misery the spirit is willing but the flesh is weake there is so much weaknesse and earthinesse and frailty somtimes a mans heart is right for God yet his head akes or his stomack is full of wind or he is weary and wants sleep there is some frailty or other This is all earthly Adam all this shall be gone and this kind of body and soul shall be altered and changed to the Image of the blessed second Adam we shall put off our earthiness as well as our sinfulness and have his blessed compleat image Now how glorious that shall be as you never saw the first Adam but onely by hear-say and by reading the word of God so you have not seen the second Adam but you may partly know by the manifestation of his glory on earth you have heard much of his glory We saw his glory as of the only begotten Son of God we shall then see him Phil. 3. 19. Our conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile bodies He meanes vile not onely in respect of sinfulness but of dustiness of earthyness and weakness that they may be like his glorious body according to his mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe that is according to his usuall manner of working he can doe what he will in Heaven and Earth We cannot conceive what an image we shall have upon our bodies and souls but according to his wisdome and mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things he will do it Therefore let me tell you this I finde few or none that have those lively expectations in these times of that glory that is to be revealed that the Saints of old had See how they speak of it What manner of love is this that we should be called the Sons of God but yet it doth not appear what we shall be for we shall be like him and Gird up the loyns of your mindes be sober and watch for the glory that shall be revealed The Saints heretofore more then half their hearts were in Heaven beforehand that is the meaning of that Our conversation is in heaven Just as you see men that go a long journey or as you see people that have been plundered that are returning to their own homes their conversation is there half a year before their hearts and their thoughts are there and they wish they were there and are thinking what they will do and what they will be when they come there So Our conversation is in heaven the Saints do so long after the glory that is to be revealed in the day of Adoption and Redemption of our bodies that the most part of them is there already Now we do not consider of this because the New Jerusalem is not yet come into our hearts we have not that Gospel-temper and frame of spirit that the Saints had before That which remains is a little to shew you what your duty is that the Lord hath brought up to walk according to the Spirit And two or three words I have to shew you how you should every one endeavour to attain to it or to attain it more and more But I shall leave that till the Afternoon SERMON V. Rom. 8. 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit IT is the foundation of all our happiness to have the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us for thereby we are exempted from all misery freed from all our enemies and thereby we are made capable to enjoy all happiness and blessedness for all the misery that man suffers here and hereafter is because he hath not a righteousness to fulfil the law And therefore whatsoever man or woman it is that the Lord hath bestowed this great priviledge upon they must needs be in a blessed condition Now that we may know whether we are of that number the Apostle tells us that they that have this priviledge they walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit which was the last thing I was upon I told you what was meant by walking after the flesh and what by walking after the Spirit I gave the Reasons of it and made two or three Uses There are two things remain which I shall endeavour to speak of at this time Vse 4. of Exhortation First you that have received the Spirit of God and in some measure do walk according to the Spirit not according to the flesh that the New Jerusalem from Heaven is in some measure come into your hearts I will give you a few Exhortations from the Lord how you should carry your selves That is the first thing I shall do and that shall be in four or five short words 1. The first is this that the Lord having called you to this glorious free estate to this free condition that you would take heed of turning the grace of God into wantonness as many do And by that I mean but two things 1. That you would take heed of using your liberty as an occasion to the flesh 2. Of using your liberty so as to give offence to your Brethren or indeed to any I say first beware of using your liberty for an occasion to the flesh That you shall have Gal. 5. 13. For brethren saith the Apostle you have been called to liberty only use not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another The Apostle shews them in that Epistle the glorious condition and estate that they were in through grace and here in this Verse there are two things that he tells them the one is implied it is worth observing ye are called to liberty that is there is a freedome there is a liberty in the Gospel in divers things that did seem to be sinful when ye were under the law or else what sense can you make of this Ye are called to liberty onely use not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh For we finde that the people under the law either they made the law stricter or looser then it was And there is no man in the world that walks according to the law but he makes many laws to himself that Christ hath not made Now when the Gospel comes in clearly all those laws that you made of your own head vanish Ye are called to liberty that is you see more freedome you are not bound to every thing that before you were Before you must not smile it was a sin if you seemed to laugh or smile and a hundred such things Now you are called to liberty but use it not as an occasion for the flesh that is take not occasion from your liberty to live more sinfully to say you are made free and others are tyed by the law and therefore you will live more carelesly and loosely and sinfully take heed and beware of that There were
or sword Nay in all these things we are more then conquerors through Christ that loved us Indeed tribulation and hunger and famine they are sad things but these are the least troubles of a Christian these outward miseries Over these we are more then Conquerors saith Paul I can tie my right hand at my back and with my left hand beat all these back I can beat them with a finger Nay I say more Neither death nor life that is more nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. See there how he dares all the Enemies to come upon the Stage and tramples them under feet As in Malachi it is said that in the time of the Gospel they shall tread their enemies as ashes under their feet So there is a place also in 1 Cor. 15. Death is swallowed up in victory As if he had said You that have received Jesus Christ I will tell you news Death is swallowed up in victory O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory He jeers the grave and death and triumphs over them O death where is thy sting thou thoughtest to overcome me but where is thy sting The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be unto God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. He doth not say which will give us victory when we are dead and then we shall be perfect in Heaven it is true then we shall be more perfect but he saith which hath given us victory for the present I have already over come Hell and Death and the Devil for all hangs on the law the law is Gods Writ and the Devil is Gods Sergeant that executes that Writ and Hell is the Prison Therefore if the law be satisfied if the righteousness of the law be fulfilled Death and Hell and the Devil have nothing to do with me So in Rom. 4. 25. Who was delivered for our offences and was raised for our justification And then it follows Chap. 5. 1. Being justified by faith we have peace with God See where the Apostle layes justification And we glory in tribulation knowing that it worketh patience c. We rejoice in tribulation and affliction Why because we are justified by Christs death and resurrection O what kinde of spirits should we have How full of joy and comfort should we be in the greatest tribulation How should we tread all this world under our feet the evils of this world and the comforts of the world How should we insult and triumph over the Devil and over Death and Hell for all their power as I said is from the law and if the righteousness of the law be fulfilled then all our enemies are subdued and all is clear Heaven is open and God is mine and the favour of God is to me For know this that there is no natural inbred hatred in God to his creature there is nothing that keeps the creature from the full enjoyment of God but the law not being satisfied God made a law and we made the breach of it and there falls out the distance between the Creatures and God whether Men or Devils Now then if I can say though I be a sinful man yet Jesus Christ hath fulfilled the law the law hath a full righteousness to a farthing then I know I am one with God he is wholly for me and I for him and all the enemies of my Salvation are conquered Now if the Lord would open your eyes to understand the hope of your calling the glorious condition you are brought into you would not walk so weakly and poorly and sadly and dejectedly that every thing should cast you down but you would go on and trample all the world under your feet we should be above men and Devils and the world and every thing if we did but understand to what a glorious estate God hath called us in this world through Jesus Christ Therefore a man reflecting upon his justification as he may look upon himself and account himself something so he may account Death and Hell and all subdued and he may account that the law cannot demand a farthing of him That whereas the breach of the law kept us from communion with God that being taken away we are as righteous as if we had never fallen O glorious condition There Paul Eph. 1. he prayes that they might know the riches and hope of their calling that is that they might understand what this glorious calling is that God hath called us to That is a second Lesson we should learn hence First seeing the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us we should learn how to build our Justification aright how to lay the foundation of it And secondly we should endeavour to get our spirits raised like people that are freed from the law Vse 3. Thirdly and there I shall end for this time being freely and fully justified by the grace of Jesus Christ this should follow to any one that understands it that therefore we should study and learn to conform our selves in our hearts and lives out of love to the will of God There comes in holiness and there it comes in amain and never before all before is nothing but bungling but then it comes rightly We should I say conform our selves to the Example and to the Rule of Jesus Christ in his Gospel And that you may understand that you must know that every man in this world hath a rule to walk by And there are but three great Rules and all men do and must conform to one of these three for there is no man that doth an action but it is in reference to a Rule 1. Now you have one Rule in 1 Pet. 1. 14. As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the lusts of your former ignorance which shews that once they did conform themselves they did fashion themselves unto their lusts but saith he now God hath justified you you must not conform your selves to your lusts Most of mankinde make their lusts their rule which the Prophet calls in Scripture to do that which is right in their own eyes to do what is their minde what they like in their own minde and as that worthy Dr. Preston saith they think when they are in their beds what place they shall go to and where they shall spend their time and when they are up they do that which is right in their own eyes what they have a lust to when they have a lust to be drunk they will be drunk when they have a lust to be filthy they will be filthy when they have a lust to be idle or a lust to be malicious against their neighbours they will be so So that the stirrings of their lusts are their rule and their whole life
other is to be pleased with one that was an Enemy before one that was against me that is now received to favour So I have told you briefly some Scriptures to shew you that the flesh is taken in this sense Now the main Reason of it why I believe this to be the chief meaning of it is because that I see clearly that this is the chief drift and scope of this Epistle and if I may speak without disparagement there is nothing more methodically laid down and this is spoken to bring them from the way of works to the way of faith But I hasten Why doth the holy Ghost call walking after the Covenant of Works and after the law walking after the flesh and the other walking after the Spirit The Reason is Because there is so great affinity and nearness between walking legally and walking sinfully that they are promiscuously in Scripture taken one for another For let a man walk and endeavour and do his best according to the Law and not by the Gospel he shall be sure to walk sinfully and carnally there is no help for it If he be under the law sin will have dominion over him and if he go after the flesh the motions of the flesh will bring forth fruit unto death Sin and the law are as it were of so near a kin that the law makes sin more sinful and the more a man strives to keep the law the more he sins The Apostle brought it so near that people were ready to speak non-sense that the law was sin He prevents the objection Is the law sin O no faith he sin is the transgression of the law So that a man that walks according to the law and not according to the way of the Gospel in spight of his heart he shall walk according to the flesh that is according to the lusts of nature he can never walk holily let him do what he can A second Reason why it is called flesh is in allusion to the two Sons of Abraham as we see in Gal. 4. 21. The Apostle there speaking of these two Covenants he saith Abraham had two sons the one by a bond-maid the other by a free woman but he who was of the bond-woman was born after the flesh but he of the free woman was by promise which things are an allegory or a comparison for these are the two Covenants the one from mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage which is Agar for this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children but Jerusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all He is proving that the old Covenant was to be done away Agar was to be thrown out with her children He proves that those two Sons of Abraham Ishmael and Isaac were types of the two Covenants that God made with mankinde the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace Now the Covenant of Works he compares to Ishmael that was born after the flesh as other children were Abraham went in to Hagar and she conceived and bare a childe as other women but Isaac was not born after the flesh all fleshly wayes could not produce Isaac he was a childe of Promise and the Spirit of God breathing in the promise and working mightily in Abraham and Sarah Isaac was produced This is an Allegory there is a great Mysterie that you think not of when you reade of Ishmael and Isaac By Ishmael is meant the Covenant of Works and the principles of it and the practitioners of it and they walk according to the flesh as Ishmael did and by Isaac is meant the Covenant of Grace and those that go that way are children of the promise as Isaac was So God hath set this Comparison and I conceive the Apostle alludes to it and calls it a walking according to the flesh As if he had said Thou shalt never have this righteousness by walking in the way of thy father Ishmael by Mount Sinai in Arabia by walking in the law to turn away the wrath of God but if thou wilt get this righteousness thou must walk according to the Spirit thou must get the Spirit and be a childe of promise The third and last Reason that I shall give why it is called walking according to the Flesh is because of weakness for flesh is put for weakness as the Scripture saith They are Flesh and not Spirit that is they are poor weak things so those that walk in that way in the way of the law they are weak creatures there is nothing but wishing and woulding and covenanting and promising and protesting and vexing and fretting but there is no strength Now one Saint that is truly planted in Christ and the Gospel hath truly taken place in his heart he hath more strength then five hundred of the other Saith Paul I can do all things I can want and I can abound I can go to prison freely I can rejoyce with them that rejoyce and mourn with them that mourn Because the same Spirit that dwells in Christ and works effectually the same Spirit dwells in us and works in us Therefore that is the meaning of it They that walk after the flesh that is they that go after the law they are weak they tug and are never the nearer Heaven and if they should live a thousand years they would be no better but wishers and woulders and say I have a good desire to do as the Preacher saith but I have no power Vse Let me conclude with one word of Use from all this that hath been said which I hope you will consider of From this Doctrine thus opened you may hence see the saying of our Lord Jesus Christ verified and made good that few shall enter into the kingdome of Heaven Doubtless Paul did not look on sinners and Saints as we do we account every Professor let his principles be what they will either from the first or second Adam if he begin to leave sin and to perform duties we account him a good man But when the Lord comes to judge he will look further and examine us and will I fear finde abundance that shall never enter into the kingdome of Heaven even of those that follow good old Adam I mean there are abundance of Professors that have left corrupt Adam in his grossness and follow good old Adam that is a sprig from that they will abstain from sins and they will perform duties and they will do no wrong and all is but old Adam still Therefore you that are Professors look to your selves for the Lords sake I am mistaken if there be not many hundreds of us that will be found the Sons of Ishmael at the last day many that make a great Profession and many that make a greater Profession then others that are honest spiritual Saints before the world before men for when a man goes to keep the law every light that comes into his
Flesh and old Adam In Luke 19. they are called the things of trouble and the things of the Spirit the things that belong to our peace O that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace In Jer. 2. 8. they are called things that do not profit vain things and the things of the Spirit in Phil. 1. 10. they are called excellent things That ye may be able to know the things that are excellent that is the things of the Spirit of God And to conclude this Phil. 4. 8. speaking of the things of the Spirit saith he Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report these things do These are the things of the Spirit of God Then impure things dishonest things dishonourable things unjust things unlovely things these are things of the flesh Thus much in general according to the description of the things of the Flesh in Scripture But now in particular I will sum up the things of the Flesh or of old Adam one or other of which fleshly men do wholly minde to these three Heads 1. The first is to establish their own righteousness by the law to procure to themselves justification by their works This is the Master-piece of old Adam for I told you that man is more prone to this then to sin though he be prone to that also and old Adam works stronger towards his righteousness such as it is in a forbidden way then to sin Therefore it is said Rom. 10. 3. They being ignorant of Gods righteousness went about to establish their own righteousness He speaks there of the Jews The word in the Original is they went to make it stand just as a tottered house that every blast is ready to throw down and it must be underpropped on this side and on that side to keep it up so every fleshly man in the world this is half his work to make the Babel of his own righteousness to stand he is alway piecing and patching and doing some good work he is wishing and woulding or in some fashion or other to make up a good estate against the latter day Therefore that was the question Acts 2. and Luke 3. and it is the grand question of all mankinde What shall we do to be saved and we see when they came to Christ it was alway with this Master what shall I do to be saved As if he had said I know it must be by doing and I am willing to go about it to frame some kinde of righteousness or other Therefore in Joh. 6. say they What shall we do to work the works of eternall life saith Christ This is the work of God to believe he takes them off Now this is one thing whereby you may know what it is to be a fleshly man and to minde fleshly things when people minde and cast projects and wayes to procure righteousness to themselves or justification to their souls any other way then onely by the Lord Jesus Christ Men may be as it were drunk sometimes and minde neither Heaven nor Hell but there is no fleshly carnal man when he is his own man but he thinks there is some good work or other that he must do either giving or lending or building an Alms-house or giving to the poor or somewhat to get him a righteousness But remember thou art a carnal man and all thy minding and all thy thoughts this way are but according to the flesh and those that are after the flesh must die It was the first and the greatest Curse that ever was in the world when God said to old Adam he must die it is a general rule all old Adam must die either thou must get that piece of old Adam that is in thee to die or thou shalt die with it one of the two 2. Then another thing that is called the things of the Flesh it is Carnal Priviledges either men that are fleshly minde their justification out of Christ or else their Carnal Priviledges I told you before that those are called Flesh saith the Apostle If any might I may glory in the flesh What is that I am an Hebrew of the Hebrews c. and so the Jews in Mat. 3. Joh. 8. and 2 Cor. 11. they were apt as to stablish their own righteousness so to glory in their priviledges We are the children of Abraham we were never slaves or servants We have not their priviledges to glory in yet this is a main piece of old Adam a great part of the things of the flesh outward priviledges let them be Church-priviledges or what you will when people rejoyce and minde and contemplate outward priviledges and do not regard the inward power nor what is in and through and by them this is but flesh I fear you will not bear with me you will account me your enemy for telling you the truth but I am perswaded there are many among us that talk of Churches and Government and Ordinances and Priviledges and yet all is but flesh and you cannot well judge of them by their strictness in it for flesh will go as strictly in its way as the Spirit but it is to be feared that divers build of it and glory in it and it is a great part of their Religion I warn you in love to look to it and if those Priviledges were taken away as Christ took away the priviledge of being the children of Abraham from the Jews such people would be poor carnal people Take heed of it and let him that glories glory in the Lord. 3. Thirdly and lastly the things of the flesh for all old Adam is included in these three things that fleshly men minde is to fulfill their lusts which are many to make provision for the flesh Rom. 13. that is to be casting how to feed one lust or other Now if you would know what those lusts are in particular though in a sort it be general you have it in 1 Joh. 2. 16. saith he All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life These are the lusts of the world all the lusts in the world may be reduced it seems to those three heads so I say these are the fleshly things that all carnall people minde all their thoughts throughout the year every one runs either in stablishing their own righteousness or in glorying and contemplating their outward priviledges or in projecting for the fulfilling of some lust or other thus they spend their whole life these are the things of the flesh that carnall men minde Now the other the things of the Spirit that are contrary to these you may comprehend them all in these words that is 1. They are either the things of Faith 2. Or else their Hope and Happiness in Jesus Christ 3. Or else their Obedience to the will of Christ All the
I will avoid that which is evil do that which is good And mark it this is more natural to man then sin it is more natural to man to be righteous then to be sinfull because he was righteous before he was sinful The liquor that is put first into a vessel the vessel keeps the taste of that longer then of any that is put into it afterwards Now God at first made man righteous and man is more apt to fall to that kinde of righteousness then to any sin And this is the great misery of people every one in some fashion or other this is his business he goes about to fulfill the law of God in his own person and there you shall have one praying and another crying and another keeping so many fasts and dayes of humiliation upon humiliation and the end of all is if men had eyes to see it his endeavour is to fulfill the law of God he endeavours to scrape and to get up a righteousness to pay the law of God You cannot conceive and comprehend how subject you and I are to this misery and how this is in your very bones as it were and I fear truly it is the greatest part of your Religion and the most of your Profession is nothing but to endeavour to get a righteousness to fulfill the law of God though some do it in a closer finer way then others Now I beseech you consider this word lay down this throughly in your hearts that it is a vain thing so to do and who would go about a vain thing a thing that he shall never bring to perfection For it is not every paltry righteousness that can fulfill the law of God It is not ten thousand fastings that can fulfill the law of God it is not praying in your family three times a day that can fulfill the law I speak not against these things in their right way and course but all will not do in this respect for if you fail but once if you miss but one farthing you are gone if you have but one bad thought in all your life you are lost Therefore I would have you despair of getting by your own doing and suffering any righteousness to fulfill the law of God never go about it No wise man will go and build a Castle in the Aire It is reason and argument enough in any naturall business to make a man desist to tell him it is a vain thing it is a work that will never come to perfection therefore desist and give over and think of some other course Why should we not prevail in spiritual things as well as in natural Let every man lay down this for a certain truth for a certain conclusion in his Soul That I were as good be a sinner as a righteous man in my own person in respect of fulfilling the law I am sure I shall never do it but as a Snow-ball the more it is rolled the bigger it grows so the more you go on and endeavour to get a righteousness to fulfill the law the farther off you will be for as I said if you fail but once you are guilty of all And as you cannot reach it by doing so not by suffering for what men have mist in doing they shall be suffering to all eternity in Hell but the law is so holy and God is so glorious whose law you have broken that when you have suffered millions yet the debt will be still unpaid Therefore who would be so mad as Paul calls the Galatians mad Galatians Who hath bewitched you it is a kinde of madness for any man to attempt in his own person by doing or suffering to fulfill the righteousness of the law or to justifie and save his Soul You will say We grant it is true and therefore the Papists are much to blame that labour to be justified by their works They are so and so are many others much to blame besides them and blessed is that man or woman among you whosoever it be that doth not in some measure in his own person endeavour to make up his own righteousness It is a thing that sticks nearer to you then you are aware of though it may be at sometimes you see Christ and justification by him clearly yet at other times you know how many pangs and how many secret glances we have at our justification by our own works take notice of the vanity of this That is one word Vse 2. Me-thinks this should move you above all things in the world if it were considered and oh that the Lord would be pleased yet to open your eyes while it is called to day I say this should be one of the greatest motives in the world to come to Jesus Christ to get into Christ to receive Jesus Christ and in him as I shall shew after you shall have a righteousness that hath fulfilled the law Let every man say I see here is law that God hath laid upon me I am subject to it and this law must be fulfilled there is no help for it every man is bound to it he must have a righteousness to satisfie the law Heaven and earth shall pass away rather then that shall not be Now there are but three wayes to fulfill it Either in mine own person here or to suffer for ever in Hell or else to believe in and receive another that may do it for me Now we neither our by doing or suffering can get such a righteousness that is clear therefore there is but one way that is in Jesus Christ there is a perfect righteousness in him he hath fulfilled the law get into him and be one with him and then we shall be able to say perfectly with Paul That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us that believe and are in Jesus Christ There is but that one way now when there is but one way me-thinks there needs no deliberation or consultation In worldly things when there are divers wayes and courses that a man may take he will consult with his friends which to take this or that or the other but when there is but one way there needs no consultation So if there were two or three or many wayes to Heaven we might consult which way to take if there were as many wayes as you imagine and make in your own heads if Antinomianism were the onely way or Presbyterians or Independents were the onely way men might demurre but in Gods language there is but one way and that is the Way the Truth and the Life Jesus Christ is the way go out of that and you wander for ever he is the onely sacrifice miss that and there is no more sacrifice for sin There is but this one thing necessary there is no other way in the world but Jesus Christ there is no other name under heaven by which you can be saved Therefore we should do in our condition just as a man that were fallen into a
great pit that were full of stones and snakes and serpents and fire and all that we can imagine to be terrible and miserable and there comes a man and casts a Rope into this great deep pit you need not perswade the man to lay hold of it he would presently catch at it as soon as it comes Why so Because he knows he is in a miserable case and there is no other way to help him but that We are fallen into such a pit where there are snakes and scorpions and serpents and fire the sting of sin the curse of the law the wrath of God we are in the paws of the Devil we are in a manner in Hell already and God hath sent his Sâ—n Christ and hath put righteousness in him and he hath let down this Rope that poor sinking miserable Creatures might lay hold on it Therefore what shall I say to you but this I beseech you stand not trifling and dallying and whining and go to this Preacher and say what shall I do Sir and to that Christian what course shall I take as though there were many wayes and you had choice of things What shouldest thou do but study Jesus Christ throughly and roundly make a work of it or else thou wilt be damned There is no other way left there is no other means to be had God will not abate one farthing token the law must be satisfied as the people of Israel in Egypt when they made brick they must bring in such a number so the law must be perfectly satisfied and thou art not able to do it by doing here or by suffering in Hell therefore what shall I do Receive Jesus Christ study Jesus Christ and resign thy self wholly up to Jesus Christ and stand not trifling and dallying till thou go to the Devil in Hell as many do If there were twenty wayes to Heaven God might say I wonder not that yonder people stand musing and consulting a twelve-month together but when there is but one way and yet people stand moping it is that that angers God Therefore remember that in Zeph. 2. 1. Gather your selves together before the decree bring forth before the day pass as the chaff c. Seek ye the Lord c. Gather your selves together He doth not mean in Companies as you use to meet in the Guild-Hall but the meaning is when he saith Gather your selves together that man is a worried creature a shattered thing as Solomon saith The eyes of a wise man are in his head but the eyes of a fool are over the world There are abundance of men that have their understandings go in the world this way and that way but gather your selves together How To get into Christ you hear that there is no Righteousness but his will serve the turn gather your selves to study Christ to obey Christ to receive Christ to love Christ and to resign your selves to Jesus Christ in whom there is a perfect righteousness That is one Lesson you should desire the Lord to teach you hence The next Lesson is this that The Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in all true Believers Saith the Apostle That the law might be fulfilled in us In us we are not to understand it personally as though any Saint though it were Abraham himself were able in his own person to fulfill the law but the meaning of it is in respect of the union that we have with Jesus Christ who is our Husband and our Head The law is perfectly fulfilled by him therefore it is perfectly fulfilled by me because I am united to him The law is not perfectly fulfilled by me because I do more good or do less evil then another but onely the law is fulfilled and hath reason to be satisfied because I am married to one that hath done it and that perfectly Now you shall see divers Scriptures that hold it forth blessedly As those phrases in Galat. 2. the latter end where it is said we are dead to the law I through the law am dead to the law I am crucified with Christ I am dead to the law What is the meaning of that That is I am dead to the law as it is a Covenant of works the law hath no more to do with me then the Laws of men have to do with a man that is in debt when he is dead when he is dead he is free from it So the law is paid by Jesus Christ it is fully satisfied I owe not one farthing or farthing worth to the Law I am dead to the law And so in Rom. 7. you know how by the comparison of a man and his wife we are said to be dead to the law of God The meaning is not as though the substance and matter of the law were not eternal and a rule for all Saints doubtless it is in the New Testament as well as in the Old but the law as it is a Contract a Bond a Bargain as it is a Covenant of works between God and us it is perfectly fulfilled by Christ and we are dead to it we are free from it or delivered from it And that is the reason that in Heb. 12. it is said in Mount Sion we are come to the Spirits of just men made perfect that is not of just men personally just in their dealings though that follow in a sort but the meaning is that every Saint that is in Jesus Christ is perfectly a just man or a just woman by reason of their marriage with Jesus Christ who hath obtained a perfect righteousness or justice for them So in Rom. 3. you have there also a blessed place where the Apostle saith we are saved not onely by the mercy of God but by his righteousness Therefore it is three times repeated we are saved by the righteousness of God and again by the righteousness and again in ver 26. the third time to declare I say at this time his righteousness What is the righteousness of God that is saith he that he is just and a justifier of them that believe in Jesus Christ It is just and righteous with God to save his people that believe in Jesus Christ Why so Because Jesus Christ hath fulfilled to a tittle all the law of God for them Vse 1. I shall give you but one word of Use and leave the Reasons and the further enlarging of it till the Afternoon And the word that I desire to make known to you from the Lord is this To instruct and help you a little to understand where your righteousness doth lye or upon what your justification is built For this is the misery the general misery of most Christians that they mislay their justification they do lay it partly upon faith and partly upon their sanctification and holiness and that is the reason that when a poor soul it may be is tempted to some sin and hath some strong lust he loseth his faith and his assurance and his peace of conscience because
every Regiment in every Company that seek themselves there are but few that are otherwise there are but few that naturally seek the things of God And that you may see what a fearful thing it is that you may look to iâ— you shall see in Chap 3. 18. For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping and so in 2 Cor. 12. Beloved I do not reade that Paul did write weeping to the Church about any thing but about this and what was it he wept for They are enemies to the Cross of Christ they were not profane men but Professors Whose end is destruction who minde earthly things whose Belly is their god Who are they who minde earthly things whose Belly is their god They did not fall down on their knees and worship their Belly but they were such as did take more care and pains for their Belly and did rise earlier to look after the things of this life then after the glory of God and their end is destruction notwithstanding all their Profession and you shall know them by this they minde earthly things But our conversation is in heaven from whence we look for the Saviour c. Therefore to conclude this is my meaning that all that are Professors in this self-seeking age wherein one may go with a Candle as the Prophet saith through Jerusalem a man may go with a Candle from Westminster to the Tower to look for a man that naturally minds the things of God and the People of God and the Honour of God and the like And if they be so scarce I beseech you consider what a fearfull thing it is and how the Holy Ghost sets it out here that their end is destruction and Paul speaks of it weeping Therefore let it be thy work now to look to thy minde though thou profess to be a Saint whether it be natural for thee to care for thy self but to do for God but now and then and it may be after many perswasions thou mayest be brought to do something for God and for the people of God but it is natural to thee to look to thy self and to thine own honour and thy own place and preferment c. The Lord help thee to look to this SERMON VIII Rom. 8. 5. For they that are after the flesh do minde the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit I Have spoken of these words in generall and â—ow I will according to the strength that God shall give me speake of them a little in particular that seeing those that enjoy this great priviledge to have the law fulfilled in them are those that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit That we may find whether we walk after the flesh or after the spirit I would urge it a little further and that according to the Apostles method he pitcheth upon the minde and the minde not simply considered but as it is acting and setting forth the minde in minding therefore as he takes the chiefest facultie to judge the rest by so I will take the chiefest act in that faculty that so you may judge of the rest by that one and so keep to the Apostles method Now the chiefest act of the minde doubtless is the reasoning part of the minde There are many acts in the minde as it understands it thinks it imagines but especially the reasoning part it belongs to the minde to reason concerning things and Reason is the chiefest part and is called and accounted by Scholars the chiefest part of man and therefore they say that man is a reasonable creature Now I say if we will finde ouâ— by the Scriptures what we are whether we be according to the flesh or according to the Spirit for there is the hinge of it we must examine it by the minde and not by the minde simply as it is a faculty but the minde acting and exercising and if we speak of the exercise let us take the reasoning part of it that is the best part for of all the acts of the minde the reasoning is the strongest and that that most immediately flows from the Understanding therefore if the reasoning of the Soul be carnal the whole Soul is so and if the reasoning of it be spiritual the whole Soul is spiritual that was one thing that did move me to pitch upon that it being the chiefest Besides I finde that the Apostle in 1 Cor. 5. 16. he distinguisheth those that walk according to the flesh from those that walk according to the Spirit by the reasoning part for saith he Henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more We do not saith he henceforth walk according to the flesh and we know it by our knowledge we do know things not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit if Christ himself were here we would not look upon him with a fleshly eye What this knowledge is you may see in the verses before For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge we thus reason that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again We know saith he that we are spiritual and not fleshly by our judging of things by our reasoning of things for thus we judge or thus we reason that if one died for all that is did die for all then surely we all are dead And we reason further that if one man did die for us and we are suffered to live we should imploy our life not for our selves but for him that died for us This kinde of reasoning we have that walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh therefore I will pitch upon that And the rather because the Lord hath been pleased for ends best known to him to keep that in my minde and to six it so on my thoughts that I could not pass it by and I usually judge in such cases that God doth often do it for your sakes And therefore according to this Method we shall observe this Doctrine or this Lesson Doct That those that are according to the flesh or that walk according to the flesh are swayed and guided by fleshly reasonings and those that are according to the Spirit are swayed and ruled by spirituall reasonings True Gospel Believers are ruled and swayed with spirituall reasonings and all carnal fleshly men are ruled by carnal fleshly reasonings For such as the mind is so is the whole man and if your reasoning be right then I dare say that all the acts of the minde are right for that is the chiefest you may judge of all the acts of your minde by your reasoning and therefore we cull out that for the triall of the rest I say carnal men are swayed