practical and operative means whereby he doth communicate life unto us And lastly Therefore God doth use Commands Because this way is suitable to man who is a rational Agent For although the work of grace is more than meerly swasive it is efficacious and really changing the heart so that the Spirit of God doth farre more in converting of a sinner then the Devil doth in tempting to sinne yet God dealeth suitably to the nature of a man We are not like stocks and stones to whom it is ridiculous to preach there being not in them a passive capacity of receiving the worke of grace Hence it is that the Word is preached Miracles are wrought powerfull Arguments are used to draw off the heart So that grace doth worke Ethicophysically as some expresse it Commands then and Threatnings are used because grace is wrought in us after a rational manner in an attempered manner to our constitution The understanding being first wrought upon that so the will and affections may more readily give up themselves Thirdly If liberty be the same with voluntariness and no more as many learned men do contend making voluntas and liberum arbitrium all one as that which is opposed to coaction and natural necessity yea if we adde Aurtelus his opinion to this that libertas was nothing but complacentia liberty is the complacency and delight of the will in its object then in this sense if rightly understood a man hath no freedom to what is holy It is true indeed the learned to shew that grace in converting doth not destroy the liberty of the will viz. the natural liberty no more then the will it self Grace doth not compel the will or put an inherent natural necessity upon it for if there could be coaction the velle would be nolle which is a contradiction and if a natural necessity could be imposed upon it it would not be appetitus rationalis a rational appetite so that though grace in converting of man doth insuperably and invincibly change the will making it of unwilling willing so that there is a necessity not natural but of immutability and unchangeableness The will doth most certainly give it self up to the grace of God mollifying and fashioning of it for that purpose This Iron as it were is put into the fire and then it is made pliable to receive any form or impression yet the essential liberty is not destroyed For the Question about Free-will is not An sit but Quid possit And herein lieth the difficult knot in this whole point about grace and the will of man How to assert the irresistible as many call it but others reject that expression though the sense of those who use it is very sound and significant enough work of grace insuperably determining the will to that which is good and yet to be free from coaction or such a necessity as is destructive to liberty The Quomodo How these two are to be reconciled is that which in all ages hath exercised the most learned and judicious insomuch that some have advised to rest in it by faith as in a mystery above our understanding even as we doe in many other Doctrines to be believed by us But I am not to ascend this mountain at this time This is enough for our purpose to shew That if liberty be said to consist in willing a thing freely from coaction and necessity even in this respect we have not thus farre liberty to good because it is God that worketh in us to will Indeed when we doe will we are not compelled by the Grace of God onely we cannot will till the Grace of God enable us thereto It is not of him that willeth but of God that sheweth mercy Neither are we born of the will of man but of God It is grace then onely that maketh us to will the good things tendered to us though the will in eliciting of this is not compelled but doth it freely yea grace giveth this freedome to it so that grace doth not destroy but give liberty And therefore Austin of old urged That they denied Liberum arbitrium who would not have it Liberatum They cannot hold free-will in a true sense that doe not hold free and efficacious grace which giveth the will all the strength it hath to what is good Thus liberty if it be the same with willingness we have it not of our selves till the grace of God bestow it upon us Fourthly If liberty consist in having dominion and power over our actions then also the will cannot be said to be free as to doe holy things For although the will when it doth will is the subordinate cause under God of its own action and as a cause so also may be said to have dominion over it yet because the actual willing of what is good doth not arise or exist by the strength of the will but by the grace of God therefore it is that in respect of good things the will cannot be said to have the dominion over them This Definition of liberty viz. to have a dominion over our own actions is by Jansenius asserted to be the true and proper meaning of Augustine that his judgement is then the will is said to be free when it hath dominion and power over what it doth and if so no wonder then the will be so often said to be captivated and enslaved that it hath no freedom to what is holy For what power can the will have over holy actions when it is corrupted and defiled that no holy thought or holy motion is under the power of it It was Ambrose his complaint of old That Cor nostrum non est in nostrâ potestate Our heart is not in our power but sinnefull and evil workings of soul rise up in us which we are no wayes able to extinguish Fifthly If liberty be as Anselme of old defined it to which some Neotericks doe adhere viz Facultas servandi rectitudinem propter rectitudinem ipsam That it is a power to observe that which is right for righteousnesse sake then this doth evidently proclaime That man hath no Free-will for to observe that which is holy and righteous for holinesse sake which must needs argue a man regenerated and borne again And indeed liberty in this sense is nothing but the Image of God repaired in a man and so is no more then to be like God himself And now that every man by nature hath lost this Image of God is so plain that the experience of every man concerning his distance from God may fully confirme it If to this be added Aquinas his Description That it is Vis electiva mediorum servato ordine ad finem A power to chuse means with a due order and respect to the end yet still freedome in the will to what is good cannot be found For as saith he The understanding which is an apprehensive faculty hath its simple and bare apprehension of a thing viz. of the first principles And
full as ever Thus it is with this treasure of original sinne all the sins that have come from it to this day have not at all diminished the fountain it 's as full and as overflowing as ever yea as sudden showrs make the rivers fuller causing a flood Thus do all actual and customary sins they make this original corruption like Nebuchadnezzar's fornace seven times hotter than it was before Fourthly In that it is called a treasure we thereby see the delight and pleasure that we naturally take in what is sinfull Our Saviour saith Where a mans treasure is there his heart is also how much more when this treasure is his heart when his heart and treasure is all one Therefore this expression doth denote the futable and pleasing nature of sinne to us it sheweth that what water is to the hydropical man as Job 15. so is sinne to a man by nature Hence Heb. 11. they are called The pleasures of sinne Who would think so you would rather think we might as well say The pleasures of hell and the pleasures of damnation that a man would be as willing to be damned as to sinne But thus sweet and pleasing is sinne to every man by nature because his heart is upon it it is a treasure to him That as the godly account Gods will sweeter than the honey-comb so do they the will and lusts of sinne Do ye not pity such who are so distempered in their palate that they cannot forbear eating those things which will be their death at last How much more miserable is man to whom nothing is so pleasant so much sought after as that which will prove his eternal damnation And certainly if sinne be not such a delight to thee naturally how cometh it about that no threatning no fear of hell all the curses in the Law denounced against thee cannot make thee forbear If you regard sinne in its own nature so the Scripture represents it most irksom and loathsom comparing it to gall to a bitter root to mire to vomit And who can desire to swallow down these things But because original sinne hath infected all hath made us like so many beasts therefore what is in it self abominable to our corrupt natures is become exceeding pleasant Fifthly Because it 's a treasure therefore it is that every day there cometh from us some new corruption or other some new sinne or other to be matter of condemnation to us That when we might think if once we had got our hearts to such a frame if once we could subdue such a corruption then we hope we should be at some ease but no sooner have we obtained such desires but this treasure of evil poureth out new matter of sorrow corruptions rise fresh again when we began to hope all were dead So that the soul begins to be even hopeless crying out O Lord how long When shall this bloudy flux be stopped When shall it once be that I may be quiet and free from this molesting enemy within But it is with thy heart as with the sea when one wave is over presently there cometh another and again another and it cannot be otherwise as long as this treasure is in us as Job saith Chap. 14. A Tree though the boughes of it be cut yet the root will spring again and be as big as ever if suffered to grow Thus original sin though it may be mortified and crucified in some measure though there may be much stopping and abating the strength of it by grace yet because the root is there still it will quickly sprout again Hence are the godly put upon those duties of crucifying and mortifying the flesh because they will have this work to do as long as they live there is a treasure and so out of this as the good Scribe cut of his good treasure Mat. 13. 52. doth bring out new and old thus doth he old lusts and new Vse Of Instruction Have we all by nature an evil treasure in our hearts then see why it is that thou art alwayes sinning that thou art never weary that all the world cannot change thee or make thee of another mind Is it not this evil treasure within As it is a treasure of sinne so it is of wrath and punishment Rom. 2. some are said To treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and this is thy case and never do thou flatter thy self because thou dost not feel and perceive any such evil upon thee for therein art thou the more miserable Treasures use to be hidden and secret therefore in the Scripture called hidden treasures and thus is this treasure of evil in thy heart it is hidden from thee thou dost not know it till God open thy eyes till he give a tender heart CHAP. VII Of the Name Body given to Original Sinne. SECT I. ROM 8. 13. But if ye through the Spirit doe mortifie the deeds of the Body ye shall live I Come now to the last Name I shall insist upon that the Scripture giveth original sinne and that is a Body For although the most famous and notable name is flesh yet because that will most properly be considered when we speak of the Nature and Definition of it I shall put it off till that time Only we must necessarily take notice of this Title given to it here and elswhere viz. a Body Not that this word is to foment the Illyrican absurdity That original sinne is not an accident but a substance but hereby is manifested the real and powerfull efficacy of it upon the whole man For the coherence of the words the Apostle at vers 12. from that glorious and precious Doctrine of Justification by Faith and also Sanctification begunne in us doth inferre this Exhortation by way of Conclusion That therefore we are not Debtors to the Flesh we have received such great and unspeakable favours from God that we owe all to him as for sinne called here the Flesh we owe nothing at all to that sinne will not justifie us sinne will not save us Neither hath the Devil shewed that love to us which Christ hath done By this then we see That though Justification and gospel-Gospel-mercies be not for any works or merits of ours yet Believers are to study and abound in holiness as that which Christ aimed at by the work of Redemption as well as our Justification Now for this reluctancy against and mortification of sinne the Apostle useth several Arguments as in the Text the danger that will accrew even to the godly If they live after the flesh they shall die that is eternally The godly need this goad to prick them forward they must not please themselves as if because they were elected justified they may live as they list and walk after the flesh No if they do so they shall surely be damned SECT II. What is implied by the word Mortifie BUt on the contrary If they mortifie the deeds of the body by the Spirit they shall
them dumb so also to make thy conscience dumb It is judged by Divines to be an exceeding great mercy of God that he hath left a conscience in a man for if that had not some actings there would be no humane societies the world would be like a Chaos as it was at first only conscience is a bridle to men and a curb to their impieties but when this is so corrupted that it cannot do its office though sinnes be committed yet conscience will not accuse will not condemn What hope doth then remain for such an one Conscience is called by Bernard Speculum animae the souls Looking glass by beholding thy conscience thou mayest see what are thy sinnes what are thy duties what is to be repented of what is to be reformed Oh that those who look often into the glass for their bodily faces so as to spie every spot and to mend an hair if it be not handsome would more consult with this spiritual glass their conscience would shew those deformities those corruptions that they are not willing to take notice of onely here is the difference the material glass will faithfully represent what thou art it will not flatter If thou art polluted deformed it will discover thy face as it is it will not flatter thee but conscience is a glass that may be corrupted to make thee appear fairer then thou art but if clean and pure then it will not favour thee But as you see it was with David when he had numbred his people presently his heart smote him such power it will also have over thee This accusation is called smiting because of the strong impression it maketh upon the soul Conscience is also called a Book and the Scripture may intend this as part Revel 20. 12. where at the Day of Judgement it is said Books shall be opened and the dead were to be judged according to what is written in those books One of these books that must be opened and by which men shall be judged is conscience that is the debt-book the Dooms-day-book There is no sinne committed but there it is set down and registred and one day it will be found there though now for the present thou takest no notice of it As conscience is a book so as Bernard said De Inferiori domo All books are to reform this book all other books that are written yea the Bible it self they are to amend this book of conscience This book thou art to read every day yea conscience is not only a book but it 's the Writer the Recorder also Conscience is the souls Secretary or Register and faithfully sets down every sinne Item This day such oaths such lies Item Such a drunken fit Item Such omission of duties Thus conscience should do its work But oh how negligent and sordid is conscience herein What foul acts may be committed and yet not the least sting or gripe of conscience We have a remarkable instance of this in Joseph's brethren when they had so cruelly and bloudily dealt with their brother throwing him in a pit and as to humane considerations ' fully destroyed him yet faith the Text They sate down to eat and drink What presently after such an unnatural sinne to find no Scorpions in their brests as it were but to sit down and eat Genes 37. 25. as if no evil had been perpetrated What an adamant or rock were these mens consciences turned into And is not this the state of many men and that after the commission of such sins which even nature may condemn for And as from the second act which is excusing here we have large matter to treat upon Who can comprehend the length and depth and breadth of the evil of conscience in this very thing To excuse to clear to justifie a mans self Did not conscience thus in the Jews of old Did not conscience thus in the Pharisees Doth not conscience thus in the breasts of all civil and moral men Whence is it that they can say God I thank thee I am not as this Publican I am no drunkard or swearer and therefore bid their souls Take all rest Is not this because conscience is turned into a Camelion to be like every object that it stands by Thus it is with their conscience excusing all they do flattering a man saying His estate is good and secure they are not such sinners as other men whereas if conscience were well enlightned and informed out of Gods Word in stead of excusing it would impartially accuse and condemn Thirdly Conscience is polluted in a further acting which it hath for when application witnessing and accusing will not do then it terrifieth which you heard was smiting Conscience fals from words to blows Acts 2. 37. It is there notably expressed They were pricked in heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was as if a dagger had been stabb'd into them and thus it did work upon Felix insomuch that it made him tremble Thus it did upon Cain and Judas Now conscience naturally is greatly polluted in this thing for either it doth not at all give any blows or if it do it is with slavish servile and tormenting thoughts that it maketh the sinner runne from Christ and doth indispose him for any mercy and comfort But of this more in it's time Fourthly Conscience hath a further and ultimate work or acting in a man and that is to judge It is a witnesse an accuser and a Judge also There is a Tribunal should be erected in every mans heart where conscience is to sit as Judge and this Court of conscience is daily to be kept This is no more then when Psal 4. we are commanded To commune with our own hearts and be still when we are commanded To search and try our wayes or 1 Cor. 11. To judge our selves that we be not judged This is the great duty which not onely Heathens commended Nosce teipsum and Tecum havita and which another complaineth of the neglect thereof In se nemo tentat descendere but it is very frequently commanded in the Scripture as the foundation and introduction into the state of conversion as a constant duty in persons converted to prevent Apostasie But who is there that doth keep a daily Court thus in himself That which Pythagoras Seneca and Heathens have admired To examine our selves What have I done to day Wherein have I sinned In what have I exceeded This Christians though inlightned by Gods Word are horribly sloathfull and carelesse about When is this examination this scruteny set up When are thy actions thy thoughts called to the barre and judgement given against them Now this judgement of conscience is seen about a two-fold object Our Actions and our Persons our Actions they are to be judged Whether they be agreeable with the Word of God or no Whatsoever thou undertakest and art not perswaded of in conscience as lawfull is a sinne Rom. 14. Whatsoever is not of faith is sinne Now examine thy actions thou
desired to number the people though Joab withstood it 2 Sam. 24. which might exceedingly have shamed David that a meer mortal man should see that sinfullness which he did not yet he will proceed and the people are numbered but assoon as David had done it then his heare smote him when it was done it smote him not while it was a doing the nine moneths were spent in numbring of the people Why not before then it had prevented the deaths of many thousands But thus it is conscience will not seasonably and opportunely bear witness against sinne Consider then the deceitfullness and falseness of thy conscience herein all the while thou art contriving sinne purposing yea and acting of sinne nothing doth trouble thee but at last when sinne is committed then it ariseth with horror and terror And do we not see this constant pollution of conscience in most dying persons when summoned by God and arraigned by death when the sentence of death is upon them Then their conscience flyeth in their faces taketh them by the throat oh send for the Minister let him pray for me let all that come to me pray for me Thus conscience is stirring now oh but how much better were it if in thy health time if in thy strength and power then conscience had been operative To have heard thee then cry out oh my sinnes oh I am wounded at the heart oh pray for me then there had been better grounds to hope thy conscience was awakened upon true and enduring considerations such as would continue alwaies living and dying whereas such are but sick-suddain fits of conscience and commonly turn into greater hardness of heart and obstinancy afterwards Secondly Conscience troubled doth naturally discover its pollution By the slavish servile and tormenting feares which do accompany it So that whereas the proper work of conscience is By Scripture-light to direct to Christ so that the troubles thereof should be like the Angels troubling of the pool of Bethesda and then immediately to communicate healing Now it is the clean contrary These wounds do fester and corrode more The conscience by feeling guilt runneth into more guilt so that whereas we would think and say Now there are hopes now conscience stirreth now he begins to feel his sinnes we see often the contrary an obortive or a monstrous birth after such travailles of the soul and wherein doth it manifest it self more then by tormenting teares about God So that if it were possible the conscience troubled would make a man runne from the presence and sight of God never to be seen by him Thus you see it was with Adam when he had sinned his conscience was awakened he knew what he had done and therefore was afraid at Gods voice and runne to hide himself such a slavish servile temper doth follow the conscience when wounded for sinne Now all such tormenting feares are so many manifest reproaches unto the goodness of God and his mercy revealed The hard thoughts the accusing imaginations that there is no hope for thee that thy sinnes are greater then thou canst bear or that God will forgive these dishonour the goodness of God these oppose his grace and mercy which he intendeth to exalt in the pardon of sinne Insomuch that the Atheist who denieth the Essence of God is in this respect less hainous then thou who deniest the good Essence of God He denieth his natural goodness thou his moral goodness as it were Is not the great scope of God in the Word to advance this attribute of his mercy especially in Christ he hath made it so illustrious and amiable that it may ravish the heart of a poor humbled sinner but a slavish conscience about sinne rob God of this glory So that although it may be the Spirit of God by the Word that convinceth thee of thy sinne and affecteth thy conscience yet the slavishness and servility of it that is the rust and moth which breedeth in thy own nature that is not of Gods Spirit Thirdly The troubled conscience discovereth its natural pollution By the proneness and readiness in it to receive all the impressions and impulses of the Devil That as in the secure conscience the Devil kept all quiet and would by no means molest So on the contrary in the troubled consience there be endeavours to heighten the trouble to increase the flame and he that before tempted thee to presumption that God was ready to pardon that sinne would easily be forgiven now he useth contrary engines provoketh to despair represents God as severe and one who will never forgive such trangressions that there is no hope for him that he is shut out of the Ark and so must necessarily perish Thus you see he wrought upon the troubled conscience of Judas and of Cain one goeth trembling up and down and cannot cast off the terrors and horrors which were upon him The other is so greatly tormented with anguish of soul that he hangeth himself In what whirlepooles of despair In what self-murders and other sad events hath a troubled conscience agitated and moved by the Devil cast many into Now all this ariseth because the wounded conscience being not as yet regenerated doth hearken more unto the Devil then unto Gods Spirit The Spirit of God through the Word of the Gospel speaks peace to the broken in heart offereth oil to be poured into such wounds holdeth out the scepter of grace but the troubled conscience heareth not this believeth not this but what the Devil that soul-murderer and Prince of darkness doth suggest and dart into the thoughts that is received and followed Hence it is that so many have been under troubles of conscience under terrors of spirit for sinnes for a season but all this pain in travel was only to bring forth wind and emptiness all hath either ended in tragical and unbelieving actions or in a bold and more hardened obstinacy and the great cause of this hath been the Devils moving in these troubled waters he hath presently interposed to marre this vessel while upon the wheel Know then that when thy conscience is awakened and grieved then is the Devil very busie then he tempteth he suggesteth but keep close to the Word see what the Spirit of God calleth upon thee to do get out of the crowd of those Satanical injections and compose thy self in a ferene and quiet manner to receive the commands of God in his Word for the Spirit of God that calleth to believe to come in and make peace with God but the Devil he presseth a final departure from God Fourthly The troubled conscience is internally polluted By that ignorance and incapacity in knowing of what is the true christian-liberty purchased by Christ I speak not as yet of that main and chief liberty which is freedome from the curse of the law through the bloud of Christ but in many doctrinal and practical things The Apostle Rom. 14. speaketh much of the weak conscience which hath not attained to
that solid judgement as to know its liberty and its freedome from Judaical rites and all other Commandments of men about the worship of God Indeed the notion of Christian-liberty may quickly be abused to prophane dissoluteness but yet the true Doctrine about that was one of the greatest mercies brought to the Church in the first reformation for there the conscienees of all were grossely intangled and miserably inthralled yea their Casuists who took upon them to resolve and direct conscience they were the greatest tormentors of all insomuch that they then seemed to be in a wilderness or rather under an Aegyptian bondage wherein were many lawes and Canons many Doctrines and opinions that were as Luther expresseth it about one homicidissimae Now to this bondage the conscience of a man is more naturally prone then unto any obedience to the true commands of God Indeed the conscience of man naturally is miserably polluted about the knowledg of those tyes and obligations that are upon it for sometimes it contracteth and limiteth them more then it ought Hence it is that a man yea a godly man may live in the omission of many duties in the commission of many sinnes and yet not know that he doth so and all because we do not study the extent of the obligation of conscience and from this it is that many good men have endeavoured to grow in more knowledge to study the commands of God obliging of them and upon enquiry have found cause to do those things they never did before and also they would not for a world walk in the same paths they once did Thus Melancthon remembring his superstitition while a Papist Quoties cohorrui c. How often doth horror take bold on me when I think with what boldness I went and fell down before Images worshipping of them This is one great pollution of conscience not to know its divine obligations that are upon it But then on the other side the conscience smitten about sinne is many times prone to stretch its obligations beyond the due line they judge sinnes to be where there are none They make duties where God hath not required and all because the troubled conscience is like a troubled fountain a man cannot see clearly the face neither are we then able to judge of any thing truly It is a rule in Philosophy Quicquid per humidum videtur majtu apparet Every object through an humid ormoist medium appeareth greater then it is thus also doth sinne and duties through a grieved wounded conscience therefore for want of the true knowledge of our Christian-liberty there is a scrupulous conscience called so because as little stones in the shoe hinder the feet in going so doth the scrupulousness and timerated thoughts much annoy in a Christian walking These commonly are without end as one circle in the water begets another or as Gerson resembleth it like one Dog that barketh setteth all the Dogs in the Town on barking so doth one scruple beget another and that many more Now although a scrupulous conscience may be for the main tender and good yet the scrupulousness of it ariseth from the infirmity and weakness thereof and maketh the soul paralytical in all its actions These scruples make a man very unserviceable and to live very uncomfortably and although God in great mercy doth many times exercise the truly godly sadly with them thereby to humble them to keep them low to say with Agur they have not the understanding of a man to be kept hereby from gross and foul sinnes yet they are to be prayed against for these scruples are like the Aegyptian Frogs alwaies croaking coming into the chamber and in at every window thereby disturbing thee in thy duty If thy conscience were sound and clear the light thereof would quickly dispell these mists Again From the blindness of a troubled conscience cometh also the sad and great doubtings upon the heart whereby the soul of a man is distracted and divided pulled this way and haled that way Rom 1. 14. The Apostle speaketh at large about a doubting conscience and sheweth how damnable a thing it is to do any thing doubting whether it be a sinne or not A doubting conscience is more then a scrupulous for Divines say a man may go against a a scrupulous conscience because the conscience is for the main resolved that such a thing may lawfully be done only he hath some feares and some jealousies moving in him to the contrary But a doubting conscience is when Arguments are not clear but a man stands as it were at the end of two waies and knoweth not what to do now if conscience were well inlightned and informed out of Gods Word it would not be subject to such distracting doubts but because of its natural blindness therefore it is at a stand so often Hence In the last place it becomes from a scrupulous doubting to a perplexed conscience so insnared that what way soever he taketh he cannot but sinne if he do such a thing he sinneth and if he doth it not he sinneth as in Paul who thought himself bound to set himself against Christians if he did persecute them it is plain he did sinne if he did not he thought he sinned It is true Casuists say Non datur casus perplexus there cannot be any case wherein there is a necessity of sinning because a man is bound to remove the error upon his conscience but yet the ignorance and blindness of man doth bring him often into that perplexed estate There remain two chief particulars wherein the pollution of a natural and troubled conscience is observable which are In the sixth place A proneness to use all unlawfull meanes and to apply false remedies for the removall of this trouble Seventhly A direct and open opposition to what is the true evangelical way appointed by God for to give true peace and tranquillity to such a conscience Before we descend to these particulars It is good to take notice of some general Observations which will greatly conduce to clear the particulars What a blessed Thing it is to come well out of the pain of a troubled Conscience FIrst That it is a most blessed and happy thing to come out of a troubled conscience in a goood safe and soul-establishing way For this womb of conscience when in pain and travail is apt to make many miscarriages yea sometimes it is so farre from having any joy that a man-child is born I mean the true fruit of holiness produced that there is a monster brought forth in the stead thereof Doth not experience and Scripture confirme this that many have come out of their troubles of conscience with more obstinacy and willfullness to sinne again That as the wind blowing upon coales of fire which might seem to extinguish the fire doth indeed encrease it Thus these pangs these gripes of conscience which sometimes they have felt that made godly friends say Now there is hope blessed be God that maketh them
God implying That the Sunne and the night can no more stand together then the remembring of God and carnal confidence can the ambitious man the voluptuous man remembring God would find it to be like thunder and lightning upon the soul This would immediately stop him in his waies of iniquities Thus 2 Sam. 14 11. that suborned woman of Tekoah in her disguised Parable to David complaining of some that would rise up against her to destroy her sonne she desireth the King to stop the revengers wrath by this Argument Let the King remember the Lord thy God Thus when thou art sollicited inticed to any evil way Remember thou God the infinite God the just God the omniscient God the dreadfull and terrible God in all his wayes of anger Nehemiah also maketh use of this Argument to quicken up the Jews against sinfull fear and cowardise in Gods work Nehem. 4. 14. 1 said to the Nobles and Rulers of the people be ye not afraid of them but remember the Lord which is great and terrible This God complaineth of Isa 57. 11. Thou hast not remembred me nor laid it to thy heart and therefore were they so propense to all their abominations These Texts may suffice to inform that our memories ought constantly to be fixed upon God and no sooner do we let him out of our mind but immediately some sinne or other is committed But how unspeakably is the memory of every man naturally polluted herein When is God in their thoughts Amongst those millions and millions of objects which thou dost remember when is the great God the just God the holy God thought on May you not see it by the bold impiety and undaunted wickednesse of all unregenerate men that they remember not God Yea the godly themselves finde in part this pollution upon their memory Whence arise those carnal feares those dejected thoughts Is it not because you forget the greatnesse and goodnesse of God Bewail thy memory-sinfulnesse as well as other sins 2. As the Scripture prescribes the object of our memory viz God himself so it doth instance in one time more then at another Though at all times God is to be remembred yet in one time of our age though there be greatest cause yet our lusts and desire after other things do greatly hebetate our memory We have the injunction from Solomon himself Eccl 12. 1. Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth Here you see who is to be remembred when he is to be remembred God is to be remembred and that in the time of our youth But do not the strong effects of original sin heightned also by actual sins discover herein most palpable impiety in young persons they remember their lusts their pleasures in the dayes of their youth and God is never in all their thoughts Oh where may we find a young Timothy that was acquainted with the Scripturee from his infancy Where an Obadiah That feared God from the youth Do not most young persons live so negligently about holy things as if they were allowed to be dissolute as if the things of Heaven and eternity did not belong to them as if Solomon had said the contrary Do not remember God in the dayes of thy youth be not so strict and precise but follow thy pastimes and pleasures Thus the very memory of God and holy things is a burden to young persons They think Solimon spake farre better Chap. 11. 9. when he saith Rejoyce O young man in thy youth let thy heart cheer thee and walk in the wayes of thy heart remove sorrow and evil away They like this well This is good but there is a sting in that which followeth Know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement This will quickly damp all thy youthfull jollities Let then young persons especially bewail the sinfulnesse and forgetfulnesse of their memory herein This is the best and most flourishing time for your memory now it is put upon to learn either Mechanical Trades or the Liberal Arts your memories are most drawn out in inferiour things but take the advantage to imploy it more about holy things You hear old persons complain they have lost their memory they grow forgetfull therefore fix your memories upon good things while you may 3. The Scripture commends the Word of God likewise as the object of our memory Timothy had learnt the Scripture from his Infancy The word of God was for this end amongst others as you heard committed to writing that so we might the more readily have it in our memories Mal. 4. 4. the Prophet commands them to remember the Law of Moses with the statutes and judgments yea they were to have such a ready and familiar knowledge of the Word of God that when they were rising or walking they were to be speaking of them Deut. 6. 7 8 9. we may there see what care is taken that the Law of God should be alwayes in their mind but do we not evidently behold the cursed and wretched pollution of mans memory in this particular Why is it that little children will remember any Songs sooner then the principles of Religion Why is it that many persons who are not able to remember any thing of the Scripture or the Sermons they have heard yet can remember Ballads and Songs they can remember their youthfull pranks and talk of them with delight but they cannot give any account of the good truths that in their younger years were preached to them When do ye hear such say Such a Sermon wounded me at heart it sticketh still upon me I shall never forget it Now is not the sinfulnesse of the memory greatly to be bewailed in this particular If it were holy and sanctified it would take more delight and joy to remember Scripture-truths then any thing else whereas now thy memory is like a sieve that lets the corn and weighty grain fall through but the light refuse stuff that it retaineth Thus what is solid and would do thy soul good that quickly passeth away Oh that we could not fay our Sermons passe away as a tale that is told for those you do remember and you will carry a long while in your mind empty frothy things those abide long with you Would you not judge it madnesse in the Husbandman if he should pluck up and hinder the growth of his corn and let cockle and tare with other weeds flourish Thus thou dost about thy memory throw away the flours and keep the weeds whereas thy memory should be like the holiest of holies nothing but what is select and sanctified should enter therein 4. That I may not be too long in these instances The works of God whether in his mercy or in his wrath they are to be the object of our memory Thus the Scripture speaketh often of remembring his marvellous works Matth. 16. 19. Christ reproveth his Disciples because they did not remember the miracle of the loaves All the great
that is the cause of all thy bad fruit A regenerated will a sanctified will would make thee prepared for every good work It is for want of this that all preaching is in vain all Gods mercies and all judgements are in vain Why should not the hammer of Gods word break it Why should not the fire of it melt it but because the stubbornness of the will is so great that it will not receive any impression 't is called therefore a stony heart not an iron heart for iron by the fire may be mollified and put into any shape but a stone will never melt it will sooner break into many pieces and flie in the face Thus the will of a man hath naturally that horrible hardness and refractoriness that in stead of loving and imbracing the holy things of God it doth rather rage and hate with all abomination such things ¶ 7. The Enmity and Contrariety of the Will to Gods Will. IN the second place That imbred sinfull propriety of the will which accompanieth it as heat doth fire is The enmity and contrariety of the will to Gods will There is not onely a privative incapacity but a positive contrariety even as between fire and water Gods will is an holy will thine is unholy Gods will is pure thine is impure Gods will is carried out to will his own glory honour and greatness thine is carried out to will the dishonour and reproach of God Thus as Gods will is infinitely good and the cause of all good so in some sense thy will is infinitely evil and the cause of all that evil thou art plunged into Therefore when the Apostle saith That the carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comprehends the actings of the will and the affections as well as of the mind It is enmity in the very abstract so that it is neither subject to God nor can be Oh that God would set this truth more powerfully upon our hearts for what tongue can express the misery of this that thy will should naturally have such irreconcilable opposition and implacable enmity to the Law of God that it should be diametrially opposite to Gods will which at first was made so amicable and compliant with Gods will that there was the Idem velle and Idem nolle Besides many other considerations there are two especially that may break and exceedingly humble our souls herein For 1. Gods will and his law which is his will objectively taken are absolutely in themselvs very good and therefore the proper object of thy will So that if thy will be carried out to any thing in the world it should be carried out to Gods Law above any thing This is to be willed above any created good what soever How is it that thou canst will pleasures profits and such created good things and art not more ravished and drawn out in thy desires after the chiefest good but to be in a state of opposition to this chiefest good to contradict and withstand it this is the hainous aggravation Could there be a Summum malum it would be in the will because of its direct opposition to the Summum bonum Herein mans will and the Devils will do both agree that they are with hatred and contrariety carried out against Gods will If therefore thou wert to live a thousand and thousands of years upon the earth and thou hadst no other work to do but to consider and meditate about the sinfulness and wretchedness of the will in this particular thou wouldst even then take up but drops in respect of the Ocean and little crums in respect of the sand upon the sea-shore But Secondly This contrariety of thy will is not only against that which absolutely in it self is the chiefest good but relatively it would be so to thee and therefore thy contrariety to it is the more unjustifiable What to be carried out with unspeakable hatred to that which would be thy blessedness and happiness who can bewail this enough To have a delight and a connaturality with those things that will be thy eternal damnation with much readiness and joy to will them and then to be horrible averse and contrapugnant to those things which if willed and imbraced would make thee happy to all eternity Oh miserable and wretched man thy condition is farre more lamentable then that of the beasts for they have a natural instinct to preserve themselves and to desire such things as are wholsom to them but thou art naturally inclining to will and imbrace all those things which will be thy eternal woe and misery What is the cause that thy will cannot imbrace the Law of God Why art thou so contrary to it Alas there is no just reason can be given but original sinne is like an occult quality in thy will making an Antipathy in it against the same so that thou doest not love what is holy neither art thou able to say Why only thou dost not love it yea there is the greatest reason in the world and all the word of God requireth it likewise that thy will should be subordinate and commensurated unto it but there is no other cause of this evil will then the evil of it It is evil and therefore cannot abide that which is good ¶ 8. The Rebellion of the Will against the light of the mind and 〈◊〉 slavery of it to the sensitive part in a man THirdly The original pollution of the will is seen in the rebellion of it against the light of the mind and the slavery of it to the sensitive part in a man to the carnal and sinfull affections therein Both which do sadly proclaim how the will is by nature out of all holy order and fallen from its primitive integrity For in the former respect therefore did God give us reason that by the light and guidance thereof the will should proceed to its operations So that for the will to move it self before it hath direction from the mind is like the servant that would set upon business before his master commands him like an unnatured dog that runneth before his master do set him on To will a thing first and afterwards to exercise the mind about it is to set the earth where Heaven should be But oh the unspeakable desolation that is brought upon the soul in this very particular The will staieth for no guidance expecteth no direction but willeth because it will what is suteable and agreeable to the corrupt nature thereof that it imbraceth be it never so destructive and damning God made the mind at first that it could say like the Centurion I bid the will go and it goeth the affections move and they move but now the inferior souldier biddeth the Centurion go and he goeth This then is the great condemnation of the will that though light come in upon it yet it loveth not the light but rebelleth against it and this sinfulness of the will is more palpably
second place there is the Universality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is more emphatical then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things not all men This expression is used to shew that not only all men but all their actions studies endeavours every thing belonging to them as it were is thus sinfull and damnable although Grotius maketh the Substantive understood to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the third place we have the Cause appointing and declaring of this and that is the Scripture It is usual to attribute those things which belong to God unto the Scripture because that is the sentence of God that declareth the will of God Thus Gal. 3. 8. The Scripture fore-seeing that God would justifie the Heathen c. that is God by his Word fore-telling what he would do Thus Rom. 9. 17. The Scripture saith unto Pharaoh For this same purpose have I raised thee up c. that is God by the Scripture manifested his will and purpose concerning Pharaoh So that in this place we are to conceive of God wisely and righteously ordering this way that all mankind shall fall into a stat of sin condemnation that so a way may be made open for the advancement of the grace of the Gospel Not that God did necessitate Adam to sinne or did infuse any evil into him but be falling by his own voluntary transgression and thereby plunging all his posterity into this wretched estate God who could have prevented this fall of Adam did not because not bound to it give him that grace which would actually have confirmed him although he bestowed on him grace sufficient enough to inable him to stand God I say did righteously and wisely permit this fall of his thereby to work out a greater good then the sinne of Adam could be an evil Thus God may be called the cause appointing and ordering of all this evil of mankind partly permissivè by leaving Adam to his own will and partly directivè and ordinativè being not a bare spectator or sufferer of this apostasie but also a righteous director and ordainer of it to blessed and heavenly ends Though therefore God is here said to shut up all mankind into this prison yet he is no more cause of the evil which brought this desolation then a Magistrate is of the wickedness of such a Malefactor whom he throweth into prison Yea Gods ordering of this fall of Adam unto such righteous ends doth therein demonstrate his Mercy and his Justice So that although sinne be evil yet the punishing of this is good as also the working of a better good then the evil is evil is a demonstration of the infinite wisdom of God As God doth it thus as the chief cause so the Scripture is said to shut us up under sinne instrumentally because that declareth the curse of God due unto us And that upon a two-fold account both because of the actual impieties all do commit as also because of that original filthiness and pollution we are born in Now it is my purpose to treat of Gods righteous dispensation towards mankind in this particular only because some do rise up with great zeal for the righteousness honour and glory of God in this point as if the Doctrine delivered by the Orthodox herein were altogether injurious and derogatory to him Hence the late known Adversary to this fundamental Truth about original sinne delivers himself thus Answer to a Letter pag. 23 24 To say that for Adam's sinne it is just in God to condemn Infants to the eternal flames of hell and to say that concupiscence or natural inclinations before they passe unto act could bring eternal condemnation c. are two such horrid propositions that if any Church in the world would expresly affirme them I for my part should think it unlawfull to communicate with her in the defence or profession of either and think it would be the greatest temptation in the world to make men not to love God of whom they speak such horrid things Thus he most horribly Now although these two Propositions are set down by him odiously and captiously not fully expressing the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches yet it is plain that he striketh at those Positions which are for the substance of them maintained by all Protestant Churches and doth thereby publiquely professe his separation from and non-communion with all Protestant Churches and particularly with the Church of England in that 9th Article which he doth so cruelly tear and mangle that it may not appear to be what indeed it is Our work therefore shall be from this Text to declare from Scripture-ground the holiness wisdome and righteousness of God in his proceedings thus with mankind for Adam's sinne For although all grown persons are shut up under actual sins as well as original yet here is comprehended both seeing it doth extend to all that may have salvation by Christ out of which number Infants are not to be excluded Therefore Bellarmine bringeth this Text amongst others to prove that there is an original sinne that all are born in And so we observe That God for righteous and wise ends manifested in the Scripture hath shut up all mankind in a state of sinne and damnation That God who could have preserved Adam in the state of happinesse and continued it to all his posterity so that thereby no sinne or condemnation would have come upon any one man for there would then none have done evil no not one hath ordered the contrary way suffering man to fall and thereby all mankind to be in a state of condemnation whereby also sin is so predominant that now there is none that doth good no not one The Scripture doth in other places with much exactnesse and diligence take notice of the proceeding of God in this way as Rom. 3. 9. The Apostle dividing all mankind into Jews and Gentiles sheweth that though there may be many differences in several respects yet as to a state of sin by nature and so a necessity of justification by Christ all were alike Therefore saith he We have before proved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word is very emphatical some make it to charge complain and in an heavy manner to accuse So that to be by nature of our selves in a state of wrath not being able without the grace of Christ to avoid this condemnation is the greatest guilt that we can be charged with It ought not to seem a light and contemptible thing that we come thus cursed in the world But because men may be accused falsly and the Pelagians charge us with laying a false curse upon mankind hence the Greek word signifieth more viz. so to charge a thing upon a man as by strong reasons to prove it to shew clearly the causes and grounds of it therefore our Translators render it We have before proved So that the Apostles meaning is We have not only said thus but we have proved A Metaphor say some from those who have cast up
of them yet at other times when the temptation is violent they need to have the same truths suggested to them again by others or else though Job was convinced that man being thus unclean he might well be moral and subject to diseases yet happily he did not see the righteousness of God in inflicting extraordinary judgements such as his were upon a godly man delivered from the dominion of this original pollution and walking with all integrity of heart as Job was perswaded he did Eliphaz therefore maketh use of this Truth about mans sinfulness still to bring Job lower in his own eyes and to make him exalt God and indeed there is no truth so greatly accommodated to bring a man off yea though godly in an high degree from all self-confidence as also all repinings and murmuring under the severity of God as this about original sinne Now Eliphaz to aggravate this the more doth at the 14. Verse speak interrogatively What is man that he should be clean and then exegetically explaining this he addeth and he that is born of a woman that he should be righteous So that by cleanness is meant righteousness and there is also the reason given why none is righteous even because born of a woman So that it is plain all this sinfulness cometh by natural descendency from our parents The first Hebrew word signifieth that a man hath no innocency so that he hath not any cause to complain or murmure under Gods judgments be they never so heavy and the other denoteth that he hath no righteousness whereby he is able to answer God if called to his Tribunal and the word for man signifieth him a miserable wretched man incurably wretched This proposition is aggravated à majori Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints yea the heavens are not clean in his sight By Saints some have understood the godly Patriarches of old but if we compare this with Job 4. 18. It is plain he meaneth Angels and if we understand it of evil Angels it is plain they proved Apostates there was no trust in them they forsook their habitation as if they did contemne it and were weary of it or if of good Angels then it is plain that God neither did put any trust in them as of themselves for it was the power and grace of God which did confirme them so that of themselves they would have apostatized as well as the rest Eliphaz addeth for amplification sake The heavens are not clean in his sight By heavens we are to understand metonymically the Angels who dwell therein and these are said to be not clean in his sight comparatively to the purity and holiness of God for as the being of the most noble creature is even nothing at all to his infinite Essence so also is their righteousness some understand the heavens without any Trope as if they were said to be not clean because they are subject to vanish away because they shall wax old as a garment Psa 102. 27. and there shall be made new heavens 2 Pet. 3. 7. Cajetan as Pineda in loc observeth from this place and many others alwayes taketh occasion to broach his opinion That the heavens are animated and subject to sinne but that opinion is rejected as absurd though it seemeth to be Aristotle's opinion that caelum est animatum If then it be thus with Angels who are such glorious spirits and and have not the least blemish in their natures comparatively to God no wonder that my Text is brought in with an how much more abominable is man c. wherein we have man described from his property and â—â—ition be is in by nature And secondly the effect as a sign demonstrating of this The property is two-fold abominable even as a carkass is abominable that hath lost the soul which did animate it so is man being made carnal and natural having lost the Spirit of God and his image Abhominable that denoteth such loathsomeness that we cannot endure to behold or come near the object loathed that we cannot endure the sight of it such a thing is man naturally in the eyes of God the Hebrew word for man is the strongest man or the most famous and best of men naturally and indeed this is to be applyed even to regenerate men also so farre as original corruption hath still any vigorous actings in them for so some think Job was not sensible enough though otherwise godly of the contaminating power of original sinne in him whereby his best duties had some impurity and so God might justly bring all that evil upon him he did Thus man is abominable and loathsome in the eyes of God and he ought to be so in his own eyes to his own self a natural man should not be able to bear or endure himself because of that loathsome sinfulness that doth adhere to him how much are Pelagian-Doctrines that cry up a purity in mans nature contrary to this Text Oh that God would mercifully do that to such corrupt Doctors which God threatens in anger to the prophane secure sinner Psal 50. 21. I will reprove thee and set in order before thy eyes the original doth not name what the translator addeth his sinnes some adde thy own self which cometh all to one I will set thy self before thy self and all thy sinnes in the several kinds and grievous aggravations of then The Hebrew word is military and taken from setting a battell in aray against another Thus God said he would do and what a mercy is it to a man when all our self-love self-flattery and self-fullness shall be removed and God shall set our selves in all our loathsomeness and deformity before our selves What burdens would we be to our own selves but this is Gods work humane speculations and moral instructions have no efficacy herein The second propercy attributed to man is filthy The Hebrew word is only used here and Psal 14. 3. and Psal 53. 3. concerning the root of it there is no certainty only it is generally translated that which is putrid rotten and stinking and because rotten and putrifying things are unusefull and unprofitable Hence it is that Rom. 3. 12. the word out of the Psalmist is rendered unprofitable Thus man having lost the Image of God is become like unsavoury salt as he is noisome in Gods eyes so he is unfit for any good thing he is in a state of sinne and so hath no ability to what is good neither can he by any power abiding in him ever recover out of this lost estate so that man is now become like Ezekiel's Vine Ezek. 15. 2 3 4. It will not serve for any work not so much as to make a pin of it to hang a vessel upon it but is only suel for fire Thus unusefull and unserviceable a man is become in respect of the least good whereby the glory of God may be exalted Thus we have the properties describing man by his natural principles In the next place he
deliberate and to consider about the sinfulness and wickedness of them how much God is offended how loathsom and abominable they are in his eyes and yet we suffer them to lodge there the greater is our condemnation Lastly The Intention and end of such thoughts is to be considered for alwayes cogitatio mali is not mala cogitatio the thought of evil is not an evil thought When men think of sinne to repent of it to detest it to reform it sinne is in their mind then but because there are no delightfull motions to it therefore it is not evil So if a Minister preach against adultery or any other sinne he cannot but think of the nature of it and what it is yet because his intention in thinking of it is to make men abhorre and leave it therefore it is good and lawfull So that meer thoughts about sinne are not alwayes sinne but when accompanied with some affections and inclinations thereunto Onely it is good to inform you That such is our deceitfulness of heart that many times we think it lawfull to rejoyce and delight in some profit and emolument that may come by another mans sinne or some evil upon him when indeed we are glad of the sin or evil it self If a man by telling a lie should save thy estate or life How hard is it not to delight in the sinne because thou hast profit by it Thus unnatural children may rejoyce in the death of their parents whereby they come to inherit their estates and yet please themselves that they not rejoyce in their death but the profit that cometh thereby to them There are many practical instances in this case and therefore we must look our hearts do not deceive us therein For it is very difficult to have any advantage by another mans sinne or evil and not to have a secret and tacit will thereof And thus much for the Rules about delightfull motions to sin We proceed to a third particular whereby we may sinne against God by these motions of sinne within us and that is When we are carelesse and negligent about them they trouble us not they grieve us not How many are there that regard the thoughts and motions of their soul no more then the fowls that flie over their heads It argueth an unregenerate heart an heart not acquainted with the power of godliness that doth not mourn and grieve under them How greatly was the Apostle Paul Rom. 7. afflicted by them This made him long for Christ and Heaven where he should be annoyed with them no more This negligence about them is that which maketh thee also careless to repress and conquer them They may lodge whole dayes and nights in thy soul and thou never seekest to expel them out Thus thy heart is like the sluggards field full of bryars and thorns Oh that God would give you seeing eyes and tender hearts then you would find that even an hair hath its shadow even the least motion to sinne hath its sting and bitterness with it and above all sinfull motions look to those that arise in thee because good things are urged and commanded to thee For this is the desperate incurable evil our souls that good things stirre up sinfull lusts within us not indeed properly and directly but occasionally and by accident Thus the Apostle bewaileth the motions of lusts within him from this account Rom. 7. 8. Sinne taking occasion by the commandment wrought all manner of concupiscence within him Thus the good and spiritual Law made him more carnal and sinfull And what is more often then to have powerfull preaching godly and wholsome reproofs stirre up the evil motions of men against them Thus the more remedies are applied to us the more corrupt we grow We might be voluminous in this soul-searching point but we must conclude Let the Use be Seeing that a man is thus tempted from his own lust within him we cannot lay the cause on the Devil himself though he be a Tempter then it 's our duty to look to what is within Those embers within us will quickly set all on fire Say not this or that moved me blame not this or that estate but thy corrupt lust within This is as Luther said in Genes Chap. 13. to be like the fool that stood in the Sunne bowed down and then complained his shadow was crooked It is not thy riches nor thy poverty not thy health or sickness no condition or temptation whatsoever but the true proper cause is this maternal lust which lieth in our bosoms How little is this truth attendeth unto with the Pharisees we more regard to cleanse the outside than the inside Mat. 23. 25. The mistake herein brought those many rigid and ausiere disciplinary wayes in Popery as if from the externals we must cure the heart and not by curing the heart thereby cleanse the outwards The Franciscan will not so much as touch silver The Carthusians will not eat a bit of flesh though their lives depend upon it What folly is this Meat and money are the good creatures of God if we do abuse them they are not to be blamed but our corrupt lusts within If a whorish woman wear gold and precious stones to allure others they are in themselves good though she abuse them to an ill end And thus all the comforts and mercies we enjoy are Gods good gifts and it is not the actual abdication of the use of them but the mortifying of our lust within that will make us please God CHAP. III. Of the Combate between the Flesh and the Spirit as the Effect of Original Sinne so that the Godliest man cannot do any holy Duty perfectly in this life SECT I. The Text explained and vindicated from corrupt Interpretations GAL. 5. 17. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would THe Apostle in the verses before admonished them about the use of their liberty that it should not be turned into licentiousness but that they make love the Rule thereof For though in respect of the right of my Christian liberty my conscience is to regard none but God yet the use and exercise of it must be regulated by love and prudence according as the edification of our brother doth require As a remedy therefore to refrain from all excess therein he giveth us an excellent precept with an emphatical Introduction thereunto This I say then that is This is the summe the main the all in all in these cases Then you have the Antidote it self Walk in the Spirit The only way to prevent all those importunate temptations of the flesh is to give up your selves to the Spirit to obtain the direction and illumination thereof as also the inclination and powerfull operation of it whereby we may be established in that which is good To know what is good and then to be inabled to do it