not beleive in Judea and that my service for Jerusalem may be accepted of the Saints For Jesus Christs sake pray for me VVhy He was going to Jerusalem to carry money to the poore A man would think that they should be beholding to him that Paul a Preacher would come and bring it himself but I beseech you for Christs sake pray that the Saints may accept of my service O God give Parliament men and great ones that they may be Willing to doe for the Saints and to pray to God for the Saints acceptance It is a great matter for the Saints to accept the service of the Saints The Thirteenth thing to know a humble heart 13. He rejoyceth at the growth of grace in others by in his demeanour to the Saints is this he rejoyceth much that grace grows in others though it doe not in himselfe and he rejoyceth in the good that is done by others though he can doe none himselfe Paul 2 Cor. 4. 13. I rejoyce that ye be honourable though we be beggars A humble heart rejoyceth though he be the least of Saints yet to see such people grow and to have full grace and to thrive accordingly a proud heart will murmur and it is a signe of a cursed heart that doth not rejoyce in the good that is done by another it is a cursed hellish disposition in Numb 11. We read how diverse did Prophesie in the Campe and they come to Moses and desire him to forbid them O say they looke yonder he is turned Preacher now O sayth Moses I would that all Gods people did prophesie Now there are such a generation of men among us that will not indure that any good should be done but by themselves and if a poore man goe out of my Parish to another place for the good of his soul I must envie the man because he would get more good and others that have been trades-men though they be men of parts and breeding in the Army and elsewhere yet if they have not the languages though they teach the people gloriously yet we must crie them downe as Aereticks whereas if God will doe good by using such we should rejoyce if I rejoyce not in the good that is done by another in this Congregation or in the Armie or any where as much as if it were done by my selfe I am a cursed proud man Let us think of that Another thing which I spake of before is that 14. He can love though he be not loved a humble heart he can love though he be not loved As Paul sayth Though the more I love you the lesse â— be loved of you There is none but a humble heart that can love when it is not loved Lastly and so to make an end of this text the 15. He measures not himselfe by himselfe demeanour of a humble heart to the Saints it is seen in this he dares not measure himself by himself nor compare himself with himself You shall find that word 2 Cor 10. 12. VVe dare not make our selves of the number or compare our selves with some that commend themselves but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise Man naturally is the best judge of himselfe only every man hath abundance of self-love whereby every man thinks in every poynt better of himself then he is and they think themselves the wisest people in the World and that other people have no braines and so measure themselves with themselves Or rather thus I have observed in proud hearted professors to their ruyne unlesse God work a myracle that doe not approove their hearts to God nor to the generality of the Saints but measure themselves by themselves they are good because they think they are good or else they will have two or three fawning flatterers by them that shall commend them though all the VVorld condemne them yet if they approove them and commend them they care not Thereupon I have knowne some that have lost all their reputation with all the Saints excepting only two or three that would call black white and white black You shall have a great man when he hath done an action he will goe to his Chaplaine and say is not this well done and it may be he will flatter him in it We are all subject to this it is not peculiar to one alone We should make use of some friends when we have done an action that should be joynt judges in it and if they entertaine it for good we should account it so or else not for a World and if these condemne us we should hold our selves condemned but beware of setting a few creatures like our selves to be judges but to approve our selves before the Lord and before the Generation of Saints And so you have heard the demeanour of the Saints that they are humble in their carriage towards God and towards sinners and towards Saints And so much for this text Mount Sion OR The Priviledge and Practice OF THE SAINTS By WALTER CRADOCK late Preacher at ALHALLOWS Great in LONDON HEB. 12.22 But yee are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living GOD c. GAL. 4.26 But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all LONDON Printed in the Yeare 1649. SERMON I. Rom. 8. 4. That the righteousnesse of the law might be fullfilled in us who walke not after the flesh but after the spirit THE maine drift of the Apostle in this Epistle is to hold forth justification by faith or by free grace without the works of the law And in Chap. 7. The Apostle doth answer an objection For they might say what then shall we doe with the law if it cannot justifie us There the Apostle tells us that though the law cannot justifie us yet there are many blessed uses both for sinners and Saints to make of the law of which I shall not now speake Now in this 8th Chapter the Apostle drawes this conclusion from what he had said before There is therefore from what I have sayd it is evident that there is no condemnation there is no damnation there is no danger of hell to them which are in Christ Jesus Now he opens who those are he sayth they are those Who walke not after the flesh but after the spirit And he gives a reason of it in Vers 2. why there is no damnation to those people For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of sin and of death Now he amplifies that in Vers 3. For what the law could not doe in that it was weake through the flesh God sending his owne son in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh As if he should have sayd thus it comes about that we are now free from the law and that there is no damnation to us because sayth he that God hath sent his son in the
those things that now you know not nor cannot know Therfore labour to learne that lesson it is one of the greatest Mysteries in the World and that is the reason that carnall people carp at these things What greater Mysterie then for me being a just and righteous man through Christ yet to be so sinfull that I can say there is none more sinfull and yet I am as righteous as Abraham or Paul in respect of the righteousnesse of Christ I have as large a share as Abraham or Paul and yet I am full of sin A Christian knowes this and he knowes how it is so Well that is one lesson consider of it that you may know where to plant your justification upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ The Lord teach it to you and me Secondly if the righteousnesse of the law be Vse 2. Saints should see their condition in Christ glorious fulfilled in all that are beleivers through Jesus Christ Then all you that are Saints all you that beleive in Jesus Christ labour to see the glorious condition that you are in that you may be able to reflect upon your selves not according to what you are out of Christ but what you are considered to be as Members of Jesus Christ as unyted to Jesus Christ Therfore you shall have Paul and it doth me good to see his spirit he never reckons himselfe as in himselfe but as in Jesus Christ I can doe all things I can want and I can abound I can doe this and that and all in Christ So I To look on our selves as unyted to Christ must never conceive of God out of Christ nor of my selfe out of Christ I must never conceive of my selfe and Christ as two but I should indeavour clearly and constantly that whatsoever good there is in Christ it is myne as if it were in myne owne person And so we should have our spirits raysed above the temptations of the World and above the afflictions of the World and above corruptions It is a pittifull thing to see poore Professors Why many Christians have such low Spirits there is not one of many but they are ordinarily below temptations and they lie under burdens and are below their sins Nay there are many professors that are more sad and drooping then carnall people Surely this was not the way of those Saints that we read of in the New Testament they had glorious spirits how doe you think else they could goe to the stocks and to Prisons and from one Compter to another and have their spirits so raysed and yet sometimes they were to die the next morning for ought they knew Your spirits will never be heightened and raysed to live the life of Paul by beholding any thing that is in you personally in your posession but what you are by relation and marriage to Christ Reckon your selves dead with Christ and so conceive I am a just man I was bound once to the law of God a terrible law and there are thousands in hell paying the debt and cannot pay it and yet I have paid every farthing and the law cannot ask me more I have offered a perfect righteousnesse to God and I am now sitting at Gods right hand in Heaven by my unyon with Jesus Christ This is the life of faith that we may be able to The life of faith tryumph over all these things below from our Justification as Paul doth Rom. 8. It is God that Justifieth and who shall condemne Who shall seperate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Shall Tribulation or distresse or Famine or nakednesse or perill 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 Conquerers sayth 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 Neyther 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 seperate 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 Malachy it is said that in the time of the Gospell they shall tread their Enemies as ashes under their feet So there is a place also in 1 Cor. 1â— Death is swallowed up in victorie As if he had sayd you that have received Christ Jesus I will tell you news Death is swallowed up in victorie O death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victorie He feares 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 Victorie 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 Victorie for the present I have already overcome Hell and death and the Devill for all hangs on the law the law is Gods writ and the Devill is Gods Sergeant that executes that writ and Hell is the Prison Therefore if the law be satisfied if the righteousnesse of the law be fulfilled death and Hell and the Devill have nothing to doe with me So in Rom. 4. ult Who was delivered for our offences and was raysed for our justification And then it followes Chap. 5. 1. Beeing 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 rejoyce in tribulation and affliction Why Because we are Justified by Christs death and Resurection O what kind 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 evills of this World and the comforts of the World How should we insult and tryumph over the Devill and over death and Hell for all their power as I sayd is from the law and if the righteousnesse of the law be fulfilled then all our Enemies are subdued and all is cleare Heaven is open and God is mine and the favour of God is to me For know this that there is no naturall imbred What hinders the creature from enjoying God hatred in God to his creature there is nothing that keeps the creature from the full injoyment 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 betweene
that his Son hath satisfied the law and therefore we are freed Now he doth acknowledge it three wayes First You shall have it Mat. 17. compared with 1. by Gods own testimonie 2 Pet. 1. For Peter is much in it we follow not devised fables but we come to speake of the voyce in the Mount This is my beloved Son As if he had said This is one maine peice of the Gospel we heard a voyce when we were with our Master in the mount saying This is my beloved Son in whom my soule is well pleased That for his person Then a second thing that did shew that he was 2. Christ is out of prison satisfied was by suffering Jesus Christ after he was arrested and in prison for our debt for Christ was in prison for our debt he was arrested and that according to law he was brought into prison and all our suits were clapped on his back all our executions and outlaries were layd on his shoulders and then the Father let him out of prison being our suretie If he had not payd our debt he had not come out of prison but now the Father lets him out that is the Father suffred him to rise from the dead Therefore we finde that our justification is layd more upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ then upon his death as we see in Rom. 4. 25. Who was delivered for our offences and raised againe for our justification that is he did die for our sins and was raised againe for our justification And in Rom. 8. He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him give us all things Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us That is his dying for us did satisfie the law but that did not justifie us untill we see that he was risen againe and then we see that all the debt was paid because our suretie is gotten out of prison Therefore justification I meane the knowledge of it at least principally ariseth from Christs resurrection Now when I see Christ is risen and is gone abroad he is gone out of the grave and gone to heaven I know that the law is fulfilled and the Father is satisfied and the Sergeant the Devill hath nothing to arrest me for all is satisfied all is cleare Thirdly and lastly I know God the Father is satisfied 3 Christ is gone into heaven for the law it is God the Fathers Writt that he had against us and now we see that all is payd not onely because our suretie is got out of prison for so a man may doe that hath not paid a debt but because when he was out of prison he ascended to his Father and the Father made him sit at the right hand of God in the glory of Majesty on high and he hath given him power and authoritie to rule the world till the day of Judgement Now in that the Father hath given the Son that honour and respect in heaven as to come and sit at his right hand wee may see it was not a breaking of prison but a reall paying of the debt and a fulfilling the law before he could come there This may give a little light how the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us through Jesus Christ Now the use of it I named in the morning I Use 1. To learne the ground of our justification was not able to expresse it neither can I now fully utter it I beseech you consider the more of it The first use we may make of it is this that you should learne from what I have said where your justification doth lie your justification doth not lie or is not built upon any thing that is in you or that is done by you or that you may hope to doe hereafter you are not justified by your own personall good or unjustified by your own personall evills you are not one jote the more just when you have done all the good you can in the world and you are not one jote the lesse just when you have committed all the weaknesses and fallen into all the frailties that a Saint can fall into because your justification is built onely upon Christ and upon what he did and suffered My justification is built upon the death of Christ and his resurrection he hath fulfilled the law and he hath paid the debt and he is out of prison and the Father is satisfied here is my justification and I believing this I am happie Now you shall find that you lay a great part of Men build justification upon something in themselves your justification upon something in your selves therefore when you are enlarged in good you think you are more justified and when you fall into sin you think you are more unjust then you were before and you look strangely upon God Now the Lord hath put it out of our hands Adam should have been justified by that that was in him and that should have been done by him but blessed be God he would not trust us with that good any more but hath put all in the hands of Jesus Christ and there is the whole foundation of our justification Therefore it is not for a Christian to come and say O Sir I feare I am no childe of God I feare I shall prove an hypocrite why so because I finde so much sin and so many lusts in me It is very well that you find and feele sin and that you mourne for and strive against sin but that therefore you should thinke there is a flaw in your justification that you should make any good that is in you a prop to support your justification or any evill in you a thing that might crack your justification this is Popery My justification depends not on this that I am justified the more when I am strong or less justified when I am weak but whether I be weak or strong whether I doe much or little for God whether I give thanks or be humbled seeing Christ is dead and risen againe I am justified that is still intire because it is not built upon me but wholly upon the death and resurrection of Christ In the 4th of the Romans Abraham is laid down Abraham how justified as a patterne of believing Abraham had the word of faith So shall thy seed be and without hope or reason or any thing he believed that is he cast himself on that word so it is said he was justified without works What a strange thing is that for it is impossible that there should be true faith but that all good works should in some measure follow after but if wee speake properly and look to the thing as it is in it self how a man is justified he is justified wholly without works Abraham did many good things he offred his son Isaack
and he relieved his kinsman when he was in misery and did teach his familie and relieved the King of Sodome he did many good works Though these good works did justifie his faith to the world that they knew he was a believer by it and he himselfe did know it by it yet never a one of these were an ingredient into the justification of his person that was by the righteousnesse of God without works Wee must get good works after This is the Good works to be done after we believe rule of the word Charge them that believe to maintain good works that is after they believe charge them to avoy'd the evill and to doe the good and to abound But for the poynt of justification which is the maine thing for your soule and mine to feed on that is built on another foundation upon the grave of Christ and upon the death of Christ Therefore you shall find those speeches of the Apostle Paul when he speaks of this glorious condition he speaks alway of his union with Christ I am crucified with Christ and I am buried with Christ and I am dead but Christ lives in me Learne this lesson that you may come to this Ground of humilitie for if you had learned it spiritually when you had done the most for God if you could doe ten times more then Abraham or Paul and yet Paul preached from Jerusalem to Illyricum yet then thou wouldest say I am an unprofitable servant there is not one graine that I have done that is an ingredient into the death and resurrection of Christ to help to make me a just man or to procure the favour and love of God And when you had done evill and it may be failed in carelesnesse and committed sin O what a glorious thing were it to goe home and fall upon thy knees and say Lord I have sinned grievously but yet I am not one jote the lesse just before thee because my justice and my righteousnesse is not depending upon my sinning or my unsinning upon my holinesse or my unholinesse but upon Jesus Christ Then you would find by experience your hearts The right way to mourn for sinne melt in pieces you would be able to look upon sin in the vastness and unkindness of it against a deare Father then you would see your selves the vilest objects you would not so thinke or speake of any man in the world as of your selves even for the least frailtie For then the love of God as oyle working with iron would press your hearts Then you shall know and not before what it is to be truly humbled and then you shall have power to reforme Then you would be able to say my soule is truly humbled I can mourne for sin till I am weary of weeping Then you will be able though you make not those covenants and resolutions there will be such an impression upon the soule that you cannot choose but mourne and loath your selves and avoyd the occasions of sinne seeing your selves just men in Jesus Christ For when a man sees himself unjust he can never mourne kindly for sin if he see God on Sinai as a Judge there will be but untoward mourning for sin But when a man sees the coast cleare then he can say I have been the greatest sinner in London there is never a childe of God that hath walked more barrenly then I have done and yet through Christ I am as just in Gods sight as any man in London I am Gods childe but I am an unhappie graceless childe then a man can call himselfe foole and be angry with himselfe and weep bitterly Now usually when you mourne for sinne you Men usually think justification is cracked by sin thinke there is a crack in your justification and so many sins as you have committed there are so many flawes in your justification and so many faintings of faith in the favour of God and therefore when you pray to God and are humbled for sin it is your manner and it was mine most of my dayes onely to dawb up the flawes of justification and you pray the Lord to pardon such a sin and now you see God is wrath with you and you are like to be cast off and your hearts begin to be hard and you have sad thoughts of God arising in you and unquiet and horror in your soules and you are far enough from true sorrow all this while It is impossible there should be true sorrow when you keep a coile and confess your sinnes and wrangle it out with God and you will confess your sins to day and think to make God amends to morrow and so as a man stops chincks in a wall wee think to dawb up the flawes and cracks of justification this way Whereas wee should look on justification as a thing entire in the hands of Christ that wee have nothing to doe in but it is in Christ altogether founded on his death and resurrection and all the title that wee have in it is onely by saith As Rom. 10. sheweth The righteousnesse of faith saith on this wise c. The word is nigh thee There is our title and tenure I have nothing to doe for my justification but Christ hath fulfilled the law and he did die and rise and sitteth on the right hand of God and I endeavour to believe it that is to consent that it is so and praise his name and live to him all the dayes of my life O here is the life of Christianitie I have seene people quarrell with themselves Hindrance of reforming our wayes and complaine O I have a hard heart and I desire the preachers to pray for me and when you have fallen into weaknesse you will goe and confess your sins and strive to breake your hearts and mourne for your worldlinesse and your pride and frowardnesse and yet it will not doe but your hearts grow harder then they were before and whereas when you have committed a sin to day you think to goe and reforme to morrow and to turne over a new leafe to morrow you will be worse then to day because you think to make God amends he leaves you to your selves and you grow worse The reason is this because in some sort even to this day you mix sanctification with justification Now I know it I speak what I know could you leave your justification alone in the hands of Jesus Christ and look on it as I said as cash in the cupboord not to be touched and as long as Christ is righteous say I am righteous behold your selves alway as just men and women that in Jesus Christ have fulfilled the law of God and then you will find your hearts inclined to any good thing then would your hearts break and shatter to peices when you have done the least evill against God then you would know what true sorrow and what true repentance is and not before then you would know
while thou livest and to let Christ be wisedome in thee that thou wouldest be a poore infirme fraile creature and let Christ Jesus be thy righteousnesse that thou art content to walke in raggs and let Christ be thy riches This is one thing In that place Rom. 10. 3. It was the pride of the Jews that kept them from salvation by the righteousnesse of the Gospell they would not submit to the righteousnesse of God they were a proud people So that is it that keeps many a soule that hears the word it is that that keepes you weake What it is that keepes men in inward trouble and full of woe and sorrow all your dayes You thinke it is the want of this grace and the want of that grace and other things but it is nothing but your owne stubborne heart that you will not submit to the righteousnesse of Christ You would have this grace and that grace that is you would fill up every corner of your owne shop and you would amend your owne trading but you would not shut up shop and be journey-men as I may speake with reverence to Jesus Christ That is one thing Then againe the second particular I have to demonstrate 2. To take the righteousnes of Christ on his bare word that whether you be humbled or no is this whether the Lord have brought you to be content to take the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ upon his owne bare and naked word Whether now you can say there is Jesus Christ full of righteousnesse for me and my own righteousnesse is full of raggs What evidence have you for it Here is a word Jesus Christ is come to dye for sinners I find nothing in me but here is a bare word and hereupon I am content to take his righteousnesse and throw away mine owne I doe not say but that a good Christian may Christians may make use of signes make good use of signes and marks even in earthly things Christians see the love of God by temporall outward things for God useth what Pipes he pleaseth to convey his love But the question is in matter of believing whether I should not throw away my owne righteousnesse and wholly believe in Jesus Christs righteousnesse before I see any grace or any signe A humble heart can doe it and is content that marks should come after he believes after I believe God will sanctifie me and worke grace and then I shall see his love more But the first bargain betweene God and me is his bare word therefore that Rom. 10. is glorious and cleare and comfortable The Apostle lays downe the difference betweene salvation by the Law and by faith saith he the Righteousnesse of the Law speaketh on this wise The man that doth these things shall live by them but the righteousnesse which is of Faith speaketh on this wise say not in thy heart who shall ascend into Heaven or who shall descend into the Deepe but he that believeth shall be saved Marke it this is the straine and streame and language of the Gospell that is salvation by Jesus Christ and whosoever believeth on that salvation shall not be ashamed he shall be sure of it But how shall we come to believe and to be sure of this salvation Say not in thy heart who shall goe up to heaven or who shall descend into the deep but what saith it the word is nigh thee that is God hath given a word and he will give a spirit of faith with it and there are but two words to the bargaine there is the spirit in thee and the word without thee and this is the righteousnesse of God the righteousnesse of faith saith so Say not who shall goe up to heaven or downe to the earth For the eyes of a fool are scattered about the world And when men come to believe in Christ they aske who shall ascend into Heaven how shall I come to know that I am a Saint and that I am predestinated The Lord would have us believe the word that Christ Jesus came to save sinners of whom I am chiefe Here is a word if the heart now could apply this by the spirit of faith That is another thing I would have you thinke on Your ordinary Professors most of them they Why ordinary professors want assurance have not assurance of salvation why They cannot believe Why so because they finde so many corruptions in them and they finde so many graces wanting and they have ill memories and hard hearts and if it were not for these things they could believe What is the meaning of it It is as if they should say I will never trust God in the righteousnesse of the Gospell upon his bare word God will have us trust him ere he will trust us we must take God upon his word God wil bring every child of his to this to take his salvation upon a bare word and he will blesse his name for it I have but one soule and if I had a thousand I would venture them all upon his word and say there my soule lyes sinck or swim or goe to heaven or hell here is the word that Christ came to save sinners of whom I am chiefe Now if there be pride in the heart it will not come and rest on a bare word The Lord make you understand these things that they may not be lost Thirdly a humble heart will be content not only 3. With a generall word with a bare word but with the least word and the most generall word A proud heart will not be content unlesse he hath a perticular word For my part I may mistake but I will tell you my opinion that those men how Christ dyed not for all ever otherwise they be godly some of them that doe hold that Christ did dye for all men and that he came to save Judas as well as Peter If Christ came to save all and yet many shall goe to Hell how come they to be saved It is a proud thought in the heart that would teach God how to speake and how to make promises and we poore wretched damnable creatures must shew him what language he shall speake in whereas now a humble heart will take the least and most generall word and thanke God as we see in the woman of Canaan Christ gives her never a word a great while but frownes and then he gives her a terrible word and bids her goe he calls her Dogg why that was something a Dogg hath some priviledge he hath the crums that fall from the Table he looks for outward mercies and therefore in that he calls me Dogg I have so much of that word that I will follow him for the crums Saith Christ to her O Woman great is thy faith be it unto thee as thou wilt So Benhadads servants when they came with Halters about their necks saith the King Is my brother Benhadad alive that was a comfortable word they harpt upon
thirdly there is another glorious way 3. By Jesus Christ that is in Jesus Christ Jesus Christ he hath kept the law and perfectly fulfilled it now a man by beleiving in Jesus Christ and by being unyted to him and married to him that in his owne person hath fulfilled the law being married to him whatsoever he hath is yours and whatsoever he hath done it is as if it had been done by you all shall be imputed to you and so the law of God may be fullfilled in you perfectly and you shall never goe to Hell and have nothing to doe or to suffer in that kind This being premised breifly the use of this may be twofold First to shew you what a vaine and foolish Vse The vanity of those that goe about to keepe the law thing it is for a man to goe about to keepe the law of God in his owne strength or in his owne person for you to think to save your soules or to fulfill the righteousnesse of the law by your owne doings Beloved it is a great matter to bring poore sinners to be awakened to see their sins or to break off their course in sin For there are many drunkards and swearers and jearers of Religion and prophaners of the Lords day that sit as sots all the yeare and are never awakned but generally when men are awakened Sinners awakened labour to fullfill the law out of their sins this is the resolution of all man kind of every man none excepted unlesse God have mercy on him he is ready to say I see I am in a damnable way and this course will bring me to hell by the grace of God I will turne over a new leafe and now I will heare Sermons I was wont to jeare at them and I will get me a practice of piety or some other good Book and I will have prayers in my house and I will be drunke no more and sweare no more I will be a new man I will avoyd that which is evill and doe that which is good And marke it this is more naturall to man then sin it is more naturall to man to be righteous then to be sinfull because he was righteous before he was sinfull The liquor that is put first into a vessell the vessell keeps the tast 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 kind of righteousnesse then to any sin And this is the great misery of people every one in some fashion or other this is his businesse he goes about to fulfill the law of God in his owne 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 righteousnesse 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 feare truly it is the greatest part of your Religion and the most of your profession is nothing but to endeavour to get a righteousnesse to fulfill the law of God though some doe it in a closer siner way then others Now I beseech you consider this word lay No man can fulfill the law by doing downe this throughly in your hearts that it is a vaine thing so to doe and who would goe about a vaine thing a thing that he shall never bring to perfection For it is not every paltrie righteousnesse that can fulfill the law of God It is not ten thousand fastings that can fullfill the law of God it is not praying in your familie three times a day that can fullfill the law I speake not against these things in their right way and course but all will not doe in this respect for if you faile 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 despaire of getting by your owne doing and suffering any righteousnesse to fulfill the law of God never goe about it No wise man will goe and buyld a Castle in the ayre It is reason and argument enough in any naturall busnesse to make a man desist to tell him it is a vayne thing it is a worke that will never come to perfection therefore desist and give over and thinke of some other course VVhy should we not prevaile in spirituall things as well as in naturall Let every man lay downe this for a certaine truth for a certaine conclusion in his soul that I were as good be a sinner as a righteous man in my owne person in respect of fulfilling the law I am sure I shall never doe it but as a snow-ball the more it is roled the bigger it growes so the more you goe on and indeavour to get a righteousnesse to fulfill the law the further off you will be for as I said if you faile but once you are guiltie of all And as you cannot reach it by doeing Nor by suffering 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 Gallathians mad Gallathians VVho hath bewitched you It is a kind of madnesse for any man to attempt in his owne person by doing or suffering to fulfill the righteousnesse of the law or to justifie and save his soul You will say we grant it is true and therefore Many seek to be justified by works besides Papists 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 owne person endeavour to make up his owne righteousnesse 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 may secret glances we have at our justication by our owne works take notice of the vanity of this That is one word Secondly me thinks this should move you above Vse 2. It should move us to come to Christ all things in the World if it were considered and O 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
the creatures and God whether men or Devills Now then if I can say though I be a sinfull man yet Jesus Christ hath fullfilled the law the law hath a full righteousnesse 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 walke so weakly and poorly and sadly and dejectedly that every thing should cast you downe but you would goe on and trample all the World under your feet we should be above men and Deviils 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 Therfore a man reflecting upon his justification as he may looke upon himselfe and account himselfe 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 wheras 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 Ephesians 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 learne hence First seeing the righteousnesse of the law is fulfilled in us we should learne how to buyld our Justification aright how to lay the Foundation of it And Secondly we should endeavour to get out spirits raysed like people that are freed from the law Thirdly and there I shall end for this time Vse 3. To conforme our hearts and lives to the will of God being freely and fully justified by the grace of Jesus Christ this should follow to any one that understands it that therfore we should study and learn to conform our selvs in our hearts lives out of love to the will of God There comes in holinesse and there it comes in amayne and never before all before is nothing but bungling but then it comes rightly We should I say conforme 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 Three rules to one of which all men are conformd hath a rule to walke by And there are but three great rules and all men doe and must conforme to one of these three For there is no man that doth an action but it is in reference to a rule Now you have one rule in 1 Pet. 1. 14. As 1. Mens lusts obedient Children not fashioning your selves according to the lusts of your former Ignorance Which shews that once they did conforme themselves they did fashion themselves unto their lusts but sayth he now God hath justified you you must not conforme your selves to your lusts Most of man kind make their lusts their rule which the Prophet calls in Scripture to doe that which is right in their owne eyes To doe what is their mind what they like in their owne mind and as that worthy Dr PRESTON sayth they think when they are in their beds what place they shall goe to and where they shall spend their time and when they are up they doe that which is right in their owne 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 is nothing but a transforming them from one lust to another Sayth Peter you must not doe so but as Obedient Children if God have justified you if Christ have fulfilled the law perfectly for you that you can dare sin and Hell and Satan and tread all under feet doth it become you to fashion your hearts and lives to your lusts Is that a good rule no you must not doe so Another rule is this World Rom. 12. 2. Be not 2. The World conformed to this World It is the coppy of many men the Looking-glasse that they dresse themselvs by every day how to square it in the World how to keep their port with their Neighbors and Gentlemen they converse with and with great men that have command of them and with their fellow Officers c. And so women how they may goe brave as their Neighbours doe and get credit in their eyes So most people their maine rule is they care not whether it please God and conforme them to his son at all so they can keep correspondensie with the World Now you must not doe so for 3. The example and rules of Christ they are yet in their sins poore wretches therefore let them conforme to their lusts and they that are of the World let them conforme to it But since God hath redeemed you from the wicked World by the blood of his son and hath brought you to this condition and bestowed glorious and unspeakable priviledges on you you should conforme your selves to the Image and example of Jesus Christ and to the rules of Jesus Christ in the New Testament in all your actions and wayes You cannot write without looking on your coppie the best Saint cannot write one line without viewing and looking on his coppie for every letter For all your actions you are to have two things in your eye that you may doe the action right and carrie your selves right Eyther eye Jesus To look on Christs example Christ and his example how would Christ have done if he had beene here What did Christ doe in the like case in the Gospell So by eying that there will be a power as in Jacobs sheep by beholding the rods the spirit of God will convey a power looking upon the picture that is before us that is Iesus Christ to transforme us into his likenesse Or secondly think of the rules of Jesus Christ To look on Christs rules the rules of the new Testament this blessed word have frequent recourse to the spirituall rules of the new Testament that should be your coppy When any case comes follow not your lusts and act not according to the wisdome of the flesh to say this or that I will doe but consider what is your rule you walke by another rule What have I to doe what such a man and such a man doth but what is my rule how must I carry my selfe As for instance when you come among people Severall Gospell rules that rejoyce for any mercie what is the rule Rejoyce with them that rejoyce and weep with them that weep It may be a man hath received great unkindnesse and
is wrong'd by him that he hath been most kind to of all the men in the World and yet he proves most ungratefull if a man should goe to flesh and blood he would hate and abhorr him and not indure him man in his best naturalls would not beare it he would not beare ungratefullnesse and wrong but labour to requite it But what is the rule The Lord is good to the wicked and unthankfull Therefore Lend freely looking for nothing againe Presently God will bring a spirituall rule to your mind and God will give you power to doe it And so suppose a man should charge and challenge you with a debt and would have you pay such a debt you perhaps know no such thing and are perswaded of the contrary What now You know what most men think I will never pay him I were a foole if I should give away my estate and be a Beggar when I have done but what is the rule If thine enemy sue thee at the law and take away thy cloake give him thy coat also A Christian comes to this law he consults not with flesh and blood when a case comes but he thinks what is the rule in this case But all the misery is you will be fingering with justification which you should leave alone upon Christs death and Resurrection and you should be working out your holynesse every day that should be your way God will bring it in So when a woman is putting on her cloathes and making her fine cloaths and thinks to be as fine as her Neighbours shee should think but what is my rule Not to conforme my selfe to others in embroydred haire and fine apparrell and gold but with the Ornament of a meek spirit So you have the New Testament full for every case there is some thing that wil direct and lead you that thereby you may conforme to Jesus Christ I give you but generall instances if God open your eyes to see your glorious condition in the New Testament you must resolve on this to walk according to the coppy and the rules of it that in any case you may aske what is my rule as I am a Christian as I am a free man one with God that I may walke by it Now I exhort you to this because if a thousand The best motive to holinesse Devills should preach instead of men and tell you what the Torments of Hell are all would not be so great a motive by half to walke holily as to tell you that the righteousnesse of the law is fulfilled by Christ that you are righteous and just all your sins are done away by Christ Therefore O love him and live to him conforme to your coppy Let your Neighbours conforme to their coppy to the World and others conforme to their lusts as too many doe but doe you conforme to Jesus Christ think what would Christ doe if he had my opportunitie what would he have taken in hand And what ever occasion you have with God or man aske what is my rule in the New Testament and conforme to it Blessed is the man or woman to whome God gives a heart so to doe There remaines one word more of this and the third lesson which is the principall thing the description of those persons that have this priviledge They walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit But because the time is gone and my strength also I shall leave that till God give another opportunitie SERMON III. Rom. 8. 4. That the righteousnesse of the law might be fullfilled in us who walke not after the flesh but after the spirit THERE were three Lessons that we may learne from these words The first is implied namely that The righteousnesse of the law must be fulfilled by every man OR Every man is bound to fulfill the law of God And Secondly that The law of God is perfectly fulfilled in all true Beleivers And Thirdly that True Beleivers are they who walke not after the flesh but after the spirit We were the last time upon the second we have prooved it and opened the poynt and have made some Use of it First that from hence we may learne where our justification lieth and wheron it is buylt not upon any thing in us or done by us but only upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ Secondly hence all that are Saints all that beleive in Jesus Christ should labour to see the glorious condition they are in by Christ Thirdly we should learne being justified freely and fully by the grace of Jesus Christ to conforme our selves in our hearts and lives to the example of Jesus Christ and to his rules in the Gospell I shall add but one word more from this Lesson Use 4. True beleivers no Antinomians that is that seeing the righteousnesse of the law is fulfilled in them that beleive you may hence see that none are further from Antinomianisme then those that are true beleivers those that are godly Saints You have a great stir concerning Antinomians what they should be It Antinomians who is one that is against the law that is the signification of the Greeke word Now the question is who is most against the law of God I doe not denie but that there are some and they may be called Antinomians though we should not miscall people yet they deserve it But now a Saint that is in Christ he is not an Antinomian he is not against the law because he hath satisfyed the law Every man must pay the law and they that would fulfill the law with their owne righteousnesse they doe the law wrong they that doe most here and they that suffer most in Hell they can never satisfie the law But a Christian hath satisfied the law because he hath given it a perfect righteousnes Now if a man should owe ten thousand pounds and he had but fifty shillings a yeare comming in and it may be one yeare he payes ten shillings another yeare he payes a Noble and another yeare three pence yet he payes as well as he can But now suppose there come a Suretie and he payes the whole ten thousand pound and he sayth to the Creditor you shall be paid no more by three pences but you shall receive the whole summe what doe you think is not that better None satisfie the law but beleivers So there are none that satisfie the law so roundly and fulfill it so perfectly as he that relinquisheth all that is in him and layes hold on Jesus Christ and in him payes God to a farthing Therfore when Paul is prooving strongly that we are justified by Christ and not by the law sayth he We take not away the law but we establish the law This is a better way of fulfilling the law then any other All the damned men in Hell and all the Pharisees on Earth cannot satisfie the law so well as one poore sinner that beleives in Jesus Christ And so for
matter of practice a man that beleives in Jesus Christ he walks more strictly then any Pharisee can for he looks not only what is lawfull but what is convenyent he walks by a more sublime excellent rule A Pharisee looks only what is lawfull and what is not lawfull but a Christian he looks what is exact and expedient take any man that knows what it is to be justified by Christ and that man goes a thousand fold further then another for a man that would be saved by his owne fulfilling of the law if he cannot come up to the law he will bring the law downe to him As a man that hath a heavie Burthen if it be too heavie for him he will cast off some of it so when a man goes about to keep the law and finds it too heavie for him he will throw away some and cut out a part and make a carnall gross law and endeavour to keep that Now a man that is justified by Christ he knowes that the law must be satisfied and so he takes it in the purest spiritualitie and goes to Christ Jesus and he hath satisfied all So much breifly for the second lesson Now I shall enter a little upon the third as sat as the Lord shal give strength time Those that beleive and have this great priviledg which is the Foundation of all others to have the law perfectly fulfilled for them in Christ they are here described to be such as walke not according to the flesh but according to the spirit So in the third place take this doctrine or lesson that They and they only that walk not according Doct. 3. They only that have Christ to fulfill the law for them walk according to the spirit to the flesh but according to the spirit are partakers of this priviledg to have the benefite of the righteousnesse of Christ to fulfill the law of God for them I say they and they only have it for it excludes all other The Scripture doth not only set it downe positively as it sayth Goe baptize all Nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost therfore we may conclude thence that we may baptize those that are Disciples but from that place to gather this doctrine that they and they only are to be baptized cannot be right but here I say it is they and they only Why so Because we see after those that walke according to the flesh shall die the righteousnesse of the law is not fulfilled for them for then they should never die nor be damned They that walke after the spirit and they only have this priviledg Now the maine businesse that I shall endeavour at this time will be onely to open to you these two words What it is to walke And what is meant by flesh and what by spirit For if we understand what it is to walke acording to the flesh we shall easily understand what it is to walk according to the spirit Concerning the former word to walk I shall To walk what say but little because you understand it To walk is a generall word in this place it is of a great extent and comprehends a mans whole course and way and practice A man who goes or converseth whose course and way is according to the flesh whatsoever that flesh is as we shall see afterwards such a man walks Therfore it is oft set downe in Scripture by severall expressions They that are after the law and they of the concision c. Put what words you will so they be generall enough they whose thoughts and words and courses are that way they are they that are said to walk There are three words in the Originall for walking and of those three the word here is of the largest extent To walke according to the flesh what is the meaning of that I shall be a little larger in the opening of this I will not trouble you with the various acceptations of the word flesh You know there is a litterall sence of it and by a Synechdoche it is put for the whole person soule and body and there is a Metonimicall acception of flesh I will give them a heart of flesh It is called flesh for softnesse and there is a Metaphoricall acception of flesh a borrowed kind of speech and so it is to be understood in this place Now to open this to you I shall shew you First in generall what is meant by flesh Secondly particularly what is meant by flesh By flesh therefore in generall you are to understand Flesh what meant by it in this place and the like every thing let it be what it will be that is against Jesus Christ or his spirit or his worship or any thing else that belongs to it any thing that is not of faith or of Christ it is flesh in generall Let me speake more plainly any thing that is of Old Adam is flesh whether it be good or evill and any thing that is of and from the new Adam that is spirit Now you Two things from old Adam know we receive two things from Old Adam some naturall morall good some reliques of that that he had the fulness of and we receive evill when he was corrupted Now both these take them in the largest extent they are both called flesh in Scripture whatsoever is of and comes from Old Adam is called flesh therfore flesh in many places in the New Testament it is the very same with the Old Man and you have them taken promiscuously Our old man is crucified Rom. 6. And in another place Those that are Christs have crucified the flesh not only the corruption or evill that Originall sin as we say that is within us but whatsoever of the Image of the old man is upon us whatsoever we have had whether it be good or evill from the old man And indeed in the New Testament it is more frequently taken for the morall good of Old Adam then the evill though it be taken for both yet I say most frequently the good of Old Adam especially the wisdome of Old Adam The wisdome of the flesh is enmitie to God Rom. 8. As in the New Adam the Lord Jesus Christ the wisdome of the holy Ghost is a most excellent peice so the wisdome of Old Adam is the unhappiest and most miserable thing of all That you may understand this you must conceive Two principles whence all men work that all the principles of this World I meane of all mankind all their motions and actions doe wholly spring and flow from two rootes two principles as the Heathen Phylosophers sayd in another sence they held that all this world did rise from two beginnings from two beeings from two principles there was one good and another evill that set all things on worke so all things in every man in this World the principles and motions and actions and thoughts and inclinations and wisdome and reasoning and
of the Gospell Why Because the Gospell all along offers Christ to sinners to the cheife of sinners to aliens and to the ungodly Then againe if this were so sanctification 2. Sanctification should be before justification should be before justification a man must be holy before he should be justified As for the latter sence to wit that the Apostle should meane this that no man can know any other way that the righteousnesse of Christ did belong to him but only by not walking after the flesh or by walking after the spirit this cannot be neyther for however we may know a little in a way of sence by our walking yet the maine way to know our justification is the same way that we come by justification for faith is the evidence of Justification cheifly known by Faith things not seen The maine evidence whereby I know I am justified is because the word of faith sayth so the word tells me so and faith evidenceth it That faith that I beleive by it shewes me that I beleive Therfore though I be inconstant in my way of grace that to sence shewes me a little yet it doth it not solely and cheifly and primarily So that this is the substance of it that that sence which godly reverend men give of this place it is true but it is not all nor the first and the cheife part of the meaning of it Secondly flesh in the Scriptures and so here 2. Flesh taken for Jewish priviledges and in diverse other places it may be understood concerning the priviledges those various prerogatives and priviledges that the people of God the Israelites had in a naturall fleshly way from Generation to Generation Being borne of such Parents of such Tribes they had such priviledges belonging to them they had the Oracles and the Covenant and the Tables c. And this is called flesh and I doubt not but the Apostle had this in his eye Sayth he The righteousnesse of the law is fulfilled in us that walk not after the flesh As if he had said doe not think because you are of the seed of Abraham or because you have the Covenants and Circumcision and that you are borne of such Parents that therfore you shall the sooner have this priviledg to have the law fulfilled take heed of that for now it springs from another root and it comes now in a spirituall and not in a fleshly way as it did before for they had their mercies generally in the Old Testament according to the flesh that is by Generation I saak as he was Abrahams Son and Jacob his Son c. but now it is in a spirituall way Now that flesh is so taken in Scripture I will give you that one place in Phil. 3. 4. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh sayth Paul If any man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh I more What doth he meane by flesh here He tells you Circumcised the eight day of the stock of Israell of the Tribe of Benjamin an Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law a Pharisee concerning zeale Persecuting the Church Touching the righteousnesse which is in the law blameless As if he had said I had all the priviledges if any man might boast in the flesh I might I am an Hebrew of the Hebrews a Gentleman of the best descent c. So in 2 Cor. 11. 18. Seeing that many glory after the flesh I will glory also yee suffer fooles gladly Wherein any is bold I am bold also Are they Hebrews so am I are they Israelites so am I are they the seed of Abraham so am I. They had priviledges beeing Israelites more then other People and this is called flesh So I am confident that the Apostle had this in his eye in a speciall manner when he saith They that walke not according to the flesh And you shall find that they attributed all priviledges to them because they were Israelites As you see in Mat. 3. Say they We are the Children of Abraham Sayth John The Jewes boasted of outward priviledges Baptist Ye are a Generation of Vipers And so in John 8. Say they we are free men we are the Sons of Abraham Sayth Christ Yee are of your Father the Devill See the Gospell takes away that fleshlyness and puts all in another streame and course and way The Apostle aymes at that here when he sayth Those that walke not according to the flesh As if he had sayd you shal never have this righteousnesse to satisfie the law the sooner because you are the Sons of Abraham no more then if you were Scithians or Barbarians Thirdly and lastly the maine and cheife 3. Flesh taken for the old Covenant of works meaning of this place is this though the other be included when the Apostle sayth those that walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit By flesh here the Apostle meanes walking according to the old Covenant according to the Covenant of works in the way of the law And by spirit is meant walking in the way of faith or in the way of the gospell or in the way of Christ. There be diverse expressions in Scripture that help us to understand it as in Rom. 4. 14. It is called they that are of the Law that is those that walk according to the law In Gal 3. there are two or three phrases Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith The walking according to the spirit is the hearing of faith and it is twise there they that are of faith they that are of faith To be of faith and to walk according to the spirit is the same to be of the law or of circumcision is to walk according to the flesh In Rom. 10. 5. The righteousnesse which is of the law sayth on this wise The righteousnesse of the law that is the way of the law that Scripture sets out the way of those that walk according to the Covenant of works now the way of the law is the same as walking after the flesh and sayth hee the righteousnesse of faith sayth on this wise that is the grace of the Gospell or the way of faith So the meaning is this we neare of a glorious privilidg that the righteousnesse of the law is fulfilled in us and there is no man in the World can get it by his owne works or in reference to the Covenant of works no not Abraham himselfe but it is meerly by Jesus Christ Therefore if any of you think to have this righteousnesse fulfilled in him and goe in the old way to Mount Synai to the Covenant of Works he is deceived he shall never have it but by walking according to the spirit no man can injoy this privilidg by a Covenant of works by their owne doing by seeking to fulfill the law of God by their owne righteousnesse but they that walk after the spirit as if he
had sayd doe not mistake me it is a great priviledg to have the law fulfilled for you but it is not by your owne strictness and zeale and though some of you goe further then others yet none of you can attaine the fulfilling of the law that way for all are come short Rom. 3. But it is those that walk after the spirit that is those that seeke it in a way of faith in another not in themselves those that seeke it according to the principles and directions of the Gospell Now because I know this Exposition is harsh to many of you Though I exclude not the other therfore I shall endeavour to shew you three things First I will proove clearly out of the Scriptures That flesh is so understood that this is the meaning Secondly I will give you a reason why that is the cheife meaning Thirdly I shall give you a few Reasons why the Apostle saith that they that walk according to the Covenant of Works walk according to the flesh and they that goe according to the way of faith walk according to the spirit Concerning the First that flesh is often taken 1. prooved by Scriptures clearly in this sence I will give you some places of Scripture Gal. 3. 3. This I would learn of you received you the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith Are ye so foolish that having begun in the spirit are you now made perfect in the flesh We see in Chap. 1. They are called to the grace of Christ through the Gospell Gospell principles were rightly and savingly practised among them and after there came some among them that perverted them and sayth he are ye so foolish that having begun in the spirit and have had Christ crucyfied among you that now you will be made perfect by the flesh That now you will goe and seeke justification by your owne works and goe about to keep the law c. Another place is in Phillip 3. 4. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh and then he speakes of the priviledges of an Israelite and if you looke further Vers 7. I count all these loss that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine owne righteousness which is of the law but that which is of the faith of Christ So by flesh he meanes the righteousnesse of the law which he throwes away for the righteousnesse which is of faith Take another place Rom. 10. 5. Compared with Rom. 6. 14. Sayth the Apostle sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace When you were under the law and walked after the flesh sin had dominion over you and you obeyed it Here is a paralell place for sayth the Apostle When you were in the flesh the motions of sin by the law did Work in your Members When you were in the flesh that is when you were under the law then the motions of sin did work But now sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under the law you are not in the flesh you doe not walk according to the flesh And that I suppose is the meaning of that Scripture 2 Pet. 2. 10. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly and to reserve the wicked to be punished but cheifly those that walk after toe flesh in the lusts of uncleanness Now if you take walking after the flesh for sinfull wayes it would be the same as if he had said there are diverse people that walk wickedly but cheifly they that walk after the flesh for all people naturolly walk after the flesh but these were a peculiar people that the Lord would bring judgements on and they walked according to the flesh Who were they They were most of them Jewes they were Adams Sons that walked in the old Covenant cheifly they that walk according to the flesh that is the meaning of it or else he would not have said according to the flesh for every man naturally walks according to the flesh So in this text Who walke not according to the flesh but according to the spirit and in the 8 Verse of this Chapter They that are in the flesh cannot please God Now I shall open that by another Scripture Heb. 11. 5. Where it is said that Henoch pleased God We read of Henoch Gen. 5. 24. That he Walked with God he walked not according to the flesh now sayth the Apostle without faith it is impossible to please God now he that walks in the flesh cannot please God Why so He that goes not in the way of faith by Jesus Christ he cannot please God By beleiving I please God by walking in the obedience of faith to God I and my works please God Now to please implies one that was offended before all my doing cannot please God but my beleiving presenting to God a perfect righteousnesse by faith pleaseth God and then all my works are accepted There are two words for it in the Originall One signifies to please one that hath been offended another is pleasingnesse with one that hath not offended as my child pleaseth me though he have not offended me but the 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 breifly some Scriptures to shew you that flesh is taken in this sence Now the maine reason of it why I beleive this It is the scope of this Epistle to be the cheife meaning of it is because that I see clearly that this is the cheife drift and scope of this Epistle and if I may speake without disparagement there is nothing more methodically layd downe 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 3. Why walking after the Law is called walking after the flesh 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 doe his best according to the law and not by the Gospell he shall be sure to walk 1. They are taken one for another in Scripture 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 sinfull and the more a man strives to keep the law the more he sins The Apostle brought it so neare that people were ready to speake non-sence that the law was sin He prevents the objection Is the law sin O no sayth he sin is