There is no doubt but that an evil man may be convinced of his sin and vileness and that even to anguish and torment The Gâ—ntiles saith the Apostle Rom. ii 14 which have not the Law shew the works of the Law written in their hearts their thoughts in the mean time accusing or excusing one another Conscience often stings and disquiets the vilest sinners and sometimes extorts from them lamentable confessions of their sins and earnest declamations against them They may weep bitterly at their remembrance and be under great heaviness and dejection upon their occasion They may speak vehemently against sin themselves and love to have others to handle it severely All this bad men may do upon the score of natural fear and self love and the apprehension of a future Iudgment And now such convictions will naturally beget some endeavours A convinced understanding will have some influence upon the will and affections The mind in the unregenerate may lust against the flesh as that doth against it So that 2. such a meer animal man may promise and purpose and endeavour in some pretty considerable measure but then he goes not on with full resolution but wavers and stops and turns about again and lets the law of the members that of death and sin to prevail over him His endeavour is remiss and consequently ineffectual it makes no conquests and will not signifie He sins on though with some regret and his very unwillingness to sin while he commits it is so far from lessening that it aggravates his fault It argues that he sins against conscience and conviction and that sin is strong and reigns 'T is true indeed St. Paul Rom. 7. makes such a description seemingly of himself as one might think concluded him under this state He saith vers 8. That sin wrought in him all manner of concupiscence vers 9. That sin revived and he died vers 14. That he was carnal and again sold under sin vers 20. That sin dwelt in him and wrought that which he would not vers 23. That the law of his Members led him into captivity to the law of sin and vers 25. That he obeyed the law of sin If this be so and St. Paul a regenerate man was in this state it will follow that seeking and feeble endeavour that overcometh no difficulty may yet procure an entrance and he that is come hitherto viz. to endeavour is safe enough though he do not conquer This Objection presseth not only against this head but against my whole Discourse and the Text it self Therefore to answer it I say That the Apostle here is not to be understood of himself but he describes the state of an unregenerate man though he speaks in the first person a Figure that was ordinary with this Apostle and frequent enough in common speech Thus we say I am thus and thus and did so and so when we are describing a state or actions in which perhaps we in person are not concerned In this sense the best Expositors understand these expressions and those excellent Divines of our own Bishop Taylor and Dr. Hammond and others have noted to us That this description is directly contrary to all the Characters of a regenerate man given elsewhere by this and the other Apostles As he is said to be dead to sin Rom. vi 11 Free from sin and the servant of Righteousness Rom vi 18 That he walks not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. viii 1 â—hat the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath made him free from the law of sin and death Rom. viii 2 That he overcometh the world Joh. 5.4 He sinneth not 1 Joh iii. 6 He hath crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts Gal. v. 24 Which Characters of a truly regenerate person if they be compared with those above-cited out of Rom. vii it will appear that they are as contrary as 't is possible to speak and by this 't is evident that they describe the two contrary states For can the regenerate be full of all manner of concupiscence and at the same time be crucified to the flesh and ill affections and lusts one in whom sin revives while he dies and yet one that is dead to sin carnal and yet not walking after the flesh but after the Spirit sold under sin and yet free from sin Having sin dwelling in him and a captive to sin and obeying the law of sin and yet free from the law of sin and death How can these things consist To tell us 'T is so and 't is not so and to twist such contradictions into Orthodox Paradoxes are pretty things to please Fools and Children but the wiser sort care not for such riddles as are not sense I think 't is evident enough then that the Apostle in that mistaken Chapter relates the feeble impotent condition of one that was convinced and strove a little but not to purpose And if we find our selves comprised by that description though we may be never so sensible of the evil and danger of a sinful course and may endeavour some small matter but without success we are yet under that evil and obnoxious to that danger For he that strives in earnest conquers at last and advanceth still though all the work be not dâ—ne at once So that if we endeavour and gain nothing our endeavour is peccant and wants Faith or Prayer for Divine aids or constancy or vigor and so Though we may seek we shall not be able to enter But 3 An Imperfect striver may overcome sin in some Instances and yet in that do not great matter neither if he lies down and goes no further There are some sins we out-grow by age or are indisposed to them by bodily infirmity or diverted by occasions and it may be by other sins and some are contrary to worldly Interests to our credit or health or profit and when we have been in any great degree prejudiced by them in these we fall out with those sins and cease from them and so by resolution and disuse we master them at last fully which if we went on and attempted upon all the rest were something But when we stop short in these petty victories our general state is not altered He that conquers some evil appetites is yet a slave to others and though he hath prevailed over some difficulties yet the main ones are yet behind Thus the imperfâ—ct striver masters it may be his beastly appetite to intemperate drinking but is yet under the power of love of Riches and vain pleasure He ceaseth from open debauchery but entertains spiritual wickedness in his heart He will not Swear but will backbite and rail He will not be Drunk but will damn a man for not being of his opinion He will not prophane the Sabbath but will defraud his Neighbour Now these half conquests when we rest in them are as good as none at all Then shall I not be ashamed when I have regard
earnestly of the love of Christ and express a mighty love to his name yet this may be too without any real conformity unto him in his Life and Laws The Jews spoke much of Moses in him they believed and in him they trusted Iohn v. 45 His name was a sweet sound to their ears and 't was very pleasant upon their tongues and yet they hated the Spirit of Moses and had no love to those Laws of his which condemned their wicked actions And we may see how many of those love Christ that speak often and affectionately of him by observing how they keep his Commandments John xiv 15 especially those of meekness mercy and universal love Thus imperfect strivers may imploy themselves in the external offices of Religion I have instanced only in Three the like may be said of the rest And to this I add That they may not only exercise themselves in the outward matters of duty but may arrive to some things that are accounted greater heights and are really more and spiritual and refined To instance SECT V. I. THey may have some love to God Goodness and good men The Soul naturally loves beauty and perfection and all mankind apprehend God to be of all Beings the most beautiful and perfect and therefore must needs have an intellectual love for him The reason that that love takes no hold of the passions in wicked men is partly because they are diverted from the thoughts of Him by the objects of sense but chiefly because they consider him as their enemy and therefore can have no complacency or delight in him who they think hath nothing but thoughts of enmity and displeasure against them But if once they come to be perswaded as many times by such false marks as I have recited they are that God is their Father and peculiar Friend that they are his chosen and his darlings whom he loved from eternity and to whom he hath given his Son and his Spirit and will give Himself in a way of the fullest enjoyment Then the Love that before was only an esteem in the understanding doth kindle in the affections by the help of the conceit of Gods loving them so dearly and the passion thus heated runs out even into seraphick and rapturous Devotions while yet all this is but meer animal love excited chieâ—ly by the love of our selves not of the Divine Perfections And it commonly goes no further then to earnest expressions of extraordinary love to God in our Prayers and Discourses while it appears not in any singular obedience to his Laws or generous and universal love to mankind which are the ways whereby the true Divine Love is exprest for This is the love of God that we keep his Commandments saith the Apostle 1 Iohn v. 3 And as to the other thus If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us 1 John iv 12 And on the contrary If a man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a lyar John iv 20 Charity then and universal obedience are the true arguments and expressions of our love to God and these suppose a victory over corrupt inclinations and self-will But the other love which ariseth from the conceit of our special dearness to God upon insufficient grounds that goes no further then to some suavities and pleasant fancies within our selves and some passionate complements of the Image we have set up in our imaginations This Love will consist with Hatred and contempt of all that are not like our selves yea and it will produce it those poisonous fruits and vile affections may be incouraged and cherish'd under it So that there may be some love to God in evil men But while self-love is the only motive and the more prevalent passion it signifieth nothing to their advantage And as the imperfect striver may have some love to God so he may to piety and vertue every man loves these in Idea The vilest sinner takes part in his affections with the vertuous and religious when he seeth them described in History or Romance and hath a detestation for those who are character'd as impious and immoral Vertue is a great Beauty and the mind is taken with it while 't is consider'd at a distance and our corrupt interests and sensual affections are not concern'd 'T is These that recommend sin to our love and choice while the mind stands on the side of vertue with that we serve the Law of God but with the flesh the law of sin Rom. vii 25 So that most wicked men that are not degenerated into meer Brutes have this mental and intellectual love to goodness That is they approve and like it in their minds and would practise it also were it not for the prevalent biass of flesh and sense And hence it will follow likewise That the same may approve and respect good men They may reverence and love them for their Charity Humility Iustice and Temperance though themselves are persons of the contrary Character yet they may have a great and ardent affâ—ction for those that are eminently pious and devout though they are very irreligious themselves The conscience of vertue and of the excellency of Religion may produce this in the meer natural man who is under the dominion of vile inclinations and affections and therefore this is no good mark of godliness neither Our love to God and goodness will not stead us except it be prevalent And as the love described may be natural and a meer animal man may arrive unto it So II. He may to an extraordinary zeal for the same things that are the objects of his love Hot tempers are eager where they take either kindness or displeasure The natural man that hath an animal love to Religion may be violent in speaking and acting for things appertaining to it If his temper be devotional and passionate he becomes a mighty zealot and fills all places with the fame of his godliness His natural fire moves this way and makes a mighty blaze Ahab was very zealous and 't is like 't was not only his own interest that made him so 2 Kings x. 16 The Pharisâ—es were zealous people and certainly their zeal was not always personated and put on but real Though they were Hypocrites yet they were such as in many things deceived themselves as well as others They were zealous for their Traditions and they believ'd 't was their duty to be so St. Paul while a persecutor was zealous against the Disciples and he thought he ought to do many things against that name And our Saviour foretells that those zealous murderers that should kill his Saints should think They did God good service in it John xvi 2 So that all the zeal of the natural man is not feigning and acting of a part nor hath it always evil objects The Pharisees were zealous against the wickedness of the Publicans and Sinners Zeal then and that in earnest for Religion may be in
that our natures are much vitiated and depraved and this makes our business in the way of Religion diâ—ficult For our work is to cleanse our Natures and to destroy those evil Inclinations to crucifie the old man Rom. vi 6 and to purge out the old leven 1 Cor. v. 7 This is Religion and the way of happiness which must needs be very difficult and uneasie For the vices of Inclination are very dear and grateful to us They are our right hands and our right eyes and esteemed as our selves So that to cut off and pluck out these and to bid defiance to and wage war against our selves to destroy the first-born of our natures and to lop off our own limbs This cannot but be very irksom and displeasant imployment this is one chief business and a considerable thing that makes Religion difficult SECT III. II. ANother difficulty ariseth from the Influence of the Senses We are creatures of sense and sensible things do most powerfully move us we are born Children and live at first the life of â—easts That Age receives deep impressions and those are made by the senses whose interest grows strong and establisht in us before we come to the use of reason and after we have arrived to the exercise of that sensible objects still possess our affections and sway our wills and fill our Imaginations and influence our Understandings so that we love and hate we desire and choose we phancy and we discourse according to those impressions And hence it is that we are enamour'd of trifles and fly from our happiness and pursue Vexation and embrace misery and imagine perversely and reason childishly For the influence of the body and its senses are the chief Fountains of of sin and Folly and Temptation Upon which accounts it was that the Platonical Philosophers declaim'd so earnestly against the body and asâ—crib'd all evils and mischief to iâ— calling vice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corporeae pesteâ— material evils and bodily plaguâ— â— And the Apostle that understooâ— it better calls sin by the name 〈◊〉 Flesh. Gal. v. 17 Works of the flesâ— Gal. v. 19 Law of the Memberâ— Rom. vii 23 and cries out upâ—on the body of this death Rom. viâ—24 And now this is our natural conâ—dition a state subject to the prevaâ—lent influences of sense and so sinâ— and temptation by them And ' tâ—â— our work in Religion to mortiâ— the body Rom. viii 13 and 〈◊〉 cease from making provision for tâ—â— Flesh Rom. xiii 14 and from fulfilling the lusts thereof Gal. v. 14â— To render our selves dead to thâ— prevalent life of sense and sinâ— Rom. vi 8 and 11. v. and to arise to a new Life Rom. vi 4. The Life of righteousness and Faith Hab. ii 4 A Life that hath other Principles and other pleasures other objects and other ends and such as neither eye hath seen nor ear heard nor any of the senses perceived Yea this is a Life that is exercised in contradiction to the judgments of sense It s joy is Tribulation Iam. i. 2 It 's Glory reproaches 2 Pet. iv 14 It 's height is lowness Luke xiv 11 It 's greatness in being meanest Mat. xx 27 And it's riches in having nothing 2 Cor. vi 10 To such a Life as this Religion is to raise us and it must needs be difficult to make us who are so much Brutes to be so much Angels us who seem to live by nothing else but sense to live by nothing less This with a witness is an hard and uneasie work and another difficulty in Religion SECT IV. III. A Third proceeds from the natural disorder and ragâ— of our passions Our Corrupt natures are like the troubled Sea Isa. lvii 20 And our passions are the waves of that Ocean that tumble and swell and keep a mighty noise They dash against the rocks and break one against another and our peace and happiness is shipwrackt by them Our passions make us miserable We are sometimes stifled by their numbers and confounded by their disorders and torn to pieces by their violence mounted to the clouds by ambition and thrown down to the deep by despair scorcht by the flames of Lust and overwhelm'd by the waters of unstable desire Passions fight one against another and all against reason they prevail over the mind and have usurpt the Government of our Actions and involve us in continual guilt and misery This is the natural state of man and our work in the way of Religion is to restrain this violence and to rectifie these disorders and to reduce those rebellious powers under the Empire and Government of the mind their Soveraign And so to regain the divine image which consists much in the order of our faculties and the subjection of the Brutish to the reasonable powers This I say Religion aims at to raise us to the perfection of our natures by mortifying those members Coâ— iii. 5 our unruly passions and dâ—â—sires and crucifying the flesh witâ— its affections and lusts Gal. v. 24 Anâ— thereby to make us humble iâ— Prosperity quiet in Adversity mâ—eâ— under provocations steady amid temptations modest in our desirâ—s temperate in our injoyments constâ—â—â— to our resolutions and contented iâ— all conditions Here is our greaâ— business and our work is this Anâ— certainly 't is no easie thing to brinâ— order out of a Chaos and to speaâ— a tempest into a calm to resist torrent and to stop and turn thâ— tyde to subdue a rebellious rabble and to change them from tyranniâ—cal Masters to modest and obedienâ— servants These no doubt arâ— works of difficulty enough and thesâ— must be our imployment in the waâ— of Religion and on this score also the Gate is straight SECT V. IV. OUR work in Religion is yet more difficult upon the account of Custom to which we are subject and by which we are swayed much This is vulgarly said to be another nature and the Apostle calls it by that name 1 Cor. xi 14 Doth not nature it self teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him By the word Nature the best Interpreters say onely Custom is meant since long hair is not declared shameful by the Law and Light of Nature taken in it's chief and properest sense For then it had never been permitted to the Nazarites But the contrary custom in the Nations that used it not made it seem shameful and indecent â— There are other places in Scripture and antient Authors wherein Naâ—ture is put for Custom But I muâ—â— not insist on this the thing I aâ— about is That custom is very powerâ—ful and as it makes a kind of Naâ—ture so many times it masters anâ— subdues it Wild creatures are hereby made gentle and familiar and those that naturally are tame enougâ— are made to degenerate into wildness by it And now besides the original deâ—pravities of our natures we havâ— contracted many vitious habits by corrupt and evil usages which we were drawn into at