naturall man there is a power and prevalencie of sinne which yet may lie undiscovered under some generall moralities Thus as the Serpent in the fable had a true sting while it lay in the snow though it shewed not it selfe but at the fire so there may be a regall power in sinne when upon externall reasons it may for a time dissemble it selfe Ahab and Ieroboams wife were as truely Princes in their disguise as in their robes and a Sow as truely a Swine when washed in a spring of water as when wallowing in a sinke of dirt The heart of man is like a beast that hath much filth and garbage shut up under a faire skinne till the Word like a sacrificing sword slit open and as it were unridge the Conscience to discover it All the wayes of man saith Salomon are cleane in his owne eyes but the Lord weigheth the spirits He is a discoverer of the secrets and inâ—…rals of every action For the more paâ—…ticular opening of this point it will be needefull to answere some few questions touching the raigne of some particular sinnes which haply are seldome so thought of And the first is Touching smallsinnes whether they may be said to be raigning sinnes unto which I answere That it is not the greatnesse but the power of sin which makes it a king We know there are reguli as well as reges kings of Cities and narrow territories as well as Emperours over vast provinces Nay many times a sinne may be great in Abstracto as the fact is measured by the Law and yet in Concreto by Circumstances it may not be a raigning sinne in the person committing it and on the contrary a small sinne in the nature of the fact may be a raigning sinne in the commission as in a Corporation a man not halfe as rich as another may bee the chiefe magistrate and another of a farre greater estate may bee an underling in regard of Governement As a small stone throwne with a strong arme will doe more hurt then another farre greater if but gently laid on or sent forth with a fainter impression so a small sinne committed with a high hand with more security presumption and customarinesse then others will more waste the conscience then farre greater out of infirmitie or sudden surprizall As wee see drops frequently falling will eare into a stone and make it hollower then some few farre heavier strokes could have done or as water powred into a Sieve with many small holes or into a bottomlesse vessell is equally cast away A Ship may as well perish upon sands as rockes Dayly small expences vpon lesser vanities may in time eate out a good estate if there be never any accompts taken nor proportion observ'd nor provision made to bring in as well as to expend so a man otherwise very specious may by a course of more civill and moderate sinnes runne into ruine The second Question is Whether privy and secret sins which never breake forth into light may raigne To which I answere That of all other sinnes those which are secret have the chiefest rule such as are privy pride hypocrisie selfe-justification rebellion malitious projects against the Word and worship of God c. The Prophet compares wicked mens hearts to an Oven Hos. 7. 6 7. As an Oven is hottest when it is stopp'd that no blast may breake forth so the heart is oftentimes most sinfull when most reserv'd It was a great part of the state and pride of the Persian kings that they were seldome seene by their subjects in publicke and the kingdome of China at this day is very vast and potent though it communicate but litle with other people so those lodging thoughts as the Prophet cals them which lie stifled within may be most powerfull when they are least discover'd First Because they are ever in the throne for the heart is the throne of sinne and every thing hath most of it selfe and is least miâ—…ed and alter'd where it first riseth Secondly because they are in the heart as a stone in the Center freest from opposition and disturbance which breaking forth into act they might be likely to meete withall And this may bee one of the depths and projects of Sathan against the soule of a man to let him live in some faire and plausible conformitie for the outward conversation that so his rule in the heart may be the more quiet both from clamours of conscience and from cure of the Word The third Question is Whether sinnes of ignorance may be raigning sinnes To which I answere That it is not mens knowledge of a king which makes him a king but his owne power Saul was a king when the witch knew not of it For as those multitudes of imperceptible stars in the milkie way doe yet all contribute to that generall confused light which wee there see so the undiscernâ—…d power of unknowne sinnes doe adde much to the great kingdome which sinne hath in the hearts of men A letter written in an unknowne language or in darke and invisible Characters is yet as truely a letter as that which is most intelligible and distinct so though men make a shift to fill their consciences with darke and unlegible sinnes yet there they are as truely as if they were written in capitall Characters Saint Pauls persecution was a sinne of Ignorance that was the only thing which left roome for the mercy of God so he faith of himselfe I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly through unbeliefe Which words we are not to understand causally or by way of externall motive to Gods mercy as if Saint Pauls ignorance and unbeliefe had been any positive and objective reason why God shewed him mercy but only thus I was so grievous a persecutor of the Church of Christ that had it not beene for my ignorance onely I had beene a subject uncapable of mercy If I had knowne Christs spirit and beene so conuinc'd as the Scribes and Pharises to whom hee used to preach were and should notwithstanding that conviction have set my selfe with that crueltie and rage against him as I did there would have beene no roome for mercy left my sinne would have beene not onely against the members but against the Spirit of Christ and so an unpardonable sinne His persecution then was a sinne of ignorance and yet we may know what a raigning sinne it was by the description of it That he made havocke of the Church and haled men and women into prison And indeed Ignorance doth promote the kingdome of sinne as a thiese with a vizard or disguise will be more bold in his outrages then with open face For sinne cannot be reproved nor repented of till some way or other it be made knowne All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light The fourth Question is Whether naturall concupiscence may be esteemed a raigning sinne To which I answere That as a
that is requir'd then as that Persian King who could not find out a Law to warrant the particular which hee would have done found out another That hee might doe what hee would so sinne when it hath no reason to alleage yet it hath Selfe-will that is all Lawes in one Gen. 49. 6. 2. Pet. 2. 10. Rom. 7. 23. In one word the strong man is furnished with a whole Armour Secondly sinne is a Husband Rom. 7. 1. 5. and so it hath the power of love which the wise Man saith is as strong as death that will have no deniall when it comes S. Paul tels vs there is a constraining power in love 2. Cor. 5. 14. Who stronger then Sampson and who weaker then a woman yet by love she overcame him whom all the Philistimes were unable to deale with Now as betweene a man and a strumpet so betweene lust and the heart there are first certaine cursed dalliances and treaties by alluring temptations the heart is drawne away from the sight of God and his Law and enticed and then followes the accomplishment of uncleannesse Iam. 1. 14. 15. This in the generall is that life or strength of sinne here spoken of Wee are next to observe that the ground of all this is the Law The sting of Death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law 1. Cor. 15. 56 1. Ioh. ◅ 4. from the Law it is that sinne hath both strength to condemne and to command us or have dominion over us Rom. 6. 14. Now the Law gives life or strength to sin three wayes First by the curse and obligation of it binding the soule with the guilt of sin unto the Iudgement of the great Day Every sinner hath the sentence past upon him already and in part executed He that beleeveth not is condemned already the wrath of God abideth on him All men come into the world with the wrath of God like a talent of lead upon their soule and it may all be pour'd out within one houre upon them there is but a span betweene them and judgement In which interim First the Law stops the mouth of a sinner Shuts him in and holds him fast under the guilt of his sinne Secondly it passeth sentence upon his soule sealing the assurance of condemnation and wrath to come Thirdly it beginneth even to put that sentence in execution with the spirit of bondage and of feare shaking the conscience wounding the spirit and scorching the heart with the pre-apprehensions of Hell making the soule see some portion of that tempest which hangeth over it rising out of that sea of sinne which is in his life and nature as the Prophets servant did the Cloud and so terrifying the soule with a certaine fearefull expectation of Iudgement Thus the Law strengthens sinne by putting into it a condemning power Secondly by the Irritation of the Law Sin tooke occasion saith the Apostle by the Law so by the commandement became exceeding sinnefull Rom. 7. 8. when lust finds it selfe universally restrain'd meets with Death and Hell at every turne can have no subterfuge nor evasion from the rigor and inexorablenesse of the Law then like a River that is stopt it riseth and fomes and rebels against the Law of the minde and fetcheth in all its force and opposition to rescue it selfe from that sword which heweth it in pieces And thus the Law is said to strengthen sinne not perse out of the Intention of the Law but by Accident antiperistasis exciting and provoking that strength which was in sinne before though undiscern'd and lesse operative For as the presence of an enemie doth actuate and call forth that malice which lay habitually in the heart before so the purity of the Law presenting it selfe to concupisence in every one of those fundamentall obliquities wherein it lay before undisturb'd and way laying the lust of the heart that it may have no passage doth provoke that habituall fiercenesse and rebellion which was in it before to lay about on all sides for its owne safety Thirdly by the conviction and manifestation of the Law laying open the widenesse of sinne to the conscience Man naturally is full of pride and selfe-love apt to thinke well of his spirituall estate upon presumptions and principles of his owne and though many professe to expect salvation frō Christ only yet in as much as they will be in Christ no way but their owne that shewes that still they rest in themselves for salvation This is that deceite and Guile of spirit which the scripture mentions which makes the way of a foole right in his owne eyes The Philosopher tells us of a Sea wherein by the hollownesse of the earth under it or some whirling and attractive propertie that sucks the vessell into it ships use to be cast away in the mid'st of a calme even so many mens soules doe gently perish in the mid'st of their owne securities and presumptions As the fish Polypus changeth himselfe into the colour of the Rock and then devoures those that come thither for shelter so doe men shape their mis-perswasions into a forme of Christ and faith in him and destroy themselves How many men rest in pharisaicall generalities plod on in their owne civilities moralities externall Iustice and unblameablenesse account any thing indiscretion and unnecessary strictnes that exceeds their owne modell every man in Hell that is worse then themselves I am not as this Publican and others that are better but in a fooles paradise and all this out of ignorance of the Law This here was the Apostles Case when he lived after the strictest sect of the Pharisies sin was dead he esteemed himself blamelesse but when the Commandement came discoverd its owne spiritualnes the carnalnesse of all his performances remou'd his curtald glosses and presumptuous prejudices opened the inordinatenes of natural concupiscence shewd how the lest atome doth spot the soule the smallest omission qualifie for hel make the conscience see those infinite sparkles and swarmes of lust that rise out of the hart and that God is all eye to see and all fire to consume every unclean thing that the smallest sins that are require the pretiousest of Christs blood to expiate and wash them out then he began to be co◅vinc'd that he was all this while under the Hold of Sinne that his conscience was yet under the paw of the Lyon as the Serpent that was dead in snow was reviu'd at the fire so sinne that seemes dead when it lies hid under the ignorances and misperswasions of a secure heart when either the Word of God which the Prophet calls fire or the last Iudgement shall open it unto the conscience it will undoubtedly revive againe and make a man finde himselfe in the mouth of Death Thus wee see that unto the Law belongs the Conviction of sinne and that in the whole compasse of evill that is in it Three hatefull evils are in
cares not for the things of this World because he is in Law dead and so reserv'd to an execution and utterly devested of any right in the things hee was wont to delight in the sight or remembrance of them doth but afflict him the more A divorc'd man cares not for the things of his wife because in law she is dead vnto him and hee unto her So should it bee with us and sin because we are dead with Christ therefore we should shew it no affection Thirdly Deadnesse argues liberty unsubjection justification He that is dead is freed from sinne as the woman is from the husband after death And therefore being freed thus from sinne we should not bring our selves into bondage againe but stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath set us free and sinne should appeare in our eyes as it is in it selfe a dead thing full of noisomenesse horrour and hideous qualities We therefore should labour to shew forth the power of the death of Christ in our dying to sinne for this is certaine we have no benefit by his sufferings except we have fellowship in them we have no more fellowship in them then we can give proofe of by our dying dayly to sinne For his blood clenseth from all sinne Let us not by raigning sinne Crucifie Christ againe for he dieth no more In that hee died hee died once unto sinne Death hath no more power ovâ—…r him to shew that sinne must have no more power over us but that being once dead to sinne we should thenceforth live unto him that died for us There is a speech in Tertullian which though proceeding from Novatianisme in him doth yet in a moderated and qualified sense carry the strength of the Apostles argument in it Si possit fornicatio moechia denno admitti poterit Christus denno mori If fornication and adultery may bee againe committed by a man dead to sinne in that raging and complete manner as before if raigning sinne after it hath beene ejected out of the Throne and nail'd to a Crosse can returne to its totall and absolute soveraigntie as before Christ may dye againe for the sinnes of a Iustified and regenerate man are Crucified upon his Crosse and in his body Now I proceede to the maine thing in the Text namely the Regall power of sinne It is an observation of Chrysostome and Theodoret on the Text which though by some rejected as too nice I shall yet make bold to commend for very pertinent and rationall The Apostle did not say say they Let not sinne Tyrannize for that is sius owne worke and not ours as the Apostle sayeth Now then is it no more I that doe it but sinne that dwelleth in me all the service which is done to a tyrant is out of violence and not out of obedience But he sayes Let it not raigne in you for to the raigne of a King the obedience of the Subjects doth as it were Actively concurre whereas the subjects are rather patients then agents in a tyranny So then in a Raigning King there is a more Soveraigne power then in a Tyrant for a Tyrant hath only a Coactive power over the persons but a King hath a sweete power over the wills and affections of his Subiects they freely and heartily love his person and rejoyce in his service which rule though it be not perpetuall in the letter and in civill governements for the unwillingnesse of a people to serve a Prince may not onely arise from his tyrannie but even when he is just and moderate from their owne rebellion yet it is most generall and certaine in the state of sinne which is never a King over rebellious subjects who of themselves reject its yoke and governement For the better discovery then of the power of sinne we must note first that there are but three wayes after which sinne may be in a man First as an usurping Tyrant and seditious commotioner either by surprizall invading or by violence holding under or by projects circumventing a man against his will taking advantage of some present distemper of minde or difficultie of estate as in David of idlenesse in Peter of teare and danger or the like And thus sinne doth often incroach upon the Saints of God and play rhe Tyrant use them like Captives that are sold under the power of sinne It was thus a Tyrant in Saint Paul we reade of him that hee was sold under sinne and wee read of Ahab that hee was sold to sinne but with great difference the one sold himselfe and so became willingly the servant of sinne the other was sold by Alam from which bondage hee could not utterly extricate himselfe though hee were in bondage to sinne as the Creatures are to vanity not willingly but by reason of his act that had subjected him long before Secondly As a stâ—…ve a Gibeonite or Tributarie Cananite as a spoyled mortified crucified dying decaying sinne like the house of Saul growing weaker and weaker and thus sinne is constantly in all the faithfull while they are iâ—… the field the chaste is about them Thirdly As a raging and commanding King having a throne the heart servants the members a counsell the world flesh and Divell a complete armorie of lusts and temptations fortifications of ignorance malice rebellion fleshly reasonings lawes and edicts lastly a strict judicature a wise and powerfull rule over men which the Scriptures call the gates of Hell And of the Power of this King we are to speake In a King there is a Two fold Power A Power to command and a Power to make his commands be obeyed Sinne properly hath no power to command because the kingdome of it is no way subordinated to Gods Kingdome over us but stands up against it And even in just and annointed kings there is no power to command any thing contrary to that Kingdome of Christ to which they are equally with other subject But though sinne have not a just power to command the soule yet it hath that upon which that power where it is is grounded namely a kinde of Title and right over the soule Sinne is a spirituall Death and man by his first fall did incurre a subjection to every thing which may be called Death so that then a man did passe into the possession of sinne whence that phrase spoken of before Thou hast sold thy selfe to worke evill Now Quod venditur transit in potestatem ementis when a thing is sold it passeth into the possession of that to which it is sold. This is the covenant or bargaine betweene a Sinner and Hell Man purchaseth the pleasures and wages of sinne and sinne takes the possession of man possession of his nature in Originall sinne and possession of his life in Actuall sinne The tryall of this title of sinne that wee may discerne whether we are under it or no must be as other Titles are we must first
THREE TREATISES OF The Uanity of the Creature The Sinfulnesse of Sinne. The Life of Christ. BEING THE SVBSTANCE OF SEVERALL SERMONS PREACHED AT LINCOLNS INNE BY EDWARD REYNOLDES PREACHER to that Honourable Society and late Fellow of Merton Colledge in Oxford GAL. 2. 20. Not I but Christ liveth in me LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostocke and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Kings Head 1631. HONORATISSIMO ET CELEBERRIMO DOCTISSIMORVM Iurisprudentium Collegio Hospitij Lincolniensis Magistris Uenerabilibus Socijsque universis Auditoribus suis faventissimis EDWARDVS REYNOLDES EIDEM HETAERIAE A SACRIS CONCIONIBVS Tres hosce Tractatus De Rerum Secularium vanitate De Peccato supra modum peccante De Christi in Renatis vitâ ac vigore MINISTERII IBIDEM SVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quaedam Exile quidem perexiguum perpetuae tamen observantiae Summaeque in Christo Dilectionis pignus Humiliter Devotè D. D. D. A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS The first Treatise The Vanity of the Creature ECCLES 1. 14. PRoportion and Proprietie the grounds of satisfaction to the soule Pag. 3 The Creature insufficient to satisfie the Desires of the soule 4 The Ground hereof The vast disproportion betweene the soule and the Creature 7 The Creature vaine 1. in its nature and worth 9 Therefore wee should not trust in it nor swell with it 11 The Creature vaine 2. in its deadnesse and inefficacie 15 Therefore we should not relie on it nor attribute sufficiency to it 19 How to use the Creature as a dead Creature 1. Consider its dependence and subordination to Gods power 22 2. Sanctifie and reduce it to its primitive goodnesse 24 How the Creature is sanctified by the word and prayer 26 3. Love it in its owne order 34 The Creature vaine 3 in its duration 36 The Rootes of Corruption in the Creature 38 Corrupt mindes are apt to conceive an immortalitie in earthly things 46 The proceedings of Gods providence in the dispensation of earthlie things wise and iust 48 Correctives to be observed in the use of the Creature 1. Keepe the intellectuals sound and untainted 52 2. By faith looke through and above them 55 3. Convert them to holy uses 58 Great disproportion betweene the soule and the Creature It is vexation of spirit 59 Caresare Thornes because first they wound the spirit secondly they choak and overgrow the heart thirdly they deceive fourthly they vanish 59 Degrees of this vexation 1. In the procuring of them 62 2. In the multiplying of them 64 3. In the use of them Discovered 67 1. In knowledge naturall and civill 68 2. In Pleasures 70 3. In Riches 72 4. In the Review of them 74 5. In the disposing of them 75 The Grounds of this vexation 1. Gods Curse 76 2. The Corruption of nature 78 3. The deceitfulnesse of the Creature 80 It is lawfull to labour and pray for the Creature though it vex the spirit 84 We should be humbled in the sight of sinne which hath defaced the Creation 86 Wee should be wise to prevent those cares which the Creatures are apt to breed 89 Irregular cares are both superfluous and sinnefull 90 How to take away or prevent Vexation 1. Pray for that which is convenient to thy abilities and occasions 94 2. Take nothing without Christ. 95 3. Throw out every execrable thing 97 4. Keepe the spirit untouched and uncorrupted 98 What it is to set the heart on the Creature 99 The spirit is the most tender and delicate part of man 100 A heart set on the world is without strength◠Passive or Active 1. Vnable to beare temptations 1. Because Satan proportioneth temptations to our lusts 101 2. Because temptations are edg'd with promises and threatnings 105 3. God oftē gives wicked mē over to belieue lies 107 2. Vnable to beare afflictions 108 3. Vnable to performe any active obedience with strength 110 How to use the Creature as a vexing Creature 113 The second Treatise The sinfulnesse of Sinne. ROM 7. 9. NAturall light not sufficient to understand the Scriptures 118 How the Commandement came to Saint Paul and how hee was formerly without it 119 A man may have the Law in the Letter and be without it in the Power and Spirit 121 Ignorance doth naturally beget blind zeale and strong misperswasions 122 Saving knowledge is not of our owne fetching in The Spirit by the Commandement convinceth a man to be in the state of sinne 123 Nature teacheth some things but it cannot thorowly convince 125 The Spirit convinceth first by opening the Rule which is the Law 129 The strength of sinne twofold to Condemne us Operate or stirre in us It hath the strength of a Lord. 129 Husband 129 How sinne hath its life and strength from the Law by the Obligation of it 130 Irritation of it 130 Conviction of it 130 The Spirit by the Commandement convinceth us 1. Of Originall sinne either imputed as Adams sin 134 Or inherent as the corruption of Nature 135 In naturall corruption consider 1. The universalitie of it in Times 136 Persons 136 Parts 136 Corruption of the Minde 139 the Conscience and Heart 140 the Will 141 the Memory and whole man 142 2. The closenesse and adherency of it to nature 143 How the body of sinne is destroyed in this life 144 Why God suffereth the remainders of corruption in us 147 3. The contagion of it on our best workes 149 4. The fruitfulnesse of it bringing fruit suddenly 151 continually 151 desperately 151 unexpectedly 151 5. The temptations of it 155 6. The warre and rebellion of it 157 7. The wisedome and policies of it 161 8. The strength and power of it 164 9. The madnesse of it and that twofold 1. Fiercenesse and rage 167 2. Inconsideratenesse and inconsistency of reason 184 10. The indefatigablenesse of it 185 Being naturall and 186 Unsatisfiable 188 11. The propagation of it 193 The great error of those who either mitigate or denie originall sinne 199 In our humiliations for sinne we should begin with our evill nature 212 We should be iealous of our selves and our evill hearts 213 We should hold warre with our corruptions 215 We should be patient under the weight of our concupiscence 216 Wherein the strength of lust lies 218 How to withstand concupiscence in all the wayes thereof 221 The Spirit by the Commandement convinceth us 2. Of actuall sin with the severall aggravations thereof 226 The Spirit convinceth 2. by discovering the condition of the state of sinne 1. It is an estate of extreme impotency to good 233 because of our naturall Impuritie 234 Enmity 234 Infidelitie 234 Folly 234 In the wicked there is a totall impotency 237 Whether all the workes of naturall men are sinfull 237 How God rewardeth the good workes of wicked men 244 How the good workes of wicked men proceed from Gods Spirit 245 Whether a wicked man ought to omit his almes prayers and religious
they expose him to the envie accusations violences of wicked men Fourthly from their uncertainty of abode they perish by an evill travell either Gods curse or some particular humour lust or project overturnes a great estate and posterity is beggerd Fifthly from the certainty of an everlasting separation from them vers 15. 16. and this he saith is a sore evill which galles the heart of a worldly man that hath resolved upon no other heaven then his wealth when sicknes comes to snatch him away from this his Idoll there is not onely sorrow but wrath and â—…ury in him vers 17. Sixthly from the disability to use or enjoy them when a man through inordinate love or distrustfull providence or sordidnesse of spirit or encumbrances of employments will not while he lives enjoy his abundance and when he dies hath not either by his owne covetous prevention or his successors inhumanity an honorable buriall Chap. 6. vers 1. 2. 3. Seventhly from the narrownesse of any satisfaction which can be received from them vers 7. All the wealth a man hath can reach no higher then the filling of his mouth then the outward services of the body the desires of the soule remaine empty still A glutton may fill his belly but he cannot fill his lust a covetous man may have a hovse full of monie but hee can never have a heart full of mony an ambitious man may have titles enough to overcharge his memorie but never to fill his pride the agitations of the soule would not cease the curiosity of the understanding would not stand at a stay though a man could hold all the learning of the great library in his head at once the sensualitie of a lascivious man would never be satiated it would be the more enrag'd though hee should tyâ—…e out his strength and waste his spirits and stupifie all his senses with an excessive intemperance When men have done all they can with their wisedome and wealth they can fill no more but the mouth and poverty and folly makes a shift to doe soe too vers 8. the desires wander the soule â—…oves up and downe as ever vers 9. Eighthly from their disability to protect or rescue a man from evill to advance the strength of a man beyond what it was before vers 10. Though a man could scrape all the wealth in the woâ—…ld together he were but a man still subject to the same dangers and infirmities as before nothing can exalt him above or exempt him from the common Lawes of humanity neither shall he be ever able to contend with him that is mightier then he All his wealth shall be never able to blinde the eye or bribe the Iustice or testraine the power of Almighty God if hee bee pleased to inflict the strokes of his vengeance vpon his Conscience The fourth degree of vexation is from the Review of them First if a man consider the meanes of his getting them His conscience will oftentimes tell him that peradventure he hath pursued indirect and unwarrantable wayes of gaine hath ventured to lye flatter sweare deceive supplant undermine to corrupt and adulterate wares to hoard up and dissemble them tâ—…l a dearer season to trench upon Gods Day for his owne purposes that so he might not onely receive but even steale away blessings from him Secondly if a man consider the manner the inordinate and over-eager way of procuring them How much pretious time hast thou spent which can never be recal'd againe for one houre whereof a tormented soule in hell would part with all the World if he had the disposall of it to be but so small a space within the possibilities of salvation againe how much of this pretious time hast thou spent for that which is no bread and which satisfieth not How many golden opportunities of encreasing the graces of thy soule of feeding thy faith with more noble and heavenly contemplations on Gods truth and promises on his Name and Attributes on his Word and worship of rouzing up thy soule from the sleepe of sinne of stirring up and new enflaming thy spirituall gifts of addressing thy selfe to a more serious assiduous durable communion with thy God of mourning for thine owne corruptions of groning and thirsting after heauenly promises of renewing thy vowes and resolutions of besieging and besetting heauen with thy more vrgent and retired prayers of humbling thy selfe before thy God of bewayling the calamities the stones the dust of Sion of deprecating and repelling approching Iudgements of glorifying God in all his wayes things of pretious spirituall and everlasting consequence how many of these golden opportunities hath thy too much absurd love and attendance on the world stolne from thee and surely to a soule illightned these must needs be matters of much vexation Thirdly if a man consider the use he hath made of them How they have stolne away his heart from trusting in God to rely on them how they have diverted his thoughts from the life to come and bewitched him to dote on present contentmens to love life to feare death to dispence with much unjust liberty to gather rust and securitie in Gods worship How much excesse and intemperance they have provoked how little of them have been spent on Gods glory and Church how small a portion we have repaid him in his Ministers or in his Members how few naked backes they have clothed how few empty bellies they have filled how few langvishing bowels they have refreshed how few good workes and services they have rewarded These are considerations which unto sensible consciences must sometime or other beget much vexation Fourthly if a man consider his owne former experiences or the examples of others that bring the vanitie of these earthly things into minde How some of his choysest pleasures have now out-liv'd him and are expir'd how the Lord hath snatched from his dearest embracements those Idols which were set up against his glory how many of his hopes have fail'd of his expectations and presumptions proved abortive how much mony at one time a Sicknesse at another a Suite at a third a Thiefe at a fourth a shipwrack or miscariage at a fifth yea at a twentieth time a lust hath consum'd and eaten out How many examples there are in the world of withered and blasted estates of the Curse of God not onely like a moth insensibly consuming but like a Lyon suddenly tearing asunder great possessions The last Degree of Uexation from the Creature is from the Disposing of them All Creatures sinners especially that have no hope or portion in another life doe naturally love a present earthly Immortality and therefore though they cannot have it in themselves yet as the Philosopher saith of living Creatures the reason why they generate is that that Immortality which in their owne particulars they cannot have they may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so farre as they are able procure in the species or kinde which they thus preserve so rich and worldly
consent unto and delight in the Law feele a warre in his members mourne and cry out under the sense of his owne wretchednesse yet for all this he is still an unregenerate man an opinion tending directly to the honour of Pelagianisme and advancement of nature which made Saint Austen in that ingenuous and noble worke of hiâ—… retractations to recant it and in all his writings against the Pelagians in which as in other polemicall workes where the vigilancy of an enemy and feare of advantages makes him more circumspect how he speaks his expositions of Scripture are usually more literall and solid then where he allowes himselfe the scope of his owne conceits He still understandes those passages of the complaints of a regenerate man against his inherent concupiscence We are therefore to resolve that the opposition stands thus Once in my state of unregeneration I was without the law that is without the spirituall sense of the Law but when the Lord began to reveale his mercy to me in my conversion then he gave me eye to understand it in its native and proper compasse The Apostle was never quite without the Law being an Hebrew and bred up at thefeet of Gamaliâ—…l therefore the difference betweene being without the Law and the comming of the Law must be onely in modo exhibendi before he had it in the letter but after it came in its owne spirituall shape And there is some emphasis in the word caâ—…e denoting a vital moving penetrative power which the Law had by the spirit of life and which before it had not as it was a Dead letter Secondly wee must note the opposition betweene the two estates of Saint Paul In the first he was Alive and that in two respects A live in his performances able as he conceiv'd to performe the righteousnesse of the law without blaâ—…e Phil. 3. 6. A live in his Presumptions mispersuasions selfe-justifications conceits of righteousnesse and salvation Act. 26. 9. Phil. 3. 7. In the second estate Sinne revived I found that that was but a sopor a benumdnesse which was in my apprehension a death of sinne and I died had experience of the falsenesse and miseries of my presumptions The life of sinne and the life of a sinner are like the ballances of a paire of scoles when one goes up the other must fall downe when sinne lives the man must dye man and sinne are like Mâ—…entius his couples they are never both alive together Many excellent points and of great consequence to the spirits of men would rise out of these words thus unfolded as First that a man may have the Law in the Church wherein he lives in the letter of it and yet bee without the Law in the power and spirit of it by ignorance misconstructions false glosses and perverse wrestings of it as a covetous man may have the possession of monie and yet be without the vse and comforts of it 2. Cor. 3. 6. 2. Pâ—…t 3. 16. Matth. 5. 21. 22. 27. 28. 31. 32. 33. 38. Which should teach us to beware of Ignorance It makes the things which wee have unusefull to us If any man have the Law indeed hee will labour First to have more acquaintance with it and with God by it The more the Saints know of God and his will the neereâ—… communion doe they desire to have with him Wee see this heavenly affection in Iacob Gen. 32. 26. 29. Gen. 49. 18. in Moses Exod. 33. 12. 18. in David Psal 119. 18. 125. in the Spouse Cant. 1. 2. in Manoah Iud. 13. 17. in Paul 2. Cor. 5. 2. Phil. 3. 13. 14. As the Queene of She ba when shee had heard of the glory of Salomon was not content till she came to see it or as Absolom being restor'd from banishment and tasting some of his Fathers love was impatient till he might see his face so the Saints having something of Gods will and mercy revealed to them are very importunate to enjoy more Secondly to be more conformable unto it to Iudge and measure himselfe the oftner by it Psal. 119. 11. The law is utterly in vaine no dignity no benefit nor priviledge to a people by it if it be not obeyed Thirdly to love and praise God for his goodnesse in it Ioh. 14. 21. Secondly ignorance of the true meaning of the Law and resting upon false grounds doth naturally beget these two things First blinde zeale much active and in appearance unblameable devotion As it did here and elsewhere in Saint Paul Phil. 3. 6. Act. 22. 3. in the honourable women Act. 13. 50. in the Pharises Matth. 23. 15. in false brethren Col. 2. 23. in the Iewes that submitted not themselves to the righteousnesse of God Rom. 10. 2. 3. In the papists in their contentions for trash rigorous observation of their owne traditions out-sides and superinducements upon the pretious foundation Secondly strong mis-perswasions and selfe-justifications dependant upon our workes and rigid endeavors for salvation at the last Hos. 12. 8. Esai 48. 1. 2. 58. 2. 7. Amos 5. 18. 21. 25. Mic. 3. 11. 12. Zech. 7. 3. 4. 5. 6. Hos. 8. 2. 3. Luk. 18. 11. 12. unregenerat men are often secure men making principles and premises of their owne to build the conclusions of their Salvation upon But beware of it It is a desperate hazard to put eternity upon an adventure to trust in God upon other termes then himselfe hath proposed to be trusted in to lay claime to mercy without any writings or seales or witnesses or patents or acquittance from sinne to have the evidences of hell and yet the presumptions of heaven to be weary of one sabbath here and yet presume upon the expectation of an eternity which shall be nothing else but sabbath In the Civill Law Testes domestici Houshold witnesses who might in reason be presum'd parties are invalid and uneffectuall Surely in matters of Salvation if a man have no witnesse but his owne spirit misinform'd by wrong rules seduc'd by the subtilties of Satan and the deceite of his owne wicked heart carried away with the course of the world and the common prejudices and presumptions of foolish men they will all faile him when it shall be too late God will measure men by his owne line and righteousnesse by his owne plummet and then shall the Haile sweepe away the refuge of lies and waters over-flow the hiding place of those men that made a covenant with death Secondly beware of proud resolutions selfe love reservations wit distinctions evasions to escape the word these are but the weapons of lust but the exaltations of a fleshly minde but submit to the word receive it with meekenesse be willing to count that sense of scripture truest which most restraineth thy corrupt humors and crosseth the imaginations of thy fleshly reason Our owne weapons must be render'd up before the sword of the spirit which is the word of God will be on our
side Love of lusts and pride of heart can never consist with obedience to the word Nehem. 9. 16. Ier. 13. 17. 43. 2. Thirdly converting and saving knowledge is not of our owne fetching in or gathering but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Doctrine that comes unto us and is brought by that sacred blast of the spirit which bloweth where he lifteth We doe not first come and are then taught but first we are taught and then we Come Ioh. 6. 45. Esai 55. 5. 65. 1. we must take heed of attributing to our selves boasting of our owne sufficiencies congtuities preparations concurrencies contributions unto the word in the saving of us Grace must prevent follow assist us preoperate and cooperate Christ must be All in All the Author and the Finisher of our faith of our selves we can doe nothing but disable our selves resist the spirit and pull downe whatever the word doth build up within us Ever therefore in humility waite at the poole where the spirit stirres Give that honour to Gods ordinances as when hee bids thee doe no great thing but onely wash and be cleane heare and beleeve beleeve and be saved not stoutly to cast his Law behinde thy backe but to humble thy selfe to walke with thy God and to see his name and power in the voyce which cryes unto thee Fourthly though sinne seeme dead to secure civill morall superstitiously zealous men in regard of any present sense or sting yet all that while it is alive in them and will certainely when the booke shall be opened either in the ministry of the word to conversion or in the last judgement to condemnation reviue againe All these points are very naturall to the Text but I should be too long a stranger to the course I intend if I should insist on them I returne therefore to the maine purpose Here is the state of sinne sinne revived the Guilt of sinne I died the Conviction of it by the spirit bringing the spirituall sense of the Commandement and writing it in the heart of a man and so pulling him away from his owne Conclusions The Doctrines then which I shall insist on are these two First the spirit by the Commandement convinceth a man to be in the state of sinne Secondly the spirit by the Commandement convinceth a man to be in the state of death because of sinne To convince a man that he is in the state of sinne is To make a man so to set to his owne seale and serious acknowledgement to this truth That he is a sinner as that withall he shall feele within himselfe the qualitie of that estate and in humility and selfe-abhorrencie conclude against himselfe all the naughtinesse and loathsome influences which are proper to kindle and catch in his nature and person by reason of that estate and so not in expression onely but in experience not in word but in truth not out of feare but out of loathing not out of constraint but most willingly not out of formality but out of humility not according to the generall voyce but out of a serious scrutinie and selfe examination loade and charge himselfe with all the noisomenesse and venome with all the dirt and garbage with all the malignitie and frowardnesse that his nature and person doe abound withall even as the waves of the sea with mire and dirt and thereupon justifie almighty God when he doth charge him with all this yea if he should condemne him for it Now we are to shew two things First that a meere naturall light will never thus farre convince a man Secondly that the spirit by the Commandement doth Some things nature is sufficient to teach God may be felt and found out in some fence by those that ignorantly worship him Nature doth convince men that they are not so good as they should be the Law is written in the hearts of those that know nothing of the letter of it Idlenesse beastiality lying luxury the Cretian poet could condemne in his owne countrey-men Drinking of healths ad plenoscalices by measure and constraint condemn'd by Law of a heathen prince and that in his luxurie Long haire condemn'd by the dictate of nature and right reason and the reason why so many men and whole nations notwithstanding use it is given by Saint Hierome Quia à natura deciderunt sicut multis alijs rebus comprobatur And indeede as Tertullian saith of womens long haire that it is Humilitatis suae sarcina the burden as it were of their Humility so by the warrant of that proportion which Saint Paul allowes 1. Cor. 11. 14. 15. We may call mens long haire Superbiae suae sarcinam nothing but a clogge of pride Saint Austin hath written three whole chapters together against this sinfull custome of nourishing haire which hee saith is expressely against the precept of the Apostle whom to vnderstand otherwise then the very letter sounds is to wrest the manifest words of the Apostle unto a perverse construction But to returne these Remnants of nature in the hearts of men are but like the blazes and glimmerings of a candle in the socket there is much darknes mingled with them Nature cannot throughly convince 1. Because it doth not carry a man to the Roote Adams sinne concupiscence and the corrupted seeds of a fleshly minde reason conscience will c. Meere nature will never Teach a man to feele the waight and curse of a sinne committed aboue five thousand yeeres before himselfe was borne to feele the spirits of sinne running in his bloud and sprouting out of his nature into his life one uncleane thing out of another to mourne for that filthinesse which he contracted in his conception Saint Paul professeth that this could not bee learned without the Law 2. Because it doth not carry a man to the Rule which is the written Law in that mighty widenesse which the Prophet David found in it Nature cannot looke upon so bright a thing but through vailes and glosses of its owne Evill hateth the light neither commeth to the light cannot endure a through scrutinie and ransacking left it should be reproved When a man lookes on the Law through the mist of his owne â—…usts he cannot but wrest and torture it to his owne way Saint Peter gives two reasons of it because such men are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Pet. 3. 16. 1. Vnlearned men namely in the mysterie of Godlinesse have not been taught of God what the truth is in Iesus till that time a man will never put off his lusts but defend them and rather make crooked the rule coine distinctions and evasions upon the law it selfe then judge himselfe and give glory to God 2. Fickle unstable men men apt to be tossed up and downe like empty clouds with every blast never rooted nor grounded in the love of the truth unstedfast in the Covenant of God that lay not hold on it
entred by Moses that sin might abound that is That that concupiscence which reigned without conviction before during the ignorance of the originall implanted Law might by the new edition and publication of that Law be knowne to be sinfull and thereby become more exceeding sinful to those who should be thus convinced of it that so the exceeding sinfulnesse of sinne might serve both the sooner to compell men to come to Christ and the Grace of Christ might thereby appeare to be more exceeding gratious for the Law was reviv'd and promulgated anew meerely with relation to Christ and the Gospell and therefore the Apostle saith It was added and ordained by Angels in the Hand of a Mediator or by the ministery of a Mediator Where there are three reasons to shew Gods Evangelicall purpose in the publication of the Law anew First it was not published alone but as an Additament with relation to the Evangelicall promise which was before made Secondly the service of Angels or Messengers which shewes that in the Law God did send from Heaven anew to instruct men and therein to take care of them and prepare them for salvation for Angels minister for this purpose that men might be heires of salvation Thirdly the ministry of a Mediator namely Moses who was Mediator in the Law with reference whereunto Christ is cald Mediator of a better Covenant and was faithfull as Moses Now where there is a Mediator appointed therein God declares his purpose to enter anew into a treaty with men and to bring them to termes of agreement and reconciliation with him Men were rebels against God held under the sentence of death and vengeance they are in darkenesse know not whither they goe are well pleasde with their owne estate give no heed to any that would call them out For this reason because God is willing to pull mē out of the fire he sends first Moses armed with thunder and brightnesse which can not be endur'd for the shining of Moses his face which the people could not abide denotes the exceeding purity and brightnesse of the Law which no sinner is able with peace to looke on and he shews them whither they are hastning namely to eternall death and like the Angell that met Balaam in a narrow roome shuts them in that either they must turne backe againe or else bee destroyed and in this fright and anguish Christ the mediator of a better covenant presents himselfe as a Sanctuary and refuge from the condemnation of the Law Secondly there is universalitie of men and in men universality of parts All men and every part of man shut up under the guilt and power of this sinne Both these the Apostle proves at large Iewes Gentiles all under sinne none righteous no not one all gone out of the way altogether become unprofitable none that doth good no not one Every mouth must be stopped all the world must be guilty before God all have sinned and come short or are destitute of his glory God hath concluded all in unbeliefe the Scripture hath shut up all under sinne this shewes the universality of persons The Apostle adds Their throate is an open sep◅lcher with their tongues they have used deceit the poyson of aspes is under their lips their mouth full of cursing and bitternesse their feete swift to shed bloud destruction and unhappinesse are in their wayes and the way of peace they have not knowne there is no feare of God before their eyes these particulars are enough to make up an Induction and so to inferre a universalitie of Parts Every purpose desire Imagination incomplete and inchoate notion every figment so the word properly signifies with reference whereunto the Apostle as I conceive cals sinne The creature of the Heart and our Saviour the Issue of the Heart is evill onely evill continually evill Originall sinne is an entire body an old man which word noteth not the impotencie or defects but the maturity wisedome cunning covetousnesse full growth of that sinne in us and in this man every member is earthly sensuall and divelish As there is chaffe about every corne in a field saltnesse in every drop of the sea bitternesse in every branch of wormewood so is ehere sinne in every faculty of man First looke into the minde you shall finde it full of vanitie wasting and wearying it selfe in childish impertinent unprofitable notions Full of ignorance and darknesse no man knoweth nay no man hath so much knowledge as to enquire or seeke after God in that way where he will bee found nay more when God breakes in upon the minde by some notable testimonie from his Creatures Iudgements or providence yet they like it not they hold it downe they reduce themselves backe againe to foolish hearts to reprobate and undiscerning mindes as naturally as hot water returnes to its former coldnesse Full of Curiositie Rash unprofitable enquiries foolish and unlearned questions profane bablings strife of words perverse disputes all the fruits of corrupt and rotten mindes Full of Pride and contradiction against the Truth oppositions of science that is setting up of philosophy and vaine deceit Imaginations thoughts fleshly reasonings against the spirit and truth which is in Iesus Full of domesticall Principles fleshlie wisedome humane Inventions contrivances super-inducements upon the pretious foundation of rules and methods of its owne to serve God and come to happinesse Full of Inconsistency and roving swarmes of empty and foolish thoughts slipperinesse and unstablenesse in all good motions Secondly looke into the Conscience you shall finde it full of Insensiblenesse the Apostle saith of the Gentiles That they were past feeling and of the Apostates in the latter times that they had their consciences seared with a hot iron which things though they be spoken of an Habituall and acqui◅'d hardnesse which growes upon men by a custome of sinne yet wee are to note that it is originally in the Conscience at first and doth not so much come unto it as grow out of it As that branch which at first shooting out is flexible and tender growes at last even by it owne disposition into a hard and stubbo◅e bow as those parts of the naile next the flesh which are at first softer then the rest yet doe of themselves grow to that hardnesse which is in the rest so the consciences of children have the seedes of that insensibility in them which makes them at last dea◅e to every charme and secure against all the thunder that is threatned against them Full of Impurity and disobedience dead rotten unsavorie workes Full of false and absurd excusations and accusations fearing where there is no cause of feare and acquitting where there is great cause of feare as Saint Pauls here did Looke into the Heart and you shall finde a very He◅ of uncleannesse Full of deepe and unsearchable deceit and wickednesse Full of hardnesse no sinnes no judgements no mercies no
the branches yet the rootes are so fastened to the joynts and intralls of the wall that till the stones be puld all asunder it will not be quite rooted out As that house wherein there was a fretting and spreading Leprosie though it might bee scrap'd round about and much rubbish and corrupt materialls removed yet the Leprosie did not cease till the house with the stones and timber and morter of it was broken downe so originall concupiscence cleaveth so close to our nature that though we may bee much repair'd yet corruption will not leave us till our house be dissolved As long as Corne is in the field it will have refuse and chaffe about it as long as water remaines in the Sea it will retaine it saltnesse till it be defecated and clensed in its passage into the Land and so is it with the Church while it is in the world it will have the body of sinne about it it will bee beset with this Sinne. In the Apostle it is for this reason call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an encompassing sinne a sinne that will not be cast off that doth easily occupate and possesse all our members and faculties a man may as easily shake off the skin from his backe or poure out his bowels out of his body as rid himselfe of this evill inhabitant It is an evill that is ever present with us and dwelling in us But it may be objected Doth not the Apostle say that by being baptized into Christ or planted into the likenesse of his death our old man is crucified the body of sinne is destroyed we are freed from sinne as a woman is from a dead husband we have put off the body of the sinnes of the flesh by the Circumcision made without hands that is by Baptisme and the Spirit Doth not the Apostle Saint Iohn say He that is borne of God that is he that is Regenerate by Water and the Spirit sinneth not neither can sinne To this I answer in generall with the same Apostle If we say wee have no sinne we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us More particularly wee must distingvish both of Death and of sinne There is a twofold Death an Actuall or Naturall Death when the essentiall parts of a living Creature are taken asunder and the whole dissolved and a Virtuall or Legall Death when though the party bee naturally Alive yet hee is Dead in Law and that notes two things First a designation unto a certaine Death at hand and ready to bee executed Secondly a disabilitie unto many purposes which lay before in the mans power as a man condemn'd though hee have his life out of indulgence for a short space yet hee is then set apart and appointed for death and in the very sentence disabled to order or dispose of any thing which was then his owne When a woman is divorced for adultery from her husband though she bee Alive naturally yet Legally and to the purpose of marriage she is Dead to her husband so that though shee should live in the same house yet she should have nothing to doe with his bed or body And thus the Apostle speaketh of sinfull Widowes that they are Dead while they Live 1. Tim. 5. 6. In sin likewise we may consider The guilt of it whereby it makes us accursed and the dominion of it wherewith it bringeth us into bondage in these two principally consists the life and the strength of sinne which it hath from the Law Now by being baptized into Christ wee are delivered from the Law Rom. 6. 14. Gal. 3. 25. First from the covenant of the Law Christ hath put an utter period to the Law quoad officium Iustificandi hee is the end of the Law for righteousnesse Wee are righteous now by Grace and Donation not by nature or operation by the righteousnesse of God not that whereby God is righteous but that which God is pleased to give us and stands in opposition to a mans owne righteousnesse which is by working Secondly from the Rigor of the Law which requires perfect and perpetuall obedience Gal. 3. 10. Though the Gospell command holinesse Matth. 5. 48. and promise it Luk. 1. 74. and worke it in us Tit. 2. 10. 11. yet when the Conscience is summon'd before God to bee justified or condemned to resolve upon what it will stand to for its last triall there is so much mixture of sinne that it dares trust none but Christs owne adequate performance of the Law this is all the salvation the maine charter and priviledge of the church Wee are not therefore rigorously bound either to a full habituall holinesse in our persons which is supplied by the merit of Christ nor to a through actuall obedience in our services which are covered with the Intercession of Christ. Wee are at the best full of weakenesse many remnants of the old Adam hang about us this is all the comfort of a man in Christ that his desires are accepted God regards the sincerity of his heart and will spare his failings even as a man spareth his Sonne that desires to please him but comes short in his endeavours that he will not looke on the iniquitie of his holy things but when he fals will pitty him and take him up and heale him and teach him to goe thus wee are delivered from the rigour of the Law which yet is thus to be understood That though wee bee still bound to all the Law as much as ever under perill of sinne for so much as the best come short of fullfilling all the Law so much they sinne yet not under paine of Death which is the rigour of the Law And therefore Thirdly wee are delivered from the Curse of the Law from the vengeance and wrath of God against sin Christ was made a curse for us Lastly from the Irritation of the Law and all compulsorie and slavish obedience we love by Christ all the principles and grounds of true obedience put into vs. First knowledge of Gods will the spirit of Revelation wisedome and spirituall understanding Secondly will to embrace and love what wee know Thirdly strength in some measure to performe it And by these meanes the Saints serve God without feare with delight willingnesse love liberty power the Law is to them a new Law a Law of liberty a light yoke the Commandements of God are not grievous to them Being thus Dead to the Law we are truly Dead to sinne likewise and sinne to us but not universally Dead in regard of its strength but not in regard of its beeing To apply then the premisses Sin is Dead naturally quoad Reatum in regard of the gvilt of it that is that actuall guilt of sin wherby every man is borne a child of wrath and made obnoxious to vengeance is done quite away in our regeneration and the obligations cancell'd Col. 2. 14. Secondly sinne is Dead Legally
weake or treatable that either victorie may bee quickly gotten or some pacifications and compositions concluded But no such things here Seventhly therefore consider the wisedome the policies the unsearchablenesse of this sinne The Scripture cals it The wisedome of the flesh earthly sensuall divellish wisedome wisedome to doe evill Reasonings strong holds Imaginations high thoughts And all this wisedome is emploi'd to Deceive the Soule therefore is fleshly wisedome calld by Saint Iames Divellish because it hath the Divels end to Draw away men from God and to entice and beguile them Therefore in Scripture the heart of man is said to bee Deceitfull and unsearchable and lusts are cald Deceiveable lusts and the deceitfulnesse of sinne Saint Paul hath a heape of words to expresse this serpentine quality of sinne by cogging or cheating cunning craftinesse methods deceit Eph. 4 14. But a man may be very wise that wisedom look upon none but mischievous and deceitfull ends and yet for all this no great hurt done by him because he may be unwilling to take the paines like him in the historian that was innocent not out of good nature but meerely out of lazines Therfore thirdly this Deceite of sinne is actuated and set on work with very strong desires and universall lustings the Apostle cals them not lusts onely but wills or resolutions of the flesh and of the minde it selfe Hence those secret sins which David himselfe was so troubled withall those swarmes of lusts which the soule forgeth in it selfe as so many Creatures that which Salomon saith of the Kings heart is true of that fleshly King in every mans bosome It is unsearchable a Gulfe a Hell of sinnefull profoundnesse Policies to keepe from good policies to poison and pervert good policies to make good unseasonable policies to bring to evill policies to keepe in evill policies to maintaine justifie extenuate evill Policies to make meâ—… rest in false principles policies to glosse and corrupt true principles policies on the right hand for superstition and flattering of God with will-worship policies on the left hand for open profanenes Infinite are the windings and labyrinths of the heart of man the counsels and projects of the flesh to establish the Kingdome of sinne in it selfe It is an argument of one of the grandest consequences in Divinity this one of the wisdome of the flesh those wiles and principles that hold up the throne of the Prince of this world What man is there who will not in profession be ready to spit at the name of Satan and to defie him and the workes of his Kingdome and yet what man is there in whose bosome Satan hath not a Counsell-table a troupe of statists by whom hee worketh effectually the designes of his owne Kingdome The more time any man will spend to make himselfe acquainted with himselfe the more light of Gods Law hee will set up in his heart the more he will begge of God to reveale the secrets of his evill nature unto him to make him see that abundance of the hart That treasure of the hart that Hell of the heart that panoplie and magasin of sinne and temptation which is there the more with the prodigall hee comes unto himselfe and views that evill heart that bitter roote which is in him Certainely the more confusion and silence and abhorrencie condemnation will there be of himself the more adoration of that boundlesse mercie of that bottomles puritie which is able to pierce into every corner of so unsearchable a thing able to clense every hole and dungeon and to enlarge it into a fit receptacle for the Prince of glory Notable to this purpose is that place of S. Paul If all prophesie and there come in an unbeleever or unlearned man he is convinc'd of all he is iudged of all and thus are the secrets of his hart made manifest and so falling downe on his face he will worship God As soone as a man is convinc'd and Iudg'd out of the word and hath the secret filthinesse of his heart laid open before him hath his Conscience cut open and unridg'd by that sacrificing sword which is a discerner of the very intents of the heart he presently fals downe upon his face in the acknowledgment of his owne unworthinesse and acknowledgeth all worship to be due to that most patient and mercifull God that had all the former dayes of his ignorance endured such an uncleane vessell which was from the very wombe fitted for wrath and now at last revealed his Gospell of salvation opened the bowels of Christ for a sanctuarie and refuge against all that vengeance that attendeth and against all those spirituall enemies which did hunt his soule When men have their owne evil waies revealed unto them which is ever done by Gods spirit when hee will please to bee pacified with them then must they needs be confounded and be loathsome in their owne sight and never open their mouths any more nor hold up their faces or stand before God with their wonted confidences and presumptions This was the bottome of Davids repentance That hee was conceiv'd in sinne that was not the first time that hee was an adulterer hee had it in his nature from the very wombe Men testifie their pride in their looks and fashions in their eies and tongues 't is the deepest the closest and yet one of the openest sinnes as a great Oke that spreadeth much in sight and yet is very deepe under ground too But now if men did truly consider what black feete they are which doe hold up these proud plumes what a stinking roote it is which beares these gawdie flowers what a sulphury and poisonous soile it is that nourisheth these painted apples they would beginne a little to new rate themselves It is nothing but ignorance that keepes men in pride If to be wise to doe evill and foolish to doe good if to take endowments from the hand of God and to fight against him with them if to pervert the light of reason and Scripture to plead for sinne and the purposes of Satan as lascivious poets use the chast expressions of Virgil to notifie their fordid and obscene conceits If to be so wise as to make evill good and good evill light darkenesse and darknesse light to distingvish idolatry into religion superstition into worship Belial into Christ bee matters to be proud of then there is in every mans nature a crop and harvest of just pride Else wee must all conclude that hee which glorieth in any thing which is meerely from himselfe hath chosen nothing to glory in but his owne shame Eightly consider the strength and power of this sinne to command to execute to bring about what ever it hath projected for the advancement of Satans kingdome It hath the power of a King It reignes in our members and it hath the strength of a Law it is a Law in our members and a Law without strength is no
â—…are with hearing It is of vast and infinite desires and the more it is supplied with that in which it seeketh satisfaction the more greedy it growes as naturall motions the longer they continue the swifter they are A sinner if he should live for ever would sin for ever never say it is enough Every imagination every Creature that is shap'd form'd in the hart every purpose desire motion ebullition is onely evill every Day saith the text no period no stint Evill from the childhood Ex quo excussus est ex vtero from the time of breaking forth out of the wombe as the learned observe from the propriety of the word Evill comes out of the heart as sparkles do out of the fire never cease rising while the fire continues Notably is this insatiablenesse of lust expressed by the Prophet in two excellent similitudes First from Drunkennesse which makes a man still more greedy doth not extinguish but enflame the perverse desire none cal in for wine faster then they which have had too much before Secondly from Hell and the grave which have no stint nor measure The Cloud which the Prophet shewed his servant was no bigger at first then a hand after it grew to cover all the Heavens and the reason was it rose out of a Sea so the sin of man will continually grow and overflow all his life and the reason is it hath a Sea of lust continually to supply it Therfore in the Scripture it is call'd an effusion a rushing out an aestus like the foaming or boyling of the Sea a strange excesse of ryot unto which saith the Apostle wicked men runne a Greedinesse a covetous improvement of uncleanenesse a burning of lust a fulnesse of all mischiefe Now from this insatiablenesse of lust must needs follow the indefatigablenesse of it too When a thing is out of the place of its owne rest it neuer leaves moving naturally till it have gotten to it therefore in as much as lust can never carry the hart to any thing which it may rest in needs must it flutter about be alwayes in motion If there were an infinite space of aire the motion of a stone in that space if there were any motion must needs be infinite because it would no where have a Center or middle place to hold it for there can be no medium where there are no extremes Desires are the wings upon which the soule moves if there be stil things found to entice the desires and none to satisfie them no marvell if the soule be stil upon the wing in perpetual agitation like the wind which continually whirleth about or the Rivers which never leave running into the Sea because they never fill it But it may be objected that the Scripture makes mention of the wearinesse which sinne brings upon men of that impotency of sinning which growes upon them The Sodomites wearied themselves in their rage against Lot So the Prophet saith of wicked men that they weary themselves to commit iniquity I answer that these very places prove the indefatigablenesse of lust in that it never gives over even when the instruments thereof are tiâ—…'d The Israelites were weary of gathering straw but were the Task-masters weary of exacting it The members may be weary of serving their law but is the law of the members weary of quickning or commanding them Nay herein is seene the cruell tyranny of lust against us that it never leaves drawing enticing heartning supplying us for sinne even when wee are quite wearied in the service of it Thou wert wearied in thy way yet saidst thou not There is no hope Thou never didst consider I have thus long drudg'd in the service of sinne and have found no fruit received no such satisfaction as I promis'd my selfe and therefore why should I weary my selfe any longer Why should I labour for that which is no bread and which satisfyeth not Thou never didst bethinke thy selfe of returning to the right way but wentest on with wonted madnesse and rage still though thou foundedst for certaine that there was no profit in thy evill way that thou didst sow nothing but winde and shouldst reape nothing but a whirlewinde Baalams lust was too swift for his weary beast when the Asse was frighted and durst goe no further yet the Prophet was as unwearied as at the first Lust is like a furious Rider never weary of the way though the poore beast which must serve the Riders turne may quickly bee worne out Woe to him that lodeth himselfe with thicke clay saith the Prophet How long He may have enough to loade him he can never have enough to weary him He may lodâ—… his house his memory his bagges his wits his time his conscience but he can never fill his Hell He may quickly have enough to sinke him but hee can never have enough to satisfie him As a ship may be overladen with Gold or Silver even unto sinking and yet have compasse and sides enough to hold ten times more so the heart will quickly be loaded unto sinking but never filld unto satiety In one word wee must in sinne distingvish betweene the Act and the Concupiscence from whence that Act ariseth or in the faculties betweene the Life and the Lust of them betweene their naturall strength and activitie and their law of corruption The livelinesse and strength of the faculties may quickly be wasted and yet the lust strong still Sinne in Act hath a concurrence of the powers of the soule and services of the body which in their motions may quickly langvish But yet as the Philosophers say of the soule though it may seeme tyr'd and spent and waxen old because the body in which it resides growes unfit for its service yet the soule indeed itself doth not grow old but if it had equall instruments would be as vigorous in the oldest man as in the youngest so we may say of sin though the body may grow weary of adultery or the mind weary of plodding mischiefe or the thoughts weary of contriving deceit yet concupisceâ—…is non senescit Lust it selfe growes never old nor weary Nay as the water when it is stopt in its principall course yet one way or other where it best may it will make a shift to finde a vent and to discover it selfe even so lust in the heart will one way or other when the minde and faculties the body and members are quite tyr'd out in the principall service make a shift to breake forth into some easier vent When the adultery in the heart hath worne out the body and spur'd it so long in this uncleane race that it now sinkes under the burden and hath no more blood to lose yet even then it will finde a vent and such a man will have eyes full of adultery a tongvefull of adultery thoughts and speculations full of adultery a memorie in the review of former lewdnesse full of
more love then strength therefore if it did not of us require strength to love but onely suppose it it could require no love neither for the Apostle tels us that by nature we are without strength So that if the meaning of the Law be onely this Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all the strength which thou hast and not this Thou shalt love him with all the strength that I require thee 〈◊〉 have and that I at first gave thee so that the strength and faculty as well as the love and duty may câ—…dere sub prâ—…cepto fall under the command the meaning of the Law would amount but to this Thou shalt not or needest not to love the Lord thy God at all because thou hast no strength so to doe and art not to be blamed for having none Thirdly it is not the being voluntary or involuntâ—… that doth make a thing sinfull or not sinfull but being opposite to the Rule which requires complete strength to serve God withall Now all a mans strength is not in his will the understanding affections and bodie have their strength which failing though the will bee never so prompt yet the worke is not done with that perfection which the Law requires yet withall wee are to note in this point two things First That originall sinne is â—…do voluntarie too because brought in by that will which was originally ours for this is a true rule in divinity Voluntas capitis totius naturae voluntas reputatur that Adams will was the will of all mankind and therfore this sinne being voluntarie in him and hereditarie unto us is esteemed in some sort voluntary unto us too Secondly that a thing may be voluntarie two wayes First efficienter when the will doth positively concurre to the thing which is done Secondly Deficienter when the will is in fault for the thing which is done though it were not done by it selfe For wee must note that all other faculties were at first appointed to be subject to the will were not to move but upon her allowance and conduct and therefore when lust doth prevent the consent and command of the will it is then manifest that the will is wanting to her office for to her it belongs to suppresse all contumacie and to forbid the doing of any illegall thing And in this sense I understand that frequent speech of Saint Austen That sinne is not sin except it be voluntarie that is sinne might altogether be prevented if the will it selfe had its primitive strength and were able to exercise uprightly that office of government and moderation over the whole man which at first it was appointed unto Which thing the same Father divinely hath expressed in his confessions What a monstrous thing is this saith he that the minde should command the body and be obeyed and that it should command it selfe and bee resisted His answer is The will is not a totall will and therefore the command is not a totall command for if the will were so throughlie an enemie to lust as it ought to be it would not be quiet till it had dis-throned it These things being premised wee conclude That as our nature is universally vitiated and defil'd by Adam so that pollution which from him wee derive is not onely the languor of nature the condition and calamitie of mankinde the wombe seed fomenter formative vertue of other sins but is it self truly and properly sin or to speak in the phrase of the Church of England hath of it selfe the nature of sin First where there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transgression there is sin in this sin there is more for there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rebellion and antipathie against the whole Law therefore concupiscence is sin Secondly That which inferres death and makes men naturally children of wrath is sinne but lust and fleshly concupiscence reviving bringeth death and wrath therefore it is sinne Thirdly where there is an excesse of sinne that thing must needs be sinfull but concupiscence by the commandement is exceeding sinfull ergo Fourthly that which is hatefull is evill and sinfull for God made all things beautifull and good and therefore very lovely but concupiscence is hatefull what I hate that I do Fifthly that which quickneth to all mischiefe and indisposeth to all good must needs be sinfull as shee that tempteth and solliciteth to adulterie may justly be esteem'd a harlot but concupiscence tempteth draweth enticeth begetteth conceiveth indisposeth to good and provoketh to evill therefore it is sinne Sixthly that which is hellish and divelish must needs be sinnefull for that is an argument in the Scripture to prove a thing to be exceeding evil but concupiscence is even the Hell of our nature and lusts are divelish Therefore they are sinfull too Nemo se palpet saith Saint Austen desus Satanas est de Deo beatus Let no man sooth or flatter himselfe his happinesse is from God for of himselfe he is altogether diuelish Seventhly that which was with Christ crucified is sinne for hee bore our sinne is his body upon the tree but our flesh and concupiscence was with Christ crucified They that are Christs have crucified the flâ—…sh with the affections and lusts Therefore it is sin Lastly that which is washed away in Baptisme is sinne for Baptisme is for remission of sinnes but concupiscence and the body of sinne is done away in Baptisme Therefore it is sinne And this is the frequent argument of the ancient Doctors against the Pelagians to prove that infants had sinne in their nature because they were baptized unto the remission of sinnes To give some answer then to those pretended reasons To the first wee confesse that nothing can bee toto genere Necessarie and yet sinfull neither is originall sinne in that sort necessary to the nature in it selfe though to the nature in persons proceeding from Adam it be necessarie For Adam had free will and wee in him to have kept that originall righteousnesse in which wee were created and what was to him sinfull was to us likewise because wee all were one in him Wee are then to distingvish of naturall and necessarie for it is either primitive and created or consequent and contracted necessity the former would indeed void sin because God doth never first make things impossible and then command them but the latter growing out of mans owne will originally must not therefore nullifie the Law of God because it disableth the power of man for that were to make man the Lord of the Law To the second three things are to be answer'd First The sinfulnesse of a thing is grounded on its disproportion to the Law of God not to the will of man Now Gods Law sets bounds and moderates the operations of all other powers and parts as well as of the wil. And therfore the Apostle complaines of his sinfull concupiscence even when his wil was in a readines to desire
some present exigencies it makes them seeme necessary and â—…avoydable Fifthly Its violence and importuniâ—…e for sinne is so wilfull that as he once answered the Persian king when it cannot finde a law to warrant that which it requires yet it will make a law to command what it will and it will beset and pursue and importune the soule and take no answere Balaams ambition was sufficiently nonplusd by the severall answeres and parables which God put into his mouth and yet still it pursues him and will put him upon all experiments make him try the utmost of his divelish wit to curse Gods people and promote himselfe Ioâ—…h his fretfulnesse had beene once put to silence and could reply nothing when God charged him yet upon a second occasion it gathers strength and becomes more headstrong even to dispute with God and to charge him foolishly Dalilah we know was an Allegorie or type of lust and wee know how violent and urgent she was with Sampson till she grieved and vexed his soule with her dayly importunities Sixtly its provisions those subsidiary aâ—…des and materials of lust which it fetcheth from abroad those things of the world with which the heart committeth adulterie for the World is the Armorie and store-house of lust Lastly its instruments which willingly execute the will of sinne and yeelde themselves up as weapons in the warre In these things principally doth the strength of lust consist Having thus discovered wherein the strength of lust lies set your selves against it in these particulars thereof First for the wisedome and deceite of lust First set up a spirituall wisedome which may discover and defeate the projects of the flesh Christs teaching is the onely way to put off the old man and to be renewed in the spirit of the minde Secondly mutuall exhortation is a great helpe against the deceitfulnesse of sinne Exhoâ—…t one another while it is called to day lâ—…st any of you be hardned by the deceitfulnesse of sinne Silence is the best advantage an Enemie can have when one doth not warne nor give notice to another If a Cheate or cunning Spie should come to a place and apply himselfe with severall insâ—…nuations unto severall persons for the better managing his purposes and sifting out those discoveries which he is to make the best way to disclose the plots and mischiefes of such an Enemie would be to conferre and compare his severall passages and discourses together so Christians mutuall communicating of the experiments temptations conflicts victories which they have had in themselves to one another is a sure way to discover and prevent the deceit of lust Rahabs hiding and concealing the spies did much advance their project against Iericho and so the keeping of the divels counsell and stifling his temptations and the deceits of lust is one of the greatest advantages they can have Thirdly receive the Truth with love for lies and delusions are the doome of those men who receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved Secondly for the perswasions and suggestions of lust entertaine no Treatie have no commerce with it be not in its company alone let it not draw thee away sit not in counsell with it Qui deliberant desciverunt if it prevaile to get our eare and make us listen unto it it will easily proceed further As soone as ever Saint Paul was called he immediately refused to conferre with flesh and blood which relation elsewhere making he useth another expression Whereupon O King Agrippa I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision intimating thus much that but to hold a conference with the flesh is a beginning of disobedience If our first mother Evah had observed this rule not to deliberate or admit any dispute with the Serpent but had at first offer rejected his motion with this peremptorie answere We have a Law given us and servants must be rul'd by their master and not by their fellowes It is fitter to obey God then to dispute against him to execute his commands then to interpret them she might have prevented that deluge of sinne and calamitie which by this one over-sight did invade the world Therefore the Lord strictly commands his people that when they were to succeed the nations whom God would cast out before them and should dwell in their land they should take heed that they were not snared by following them neither should they enquire after their Gods saying How did these nations serve their Gods The very acquanting themselves with the formes of other mens idolatries might ensnare them Therefore as soone as lust stirres and offers to perswade thee start away from it as Ioseph did Come not nigh the doore of a strange womans house though the first allurements seeme modest and moderate yet if the Serpent get in but his head he will easily draw in the rest of his body and if he should not yet his sting is in his head Thirdly for the promises and threats of lust first beleeve them not for lust is a Tempter and it is given to all Tempters to be liers too When God hath said one thing let no arguments make thee beleeve the contrarie As we are to beleeve above hope so above reason too for though sophistrie may alledge reasons for a false conclusion which every understanding is not able to answer or evade yet there is a voyce of Christ in all saving truth which his sheepe are apt to heare and subscribe unto in which there is an evidence to make it selfe knowne and to difference delusions from it though haply a man have not artificiall logick enough to distinguish it from every captious and sophisticall argument If an Angell from heaven saith the Apostle preach any other Gospell let him be accursed we know what it cost the man of God when he gave credit to the old Prophet of Bethel though pretending an Angels warrant to goe backe and eate with him contrary to the commandement which he had received before Secondly get security of better promises for all the promises of the flesh if they should bee perform'd will perish with a man learne to rest upon Gods All-sufficiencie see thy selfe rich enough in his wayes there are more riches in the persecutions much more in the promises and performances of God then in all the treasures of Egypt Lust can promise nothing but either thou hast it already and the same water is farre sweeter out of a fountaine then when it hath passed through a sinke the same monie farre better when it is a Blessing from God then when a bribe from Lust when it is the reward of a service then when 't is the price of sinne when it is given by the Owner then when deposited by a thiefe or else thou art farre better without it thou walkest amongst fewer snares hast an over-plus of spirituall goods for thy earthly defect hast thy poverty sweetned and sanctified
much set forward by the Word because therein is made more apparant to the Soule the Glory and the Power of God therefore the Two Prophets are said to Torment the inhabitants of the Earth and the Law is said to make men guilty and to kill to hew smite and destroy those whom it deales with all Secondly such a faith as the Divels have begotten by the Word and assented unto by the secret suggestions of the heart witnessing to it selfe that it hath deserved more then yet it feeles and this begets a fearefull expectation of being devoured surpriseth the heart with horrid tremblings and presumptions of the vengeance to come which the Apostle calls the Spirit of bondage and feare But all this being an Assent perforce extorted for wicked men confesse their sinnes as the Divels confessed Christ more out of Torment then out of Love to God or humiliation under his mighty hand amounts to no more then a Naturall Conviction Secondly there is a Spirituall and Evangelicall Conviction of the Guilt of sinne and the damnation due thereunto arising from the Law written in the heart and tempered with the apprehension of mercie in the new Covenant which begets such a paine under the Guilt of sin as a plaister doth to the impostumation which withall it cures such a Conviction as is a manuduction unto righteousnesse And that is when the Conscience doth not onely perforce feele it selfe dead but hath wrought in it by the Spirit the same affection towards it selfe for sinne which the word hath is willing to charge it selfe and acquit God to endite accuse arraigne testifie condemne it selfe meete the Lord in the way of his Iudgements and cast downe it selfe under his mighty hand That man who can in secret and truth of heart willingly and uncompulsorily thus stand on Gods side against sinne and against himselfe for it giving God the Gloâ—ie of his righteousnesse if he should condemne him and of his uâ—searchable and rich mercie that hee doth offer to forgive him I dare pronounce that man to haue the Spirit of Christ. For no man by nature can willingly and uprightly Owne damnation and charge himselfe with it as his due portion and most just inheritance This can never arise but from a deepe sense and hate of sinne from a most ardent zeale for the Glory and Righteousnesse of God Now then since the Conviction of sinne and of the death and Guilt thereof are not to drive men to despaire or blasphemie but that they may beleeve and lay hold on the righteousnesse of Christ which they are then most likely to doe when sinne is made exceeding sinfull and by consequence death exceeding deadly give mee leave to set forth in two words what this Guilt of sinne is that the necessitie of righteousnesse from Christ may appeare the greater and his mercie therein bee the more glorified Guilt is the Demerit of sinne binding and subjecting the person in whom it is to undergoe all the punishments legally due the reunto This Demerit is founded not only in the Constitution Will and Power of God over his owne Creatures of whom hee may justly require whatsoever obedience hee giveth power to performe but in the nature of his owne Holinesse and Iustice which in sinne is violated and turned from and this Guilt is after a sort Infinite because it springeth out of the aversion from an Infinite Good the violation of an infinite Holynesse and Iustice and the Conversion to the Creatures infinitely if men could live ever to commit adultery with them And as the Consequence and reward of obedience was the favour of God conferring life and blessednesse to the Creature so the wages of sinne which this Guilt assureth a sinner of is the wrath of God which the Scripture calleth Death and the Curse This Guilt being an Obligation unto punishment leadeth us to consider what the nature of that curse and death is unto which it bindeth us over Punishment bearing necessarie relation to a command the trangression whereof is therein recompenced taketh in these considerations First on the part of the Commander a will to which the Actions of the subject must conforme reveal'd and signified under the nature of a Law Secondly a justice which will and thirdly a power which can punish the transgressors of that Law Secondly on the part of the subject commanded there is requir'd first Reason and free-will originally without which there can be no sinne for though man by his brutishnesse and impotency which he doth coÌ„tract cannot make void the commands of God but that they now binde men who have put out their light and lost their libertie yet originally God made no law to binde under paine of sinne but that unto the obedience whereof hee gave reason and free-will Secondly a debt and obligation either by voluntarie subjection as man to man or naturall as the creature to God or both sealed and acknowledged in the covenants betweene God and man whereby man is bound to fulfill that law which it was originally enabled to observe Thirdly a forfeiture guilt and demerit upon the violation of that Law Thirdly and lastly the evill it selfe inflicted wherein we consider first the nature and qualitie of it which is to have a destructive power to oppresse and dis quiet the offender and to violate the integritie of his well being For as sinne is a violation offered by man to the Law so punishment is a violation retorted from the Law to man Secondly the Proportion of it to the offence the greatnesse whereof is manifested in the majestie of God offended and those severall relations of goodnesse patience creation redemption which he hath to man in the quality of the creature offending being the chiefe and lord of all the rest below him in the easinesse of the primitive obedience in the unprofitablenesse of the wayes of sinne and a world of the like aggravations Thirdly the end of it which is not the destruction of the creature whom as a creature God loveth but the satisfaction of justice the declaration of divine displeasure against sinne and the manifestation of the glory of his power and terrour So then Punishment is an evill or pressure of the Creature proceeding from a Law giver just and powerfull inflicted on a reasonable Creature for and proportionable unto the breach of such a Law unto the performance and obedience whereof the Creature was originally enabled wherein is intended the glory of Gods just displeasure and great power against sinne which hee naturally hateth Now these punishments are Temporall Spirituall and Eternall Temporall and those first without a man The vanitie of the Creatures which were at first made full of goodnesse and beautie but doe now mourne and grone under the bondage of our sinnes The wrath of God revealing it selfe from heaven and the curse of God over-growing the earth Secondly within him All the Harbingers and Fore-runners of death sicknesse paine povertie reproach feare and
inquire who they are unto whose right and possession a man may belong and then examine the Evidences which either can make for himselfe To sinne wee know doth appertaine the primitive right of every naturall and lapsed man for we are by nature the Children of wrath A purchase then there must come betweene before a man can passe over into anothers right this purchase was made by Christ who bought us with his blood And the treatie in this purchase was not between Christ and sinne but betweene him and his Father Thine they were and thou gavest them me for the fall of Man could not nullifie Gods Dominion nor right unto him for when man ceased to be Gods Servant he then began to be his Prisoner and though Sinne and Sathan weâ—… in regard of man Lords yet they were in regard of God but Iaylors to keepe or part from his Prisoners at his pleasure Besides though Christ got man by purchase yet Sinne and Sathan lost him by forfeiture for thâ—… prince of this world seizing upon Christ in whom he had â—…o right for he found nothing of his owne in him did by that meanes forteite his former right which hee had in men of the same nature Wee see then all the claime that can be made is either by Christ or Sinne by that strong man or him that is stronger A man must have evidences for Christ or else hee belongs unto the power of Sinne. The evidences of Christ are his Name his Seale and his Witnesses His Name a new Name a name better then of sonnes and daughters even Christ formed in the heart and his Law ingraven in the inner man As it is fabled of Ignatius that there was found the Name of Iesus written in his heart so must every one of Gods House bee named by him with this new name Of Him are all the Families in Heaven and in Earth named The Seale of Christ is his Spirit witnessing unto and securing our spirits that we belong unto him For hee that hath not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his and by this we know that he dwelleth in us and we in him because hee hath given us of his Spirit The witnesses of Christ are three The Spirit the Water and Blood The Testimonie of Adoption Sealing the Fatherly care of God to our Soules saying to our Soules that he is our Salvation and Inheritance The Testimonie of Iustification our Faith in the blood and price of Christ and the Testimonie of Sanctification in our being cleansed from dead workes for he came to destroy the workes of the Devill hee came with Refiners fire and with Fullers sope and with healing under his wings that is as I conceive under the preaching of his Gospell which as the beames of the Sunne make manifest the savor of Him in every place and by which he commeth and goeth abroad to those that are a far off and to those that are neere It was the Office of Christ as well to Purifie as to Redeeme as well to Sanctifie as to Iustifie us so that if a man say hee belongs to Christ and yet bringeth not forth fruite unto God but lives still married to his former lusts and is not cleansed from his filthinesse hee makes God a lyer because hee beleeveth not the Record which hee gives of his Sonne for Hee will not have either a barren or an adulterous spouse yea he putteth Christ to shame as if he had undertaken more then he were able to performe Besides Christ being a Light a Starre a Sunne never comes to the heart without selfe-manifestation such evidence as cannot be gainesaid unto him belongs this royall prerogative to be himselfe the witnesse to his owne Grace And when the Papists demaund of us How wee can bee sure that this Testimnoy of Christs Grace and Spirit is not a false witnesse and delusion of Sathan wee demaund of them againe If the flesh can have this advantage to make such Objections against the unvalueable Comforts of Christs Grace and the heart have nothing to reply If Christ witnesse and no man can understand it If the Spirit of Christ be a Comforter and the Divell can comfort every jot as well and counterfeit his comforts to the quicke and so cozen and delude a man what is any man the better for any such assertions of Scripture where the Spirit is called the Spirit of Comfort the strengthner of the inner man and the heart said to be established by Grace Certainely the Comforts of the Spirit must fall to the ground if they bring not along a proper and distinct lustre into the Soule with them And this Ambrosiuâ—… Catharinus himselfe a learned Papist and as great a scholler in the Trent Councell as any other was bold to maintaine against the contrary opinion of Dominicus Soto in a publike declaration unto whom Bellarmine dares not adhere though it bee his custome to boast of their unanimitie in point of Doctrine Besides sinne is of a quarrelling and litigious disposition it will not easily part from that which was once its owne but will bee ever raysing sutes disputing arguing wrangling with the Conscience for its old right Christ came not to send peace but a sword perpetuall and unreconcileable combats and debates with the flesh of man If a man hold peace with his lusts and set not his strength and his heart against them If they bee not in a state of rebellion they are certainely in the throne It is impossible for a King to rebell because hee hath none above him and so as long as lust is a king it is in peace but when Christ subdues it and takes possession of the heart it will presently rise and rebell against his kingdome Heere then is the triall of the Title If a man cannot shew the evidences of a new purchase the Spirit the Blood the Water the Sonneship the Righteousnesse the Holynesse Conversation and Grace of Christ If he be not in armes against the remnants of lust in himselfe but live in peace and good contentment under the vigor and life of them that man belongs yet unto the right of sinne For if a man be Christs there will bee Nova regalia extremely opposite to those of sinne A new heart for the Throne of the Spirit New members to bee the servants of Righteousnesse New Counsellors namely the Lawes of God A new Panoplie The whole armour of God New lawes The law of the minde and of the heart A new Iudicature even the government of the Spirit Thoughts Words Actions Conversations All things new as the Apostle speakes Now let us in the next place consider the power whereby sinne makes its commands to bee obeyed wherein it is more strong and sure then a Tyrant who ruleth against the will of his Subjects The particulars of this strength may be thus digested First sinne hath much strength from it selfe and that
or filthinesse which is iâ—… the world through lust so do they serve to ad one grace to anâ—…ther and to make them abound in us till we come to chaâ—…ity which is the bond of perfection as Saint Peter shewes And againe Grow saith he in grace and in thâ—… 〈◊〉 of our Lord 〈◊〉 Christ. The more a 〈◊〉 doth abound in the knowledge of Christ who is the sâ—…mme fountaine â—…le treasurie of all the promises the more will he grow in grace and unto perfection For as some promises are in our hand and perform'd already as Rewards for our service past so others are still before our eyes to call and allure us as the price unto which we pâ—…este Be ye stedfast and unmoveable and abound alwaies in the worke of the Lord saith the Apostle for as much as you know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. Holding fast and going on hath a Crowne attending it The more we proceede in holinesse our salvation is still the Neerer unto us If we lose not the things which wee have wrought we shall receive a full reward THE VSE OF THE LAW ROM 7. 13. Was that then which is good made death unto me God forbid But sinne namely was made death unto me that it might appeare sinne working death in me by that which is good That sinne by the Commandement might become exceeding sinfull HEre we finde the Originall discovery of all that Sinfulnesse of sinne which wee have hitherto insisted upon namely the manifesting and working property which is in the Law of God It will bee therefore very requisite by way of Appendixe to the preceding Treatise and of manuduction to the consequent to unfeld out of these words The uâ—…e of the Law by which we shall more distinctly understand the scope and purpose of the Holy Ghost in loading the spirit of man with tâ—…e vanity of the Creature and in shutting up the conscience under the sinfulnesse of sinne both which have respect unto the Law that as an effect of the cursing and this of the Convincing power thereof and yet in both nothing intended by God but Peace and Mercie The Apostle in the beginning of the Chapter shewes that we are by nature subject to the Law and death which is an unavoidable consequent of the breach thereof even as the wife is to her husband as long as he liveth And that by Christ we are delivered from that subjection who hath shine our former husband and taken him out of the way as the Apostle elsewhere speakes Now because this doctrine of justification by faith in Christ and deliverance from the Law by him was mainely opposed by the Iewes and was indeed that chiefe stumbling blocke which kept them from Christianitie which I take it was the reason why the false brethren under pretence the better to worke on that people to pacifie affections and reconcile parties and ferruminate the Churches together would have mingled the Law with Christ in the purpose of Iustification as the papids now upon other reasons doe Therefore the Apostle who was very zealous for the Salvation of his brethren and kiâ—…sfolke according to the flesh labours to deerâ—… thâ—…s doctrine from two maine objections in this Chapter which it seemes the Iewes did use against it The ground of both is tacitely implied and it is the same generall hypothesis or supposition that all deliverance is from evill and carries necessary relation to some mischiefe which it presupposeth Therefore if that doctrine be true which teacheth deliverance from the Law then it must be granted that the Law is evill for to be unsubjected to that which is good is no deliverance but a wilde and bâ—…utish loosenesse Now evill is but two fold either sinne or death So then if the Law be evill it must be either sinne or death The former objection is made vers 7. What shall wee say then is the Law sinne that we should now heare of a deliverance from it Doth not the Scripture account the Law a priviledge an honour an ornament to a people and from the Iustnesse and Holinesse of the Law conclude the dignity and greatnesse of a nation What nation is so great saith Moses which hath statutes and iudgements so righteous as I set before you this day He shâ—…weth his word unto Iacob his statutes anâ—… iudgements unto Israel He hath not dealt so with every nation saith David I sent unto them Honorabilta Legis saith the Lord the honorable and great things of my Law but they were counted as a strange thing And is that which Moses and the Prophets esteemed a priviledge and honour become now a yoke and burden Shall wee admit a doctrine which over-throwes the Law and the Prophets To this the Apostle answeres God for bid The Law is not sinne for I had not knowne sinne but by the Law It is true sinne tooke occasion by the Law to become more sinfull vers 8. but this was not occasio data but arrepta no occasion naturally offered by the law but perversly taken by sinne whose venomous property it is to suck poison out of that which is holy So then the Law is not sinne though by accident it enrage sinne For of itselfe it serveth onely to discover and reveale it ver 9. But as the Gospell as well when by mens perversnesse it is a savour of dâ—…ath as when by its owne gratious efficacie it is a savour of life is both wayes a sweete savour So the Law either way when by it selfe it discovereth and when by accident it enrageth sin is still Holy lust and Good ver 11 Vpon this followes the second Objection in the words of the Text. Is that which is good made death unto me If a deliverance presuppose an evill in that from which we are deliver'd and no evill but belongs either to sinne or death then admitting a deliverance from the Law if it be good in respect of holinesse it must needs be evill in the other respect and then that which is good is made death unto me And this casts a more heavie aspersion and dishonour upon God then the former that he should give a Law meerely to kill men and make that which in its nature is good to be mortall in its use and operation Wine strong waters hard meates are of themselves very good to those purposes unto which they are proper yet under pretence of their goodnesse to craâ—…me the stomicke of a sucking infant with them would not be kindnesse but crueltie because they would not in that case comfort or nourish but kill Gold is good of it selfe but to fetter a man with a chaine of gold would be no bounty but a mockery So to conceive God to publish a Law good indeed in it selfe but deadly to the subjects and to order that which is holy in its nature to be harmefull and damnable to the Creature in its use is so odious an aspersion
upon so just and gratious a God as may safely bring into suspicion and disgrace any doctrine which admits of so just an exception Now to this likewise the Apostle answeres God forbid The Law is not given to condemne or clogge men not to bring sinne or death into the world It was not promulgated with any intention to kill or destroy the Creature It is not sin in it selfe It is not death unto us in that sense as we preach it namely as subordinated to Christ and his Gospell Tnough as the rule of righâ—…eousnesse we preach deliverance from it because unto that purpose it is made impotent and invalid by the sinne of man which now it cannot prevent or remove but onely discover and condemne Both these Conclusions that the Law is neither sinne nor death I finde the Apostle before in this Epistle excellently proviâ—…g Vntill the Law sinne was in the world but sinne is not imputed where there is no Law neverthelesse death â—…atgned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression That is as I conceive over those who did not sinâ—…e against so notable and evident Characters of the Law of nature written in their hearts as Adam in Paradise did for sinne had betweene Adam and Moses so obliterated and defaced the impressions of the morall Law that man stood in need of a new edition and publication of it by the hand of Moses That place serves thus to make good the purpose of the Apostle in this Sinne was in the world before the publication of the Law therefore the Law is not sinne But sinne was not imputed where there is no Law men were secure and did flatter themselves in their way were not apt to charge or condemne themselves for sin without a Law to force them unto it And therefore the Law did not come a new to beget sinne but to reveale and discover sinne Death likewise not onely was in the world but raigned even over all men therein before the publication of the Law Therefore the Law is not death neither There was Death enough in the world before the Law there was wickednesse enough to make condemnation raigne over all men therefore neither one nor other are naturall or essentiall consequences of the Law It came not to beget more sinne it came not to multiply and double condemnation there was enough of both in the world before Sinne enough to displease and provoke God death enough to devoure and torment men Therefore if the Law had beene usefull to no other purposes then to enrage sinne and condemne men if Gods wisedome and power had not made it appliable to more wholsome and saving ends he would never have new published it by the hand of Moses Here then the observation which from these words we are to make and it is a point of singular and speciall consequence to understand the use of the Law is this That the Law was revived and promulgated a new on Mount Sina by the ministery of Moses with no other then Evangelicall and mercifull purposes It is said in one place That the Lord hath no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth but it is said in another place That the Lord delighteth in mercie Which notes that God will doe more for the Salvation then he will for the damnation of men He will doe more for the magnifying of his mercy then for the multiplying of his wrath for if that require it he will revive and new publish the Law which to have aggravated the sinnes and so doubled the condemnation of men He would never have done Before I further evidence the truth of this doctrine It will be needefull to remove one Objection which doth at first proposall thereof offer it selfe If God will doe more for his mercie then for his wrath and vengeance why then are not more men saved then condemned If Hell shall bee more fill'd then Heaven is it not more then probable that wrath prevaileth against Grace and that there is more done for furie then there is for favour To wave the solution given by some That God will intentionally and effectually have every man to bee saved but few of that every will have themselves to be saved An explication purposâ—…ly contradicted by Saint Austin and his followers whose most profound and inestimable Iudgement the Orthodoxe Churches have with much admiration and assent followed in these points I rather choose thus to resolve that case It will appeare at the last great day that the saving of a few is a more admirable and glorious worke then the condemning of all the rest The Apostle saith That God shall bee gloryfied in his Saints and admired in those that beleeve For first God sheweth more mercie in saving some when He might have judged all then Iustice in Iudging many when he might have saved none For there is not all the Iustice which there might have beene when any are saved and there is more mercy then was necessary to haue beene when all are not condemned Secondly the Mercie and Grace of God in saving any is absolute and all from within himselfe out of the unsearchable riches of his owne will But the Iustice of God though not as essentiall in him yet as operatiâ—…e towards us is not Absolute but Conditionall and grounded upon the supposition of mans sinne Thirdly his Mercie is unsearchable in the price which procured it Hee himselfe waâ—… to humble and empty himselfe that he might shew mercie His mercie was to be purchased by his owne merit but his Iustice was provoked by the merit of sinne onely Fourthly Glory which is the fruite of Mercie is more excellent in a few then wrath and vengeance is in many as one bagge full of gold may bee more valuable then tenne of silver If a man should suppose that Gods mercy and Iustice being equally infinite and glorious in himselfe should therefore have the same equall proportion observed in the dispensation and revealing of them to the world wee might not therehence conclude that that proportion should be Arithmeticall that mercy should be extended to as many as severitie But rather as in the payment of a summe of mony in two equal portions whereof one is in golâ—… the other in silver though there bee an equalitie in the summes yet not in the pieces by which they are paide so in as much as Glory being the communicating of Gods owne blessed Vision Presence Love and everlasting Societie is farre more honourable and excellent then wrath therefore the dispensation of his Mercie in that amongst a few may bee exactly proportionable to the revelation of his Iustice amongst very many more in the other Suppose wee a Prince upon the just condemnation of a hundred malefactors should professe that as in his owne royall brest mercy and Iustice were equally poised and temper'd so he would observe an equall proportion of them both towards that number of
wrath which his sinnes have deserved Therefore it is called the ministery of death and condemnation which pronounceth a most rigorous and unmitigable curse upon the smallest and most imperceptible deviation from Gods Will revealed Thirdly by awakening the Conscience begetting a legall faith and spirit of bondage to see it selfe thus miserable by the Law hedged in with Thornes and shut up under wrath For the spirit first by the Law begetteth bondage and feare prickes the Conscience reduceth a man to impossibilities that hee knowes not what to doe nor which way to turne before it worketh the Spirit of Adoption or make a man thinke with the Prodigall that hee hath a Father to deliver him And by these Gradations the Law leadeth to Faith in Christ so that though in all these respects the works of the law be works of bondage yet the Ends and Purposes of God in them are Ends of Mercie Secondly The Law hath Rationem Fraeni and regulae to cohibite and restraine from sinne and to order the life of a man And in this sense likewise it is added to the Gospell as the Rule is to the hand of the workeman For as the Rule worketh nothing without the hand of the Artificer to guide and moderate it because of it selfe it is dead and the workeman worketh nothing without his Rule So the Law can onely shew what is good but gives no power at all to doe it for that is the worke of the Spirit by the Gospell yet Evangelicall Grace directs a man to no other obedience then that of which the Law is the Rule Now then to make some use of all this which hath beene said This shewes the ignorance and absurdity of those men who cry downe preaching of the Law as a course leading to despaire â—…nd discontentment though we finde by Saint Paul that it leadeth unto Christ. To preach the Law alone by it selfe wee confesse is to pervert the vse of it neither have we any power or commission so to doe for we have our power for edification and not for destruction It was published as an appendant to the Gospell and so must it be preached It was published in the hand of a Mediator and it must be preached in the hand of a Mediator It was published Evangelycally and it must bee so preached But yet wee must preach the Law and that in its owne fearefull shapes for though it were published in Mercy yet it was published with Thunder Fire Tempests and Darkenesse even in the hand of a Mediator for this is the method of the Holy Ghost to convince first of sinne and then to reveale righteousnesse and refuge in Christ. The Law is the forerunner that makes roome and prepares welcome in the Soule for Christ. I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come saith the Lord to note unto us that a man will never desire Christ indeede till he be first shaken As in Elias his vision the still voyce came after the Tempest so doth Christ in his voyce of Mercy follow the shakings and Tempests of the Law First the Spirit of Eliah in the preaching of repentance for sinne and then the Kingdome of God in the approach of Christ and evidences of reconcilement to the Soule And the reason is because men are so wedded to their sinnes that they will not accept of Mercy on faire termes so as to forsake sinne withall as mad men that must bee bouâ—…d before they can be cured so are men in their lusts the Law must hamper and shut them up before the Gospell and the spirit of liberty will bee welcome to them Now this is Gods resolution to humble the soule so low till it can in truth and seriousnesse bid Christ welcome upon any conditions His Mercy and the blood of his Sonne is so pretious and invaluable that hee will not caâ—… it away where no notice shall bee taken of it but hee will make the heart subscribe experimentally to that Truth of his That it is a saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ Iesus came into the World to save sinners And we know a man must bee brought to great extremities who can esteeme as welcome as life the presence of such a man who comes with a sword to cut of his members or cut out his eyes and yet this is the manner of Christs comming to bring a Crosse and a Sword with him to hew off our lusts which are our earthly members and to Crucifie us unto the world But what then Mâ—…st nothing be preached but damnation and Hell to men God forbid We have commission to preach nothing but Christ and life in him and therefore we never preach the Law but with reference and manuduction unto him The truth is Intentionally wee preach nothing but Salvation wee come with no other intention but that every man who heares us might beleeve and bee saved wee have our power onely for edification and not for destruction but conditionally we preach Salvation and Damnation He that beleeveth shall be saved he that beleeveth not shall be damned that is the summe of our Commission But it is further very observable in that place that preaching of the Gospell is preaching both of Salvation and of Damnation upon the severall conditions So then when we preach the Law we preach Salvation to them that feare it as the Lord shewed mercy to Iosiah because his heart trembled and humbled it selâ—…e at his Law and when we preach the Gospell wee preach Damnation to them that despâ—…se it How shâ—…ll we escape if we neglect so great Salvation The Gospell is Salvation of it selfe but he that neglects Salvation is the mâ—…re certaine to perish and that with a double destruction Death unto Death to that wrath of God which abâ—…deth vpon him before will come a sorer condâ—…mnation by trampling under foote the blood of the Covenant and not obeying the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ. Here then are two rules to be observ'd First by the ministers of the Word that they so preach the Law as that it may still appeare to be an appendant unto the Gospell and â—…ot suffer the ministrie to be evill spoken of by men who watch for advantages We must endeavour so to manage the dispensation of the Law that men may not thereby be exasperated but put in minde of the Sanctuary to which they should flie The heart of man is broken as a flint with a hard and a soft together A Hammer and A Pillow is the best way to breake a flint A Prison and a Pardon A Scourge and a Salve A Curse and a Saviour is the best way to humble and convert a sinner When wee convince the hearers that all the teâ—…rors we pronounce are out of compassion to them that wee have mercy and balme in store to powre into every wound that we make that all the blowes we give are not to kill their Soules
but their sins that though our words bring fire and fury with them yet they are still in the hand of a Mediator that the Law is not to breake them unto desperation but vnto humiliation not to drive them unto furie but unto Faith to shew them Hell indeede but withall to keepe them from it if we doe not by these meaneâ—… save their Soules yet we shall stop their mouths that they shall be ashamed to blaspheme the commission by which we speake Secondly The people likewise should learne to rejoyce when the Law is preached as it was published that is when the Conscience is thereby affrighted and made to tremble at the presence of God and to cry unto the Mediator as the people did unto Moses Lâ—…t not God speake any more to us lâ—…st we die Speake thou with us and we will heare For when sinne is onely by the Law discovered and death laid open to cry out against such preaching is a shrewd argument of a minde not willing to bee disquieted in sinne or to be tormented before the time of a soule which would have Christ and yet not leave her former husband which would haue him no other king then the stump of wood was to the frogges in the fable or the moulten Calfe unto Israel in the Wildernesse a quiet idol whom every lust might securely provoke and dance about As the Law may be preached too much when it is preached without the principall which is the Gospell so the Gospell and the mercie therein may bee preached too much or rather indeede too little because it is with lesse successe If wee may call it preaching and not rather perverting of the Gospell when it is preached without the appendant which is the Law This therefore should in the next place teach all of us to studie and delight in the Law of God as that which setteth forth and maketh more glorious and conspicuous the mercy of Christ. Acquaintance with our selves in the Law wâ—…ll First keepe us more loâ—…ly and vile in our owne eyes make us feele our owne pollution and poverty and that will againe make us the more delight in the Law which is so faithfull to render the face of the Conscience and so make a man the more willing and earnest to be cleansed Their heart saith David is as fat as grease but I delight in thy Law The more the Law doth discover our owne leannesse scraggednesse and penurie the more doth the Soule of a Holy man delight in it because Gods mercie is magnified the more who filleth the hungrie and refrâ—…sheth the weary and with whom the fatherlâ—…sse findeth mercie Secondly It will make us more carefull to live by Faith more bold to approach the throne of Grace for mercie to cover and for Grace to cure our sores and nakednesse In matters of life and death impudence and boldnesse is not unseasonable A man will never die for modesty when the Soule is convinc'd by the Law that it is accursed and eternally lost if it doe not speedily pleade Christs satisfaction at the Throne of Grace it is emboldned to runne unto him when it findes an issue of uncleanenesse upon it it will set a price upon the meanest thing about Christ and be glad to touch the hemme of his garment When a Childe hath any strength beautie or lovelynesse in himselfe he will haply depend upon his owne parts and expectations to raise a fortune and preferment for himselfe but when a Childe is full of indigence impotencie crookednesse and deformity if he were not then supported with this hope I have a father aâ—d Parents doe not cast out their Children for their deformities he could not live with comfort or assurance so the sense of our owne pollutions and uncleanenesse taking off all conceits of any lovelynesse in our selves or of any goodnesse in us to attract the affections of God makes us râ—ly onely on his fatherly compassion When our Saviour cald the poore woman of Syrophenicia Dogge a beastly and uncleane Creature yet shee takes not this for a deny all but turnes it into argument The lesse I have by right the more I hope for by mercy even men afford their Dogges enough to keepe them alive and I aske no more When the Angell put the hollow of Iacobs thigh out of joynt yet hee would not let him go the more lame hee was the more reason hee had to hold The Prodigall was not kept away or driven of from his resolution by the feare shame or misery of his present estate for he had one word which was able to make way for him through all this the name of Father He considered I can but be rejected at the last and I am already as low as a rejection can cast me so I shall loose nothing by returning for I therefore returne because I have nothing and though I have done enough to bee for ever shut out of dores yet it may bee the word Father may have rhetoricke enough in it to beg a reconcilement and to procure an admittance amongst my fathers servants Thirdly It will make us give God the Glory of his mercy the more when wee have the deeper acquaintance with our owne miserie And God most of all delighteth in that worke of Faith which when the Soule walketh in darknesse and hath no light yet trusteth in his Name and stayeth upon him Fourthly It will make our comforts and refreshments the sweeter when they come The greater the humiliation the deeper the tranquillitie As fire is hottest in the coldest weather so comfort is sweetest in the greatest extremities shaking settles the peace of the heart the more The spirit is a Comforter as well when he convinceth of sinne as of righteousnesse and judgement because he doth it to make righteousnesse the more acceptable and Iudgement the more beautifull Lastly acquaintance with our owne foulnesse and diseases by the Law will make us more carefull to keepe in Christs company and to walke according unto his Will because he is a Physitian to cure a refiner to purge a Father and a Husband to compassionate our estate The lesse beautie or worth there is in us the more carefully should we studie to please him who loved us for himselfe and married us out of pittie to our deformities not out of delight in our beautie Humilitie keepes the heart tractable and pliant As melted waxe is easily fashioned so an humble spirit is easily fashioned unto Christs Image whereas a stone a bard and stubborne heart must bee hewed and hammered before it will take any shape Pride selfe-confidence and conceitednesse are the pâ—…nciples of disobedience men will hold their wonted courses till they be humbled by the Law They are not humbled saith the Lord unto this day and the consequent hereof is neither have they feared nor walked in my Law If you will not heare that is if you will still disobey the Lords messages my Soule shall weepe in
projects and machinations against his Church but thou onely His heele the vitall parts shall be above thy reach And this Christ did not for himselfe but for us The God of Peace saith the Apostle shall bruize Sathan under your feete Hee shall be under our feete but it is a greater strength then ours which shall keepe him downe The victorie is Gods the benefit and insultation ours If He come as a Serpent with cunning craftinesse to seduce us Christ is a stronger Serpent a Serpent of Brasse and what hurt can a Serpent of flesh doe unto a Serpent of Brasse If as a Lion with rage and fierie assaults Christ is a stronger Lion A Lion of the Tribe of Iudâ—… the victorious Tribe Who shall goe up for us against the Cananites first Iuda shall goe up If hee come as an Angel of light to perswade us to presume and sinne The mercie of Christ begets feare The Love of Christ constraineth us Sathan can but allure to disobedience but Christ can constraine us to live unto him If he come as an Angell of darkenesse to terrifie us with despairing suggestions because wee have sinned If any man sinne wee have an Advocate and who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is Christ that is deade yea rather that is risen againe who also sitteth at the right hand of God to make intercession for us Thirdly but I have an enemie within me which is the most dangerous of all The World may be if not overcome yet endured and by being endured it will at last bee overcome The Divell may bee driven away for a time though he returne againe but the flesh is an Inhabiting sinne and an encompassing sinne If I breake through it yet it is still within me and if I reject it yet it is still about me Saint Paul who triumphed and insulted over all the rest over the World Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ Shall tribulation or distresse or persecution or famine or nakednes or perill or sword nay in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us Over Sathan and Hell O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victorie Even hee cryes out against this enemie his owne flesh O wrethed man that I am who shall deliver mee from this body of Death Yet even against this unremoveable and unvanquishable corruption the Life of Christ is safe in us upon these grounds First we have his Prayer which helpes to subdue it and to sanctifie our nature Sanctifie them by thy Truth Secondly wee have His Vertue and Power to purge it out and to cure it The Sunne of righteousnesse hath healing in his wings Thirdly wee have His office and sidelitie to appeale unto and where to complaine against our owne flesh He undertooke it as a part of his businesse to purge and clense his people Fourthly we have His Spirit to combate and wrestle with it and so by little and little to crucifie it in us and lastly we have his Merits as Sanctuarie to flie unto to forgive them here and hereafter to expell them Fourthly for all this I am full of doubts and restlesse feares which do continually fight within me and make my spirit languish and sinke and that which may decay may likewise expire and vanish away To this I answer that which inwardly decayeth and sinketh at the foundation is perishable but that which in its operations and quoad nos in regard of sense and present complacencie may seeme to decay doth not yet perish in its substance A Cloude may hide the Sunne from the eye but can never blot it out of his orbe Nay Spirituall griefe is to that light which is sowen in the heart but like harrowing to the Earth it macerates for the time but withall it tends to joy and beautie There is difference betweene the paines of a woman in travell and the paines of a goute or some mortall disease for though that be as extreeme in smart and present irkefomenesse as the other yet it containes in it and it proceedes from a Matter of Ioy And all the wrestlings of the Soule with the enemies of Salvation are but as the paines of a woman in travell when Christ is fashioned when the issue iâ—… victorious and with gaine the soule no more remembreth those afflictioâ—…s which were but for a moment Fifthly and lastly I have fallen into many and great sinnes and if all sinne be of a mortall and venemous operation how can my Life in Christ consist with such heavie provocations and apostacies To this in generall I answer If the sight of thy sinnes make thee looke to Christ If â—…hou canst beleeve all things are possible It is possible for thy greatest apostacies to vanish like a Cloud and to be forgotten Though sinne have weakned the Law that we cannot be saved by that yet it hath not weakned Faith or made that unable to save For the strength of sinne is the Law it hath its condemning vertue from thence Now by Faith we are not under the Law but under Grace When once wee are incorporate into Christs body and made partakers of the new Covenant though we are still under the Laws conduct in regard of its obedience which is made sweete and easie by Grace yet we are not under the laws maledâ—…ction So that though sinne in a Beleever bee a transgression of the Law and doth certainely incurre Gods displeasure yet it doth not de fectâ—… though it doe de merito subject him to wrath and vengeance because every justified man is a person priviledg'd though not from the duties yet from the curses of the Law If the King should gratiously exempt any subject from the Lawes penaltie and yet require of him the Lawes obedience if that man offend he bâ—…ch transgreâ—…sed the Law and provoked the displeasure of the Prince who haply will make him some otheâ—… way to 〈◊〉 it yet his offence doth not nullyfie his priviledge nor voyde the Princes grace which gave him an immunitie from the foâ—…feitures though not from the observance of the Law Adultery amongst the Iewes was punished with Death and Theft onely wtth restitution amongstus Adulterie is not punished with Death and Theft is Now then though a Iew and an Englishman be both bound to the obedience of both these Lawes yet a Iew is not to die for Theft nor an Englishman for Adultery because wee are not under the Iudiciall Lawes of that people nor they under our Lawes Even so those sinnes which to a man under the covenant of workes do dâ—… facto bring Death if he continue alwayes under that covenant doe onely create a Merit of Death in those who are under the Covenant of Grace but doe not actually exclude them from Salvation because without infidelitie no sinne doth peremptorily and quoad eventum
condemne But it may here further be objected How can I beleeve under the weight of such a finne Or how is Faith able to hold mee up under so heavie a guilt I answere the more the greatnesse of siâ—…ne doth appeare and the heavier the weight thereof is to the Soule there is the Grace of God more aboundant to beget Faith and the strength of Faith is prevalent against any thing which would oppose it To vnderstand this we must note that the strength of Faith doth not arise out of the formall qualitie thereof for Faith in it selfe as a habit and endowment of the Soule is as weake as other graces but onely out of the relation it hath to Christ. Faith denotates a mutuall Act betweene us and Christ and therefore the Faith of the patriarcheâ—… is expressed in the Apostle by saluting or embracing they did not onely claspe Christ but he them againe So that the strength of Faith takes in the strength of Christ because it puts Christ into a man who by his Spirit dwelleth and liveth in us And here it is worth our observing that the reason why the house in the parable did stand firme against all tempests was because it was founded upon a Rocke Why may not a weake superstruction ofrotten and inconsistent materials bee built upon a sound foundation As a strong house fals from a weake foundation may not in like manner a weake house by a tempest fall from a strong foundation Surely in Christs Temple it is not as in ordinary materiall buildings In these though the whole frame stand upon the foundation yet it stands together by the strength of the parts amongst themselves and therefore their mutuall weaknesse and failings do prejudice the stabilitie of the whole But in the Church the strength of Christ the foundation is not an immanent personall fixed thing but a derivative and an effused strength which runnes through the whole building Because the foundation being a vitall foundation is able to shed forth and transfuse its stability into the whole structure What ever the materials are of themselves though never so fraile yet being once incorporated in the building they are presently transformed into the nature and firmenesse of their foundation To whom comming as unto a living stone saith Saint Peter ye also as lively stones are built up a spirituall house to note unto us the transformation and uniformitie of the Saints with Christ both in their spirituall nature and in the firmenesse and stabilitie of the same More particularly the strength of Faith preserues us from all our spirituall enemies From the Divell Hee that is begotten of God keepeth himselfe and the wicked one toucheth Him not Above all take the shield of Faith by which you shall be able to quench all the furie darts of the wicked From the World This is the victorie which overcommeth the World even our Faith From our fleshly corruptions The Heart is purified by Faith The Law of the Spirit of Life in Iesus Christ that is the Law of Faith hath made mee free from the Law of Sinne that is the Law of the members or fleshly concupiscence And all this is strengthened by the Power of God not by Faith alone are we kept but yee are kept saith Saint Peter By the power of God through Faith unto Salvation and that not such a Power as that is wherewith he concurreth in the ordinarie and naturall operations of the Creature which proportioneth it selfe and condescendeth unto the exigencie of second causes failing where they faile and accommodating the measure of his agencie to those materials which the second causes have supplyed as we see when a Childe is borne with fewer parts then are due to naturall integrity Gods concurrence hath limited it selfe to the materials which are defective and hath not supplyed nor made up the failings of nature but that power whereby hee preserves men unto Salvation doth prevent bend and carry the heart of man which is the secondary agent unto the effect it selfe doth remove every obstacle which might endanger his purposâ—… in saving the Creature and maketh his people a willing people But you will say Faith is indeede by these meanes stronger then sinne when it worketh but not when it sleepeth and the working of Faith being dependant upon the faculties of the Soule which are essentially mutable and incostant in operation must needes bee uncertaine too that sinne though it bee sarre weaker then Faith may yet when by our security Faith is fallen asleepe surprize and kill it even as Iaâ—…l a weake woman upon the same advantage killed Sisera a strong Captaine But though Faith fleepe yet Hee that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleepe and we are kept not onely by Faith but by His Power which Power worketh all our workes for us and in us giveth us both the Will and the Deede the Gift of continuing in His Feare and the Will so to continue The heart of the king saith Salomon that is the most soveraigne unconquerable peremptorie and unsubjected will in the World is in the Hand of God even as clay in the hand of the Potter So that though our hearts in regard of themselves bee not onely at large and indeterminate to any Spirituall operations but have an extreme reluctancie to all the motions of Gods Spirit yet considering their subordination to Gods mercifull purposes to the Power of His Grace to His Heavenly Call according unto purpose to the exceeding greatnesse and working of his mighty Power manifest it is that they are vndeclinable mightily by a hidden wonderfull most effectuall power yea by an Omnipotent facilitie and yet most sweetly and connaturally moved unto Grace They are all the frequent words of Holy Austin that Champion of Grace whose unvaluable industry in that behalfe all after ages have admired but hardly paralell'd Now then for the further establishing the heart of a man seriously and searchingly humbled with the sense and consciousnesse of some great relapse for what I shall say can yeeld no comfort to a man in an unrelenting obdurate and persisting apostafie Let him consider the safety and firmenesse of his life in Christ upon these grounds First Gods Eternall Love and free Grace which is towards us the Highest linke of Salvation both in order of time nature and causalitie Whom He predestinated those also He called and whom He called those He Iustified and whom Hee Iustified those also Hee glorified It is not those He will glorifie but hath glorified To note that glorification is linked and folded up with justification and is present with it in regard of their Eternall coexistencie in the predisposition and order of God though not in effectu operis in actuall execution Now this Eternall Love and Grace of God is not founded upon reasons in the Object for He Iustified and by consequence loved the ungodly He
had no holdfast at all of Him When Lazarus was raised It is said that Hee came forth bound hand and foote with Grave cloathes to note that Hee came not out as a victor over Death unto which He was to returne againe but when Christ rose Hee left them behinde because death was to have no more power over Him Thus by His resurrection He was declared to have gone through the whole punishment which Hee was to suffer for sinne and being thus justified himselfe that hee was able also to justifie others that beleeved in him This is the reason why the Apostle useth these words to prove the resurrection of Christ I will give you the sure mercies of David for none of Gods mercies had been sure to us if Christ had been held under by death Our faith had been vaine we had been yet in our sinnes But his worke being fully finished the mercy which thereupon depended was made certaine and as the Apostle speakes sure unto all the 〈◊〉 Thus as the Day wherein Redemption is victorious and consummate is cald the day of Redemption so the worke wherein the merits of Christ were declar'd victorious is said to have been for our justification because they were thereby made appliable unto that purpose The second worke of the Power of Christs Resurrection is to overcome all death in vs and restore vs to life againe Therfore he is cald the Lord of the living and the Prince of life to note that his life is operative unto others wee are by his Resurrection secur'd first against the death and Law which wee were held under for euery sinneâ—… is condemn'd already Now when Christ was condemned for sinne hee thereby deliver'd us from the death of the Law which is the curse so that though some of the grave cloathes may not be quite shaken off but that wee may be subject to the workings feares of the Law upon some occasions yet the malediction thereof is for ever removed Secondly we are secured against the death in sinne regenerated quickned renued fashioned by the power of godlinesse which tameth our rebellions subdueth our corruptions and turneth all our affections another way Thirdly against the hold-fast and conquest of death in the grave from whence wee shall bee translated unto glory a specimen and resemblance of this was shewed at the resurrection of Christ when the graves were opened and many dead bodies of the Saints arose and entred into the Citie As a Prince in his inauguration or sosemne state openeth prisons and unlooseth many which there were bound to honour his solemnitie so did Christ do to those Saints at his resurrection and in them gave assurance to all his of their conquest over the last Enemy What a fearefull condition then are all men out of Christ in who shall have no interest in His resurrection Rise indeed they shall but barely by his power as their Iudge not by fellowship with him as the first fruites and first borne of the dead and therefore theirs shall not be properly or at least comfortably a Resurrection no more than a condemn'd persons going from the prison to his execution may be cald an enlargement Pharaohâ—… Butler and Baker went both out of prison but they were not both delivered so the righteous and the wicked shall all appeare before Christ and bee gathered out of their graves but they shall not all bee Children of the Resurrection for that belongs onely to the just The wicked shall be dead everlastingly to all the pleasures and wayes of sin which here they wallowed in As there remaines nothing to a drunkard or adulterer after all his youthfull excesses but crudities rottennesse diseases and the worme of Conscience so the wicked shall carry no worlds nor satisfactions of lust to hell with them their glorie shall not descend after them These things are truths written with a sunne beame in the booke of God First That none out of Christ shall rise unto Glorie Secondly That all who are in him are purged from the Love and power of sinne are made a people willingly obedient unto his scepter and the government of his grace and spirit and have eyes given them to see no beauty but in his kingdome Thirdly Hereupon it is manifest that no uncleane thing shall rise unto glory A prince in the day of his state or any roiall solemnitie wil not admit beggers or base companions into his presence Hee is of purer eyes then to behold much lesse to communicate with uncleane persons None but the pure in heart shal see God Fourthly that every wicked man waxeth worse and worse that hee who is filthy growes more filthy that sinne hardneth the heart and infidelitie hasteneth perdition Whence the conclusion is evident That every impenitent sinner who without any inward hatred purposes of revenge against sinne without godly sorrow forepast and spirituall renovation for after-times allowes himselfe to continue in any course of uncleannesse spends all his time and strength to no other purpose then onely to heape up coales of Iuniper against his owne soule and to gather together a treasure of sins and wrath like an infinite pile of wood to burne himselfe in Again this power of Christs resurrection is a ground of solid and invincible comfort to the faithfull in any pressures or calamities though never so desperate because God hath power and promises to raise them up againe This is a sufficient supportance first Against any either publike or privat afflictions However the Church may seeme to be reduc'd to as low and uncureable an estate as dried bones in a grave or the brands of wood in a fire yet it shall be but like the darknesse of a night after two daies he will revive againe His goings forth in the defence of his Church are prepared as the morning When Iob was upon a dunghill and his reines were consumed within him When Ionah was at the bottome of the Mountaines and the weedes wrapped about his head and the great billowes and waves went over him so that he seemed as cast out of Gods sight When David was in the midst of troubles and Ezekiah in great bitternesse this power of God to raise unto life againe was the onely refuge and comfort they had Secondly against all temptations and discomforts Satans traines and policies come too late after once Christ is risen from the dead for in his resurrection the Church is discharged and set at large Thirdly against Death it selfe because wee shall come out of our graves as gold out of the fire or miners out of their pits laden with gold and glory at the last Lastly wee must from hence learne to seeke those things that are above whither Christ is gone Christs Kingdome is not here and therefore our hearts should not be here Hee is ascended