the holy Ghost takes notice of often in the nature of wicked men that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implacable men whom no bounds not limits nor covenants will restraine or keepe in order and againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fierce headstrong violent rash they know not where not when to stop Therefore the Scripture compares it to a breaking forth or violent eruption like that of fire out of an Oven or of mire and dirt out of a raging Sea Men flattet themselves in their sinnes and thinke when they have gone thus or thus farre they will then give over and stop at their pleasure Sed modo modo non habent modum as Austen said of his counterfeite and hypocriticall promises sinne can never finde a center to rest in a fit place to stop at These are but like the foolish conceits of children who not being able to discerne the deception of their owne senses and seeing the Heavens in the Orizon seeme to touch the earth resolve to goe to the place where they conceive them to meete and there to handle and play with the Starres but when they are come thither they finde the distance to be still the same so is it with the foolish hearts of men they conceive after so much gaine or honour or pleasure I shall have my fill and wil then give over but as long as the fountaine within is not stopt the pursuites of lust will bee as violent at last as at first As he in the Fable Expectat dum defluat amnis at ille Labitur labetur So though men thinke that their lusts will at last grow drie and they shall easily step over them unto God yet the truth is the cutragious desires of men will grow stronger and stronger even as a river the farther it goes from the fountaine doth of ten times spread it self the wider The heart is strongly set upon its owne sinne as any Creature is upon its owne motion They set their heart saith the Prophet on their iniquity the heart of the sonnes of men saith Salomon is fully set in them to doe evill As impossible it is for lust to stop it selfe as for the Sea to give over swelling or the fire devouring the matter that is before it The man possest with a Legion of Divels is a notable Emblem of a mans sinfull nature for indeed sin makes a man of the Divels blood yee are the children of your Father the Divell Ioh. 8. 44. He is conversant with nothing but death dead workes dead companions death the service and death the wages He is full of hideous affections he cuts and teares his owne soule the presence of Christ is horrible and affrightfull to him and if hee worship him 't is out of terror and not out of love his name may well bee called Legion for the swarmes the services the strength the warre of lusts in the heart 'T is a torment to lust to come out of a man and to a man to be dispossest of his lusts there will be paine at the parting of sinne the uncleane spirit will teare when he must come out but in this principally was he the picture of our evill nature in that hee was exceeding fierce and untameable no man durst passe by him no chaines were strong enough to hold him and this is the character of wicked men To breake bands and cords asunder and to bee their owne Lords Examples of this fiercenesse of nature the Scripture doth give us abundantly The Iewes are for this propertie compar'd to a swift Dromâ—…dary or to a wilde Assefull of desires that snuffeth up the winde as the use of Horses is in their lust and cannot be turned To a Horse rushing into the battell 't is a similitude from the inundation and precipitancy of torrents that carry downe all before them To a backesliding Heiser whom no bounds can hold but he will breake forth into a large place and have roome to traverse his wayes To a wilde Aâ—…se that goes where his owne will and lust carries him alone by himselfe no Rider to gvide him no bridle to restraine him no presence of God to direct him no Law of God to over-rule him but alone by himselfe as his owne Lord. With very fiercenesse they did even weary themselves in their way Notably did this rage shew it selfe in the Sodomites they reject Lots entreaties they revile his person they grow more outragious and pressed in even to teare open the house Like where unto was the rage of the Pharisies and Iewes against Christ when he had fully convinc'd them of their sinne and his owne innocency and they could hold dispute to longer with him they run from arguments to stones and raylings Thou art a Samaritane and hast a Divell And elsewhere it is said That they were filled with madnesse at the sight of the Miracles which Christ wrought Such was the rage of those which stoned Stephen they gâ—…ashed their teeth they stopped their eares they shouted with their voyce they ran with one accord and stoned him and Saul who was one of them is said to have breathed out threatnings like a tyred Wolfe unto which some make the Prophecy of Iacob touching Beniamin of which Tribe Saul was to allude and elsewhere to have wasted the Churches and to have dragg'd the Saints into prison and to have been exceeding mad against them And such measure himselfe afterwards found combinations uprores assaults draggings wrath clamors confusions rushings in casting off of clothes throwing of dust into the aire any thing to expresse rage and madnesse But you will say All these were at the time wicked men what is that to nature in common Have the Saints such fierce and intemperate affections too Surely while we carry our flesh about us wee carry the seeds of this rage and fury Simeon and Levi were Patriarches of the Church and Heads of the Congregations of Israel yet see how Iacob aggravateth and curseth their fiercenesse In their anger they slew a man in their wrath they diggeâ—… downe a wall Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruell Peter was a holy man yet when the windes blew when the sluces were open and the water had gotten a little passage see how it gathers rage how fierce and mad it growes even against the evidences of his owne heart against the conscience of his owne promises a deniall growes into an oath and that multiplies into cursings and damnings of himselfe for so the word imports an imprecating of Gods wrath and of separation from the presence and glory of God upon himselfe if he knew the man Ionah was a holy Prophet and one whose rebellion and fiercenesse against God might in reason have been quite tam'd by the Sea and the Whale yet looke upon him when his nature gets loose
Precept for such Anger as is required of us by way of duty the Sun may safely go down upon nor is it a pardon for anger whē we fal into it to take of the inordinatenes of it but it is a speech by way of concession or unavoidable supposition It cannot bee but that the Saints themselves upon severall occasions and provocations will be overtaken with anger but yet though their infirmity break forth into the passiō let not pride self love harden that passion into a habit let them be wary that the flame grow not upon them to set them on fire Give no place to the Divell The longer a man continues in anger the more roome the Divel hath to get in upon him enrage him Anger is the kernell and seed of malice if it be let lie long in the heart that is so fertile a soile and Satan so diligent a waterer of his owne plants that it will quickly grow up into a knottie and stubburne hatred Wee read of hatreds which have runne in the bloud and have been entaild Hereditarie malice as the Historian cals it Hatreds which have surviv'd the parties and discover'd themselves in their very funerals Hatreds which men have bound upon their posterity by oaths as Hasdrubal took a solemne oath of Hanibal that he should be an irreconcileable enemie to Rome And what doe all such expressions import but that there is a boundlesse frenzy in the flesh of men a fiercenesse which no lawes can tame and that there is enough of it in the best men to breake out into implacable affections if grace and prayer and watchfulnesse doe not prevent it Fourthly in Afflictions paines of body temptations of spirit abridgement of estate trials in reputation and favour or the like looke by all meanes unto thy heart take heede of these seedes of rage and madnesse which are in thee Never more time to looke to thy mounds to repaire thy bulwarks then when a tempest is upon thy sea Have you seene a beast breake his teeth upon the chaine that bindes him or a Dog poure out his revenge upon the stone that did hurt him then have you seene some darke shadowes of that fiercenesse and furie that is apt to rise out of the hearts of men when Gods hand lies close upon them When thou hearest of the strange impatiencie of Ionah at the beating of the Sun upon his head unto whom yet it was a mercy beyond wonder that he did now see the sunne when thou hearest of those deepe expostulations of David with God Hath he forgotten to be gracious forgotten his promises forgotten his truth forgotten his power and mercy and shut up all his kindenesse in displeasure When thou hearest of the impatiencies of Iob a man yet renowned for his patience expostulating and charging God Is it good for the◅ that thou should'st oppresse When thou hearest of those deepe curses of ◅eremie against the day of his birth of those froward expostulations and debates of the people of Israel with Moses of Moses with God Why hast thou evill entreated this people why hast thou sent me O then reflect upon thy selfe and be afraid of thine owne evill heart which is farre more likely to breake out against God then any of those were And for a remedie or prevention hereof keepe in thy sight the historie of thy sinnes make them as hainous to thine owne view as they are in their own nature The way not to rage against afflictions is to know our selves aright that will make us confesse unto God with Ezra let our calamities be what they will That the Lord hath punish'd us lesse then our iniquities have deserved The way to beare the hand of God with patience and with acceptance is to confesse our sinnes and to be humbled for them If their uncircumcised hearts bee humbled and then they accept of the punishment of their iniquities saith the Lord noting thus much that the sight of our sin and humiliation for it makes a man willing to submit to Gods chastisements Wherefore doth a living man complaine a man for the punishment of his sins there are three strong reasons together why we ought not to murmur in our afflictions First Wee are men and what an impudence is it for the clay to swell against the potter that form'd it and complaine why hast thou made me thus Secondly wee are sinners all the punishments wee suffer are our owne the wages of our iniquities and what a madnesse is it to complaine against the justice of our Iudge Thirdly wee are living men and therefore God hath punished us lesse then our sinnes deserve for the wages of sinne is death and what ingratitude is it to repine at mercifull and moderated punishments but yet such is the frowardnesse of our nature that wee are very apt thus to murmur what is the cure and remedy of this evill affection Let vs search and try our waies saith the Church and turne to the Lord our God the more wee grow acquainted with our sinnefull estate and marveilous provocations with the patience and promises of God the more we shall justifie God and waite upon him the more wee shall judge our selves lesse then the least of Gods mercies and forbearances I will beare the indignation of the Lord saith the Church againe in the same case I will not repine nor murmure at his dealing with me I will acknowledge that righteousnesse belongeth unto him and confusion unto me and the ground of this resolution is the sense of sinne Because I have sinned against him I have pressed and wearied and grieved and vexed him with my sinnes without any zeale or tendernesse of his glory but he hath visited me in judgement and not in fury in wrath he hath remembred mercy and not quite consumed me as he might have done he hath not dealt with me after my sinnes nor rewarded me according to mine iniquities he hath spared me as a sonne when I dealt with him as a traytor and hee will pleade my cause and bring me forth to the light and revenge my quarrell against those which helped forward my affliction Thus we see the way not to rage against Afflictions is to understand and be sensible of the foulenesse of our sinnes Otherwise pride and madnesse will undoubtedly shew themselves in our Afflictions What desperate and horrible rage did the heart of Pharaoh swell into when in the middest of those fearefull Iudgements hee hardned his heart and exalted himselfe against the people of God and trampled upon them and did not set his heart unto the iudgement but threatned and drave out M◅ses and Aaron from his presence and pursued them with finall and obdurate malice through the midst of that wonderfull deliverance The like example we see in that impatient and fretfull reply of Iehoram king of Israel in the great famine This euill is of the Lord what should I
much set forward by the Word because therein is made more apparant to the Soule the Glory and the Power of God therefore the Two Prophets are said to Torment the inhabitants of the Earth and the Law is said to make men guilty and to kill to hew smite and destroy those whom it deales with all Secondly such a faith as the Divels have begotten by the Word and assented unto by the secret suggestions of the heart witnessing to it selfe that it hath deserved more then yet it feeles and this begets a fearefull expectation of being devoured surpriseth the heart with horrid tremblings and presumptions of the vengeance to come which the Apostle calls the Spirit of bondage and feare But all this being an Assent perforce extorted for wicked men confesse their sinnes as the Divels confessed Christ more out of Torment then out of Love to God or humiliation under his mighty hand amounts to no more then a Naturall Conviction Secondly there is a Spirituall and Evangelicall Conviction of the Guilt of sinne and the damnation due thereunto arising from the Law written in the heart and tempered with the apprehension of mercie in the new Covenant which begets such a paine under the Guilt of sin as a plaister doth to the impostumation which withall it cures such a Conviction as is a manuduction unto righteousnesse And that is when the Conscience doth not onely perforce feele it selfe dead but hath wrought in it by the Spirit the same affection towards it selfe for sinne which the word hath is willing to charge it selfe and acquit God to endite accuse arraigne testifie condemne it selfe meete the Lord in the way of his Iudgements and cast downe it selfe under his mighty hand That man who can in secret and truth of heart willingly and uncompulsorily thus stand on Gods side against sinne and against himselfe for it giving God the Gloâ—ie of his righteousnesse if he should condemne him and of his uâ—searchable and rich mercie that hee doth offer to forgive him I dare pronounce that man to haue the Spirit of Christ. For no man by nature can willingly and uprightly Owne damnation and charge himselfe with it as his due portion and most just inheritance This can never arise but from a deepe sense and hate of sinne from a most ardent zeale for the Glory and Righteousnesse of God Now then since the Conviction of sinne and of the death and Guilt thereof are not to drive men to despaire or blasphemie but that they may beleeve and lay hold on the righteousnesse of Christ which they are then most likely to doe when sinne is made exceeding sinfull and by consequence death exceeding deadly give mee leave to set forth in two words what this Guilt of sinne is that the necessitie of righteousnesse from Christ may appeare the greater and his mercie therein bee the more glorified Guilt is the Demerit of sinne binding and subjecting the person in whom it is to undergoe all the punishments legally due the reunto This Demerit is founded not only in the Constitution Will and Power of God over his owne Creatures of whom hee may justly require whatsoever obedience hee giveth power to performe but in the nature of his owne Holinesse and Iustice which in sinne is violated and turned from and this Guilt is after a sort Infinite because it springeth out of the aversion from an Infinite Good the violation of an infinite Holynesse and Iustice and the Conversion to the Creatures infinitely if men could live ever to commit adultery with them And as the Consequence and reward of obedience was the favour of God conferring life and blessednesse to the Creature so the wages of sinne which this Guilt assureth a sinner of is the wrath of God which the Scripture calleth Death and the Curse This Guilt being an Obligation unto punishment leadeth us to consider what the nature of that curse and death is unto which it bindeth us over Punishment bearing necessarie relation to a command the trangression whereof is therein recompenced taketh in these considerations First on the part of the Commander a will to which the Actions of the subject must conforme reveal'd and signified under the nature of a Law Secondly a justice which will and thirdly a power which can punish the transgressors of that Law Secondly on the part of the subject commanded there is requir'd first Reason and free-will originally without which there can be no sinne for though man by his brutishnesse and impotency which he doth coÌ„tract cannot make void the commands of God but that they now binde men who have put out their light and lost their libertie yet originally God made no law to binde under paine of sinne but that unto the obedience whereof hee gave reason and free-will Secondly a debt and obligation either by voluntarie subjection as man to man or naturall as the creature to God or both sealed and acknowledged in the covenants betweene God and man whereby man is bound to fulfill that law which it was originally enabled to observe Thirdly a forfeiture guilt and demerit upon the violation of that Law Thirdly and lastly the evill it selfe inflicted wherein we consider first the nature and qualitie of it which is to have a destructive power to oppresse and dis quiet the offender and to violate the integritie of his well being For as sinne is a violation offered by man to the Law so punishment is a violation retorted from the Law to man Secondly the Proportion of it to the offence the greatnesse whereof is manifested in the majestie of God offended and those severall relations of goodnesse patience creation redemption which he hath to man in the quality of the creature offending being the chiefe and lord of all the rest below him in the easinesse of the primitive obedience in the unprofitablenesse of the wayes of sinne and a world of the like aggravations Thirdly the end of it which is not the destruction of the creature whom as a creature God loveth but the satisfaction of justice the declaration of divine displeasure against sinne and the manifestation of the glory of his power and terrour So then Punishment is an evill or pressure of the Creature proceeding from a Law giver just and powerfull inflicted on a reasonable Creature for and proportionable unto the breach of such a Law unto the performance and obedience whereof the Creature was originally enabled wherein is intended the glory of Gods just displeasure and great power against sinne which hee naturally hateth Now these punishments are Temporall Spirituall and Eternall Temporall and those first without a man The vanitie of the Creatures which were at first made full of goodnesse and beautie but doe now mourne and grone under the bondage of our sinnes The wrath of God revealing it selfe from heaven and the curse of God over-growing the earth Secondly within him All the Harbingers and Fore-runners of death sicknesse paine povertie reproach feare and
quoad Regnum in regard of the dominion and government of it in regard of the vigorous operation which is in it First sinne is condemn'd Rom. 8. 3. and therein destinated and design'd to death It shall fully bee rooted out Secondly in the meane time it is disabled from a plenarie Rule over the conscience though the Christian be molested and pester'd with it yet he doth not henceforth serve it nor become its instrument to bee subject in every motion thereof as the weapon is to the hand that holds it but Christ and his love beare the sway and hold the Sterne in the heart Rom. 6 6. 〈◊〉 Cor. 5. 14 15. 1. Pet. 4. 1 2. Thirdly the sentence of the Law against sin is already in execution But we are to note that sinne though condemnd to die yet such is the severity of God against it it is adjudg'd to a lingring death a death upon the Crosse and in the faithfull sin is already upon a Crosse fainting struggling dying daily yet so as that it retaines some life still so long as we are here sinne will be as fast to our natures as a nailed man is to the Crosse that beares him Our Thorne will still bee in our flesh our Canaanite in our side our Twinns in our wombe our counterlustings and counterwillings though we be like unto Christ per primitias spiritus yet we are unlike him per Reliquias vetustatis by the remainders of our flesh not to sinne is here onely our Law but in heaven it shal be our Reward All our perfection here is imperfect Sinne hath its deaths blow given it but yet like fierce and implacable beasts it never le ts goe its hold till the last breath Animamque in vulnere ponit never ceaseth to infest us till it cease to bee in us Who can say I have made my heart cleane Cleanse thou be saith holy David from my secret sinnes Though I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not thereby iustified saith the Apostle and the reason is added He that iudgethme is the Lord which Saint Iohn further unfolds God is greater then our hearts and knoweth all things Which places though most dangerously perverted by some late Innovators which teach That a man may bee without secret sinnes that he may make his heart cleane from sinne and that Saint Paul was so doe yet in the experience of the holiest men that are or have been evince this truth that the lusts of the flesh will be and worke in us so long as we carry our mortall bodies about us And this God is pleased to suffer for these and like purposes First to convince and humble us in the experience of our owne vilenesse that wee may be the more to the prayse of the glory of his great grace As once Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria dealt with the Egyptian Idols after the embracement of Christianitie most he destroyed onely one of their Apes and Images he kept entire not as a monument of Idolatry but as a spectacle of sinne and misery that in the sight thereof the people might after learne to abhorre themselves that had liv'd in such abominable Idolatries Secondly to drive us still unto him to cast us alwayes upon the hold and use of our Faith that our prayers may still finde something to aske which hee may give and our repentance something to confesse which he may forgive Thirdly to proportion his mercy to his justice for as the wicked are not presently fully destroyed have not sentence speedily executed against them but are reserv'd unto their Day that they may be destroi'd together as the Psalmist speakes even so the righteous are not here fully saved but are reserv'd unto the great day of Redemption when they also shall be saved together as the Apostle intimates 1. Thess. 4. 17. Fourthly to worke in us a greater hatred of sinne and longing after glory therefore we have yet but the first fruites of the spirit that we should grone and waite for the Adoption and Redemption therfore are we burdened in our earthly tabernacle that we should the more earnestly groane to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven Fiftly to magnifie the power of his Grace in the weakest of his members which notwithstanding that inhabiting Traytor which is ready to let in and entertaine every temptation shall yet make a poore sinfull man stronger in some respect then Adam was himselfe even able to overcome at last the powers of darkenesse and to be sufficient against all Satans buffets Lastly to commend the greatnesse of his mercy and salvation when we shall come to the full fruition of it by comparing it with the review of that sinfull estate in which here we lived when we were at the best without possibility of a totall deliverance Thirdly consider the great Contagion and pestilentiall humour which is in this sinne which doth not onely cleave unseparably to our nature but derives venome upon every action that comes from us For though we doe not say That the good works of the Regenerate are sinnes and so hatefull to God as our adversaries belie and misreport us for that were to reproach the spirit and the grace of Christ by which they are wrought yet this we affirme constantly unto the best worke that is done by the concurrence and contribution of our owne faculties such a vitiousnesse doth adhere such stubble of ours is superinduc'd as that God may justly charge us for defiling the grace he gave and for the evill which we mixe with them may turne away his eyes from his owne gifts in us Sinne in the facultie is poison in the fountaine that sheds infection into every thing that proceeds from it Ignorance and difficultie are two evill properties which from the fountaine doe in some measure diffuse themselves upon all our workes Whensoever thou art going about any good this evill will be present with thee to derive a deadnesse a dampe a dulnesse an indisposednesse upon all thy services an iniquitie upon thy holiest things which thou standest in neede of a priest to beare for thee Exod. 28. 38. and to remove from thee In the Law whatsoever an uncleane person touched was uncleane though it were holy flesh to note the evill quality of sinful nature to staine and blemish every good worke which commeth from it This is that which in thy prayers deads thy zeale fervencie humiliation selfe-abhorrencie thy importunitie faith and close attention this like an evill sauour mingleth with thy sacrifice casteth in impertinent thoughts wrong ends makes thee rest in the worke done and never enquire after the truth of thine owne heart or Gods blessing and successe to thy services This is it that in reading and hearing the Word throwes in so much prejudice blindnesse inadvertency security infidelity misapplication misconstruction wresting and shaping the word to our selves This is that which in thy meditations makes thee roving and unsetled
unto two men in severall by diverse wayes of propriety or unto sundry purposes A house belongs wholly to the Landlord for the purpose of profit and revenew and wholly to the tenant for the purpose of use and inhabitation but it seemes in ordinary reason impossible for the same thing to belong wholly to sundry men in regard of al purposes for which it serves But such an ample propriety hath every man to originall sinne that he holds it all and to all purposes for which it serves For though some sinnes there are which cannot by some men bee properly committed properly I say because by way of provocation or occasion or approbation or the like one man may participate in the sinnes which another commits as a King cannot be 〈◊〉 to his superiors in governement because he hath no superiors a lay man cannot commit the sinneâ—… of a Minister an unmarried man the sinnes of a husband c. yet this disability ariseth out of the exigence of personall conditions but no way out of the limitednesse or impotency of originall sinne which in every man serves to all the purposes which can consist with that mans condition and as his condition alters so is it likewise fruitfull unto new sinnes And these are two great aggravations of this sinnefull inheritance That it comes whole unto every man and that every man hath it unto all the purposes for which it serves Thirdly it is to be observ'd that in originall sin as in all other there are two things Deordination or sinfulnes and Guilt or obligation unto punishment And though the former of these be inseparable from nature in this life yet every man that beleeveth and repenteth hath the damnation thereof taken away it shall not prove unto him mortall But now this is the calamitie Though a man have the guilt of this sinne taken of from his person by the benefit of his owne faith and the grace of Christ to him yet still both the deordination and the guilt passeth over unto his posteritie by derivation from him For the former the case is most evident what ever is borne of flesh is flesh no man can bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane an evill roote must bring forth evill branches a bitter fountaine corrupt streames leaven will derive sowernesse into the whole masse and the Fathers treason will staine the blood of all his posterity And it is as certaine for the latter that though guilt and punishment may bee remitted to the Father yet from him it may be transmitted to his childe Every parent is the chanell of death to his posterity Totum gonuâ—… 〈◊〉 fecit Adam is damnationis traduceâ—… Adam did diffuse and propagate damnation unto all mankind Neither is 〈◊〉 any wonder or injustice that from a cursed roote should proceed branches fit for nothing but the fire As a Iew that was circumcised brought forth an uncircumcised sonne as cleane crne sowed comes up with chaffe and stubble as the seed of a good Olive brings forth a wilde Olive so is it with the best that are their Graces concurre not to naturall generation and therefore from them is nothing naturally propagated For first the wiping off of Guilt while the fault abides is an Act of Grace and pardon now pardons are ever immediate from speciall favour from direct grant and therefore cannot runne in the bloud nor come to a man in the vertue of his birth or by derivation especially where the pardon runnes not in generall termes but personally by way of priviledge and exemption and that too upon certaine conditions the performance and vertue whereof is intransient and cannot availe any by way of imputation or redundancie Secondly though the personall Guilt be off from the man yet the ground of that Guilt the damnablenesse or liablenesse to be imputed unto punishment is inseparable from sin though sin be not mortall de facto So as to bring damnation to the person justified yet it never ceaseth to be mortall de merito that is to be damnable in it selfe in regard of its owne nature and obliquity though in event and execution the damnable vertue of sinne be prevented by faith which cures it and by repentance which forsakes and cuts it off For wee must observe that To merit damnation belongs to the nature of sinne but to bring forth damnation belongs to the accomplishment and finishing of sinne when it is suffered to grow to its measure never interrupted never prevented God hath patience toward sinners and waiteth for their repentance and doth not presently powre out all his wrath if in this interim men will bee perswaded in the day of their peace to accept of mercy offer'd and to Breake of sinnes before the Epha be full then their sinnes shall not end in Death But if they neglect all Gods mercie and goe on still till there be no remedie then sinne growes to a ripenesse and will undoubtedly bring forth Death Since therefore the nature of sinne passeth to posterity even when the guilt thereof is remitted in the paâ—…ent needs must the guilt thereof passe too till by grace it be done away Fourthly In originall sinne there is a twofold denomination or formalitie It is both a Sinne and a Punishment of sinne For it is an absurd conceite of some men who make it an impossibility for the same thing to be both a sinne and a punishment When a prodigall spends all his mony upon uncleannes is not this mans poverty both his sin and his punishment When a drunkard brings diseases on his body and drownes his reason is not that mans impotencie and sottishnesse both his sin and his punishment Indeed sinne cannot rightly be cald an inflicted punishment for God doth not put it into any man yet it no way implies contradiction but rather abundantly magnifies the justice and wisedome of Almighty God to say that he can order sinne to bee a scourge and punishment to it selfe And so Saint Austen cals it a penall vitiousnesse or corruption So that in the derivation of this â—…in wee have unto us propagated the very wrath of God It is like Aarons rod on our part a branch that buddeth unto iâ—…iquitie and on Gods part a Serpent that stingeth unto Death So that Adam is a twofold cause of this sinne in his posterity A meritorious cause he did deserve it by prevarication as it was a punishment an efficient cause he doth derive it by contagion as it is a sinne And this is the wretchednesse of this sinne that it is not onely a meanes to bring the wrath of God upon us but is also some part and beginning of the wrath of God in us and so is as it were the earnest and first fruits of damnation Not as if it were by God infus'd into our nature for wee have it put into us no other way but by seminall contagion and propagation from Adam but God seeing man throw away and wast
Adams sinne may be thus farre said to be unto posterity imputed as that by reason of it they become obnoxious unto Death namely to an eternall dissolution of body and soule without any reunion and an eternall losse of the divine vision without any paine of sense yet that death which to Adam in his person was a punishment is not so to his posteritie but onely the condition of their nature Thirdly they say that that which is called originall sinne is nothing else at all but onely the privation of originall righteousnesse and that concupiscence was 〈◊〉 contracted and brought upon nature by sinne but was originally in our nature suspended indeede by the presence but actuated by the losse of that righteousnesse Fourthly they say That that Privation was not by man contracted but by God inflicted as a punishment upon Adam from whom it comes but onely as a condition of nature unto us that man in his fall and prevarication did not Throw away or actually shake off the Image of God but God pull'd it away from him which if God had not done it would have remained with him notwithstanding the sinne of the first fall Fifthly they say That in as much as the privation of originall righteousnesse was a punishment by God upon Adam justly inflicted and by Adam unto us naturally and unavoidably propagated It is not therefore to be esteem'd any sinne at all neither for it can God justly condemne any man nor is it to be esteem'd a punishment of sinne in us though it were in Adam because in us there is no sinne going before it of which it may bee accounted the punishment as there was in Adam but onely the condition of our present nature Lastly they say that Adam being by God deprived of originall righteousnesse which is the facultie and fountaine of all obedience and being now constituted under the deserved curse all the debt of legall obedience wherein he and his posteritie in him were unto God obliged did immediately cease so that whatsoever outrages should after that have beene by Adam or any of his children committed they would not have beene sinnes or transgressions nor involv'd the Authors of them in the guilt of iust damnation That which unto us reviveth sin is the new covenant because therein is given unto the law new strength to command and unto us new strength to obey both which were evacuated in the fall of Adam Vpon which premises it doth most evidently follow that unlesse God in Christ had made a covenant of grace with us anew no man should ever have beene properly and penally damned but onely Adam and he too with no other then the losse of Gods presence For â—… Hell and torments are not the revenge of Legall but of Evangelicall disobedience not for any actuall sinnes for there would have beene none because the exaction of the Law would have ceased and where there is no Law there is no transgression not for the want of righteousnesse because that was in Adam himselfe but a punishment and in his posteritie neither a sinne nor a punishment but onely a condition of nature not for habituall concupiscence because though it be a disease and an infirmitie yet it is no sinne both because the being of it is connaturall and necessary and the operations of it inevitable and unpreventable for want of that bridle of supernaturall righteousnesse which was appointed to keepe it in Lastly not for Adams sinne imputed because being committed by another mans will it could bee no mans sinne but his that committed it So that now upon these premises we are to invert the Apostles words By one man namely by Adam sinne entered into the world upon all his posterity and death by sinne By one man namely by Christ tanquam per causam sine quâ non sinne returned into the world upon all Adams posteritie and with sinne the worst of all deaths namely hellish torments which without him should not haue beene at all O how are wee bound to prayse God and recount with all honour the memorie of those Worthies who compiled Our Articles which serue as a hedge to keepe out this impious and mortiferous doctrine as Fulgentius cals it from the Church of England and suffers not Pelagius to returne into his owne country There are but three maine arguments that I can meet with to colour this heresie and two of them were the Pelagians of old First that which is naturall and by consequence necessarie and unavoidable cannot be sinne Originall sinne is naturall necessarie and unavoidable therefore it is no sin Secondly that which is not voluntarie cannot be sinfull Originall sinne is not voluntarie therefore not sinfull Thirdly no sinne is immediatly caused by God but originall sinne being the privation of originall righteousnesse is from God immediately who pull'd away Adams righteousnesse from him Therfore it is no sinne For the more distinct understanding the whole truth and answering these supposed strong reasons give me leave to premise these observations by way of Hypothesis First there are Two things in originall sinne The privation of righteousnesse and the corruption of nature for since originall sinne is the roote of actuall and in actuall sinnes there are both the omission of the good which we ought to exercise and positive contumaâ—…ies against the Law of God therefore a vis formatrix something answerable to both these must needs be found in originall sinne This positive corruption for in the other all agree that it is originall sinne is that which the Scripture cals flâ—…sh and members and law and lusts and bodie and Saint Austin vitiousnesse inobedience or inordinatenesse and a morbid affection Consonant whereunto is the Article of our Church affirming that man by originall sinne is farre gone from righteousnesse which is the privation secondly that thereby he is of his owne nature enclined unto evill which is the pravitie or corruption and this is the doctrine of many learned papists Secondly the Law being perfect and spirituall searcheth the most intimate corners of the soule and reduceth under a law the very rootes and principles of all humane operations And therefore in aâ—… much as well being is the ground of well working and that the Tree must be good before the fruite therefore wee conclude that the Law is not onely the Rule of our workes but of our strength not of our life only but of our nature which being at first deliver'd into our hands entire and pure cannot become degenerate without the offence of those who did first betray so great a trust committed unto them Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God Exâ—…ni valdâ—… tuo with all thy might saith the Law it doth not only require us to love but to have mindes furnish'd with all strength to love God so that there may be life and vigoâ—… in our obedience and love of him The Law requires no
strong nor our hearts endure in the day when hee will have to doe with us How can wee choose but send forth an Embassage especially since he is not a great way off as it is in the Parable but standeth before the dore and is nigh at hand and will not carry an embassage of repentance to give up our armour to strip and judge our selves to meete him in the way of his judgements to make our selves vile before him and be humbled under his mighty hand and sue forth conditions of peace to meete him as the Gibeonites did Iosua and resolve rather to be his servants then to stand out against him This is certaine God is comming against his Enemies his attendants Angels and his weapons fire And if his patience and forbearance make him yet keepe a great way off that hee may give us time to make our peace O let the long suffering of God draw us to Repentance least wee treasure up more wrath against our selves Consider the great aggravation of that spirituall Iezabels sinne I gave her space to repent of her fornications and she repented not Consider that the long suffering of God is Salvation and therefore let us make this use of it Labour to bee found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse The last thing in this first point proposed was How the spirit by the Commandement doth thus convince men to be in the state of sinne To this I answere briefly First by quickning and putting an edge upon the Instrumentall cause the sword of the Spirit For the word of it selfe is a dead letter and profiteth nothing it is the spirit that puts life and power into it I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord to declare unto Iacob his transgressions saith the Prophet Mic. 3. 8. As the Spirit is a Spirit of life so hath he given to the Word to be a Word of life quicke and powerfull Phil. 2. 16. Heb. 4. 12. Secondly by writing it in the heart casting the heart into the mould of the Word and transforming the spirit of man into the image of the Word and making it as it were the Epistle of Christ bending and framing the heart to stand in awe of Gods Word for writing his Law and putting his feare into the heart is the same thing with God In which respect amongst others men are said to bee Sealed by the Spirit because that Spirituall Holinesse which is in the Word is fashioned in the hearts of the Saints as the image of the seale is in the waxe As the light of the Sunne doth by reflection from the Moone illighten that part of the earth or from a glasse that part of a roome from which it selfe is absent So though the Church bee here absent from the Lord yet his Spirit by the Word doth illighten and governe it It is not the Moone alone nor the glasse alone nor yet the Sunne without the Moone or the glasse that illightneth those places vpon which it selfe doth not immediately shine but that as the principall by them as the instruments so the Spirit doth not and the Word cannot alone by it selfe convince or convert but the Spirit by the Word as its sword and instrument So then when the Spirit turnes a mans eyes inward to see the truth of the Word written in his owne heart makes him put his Seale unto it frameth the will to search acknowledge and judge the worst of its selfe to subscribe unto the righteousnesse of God in condemning sinne and him for it to take the office of the Word and passe that sentence upon it selfe which the Word doth then doth the Word spiritually Convince of sinne Which should teach us what to look for in the ministry of the word namely that which will Convince us that which puts an edge upon the Word opens the heart makes it burne namely the spirit of Christ for by that only we can be brought unto the righteousnesse of Christ we are not to despise the ordinances in our esteeme when we find them destitute of such humane contributions and attemperations which we haply expected as Naaman did the waters of Iordan for though there bee excellent use of Humane learning when it is sanctified for opening the Word as a baser colour is a good ground for a better yet it is the Word alone which the Spirit worketh by the flesh and fleshly accessions of themselves profit no more nor adde no more reall vertue or lustre to the Word then the weedes in a field do unto the Corne or then the ground colour doth unto the beautie of that which is put upon it We should therefore pray for the Spirit to come along with his Word It is not enough to be at Bethesda this house of mercie and grace unlesse the Angell stirre and the Spirit move upon these waters It is Hee that must incline and put the heart into the Word or else it will remaine as impotent as before But of this point also I have spoken at large upon another scripture Having then thus shewed at large that the Spirit by the Commandment convinceth men to be in the state of sin both Actuall and Originall imputed and inherent what kinde of state that is A state of Impotencie and Enmity How it doth it by quickning the Word and opening the heart Now we are very briefly to open the second point That the Spirit by the Commandment convinceth a man to be under the guilt of sin or in the state of death because of sinne I died for which we must note First that there is a two fold Guilt First Reatus Concupiscentia which is the meritoriousnesse of punishment or liablenesse unto punishment which sinne brings with it and Reatus personae which is the actuall Obligation and obnoxiousnesse of a person vnto punishment because of sinne Now in as much as nature is not able to discover without the Spirit the whole malignity and obliquity that is in sinne therefore it cannot sufficiently convince of the Guilt of sinne which is a Resultancie therefrom and is ever proportionable thereunto In which respect the Iudgements of God are said to be unsearchable Rom. 11 33. And the wicked know not whither they goe 1. Ioh. 2. 11. cannot have any full and proportionable notions of that wrath to come which their sinnes carry them unto Secondly wee may note that there is a Twofold Conviction of this Guilt of sinne A naturall Conviction such as was in Cain Iudas Spira and other despairing men which ariseth from two grounds First the Present sense of Gods wrath in the first fruits thereof upon their consciences which must perforce beare witnesse to Gods â—…ustice therein and this is that which the Apostle calls Torment 1. Ioh. 4. 18. which though it may arise from naturall principles for wee know even heathens have had their Laniatus and Ictus as the Historian speakes their scourges and rendings of Conscience yet is it
cares not for the things of this World because he is in Law dead and so reserv'd to an execution and utterly devested of any right in the things hee was wont to delight in the sight or remembrance of them doth but afflict him the more A divorc'd man cares not for the things of his wife because in law she is dead vnto him and hee unto her So should it bee with us and sin because we are dead with Christ therefore we should shew it no affection Thirdly Deadnesse argues liberty unsubjection justification He that is dead is freed from sinne as the woman is from the husband after death And therefore being freed thus from sinne we should not bring our selves into bondage againe but stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath set us free and sinne should appeare in our eyes as it is in it selfe a dead thing full of noisomenesse horrour and hideous qualities We therefore should labour to shew forth the power of the death of Christ in our dying to sinne for this is certaine we have no benefit by his sufferings except we have fellowship in them we have no more fellowship in them then we can give proofe of by our dying dayly to sinne For his blood clenseth from all sinne Let us not by raigning sinne Crucifie Christ againe for he dieth no more In that hee died hee died once unto sinne Death hath no more power ovâ—…r him to shew that sinne must have no more power over us but that being once dead to sinne we should thenceforth live unto him that died for us There is a speech in Tertullian which though proceeding from Novatianisme in him doth yet in a moderated and qualified sense carry the strength of the Apostles argument in it Si possit fornicatio moechia denno admitti poterit Christus denno mori If fornication and adultery may bee againe committed by a man dead to sinne in that raging and complete manner as before if raigning sinne after it hath beene ejected out of the Throne and nail'd to a Crosse can returne to its totall and absolute soveraigntie as before Christ may dye againe for the sinnes of a Iustified and regenerate man are Crucified upon his Crosse and in his body Now I proceede to the maine thing in the Text namely the Regall power of sinne It is an observation of Chrysostome and Theodoret on the Text which though by some rejected as too nice I shall yet make bold to commend for very pertinent and rationall The Apostle did not say say they Let not sinne Tyrannize for that is sius owne worke and not ours as the Apostle sayeth Now then is it no more I that doe it but sinne that dwelleth in me all the service which is done to a tyrant is out of violence and not out of obedience But he sayes Let it not raigne in you for to the raigne of a King the obedience of the Subjects doth as it were Actively concurre whereas the subjects are rather patients then agents in a tyranny So then in a Raigning King there is a more Soveraigne power then in a Tyrant for a Tyrant hath only a Coactive power over the persons but a King hath a sweete power over the wills and affections of his Subiects they freely and heartily love his person and rejoyce in his service which rule though it be not perpetuall in the letter and in civill governements for the unwillingnesse of a people to serve a Prince may not onely arise from his tyrannie but even when he is just and moderate from their owne rebellion yet it is most generall and certaine in the state of sinne which is never a King over rebellious subjects who of themselves reject its yoke and governement For the better discovery then of the power of sinne we must note first that there are but three wayes after which sinne may be in a man First as an usurping Tyrant and seditious commotioner either by surprizall invading or by violence holding under or by projects circumventing a man against his will taking advantage of some present distemper of minde or difficultie of estate as in David of idlenesse in Peter of teare and danger or the like And thus sinne doth often incroach upon the Saints of God and play rhe Tyrant use them like Captives that are sold under the power of sinne It was thus a Tyrant in Saint Paul we reade of him that hee was sold under sinne and wee read of Ahab that hee was sold to sinne but with great difference the one sold himselfe and so became willingly the servant of sinne the other was sold by Alam from which bondage hee could not utterly extricate himselfe though hee were in bondage to sinne as the Creatures are to vanity not willingly but by reason of his act that had subjected him long before Secondly As a stâ—…ve a Gibeonite or Tributarie Cananite as a spoyled mortified crucified dying decaying sinne like the house of Saul growing weaker and weaker and thus sinne is constantly in all the faithfull while they are iâ—… the field the chaste is about them Thirdly As a raging and commanding King having a throne the heart servants the members a counsell the world flesh and Divell a complete armorie of lusts and temptations fortifications of ignorance malice rebellion fleshly reasonings lawes and edicts lastly a strict judicature a wise and powerfull rule over men which the Scriptures call the gates of Hell And of the Power of this King we are to speake In a King there is a Two fold Power A Power to command and a Power to make his commands be obeyed Sinne properly hath no power to command because the kingdome of it is no way subordinated to Gods Kingdome over us but stands up against it And even in just and annointed kings there is no power to command any thing contrary to that Kingdome of Christ to which they are equally with other subject But though sinne have not a just power to command the soule yet it hath that upon which that power where it is is grounded namely a kinde of Title and right over the soule Sinne is a spirituall Death and man by his first fall did incurre a subjection to every thing which may be called Death so that then a man did passe into the possession of sinne whence that phrase spoken of before Thou hast sold thy selfe to worke evill Now Quod venditur transit in potestatem ementis when a thing is sold it passeth into the possession of that to which it is sold. This is the covenant or bargaine betweene a Sinner and Hell Man purchaseth the pleasures and wages of sinne and sinne takes the possession of man possession of his nature in Originall sinne and possession of his life in Actuall sinne The tryall of this title of sinne that wee may discerne whether we are under it or no must be as other Titles are we must first
and pharisaicall outsides begets much dispensation and allowance in many errours that he may keepe pace and not seeme too austere censorious and ill conceited of the men whom hee walkes with Therefore David would not suffer a wicked man to be in his presence nor any wicked thing to be before his eyes lest it should cleave unto him Take heede saith the Apostle lest any roote of bitternesse springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled Fourthly it spreads not onely upon men but defiles and curses the good Creatures of God about us It puts a leprosie into the stone in the wall and the beame in the house barrennesse into the earth mourning into the Elements consumption into the Beasts and Birds bondage vanitie griefe and at last combustion and dissolution upon the whole frame of nature Fourthly it is a mortall apoysonous pollution the pollution of deadly sores putrifactions I said unto thee in thy blood live yea I said unto thee in thy blood live It notes that that estate wherein they were in their sinnes was so deadly that the cure of them was very difficult it required the repetition of Gods power and mercie If a childe new borne should lie exposed in its blood to the injurie of a cold ayre not have the Navell cut nor the body wrapp'd or wash'd or tended at all how quickly would it be that from the wombe of the mother it would drop into the wombe of the Earth The state of sinne is an estate of nakednesse blood impotencie obnoxiousnesse to all the temptations and snares of Sathan to all the darts of death and hell The ancients compare it to falling into a pit full of dirt and stones a man is not onely polluted but hee is bruized and wounded by it To conclude there is no deformity nor filthines extant which did not rise from sinne It is sin which puts bondage into the Creature which brings discords and deformities upon the face of Nature It is sin which put devilishnesse into Angels of Heaven and hurried them downe from their first habitation It is sin which put a sting into death without which though it kil yet it cannot curse It is sin which puts fire into Hell and supplies unto all eternitie the fuell materials for those unextinguishable slames It is sin which puts hell into the Conscience and armes a man with terrours and amazements against himselfe It is sin which puts rottennes and dishonour into the grave he that died without sin rose up without corruption It is sinne which wrings out those clamors and grones of bruit creatures which wrestle under the curse of Adams fall It is sin which enrageth and maddeth one beast against another and one man against another one nation against another It is sin which brought shame and dishonor upon that nakednesse unto which all the Creatures in Paradise did owe awe and reverence It is sin which turn'd Sodom into a stinking lake and Ierusalem the glory of the Earth into a desolation and haunt for Owles and Bitterns It is sinne which so often staineth Heauen and Earth with the markes of Gods vengeance and which will one day roule up in darkenesse and devoute with fire and reduce to its primitive confusion the whole frame of nature It is sinne which puts horror into the Law makes that which was at first a Law of life and liberty to be a Law of bondage and death full of weaknesse unprofitablenesse hideousnesse and curses It is sinne which puts malignity and venome into the very Gospell making it a savor of Death unto Death that is of another deeper death and sorer condemnation which by trampling upon the blood of Christ wee draw upon our selves unto that death under which wee lay before by the malediction of the Law And lastly which is the highest that can bee spoken of the veâ—…ome of 〈◊〉 It is sinne which in a sort and to speake after the manner of men hath put hatred into God himselfe hath moved the most mercifull gratious and compassionate Creator to hate the things which he made and not to take pittie upon the workes of his hands If God had look'd round about his owne workes hee could have found nothing but Goodnesse in them and theresore nothing but Love in himselfe But when sinne came into the World it made the Lord repent and grieve and hate and destroy his owne workmanship And the consideration hereof should drive us all like Lepers and polluted wretches to that Fountaine in Israell which is opened for sinne and for uncleannesse to buy of him white rayment that wee may be clothed and the shame of our nakednesse may not appeare For which purpose we must first finde out the pollution of sinne in our selves and that is by using the Glasse of the Law which was published of purpose to make sinne appeare exceeding sinfull For as rectum is sui index obliqui so purum is sui index impuri That which is right and pure is the measure and discovery of that which is crooked and impure Now the Law is Right Pure Holy lâ—…st Good Lovely Honourable Cleane and therefore very apt to discover the contrary affections and properties in sinne And having gotten by the Law acquaintance with our selves there is then fit place for the Apostles precept To cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit First the Lord discovered the preposterousnesse of Israels services unto him when they came before him in their uncleannesse and lifted up hands full of blood and then comes the like precepts to the Apostles here wash ye make ye cleane put away the evill of your doings from before mine eyes c. But can an uncleane thing cleanse it selfe Can that which is intrinsecally naturally inherently uncleare purifie it selfe It may pollute any thing which toucheth it but how can it cease from that which belongs to its nature or wipe out that which hath eaten in and is marked in its very substance It is true of our selves wee cannot cleanse our selves It is Christs Office to Sanctifie his Church and it is His comlynesse with which wee are adorned without him we can doe nothing but yet having him we must wash our selves For God worketh not upon men as a carver upon a stone when he would induce the shape and proportions of a man but yet leaves it a stone still and no more but as himselfe did worke upon Earth in Paradise when hee breath'd into it the Soule of man and so made it a Living Creature It is true a naturall man is as dead to grace as a stone is to naturall life and therefore if onely man should worke upon him hee would continue as dead still but hee who of dead Earth made a living man is able of stones to raise up children unto Abraham and the worke of conversion is a worke of vivification Now then being quickned we must walke and worke
upon so just and gratious a God as may safely bring into suspicion and disgrace any doctrine which admits of so just an exception Now to this likewise the Apostle answeres God forbid The Law is not given to condemne or clogge men not to bring sinne or death into the world It was not promulgated with any intention to kill or destroy the Creature It is not sin in it selfe It is not death unto us in that sense as we preach it namely as subordinated to Christ and his Gospell Tnough as the rule of righâ—…eousnesse we preach deliverance from it because unto that purpose it is made impotent and invalid by the sinne of man which now it cannot prevent or remove but onely discover and condemne Both these Conclusions that the Law is neither sinne nor death I finde the Apostle before in this Epistle excellently proviâ—…g Vntill the Law sinne was in the world but sinne is not imputed where there is no Law neverthelesse death â—…atgned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression That is as I conceive over those who did not sinâ—…e against so notable and evident Characters of the Law of nature written in their hearts as Adam in Paradise did for sinne had betweene Adam and Moses so obliterated and defaced the impressions of the morall Law that man stood in need of a new edition and publication of it by the hand of Moses That place serves thus to make good the purpose of the Apostle in this Sinne was in the world before the publication of the Law therefore the Law is not sinne But sinne was not imputed where there is no Law men were secure and did flatter themselves in their way were not apt to charge or condemne themselves for sin without a Law to force them unto it And therefore the Law did not come a new to beget sinne but to reveale and discover sinne Death likewise not onely was in the world but raigned even over all men therein before the publication of the Law Therefore the Law is not death neither There was Death enough in the world before the Law there was wickednesse enough to make condemnation raigne over all men therefore neither one nor other are naturall or essentiall consequences of the Law It came not to beget more sinne it came not to multiply and double condemnation there was enough of both in the world before Sinne enough to displease and provoke God death enough to devoure and torment men Therefore if the Law had beene usefull to no other purposes then to enrage sinne and condemne men if Gods wisedome and power had not made it appliable to more wholsome and saving ends he would never have new published it by the hand of Moses Here then the observation which from these words we are to make and it is a point of singular and speciall consequence to understand the use of the Law is this That the Law was revived and promulgated a new on Mount Sina by the ministery of Moses with no other then Evangelicall and mercifull purposes It is said in one place That the Lord hath no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth but it is said in another place That the Lord delighteth in mercie Which notes that God will doe more for the Salvation then he will for the damnation of men He will doe more for the magnifying of his mercy then for the multiplying of his wrath for if that require it he will revive and new publish the Law which to have aggravated the sinnes and so doubled the condemnation of men He would never have done Before I further evidence the truth of this doctrine It will be needefull to remove one Objection which doth at first proposall thereof offer it selfe If God will doe more for his mercie then for his wrath and vengeance why then are not more men saved then condemned If Hell shall bee more fill'd then Heaven is it not more then probable that wrath prevaileth against Grace and that there is more done for furie then there is for favour To wave the solution given by some That God will intentionally and effectually have every man to bee saved but few of that every will have themselves to be saved An explication purposâ—…ly contradicted by Saint Austin and his followers whose most profound and inestimable Iudgement the Orthodoxe Churches have with much admiration and assent followed in these points I rather choose thus to resolve that case It will appeare at the last great day that the saving of a few is a more admirable and glorious worke then the condemning of all the rest The Apostle saith That God shall bee gloryfied in his Saints and admired in those that beleeve For first God sheweth more mercie in saving some when He might have judged all then Iustice in Iudging many when he might have saved none For there is not all the Iustice which there might have beene when any are saved and there is more mercy then was necessary to haue beene when all are not condemned Secondly the Mercie and Grace of God in saving any is absolute and all from within himselfe out of the unsearchable riches of his owne will But the Iustice of God though not as essentiall in him yet as operatiâ—…e towards us is not Absolute but Conditionall and grounded upon the supposition of mans sinne Thirdly his Mercie is unsearchable in the price which procured it Hee himselfe waâ—… to humble and empty himselfe that he might shew mercie His mercie was to be purchased by his owne merit but his Iustice was provoked by the merit of sinne onely Fourthly Glory which is the fruite of Mercie is more excellent in a few then wrath and vengeance is in many as one bagge full of gold may bee more valuable then tenne of silver If a man should suppose that Gods mercy and Iustice being equally infinite and glorious in himselfe should therefore have the same equall proportion observed in the dispensation and revealing of them to the world wee might not therehence conclude that that proportion should be Arithmeticall that mercy should be extended to as many as severitie But rather as in the payment of a summe of mony in two equal portions whereof one is in golâ—… the other in silver though there bee an equalitie in the summes yet not in the pieces by which they are paide so in as much as Glory being the communicating of Gods owne blessed Vision Presence Love and everlasting Societie is farre more honourable and excellent then wrath therefore the dispensation of his Mercie in that amongst a few may bee exactly proportionable to the revelation of his Iustice amongst very many more in the other Suppose wee a Prince upon the just condemnation of a hundred malefactors should professe that as in his owne royall brest mercy and Iustice were equally poised and temper'd so he would observe an equall proportion of them both towards that number of
expose as few of thy affections to the rage of worldly lust as may be beware of being carried where two seas meet as the ship wherein Paul suffer'd shipwracke I meane of plunging thy selfe in a confluence of many boisterous and conflicting businesses least for thine inordinate prosecution of worldly things the Lord either give thy Soule over to suffer shipwracke in them or strip thee of all thy lading and tackling breake thine estate all to pieces and make thee glad to get to Heaven upon a broken planke 3. The fashion of this world passeth over it doth but goe along by thee and salute thee and therefore use it as if thou used'st it not doe to it as thou would'st doe to a stranger whom thou meetest in the way he goes one way and thou another salute him stay so long in his companie till from him thou have received better instructions touching the turnings and difficulties of thine owne way but take heed thou turne not into the way of the Creature least thou lose thine owne home Secondly Get an Eye of Faith to looke Through and Above the Creature A man shall never get to looke of from the world till he can looke beyond it For the Soule will have hold-fast of something and the reason why men cling so much to the earth is because they have no assurance if they let goe that hold of having any subsistence else-where Labour therefore to get an interest in Christ to finde an everlasting footing in the stedfastnesse of Gods Promises in him and that will make thee willing to suffer the losse of all things it will implant a kinde of hatred and disestimation of all the most pretious endearements which thy soule did feede upon before Saint Peter saith of wicked men that they are Purblinde they cannot see a farre off they can see nothing but that which is next them and therefore no marvell if their thoughts cannot reach unto the End of the Creature There is in a dimme eye the same constant and habituall indisposition which sometimes happeneth unto a sound eye by reason of a thicke mist though a man be walking in a very short lane yet he sees no end of it and so a naturall man cannot reach to the period of earthly things death and danger are still a great way out of his sight whereas the eye of faith can looke upon them as already expiring and through them looke upon him who therefore gives the Creatures unto us that in them we might see his power and taste his goodnesse And nature it selfe me thinkes may seeme to have intended some such thing as this in the very order of the Creatures Downeward a mans eye hath something immediately to fixe on All is shut up in darkenesse save the very surface to note that we should have our desires shut up too from these earthly things which are put under our feete and hid from our eyeâ— and buried in their owne deformitie All the beauty and all the fruit of the earth is placed on the very outside of it to shew how short and narrow our affections should be towards it But upward the eye sindes scarce any thing to bound it all is transparant and dâ—…aphanous to note how vast our affections should be towards God how endlesse our thoughts and desires of his kingdome how present to our faith the heavenly things should be even at the greatest distance The Apostle saith That Faith is the Substance of things hoped for that it gives being and present subsistency to things farre distant from us makes those things which in regard of naturall causes are very remote in regard of Gods Promises to seeme hard at hand And therefore though there were many hundred yeeres to come in the Apostles time and for ought we know may yet be to the dissolution of the world yet the Apostle tels us that even then it was the last houre because faith being able distinctly to see the truth and promises of God and the Endlesnesse of that life which is then presently to be revealed the infinite excesse of vastnesse in that made that which was otherwise a great space seeme even as nothing no more in comparison then the length of a Cane or Trunke through which a man lookes on the heavens or some vast countrey And ever the greater magnitude and light there is in a body the smaller will the medium or distance seeme from it the reason why a perspective glasse drawes remote objects close to the eye is because it multiplies the species We then by faith apprehending an infinite and everlasting Glory must needs conceive any thing through which we looke upon it to be but short vanishing And therfore though the promises were a farre off in regard of their owne existence yet the Patriarkes did not onely see but embrace them their faith seem'd to nullifie and swallow up all the distance Abraham saw Christs day and was glad he looked upon those many ages which were betweene him and his promised seed as upon small aâ—…d unconsiderable distances in comparison of that endlesse glory into which they ran they were but as a curten or piece of hangings which divide one roome in a house from another Labour therefore to get a distinct view of the height and length and breadth and depth and the unsearchable love of God in Christ to find in thine own soule the truth of God in his promises that his word abideth forever and that will make all the glory of other things to seeme but as grasse Lastly though the Creature be mortall in it selfe yet in regard of man as it is an Instrument serviceable to his purposes and subordinate to the graces of God in him it may bee made of use even for Immortality To which purpose excellent is that speech of Holy Austin If you have not these earthly Goods saith he take heed how thou get them by evill workes here and if thou have them labour by good workes to hold them even when thou art gone to heaven Make you friends saith our Saviour of the unrighteous 〈◊〉 that when you faile they may receive you into everlasting habitations a religious and mercifull use of earthly things makes way to Immortalitie and Blessednesse Cast thy bread upon the waters and after many dayes thou shalt finde it It is an allusion unto husbandmen They doe not eate up and sell away all their corne for then the world would quickely bee destitute but the way they take to perpetuate the fruits of the earth is to cast some of it backe againe into a fruitfull soile where the waters come and then in due time they receive it with encrease so should we doe with these worldly blessings sow them in the bowels and backes of the poore members of Christ and in the day of harvest we shall finde a great encrease If then draw out thy soule to the righteous and satisfie the afflicted soule then shall
his worship Thus all those phantasticall felicities which men build upon the Creature prove in the end to have been nothing else but the banquet of a dreaming man nothing but lies and vanitie in the conclusion Lastly They Deceive us likewise in respect of evill No Creatures however they may promise Immunitie and deliverance can doe a man any good when the Lord will be pleased to send evill upon him And yet it is not for nothing that a truth so universally confessed should yet bee repeated in the Scripture That silver and gold and corruptible things are not a fit price for the soules of men Doubtlesse the holy men of God forsaw a time when false Christs and false Prophets should come into the world which should set salvation to sale and make merchandise of the Soules of men as wee see at this day in popish Indulgences and penance and the like no lesse ridiculous then impious superstitions Neither is it for nothing that Salomon tells us That riches yea whole Treasures doe not profit in the day of death a speech repeated by two prophets after him For surely those holy men knew how apt wealth and greatnesse is to bewitch a man with conceits of Immortality as hath been shewed Who were they that made a covenant with death and were at an agreement with hell to passe from them but the scornfull men the Rulers of the people which had abundance of wealth and honour Who were they that did put far away the evill day in despight of the Prophets threatnings did flatter themselves in the conceite of their firme and inconcussible estate but they who were at ease in Sion who trusted upon the Mountaines of Samaria who lay upon beds of I◅orie and stretch'd themselves upon their couches But we see all this was but deceite they go captive with the first of those that go captive the banket of them that stretched themselves is removed All earthly supports without God are but like a stately house on the sand without a foundation a man shal be buried in his owne pride He that is strong shall be to seeke of his strength he that is mighty should deliver others shall be too weak for his own defence he that is swift shall be amaz'd and not dare to fly if he be a bowman at a great distance if he be a rider have a great advantage he shal yet be overtaken and he that is couragious adventures to stand out shall be faine to flye away naked at the last What ever hopes or refuges any Creature cā afford a man in these troubles they are nothing but froth vanity the Lord challenges derides them al. And the Prophet Esay gives a sound reason of it all The Egyptians are men and not God their horses are flesh not spirit when the Lord shal stretch out his hand both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is helpen shal fal down and they al shal faile together Before wee proceed to the last thing proposed here is a question to be answered If the Creatures be so full of Vexation It should seeme that it is unprofitable and by consequence unlawfull either to labour or to pray for them Which yet is plainely contrary to Christs direction Give us our daylie bread and contrary to the practice of the Saints who use to call for the fatnesse of the earth and dew of heaven peace of walls and prosperity of Palaces upon those whom they blesse To which I answere That which is evill by accident doth not prejudice that which is Good in it selfe and by Gods ordination Now the vexation which hath been spoken of is not an effect flowing naturally out of the condition of the creature but ariseth meerely by accident upon the reason of its separation from God who at first did appoint his owne blessed communion to goe along with his Creatures Now things which are good in themselves but accidentally evill may justly be the object of our prayers and endeavours And so on the otherside many things there are which in themselves alone are evill yet by the providence and disposition of God they have a good issue they worke together for the best to them that love God It was good for David that he had been afflicted yet wee may not lawfully pray for such evils on our selves or others upon presumption of Gods goodnesse to turne them to the best Who doubts that the calamities of the Church doe at this time stirre up the hearts of men to seeke the Lord and his face and to walke humbly and fearefully before him yet that man should be a curse and prodigie in the eyes of God and men who should still pray for the calamities of Sion and to see the stones of Ierusalem still in the dust Death is in it selfe an evill thing for the Apostle calles it an enemy 1. Cor. 15. yet by the infinite power and mercy of God who delights to bring good out of evill and beauty out of ashes it hath not onely the sting taken away but is made an entrance into Gods owne presence with reference unto which benefit the Apostle desireth to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. Now notwithstanding this goodnesse which death by accident brings along with it yet being in it selfe a Destructive thing we may lawfully in the desires of our soule shrinke from it and decline it Example whereof we have in the death of Christ himselfe which was of all as the most bitter so the most pretious and yet by reason of that bitternesse which was in it hee prayes against it presenting unto his Father the desires of his Soule for that life which he came to lay downe as his obedience to his Father and love to his Church made him most willingly embrace death so his love to the integritie of his humane nature and feare of so heavy pressures as he was to feele made him as seriously to decline it And though the Apostle did most earnestly desire to be with Christ yet he did in the same desire decline the common rode thither through the darke passages of death 2. Cor. 5. 4. Vnlawfull indeed it is for any man to pray universally against death because that were to withstand the Statutes of God Heb 9. 27. but against any particular danger wee may as Ezechiah did 1. King 20. 1 2. reserving still a generall submission to the will and decrees of God For we are bound in such a case to use all good meanes and to pray for Gods blessing upon them which amounts to a prayer against the danger it selfe So then by the Rule of contraries though the Creatures be full of vanitie and vexation yet this must not swallow up the apprehension of that goodnesse which God hath put into them nor put off the desires of men from seeking them of God in those just prayers which he hath prescribed and in those
meeke and peaceable In the same will a delight in the Law of God and yet a bias and counter-motion to the law of sinne In the same understanding a light of the Gospell and yet many relikes of humane principles and fleshly reasonings much ignorance of the purity excellency and beauty of the wayes of God In the same heart singlenesse and sensiblenesse of sinne and yet much secret fraud and prevarication hardnesse and dis-apprehension of sin and wrath In the same affections love of God and love of the World feare of God and feare of men trust in God and doubting of his favour Lord I beleeve helpe thou mine unbeliefe was the cry of the poore man in the Gospell and such must bee the complaints of the best of us Lord I will helpe thou mine unwillingnesse Lord I heare thee helpe thou my deafenesse Lord I remember thee helpe thou my forgetfulnesse Lord I presse towards thee helpe thou my wearinesse Lord I rejoyce in thee helpe thou my heavinesse Lord I desire to have more fellowship with thee helpe thou my strangenesse Lord I love and delight in thy Law helpe thou my failings Such tugging is there of either nature to preserve and improve it selfe Iacob was a man of contention and wrestling from the beginning Contention with his brother in the birth contention for the birth-right contention with an Angell for the blessing contention for his wife and for his wages with Laban He was a Typicall man his name was Israel and he was a patterne to the Israel of God We must be all men of contention wrestlers not onely with God in strong and importunate prayers for his blessings but with our elder brother Esau with the lusts and frowardnesse of our owne hearts The Thiefe on the Crosse was a perfect embleme of the sinne of our nature he was naild hand and foot destin'd unto death utterly disabled from any of his wonted outrages and yet that only part which was a little loose flies out in reviling and reproaching Christ Our old man by the mercy of God is upon a Crosse destin'd to death disabled from the exercise of that wonted violence and dominion which it used and yet so long as there is any life or strength left in him hee sets it all on worke to revile that blessed spirit which is come so neere him The more David prevailes the more Saul rageth and persecuteth him As in the wombe of Tamar there was a strife for precedencie Zarah thrust out his hand first and yet Pharez goâ—… foâ—…th before him so in a Christian many times the 〈◊〉 thruâ—… out the hand and begins to worke and presently the flesh growes sturdie and boisterous and gets first into the action A man sets himselfe to call upon God lifts up his hand with the skarlet thred the blood of Christ upon it is in a sweete preparation to powre out his complaints his requests his praises to his father and ere he is aware pride ln the excellencie of Gods gifts or deadnesse or worldly thoughts intrude themselves and justle-by Gods spirit and cast a blemish upon his offring A man is setting himself to heare Gods word begins to attend and rellish the things that are spoken as matters which doe in good earnest concerne his peace begins to see a beauty more then ordinary in Gods service an excellencie with David in Gods Law which hee considered not before resolves hereafter to love frequent submit beleeve prize it more then he had ever done presently the flesh sets up her mounds her reasonings her perverse disputes her owne principles her shame her worldlinesse her want of leisure her secular contentments and so resists the spirit of God and rejects his counsell I have enough already what needs this zeale this pressing this accuratenesse this violence for heaven strive wee what wee can our infirmities will encompasse us our corruptions will bee about us But yet Beloved as in a pyramide the higher you goe the lesse compasse still you finde the body to bee of and yet not without the curiositie and diligence of him that fram'd it so in a Christian mans resurrection and conversation with Christ in heaven the neerer he comes to Christ the smaller still his corruptions will bee and yet not without much spirituall industry and christian art A Christian is like a flame the higher it ascends the more thinne purified and azurie it is but yet it is a flame in greene wood that wants perpetuall blowing and encouragement A man sets himselfe with some good resolution of spirit to set forward the honor in questioning in discovering in shaming in punishing within the compasse of his owne calling and warrant the abuses of the times in countenancing in rewarding in abetting and supporting truth righteousnes his flesh presently interposeth his quiet his security his relations his interests his hopes his feares his dependencies his plausibility his credit his profit his secular provisoes these blunt his edge upbraid him with impoliticknes with malecontentednes with a sullen cynicall disposition against men and manners and thus put I know not what ill favor'd colours upon a good face to make a man out of love with an honest busines In a word good is before me the glory the service the waies of God I see it but I cannot love it I love it but I cannot doe it I doe it but I cannot finish it I will but yet I rebell I follow and yet I fall I presse forward and yet I faint and flagge I wrestle and yet I halt I pray and yet I sinne I fight and yet I am Captive I crucifie my lusts and yet they revile me I watch my heart and yet it runnes away from me God was at first the Author of nothing but peace within me what envious man hath sowed this warre in my bowels Let the Apostle answer this question saith Saint Austen By one man sinne entred into the world That which I would be I am not and that which I hate I am O wretched man in whom the Crosse of Christ hath not yet worne out the poysonous and bitter tast of that first tree It is the patheticall complaint of Bonifacius in the same Father How doth the Apostle even breake with complaining of this rebellious and captivating power of originall concupiscence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me though hee were delivered from the damnation yet hee was not delivered from the miserie of this sinne which must necessarily arise from the stirrings and conflicts of it Though lust in the regenerate bee not damnable because albeit it bring forth sinne yet it doth not finish and consummate it for it is broken off by repentance and disabled by the power of Christs spirit yet it is still miserable because it disquieteth the spirituall peace and tranquillity of the soule But there is no great danger in the warre if the enemie bee either foolish or
and defect of reason or at least it is an inconsistency a lubricitie a slipperinesse of reason And these are very deepe in the nature of a man folly is bound up in the heart of a childe and in spirituall things we are all children First there is an universall ignorance and inconsideratenesse of spirituall things in the nature of man he takes lesse notice of his condition then the very bruite beasts The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Asse his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider The Stâ—…rke in the heavens knoweth her appointed time and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow but my people knoweth not the judgement of the Lord. The very dumbe Assereproved the madnesse of the Prophet as Saint Peter speakes And for this reason it is that we shall observe That frequent Apostrophe of God in the Prophets when he had wearied himselfe with crying to a deafe and re bellious people he turnes his speech and pleads before dumbe and inanimate Creatures Heare O Heavens and give eare O Earth nothing so farre from the voyce of the Prophet as the heavens nothing so dull and impenetrable as the earth and yet the heavens likelier to heare the earth likelier to listen and attend then the obdurate sinners Heare O ye mountaines the Lords controversie and ye strong foundations of the earth Nothing in the earth so immoveable as the mountaines nothing in the mountaines so impenetrable as the foundations of the mountaines and yet these are made more sensible of Gods pleadings and controversies then the people whom it concern'd The Creatures groane as the Apostle speakes under the burden and vanitie of the sinnes of men and men themselves upon whom sinne lies with a farre heavier burden boast and glory and rejoyce in it Of our selves we have no understanding but are foolish and sottish as the Prophet speakes we see nothing but by the light and the understanding which is given unto us we cannot have so much as a right thought of goodnesse The Apostle doth notably expresse this universall blindnesse which is in our nature Ephes. 4. 17. 18. Walke not as other Gentiles in the Vanitie of their minde having the understanding darkned being alienated from the life of God or from a godly life through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindnesse of their Hearts First their minds are vaine the minde is the Seate of Principles of supreme primitive underived truths but saith he their mindes are destitute of all divine and spirituall principles Secondly their understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is darkened The understanding or Dianoeticall facultie is the seate of Conclusions and that is unable to deduce from spirituall principles if there were any in their mindes such sound and divine conclusions as they are apt to beget so though they know God which is a Principle yet this Principle was vaine in them for they conceiv'd of his glory basely by the similitude of foure footed beasts and creeping things they conceiv'd him an idle God as the Epicures or a God subject to fate and necessity as the Stoicks or a sinfull impuâ—…e God that by his example made uncleannesses religious as Saint Cyprian speakes one way or other they became vaine in their imaginations of him but secondly though they knew him yet the conclusions which they deduc'd from that Principle That he was to be worshipped c. were utterly unworthy his majesty They worshipped him ignorantly superstitiously not as became God they changed his truth into a lye Thirdly suppose their principles to be found their Conclusions from those principles to be naturall and proper yet all this is but speculation they still are without the end of all this spirituall prudence their hearts were blinded the heart is the Seate of knowledge practicall that by the Principles of the minde and the Conclusions of the understanding doth regulate and measure the Conversation but that was unable yea averse from any such knowledge for they held the truth of God in unrighteousnesse they did not like to retaine God in their knowledge they served the lusts of their owne hearts were given up to vile affections were filled with all unrighteousnesse and had pleasure in evill workers even when they did things which they knew deserved death and provoked judgement This is that universall defect which is in us by nature and very much of this remaines in the best of us Here then when we are not able to conceive the Lords purpose in his word though of it selfe it be all light when we finde with David that it is too excellent for us let us learne to bewaile that evill concupiscence of our nature which still fils our understandings with mists and puts a vaile before our faces The whole Booke of God is a pretious Mine full of unsearchable treasures and of all wisedome there is no scoria no refuse in it nothing which is not of great moment and worthy of speciall and particular observation and therefore much are we still to bewaile the unfaithfulnesse of our memories and understandings which retaine so little and understand lesse then they doe retaine If David were constrain'd to pray Open mine eyes to see more wonders in thy Law how much more are we to pray so too If there were a dampe of sinne in Davids heart that did often make his light dimme that did make him as abeast in understanding as himselfe complaines how much darkenesse then and disproportion is there betweene us and that blessed light Looke upon Heretiques old and new Marcions two gods a good and an evill Valentinians thirty and odde gods in severall lofts and stories worshippers of Caine worshippers of Iudas worshippers of the Serpent and a world of the like sottish impiecies nay amongst men that pretend more light to see the same Scriptures on both sides held and yet opinions as diametrally contrary as light and darkenesse one gospell in one place and another gospell in another to speake nothing of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and naevi those blemishes that are in the writings of the most rare and choisest instruments in Gods Church All these are notable evidences of that radicall blindnesse which is in our nature and is never here quite removed for if the light be not seene it is not for want of evidence but for want of sight Secondly consider the slipperinesse and inconsistencie of naturall reason in spirituall things it can never stay upon any holy notion And this is another kinde of madnesse Mad men will make a hundred relations but their reason cannot stand still nor goe through with any but roves from one thing to another and joynes together notions of severall subjects like a rope of sand some few lucid intervals they may haply have but they quickly returne to their frenzies againe This is the condition of our nature let a man enter upon
or filthinesse which is iâ—… the world through lust so do they serve to ad one grace to anâ—…ther and to make them abound in us till we come to chaâ—…ity which is the bond of perfection as Saint Peter shewes And againe Grow saith he in grace and in thâ—… 〈◊〉 of our Lord 〈◊〉 Christ. The more a 〈◊〉 doth abound in the knowledge of Christ who is the sâ—…mme fountaine â—…le treasurie of all the promises the more will he grow in grace and unto perfection For as some promises are in our hand and perform'd already as Rewards for our service past so others are still before our eyes to call and allure us as the price unto which we pâ—…este Be ye stedfast and unmoveable and abound alwaies in the worke of the Lord saith the Apostle for as much as you know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. Holding fast and going on hath a Crowne attending it The more we proceede in holinesse our salvation is still the Neerer unto us If we lose not the things which wee have wrought we shall receive a full reward THE VSE OF THE LAW ROM 7. 13. Was that then which is good made death unto me God forbid But sinne namely was made death unto me that it might appeare sinne working death in me by that which is good That sinne by the Commandement might become exceeding sinfull HEre we finde the Originall discovery of all that Sinfulnesse of sinne which wee have hitherto insisted upon namely the manifesting and working property which is in the Law of God It will bee therefore very requisite by way of Appendixe to the preceding Treatise and of manuduction to the consequent to unfeld out of these words The uâ—…e of the Law by which we shall more distinctly understand the scope and purpose of the Holy Ghost in loading the spirit of man with tâ—…e vanity of the Creature and in shutting up the conscience under the sinfulnesse of sinne both which have respect unto the Law that as an effect of the cursing and this of the Convincing power thereof and yet in both nothing intended by God but Peace and Mercie The Apostle in the beginning of the Chapter shewes that we are by nature subject to the Law and death which is an unavoidable consequent of the breach thereof even as the wife is to her husband as long as he liveth And that by Christ we are delivered from that subjection who hath shine our former husband and taken him out of the way as the Apostle elsewhere speakes Now because this doctrine of justification by faith in Christ and deliverance from the Law by him was mainely opposed by the Iewes and was indeed that chiefe stumbling blocke which kept them from Christianitie which I take it was the reason why the false brethren under pretence the better to worke on that people to pacifie affections and reconcile parties and ferruminate the Churches together would have mingled the Law with Christ in the purpose of Iustification as the papids now upon other reasons doe Therefore the Apostle who was very zealous for the Salvation of his brethren and kiâ—…sfolke according to the flesh labours to deerâ—… thâ—…s doctrine from two maine objections in this Chapter which it seemes the Iewes did use against it The ground of both is tacitely implied and it is the same generall hypothesis or supposition that all deliverance is from evill and carries necessary relation to some mischiefe which it presupposeth Therefore if that doctrine be true which teacheth deliverance from the Law then it must be granted that the Law is evill for to be unsubjected to that which is good is no deliverance but a wilde and bâ—…utish loosenesse Now evill is but two fold either sinne or death So then if the Law be evill it must be either sinne or death The former objection is made vers 7. What shall wee say then is the Law sinne that we should now heare of a deliverance from it Doth not the Scripture account the Law a priviledge an honour an ornament to a people and from the Iustnesse and Holinesse of the Law conclude the dignity and greatnesse of a nation What nation is so great saith Moses which hath statutes and iudgements so righteous as I set before you this day He shâ—…weth his word unto Iacob his statutes anâ—… iudgements unto Israel He hath not dealt so with every nation saith David I sent unto them Honorabilta Legis saith the Lord the honorable and great things of my Law but they were counted as a strange thing And is that which Moses and the Prophets esteemed a priviledge and honour become now a yoke and burden Shall wee admit a doctrine which over-throwes the Law and the Prophets To this the Apostle answeres God for bid The Law is not sinne for I had not knowne sinne but by the Law It is true sinne tooke occasion by the Law to become more sinfull vers 8. but this was not occasio data but arrepta no occasion naturally offered by the law but perversly taken by sinne whose venomous property it is to suck poison out of that which is holy So then the Law is not sinne though by accident it enrage sinne For of itselfe it serveth onely to discover and reveale it ver 9. But as the Gospell as well when by mens perversnesse it is a savour of dâ—…ath as when by its owne gratious efficacie it is a savour of life is both wayes a sweete savour So the Law either way when by it selfe it discovereth and when by accident it enrageth sin is still Holy lust and Good ver 11 Vpon this followes the second Objection in the words of the Text. Is that which is good made death unto me If a deliverance presuppose an evill in that from which we are deliver'd and no evill but belongs either to sinne or death then admitting a deliverance from the Law if it be good in respect of holinesse it must needs be evill in the other respect and then that which is good is made death unto me And this casts a more heavie aspersion and dishonour upon God then the former that he should give a Law meerely to kill men and make that which in its nature is good to be mortall in its use and operation Wine strong waters hard meates are of themselves very good to those purposes unto which they are proper yet under pretence of their goodnesse to craâ—…me the stomicke of a sucking infant with them would not be kindnesse but crueltie because they would not in that case comfort or nourish but kill Gold is good of it selfe but to fetter a man with a chaine of gold would be no bounty but a mockery So to conceive God to publish a Law good indeed in it selfe but deadly to the subjects and to order that which is holy in its nature to be harmefull and damnable to the Creature in its use is so odious an aspersion
projects and machinations against his Church but thou onely His heele the vitall parts shall be above thy reach And this Christ did not for himselfe but for us The God of Peace saith the Apostle shall bruize Sathan under your feete Hee shall be under our feete but it is a greater strength then ours which shall keepe him downe The victorie is Gods the benefit and insultation ours If He come as a Serpent with cunning craftinesse to seduce us Christ is a stronger Serpent a Serpent of Brasse and what hurt can a Serpent of flesh doe unto a Serpent of Brasse If as a Lion with rage and fierie assaults Christ is a stronger Lion A Lion of the Tribe of Iudâ—… the victorious Tribe Who shall goe up for us against the Cananites first Iuda shall goe up If hee come as an Angel of light to perswade us to presume and sinne The mercie of Christ begets feare The Love of Christ constraineth us Sathan can but allure to disobedience but Christ can constraine us to live unto him If he come as an Angell of darkenesse to terrifie us with despairing suggestions because wee have sinned If any man sinne wee have an Advocate and who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is Christ that is deade yea rather that is risen againe who also sitteth at the right hand of God to make intercession for us Thirdly but I have an enemie within me which is the most dangerous of all The World may be if not overcome yet endured and by being endured it will at last bee overcome The Divell may bee driven away for a time though he returne againe but the flesh is an Inhabiting sinne and an encompassing sinne If I breake through it yet it is still within me and if I reject it yet it is still about me Saint Paul who triumphed and insulted over all the rest over the World Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ Shall tribulation or distresse or persecution or famine or nakednes or perill or sword nay in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us Over Sathan and Hell O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victorie Even hee cryes out against this enemie his owne flesh O wrethed man that I am who shall deliver mee from this body of Death Yet even against this unremoveable and unvanquishable corruption the Life of Christ is safe in us upon these grounds First we have his Prayer which helpes to subdue it and to sanctifie our nature Sanctifie them by thy Truth Secondly wee have His Vertue and Power to purge it out and to cure it The Sunne of righteousnesse hath healing in his wings Thirdly wee have His office and sidelitie to appeale unto and where to complaine against our owne flesh He undertooke it as a part of his businesse to purge and clense his people Fourthly we have His Spirit to combate and wrestle with it and so by little and little to crucifie it in us and lastly we have his Merits as Sanctuarie to flie unto to forgive them here and hereafter to expell them Fourthly for all this I am full of doubts and restlesse feares which do continually fight within me and make my spirit languish and sinke and that which may decay may likewise expire and vanish away To this I answer that which inwardly decayeth and sinketh at the foundation is perishable but that which in its operations and quoad nos in regard of sense and present complacencie may seeme to decay doth not yet perish in its substance A Cloude may hide the Sunne from the eye but can never blot it out of his orbe Nay Spirituall griefe is to that light which is sowen in the heart but like harrowing to the Earth it macerates for the time but withall it tends to joy and beautie There is difference betweene the paines of a woman in travell and the paines of a goute or some mortall disease for though that be as extreeme in smart and present irkefomenesse as the other yet it containes in it and it proceedes from a Matter of Ioy And all the wrestlings of the Soule with the enemies of Salvation are but as the paines of a woman in travell when Christ is fashioned when the issue iâ—… victorious and with gaine the soule no more remembreth those afflictioâ—…s which were but for a moment Fifthly and lastly I have fallen into many and great sinnes and if all sinne be of a mortall and venemous operation how can my Life in Christ consist with such heavie provocations and apostacies To this in generall I answer If the sight of thy sinnes make thee looke to Christ If â—…hou canst beleeve all things are possible It is possible for thy greatest apostacies to vanish like a Cloud and to be forgotten Though sinne have weakned the Law that we cannot be saved by that yet it hath not weakned Faith or made that unable to save For the strength of sinne is the Law it hath its condemning vertue from thence Now by Faith we are not under the Law but under Grace When once wee are incorporate into Christs body and made partakers of the new Covenant though we are still under the Laws conduct in regard of its obedience which is made sweete and easie by Grace yet we are not under the laws maledâ—…ction So that though sinne in a Beleever bee a transgression of the Law and doth certainely incurre Gods displeasure yet it doth not de fectâ—… though it doe de merito subject him to wrath and vengeance because every justified man is a person priviledg'd though not from the duties yet from the curses of the Law If the King should gratiously exempt any subject from the Lawes penaltie and yet require of him the Lawes obedience if that man offend he bâ—…ch transgreâ—…sed the Law and provoked the displeasure of the Prince who haply will make him some otheâ—… way to 〈◊〉 it yet his offence doth not nullyfie his priviledge nor voyde the Princes grace which gave him an immunitie from the foâ—…feitures though not from the observance of the Law Adultery amongst the Iewes was punished with Death and Theft onely wtth restitution amongstus Adulterie is not punished with Death and Theft is Now then though a Iew and an Englishman be both bound to the obedience of both these Lawes yet a Iew is not to die for Theft nor an Englishman for Adultery because wee are not under the Iudiciall Lawes of that people nor they under our Lawes Even so those sinnes which to a man under the covenant of workes do dâ—… facto bring Death if he continue alwayes under that covenant doe onely create a Merit of Death in those who are under the Covenant of Grace but doe not actually exclude them from Salvation because without infidelitie no sinne doth peremptorily and quoad eventum
of â—…ther else the Bodie of Christ would be a mangled and a maimed thing and not as Saint Paul calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulnesse of Him that filleth all in all In the Body of Christ there is a supply to every joynt a measure of every part an edification and growth of the whole compacted body from Him who is equally the Head to all Being thus united unto Christ first the Death and Merit of Christ is ours whatsoever Hee really in His humane nature suffered for sinne wee are in moderated Iustice reputed to have suffered with Him The Apostle saith that we were crucified and dead with Christ and that as truely as the hand which steales is punish'd when the backe is beaten and surely if a man were crucified in and with Christ by reason of His mysticall communion with him then he was crucifi'd as Christ for al 〈◊〉 which should otherwise have laine upon him Hee was not in Christ to cleanse some sinnes and out of him to beare others himselfe For the Apostle assures us that the Merit of Christ is unconfined by any sinne The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sinne As Saint Ambrose said to Monica the mother of Austen when with many teares she bewailed her sonnes unconversion Non potest tot lacrymarum filius perire that is that it could not be that the Sonne of so many teares should perish so may I more certainely say to any Soule that is soundly and in truth humbled with the sense of any grievous relapse non potest tot lacrymarum frater perire It cannot bee that the brother of so many teares and so pretious blood which from Christ trickled downe with an unperishable soveraigntie unto the lowest and sinfullest of his bodie should perish for want of compassion in Him who felt the weight of our sufferings or for want of recovery from him who hath the fulnesse of Grace and Spirit Secondly the Life of Christ is ours likewise Christ liveth in me saith the Apostle Now the Life of Christ is free from the power and the reach of death If death could not hold Him when it had Him much lesse can it reach or overtake Him having once escaped Hee died once unto sinne but Hee liveth unto God likewise saith Saint Paul reckon you your selves to be dead unto sinne but alive unto God and that through or in Iesus Christ by whom wee in like manner are made partakers of that Life which Hee by rising againe from the Grave did assume as we were by AdaÌ„ made obnoxious to the same death which heby failing did incurre and contract For Christ is the second Adam and as wee have borne the Image of the earthly in sinne and guilt so must we beare the Image of the Heavenly in Life and righteousnesse and that which in us answereth to tâ—…e Resurrection and Life of Christ which Hee ever liveth is our holynesse and newnesse of life as the Apostle plainely shew's to note that our Renovation likewise ought to be perpetuall and constant not fraile and mutable as when it depended upon the life of the first Adam and not of the second Thirdly the Kingdome of Christ is ours also Now His Kingdome is not perishable but eternall a Kingdome which cannot be shaken or destroyed as the Apostle speakes Heb. 12. 28. Fourthly the Sonneship and by consequence â—…tance of Christ is ours I speake not of His personall Sonneship by eternall generation but of that dignitie and honour which He had as the first borne of every Creature and Heire of all things That Sonneship which Hee had as Hee was borne from the Dead Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee namely in the Resurrection in which respect He is called the first borne and the first begotten of the Dead In this dignitie of Christ of being Heires and a kinde of first borne unto God doe wee in our measure partake for wee are called the Church of the first borne and a kinde of first fruites of His Creatures For though those attributes may be limited to the Iewes in regard of precedencie to the Gentiles yet in regard of the inheritance which was usually and properly to descend to the first borne they may bee applyed to all for of all beleevers the Apostle saith If you are Sonnes then are ye heires Coheires with Christ. We hold in chiefe under his guardianship and protection as his sequele and dependant Now from hence our Saviours argument may bring much comfort and assurance The Sonne abideth in the house for ever and the House of God is His Church not in Heaven onely but on Earth likewise as the Apostle shewes Fifthly Christs victories are ours Hee overcame the World and Temptations and Enemies and Sinnes for us And therefore they shall not bee able to overcome Him in us Hee is able to succour them that are tempted Hee who once overcame them for us will certainely subdue them in us Hee that will overcome the last Enemie will overcome all that are before for if any be left the last is not overcome Lastly we have the benefit of Christs Intercession I have prayed for thee that thy Faith faile not It is spoken of a saving Faith as the learned prove at large And I have shewed before that particular promises in Scripture are universally applyable to any man whose case is paralell to that particular If then Peters 〈◊〉 did not by reason of this prayer of Christ overturne his Salvation or bring a totall deficiencie upon his faith why should any man who is truely and deepely humbled with the sense of relapse or consciousnesse of some sinne not of ordinary guilt or dayly incursion but indeede very hainous and therefore to be repented of with teares of blood yet why should he in this case of sound humiliation stagger in the hope of forgivenesse or mistrust Gods mercie since a greater sinne then Peters in the grosse matter of it can I thinke hardly be committed by any justified man These are the comforts which may secure the Life of Christ in a lapsed but repenting sinner the summe of all is this Since we stand not like Adam upon our owne bottome but are branches of such a Vine as never withers Members of such a Head as never dies sharers in such a Spirit as cleanseth healeth and purifieth the heart partakers of such promises as are sealed with the Oath of God Since we live not by our owne life but by the Life of Christ are not ledde or sealed by our owne spirit but by the Spirit of Christ doe not obtaine mercie by our owne prayers but by the Intercession of Christ stand not reconciled unto God by our owne endevours but by the propitiation wrought by Christ who loved us when wee were enemies and in our blood who is both willing and able to save