which we are most inclinable and that often foil us Constancy is inseparable from Sincerity If we neglect the humbling of our Souls for unavoidable Infirmities the earnest seeking for the Divine Mercy and Grace and a careful watching against them we so far decline from Uprightness 2. It implies the mortifying the inward Affection to that Sin. The Rule of our Duty requires this Cleanse your Hands ye Sinners purify your Hearts ye double-minded The Will is the proper Principle of Sin and from the depravation of the free Faculty actual Sins proceed As the Love of the Subject is the Strength of the Prince so the Love of any Sin preserves its Dominion There may be a concurrence of Circumstances to hinder the actual commission of Sin of which the Heart is guilty An unclean Person when separated from the Object of his impure Desires may languish in his Lusts and by contemplative commission be guilty before God. A malicious Person may keep the Fire of Malice in his Breast without the least discovery by a Spark or Smoak in his Words or Actions waiting for an opportunity that he may take his full Revenge and is a Murderer in his Wishes The rapacious desire of anothers Goods without actual Robbery induces the Guilt of Thest. There may be an invincible Bar between the sinful Affection and the Object Sickness or Age may so waste the vigour of the Body that we cannot perform the gross Acts of Sin But this Abstinence has no moral Value for it only proceeds from the disability of the Instrumental Faculties If one in a Consumption leaves his Revelling and Licentiousness 't is no sign of Divine Grace but of wasted Nature As in a sick Person the Appetite fails the Soul abhors dainty Meat but if he recovers his Appetite revives and is more craving for his Abstinence Thus many who could not enjoy their pleasant Lusts in the time of Diseases being restored to strength their vicious Affections are reincited by new Temptations and with greater excess act over their old Sins as if they would pay Interest for their impatient forbearance An old Sinner may retain and cherish the Fire of Lust in his Heart when Age has snow'd upon his Head As in Mount Aetna the sulphurious Fire and Snow are near together But as the Philosopher observes If a young Eye were put into an old Man's Head he would see as clearly as ever So if natural strength were restor'd in an unconverted Sinner he would be as ardent and active in prosecuting his carnal Desires as before Terrors of Conscience may stop the current of Mens Lusts Fear has Torment and is inconsistent with the Pleasures of Sin the fear of visible Vengeance that sometimes strikes the Wicked or the apprehension of Judgment to come may controul the licentious Appetites from breaking forth into actual commission of Sins But as when the Lions spared Daniel it was not from the change of their wild devouring Nature for they destroyed his Accusers immediately but from the suspending their hurtful Power so when a strong fear lays a restraint upon the active Powers yet inward Lust is the same and would licentiously commit Sin were the Restraint taken away The keeping ones self from Sin that is the sign of Uprightness proceeds from the mortification of the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof The Apostle tells us Carnal Circumcision without the Circumcision of the Heart was of no avail to obtain the Favour of God So the outward forbearance of Sin without inward Purity can never commend us to the Divine Acceptance A Rebel may be driven from the Frontiers but so long as he keeps the Royal City he is unsubdued So if a Lust keeps possession of the Heart tho the executive Powers may be retained or disabled from the outward Acts it still reigns 3. I shall now prove that the keeping a Man's Self from his special Sin is an undeceiving evidence of Sincerity 1. God approves it I was upright before him God has not Eyes of Flesh he doth not see as Man sees The deepest Breast is as clear as Christal in his sight He weighs the Spirits of Men and exactly knows what is true Gold and what is counterfeit He is the Searcher and Judg of our Hearts and his approbation is the strongest Seal of our Uprightness As God said to Abraham Now I know thou fearest me in that thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from me So if we Sacrifice at his Command the Sin that is as dear to us as Isaac was to his Father the Sin of our Love and Delight the Sin that is ours by Choice and Custom then we shall hear the blessed Testimony from Heaven that we love God in sincerity he will own us as his Friends Sincere Christians can appeal to God in the Psalmist's Language and with his Affections Lord search me and try me and see whether there be any way of Wickedness in me they are not conscious of any indulged course of Sin which would make them fearful of his pure and piercing Eye 2. It will appear that the keeping our selves from our peculiar Sins is an infallible proof of Uprightness by considering in what it consists In Scripture Uprightness is equivalent to Perfection and Integrity and opposite to Guilt 1. 'T is equivalent to Perfection Mark the perfect Man and behold the Upright for the End of that Man is Peace The absolute perfection of Holiness is not attainable upon Earth none are refin'd to a height of Purity without Mixtures and Allays But according to the mitigation of the Gospel the Saints whose Aims Desires and Endeavours are to obtain Perfection are accepted in the Blessed Mediator as perfect Now the indulgence of any darling Sin is utterly inconsistent with Perfection in the mild sense of the Gospel and consequently with Uprightness This will be more evident by considering that Uprightness is equivalent with Integrity The Psalmist prays Let Integrity and Uprightness preserve me Integrity implies an uniform equal respect to all the Divine Commands When Conscience of our Duty to God and the reverence of his Authority shining in his Law inclines us to obey all his Will we are upright Partial Obedience that divides the Precepts and complies with those that are agreeing with our Carnal Affections and Interest and neglects the rest is an inconsistent with Sincerity as Death and Life As the Soul in the natural Man is a vital Principle from whence all the Actions of Life and Sense proceed so renewing Grace is a Principle of Universal Obedience Herod did many things gladly upon the preaching of John the Baptist but he would not part with Herodias his charming Lust still had dominion in his Heart The young Man observed other Commands of the Law but when our Saviour tried his Integrity by commanding him to sell all and to give it to the Poor and he should have Treasure in Heaven 't is said he went
wretchedly neglect the means that might alleviate their Sorrows and refuse to be comforted as if they were Persons consecrated to Calamity thus Life is linger'd out in continual Languishings or ended with deadly Grief If the Affliction be singular and extraordinary Sorrow often increases to such dismal Degrees that most woful Effects proceed from that Passion The Anguish of Spirit either breaks out in unkindly and unholy Expressions or inwardly festers with Repining vexatious Thoughts at their Condition Stubborn Spirits are impatient of the Evils they suffer and insensible and undervaluing of the Blessings they possess They neither look upward to the Hand of God that disposes all Evils nor inward to their Sins the most righteous procuring Cause of them But serious Reflection would constrain them to acknowledg that God punishes them less than their Sins deserved and that their Dross needed the vehemence of the Fire to purge it away A meek yielding our selves and a complying with the blessed Ends of his afflicting Providence will make us to understand by Experience that all our sharpest Sufferings were most wisely and divinely ordered by our Heavenly Father 3. We must search for our peculiar Sin in the Society with whom we are conversant Our Company that we choose and are frequently engaged with discovers us to others and may to our selves 'T is a true Glass that by reflexion makes visible the Countenance and Complexion of our Minds Love proceeds from Likeness and the Election of Friends from a correspondence in the Tempers of Men. 'T is true there may be Foreign Motives of Friendship and Commerce with others from our Secular Affairs and Interests but Inclination is the internal Cause of Friendship 'T is visible that Carnality in its various kinds cements Friendships the Intemperate the Lascivious the Worldly are endear'd to one another by the resemblance in their Minds and Manners Besides Examples if often in our view and especially of those whom we love have a strange Power to change us into their Likeness 'T is the Observation of the wise Man He that has fellowship with a proud Man will be like him The vicious Affections of the Heart transpire in Words and Actions and insensibly infect others and in familiar Society the Contagious Evil the more strongly infects being immediately conveyed If our intimate Friends are worldly Wise who mind earthly Things sagacious to forecast Advantages and active to accomplish their Designs we may judg of the strain of our Affections for if our Conversations were in Heaven if our frequent and serious Discourses were of Things above how to improve Spiritual Riches our Company would be ungrareful to them without Sympathy there can be no complacence in Society The Garlick and Onions of the Egyptian Earth is more tasteful to their Palats than the Bread of Angels Besides by constant familiarity our Minds are apt to be corrupted to value the World as our substantial Felicity and our Hearts to be corrupted with the love of it which is of the Spring of Mens Sins and Misery Thus if we are Associates with the Voluptuous there will steal into the Heart an allowance of Sensuality and a dislike of Holiness as a sowr Severity If unregenerate Men though of a civil Conversation be our chosen and familiar Friends our Zeal for Religion will decline and lukewarmness be insensibly infus'd into us Briefly as the Wax receives the Figure of the Seal that is applied to it our Minds receive a likeness from the Impressions of Examples Therefore a Prudence discreet and severe is necessary in the choice of our Society In the Humane Life there is no mistake more dangerous than in the choice of Friends with whom we are usually conversant 'T is a comprehensive Rule and most useful for the guiding us safely to Heaven to select the Wise and Holy to be our bosom-Friends As a Ring touch'd by a Loadstone drawsanother by an imprest Virtue so in holy Society there is Divine Grace attractive of the Hearts of others He that walks with the Wise shall be wise but a Companion of Fools shall be afflicted That is the penal Consequence of being corrupted by them The Sensual and Luxurious by their converse pervert good Dispositions in others and heighten evil Inclinations into Habits They are Satan's Instruments to draw Men into his Snares more familiar Devils to tempt and destroy Souls He that chuses evil Company is like one that voluntarily frequents a House infected with the Plague who is either a Fool and disvalues Life or desperate and seeks Death 4. We must consider the Quality of the Times we live in to discover what Sin is predominant in us There are Evil Days in the Apostle's Language with respect to the Temptations and Troubles that are concomitant with them and a wise circumspect walking is requisite to preserve our Innocence and Purity Sometimes those who are dignified with Titles and Powers are leaders in Sin and their publick Practices are so commandingly exemplary that they easily prevail upon many to follow them for that is the way to insinuate into their favour and obtain secular Advantages and Rewards From hence it is that some as if the opposite Forms of Religion were but different fashions of the same stuff will put on a new Livery according to the Master they serve They have a politick Faith you may coin them a Philip and Mary or an Elizabeth as the Mintage of the Times vary But the Example of the High and Noble is no safe Rule A Rule of Gold tho of value for the Matter yet if crooked 't is useless as a Rule In some Ages the Poison sheds it self into the whole Body of a Nation that rarely any are untainted The old World was drown'd in sensuality and Noah only escap'd And in the next Age how did Idolatry like an overspreading Leprosy infect the World and Abraham hardly escap'd In Jeremy's Time the Land mourn'd for Oaths and Curses Men were turn'd breathing Devils and spake the Language of Hell before they came there Sometimes all Degrees are so corrupt that Vices pass for Vertues the rage of Duelling for Heroick Valour Luxury and Sensuality for innocent and amiable Qualities and Holiness tho a Divine Excellency and the very Beauty of the Deity is despised and derided Thus Men glory in their Shame and are ashamed of their Glory Now there is no Tyranny more violent than of a corrupt Custom no Contagion more catching than of National Sins The Apostle reminds the Ephesians that in their Heathen State they walk'd according to the Course of the World. We are therefore strictly commanded not to be conform'd to the World but transform'd by the renewing of our Minds that we may prove what is the Good the acceptable and perfect Will of God. 'T is the eminent effect of Grace to resist the Torrent of the Times and to value the Conscience of our Duty before all Worldly Respects accordingly 't is recorded to the everlasting Honour of Jehoshaphat
the People by degrees to them yet were crafty to hide their Design Caesar sometimes appeared publickly with a Wreath of Lawrel on his Head but lest the People from his wearing that appearance of a Crown should be jealous of his Intention pretended it was only to supply his want of Hair and cover his baldness Pompey wore a white Fillet curiously wrought about his Leg in pretence that his Leg was hurt but in truth because it was a Diadem a Royal Ornament for which he was reproach'd by some strict Observer There are innumerable Arts us'd to cover Mens respective Sins I shall only instance in one that is usually practis'd How do many like the crafty Lapwing that flutters at a distance from its Nest appear zealous against the visible Sins of others that under that shadowy Deceit they may hide their own Their Words feather'd with severe censure fly abroad wounding the Reputation of others for lesser Faults that they may not be suspected to be guilty of worse Sins secretly cherish'd by them But if the beloved Sin be evident Satan assists the corrupt Mind to frame such colourable Pretences either to defend or excuse it that it may not appear in a ghastly manner attended with strict Judgment and an everlasting Hell. When a Lust has enticed and drawn away the Will the Mind is ingag'd to give colour to the Consent and either directly or in an oblique way to represent the Sin that it may appear less odious and more amiable Sometimes the Understanding is so perverted by the impression of Pleasure that Conscience allows Concupiscence 'T is a repeated Observation of a wise Philosopher that Vices were disguis'd under the resemblance of Vertues and Vertues disparag'd under the names of Vices from whence the Understanding and Will the Mind and Manners were depraved and shame was cast upon the Vertuous and boldness given to the Vicious Profuseness is stil'd Magnificence Violence Valour Dissoluteness Gentility Fraud and Craft Prudence On the contrary Sincerity is blasted with the name of Folly Patience reputed Stupidity and Conscience Superstition The Proud will set off the the lofty Humour and Carriage as a decent greatness of Spirit and vilify the Humble as low and sordid The Cholerick will ingage Reason to justify his Passion he will alledge the Provocation would anger an Angel. The Luke-warm in Religion will represent lukewarmness as a discreet Temperament between the vicious Extreams of a Wild-fire Zeal and a prophane coldness and neglect The Earthly-minded will put flattering Colours on Covetousness to make it appear a praise-worthy Vertue a prudent provision for time to come If Men are quite destitute of defence they will by a mild construction extenuate the guilt of their darling Sin. The incontinent Person will make a Canopy for his Lust as only a humane Frailty The Intemperate will excuse his Excess as free Mirth and harmless Society Many Apologies are made for the Sins Men indulgently commit some will plead in excuse a prone necessity of Nature some the Custom of the Places they live in some their unsettled Youth any thing that may lessen the turpitude in the view of Conscience or in the Opinion of others Now pleading argues Love and Love denominates the Sin to be their own From hence it is that so many contract a desperate hardness and are irrecoverably depraved But if Men cannot hide or excuse their beloved Sin they are impatient of reproof for it and with secret Discontent or stormy Passions reject Admonition Some of fair Tempers and Conversation if a Minister or Friend be faithful to their Souls and with holy Zeal urges the divorcing Command of God between them and their pleasant Sins and represents sincerely the Guilt of their sinful course of Life they become fierce and vehement and recoil upon their Reprovers as arrogating imperious Authority or for Rigour and Severity or importinence in admonishing them and sometimes recriminate that the Reprover is as bad or worse himselfl ike a River that passes without noise till it meets with the Arches of a Bridg that stops its free Current then it swells and roars In short the indulgent Sinner will endeavour to defend his bosom-Sin or to subdue his Conscience that it may not torment him for it 5. The Sin that the enlightned Conscience reflects upon with anguish and bitter remorse is usually that which has been indulg'd and whereby God has been most dishonour'd There is so deep an impression of the Deity in the Soul and our duty and accountableness that it cannot be utterly defac'd and though the rebellious Will and Affections controul it for a time yet it remains for the Conviction and Punishment of Delinquents Conscience is a Spy in our Bosoms and observes in order to a discovery and what is written in its Register cannot be razed out 'T is true a Spirit of Slumber sometimes seizes upon the Wicked and Conscience is so stupified that they sin without reflection and remorse but there are times wherein Conscience is rous'd up like a Lion and tears them in pieces according to the fearful Threatning This is sometimes done by the powerful preaching of the Word The Apostle describes the Word of God by its admirable efficacy 'T is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder the Soul and Spirit and of the Joints and Marrow and is a discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart When the Word by a piercing Application discovers the bosom-Sin and the fearful Judgment that attends it so that the Guilty cannot obscure the Evidence of the one nor avoid the terror of the other then Conscience bleeds afresh that was seared before There is recorded a wonderful Instance of this in the Acts of the Apostles when Paul the Prisoner reason'd of Righteousness Temperance Judgment to come Felix trembled The discoursing of those Vertues that were directly contrary to his habitual Enormities ript up his Conscience to the quick and struck into consternation that lofty Sinner From hence it is that many decline a sharp and searching Ministry which is always the Token of a guilty Heart The Word shining upon the Conscience like the reflection of the Sun upon the Waters that made them appear like Blood makes Sins to appear in their crimson Guilt their bloody Aggravations Our Saviour tells us that the evil Doer neither loves or comes to the Light lest his Deeds should be reproved When a powerful Preacher as a second Conscience as if he knew the Hearts and Ways of Men sets their Sins in order before their Eyes and closely applies the Threatnings of Divine Vengeance to them Conscience often joins with him and as a faithful Eccho repeats the terrible Truths to their conviction and anxiety In times of Affliction when our Sins find us out we usually find out our Sins In full Prosperity Men are strangers at Home and rarely look inward they will not endure
Truth Vices and Vertues Errors are inconsistent and irreconcileable and at War among themselves but Truth has an universal Consent and mutual Dependance in all its parts there is no Contrariety between natural and supernatural Verities Vices are sometimes so contrary in their Ends and Exercise that they fall foul upon one another that none can be so universally wicked as to commit all Sins but if he be addicted to one must forsake the other But there is a Connexion between the Graces of the Holy Spirit tho different in their Objects and Natures yet they have the same Tendency the Glory of God and our own Salvation and are united in the Subject There is but one way to Heaven as there can be but one straight way to a place but there are innumerable Deviations from it as many crooked ways to Hell as there are sinful Lusts that bring Men thither The Prophet tells us All we like Sheep have gone astray every one in his own way There are many By-paths that lead to Destruction We must also observe to prevent Mistakes there may be a forsaking of a particular Sin that has been delightful and predominant without Sincerity towards God for another Lust may have got possession of the Heart and take the Throne There is an alternate Succession of Appetites in the corrupt Nature according to the Change of Mens Tempers or Interests in the World. As Seeds sown in that order in a Garden that 't is always full of the Fruits in Season so original Sin that is sown in our Nature is productive of divers Lusts some in the Spring others in the Summer of our Age some in the Autumn others in the Winter Sensual Lusts flourish in Youth but when mature Age has cool'd these Desires Worldly Lusts succeed In old Age there is no relish of Sensuality but Covetousness reigns imperiously And as the Conditions and Interests of Men alter so their Affections change they are not constant to their Bosom-Sins Now he that expels one Sin and entertains another continues in a State of Sin 't is but exchanging of one Familiar for another or to borrow the Prophet's Expression 'T is as if one should fly from a Lion and meet with a Bear that will as certainly devour him 2. The forsaking our respective Sin is the inseparable Effect of Uprightness It has been proved before that if the Heart be divided between Obedience to the Divine Law and Inclination to any Sin 't is false to God. Repenting Ephraim said What have I to do any more with Idols an Expression of vehement detestation Idolatry had been the reigning Sin of that Tribe and therefore the renouncing of Idols was a clear convincing Sign of their sound Conversion It is impossible that sincere Love to God and the habitual allowance of a known Sin should be in the same Heart as for the Ark of God and the Idol of the Philistins to be plac'd on the same Altar Uprightness is consistent with Frailties but not with chosen Lusts. As Loyalty to the Prince is consistent with some Actions contravening his Laws that proceed from Ignorance or Surprize But Loyalty is inconsistent with Rebellion that is open Treason or with treasonable Designs that are secret Rebellion So any Sin that Men presumptuously live in or consent to in their Hearts is absolutely inconsistent with Uprightness 2. Let us be excited to keep our selves with all Diligence from our Iniquity This is the Master-piece of Mortification the noble effect of renewing Grace and very difficult to the corrupt Nature To enforce this Duty I will propound those Motives and Means as are very conducing for our performance of it The Motives are 1. Habitual indulged Lusts are irreconcileable with the state of Grace they render the Sinner till forsaken uncapable of God's pardoning Mercy here and the heavenly Glory hereafter The Gospel is a gracious Act of Oblivion for the restoring of Rebellious Sinners to the Favour of God but the Pardon is obtained upon Conditions that are indespensable Mercy is assured to penitent Believers for all their Sins of Ignorance and those Frailties that are the Causes of their daily Sorrow and Watchfulness and for all presumptuous Sins retracted by Repentance but the Saviour of the World excludes the impenitent and unreform'd from Mercy unless ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Now when Repentance is sound and solemn the Spirit is deeply wounded for that Sin whereby God has been most dishonoured and his Law violated The remembrance of it opens a full stream of Tears excits a holy Hatred and according to the degrees of Sorrow and Revenge there will be care to preserve our selves from that Sin. The Psalmist saith Blessed is the Man to whom the Lord imputes no Iniquity in whose Spirit there is no Guile implying that one reserved Lust which is a certain Argument of Deceit in the fairest Professors of Religion is a Bar against the Pardon of our Sins The Tenor of the unchangeable Covenant of Grace is I will write my Laws in their Hearts and I will be merciful to their Unrighteousness and their Sins and Iniquities I will remember no more God promises to reconcile their Affections to his Commands The Law may be written in the Mind and Memory of an unsanctified Person for the Ideas of the most repugnant things are consistent in those Faculties but the Heart is not capable of contrary Objects the Love of God's Law expels the predominant Love of Sin. Now since the Promise of Pardon is in Conjunction with inward Sanctification which implies an universal Aversion from Sin 't is evident that indulged habitual Lusts are not capable of Pardon whatever quality the Sin be of whether of Omission or Commission the allowance makes it destructive to Sinners As from what Corner soever a blasting Wind comes whether from the East or the North it destroys the Fruits If but one selected Sin remains in the Affections and Practice it contracts the Malignity of all the rest and will prove deadly to the Soul. 'T is not a presumptuous reliance on the Merits of Christ will save Men with their Sins The Atonement made to Divine Justice by the precious Sacrifice of the Lamb of God was never designed for the reconciling God to those who with depraved Obstinacy continue in their Sins 't is utterly inconsistent with the Divine Wisdom Holiness Justice and Truth to appoint a Sacrifice for the Expiation of final Impenitency Such out-sin the Death of Christ I will not say as to its infinite Merit but as to the Application and intended Benefit of it The Value of his Death to abolish the Guilt and the Vertue of it to mortify the Power of Sin are inseparable The precicious Balm has a fragrant Smell that revives the Spirits but without applying its Substance to the Wound the Scent will not heal it The Soul must feel the Power of Christ's Sufferings to kill our Sins otherwise the pleasing belief of his Righteousness
will not justify us before God. The Mercy-Seat sprinkled with his Blood affords Protection from the Avenger to all relenting returning Sinners but Justice will tear the presumptuous Sinner from the Horns of the Altar The most rigorous Penance will not avail without mortifying the Affection to Sin the most severe Discipline to the Body is but like a Mountebanck's applying the Salve to the Weapon without dressing the Wound that cannot work a found Cure. The dispensing of the Treasure of Merits to penitent Pay-Masters and giving mercenary Bills of Exchange to receive Righteousness from others is so wretched and transparent a Fallacy that were not the Minds of Men prodigiously stupified it is impossible they should believe it will avail them before the Judgment-Seat of God. Let our Prayers be never so frequent and earnest they are of no prevalency with God whilst the beloved Sin is retain'd The Condition of our favourable Audience is set down by Solomon in his Divine Prayer at the Dedication of the Temple What Prayer or Supplication soever be made by any Man or by all the People of Israel which shall know every Man the Plague of his own Heart and spread forth his hand to Heaven then hear thou in Heaven and hearing forgive If they shall be sensible of the Bosom-Sin of its pestilential Malignity and with repenting Sorrow acknowledg and forsake it they are prepared Objects of Mercy David saith If I regard Iniquity in my Heart the Lord will not hear my Prayer God sees through all the Disguises of Hypocrites and has a bright prospect into the Heart if any insinuating Infirmity be cherish'd there it will make him averse from our Persons and Requests 'T is not the performance of religious and charitable Duties that will purchase Indulgence for a beloved Sin. The most costly Sacrifices the most liberal Charities are neither pleasing to God nor profitable to us without an unfeigned renouncing of our Sins 'T is a carnal Shift that many use to excuse the Practice of a chosen Sin by the doing some good things many strict Observers of the Rituals of Religion are dissolute Epicures as if they might compensate for their voluntary Defects in one Duty by their care in another But if Conscience be not so far stupified that it can neither hear nor see nor speak 't is impossible but the guilty Deceiver must be terrified with the words of St. James That whosoever shall keep the whole Law yet offend in one point he is guilty of all The most strict Observance of one Precept will not excuse Disobedience to another the voluntary continued Transgression of any Command involves a Man under the Guilt of breaking the entire Law the Divine Authority being despised that makes it binding I will instance in one kind of Sins Many that have increas'd their Estates by Craft and Circumvention or by Violence and Rapine will bequeath part to pious uses presuming by a kind of Composition with God to be discharged of their guilty Gains St. Austin observes that some in his time thought it to be Obedience to the Command of our Saviour Make your selves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting Habitations This is to defile and debase the Name of the Righteous and Holy God 't is to make him altogether like to corrupt Men as if he would be brib'd to patronize their Wickedness And in other cases thus monstrously Carnal Men bend the Rule of Rectitude to the Obliquity of their Desires They are willing to deceive themselves and imagine that only Ministers of a preciser strain will terrify them with eternal Judgment for one retained Sin they desire and are apt to believe such a Mercy as will bring them to Heaven with their Sins in their Bosoms But the Apostle warns us Be not deceived God is not mocked as a Man sows so shall he reap There are sure and tender Mercies for the Upright but strict and certain Justice for the Wicked Sincerity is so amiable and pleasing in God's Eyes that he graciously passes by many Infirmities upon that account It is said of Asa that his Heart was perfect all his days and notwithstanding some gross Faults God accepted him But when the Heart is corrupted by the love of some pleasant or profitable Sin it renders a Person with the most specious Services odious in God's sight In short indulged known Sins that Men habitually commit in hopes of an easie Absolution are not the Spots of God's Children 'T is so directly contrary to the Divine Nature to that holy ingenuous Fear of offending our heavenly Father resulting from it that only the Wicked are capable of such a disposition Presumptuous Sins are a contumelious abuse of Divine Mercy and exasperate that high and tender attribute to the confusion of Sinners at the last Do good O Lord unto those that be good and to them that are upright in Heart As for such as turn aside to their crooked Ways the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of Iniquity 2. We may by Divine Grace subdue the strongest Lusts that from our Nature and Temper or from Custom and the Interests of the Carnal State have rule over us The New Covenant assures Believers that Sin shall not have Dominion over them because they are not under the Law but under Grace The Law strictly forbids Sin but the Gospel furnishes with strength to subdue it 'T is true inherent Corruption has so devested Men of spiritual Strength that they cannot free themselves from the Power and Infection of Sin and when any Lust is fomented by Temptations and has been frequently gratified 't is more hard to be subdued The Apostle speaks of some whose Eyes were full of Adultery that could not cease from Sin they were in a state of Carnality and lov'd to be so When Lust is imperious and the Will servile Men cannot wean themselves from the poison'd Breasts This disability consists in the depraved obstinacy of the Will that aggravates their Sin and Judgment Yet so foolish are Sinners as to use this Plea to make them excusable for their habitual Lusts Conscience checks them and some faint Desires they have to avoid their Sins but they cannot change their Natures They colour Licentiousness with the pretence of Necessity they complain of their Chains to let loose the Reins of their exorbitant Desires in a course of Sin. But natural Corruption that involves us under Guilt cannot make us innocent 'T is true if in our original Condition the humane Will had been stamp'd by Fate with an unalterable inclination to Sin we could not have been guilty for if there be no Principles of Liberty all the Names of Good and Evil are cancell'd and all moral Means Instructions Persuasions Threatnings are but lost labour In Brutes there are some natural Resemblances of Vertue and Vice yet not worthy of Reward or Punishment only so far as by Imagination they
are capable of Instruction and Discipline and by coming near to Reason have a little imitation of Liberty they are rewarded or punished But Man in the condition wherein he was created had perfect freedom becoming the dignity of the reasonable Creature and was enrich'd with all the Graces of which Original Righteousness was compounded the harmonious Orders and coherent Dispositions of the Soul and Body qualified him for his Duty But in the state wherein his voluntary Sin has sunk him the Body is often distemper'd by the annoyance of the Mind and the Soul pays an unnatural and injurious Tribute to the vicious Appetites of the Body And when Corruption is heightned by Custom and the natural Propensity inflam'd by Temptations any Lust becomes more irresistible So that without a new Nature inspir'd from Above they cannot rescue themselves from the Bondage of Sin. Now the moral Impotence in Men to vanquish their Lusts tho it will be no Apology at the Day of Judgment yet it will discourage them from making resistance for who will attempt an impossibility Despair of Success relaxes the active Powers cuts the Nerves of our Endeavours and blunts the edg of Industry 'T is related of the West-Indians that upon the first incursion of the Spaniards into their Country they tamely yielded to their Tyranny for seeing them clad in Armour which their Spears could not pierce they fancied them to be the Children of the Sun invulnerable and immortal But an Indian carrying a Spaniard over a River resolved to try whether he were mortal and plung'd him under Water so long till he was drown'd From that Experiment they took courage and resolv'd to kill their Enemies who were capable of dying and recover their dear Liberty lost by so foolish a Conceit Thus Men will languish in a worse Servitude if they fancy the Lusts of the Flesh their intimate Enemies to be insuperable Fear congeals the Spirits and disables from noble Enterprises which Hope persuades and Courage executes Now we have an Army of Conquerors to encourage us in the Spiritual War with the Flesh the World and Satan Enemies in combination against us How many Saints have preserv'd themselves unspotted from the most alluring Temptations they were not Statues without sensible Faculties but ordered them according to the Rule of Life they were not without a conflict of Carnal Passions but by the Holy Spirit subdued them and though some obtain'd a clearer Victory than others yet all were victorious by Divine Grace The Examples of so many Holy and Heavenly Men prove as clearly and convincingly that the strongest Lusts may be subdued as the walking of Diogenes demonstrated there was progressive motion against the Sophistical Arguments of Zeno. I can do all things saith the Apostle through Christ that strengthens me To Omnipotent Grace all things are easy Our Saviour speaking of the extream difficulty of a Rich Man's Salvation That 't is as easy for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle as for a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven presently mitigates the Difficulty what is impossible to Men is possible to God. He can sanctify a Rich Man that his Humility shall be as low as his Estate is rais'd above others that his Affection shall be Heavenly in the affluence of the World that trust in God shall be his dearest Treasure Divine Grace is a sure Fountain of Assistance to all that sincerely seek it 'T is the Promise of God Ephraim shall say What have I to do any more with Idols The Idols that charm'd their Imaginations should be rejected with deep abhorrence Our Saviour cur'd the Paralitick Person that for 38 Years had been in a desperate Case incurable by natural Remedies an Emblem of the Efficacy of Divine Grace in curing the most inveterate Habits of Sin. There are recorded some eminent Instances of the Power of Grace in changing the Nature of Men. Nicodemus came to our Saviour conceal'd at first by Night as being asham'd or afraid of Observation in the Day But when he was born again by the renovation of the Spirit what an admirable change was wrought in him with a holy heat of Affection he defended our Saviour when alive in the presence of the Pharisees his unrighteous and implacable Enemies he brought costly Preparations for his Funeral when dead And these two glorious effects of his Valour are recorded by St. John with this addition This is that Nicodemus that came to Jesus by Night No Passion is more ungovernable than Fear yet even the Apostles did not express such fidelity and fervency for the Honour of their Master Another Instance is of the Jaylor that kept the Apostles Prisoners he was of a harsh cruel Temper a quality adherent to his Office but Grace so intenerated and softned his Heart that he took them the same hour of the Night and washed their Stripes Acts 16. 33. A visible and suddain effect of the Spirit of Love and Power and of a sound Mind 'T is recorded of many who used curious Arts they brought their magical Books though counted worth fifty thousand pieces of Silver and burnt them so mightily grew the Word of God and prevail'd How insuperable soever Sin is to naked Nature it may be subdued by Grace St. John gives an honourable Testimony of the Christians to whom he wrote My little Children ye are of God and have overcome the evil One for the Spirit that is in you is greater than that which is in the World. The Holy Spirit is not only greater in himself than the Tempter but as fortifying weak Christians is superior to the Evil Spirit with all his Train of Artillery the manifold Temptations which the World affords in his War against our Souls Satan takes advantage not only from our Security but our Pusillanimity we are therefore commanded to resist the Devil and he will flee from us What is observed of the Crocodile is applicable to the great Enemy of our Salvation He is terrible in his Assaults upon the faint-hearted but flies from those who are watchful to resist his Temptations To excite Christians to make serious and hopeful Trials for the subduing the strongest Corruptions I will select two Examples of the vertuous Heathens who restrain'd Anger and Lust that are the most rebellious Passions against the Empire of the Mind Socrates by natural Temper was Cholerick yet he had so far reduc'd his Passions under the command of Reason that upon any violent Provocation his Countenance was more placid and calm his Voice more temperate and his Words more obliging Thus by wise Counsel and Circumspection he obtain'd a happy Victory over himself The other is of young Scipio the Roman General in Spain who when a Virgin of exquisite Beauty was presented to him among other Captives religiously abstained from touching her and restor'd her to the Prince to whom she was espous'd How do such Examples of the poor Pagans who in the glimmerings of
Nature exprest such Vertues upbraid Christians who are Servants to their Corruptions in the Light of Divine Revelation If by the practice of Philosophy they kept themselves from the Dominion of their Carnal Appetites shall not Christians by a supernatural Aid obtain a clearer Victory over them In vain do Men pretend want of strength to vanquish their stubborn Lusts for if they sincerely seek for Divine Grace and are faithful in the use of Means proper to that End they shall obtain a blessed freedom from the Power of Sin. 3. The subduing the ruling Lust will make the Victory over other Sins more easy Our Commission against Sin is like that of Saul against the Amalekites to destroy them all if any one be spared it will prove as fatal to us as the Amalekite that dispatch'd Saul who suffer'd him to live when the whole Lineage was doom'd to utter Excision Now amongst the divers Lusts that war against the Soul some are the Leaders that give vigour to the rest that recall them when withdrawn rally them when scattered and renew the Fight against us As the Vertues of the sanctified Mind so the Passions of the carnal Appetite assist one another therefore when the corrupt Passion that was so dangerously influential upon the rest is subdued by Divine Grace they necessarily decline and are easily mortified The Temperamental Lust is the Root from whence many others spring and are fed and the eradicating of that takes away the Strength and Life of other vicious Affections The King of Syria commanded his Captains not to fight against Small or Great but only against the King of Israel and after he was slain the Victory over his Army was presently obtain'd Let us direct our Zeal against the leading Lust for all the servile Lusts must fall and die with it When Mithridates the King of Pontus a fierce implacable Enemy of the Romans was kill'd their Joy was exuberant in Sacrifices and Feasts esteeming that an Army of Enemies were extinguish'd in his Death Besides one Victory inspires Courage to atchieve another When David was to encounter with Goliah he derived Confidence from his Experience The Lord that delivered me out of the Paw of the Lion and out of the Paw of the Bear he will deliver me out of the Hand of this Philistine The visible Expresses of the Divine Power in conquering the former Enemies of the Church were the support of their Faith Awake awake O Arm of the Lord and put on strength art thou not it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon Pharaoh and the Egyptian Army In our Spiritual Warfare experience of the Divine Assistance is a Cordial that fortifies the Spirits If the strongest and fiercest of our Corruptions lie bleeding ready to expire we shall not fear the rest The same Grace that has subdued the reigning Lust will make an impression of Obedience upon other Affections that are less powerful in us 4. Consider how dearly our Sins cost our Saviour his Sacred Blood to reconcile us to God and to set us free from their Dominion This is an Argument purely Evangelical and most worthy the Breast of a Christian. He dearly purchas'd a Title to our Love and the serious contemplation of his Passion has an admirable efficacy to inspire the Flame and consequently to make Sin odious that must be expiated and purged away by such bitter Sufferings Our Sins brought our Saviour to the Cross and can we entertain them in our Hearts with the Crimson Guilt that cleaves to them Can we live in the practice of them and crucify him afresh He came to redeem us from all Iniquity and purify us to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works How can we defeat the End and disparage the efficacy of his Death How can we violate such dear Obligations To cherish any Sin is the most ungracious and unkind return to his bleeding dying Love who valued our Souls more than his most precious Life Were it not visible by daily Experience that many are so prodigiously wicked it would raise our wonder how it is possible that any Christian to whom the Love of the Son of God in dying for our Sins is revealed should indulge himself in any Sin. If we did frequently and with solemnity and seriousness remember the Death of our Saviour and his blessed Intention in it we should find that change in our Hearts in regard of our Sins as Amnon did in his Affections to his Sister Tamar His incestuous Love to her at first was a secret Fire that consum'd him but after he had dishonour'd her and polluted himself his Hatred of her was more extream than his Love before Thus the Sins that have been as near to us as our Bosoms as pleasant as our corrupt Inclinations as familiar and intimate as Custom that have deeply defil'd our Souls we should with stronger detestation reject them than ever with delight we committed them 5. The blessed Reward of Uprightness is a powerful Motive to excite us to keep our selves from our Sins The Firmament is not sowed thicker with Stars than the Scripture with precious Promises to the Upright They have a peculiar Interest in the Love of God that is the Fountain of Felicity The Prayer of the Upright is his delight He is most graciously ready to supply all their Wants satisfy their Desires allay their Sorrows overcome their Fears The Lord is a Sun and a Shield He will give Grace and Glory and no good thing will he withhold from those that walk uprightly A comprehensive Promise of the Blessings of Time and Eternity The highest Honour is the Reward of subduing our rebellious Lusts. He that is slow to Anger is better than the Mighty and he that ruleth his Spirit than he that taketh a City The Quality of the Enemy makes the Victory more illustrious Now the rebellious Passions that war against the Soul are Enemies infinitely more dangerous than those who destroy the Bodies and Estates of Men. The Conquest of Armies and Cities is atchieved by Boldness and Strength that are not the peculiar Excellencies of Man for the Horse and the Lion are superior to him in those respects but the reducing his unruly Affections into Holy Order is the Effect of Divine Grace wherein we resemble God. How many of the famous Heroes in the World's account were worse than wild Beasts Enemies to Humanity that unnaturally and barbarously spilt the Blood of thousands to purple their usurp'd Royalty But in subduing the tyrannous Passions of Lust and Anger under the Sovereignty of the renewed Mind there is the happy union of Innocence and Victory There are degrees in the exaltation of the Saints as the Passions their inward Enemies which they subdued were more stubborn and hardly to be overcome In some there is such a concord of Humours such a placid mild Temper that they enjoy a pacifick possession of themselves But this is the Benefit of Nature not
from him Of our selves we cannot conceive a good Thought through Christ strengthening us we can do all things Spiritual Blessings he purchas'd for us by his Humiliation and confers in his Exaltation He gave himself for his Church that he might sanctify it and cleanse it by the washing of Water and the Word Being risen and ascended he received of his Father Divine Gifts and gives Grace unto Men. He gives Repentance which principally consists in the mortifying Sin he blesses us in turning us from our Iniquities The Mortification of Sin is peculiarly attributed to his Death 1. With respect to its meritorious Causality that reconcil'd God to us and obtain'd of him the sanctifying Spirit that is the Seal of his Love to communicate the Divine Nature to us by which we escape the Corruption that is in the World through Lust. The Redemption of a Captive may illustrate the Redemption of Sinners for as in restoring a Captive to Liberty there must be the payment of the Ransom and the breaking of his Chains so in redeeming a Sinner there was the price laid down the unvaluable Blood of the Son of God to procure our spiritual Freedom for the ignominious and cruel Bondage under Satan was the penal Effect of the first Transgression and the invisible Chains the Darkness of Mind the Hardness of Heart the Rebellion of Will the Disorder of Affections and all the vicious Habits that kept him in the Bondage of Satan are to be broken and removed For this reason 't is said God sending his Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for Sin condemning Sin in the Flesh that is Christ dying as a Sacrifice for Sin reconciled God and the Fruit of that Reconciliation is the breaking the Tyrannous Empire of Sin under which we were involv'd that we may enjoy the Liberty of the Sons of God. Sin brought our Saviour to the Cross and he brought Sin to the Cross when he dy'd naturally Sin dyed legally that is was condemn'd to lose its Power in the Hearts and Lives of Believers The excellent Ends of our Saviour's Death are express'd by the Apostle He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity abolish the guilt of Sin and purify unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works 2. By way of Representation As Christ died for Sin we must die to Sin He expiated the guilt of all Sin for penitent Believers and a universal crucifixion of Sin is the imitation of his Death The Apostle insists on this as a Truth of the clearest Evidence to Christians Know ye not that so many as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his Death Therefore we are buried with him in Baptism that as Christ was raised up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of Life For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection Knowing this that our Old Man is crucified with him that the Body of Sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve Sin. The sum of which Reasoning is that our crucifying the corrupt Nature with all its various Affections and Lusts is a lively resemblance of the Death of Christ which was design'd both to be operative in us of the Death of Sin and to be significative of it From whence it follows 't is the indispensable Duty of all Christians to transcribe the Copy of his Death in their Hearts and Lives 3. The Death of Christ mortifies Sin by moral Influence as 't is an Expression of God's transcendent Love to us and his Righteous and Holy severity against Sin both which are such powerful Motives to destroy Sin that whoever does not feel their Efficacy is dead as the Grave without the least vital Spark of grateful Love to Christ. Now the unfeigned belief of the meritorious and efficacious Sufferings of Christ is the means by which the Value of his Death is applied and the Vertue of it derived to us for the killing of our Sins 'T is by Faith we are united to him as our Head the Fountain of Spiritual Sense and Active Power He dwells in our Hearts by Faith and by the eminent Operations of his Spirit strengthens the inner Man. Faith excites us to mortify the inhabiting Corruption by arguing from the Love of Christ in dying for us He left Heaven for us shall not we leave Earth for him He denied his natural innocent Wills to submit to the Death of the Cross for our Salvation Shall not we deny our depraved rebellious Wills for his Glory And unless desperate Sinners who are fallen as low as Hell who can resist such melting Perswasions The Apostle speaks with the most feeling Expressions The Love of Christ constrains us has an absolute invincible Empire over us because we thus judg that if one died for all then were all dead that henceforth we should live to him who died for us And 't is the noble and sensible Effect of quickning Grace to mortify Sin. Faith as it obliges so it encourages to subdue our Sins by reflecting upon the End of Christ's Death which shall certainly be accomplish'd St. Paul in his conflict with an uncessant Enemy was fortified by an Assurance from God My Grace is sufficient for thee The Temptation was not presently removed but strength conveyed by which he was superior to it Our special Sins so easily encompass us that considering our imminent danger we may fear the Issue of the Fight but the believing remembrance of our Saviour's Death inspires new Life and Heat into us knowing that he hath not died in vain Faith raises the drooping Spirit by reflecting upon the compassionate willingness of Christ to relieve and strengthen us in the Holy War. When he was upon Earth he prayed his Father to keep us from the Evil of the World. This was the Copy of his continual Intercession for us in Heaven from whence we are infallibly assur'd that he is most tenderly inclin'd to assist us and preserve us from the malignant influence of the World. For these Reasons Faith in Christ has a cleansing Vertue a victorious Efficacy attributed to it Faith purifies the Heart and overcomes the World. A sincere Believer that makes use of the Divine Ordinances Prayer hearing the Word the confirming Sacrament and other holy Means for the subduing his Corruptions shall certainly obtain a final Victory and the reward of it a triumphant Felicity FINIS Some Divinity Books printed for and fold by Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard MR. Pool's Annotations on the whole Bible in which the whole Sacred Text is inserted in two Volumes in Folio Useful for Families and Closets Dr. Goodwin's Works In two Volumes in Folio Viz. on the Ephesians Revelations The Kowledg of God the Father Election c. His Treatise of the Punishment of Sin in Hell In 8o. Dr. Manton's