in whom the Crosse of Christ hath not yet worne out the poysonous and bitter tast of that first tree It is the patheticall complaint of Bonifacius in the same Father How doth the Apostle even breake with complaining of this rebellious and captivating power of originall concupiscence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me though hee were delivered from the damnation yet hee was not delivered from the miserie of this sinne which must necessarily arise from the stirrings and conflicts of it Though lust in the regenerate bee not damnable because albeit it bring forth sinne yet it doth not finish and consummate it for it is broken off by repentance and disabled by the power of Christs spirit yet it is still miserable because it disquieteth the spirituall peace and tranquillity of the soule But there is no great danger in the warre if the enemie bee either foolish or
and you shall finde more madnesse and tempest in him then in the Sea into which he was throwne Angry exceeding angry at Gods mercy to Ninivie and with a strange uniformitie of passion in a contrary occasion as angry at Gods severity to the Gourd That which made Iob though before full of impaciency in some particular fits to lay his hand on his mouth and reply no more which was Gods debatement and expostulation with him Ionah regarded not but reproves and replyes with much madnesse of heart upon God himselfe I doe well to be angry even unto death So belluine and contumacious are the mindes of men set upon their owne end that though God himselfe undertake the cause they will out-face his arguments and stand on their owne defence Asa was a holy King his heart was perfect with the Lord all his dayes yet when the Prophet sent from God told him of his folly in entertaining leagve with the Syrians and depending upon their confederacies It is said that he imprisoned the Prophet and was in a rage or in a tempestuousnesse against him Theodosius was a holy and excellent Prince and amongst all other graces for none more eminent then for lenitie and compassion yet so farre did his furie kindle upon occasion of an uproare at Thessalonica where one of his servants had been slaine that he commanded an universall massacre without distinction to passe upon the City where in a very short space of three houres there were seven thousand men butchered by the Emperours Edict and the City fill'd with the blood of Innocents And this should teach us to keepe the stricter watch over our owne hearts since such excellent men as these have fallen since so many occasions may throw us into the like distemper since the sinne of our nature is but like a sleeping Lyon or at best but like a wounded Lion any thing that awakens and vexeth it begets rage and furie to be the more circumspect over our selves and the more jealous of our owne passions in those particular cases especially wherein this fiâ—…e is most apt to kindle First when thou art in disputation engag'd upon a just quarrell to vindicate the truth of God from heresie and distorsion looke unto thy heart set a watch over thy tongue be ware of wild-fiâ—…e in thy zeale take heed of this madnesse of thiâ—…e evill nature Much advantage the Divell may get euen by disputations for the truth When mâ—…n dispute against those that oppose themselves as the Disciples against the Samaritans with thunder and fire from heaven with railing and reviling speeches such as the Angell durst not give unto Satan himselfe when men shall forget the Apostles rule to instruct those that oppose themselves with meeknes and to restore those that are fallen with the spirit of meeknes When tongve shal be sharpned against tongue and pen poisoned against pen when pamphlets shall come forth with more teeth to bite then arguments to convince when men shall follow an adversarie as an undisciplin'd Dog his game with barking and bawling more then with skill or cunning this is a way to betray the truth and to doe the Divell service under Gods colours It is a grave observation which Sulpitius Severus makes of the councel at Ariminum consisting of foure hundred Bishops whereof eighty were Arians and the rest Orthodox when after much treaty and agitation nothing was concluded but either party kept immoveable to his owne tenent It was at last resolv'd that the sides should severally dispatch an embassage to the emperour of ten men apiece who should make relation of their faith and opinions And here now grew the disadvantage for saith hee the Arians sent Aged men cunning and able to manage their employment to the best but on our part there were young men sent of little learning and of strong passions who being vex'd and provok'd by the adverse partie spoild their owne businesse though farre the better with imprudent and intemperate handling Secondly when thou art upon any civill controversie or debate for matter of right looke unto thy heart take heed of that seed of madnesse which lies lurking in it lest upon occasion of lawfull controversie there breake out rage and revenge upon the persons of one another It is not for nothing that the Apostle saith There is utterly a fault amongst you because you goe to Law with one another 1. Cor. 6. 7. Why The Apostle doth plainely allow Iudicature vers 1. A man may go to law before the Saints they may iudge small matters and things that pertaine to this life vers 2. 3. 4. And for any man from such a place to inferre the unlawfulnesse of sueing to publick justice for his right is a piece of Anabaptisme and folly justly punished with the losse of his right What then is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Impotency and defect which the Apostle blameth in them It consisteth in two things first their going to law before Heathen Iudges thereby exposing the profession of Christianity to imputations of scisme divisions and worldlinesse amongst the enemies of it In which case rather then put a rub unto the progresse of the Gospell by giving unreasonable men occasion to censure the truth thereof by their altercations and making the ministery evill spoken oâ—… by their scandals they were to suffer and to beare wrong For those words Why doe you not rather take wrong and suffer your selves to bee defrauded are not a Positive precept as Iulian the Apostate objected scornefully to the Christians unlesse it be in smaller injuries which may with more wisedome be borne by patience then by contention repaid or overcome but onely a Comparative precept that a man should rather choose to leave his name life estate goods interests utterly unvindicated then by defending them unavoydably to bring a scandall upon the Crosse of Christ. Secondly which is to my present purpose Their going to law though in itselfe Iust when before competent and fit judges had yet an accidentall vitiousnesse that by their inadvertencie did breake out of their evill hearts and cleave unto it and that was their litigations ranne from the businesses unto the persons It brake forth into violence and wrong against one another much perturbation of minde revengefull and circumventing projects shew themselves under the colour of legall debatements Nay saith the Apostle you doe wrong and defraud and that your brethren Such a notable frowardnesse and rage lyes in the natures of men that without much caution and watchfulnesse it will bee blowne up into a flame even by honest and just contentions Thirdly In Differences upon private conversation looke to your hearts give not the raines too much to anger or displeasure to suspicions or misconstructions of your neighbours person or courses give not the water passage no not a little Be Angry saith the Apostle but sinne not let not the sunne goe downe upon your wrath It is not a
the good and refuse the evill Ro. 7. 18. Secondly no evil lust riseth or stirreth though it prevent the consent of the will but the wil may be esteemed faultie not in this that it consented unto it but in this that it did not as it ought to have done hinder and suppresse it For the stirrings of lust before the will is their usurpation and inordinatenesse not their nature which therefore the will according to that primitive soveraignty which in mans nature shee had ought to rectifie and order againe Thirdly originall sin though to persons it be not yet to the nature it was voluntarie and to the persons in Adam as in their common Father for with them otherwise then in him no covenant could be made and even in humane lawes the Acts of parents can circumscribe their children To the third wee utterly deny that God did take away originall righteousnesse from man but he Threw it away himselfe God indeed with-holds it and doth not obtrude againe that upon us which wee rejected before but he did not snatch it away but man in sinning did nullifie it to himselfe For what was righteousnesse in Adam but perfect and universall rectitude whereby the whole man was sweetly order'd by Gods law and within himselfe now Adams sinne having so many evils in it as it had pride ambition ingratitude robberie luxurie idolatry murther and the like needs must that sinne spoile that originall righteousnesse which was and ought to bee universall Secondly wee grant that originall sinne is not onely a fault but a punishment too but that the one of these should destroy the other wee utterly denie for which purpose wee may note that a punishment may be either by God inflicted in its whole being or by man in the substance of the thing contracted and by God in the penall relation which it carries ordered It is true no punishment from God inflicted upon man can bee in the substance of the thing sinfull but that which man brings upon himselfe as a sinne Gods wisedome may order to be a punishment too When a prodigall spends his whole estate upon uncleannesse is not his povertie both a sinne and a punishment when a drunkard or adulterer brings diseases upon his bodie and drownes his reason is not that impotencie and sottishnesse both sinne and punishment did not God punish Pharaoh with hardnesse of heart and the gentiles with vile affections and yet these were sinnes as well as punishments To expedite this point in one word as I conceive of it Two things are in this sinne Privation of Gods Image and lust or habituall concupiscence The privation is in regard of the first losse of righteousnesse from Adam alone by his voluntarie depraving of the humane nature and excussion of the image of God but in regard of the Continuance of it so deficienter Gods justice and wisedome hath a hand in it who as he is the most just avenger of his owne wrongs and the most free disposer of his owne gifts so hath hee in both respects been pleased to whith-hold his image formerly rejected and not to obtrude upon ingratefull and unworthy men so pretious an endowment of which the former contempt and indignitie had justly made them ever after destitute Concupiscence wee may conceive both as a disorder and as a penaltie Consider it as a punishment and so though it bee not by God effected in nature for he tempteth no man much lesse doth hee corrupt any yet is it subject to his wisedome and ordination who after he had been by Adam forsaken did then forsake him likewise and give him up into the hand of his owne counsell leaving him to transmit upon others that seminarie of uncleannesse which himselfe had contracted Consider it as a vice and so wee say that lust or flesh doth not belong to the parts as such or such parts but is the disease of the whole nature either part whereof though it doe not equally descend from Adam yet may hee justly bee esteem'd the Father and Fountaine of the whole nature because though generation doe not make all the materials and parts of nature yet doth it worke to the uniting of them and constituting of the whole by them So then naturall corruption is from Adâ—…m alone meritoriously by reason of his first prevarication from Adam by our parents seminally and by generation and contagion but under favour I conceive that it is not from the body in the soule but equally and universally from the whole nature as a guilty forsaken and accursed nature by some secret and ineffable resultancie therefrom under those relations of Guilt and cursednesse This with submission to the learned I conceive in that great question touching the penalenesse and traduction of originall concupiscence reserving to others their libertie in such things wherein a latitude of opinions may consist with the unitie of faith and love But to returne to those things which are more for practice This doctrine of originall sinne doth direct us in our humiliations for sinne shewes us whither wee should rise in judging and condemning our selves even as high as our fleshly lusts and corrupt nature Let not any man say saith S. Iames that he was tempted of God I shall goe further Let not any man say of himselfe by way of excuse extenuation or exoneration of himselfe I was tempted of Satan or of the World and who can be too hard for such enemies who can withstand such strong solicitations Let not any man resolve his sinnes into any other originall then his owne lusts Our perdition is totally of our selves wee are assaulted by many enemies but it is one onely that over commeth us even our owne flesh Saint Paul could truly say It was no more I that sinned but did he charge his sinnes therefore upon Satan or upon the World No though it was not he yet it was something that did belong unto him an inmate a bosome enemie even sinne that dwelt within him It is said that Satan provoked David to number the people and yet Davids heart smote himselfe and did not charge Satan with the sinne because it was the lust of his owne heart that let in and gave way to Satans temptation If there were the same minde in us as in Christ that Satan could finde no more in us to mingle his temptations with all then hee did in him they would be equally successelesâ—…e but this is his greatest advantage that he hath our evill nature to helpe him and hold intelligence with him And therefore wee must rise as high as that in our humiliations for sinne For that will keepe us ever humble because concupiscence will be ever stiâ—…ring in 〈◊〉 and it will make us throughly humble because thereby sinne is made altogether our owne when wee attribute it not to casualties or accidentall miscarriages but to our nature as David did In sinne was I shaped and in iniquitie did my mother conceive me
It was not any accident or externall temptation which was the roote and ground of these my sinnes but I was a transgressour from the wombe I had the seedes of adultery and murder sowne in my very nature and from thence did they breake forth in my life When men shall consider that in their whole frame there is an universall ineptitude and indisposition to any good and as large a forwardnesse unto all evill that all their principles are vitiated and their faculties out of joynt that they are in the wombe as Cockatrice egges and in the conception a seed of â—…pers more odious in the pure eyes of God then Toads or Serpents are in ours this will keepe men in more caution against sinne and in more humiliation for it Lastly from the consideration of this sinne we should be exhorted unto these needfull duties First to much iâ—…alousie against our selves not to trust any of our faculties alone nor to be too confident upon presumptions or experiences of our owne strength â—…ob would not trust his eies without a covenant nor David his mouth without a bridle so strangely and unexpectedly will nature breake out if it feele it selfe a little loose as may cost a man many a cry and teare to set himselfe right againe Though a Lyon seeme never so tame though the Sea seeme never so calme give them no passage keepe on the chaine look still to the Bulwarkes for there is a rage in them which cannot be tamed Venture not on any temptation bee not confident of any grace received so as to slacken your wonted zeale count not your selves to have apprehended any thing forget that which is behinde presse forward to the price that is before you and ever suspect the treacherie and tergiversation of your owne hearts Ioseph flung out and would not trust himselfe in the company of his mistresse He hearkened not to her to lye by her or to bee with her company might easily have kindled concupiscence a little of Satans blowing might have carried the fire from one sticke unto another David would have no wicked thing in his house nor in his sight sinne is a plague hee knew how full of ill humours and seeds of alike evill his heart was how apt to catch every infection that came neere it and therefore he tooke care to decline the very objects and examples of sinne God would not suffer any people or monuments of Idolaters to bee spared lest they should prove temptations and snares to his owne people and their hearts should runne after the like sinnes Keepe thine heart saith Salomon with alâ—… diligence never let thine eye bee off from it hide the word and the spirit alwayes in it to watch it for there is an adulterer ever at hand to steale it away Therefore the Lord would have the Israelites binde Ribbands upon their Fringes and the Law on the Posts of their dores that by those visible remembrancers their mindes might be taken off from other vanities and the obedience of the Law more reviv'd within them And Salomon alluding to that custome shewes the vse and the fruites of it Bind them saith he continually upon thine heart and tye them about thy necke make the Law of God thy continuall ornament when thou goest it shall leade thee when thou sleepest it shall keepe thee when thou awakest it shall talke with thee in all thy wayes and conditions it shall be thy safegard thy companion and thy comfort Secondly To warre and contention against so strong and so close an enemie Our flesh is our Esau our elder brother and we must ever be wrestling with it The flesh and the spirit are contraries one will ever be on the prevailing side and the flesh is never weary nor out of work to improve its owne part therefore the spirit must bee as studious and importunate for the Kingdome of Christ. But you will say To what end serves any such combate it is impossible to vanquish or to ouercome lust The Divell may bee put to flight there is hope in a conflict with him but lust may be exasperated by contention it cannot bee shaken of To this I answer in the generall first that it is our dutie to fight with sinne and it is Christs office and promise to overcome it Wee must performe that which hee requireth of us and trust him with that which hee promiseth unto us Besides by this meanes the bodie of sinne is first weakened though not quite destroi'd For as in the Leviticall Law when a spreading leprosie was in a house the walls were first scraped round about the dust throwne out new stones and new morter put to the old materials and then last of all the house upon the uncureablenesse of it was broken quite downe and dissolved so in our present leprous and corrupted condition wee are to deface to weaken to scrape of what wee can of the body of sinne and leave the rest for God to doe when hee shall be pleased to dissolve us Secondly It is by this meanes captivated likewise though like the Gibeonites and the Moabitish maides it bee not slaine yet it is kept under and subdued Thirdly however by this meanes it is discover'd and it is a good part of warre to know the latitude of an enemies strength to prie into his stratagems and contrivances For the knowledge of sinne will make us more earnest in mourning for it more importunate in our prayers against it more humble in our consessions of it more unquiet till wee be acquitted by the blood of Christ and his spirit from it more urgent to lay hold upon the victories and promises of Christ against it This is the sum of all and a most sufficient encouragement The grace of Christ in us will weaken much the grace and favour of Christ unto vs will forgive the rest and the power of Christ at the last will annihilate all Thirdly To patience and constancy in this spirituall combate Wee are beset and compassed about with our corruptions the sinne hangs on with much pertinacy and will not be shaken of therefore there is neede of patience to runne the race that is set before us to doe the whole will of God to hale perpetually our clog after us to pull on and drive forward a backsliding and a revolting heart to thrust still before us a swarme of thoughts and affections through so many turnings and temptations as they shall meet withall When the spies returned from the holy Land they disheartned the people because they had seen giants the sonnes of Aâ—…ak so when the spirit of man considers I am to enter upon a combate that admits no treatie of peace or respite with an old man full of wisedome furnished with a whole Armorie of weapons and with all the succors and contributions which principalities and powers and spirituall wickednesses can bring in an enemie full of desperate rebellion and unwearied rage
inquire who they are unto whose right and possession a man may belong and then examine the Evidences which either can make for himselfe To sinne wee know doth appertaine the primitive right of every naturall and lapsed man for we are by nature the Children of wrath A purchase then there must come betweene before a man can passe over into anothers right this purchase was made by Christ who bought us with his blood And the treatie in this purchase was not between Christ and sinne but betweene him and his Father Thine they were and thou gavest them me for the fall of Man could not nullifie Gods Dominion nor right unto him for when man ceased to be Gods Servant he then began to be his Prisoner and though Sinne and Sathan weâ—… in regard of man Lords yet they were in regard of God but Iaylors to keepe or part from his Prisoners at his pleasure Besides though Christ got man by purchase yet Sinne and Sathan lost him by forfeiture for thâ—… prince of this world seizing upon Christ in whom he had â—…o right for he found nothing of his owne in him did by that meanes forteite his former right which hee had in men of the same nature Wee see then all the claime that can be made is either by Christ or Sinne by that strong man or him that is stronger A man must have evidences for Christ or else hee belongs unto the power of Sinne. The evidences of Christ are his Name his Seale and his Witnesses His Name a new Name a name better then of sonnes and daughters even Christ formed in the heart and his Law ingraven in the inner man As it is fabled of Ignatius that there was found the Name of Iesus written in his heart so must every one of Gods House bee named by him with this new name Of Him are all the Families in Heaven and in Earth named The Seale of Christ is his Spirit witnessing unto and securing our spirits that we belong unto him For hee that hath not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his and by this we know that he dwelleth in us and we in him because hee hath given us of his Spirit The witnesses of Christ are three The Spirit the Water and Blood The Testimonie of Adoption Sealing the Fatherly care of God to our Soules saying to our Soules that he is our Salvation and Inheritance The Testimonie of Iustification our Faith in the blood and price of Christ and the Testimonie of Sanctification in our being cleansed from dead workes for he came to destroy the workes of the Devill hee came with Refiners fire and with Fullers sope and with healing under his wings that is as I conceive under the preaching of his Gospell which as the beames of the Sunne make manifest the savor of Him in every place and by which he commeth and goeth abroad to those that are a far off and to those that are neere It was the Office of Christ as well to Purifie as to Redeeme as well to Sanctifie as to Iustifie us so that if a man say hee belongs to Christ and yet bringeth not forth fruite unto God but lives still married to his former lusts and is not cleansed from his filthinesse hee makes God a lyer because hee beleeveth not the Record which hee gives of his Sonne for Hee will not have either a barren or an adulterous spouse yea he putteth Christ to shame as if he had undertaken more then he were able to performe Besides Christ being a Light a Starre a Sunne never comes to the heart without selfe-manifestation such evidence as cannot be gainesaid unto him belongs this royall prerogative to be himselfe the witnesse to his owne Grace And when the Papists demaund of us How wee can bee sure that this Testimnoy of Christs Grace and Spirit is not a false witnesse and delusion of Sathan wee demaund of them againe If the flesh can have this advantage to make such Objections against the unvalueable Comforts of Christs Grace and the heart have nothing to reply If Christ witnesse and no man can understand it If the Spirit of Christ be a Comforter and the Divell can comfort every jot as well and counterfeit his comforts to the quicke and so cozen and delude a man what is any man the better for any such assertions of Scripture where the Spirit is called the Spirit of Comfort the strengthner of the inner man and the heart said to be established by Grace Certainely the Comforts of the Spirit must fall to the ground if they bring not along a proper and distinct lustre into the Soule with them And this Ambrosiuâ—… Catharinus himselfe a learned Papist and as great a scholler in the Trent Councell as any other was bold to maintaine against the contrary opinion of Dominicus Soto in a publike declaration unto whom Bellarmine dares not adhere though it bee his custome to boast of their unanimitie in point of Doctrine Besides sinne is of a quarrelling and litigious disposition it will not easily part from that which was once its owne but will bee ever raysing sutes disputing arguing wrangling with the Conscience for its old right Christ came not to send peace but a sword perpetuall and unreconcileable combats and debates with the flesh of man If a man hold peace with his lusts and set not his strength and his heart against them If they bee not in a state of rebellion they are certainely in the throne It is impossible for a King to rebell because hee hath none above him and so as long as lust is a king it is in peace but when Christ subdues it and takes possession of the heart it will presently rise and rebell against his kingdome Heere then is the triall of the Title If a man cannot shew the evidences of a new purchase the Spirit the Blood the Water the Sonneship the Righteousnesse the Holynesse Conversation and Grace of Christ If he be not in armes against the remnants of lust in himselfe but live in peace and good contentment under the vigor and life of them that man belongs yet unto the right of sinne For if a man be Christs there will bee Nova regalia extremely opposite to those of sinne A new heart for the Throne of the Spirit New members to bee the servants of Righteousnesse New Counsellors namely the Lawes of God A new Panoplie The whole armour of God New lawes The law of the minde and of the heart A new Iudicature even the government of the Spirit Thoughts Words Actions Conversations All things new as the Apostle speakes Now let us in the next place consider the power whereby sinne makes its commands to bee obeyed wherein it is more strong and sure then a Tyrant who ruleth against the will of his Subjects The particulars of this strength may be thus digested First sinne hath much strength from it selfe and that
Comforts and Emoluments which yet are not valid enough to devest him of the whole right and state in a living so some sinnes may bee of so heavie a nature as may unqualifie a man for an actuall admittance into Heaven or possession of glory which yet doe not nullifie his Faith nor extinguish his Title and interest unto it Thus we see that sinne may in the most holy have great power the examples whereof are all written for our learning to teach us what is indeede within us how circumspectly wee should walke how watchfull over our hearts how stedfast in our Covenant lest wee fall after the example of those men and so breake our bones as David did For one great sinne presumptuously committed will bring either such a hardnesse of heart as will make thee live in a wretched securitie and neglect of thy service and peace with God Or such a wofull experience of his wrath and heavie displeasure against sinne as will even bruise thy Conscience and burne up thy bowels and make thee goe drooping and disconsolate it may be all thy dayes But yet though sinne may thus farre proceede against a regenerate man all this doth not amount to a complete raigne Though sinne may have a victorie in the faithfull and that even over their wills yet it hath not a kingdome which imports a complete and universall resignation of the whole will and man to the obedience of it It is one thing to have the whole consent of the will unto some one sinne stollen away by some particular temptation and another to be whollie addicted and devoted to the waies of sinne to have the whole heart universally married to Lust and filled with Sathan whereby it bringeth forth fruite unto deaâ—…h Into the former of these we grant the faithfull may fall and yet even in that case the seede of God which abideth in them though it did not operate to prevent â—…inne will yet undoubtedly serve to supplie repentance in due time and though Consent went before to conceive sinne yet it shall not follow after to allow it being committed but they review their sin with much hatred and selfe-displicencie with affliction of spirit humiliation of heart admiration of Gods patience and forbearance with renewing their Covenant with Complaints and heavie bewailings of their owne frowardnesse with a filiall mourning for their â—…ngratitude and undutifulnesse unto God But that a regenerate man should totally addict himselfe to the wayes of sin is repugnant to the Scripture and extremely contrarie to that Throne which Christ hath in the heart of such a man For the second Case how unregenerate men may bee convinc'd that sinne doth raigne in them wee must observe that the complete raigne of sinne denotes two things First that strength power soveraigntie and dominion of sinne which hath beene already opened Secondly A peaceable uncontroled willing universall subjection of all the members vnto the obedience of that King Now to measure the unregenerate by this Adequate Rule wee must know that they first are of severall sorts and stampes Some are apparantly and in conspectu hominum outragious sinners upon whom every man that sees them and is well acquainted with the trade and course of sinne which they live in may without breach of Charitie passe this sentence there goes a man who declares himselfe in the eyes of the World to bee a servant of sinne I speake not this for liberty of censuring but for evidence and easinesse of discerning onely Every man that thinkes it basenesse and below the straine of his spirit to tremble at Gods Word to feare judgements against sinne denounced who with a presumptuous and high hand rejects the warnings which God sends him who in his practise and sinfull conformities makes more account of the course of the World then of the curse of God of the fashions of men then of the will of the Spirit of the estimation of men then of the opinion of Christ and such is every one that allowes himselfe in the same excesse of rage and riot of swearing swaggering and uncleannesse with his divelish associates in the name and authoâ—…itie of the Lord Iesus I pronounce that man to be a servant of sinne and if he continue sinnes servant he shall undoubtedly have sinnes wages The wages of sinne is Death even the everlasting vengeance and wrath to come and if hee despise that warning the word which I have spoken shall rise against him at the last day Others there are of a more calme civill composed course men much wiser but not a dramme holyer then those before And here mainely stickes the inquirie and that upon Three exceptions with which they may seeme to evade and shift off this power of sinne First in those men there appeareth not so soveraigne and absolute a dominion of sinne as hath been spoken of in as much as they seeme to live in faire externall conformitie to the truthes which they have learned To which I answere first in generall that there may bee a raigne of sinne where it is not perceived and that Insensibility is a maine argument of it For this is a certaine rule the more tenderly and seriously any man is affected with sense and sorrow for the power of sinne the more hee is delivered from it The young man in the Gospell was fully perswaded that hee had kept the whole Law and little thought that his owne possessions were his king and that he was a vassall to his owne wealth till Christ convinced him of a mighty raigne of covetousnesse in his heart A ship may in the midst of a calme by reason of a great mist and the negligence of the Marriners to sound and discover their distances from land split it selfe against a rocke as well as be cast vpon it by some irresistible storme and so that man who never fathams his heart nor searcheth how neere he may be to ruine but goes leisurely and uniformly on in his wonted formall and pharisaicall securities may when he thinkes nothing of it as likely perish under the power of sin as he in whom the rage thereof is most apparant As there is a great strength in a River when it runnes smoothest and without noyse which immediately discovers it selfe when any bridge or obstacle is set up against it so when sinne passeth with most stilnesse and undisturbance through the heart then is the raigne of it as strong as ever and upon any spirituall and searching opposition will declare it selfe The Pharises were rigid demure saint-like men while their hypocrisie was let alone to runne calmely and without noyse but when Christ by his spirituall expositions of the Law his Heavenly conversation his penetrating and convincing Sermons had stopt the current and disquieted them in their course wee finde their malice swell into the very sinne against the holy Ghost It is the light of the Sunne which maketh day when it selfe lies shut under a cloud and is not seene so in every
naturall man there is a power and prevalencie of sinne which yet may lie undiscovered under some generall moralities Thus as the Serpent in the fable had a true sting while it lay in the snow though it shewed not it selfe but at the fire so there may be a regall power in sinne when upon externall reasons it may for a time dissemble it selfe Ahab and Ieroboams wife were as truely Princes in their disguise as in their robes and a Sow as truely a Swine when washed in a spring of water as when wallowing in a sinke of dirt The heart of man is like a beast that hath much filth and garbage shut up under a faire skinne till the Word like a sacrificing sword slit open and as it were unridge the Conscience to discover it All the wayes of man saith Salomon are cleane in his owne eyes but the Lord weigheth the spirits He is a discoverer of the secrets and inâ—…rals of every action For the more paâ—…ticular opening of this point it will be needefull to answere some few questions touching the raigne of some particular sinnes which haply are seldome so thought of And the first is Touching smallsinnes whether they may be said to be raigning sinnes unto which I answere That it is not the greatnesse but the power of sin which makes it a king We know there are reguli as well as reges kings of Cities and narrow territories as well as Emperours over vast provinces Nay many times a sinne may be great in Abstracto as the fact is measured by the Law and yet in Concreto by Circumstances it may not be a raigning sinne in the person committing it and on the contrary a small sinne in the nature of the fact may be a raigning sinne in the commission as in a Corporation a man not halfe as rich as another may bee the chiefe magistrate and another of a farre greater estate may bee an underling in regard of Governement As a small stone throwne with a strong arme will doe more hurt then another farre greater if but gently laid on or sent forth with a fainter impression so a small sinne committed with a high hand with more security presumption and customarinesse then others will more waste the conscience then farre greater out of infirmitie or sudden surprizall As wee see drops frequently falling will eare into a stone and make it hollower then some few farre heavier strokes could have done or as water powred into a Sieve with many small holes or into a bottomlesse vessell is equally cast away A Ship may as well perish upon sands as rockes Dayly small expences vpon lesser vanities may in time eate out a good estate if there be never any accompts taken nor proportion observ'd nor provision made to bring in as well as to expend so a man otherwise very specious may by a course of more civill and moderate sinnes runne into ruine The second Question is Whether privy and secret sins which never breake forth into light may raigne To which I answere That of all other sinnes those which are secret have the chiefest rule such as are privy pride hypocrisie selfe-justification rebellion malitious projects against the Word and worship of God c. The Prophet compares wicked mens hearts to an Oven Hos. 7. 6 7. As an Oven is hottest when it is stopp'd that no blast may breake forth so the heart is oftentimes most sinfull when most reserv'd It was a great part of the state and pride of the Persian kings that they were seldome seene by their subjects in publicke and the kingdome of China at this day is very vast and potent though it communicate but litle with other people so those lodging thoughts as the Prophet cals them which lie stifled within may be most powerfull when they are least discover'd First Because they are ever in the throne for the heart is the throne of sinne and every thing hath most of it selfe and is least miâ—…ed and alter'd where it first riseth Secondly because they are in the heart as a stone in the Center freest from opposition and disturbance which breaking forth into act they might be likely to meete withall And this may bee one of the depths and projects of Sathan against the soule of a man to let him live in some faire and plausible conformitie for the outward conversation that so his rule in the heart may be the more quiet both from clamours of conscience and from cure of the Word The third Question is Whether sinnes of ignorance may be raigning sinnes To which I answere That it is not mens knowledge of a king which makes him a king but his owne power Saul was a king when the witch knew not of it For as those multitudes of imperceptible stars in the milkie way doe yet all contribute to that generall confused light which wee there see so the undiscernâ—…d power of unknowne sinnes doe adde much to the great kingdome which sinne hath in the hearts of men A letter written in an unknowne language or in darke and invisible Characters is yet as truely a letter as that which is most intelligible and distinct so though men make a shift to fill their consciences with darke and unlegible sinnes yet there they are as truely as if they were written in capitall Characters Saint Pauls persecution was a sinne of Ignorance that was the only thing which left roome for the mercy of God so he faith of himselfe I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly through unbeliefe Which words we are not to understand causally or by way of externall motive to Gods mercy as if Saint Pauls ignorance and unbeliefe had been any positive and objective reason why God shewed him mercy but only thus I was so grievous a persecutor of the Church of Christ that had it not beene for my ignorance onely I had beene a subject uncapable of mercy If I had knowne Christs spirit and beene so conuinc'd as the Scribes and Pharises to whom hee used to preach were and should notwithstanding that conviction have set my selfe with that crueltie and rage against him as I did there would have beene no roome for mercy left my sinne would have beene not onely against the members but against the Spirit of Christ and so an unpardonable sinne His persecution then was a sinne of ignorance and yet we may know what a raigning sinne it was by the description of it That he made havocke of the Church and haled men and women into prison And indeed Ignorance doth promote the kingdome of sinne as a thiese with a vizard or disguise will be more bold in his outrages then with open face For sinne cannot be reproved nor repented of till some way or other it be made knowne All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light The fourth Question is Whether naturall concupiscence may be esteemed a raigning sinne To which I answere That as a
equall and uniforme to all the Law It esteemeth all Gods precepts concerning al things to be right it hateth euery false way Whereas the other is onely in some particulars reseruing some exceptions from the generall rule and framing to it selfe a latitude of holinesse beyond which in their conceits is nothing of realitie but onely the fictions and chimaeraes the more abstract notions and singularities of a few men whose end is not to serve God but to be unlike their neighbours I deny not but that as oftentimes it falleth out in ill affected bodies that some one part may be more disordered and disabled for seruice then others because ill humors being by the rest rejected doe at last settle in that which 〈◊〉 â—…aturally weakest so in Christians likewise partly by the temper of their persons partly by the condition of their liues and callings partly by the pertinacious and more intimate adherence of some close corruption partly by the company and examples of men amongst whom they liue partly by the different administration of the spirit of grace who in the same men bloweth how and where he listeth it may come to passe that this uniformitie may bee blemished and some actions be more corrupt and some sinnes more predominant and untamed in them then others Yet still I say Renewing Grace doth in some measure subdue all and at least frame the heart to a vigilancie ouer those gaps which lie most naked and to a tendernes to bewaile the incursions of sin which are by them occasioned Thirdly that which riseth from Renewing Grace is constant growes more in old age hath life in more abundance proceedeth from a heart purged and prepared to bring forth more fruite where as the other growes faint and withers an hypocrite will not pray alwaies a torrent will one time or other dry vp and putrifie Water will mooue vpward by art till it be gotten levell to the spring where it first did rise and then it will returne to its nature againe So the corrupt hearts of naturall men how euer they may fashion them to a shew of holinesse so farre forth as will 〈◊〉 even to those ends and designes for which they assum'd it yet let them once goe past that and their falling downe will make it appeare that what ever motions they had screwed up themselves unto yet still in their hearts they did bend another way and did indeed resist the power of that grace whose countenance they affected Euen as Scipio and Annibal at Scyphax his table did complement and discourse and entertaine one another with much semblance of affection whereas other occasions in the field occurring made it appeare that euen at that time their hearts were full of reuenge and hostility Lastly that which riseth from Renewing Grace is with delight and much complacencie because it is naturall to a right spirit it desires nothing more then to haue the law of the flesh quite consum'd whereas the other hath paine and disquietnesse at the bridle which holds it in and therefore takes all advantages it can to breake loose againe For while naturall men are tampering about spirituall things they are out of their element it is as offensiue to them as aire is to a fish or water to a man Men may peradventure to coole and clense themselves step a while into the water but no man can make it his habitation a fish may friske into the aite to refresh himselfe but he returnes to his owne element wicked men may for varietie sake or to pacifie the grumblings of an unquiet conscience looke sometimes into Gods law but they can never suffer the word to dwell in them they are doing a worke against nature and therefore no marvell if they finde no pleasure in it nay they doe in their hearts wish that there were no such law at all to restraine their corrupt desires that there were no such records extant to be produced against them at the last and as soone as any occasions call them unto sensuall and sinfull delights they stealâ—… away the law from their owne consciences they suppresse and imprison the truth in unrighteousnesse they shut their eyes by a voluntary and affected ignorance that they may more securely and without checke or perturbation resigne themselves to their owne waies Secondly a deepe desperate hypocriticall affectation of the credit of Christianitie and of the repute and name of holinesse like that of Iehu Come â—…ce my zeale for the Lord of Hoasts And this is so farre from pulling downe the raigne of sinne that it mightily strengthens it and is a sore provocation of Gods jealousie and revenge The Prophet compares hypocrites to a deceâ—…tfull Bow which though it seeme to direct the arrow in an even line upon the marke yet the unfaithfulnesse thereof carries it at last into a crooked and contrarie way And a little after we finde the similitude verified Israel shall crie unto me my God we know thee Here seemes a direct ayme at God a true profession of faith and interest in the covenant but obserue presently the deceitfulnesse of the Bow Israel hath cast off the thing that is good though he be well contented to beare my name yet he cannot endure to beare my yoke though he be well pleased with the priviledges of my people yet he cannot away with the tribute and obedience of my people and therefore God rejects both him and his halfe services The enemie shall pursue him They haue sowed the winde and they shall reape the whirle winde saith the Lord in the same Prophet My people are like a husbandman going over plowed lands and casting abroad his hands as if he were sowing seed but the truth is there is nothing in his hand at all but winde nothing but vaine semblances and pretences the profession of a leedsman but the hand of a sluggard and now marke what an Harvest this man shall have That which a man soweth that also shall he reape he sowed the wiâ—…de and he shall imhâ—…rit the windâ—… as Salomon speakes Yet you may observe that there is some diffâ—…rence As in Harvest ordinarily there is an increase hee that sowes a Pecke may haply reape a Quaâ—…ter so the hypocrite here sowes winde but he reapes a whirle winde he sowed vanitie but he shall reape furie for the furie of the Lord is compar'd to a whirle winde God will not be honored with a lie shall a man lie for God This argument the Apostle useth to proove the Resurrection because else saith he we are found false witnesses of God and God doth not stand in neede of false witnesses to justifie his power or glory Why takest tâ—…ou my Word into thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed We reade that in one of the States of Greece if a scandalous man had lighted upon any wholsome counsell for the honor and advantage of the countrie yet the Common-weale rejected it as from him and
my furie to rest upon thee We have considered the Quod s◅ that sinne is full of filthinesse and pollution I will but name the Quid ◅it What this filthinesse is It hath Two things belonging to the nature of it First a privation of the nitor or beauty which the image of God brought into the soule with it A difformity to the holinesse and brightnesse of the Law The Law was both Holy and Good not onely the Rule but the beauty of our life and nature So that as evill is a declination and swarving from the Law as a Rule so it is sinne and as it is a swarving from the Law as our beauty so it is the staine and pollution of the soule Secondly it notes a positive foulenesse an habituall both naturall and contracted defilednesse of minde and conscience an introducing of the image of Satan hideous markes of hellishnesse and deformity in the soule body and conversation Every desire motion and figment of the heart being nothing but the exhalations of an open sepulcher the dampe and steame of a rotten soule Now in the last place let us see the Quale sit those Evill Properties which accompanie this pollution Foure woefull qualities belong unto it First it is a deepe pollution of a Crimson dye of a skarlet tincture that will not weare out Esai 1. 18. Like the spots of a Leopard or the blicknesse of an Ethiopian which is not by way of accidentall or externall adherencie but innate and contemper'd belonging to the constitution Ier. 13. 23. It is engraven upon their heart written with an iron pen and the claw of a diamond and so fashion'd even in the very substance of the soule Ier. 17. 1. It is an iniquitie marked which cannot bee washed away with niter and much sope no more then markes imprinted and incorporated in the substance of a vessell Ier. 2. 22. The whole inundation and deluge of Noah could not wash it of from the earth but it return'd againe A showre of fire and brimstone from heaven hath not so clensed it out of the country of Sodome but that the venome and plague of it doth still there appeare in a poisonous and stinking l◅ke The plague which came amongst the Israelites for the abominations of Baal Peor had not clensed the filthinesse all away but many yeeres after the staine remained Ios. 22. 17. Nay the very flames of Hell shall not in all eternity be able to eate out the prints or to fetch away the staines of the smallest sinnes from the nature of man Nay which is yet stronger then all this though Grace be of it selfe apt to wipe out and conquer sinne yet that measure and portion of Grace which here the best receive though it may shorten weaken abate yet it doth not utterly roote ◅t out Who can say I have made my heart cleane I am free from my sinnes The best of us have yet our sores running upon us and stand i◅ neede of a garment to cover our pollutions Secondly It is an universall pollution I said unto thee when thou wast In thy bloud live We are by nature all overdrown'd and plung'd in the filthinesse of sinne The Apostle here cals it filthinesse of flesh and spirit to note the compasse of the staine of sinne For notwithstanding some sinnes belong principally to the spirit as pride heresie idolatry superstition c. and others to the flesh as drunkennesse gluttonie uncleannesse c. yet certaine it is that every sinne defiles both flesh and spirit by the reason of their mutuall dependencie in being and working and of the contagious quality of sinne Sinnes of the flesh soake and sinke and eate in to the bottome of the spirit to drowne that with hardnesse insensibility errour security inconsideratenesse contempt of God c. and the sinnes of the spirit breake out like plague sores into the flesh pride into the eye malice into the hand heresie◅ to the tongue superstition and idolatry into the knee c. the soule and body have so neere communion that one can no more sinne al◅e without the contagion of the other then one wheele in an Engine move without the motion of the other Thirdly it is a spreading pollution A leprosie a gangrene a plague that diffuseth poison and infection upon others First it spreades in a mans selfe An evill lust will infect the thoughts and they the desires and they the words and actions and they grow into habits and reflect backe againe upon the heart and conscience to harden and defile them Secondly this infection staies not in a mans selfe onely but runnes forth upon others to leade and misguide them we will certainely doe as we have done We and our kings our princes and our fathers in the cities of Iudah and in the streetes of Ierusalem To drive and compell them why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as doethe Iewes To comfort and hearten them Thou hast justified and art a comfort to thy sisters Sodome and Samaria To exasperate and enrage them Thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme To deceive and seduce them as the old Prophet of Bethel did the Prophet of the Lord by his lie To teach and instruct them the Israelites by their idolatry taught their children to walke after Baalim And by how much the more authority over the persons of men or emmencie of place or reputation of piety any man hath by so much the more spreading and infectious are his sinnes being taken with the more trust and assurance If a minister be loose and scandalous a magistrate carelesse and rustie a gentleman rude a◅d uncleane a man that professeth the power of godlinesse unjust and worldly strange it is how the lower and more ignorant ranke of men who beleeve that surely such men as these are not by their places so farre from or by their learning and studies so unacquainted with God as they will be hereby strengthned in their deadly and formall courses Thirdly which is yet worse the vory godly are apt to be infected by the sinnes of the wicked It is not so strange to see a godly man misguided and seduc'd by the errours of others like himselfe the estimation of whose persons may over-rule the opiniō of their actions and so make a man take them upon trust from them But that a Holy man should carch infection from the example of another who is in the gall of b◅ternesse is a thing that wonderfully sets f◅th the corruption of our nature and the contagion of sin◅e The sonnes of God saw the daughters of men and were polluted the people of Israel saw the Midianitish women and were ensnared A Holy mans conversing with loose carnall and formall men diswonts him from the wayes of God brings a deadnesse of spirit and insensible decay of grace upon him secretly and therefore the more dangerously conveyes a mediocritie and compliancie of Spirit with formes onely of godlinesse
him shall God destroâ—… for the temple of God is holy which temple ye are He promiseth to be Our Father and make us his people and this also is a strong argument why wee should purifie our selves and as obedient children not fashion our selves according to the former lusts in ignorance but as he who hath called us is holy so should we be holy in all manner of conversation And if we call him father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans workes we should passe the time of our sojourning here in feare Ye are a chosen generation saith Saint Peter a royall priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people that you should shew forth the vertues of him who hath called you out of darknesse into his marvellous light When yee were of the world ye were then strangers to the Covenant and aliens from the house and Israel of God but now being become Gods houshold ye are strangers and pilgrimes in the present world and should therefore abstaine from the lusts of the flesh which are sensuall and worldly things Those that are a peculiar people are a purged people â—…oo He will purifie to himselfe a peculiar people that they may be zealous of good workâ—…s The consideration of which things should make us labour to settle our hearts to beleeve love and prize the promises to store up and hide the word in our hearts to have it Dwell richly in us that in evill times and dayes of temptation wee may have some holdfast to relie upon In times of plenty security and peace men go calmely on without feare or suspicion but when stonnes arise when God either hides his face or le ts out his displeasure or throwes men upon any extremities then there is no hope but in our aâ—…ker no stay nor reliefe but in Gods promises which are setled and sure established in heauen and therfore never reversed or cancelled in the earth And if this faithfull and sure word had not bin Daâ—…ids delight comfort if he had not in all the changes chances of his owne â—…ife remembred that al Gods promises are made in heaven where there is no inconstancie nor repentance he had perished in his affliction Though David by a propheticall spirit foresaw that God would not make his house to grow but to become a dry and wither'd stocke of â—…esse yet herein was the ground of all his salvation and of all his desire that the Lord had made with him an Everlasting Covenant order'd in all things and 〈◊〉 that he had 〈◊〉 by his holâ—…nesse that he would not faile David so that it was as possible for God to be unholy as for the Word of promise made unto David to fall to the ground be untrue Now that wee may the better apply the Promises to our selves and establish our hearts in the truth and fidelity of God by them wee may make use of these few Rules amongst divers others which might be given First Promisâ—…s generally made and so in medio for all or particularly to some are by the ground of them equally appliable to any in any condition unto which the promises are â—…utable All the promises are but as one in Christ as lines thoâ—…gh severall in the circumference doe meete as one in the center Take any promise and follow it to its originall and it will undoubtedly carry to Christ in whom alone it is Yea and Amen that is hath its truth certainety and stability all from him Now the Promises meeting in Christ cannot be severed or have a partition made oâ—… them to severall men for every beleever hath All Christ Christ is not divided any other wise then the exigence of mens present estates doth diversifie them and so fit them for such promises as now to others or at other times to themselves would be unseasonable and unappâ—…able The Lord in aslenting to Salomons prayer made a generall promise to any man or to all the people that what prayer or supplication soever should be made towards his temple he would heare in heaven and forgive c. 〈◊〉 beiâ—…g after in distresse applied this generall to hiâ—… 〈◊〉 present 〈◊〉 when the children of Ammon 〈◊〉 and Mount Seir came to turne Israel out of their possessions The Lord made a particular promise 〈◊〉 Ioshua that he would be with him to blesse his enterprises against the Cananites and to carry him through all the difficulties and hazards of that holy warre aâ—…d Saint Paul applies the promise to all the faithfull in any straites or distresses of life as the Lord himselfe had before applied it from Moses to Ioshua Let your conversation be without covetousnesse for as God was with Ioshua so will he be with thee He will not faile thee nor forsake thee Christ made a particular promise unto Peter I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not And the same in effect he applies to All his I pray that thou wouldst keepe them from the evâ—…ll And the consequent words to Saint Peter make it good When thou art con verted strengthen thy brethren that is comfort and revive them by thine owne experience that when they are brought â—…nto the like case with thee they may have the benefit of the same intercessor and the sympathy and compassion of the same Saviour who deliver'd thee As our Saviour saith in matter of dutie What â—… 〈◊〉 â—…nto you I say unto All so we may say of him in matter of mercy What he promiseth unto any he promiseth unto alâ—… in an equall estate It is good therefore to observe the truth of God in his Promises to others and when we finde our selves reduced unto their condition to apply it unto our selves that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures may have hope This is the counsell of Saint â—…awes Take my brethren the Prophets for an examâ—…le of suffering affliction and of patience yee have heard of the patience of â—…ob and ye have seene the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pittifull â—…nd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And saint Paul assures us that for this cause God comforted him in his tribulation that he might be able to comfort them who might be in any trouble with the comfort wherewith â—…ee himselfe had beene comforted by God A poore Christian might object Aâ—…as If I were an Apostle if I had such graces such services such wayes of glorifying God as Paul had I might hope for the same power and providence of God in my afflictions as he findes But I am a poore ignorant unfruitfull and unserviceable creature who doe more blemish then adorne my profession of the Gospell of Christ and shall I looke for such care from God as saint Paul Beloved the members in the body would not so argue If I were an eye or a tongue one of the noblest parts of the body haply some compassion and remedy might be
that Spirit revealeth and confirmeth unto us so every smaller sinne doth in its manner and measure grieve this spirit even as every distemper in the body doth bring paine in some measure unto the naturall soule A living member is sensible of the smallest pricke whereas a body in the Grave is not pained nor disaffected with the weight and darknesse of the earth the gâ—…awing of wormes the stinch of rotteâ—…nesse nor any violences of dissolution because the principle ofsense is departed so though wicked men lie in rotten and noysome lusts have the guilt of many millions of sinnes like so many rockes and mountaines of Lead on their soules doe dayly cut and teare themselves like the Lunaticke in the Gospell yet they feele nothing of all this because they have no spirit of life in them whereas another in whom Christ is formed would bee constrain'd with teares of blood and most bitter repentance to wash the wound of spirit which but one of those fearefull oathes or uncleane actions which the others multiply and wallow in with delight would make within them Now Hee who hath the Sonne hath holynesse upon two grounds according to that double relation which Holinesse hath unto Christ. For it respecteth Him as the Principle and Fountaine from whence it comes and as the rule or patterne unto which it answeres Holynes is called the Image of God now as the face is both the Fountaine of that Image or species which is shed upon the glasse and likewise the exact patterne and example of it too so Christ is both the Principle of Holinesse by whom it is wrought and the Rule unto which it is proportioned First Christ is the Principle and Fountaine of Holinesse as the head is of sense or motion from him the whole body is joyned together and compacted and so maketh encrease and edification of it selfe in Love The oyntment ran downe from Aarons head unto the skirts of his garment to note the effusion of the spirit of Holinesse from Christ unto his lowest members Ye have received an unction from the holy One saith the Apostle What this influence of Christ into his members is wee shall more particularly open in the consequent parts of this discourse Secondly Christ is the Rule and Patterne of holinesse to his Church Our Sanctification consisteth onely in a conformitie unto his wayes For more distinct understanding of which point we must note first that Christ had severall waies and workes to walke through Sometimes we finde him walking to Golgotha and the Garden which was the worke of his merit and passion Sometimes to the Mount with Peter Iames and Iohn which was the worke of his glory and trans-figuration Sometimes upon the sea and through the midst of Enemies which was his worke of power and miracles Sometimes in the midst of the seven golden Candlestickes which was his worke of government guidance and influence on the Church Lastly we finde him going about and doing good submitting himselfe unto his parents going apart by himselfe to pray and in other the like workes of his ordinary obedience Secondly of these workes of Christ we must note that some are uncommunicable others communicable Vncommunicable are first his workes of Merit and Mediation There is but one Mediator betweene God and man the man Christ. There is no other name under heaven by which a man may be saved but the name of Christ. There is no Redemption nor intercession to bee wrought by any man but by Christ. None have to doe with the Censer to offer incense who have not to doe with the Altar to offer Sacrifice Secondly his worke of Governement and Influence into the Church his dispensing of the spirit his quickning of his Word his subduing of his enemies his collecting of his members are all personall Honours which belong unto Him as Head of the Church Those which are Communicable and wherein wee may be by his Grace made partakers are such as either belong to the other life or to this In the other life our Bodies shall bee made Conformed to the transfigured and Glorious body of Christ when Hee appeareth wee shall be made like unto Him by the power whereby Hee subdueth all things unto Himselfe Here some are againe extraordinarily Communicable being for ministery and service not for sanctity or Salvation Such were the miraculous workes of the Apostles which were unto them by way of priviledge and temporary dispensation granted Others ordinarily and universally to all his members So then it remaines that our formall and complete Sanctification consists in a Conformitie to the wayes of Christs ordinary Obedience The whole Life of Christ was a Discipline a Living Shining and exemplary Precept unto men a Visible Commentary on Gods Law Therefore wee finde such names given unto Him in the Scriptures as signifie not onely Preeminence but exemplarynesse A Prince a Leader a Governour a Captaine an Apostle and high Priest a chiefe Sheepeheard and Bishop a Forerunner or Conduct into Glory a Light to the Iewes a Light to the Gentiles a Light to every man that entereth into the World All which titles as they declare his Dignitie that He was the first borne of every Creature so they intimate likewise that Hee was proposed to be the Author and Patterne of Holynesse to his people All other Saints are to be imitated onely with limitation unto Him and so farre as they in their conversation expresse his Life and Spirit Be ye followers of me even as I am of Christ. But we must 〈◊〉 pinne our obedience to the example of any Saint lest we happen to stumble and breake our bones as they did Wherefore are the falls and apostacies the errors and infirmities of holy men in Scripture registred Certainely the Lord delighteth not to keepe those sinnes upon record for men to gaze on which himselfe hath put behinde his owne backe and wiped out of the booke of his owne remembrance Hee delighteth not in the dishonour and deformities of his worthies But they are recorded for our sakes set up for landmarks to warne euery man to take heed of adventuring on any mans authority upon those rockes where such renowned and noble Saints have before miscarried Children of light indeed they are but their light is like the light of the Moone subject to mixtures wainings decayes eclipses Christ onely is the Sunne of righteousnesse that hath a plenitude indeficiencie unerring holinesse which neither is deceived nor can deceive Now further this conformity unto Christ must be in all his obedience First in his actiue obedience unto the Law Learne of me saith he for I am meeke and lowly I have given you an Example that you should doe as I have done unto you The action was but temporarie and according to the custome of the place and age but the affection was universall the humility of his heart Let the same minde saith the Apostle be
and obediently undertake it Thou hast prepared mee a bodie In the volume of thy booke it is written of me Lo I come to doe thy Will O God Lastly our holynesse must have growth and proficiencie with it grow in grace Let these things be in you and abound as it is said of Christ that He increased in wisedome and favour with God and men and that He learned obedience by the things which Hee suffered If it bee here objected that Christ was ever full and had the Spirit without measure even from the wombe For in as much as his Divine nature was in his infancie as fully united to his humane as ever after therefore the fulnesse of grace which was a consequent thereupon was as much as ever after To this I answere that certaine it is Christ was ever full of Grace and Spirit but that excludes not his growth in them proportionably to the ripenesse and by consequence capacitie of his humane nature Suppose we the Sunne were vegetable and a subject of augmentation though it would be never true to say that it is fuller of light then it was yet it would be true to say that it hath more light now then it had when it was of a lesser capacitie Even so Christ being in all things save sinne like unto us and therefore like us in the degrees and progresses of naturall maturitie though he were ever full of Grace may yet be said to grow in it and to learne because as the capacitie of his nature was enlarged the spring of Grace within him did rise up and proportionably fill it Secondly from this Doctrine of our conformity in Holinesse to the life of Christ we may be instructed touching the vigor of the Law and the consonancie and concurrencie thereof with the Gospell True it is that Christ is the End of the Law and that wee are not under the Law but under Grace Yet it is as true that Christ came not to destroy the Law and that no jot nor tittle thereof shall fall to the ground Wee are not under the Law for Iustification of our persons as Adam nor for satisfaction of Divine Iustice as those that perish but we are under it as a document of obedience and a rule of living It is now published from mount Sion as a Law of libertie and a new Law not as a Law of condemnation and bond age The obedience thereof is not removed but the disobedience thereof is both pardoned and cured Necessarie is the observation of it as as a fruite of Faith not as a condition of Life or Righteousnesse Necessarie necessitate praecepti as a thing commanded the transgressing whereof is an incurring of sinne not necessitate medy as a strict and undispensable meane of Salvation the transgression whereof is a peremptorie obligation unto death Three things Christ hath done to the Law for us First He hath mitigated the rigâ—…r and removed the curse from it as it is a killing letter and ministery of death Secondly Hee hath by his Spirit conferred all the principles of obedience upon us wisdome to contrive will to desire strength to execute love to delight in the services of it The Law onely commands but Christ enables Thirdly Hee hath by his exemplary holinesse chalked out unto us and conducted us in the way of obedience for all our obedience comes from Christ and that either as unto members from his Spirit or as unto Disciples from his Doctrine and Example We see then the necessitie of our being in Christ not onely for righteousnesse but for obedience for we must have Life before we can have Operation If we live in the spirit let us walkâ—… also in the spirit Whereas out of Christ a man is under the whole Law as an insupportable yoke as an impossible and yet inexorable rule as a Covenant of Righteousnesse and condition by which he must be tried by which he must everlastingly stand or fall before the tribunall of Christ when he shall come in flaming fire to take vengeance on those who though convinced of their iusufficiencie to observe the Law have yet disobeyed the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ. Thirdly we may hence learne the necessitie of diligent attendance on the holy Scriptures and places where they are explained there is no abiding in Christ but by walking as he walked there is no walking as hee walked but by knowing how he walked and this is onely by the Scriptures in which Hee is yet amongst us walking in the middest of his Church Crucified before our eyes set forth and declared unto us many other signes Iesus did which are not written saith the Apostle but these are written that you might beleeve and that beleeving you might have life Wee know not any of Christs wayes or workes but by the Word and therefore they who give no attendance unto that declare that they regard not the wayes of Christ nor have any care to follow the Lambe wheresoever he goeth Secondly we must from hence bee exhorted to take heede of usurping Christs honour to our selves of being our owne rule or way The Lord is a jealous God and will not suffer any to bee a selfe mover or a God unto himselfe It is one of Gods extreamest judgements to give men over to themselves and leave them to follow their owne rules When hee hath first woâ—…d men by his Spirit and that is resisted enticed them by his mercies and they are abused threatned them with his judgements and they are misattributed to second causes cried unto them by his prophets and they are reviled sent his owne Sonne to perswade them and hee is trampled on and despised when he offers to teach them and they stoppe their eares to leade them and they pull away their shoulder to convert them and they hardned their heart when they set up mounds against the Gospell as it were to non-plus and pose the mercies of God that there may be no remedie left then after all these indâ—…gnities to the Spirit of Grace this is the judgement with which God useth to revenge the quarrrell of his Grace and Covenant to leave them to the hardnesse and impenitencie of their owne hearts to be a rule and way unto themselves My people would not hearken to my voyce and Israel would none of me So I gave them up unto their owne hearts lust and they walked in their owne counsels Let us therefore take heede of a will-holynesse We are the servants of Christ and our members are to bee the instruments of righteousnesse and servants are to be governed by the will of their masters and members to bee guided by the influence of the head and instruments to bee applyed to all their services by the superiour cause Every thing which Moses did about the Tabernacle was to be done after the patterne which he had seene in the mount and every thing which we doe in these spirituall Tabernacles
we are to doe after the patterne of him who is set before us The services of Israel after their revolt from the house of David when they built Altars and multiplyed sacrifices were as chargeable as specious and in humane discourse every whit as rationall as those at Ierusalem yet wee finde when they would bee wiser then God and prescribe the way wherein they ment to worship him all ended in shame and dishonor Bethel which was Gods house before is turned into Bethaven a house of vanitie Israel hath forgotten his Maker and buildeth Temples saith the Prophet One would thinke that hee who buildes temples had God who was in thē to be worshipped often in his mind but to remember God otherwise then hee hath required to build many temples when hee had appointed but one temple and one altar for all that people to resort unto this was by forgetting Gods Will and Word to forget likewise his service and worship because to serve him otherwise then he requireth is not to worship but to rob and mocke him 1 In Gods service it is a greater sinne to doe that which wee are not to doe then not to doe that which we are commanded This is but a sinne of omission but that a sinne of sacriledge and high contempt in this we charge the law onely with difficultie but in that with folly in this wee discover our weaknes to doe the will but in that we declare our impudence and arrogancie to controle the wisedome of God In this wee acknowledge our owne insufficiencie in that we deny the all-sufficiencie and plenitude of Gods owne Law But what ever opinion men have of their owne wisedomes and contributions in Gods service yet he esteemes them all but as ◅udicrous things as games and playes and acting of mimicall dancings The people sate downe to eate and drinke and rose up to play What ever action therefore you goe about doe it by Rule enquire out of the scriptures whether Christ would have done it or no at least whether he allow it or no. It is true somethings are lawfull and expedient with us which were not suteable unto the person of Christ. Marriage is honourable with all other men but it did not befit his person who came into the world to spirituall purposes onely to beget sonnes and daughters unto God and to be mystically married unto his Church To write bookes is commendable with men because like Abel being dead they may still speake and teach those who never saw them But it would have beene derogatory to the person and unbecomming the office of Christ. For it is his prerogative to bee in the midst of the seven candlestickes to be present to all his members to teach by power and not by ministery to teach by his Spirit and not by his penne to teach the hearts of men and not their eyes or eares He hath no mortalitie distance or absence to be by such meanes supplyed It became him to commit these ministeriall actions to his servants and to reserve to himselfe that great honour of writing his Law in the hearts of his people and making them to be his epistle But yet I say as in these things wee must respect his allowance so in others let us ref◅ect upon his example When thou art tempted to loosenesse and immoderate living aske thy conscience but this question would Christ have d◅unke unto swinishnesse or eaten unto excesse would hee have wasted his pretious time at slewes stages or tavernes or taken delight in sinfull and desperate fellowships Did Christ frequently pray both with his Disciples and alone by himselfe and shall Inever either in my family or in my closet thinke upon God did Christ open his wounds and shall not I open my mouth was not his blood too pretious to redeeme and is my breath too good to instruct his Church was Christ mercifull to his enemies and shall I bee cruell to his members Againe for the manner of Christs obedience did Christ serve God without all selfe-ends meerely in obedience and to glorifie him and shall I make Gods worship subordinate to my aimes and his religion serve turnes shall I doe what I doe without any love or ioy meerely out of slavish feare and compulsion of conscience Thus if we did resolve our services into their true originals and measure them by the Holynesse of Christ and have him ever before our eyes it would be a great meanes of living in comfort and spirituall conformitie to Gods Law And there are amongst diverse others two great encouragements thereunto First while we follow Christ wee are out of all danger his Angels have us in their armes we are under the protection of his promises as every good subject in the kings way is under the kings protection Peter never denyed Christ nor was assaulted by the servants of the high priest till hee gave over following him Secondly the more wee follow Christ the neerer still we come unto him Because Christ is entered into his rest he is now at home hee is not now in motion but he sitteth still at his Fathers right hand and hath no higher nor no further to goe and therefore so long as I hasten and presse forward in his way I must needes be the neerer unto him Your Salvation is neerer saith the Apostle then when you first beleeved But a man will say how shall I doe to follow Christ I answere in one word denie thy selfe and thou dost then follow him get out of thine owne way and thou canst not misse of his The world never rules us but by our owne lusts Sathan never overcomes us but by our owne willes and with our owne weapons when he is resisted hee flyes As Hanibal was wont to say that the onely way to fight against Rome was in Italie so the other enemies of our salvation know that there is no conquering the soule but in its owne waye As soone as any man forsakes his owne way Christ is at hand to lead him into his He will bee wisedome to those that denie their owne reason he will be Redemption to those that despise their owne merits hee will bee sanctification to those that cast of their owne lusts hee will be salvation to those that relinquish their owne ends he will be all things to those that are nothing to themselves Now we have as I may so speake two selfes A selfe of nature and a selfe of sinne and both must be denyed for Christ. This wee must ever cast away as a snare and that wee must be ever ready to lay downe as a sacrifice when he is pleased to set himselfe in competition with it And so much for the Life of Holynesse which wee have in Christ. Lastly he that hath the Sonne hath the Life of glory assured to him For Hee hath made us to sit together with him in Heavenly places and when He appeares we shall bee like him
Hee shall change our vile bodies into the similitude of his Glorious bodie When Hee comes we shall meete him and be ever with him Hee is ascended to his Father and our Father to his God and our God and therefore to his Kingdome and our Kingdome His by personall proprietie and hypostaticall union ours by his purchase and merit and by our mysticall union and fellowship with him He is gone to prepare a place for us In Earth Hee was our suretie to answere the penaltie of our sinnes and in Heaven He is our Advocate to take seifin and possession of that Kingdome for us Our Captaine and Forerunner and high Priest who hath not onely carried our names but hath broken off the vaile of the Sanctuary and given us accesse into the Holyest of all And hee that hath the Sonne hath this life alreadie in three regards First in pâ—…etio he hath the price that procured it esteemed his It was bought with the pretious blood of Christ in his Name and to his use and it was so bought for him that he hath a present right and claime unto it It is not his iâ—… Reversion after an expiration of any others right there are no leaseâ—… nor reversions in Heaven but it is his as an inheritance is the heires after the death of the Ancestor who yet by minoritie of yeeres or distance of place may occupie and possesse it by some other person Secondly Hee hath it in promisso He hath Gods Charter his Assurance sealed with an oath and a double Sacrament to establish his heart in the expectation of it By two immutable things faith the Apostle namely the Word and the Oath of God wherein it was impossible for him to he we have strong consolation and great ground of hope which hope is sure and stedfast and leadeth us unto that place which is within the vaile whither Christ our Forerunner is gone before us Thirdly He hath it in primitijs in the earnest and first fruites and hansell of it in those few clusters of grapes and bunches of figges those Graces of Christs Spirit that peace comfort serenitie which is shed forth into the heart already from that Heavenly Canaan The Holy Spirit of Promise is the earnest of our inheritance untill the Redemption or full fruition and Revelation of our purchased possession to the prayse of his Glory The Graces of the Spirit in the soule are as certaine and infallible evidences of Salvation as the day starre or the morning aurora is of the ensuing day or Sunne-rising For all spirituall things in the Soule are the beginnings of Heaven parcels of that Spirit the fulnesse and residue whereof is in Christs keeping to adorne us with when he shall present us unto his Father But this Doctrine of the Life of Glory is in this life more to be made use of then curiously to bee enquired into O then where the Treasure is let the heart be where the body is let the Eagles resort if wee are already free men of heaven let our thoughts our language our conversation our Trading be for Heaven Let us set our faces towards our home Let us awake out of sleepe considering that now our salvation is neerer then when we first beleeved If wee have a hope to be like him at his comming let us purifie our selves even as hee is pure since there is a price a high calling a crowne before us let us presse forward with all violence of devotion never thinke our selves farre enough but prepare our hearts still and lay hold on every advantage to further our progresse Since there is a rest remaining for the people of God let us labour to enter into it and to hold fast our profession that as well absent as present we may be accepted of him Secondly since we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternall in the Heavens Let us feele the burden of our fleshly corruptions and groane after our redemption Let us long for the revelation of the Sonnes of God and for his appearing as the Saints under the Altar How long Lord Iesus Holy and Iust. Thirdly let us with enlarg'd and ravish'd affections with all the vigor and activitie of enflamed hearts recount the great love of God who hath not onely delivered us from his wrath but made us Sonnes married his owne infinite Maiestie to our nature in the unitie of his Sonnes person and made us in him Kings Priests and Heires unto God Beloved what manner of Love How unsearchable How bottomlesse how surpassing the apprehensions of Men or Angels is the Love of God to us saith the Apostle that wee should be called the Sonnes of God Lastly if God will glorifie us with his Life hereafter let us labour as much as wee can to glorifie Him in our lives here It was our Saviours argument who might have entered into Glory as his owne without any such way of procurement if his owne voluntarie undertaking the office of Mediator had not concluded him Glorifie me with thy selfe with the glorie which I had with thee before the World was for I have gloryfied thee on Earth I have finished the worke which thou gavest mee to doe If we are indeede perswaded that there is laid up for us a Crowne of righteousnesse we cannot but with Saint Paul resolve to fight a good fight to finish our course to keepe the faith to bring forth much fruite that our Father may be glorified in us And now having unfolded this threefold Life which the faithfull have in Christ wee may further take notice of three attributes or properties of this life both to humble and to secure us and they are all couched in one word of the Apostle your life is hid with Christ in God It is in Christs keeping as in the hands of a faithfull depositary and it is a Life in God a full Life a derivation from the Fountaine of Life where it is surer and sweeter then in any Cisterne Here then are three properties of a Christians Life in Christ first Obscuritie secondly Plentie thirdly safetie or Eternitie First it is an obscure life a secret aâ—d mysterious life so the Apostle calleth Godlynesse a Mysterie As there is a mysterie of iniquitie and the hidden things of uncleannesse so there is a Mysterie of Godlynesse and the hidden man of the heart The Life of Grace first is hidden totally from the wicked A stranger doth not intermeddle with a righteous mans joy The naturall man knoweth not any things of Gods spirit Saint Peter gives the reason because he is blinde and cannot see a farre off Now the things of God are deepe things and high things upward they have too much brightnesse and downeward they have too much darknesse for purblinde
eyes to apprehend Secondly It is hid in some sort from the faithfull themselves First under the prevalencie of their corruptions and adherencie of concupiscence as Corne under a heape of chaffe or a wall under the Ivie or mettall under the rust which overgrowes it Secondly under the winnowings and temptations of Satan As in sifting of Corne the branne being lightest gets upmost so when Satan disquiets the heart that which is finest and should most comfort will sinke and bee out of sight Thirdly under spirituall desertions and trials as in an Eclipse when the face of the Sunne is intercepted the Moone looseth her light so when God who is our light hideth his Countenance from us no marvell if we can discover no good nor comfort in our selves Secondly the life of glorie is much more obscure and secret for notwithstanding the first fruites and inchoations thereof bee in this life begun in the peace of Conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost as in an Eclipse of the Sunne some dimme glimpses doe glance from the edges of the interposed body yet in regard of the plenarie infusion of glorious endowments and those prerogatives of the flesh which belong unto it at the redemption of the bodie it is a hidden mysterie It is a light which is onely sowed for the righteous though we expect a revelation of it yet now it is but as corne in the ground covered over with much darknesse Now we are Sonnes saith Saint Iohn we have Ius ad rem right unto our Life and Crowne already but we are in a farre countrie like the prodigall absent from the Lord and therefore It doth not yet appeare what we shall be we can no more distinctly understand the excellencie of our inheritance by these seales and assurances which ratifie our right thereunto then one who never saw the Sunne could conjecture the light and lustre thereof by the twinckling of a litle starre or the picture thereof in a table Onely this wee know that when he shall appeare wee shall be like unto him not onely in true holynesse for so we are like him now wee are already created after him in righteousnesse and true holynesse but in full holynesse too we shall be filled with all the fulnesse of God as the same Apostle speakes Such a fulnesse as shall satisfie us when I awake I shall bee satisfied with thy likenesse Therefore the last day is by an emphasis called a Day of redemption First in regard of the manifestation and Revelation thereof The Lord shal then appeare and bee revealed from Heaven all those curtens shall bee drawne those vailes betweene us and our Glory those skinnes with which the Arke is overlaid shall be torne and removed our sinnes our earthly condition our manifold afflictions the seeming povertie and foolishnesse of the ordinances shall be all laid aside and then wee shall see our Redeemer not as Iob did from a dunghill nor as Moses through a Cloude but we shall know even as we are knowne Here then wee see one of the maine reasons why wicked men despise religion and abominate the righteous as signes and wonders to bee spoken against They judge of Spiritual things as blind men do of colors These are hidden mysteries to them no marvell if they count it a strange thing and a very madnesse that others runne not to their excesse But our comfort is that our hope is Germen a growing thing a stone full of eyes a hidden Manna sweete though secret a new name which though no other man can know yet he that receiveth it is able to reade And this is the reason too why the Saints themselves are not enough affected with the beautie of Holynesse because it is in great part hidden even from them by corruptions and admixture of earthly lusts Lift up your heads saith our Saviour for your redemption draweth nigh noting unto us that so long as the thoughts and affections of men are downeward their redemption is out of their sight Open thou mine eyes saith David that I may behold the wondrous things out of thy Law I am a stranger on earth O hide not thy Commandements from me When a man makes himselfe a stranger unto earthly things and setteth not any of his choisest affections and desires on them he is then qualified to see those mysteries and wonders which are in the Law If there were no earth there would bee no darknesse for the shadow of the earth is that which makes the night and the bodie of the earth which absenteth the Sunne from our view It is much more certaine in spirituall things the light of Gods Word and Graces would not bee eclipsed if earthly affections did not interpose themselves This is the reason why men goe on in their sinnes and beleeve not the Word because they have a vaile over their eyes which hides the beautie of it from them Who hath beleeved our report or to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed saith the Prophet intimating unto us that the Word will not be beleeved till it bee revealed The Lord opened the heart of Lydia to attend unto Pauls preaching As soone as the vaile is taken away by Christ and the Truth Goodnesse and beautie of the Gospell discover'd there is immediately wrought a cleare assent and subscription in the minde an earnest longing and desire in the heart a constant purpose and resolution in the will to forsake all things as dung in comparison of that excellent knowledge As in the discoverie of mathematicall conclusions there is such demonstrative and invincible evidence as would make a man wonder he had not understood them before so in the discoveries of Grace unto the Soule the Spirit doth so throughly convince a man that hee wonders at his former stupiditie which never admired such things before Againe the faithfull are here to be directed in this state of obscuritie how to carry themselves under those corruptions temptations desertions which here hide the brightnesse and beautie of their life from them First above all preserve sinceritie in the heart There is nothing in us so perfect so contrarie to our corruptions as sinceritie that will ever bee to the soule in the midst of darknesse as a chinke in a Dungeon through which it may discerne some glimmerings of light whereas without it all other shewes and pretences are but like windowes fastned upon a thicke wall onely for uniformitie in the building though they seeme specious to the beholder without yet inward they transmit no light at all because they are laid over an opace body Secondly foster not temptations doe not pleade nor promote the Divels cause set not forward thine enemies suggestions Though it bee our dutie to have our sinnes alwayes before us so it bee upon the suggestion and proposall of Gods Spirit yet we must turne our eyes from our very sinnes when Sathan displayes them Christ will be confessed but hee forbids the
condemne But it may here further be objected How can I beleeve under the weight of such a finne Or how is Faith able to hold mee up under so heavie a guilt I answere the more the greatnesse of siâ—…ne doth appeare and the heavier the weight thereof is to the Soule there is the Grace of God more aboundant to beget Faith and the strength of Faith is prevalent against any thing which would oppose it To vnderstand this we must note that the strength of Faith doth not arise out of the formall qualitie thereof for Faith in it selfe as a habit and endowment of the Soule is as weake as other graces but onely out of the relation it hath to Christ. Faith denotates a mutuall Act betweene us and Christ and therefore the Faith of the patriarcheâ—… is expressed in the Apostle by saluting or embracing they did not onely claspe Christ but he them againe So that the strength of Faith takes in the strength of Christ because it puts Christ into a man who by his Spirit dwelleth and liveth in us And here it is worth our observing that the reason why the house in the parable did stand firme against all tempests was because it was founded upon a Rocke Why may not a weake superstruction ofrotten and inconsistent materials bee built upon a sound foundation As a strong house fals from a weake foundation may not in like manner a weake house by a tempest fall from a strong foundation Surely in Christs Temple it is not as in ordinary materiall buildings In these though the whole frame stand upon the foundation yet it stands together by the strength of the parts amongst themselves and therefore their mutuall weaknesse and failings do prejudice the stabilitie of the whole But in the Church the strength of Christ the foundation is not an immanent personall fixed thing but a derivative and an effused strength which runnes through the whole building Because the foundation being a vitall foundation is able to shed forth and transfuse its stability into the whole structure What ever the materials are of themselves though never so fraile yet being once incorporated in the building they are presently transformed into the nature and firmenesse of their foundation To whom comming as unto a living stone saith Saint Peter ye also as lively stones are built up a spirituall house to note unto us the transformation and uniformitie of the Saints with Christ both in their spirituall nature and in the firmenesse and stabilitie of the same More particularly the strength of Faith preserues us from all our spirituall enemies From the Divell Hee that is begotten of God keepeth himselfe and the wicked one toucheth Him not Above all take the shield of Faith by which you shall be able to quench all the furie darts of the wicked From the World This is the victorie which overcommeth the World even our Faith From our fleshly corruptions The Heart is purified by Faith The Law of the Spirit of Life in Iesus Christ that is the Law of Faith hath made mee free from the Law of Sinne that is the Law of the members or fleshly concupiscence And all this is strengthened by the Power of God not by Faith alone are we kept but yee are kept saith Saint Peter By the power of God through Faith unto Salvation and that not such a Power as that is wherewith he concurreth in the ordinarie and naturall operations of the Creature which proportioneth it selfe and condescendeth unto the exigencie of second causes failing where they faile and accommodating the measure of his agencie to those materials which the second causes have supplyed as we see when a Childe is borne with fewer parts then are due to naturall integrity Gods concurrence hath limited it selfe to the materials which are defective and hath not supplyed nor made up the failings of nature but that power whereby hee preserves men unto Salvation doth prevent bend and carry the heart of man which is the secondary agent unto the effect it selfe doth remove every obstacle which might endanger his purposâ—… in saving the Creature and maketh his people a willing people But you will say Faith is indeede by these meanes stronger then sinne when it worketh but not when it sleepeth and the working of Faith being dependant upon the faculties of the Soule which are essentially mutable and incostant in operation must needes bee uncertaine too that sinne though it bee sarre weaker then Faith may yet when by our security Faith is fallen asleepe surprize and kill it even as Iaâ—…l a weake woman upon the same advantage killed Sisera a strong Captaine But though Faith fleepe yet Hee that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleepe and we are kept not onely by Faith but by His Power which Power worketh all our workes for us and in us giveth us both the Will and the Deede the Gift of continuing in His Feare and the Will so to continue The heart of the king saith Salomon that is the most soveraigne unconquerable peremptorie and unsubjected will in the World is in the Hand of God even as clay in the hand of the Potter So that though our hearts in regard of themselves bee not onely at large and indeterminate to any Spirituall operations but have an extreme reluctancie to all the motions of Gods Spirit yet considering their subordination to Gods mercifull purposes to the Power of His Grace to His Heavenly Call according unto purpose to the exceeding greatnesse and working of his mighty Power manifest it is that they are vndeclinable mightily by a hidden wonderfull most effectuall power yea by an Omnipotent facilitie and yet most sweetly and connaturally moved unto Grace They are all the frequent words of Holy Austin that Champion of Grace whose unvaluable industry in that behalfe all after ages have admired but hardly paralell'd Now then for the further establishing the heart of a man seriously and searchingly humbled with the sense and consciousnesse of some great relapse for what I shall say can yeeld no comfort to a man in an unrelenting obdurate and persisting apostafie Let him consider the safety and firmenesse of his life in Christ upon these grounds First Gods Eternall Love and free Grace which is towards us the Highest linke of Salvation both in order of time nature and causalitie Whom He predestinated those also He called and whom He called those He Iustified and whom Hee Iustified those also Hee glorified It is not those He will glorifie but hath glorified To note that glorification is linked and folded up with justification and is present with it in regard of their Eternall coexistencie in the predisposition and order of God though not in effectu operis in actuall execution Now this Eternall Love and Grace of God is not founded upon reasons in the Object for He Iustified and by consequence loved the ungodly He
tasting no sense that is the instrument of so neere a union as that So then as the motion of the mouth in eating is not in the nature of a motion any whit more excellent then the motion of the eye or foote or of it selfe in speaking yet in the instrumentall office of life and nourishment it is farre more necessarie So though Faith in the substance of it as it is an inherent qualitie hath no singular excellencie above other graces yet as it is an instrument of conveying Christ our spirituall Bread unto our soules and so of assimilating and incorporating us into Him which no other Grace can doe no more then the motion of the eye or foote can nourish the body so it is the most pretious and usefull of all others It may be objected doe not other graces joyne a man unto Christ as well as Faith Vnion is the proper effect of Love therefore wee are one with Christ as well by loving Him as by beleeving in Him To this I answere that Love makes onely a morall union in affections but Faith makes a mysticall union a more close and intimate fellowship in nature betweene us and Christ. Besides Faith is the immediate tie betweene Christ and a Christian but love a secondary union following upon and grounded on the former By nature we are all enemies to Christ and His Kingdome of the Iewes minde wee will not have this man to raigne over us therefore till by Faith wee are throughly perswaded of Christs Love to us we can never repay Love to Him againe Herein is Love saith the Apostle not that wee loved God but that Hee loved us and sent His Sonne 1. Ioh. 4 10. Now betweene Gods Love and ours comes Faith to make us One with Christ we have knowne and beleeved the Love that God hath to us ver 16. And hence it followes that because by Faith as Hee is so are wee in this world therefore Our love to Him is made perfect and so wee love Him because Hee first loved us vers 19. So that we see the union we have with Christ by Love presupposeth the Vnitie wee have in Him by Faith so Faith still hath the preeminence The second office wherein consists the excellencie of Faith is a consequent of the former namely to justifie a man for there is no man righteous in the sight of God any further then he is taken into the unitie of Christ and into the fellowship of His Merits God is alone well pleased in Christ and till a man be a member of His Bodie a part of His fulnesse hee cannot appeare in Gods presence This was the reason why Christ would have none of His bones broken or taken of from the Communion of His naturall body Ioh. 19. 36. to note the indissoluble union which was to bee betweene Him and His mysticall Members So that now as in a naturall bodie the member is certainely fast to the whole so long as the bones are firme and sound so in the mysticall where the body is there must every member be too because the bones must not be broken asunder If then Christ goe to Heaven if Hee stand unblameable before Gods justice we al shal in him appeare so too because his bones cannot be broken That which thus puts us into the Vnitie of Christ must needs Iustifie our persons and set us right in the presence of God and this is our Faith The Apostle gives two excellent reasons why our Iustification should be of Faith rather then of any other grace The first on Gods part that it might bee of Grace The second on the part of the promise that the promise might be sure to all the seede Rom. 4. 16. First Iustification that is by Faith is of meere Grace and favour no way of worke or merit For the Act whereby Faith Iustifies is an act of humility and selfe-dereliction a holy despaire of any thing in our selves and a going to Christ a receiving a looking towards Him and His Al-sufficiencie so that as Marie said of her selfe so we may say of Faith The Lord hath respect unto the lowlynes of his grace which is so farre from looking inward for matter of Iustification that it selfe as it is a worke of the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere doth not justifie but onely as it is an apprehension or taking hold of Christ. For as the hand in the very receiving of a thing must needs first make it selfe emptie If it bee full before it must let all that goe ere it can take hold on any other thing So Faith being a receiving of Christ Ioh. 1. 12. must needes suppose an emptinesse in the soule before Faith hath two properties as a Hand To worke and to receive when Faith purifies the heart supports the droaping spirits worketh by love carries a man through afflictions and the like these are the workes of Faith when Faith Accepts of righteousnesse in Christ and receives Him as the gift of His Fathers Love when it embraceth the promises a farre of Heb. 11. 13. and layes hold on Eternall Life 1. Tim. 6. 12. This is the receiving act of Faith Now Faith justifies not by working lest the effect should not bee wholly of Grace but partly of Grace and partly of worke Ephesians 2. 8 9. but by bare receiving and accepting or yeelding consent to that righteousnesse which in regard of working was the righteousnesse of Christ Rom. 5. 18. and in regard of disposing imputing appropriating unto us was the righteousnesse of God Rom. 3. 21. 1. Cor. 1 30. Phil 3. 9. To make the point of Iustification by the receiving and not the working of Faith plaine let us consider it by a familiar similitude Suppose a Chirurgian should perfectly cure the hand of a poore man from some desperate wound which utterly disabled him for any worke when he hath so done should at one time freely bestow some good almes upon the man to the receiving whereof he was enabled by the former cure and at another time should set the man about some worke unto the which likewise the former cure had enabled him and the worke being done should give him a reward proportionable to his labour I demaund which of these two gifts are arguments of greater grace in the man either the recompensing of that labour which was wrought by the strength hee restored or the free bestowing of an equall gift unto the receiving whereof likewise he himselfe gave abilitie Any man will easily answere that the gift was a worke of more free grace then the reward though unto both way was made by His owne mercifull cure for all the mercy which was shewed in the cure was not able to nullifie the intrinsecall proportion which afterwards did arise betweene the worke and the reward Now this is the plaine difference betweene our doctrine and the doctrine of our adversaries in the point of Iustification They say we are justified by Grace and yet by workes because
uncleane and so by consequence into usefull and unusefull so that now by any immediate tie of conscience we are not prohibited the free enjoyment of any Creature of God Secondly by all things we understand not all simply but all requisites All that in regard of our state and course are necessary to life and godlinesse O woman saith our Saviour great is thy Faith Be it unto thee even as thou wilt Math. 15. 28. This is a large grant to aske what we will and to have promise of obtaining it but hee who promiseth to beleevers what they will doth likewise regulate and confine their wills to desire nothing but with subordination to His Will nothing but their owne portion that which is food convenient for them The heathen man could say That man hath as much as hee desires who desires nothing but what he hath So we may say of a Christian hee hath indeede whatsoever hee will because God gives him a heart to desire nothing but that which is Gods promise and his owne necessitie Now all these things Faith gives us first because it gives us the Fountaine and secondly the Promises of them all First Faith carries us to the Fountaine that is to God With thee saith the Prophet David there is the Fountaine of Life Psal. 36. 9. And we are of God in Christ Iesus saith the Apostle 1. Cor. 1. 30. Now wee know there is a kinde of All-sufficiencie in a Fountaine what ever water a man wants hee may have his supply at the Fountaine whereas Cisternes and broken pits will bee presently exhausted Wee may observe in many fountaines that to the eye they seeme to have far lesse water in them for the time then some greater torrent or winter flood which overâ—…unnes whole valleyes and carries away woods and stones before it yet Iob tell 's us that a Torrent will make men ashamed in summer when they turne aside for water to refresh them and can finde none Iob. 6. 19. 20. But hee that comes to a Fountaine for refreshment shall never be ashamed because it is living and growing water and so makes a perpetuall supply So the Faithfull oftentimes have lesse wealth and aboundance of earthly things then other men yet notwithstanding they have therewith all the Fountaine and so by consequence they have more certainty and more sweetnesse First more certaintie for Fountaine water is Living water and so it multiplies whereas other men have their water in Cisterns that are broken full of holes and chinkes to let it out at againe so the Prophets tels us of some that drudge and labour but it is in the fire their worke perisheth as fast as it growes and of others that eatne wages but put it in a bagge with holes it falles out as fast as it is put in What are these holes this fire that melts and le ts out the estates of wicked men they are principally these two First the lusts of their owne harts Te aske and receive not because yee spend it upon your lusts saith the Apostle and as lust keepes it away so lust lets it out when wee have it How many great estates have Wine and women Hawkes and Hounds fashions and complements pride and vaine-glory humours and projects quarrels and dissentions the backe the belly the eye the eare the tongue the many inventions of an idle head the many exorbitancies of a wandring heart melted away and reduced to nothing Every member of the body every appetite of the soule so many chinkes to let out an estate But now the faithfull have their lusts abated their hearts ordered the dropsie and intemperancie of their affections removed and so all the holes at which Gods blessings might soke away are stopped up Secondly the cisternes of wicked men are broken and their bagges full of holes by the secret iudgement and curse of God punishing their sinfull lusts in their sinfull gaine blasting and withering their fruitlesse estates as Christ did the barren fig-tree We see how the Lord threatens to curse the people for their sinnes in their going out and comming in in their basket and in their store to breake the staffe of their bread to take away their cup from their mouth to take his Wine and his Oyle to himselfe againe to consume their palaces with fire to remove their bankers to discover their treasures and to seeke out their hidden things to heare the cry of the beame and of the stone out of the wall and to pull them out of their nests even from among the Starres with infinite other the like expressions in which the Lord useth to shew unto us the power and vigilancie of his Iustice in the administration of the World Wheras the faithfull have the Bread and the Word the Creatures and the blessings of God together and so have more certaintie in these things The Womans Oyle and Meale was not much yet it encreased and went along with her occasions there was a Spring in the Cruse and in the Barrell it was living Oyle and living Meale that grew and held out in the famine As a mans occasions are so the Fountaine supplies him If he want a Cup a Bucket a Cisterne full there is in the Fountaine answerable to all his wants so whatever necessitie the Lord brings the faithfull unto he gives them an eye to see a heart to rest in and to expect in the use of honest meanes a supply proportionable to each of them And as they have more certaintie so have they more sweetnesse in the waters which they fetch from the Fountaine Water in pits and cisternes rots and growes muddy and unfavorie so doe the Creatures of God to wicked men Cares feares jealousies desires hopes ends infinite commixtures and disturbances deprive the Creatures of their native rellish and purenesse The sweetest wine to an aguish palate tastes of that bitter humour which it there finds So lusts and curses interweaving themselves with the Creatures in a wicked mans hands must needs take away the sense of their simple goodnesse turne their table to a snare and the things which should have been for their good into an occasion of falling Whereas the faithfull by the Word and Prayer have the Creature sanctified seasoned and perfumed unto their use againe have the curse of God removed and their owne lusts corrected and with-held from mingling with them Thus faith gives us all things in the Fountaine more certaine and more sweet by stopping the holes which did let them out and by removing the lusts and curses which did before embitter them Secondly Faith gives us all things by giving us the Promises Godlinesse hath the promises of this life and that which is to come 1. Tim. 4. 8. Wicked men haue good things onely by Gods generall providence which maketh his Sunne to shine as well on them as on the just by a common bounty But this manner of tenure is liable to many forfeitures curses taxations many inrodes and devastations by
or holinesse so that the meaning is The spirit shall convince men that they are unrighteous and unholie men held under by the guilt condemnation and power of sinne shut vp in fast chaines unto the wrath and iudgement of the great Day unauoidably cast and condemned in the Court of Law because they fled not by faith unto that office of mercie and reconciliation which the Father hath erected in his beloved Sonne All sinnes do of themselues deserve damnation but none doe de facto inferre damnation without infidelitie This was that great provocation in the Wildernesse which kept the people out of the Land of Promise and for which God is said to have beene grieved fortie yeeres together How long will this people provoke mee How long will it bee ere they beleeve in me they despised the holy Land they beleeved not his word they drew backward and turned againe in their hearts into Egypt The Apostle summes vp all their murmurings and provocations for which they were excluded that type of heauen in this one word They entred not in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of their vnbeliefe If there bee but one onely medicine against a deadly disease and when that is offered to the sicke person he refuse it and throw it vnder his feete the state of that man is infallibly desperate and remedilesse There is but one name but one sacrifice but one blood by which we can be saved perfected and purged for ever and without which God can have no pleasure in us how can wee then escape if we neglect so great salvation and trample under foote the blood of the Covenant It is a fruitlesse labour and an endlesse folly for men to use any other courses be they in appearance never so specious probable rigorous mortified Pharisaicall nay angelicall for extricating themselues out of the maze of sinne or exonerating their consciences of the guilt or power thereof without faith Though a man could scourge out of his owne bodie rivers of blood and in a neglect of himselfe could outfast Moses or Elias though he could weare out his knees with prayer and had his eyes nail'd vnto heaven though he could build hospitals for all the poore on the earth and exhaust the Mines of India into almes though hee could walke like an Angell of light and with the glittering of an outward holinesse dazle the eyes of all beholders nay if it were possible to be conceiv'd though he should live for a thousand yeeres in a perfect and perpetuall observation of the whole Law of God his originall corruption or any one though the least digression and deviation from that Law alone excepted yet such a man as this could no more appeare before the tribunall of Gods Iustice then stubble before a consuming fire It is onely Christ in the bush that can keepe the fire from burning It is onely Christ in the heart that can keepe sinne from condemning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without mee that is separated from mee yee can doe nothing towards the iustification of your persons or salvation of your soules or sanctification of your lives or natures No burden can a man shake off no obstacle can hee breake through no temptation can hee overcome without faith shake off every thing that presseth downe and the sinne which hangeth so fast on and runne with patience namely through all oppositions and contradictions the race that is set before you saith the Apostle But how shall we do such unfeasible works Hee shewes that in the next words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looking of from our selves unto Iesus the Author and finisher of our faith When a man lookes inward upon his owne strength hee may as justly despaire of moving sinne from his soule as of casting downe Mountaines with one of his fingers but he who is able to give vs faith is by that able to make all things possible unto vs. The world tempts with promises wages pleasures of sinne with frownes threats and persecutions for righteousnesse If a man have not faith to see in Christ more pretious promises more sure mercies more full rewards more aboundant and everlasting pleasures to see in the frownes of God more terror in the wrath of God more bitternes in the threats of God more certainty in the Law of God more curses then all the world can load him withall impossible it is that he should stand under such assaults for this is the victory which overcommeth the world even our faith Satan dischargeth his fierie darts upon the soule darts pointed and poysoned with the venome of Serpents which set the heart on fire from one lust unto another if a man have not put on Christ do not make use of the shield of faith to hold up his heart with the promises of victory to hold out the triumph of Christ over the powers of death and darkenesse to see himselfe under the protection of him who hath already throwne downe the Dragon from Heaven who hath Satan in a chaine and the keyes of the bottomlesse Pit in his owne command to say unto him The Lord rebuke thee Satan even the Lord that hath chosen Ierusalem rebuke thee impossible it is to quench any of his temptations or to stand before the rage and fury of so roaring a Lion Whom resist saith S. Peter stedfast in the faith Our corruptions set upon us with our own strength with high imaginations with strong reasonings with lustfull dalliances with treacherous solicitations with plausible pretences with violent importunities with deceitfull promises with fearefull prejudices with profound unsearchable points and traines on all sides lust stirs workes within us like sparkles in a dried leafe sets every faculty against it self The mind tempts it self unto vanity the understanding tempts it selfe unto error and curiosity the will tempts it selfe unto frowardnesse and contuinacie the heart tempts it selfe unto hardnesse and security If a man have not faith impossible it is either to make any requests to God against himselfe or to denie the requests of sinne which himselfe maketh It is faith alone which must purifie the heart and trust his power and fidelity who is both willing and able to subdue corruptions In vaine it is to strive except a man strive lawfully In prayer it is faith which must make us successefull in the word it is faith which must make us profitable In obedience it is faith which must make us cheerefull in afflictions it is faith which must make vs patient in trials it is faith which must make vs resolute in desertions it is faith which must make us comfortable in life it is faith which must make vs fruitfull and in death it is faith which must make us victorious So that as he said of water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so may I of faith It is of all things the most soveraigne and pretious because it is of universall use in the
and unitie of natures with him in his spirit and having this Spirit of Christ He thereby worketh in us the will and the deed and thus our sealâ—… is put unto Gods covenant and wee have a constat of it in our selves in some measure whereas jnfidelitie makes God a lyer by saying either I looke for life some other way or I have nothing to doe to depend on Christ for it though God have proposed Him as an all-sufficient Saviour Now then when man hath experience of Gods working this will in him when he findes his heart opened to attend and his will ready to obey the call when hee is made desirous to feare Gods Name and prepared to seeke His face ready to subscribe and beare witnesse to all Gods wayes and methodes of saving That Hee is righteous in His Iudgements if He should condemne wonderfull in His patience when He doth forbeare mighty in His power wisedome and mercie when Hee doth convert unsearchable in the riches and treasures of Christ when he doth Iustifie most holy pure and good in all His commands the soveraigne Lord of our persons and lives to order and dispose them at His will on the sense and experience of these workes doth grow that conclusion and resolution to cleave to Christ. Lastly because this act of Faith is our dutie to God As we may come to Christ because we are called so wee must come because wee are commanded For as Christ was commanded to save us so we are commanded to beleeve in Him From these and the like considerations ariseth a purpose to rely on Christ. But yet still this purpose at first by the mixture of sinne the pragmaticalnesse and importunitie of Satan in tempting the unexperience of the heart in trials the tendernesse of the spirit and fresh sight and reflexion on the state of sinne is very weake and consisteth with much feare doubts trepidation shrinking mistrust of it selfe And therefore though all other effects flow in great measure from it yet that of comfort and calmenesse of spirit more weakly because the heart being most busied in sprituall debatements prayers groanes conflicts struglings of heart languishing and sighing importunities of spirit is not at leisure to reflect on its own translated condition or in the seeds time of teares to reape a harvest of Ioy. As a tree new planted is apt to be bended at every touch or blast of winde or children new borne to crie at every turne and noyse so men in their first conversion are usually more retentive of fearefull then of more comfortable impressions The last act then of Faith is that reflexive act whereby a man knoweth his owne Faith and Knowledge of Christ which is the assurance of faith upon which the joy and peace of a Christian doth principally depend and hath its severall differences and degrees according to the evidence and cleerenesse of that reflection As beautie is more distinctly rendered in a cleere then in a dimme and disturbed glasse so is comfort more distinct and evident according to the proportions of evidence and assurance in faith So then to conclude with this generall rule according as the habits of faith are more firme and radicated the acts more strong constant and evident the conquests and experiences more frequent and successefull so are the properties more evident and conspicuous For the measure and magnitude of a proper passion and effect doth ever follow the perfection of the nature and cause whence it proceedes And therefore every man as he tenders either the love and obedience he owes to God or the comfort he desires in himselfe to enjoy must labour to attaine the highest pitch of Faith and still with Saint Paul to grow in the knowledge of him and his resurrection and sufferings So then upon these premises the heart is to examine it selfe touching the truth of faith in it Doe I love all divine truth not because it is proportionable to my desires but conformable unto God who is the Author of it Can I in all estates without murmuring impatiencie or rebellion cast my selfe upon Gods mercie and trust in Him though He should kill me Doe I wholly renounce all selfe confidence and dependance all worthinesse or concurrence of my selfe to righteousnesse Can I willingly and in the truth and sinceritie of my heart owne all shame and condemnation and acquit God as most righteous and holy if He should reject me Doe I not build either my hopes or feares upon the faces of men nor make either them or my selfe the rule or end of my desires Doe I yeeld and seriously endeavour an universall obedience unto all Gods law and that in the whole extent and latitude thereof without any allowance exception or reservation Is not my obedience mercenarie but sincere Do I not dispense with my selfe for the least sprigges of sinne for irregular thoughts for occasions of offence for appearances of evill for motions of concupiscence for idle words and vaine conversation for any thing that carries with it the face of sinne And when in any of these I am overtaken doe I bewaile my weaknesse and renew my resolutions against it In a word when I have impartially and uprightly measured mine owne heart by the rule doth it not condemne mee of selfe-deceite of hypocrisie of halting and dissembling of halfing and prevaricating in Gods service I may then comfortably conclude that my Faith is in some measure operative and effectuall in mee Which yet I may further trie by the nature of it as it is further expressed by the Apostle in the Text That I may know him Here we see the nature of faith is expressed by an act of knowledge and that act respectively to justification limited to Christ This is eternall Life to know thee and him whom thou hast sent where by knowledge I understand a certaine and evident assent Now such assents are of two sorts some grounded upon the evidence of the object and that light which the thing assented unto doth carrie and present to the understanding as I assent to this truth that the Sunne is light by the evidence of the thing it selfe and this kinde of assent the Apostle contradistinguisheth from faith by the name of sight Others are grounded upon the authoritie or authenticalnesse of a narrator upon whose report while wee rely without any evidence of the thing it selfe the assent which we produce is an assent of faith or credence Now that Faith is a certaine assâ—…nt and that even above the certaintie of meere naturall conclusions is on all hands I thinke confessed because how ever in regard of our weaknesse and distrust wee are often subject to stagger yet in the thing it selfe it dependeth upon the infallibilitie of Gods owne Word who hath said it and is by consequence neerer unto him who is the fountaine oâ—… all truth and therefore must needes more share in the properties of truth which are certainty and evidâ—…nce then any proved
Gods Iustice and hereby the heart is framed to an humble feare of reproaching voiding nullifying unto it selfe the Death of Christ or by Continuance in sinne of crucifying the Lord Iesus againe It is made more distinctly in the sufferings of Christ to know that infinite guilt and hellish filthinesse which is in sinne which brought so great a punishment upon so great a person And hereupon groweth to a more serious Hatred thereof and carefulnessâ—… against it as being a greater enemie unto his Iesus then Iudas that betraid or the Pharisees that accuâ—…ed or the souldiers that Crucified him as being more sharpe to the soule of Christ then the nailes or speares that pierced his sacred body How shall I dare thinkes the faithfull soule to live in those sinnes by which I may as truely be denominated a betrayer and Crucifier of him that saved mee as Iudas or Pilate were Thirdly It lookes on him as Our Forerunnerinto Glorie whither he Eâ—…tred not but by away of bloud From whence the heart easily concludes if Christ Entred not into his own glory but by suffering how shall I enter into that glory which is none of mine if I shed not the bloud of my lusts and take order to Crucifie all them before I goe So then none can Conclude that Christ died for him who findes not himselfe Set against the life of sinne within him in whom the body of Corruption is not so lesned as that it doth no more â—…ule to wast his conscience or enrage his heart If a man grow worse and worse his heart more hard his Conscience more senselesse his resolutions more desperate his â—…are more dead his courses more carâ—…all and worldly then before certainely the fellowship and vertue of the bloud of Christ hath hitherto done little good to such a man And what a wofull thing is it for a man to live and die in an estate much more miserable then if there never had beene any Iesus given unto men For that man who hath heard of Christ at whose heart he hath knocked unto whose Conscience he hath beene revealed and yet never beleeveth in him unto righteousnesse or sanctification but lives and dies in his filthinesse shall be punished with a farre sorer Condemnation then those of Tyre Sydon or Sodome that knew nothing of him O then let us labour to shew forth the power of Christs Death and that he died not in vaine unto us Though wee cannot yet totally kill yet let us crucifie our corruptions weaken their vigor abate their rage dispossesse them of the throne in our hearts put them unto shame and in as much as Christ hath Suffered for sinne let us cease from sinne and live the rest of our time not to the will of the flesh nor to the lusts of men but to the will of God The second part of our fellowship in sufferings with Christ is the conformitie of ours to His. In all our afflictions he is afflicted and Saint Paul cals His sufferings the filling up of that which is behinde of the afflictions of Christ. Not as if Christs sufferings were imperfect for By one offering Heâ—… hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified But as Christ hath Personall sufferings iâ—… corpore proprio in His humane Body as Mediator which once for ever He finished So He hath generall sufferings in corpâ—…re mystico in His Church as a member with the rest Now of these sufferings of the Church we must note that they have no conformitie with Christs in these two things First not in Officio in the office of Christs sufferings for His were meritorious aâ—…d satisfactorie Ours onely miniâ—…teriall and for edification Secondly not in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not in the weight and measure of them not so bitter heavie and wofull as Christs were For the sufferings of Christ vpon any other Creature would have crushed him as low as Hell and swallowed him up for ever In other respects there is a conformitie of our sufferings to Christs so that He esteemeth them His. Our sufferings are First such as wee draw upon our selves by our owne folly and even in these afflictions which Christ as the King â—…ver His people inflicâ—…eth upon them yet as their Head and fellow member Hee compassionateth and as it were smarteth with them For Christ is so full of tendernesse and so acquainted with sorrowes that wee may justly conceive Him touched with the feeling of those paines which yet He Himselfe seeth needefull for them Secondly such as are by God imposed for triall and exercise of those graces which himselfe gives and in these we have a twofold Communion and conformitie to Christ First By association Christ giveth us His Spirit to draw in the same yoke with us and to hold us under them by His strength That Spirit of Holynesse by which Christ overcame his sufferings helpeth our infirmities in ours Secondly in the manner of undergoing them with a proportion of that meeknes and patience which Christ shewed in His sufferings Thirdly such as are casâ—… upon us by the injuries of Satan and wicked men And these also beare conformitie unto Christs as in the two former respects so thirdly in the cause of them for it is Christ only whom in his members Satan and â—…he world doe persecute All the enmitie that is betweene them is because of the seede of the woman If Christ were now amongst us in the fashion of a servant and in a low condition as once he was should convince men of their wickednesse as searchingly as once he did Hee would doubtlesse be the most hated man upon the Earth Now that Hee is conceived of as God in glory men deale with him as Ioaâ—… with Abner they kisse and flatter him in the outward profession of His Name and Worship and they stabbe and persecute Him in the hatred of His wayes and members And this is the principall reason why so many stand of from a through embracing of Christ and his wayes because when they are indeede in His body they must goe His way to Heaven which was a way of suffering They that will live godly in Christ Iesus must suffer persecution and be by wicked men esteemed as signes and wonders to bee spoken against and that not onely amongst pagans and professed enemies to the Truth but even in Israel and amongst those who externally make the same profession But this should comfort us in all our sufferings for Christs sake and for our obedience to His Gospell that wee drinke of our masters owne Cuppe that wee fill up that which is wanting of His afflictions that Christ Himselfe was called a Samaritane a Divell a wine-bâ—…bber entrapped spied snared slaine and Hee who is now our Captaine to leade us will hereafter be our Crowne to reward us wee may safely looke upon Christs issue and know it to bee ours First wee have Christs fellowship in them and if it were possible
art That God that is the same God in thy fidelity and mercy as then thou wert and thy words be true and thou hast promised this goodnesse to thy servant therefore let it please thee to blesse the house of thy Servant c. Excellent to this purpose is that which S. Austin obserues of his mother who very often and earnestly prayed unto God for hâ—…r sonne when he was an Hereticke Chirographa tua ingerebat tibi Lord saith he she urged thee with thine owne hand-writing she challenged in an humble and fearefull confidence the performance of thine owne obligations Thirdly and lastly by this meanes wee hasten the performance of Gods decreed mercies we retardate yea quite hinder his almost purposed and decreed Iudgements The Lord had resolved to restore Israel to their wonted peace and honour yet for all these things will I be enquired vnto by the House of Israel to doe it for them saith He in the Prophet The Lord had threatned destruction against Israel for their Idolatry had not Moses stood before him in the breach to turne away his wrath as the Psalmist speakes And we reade of the Primitive Christians that their prayers procured raine from heaven when the Armies of the Emperours were even famished for want of water and that their very persecutors have begg'd their prayers Secondly as by prayer the Creature is sanctified in the procurement for no man hath reason to beleeue that there is any blessing intended vnto him by God in any of the good things which doe not come in vnto him by prayer so in the next place the Creature is by Prayer sanctified in the fruition thereof because to enjoy the portion allotted us and to rejoyce in our labour is the Gift of God as Salomon speakes The Creature of it selfe is not onely Dead and therefore unable to minister life by it selfe alone but which is worse by the meanes of mans sinne it is Deadly too and therefore apt to poyson the receivers of it without the corrective of Gods Grace Pleasure is a thing in it selfe lawfull but corruption of nature is apt to make a man a lover of pleasure more then a lover of God and then is that mans pleasure made unto him the metropolis of mischiefe as Clemens Alexandâ—…inus speakes A good name is better then sweet oyntment and more to be desired then much riches but corruption is apt to put a flie of vaine-glory and selfeaffectation into this oyntment to make a man foolishly feed upon his owne credit and with the Pharisies to doe all for applause and preferre the praise of men before the glory of God and then our sweet oyntment is degenerated into a curse Woe bee unto you when all men shall speake well of you Riches of themselves are the good gifts and blessings of God as Salomon saith The blessing of the Lord maketh rich but corruption is apt to breed by this meanes covetousnesse pride selfe-dependency forgetfulnesse of God scorne of the Gospell and the like and then these earthly blessings are turned into the curse of the earth into Thornes and Briers as the Apostle speakes They that will be rich pierce themselves thorow with many sorrowes Learning in it selfe is an honourable and a noble endowment it is recorded for the glory of Moses that hee was learned in all the wisedome of the Egyptians but corruption is apt to turne learning into leauen to infect the heart with pride which being arm'd and seconded with wit breakes forth into perverse disputes and corrupts the minde Therefore Saint Paul advised the Christians of his time to beware lest any man spoile them through Philosophy and begvile them with entising words And the ancient Fathers counted the Philosophers the Seminaries of heresie Proofe whereof to let passe the Antitrinitarians and Pelagians and other ancient Hereâ—…ikes who out of the nicenesse of a quaint wit perverted Gods truth to the patronage of their lyes and to passe by the Schoolemen and Iesuites of late Ages who haue made the way to heaven a very labyrinth of crooked subtilties and have weav'd Divinity into Cobwebs wee may have abundantly in those Libertines and Cyrenians who disputed with Stephen and those Stoicks that wrangled with Saint Paul about the resurrection And now learning being thus corrupted is not onely turned into wearinesse but into very notorious and damnable folly for thinking themselves wise saith the Apostle they became fooles and their folly shall be made kâ—…owne unto all men To get wealth in an honest and painefull Calling is a great blessing for the diligent hand maketh rich but corruption is apt to perswade unto cozenage lying equivocation fals weights ingrossements monopolies and other Arts of cruelty and unjustice and by this meanes ouâ—… law full Callings are turned into abominations mysteries of iniquity and a pursuit of death Every creature of God is good in it selfe and allowed both for necessitie and delight but corruption is apt to abuse the Creatures to luxury and excesse to drunkennesse gluttony and inordinate lusts and by this meanes a mans table is turned into a Snare as the Psalmist speakes Now then since all the world is thus bespread with ginnes it mainely concernes us alwayes to pray that we may use the world as not abusing it that wee may enjoy the Creatures with such wisedome temperance sobriety heavenly affections as may make them so many ascents to raise us neerer unto God as so many glasses in which to contemplate the wisedome providence and care of God to men as so many witnesses of his love and of our duty And thus doth prayer sanctifie the Creature in the use of it Lastly and in one word Prayer sanctifies the Creatures in the review and recognition of them and Gods mercy in them with thanksgiving and thoughts of praise as Iacob Gen. 32. 9. 10. and David 2. Sam. 7. 18. 21. looked upon God in the blessings with which hee had blessed them And now since Prayer doth thus sanctifie the Creatures unto us wee should make friends of the unrighteous Mammon that wee may by that meanes get the prayers of the poore Saints upon us and our estate that the eye which seeth us may blesse us and the care that heareth us may give witnesse to us that the loynes and the mouthes the backes and the bellies of the poore and fatherlesse may be as so many reall supplications unto God for us The third and last direction which I shall give you to finde life in the Creature shall bee to looke on it and love it in its right order with subordination to God and his promises to love it after God and for God as the beame which conveyes the influences of life from him as his instrument moved and moderated by him to those ends for which it serves to love it as the Cisterne not as the fountaine of life to make Christ the foundation and all other