to commend it selfe Looke up to heaven for a blessing upon it and desire the Lord to goe along with thee in it and prosper the same for thy soules good which he heartily desireth who rests Thine in the Lord Jesus I. T. THE CARNALL PROFESSOR ROM 8. V. 13. For if yee live after the flesh ye shall die but if through the Spirit ye mortifie the deeds of the body yee shall live IN the Chapter going before the Apostle having delivered the double use of the Law first the proper use to shew men the way to live if in case they were able to fulfill and keepe it Secondly the accidentall use by reason of Sinne which is imployed in condemning us by discovery of our transgression to comfort the distressed heart of a poore sinner hee describeth in the latter end of the former Chapter a speciall meanes to shun this inevitable danger namely the righteousnes obedience and sufferings of Christ And in this Chapter further enlargeth the same by way of confirmation unto the 5. verse After which lest it might bee thought that a Christian may live as hee list being freed from sinne by the merits of Christs death or that a profane person should claime any interest in that blessed sacrifice of Christ he further proveth by many pregnant reasons that every Christian ought to endeavour after holines that thereby hee may prove himselfe to be truly ingrafted into Christ by participating of the fruit of his Spirit and that hee is in deed and not in word only a true Christian by his unblameable life and conversation as the goldsmith is knowne by his costly peeces or any mechanicall artificer by the works which his hāds accomplish In the verse I have read unto you the Apostle concludeth very effectually amongst the rest of his arguments that wee must live according to the spirit and not according to the flesh seeing the one designeth and noteth unto us life the other death both most infallible tokens of our future estate and condition So that if any man or woman be desirous to know what shall betide them after this life If any be desirous to know even the secrets of God I mean his determination as touching themselves their wives their children friends or foes after death let them resort to the Holy Ghost speaking in this place and converse with their owne hearts if they finde the quickning spirit but as a lively sparke raked up amongst the great heap of their owne corruptions they shall assuredly live for ever If they find onely meere flesh and blood to be their guide then wo to them they are in the state of Castawayes and lost creatures be they Prince or Peere noble or ignoble rich or poore there is no difference nor exception with God and therefore they ought speedily to sue for their deliverance through favour by the Sonne of God lest death prevent them to their everlasting misery But it may be these titles of Flesh and Spirit are unknowne or at least not observed through the subtlety of Sathan thickning the eye of dexter and right discerning therefore that we may throughly kenne the flesh in despight of the flesh and judge in the spirit of the spirit let us for our furtherance herein consider these sixe profitable observations 1. What Flesh is 2. What it is to live in the flesh 3. What that death is which is here threatned as a just punishment to such as live after the flesh 4. What the Spirit is 5. What it is to mortifie the deeds of the flesh 6. What is meant when he saith they shal loue 1. The word Flesh is sometimes taken for the body as 2 Cor. 7. 1. Let us clense our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit that is of soule and body 2. For the humane nature of Christ who was put to death concerning the flesh 3. For this present life If thou take a wife thou sinnest not neverthelesse such shal have trouble in the flesh 4. For the outward aspect and appearance Yee know how through the infirmitie of the flesh I preached the Gospell 5. For the ordinary course of nature Gal. 4. 29. Hee that was borne after the flesh c. 6. For whole mankind All flesh is grasse c. 7. For naturall corruption and inclination of the mind will and affections to that which is against the Law and so it is taken in this place The reason why the holy Ghost termeth this naturall corruption inherent in the soule as well as the body by the name of flesh is because so strict is the Union betwixt the one and the other in an unregenerate man that as a loving couple they seeke the preservation of each others estate and like Hypocrates twins they laugh together they weepe together and are alike affected A bloody heart and a bloody hand a false heart and a false tongue a lascivious mind an adulterous eye yea and which is more so strangely sometimes is the soule overcome with the love of the body that whereas by nature reason should command and rule the flesh as the weaker vessell the belly and backe so subtly insinuate and creep into favour with the understanding that as the foolish wife with her beauty and composed devices over-ruleth her husband though a man of understanding So these importunat cravers never give over their suite unto reason they make it a drudge to sensuality and an attorney to sollicit the cause of meere grosse and carnall pleasure In consideration whereof I meane because of this mutuall intercourse of the soule and the body in accomplishing of sin many learned Divines have made this a question Whether the soule bee first infected with the contagion of the body or no but of that I will not stand it being besides our present purpose onely thus much I note that therefore the Holy Ghost nameth the flesh to intimate the mutuall confederacy betwixt the soul body of man how that by reason of sin he is now wilfully made a slave and vassall to fleshly desires And therefore likewise it may bee supposed that the Holy Ghost nameth the flesh onely as a man that blameth the provoking Wife for the lewd action done by her husband For albeit sinne lyeth principally in the soule as poyson in the teeth yet it sheddeth and disperseth it selfe at his pleasure actually into the members of the body of whom it is aptly accomplished as occasion is offered And as the whole toad is called a venomous creature because of some one part preserving poyson the rest being capable of the same virulent infection So the whole man is said to bee sinfull not as if the body of it selfe as it consisteth of bones sinnewes and living arteries can properly bee said to be sinfull otherwise then as the house is said to be wicked because of the wicked dwellers Albeit I graunt as the serpent was a fit instrument for the devil because of his subtilty so
the body and all the parts thereof being corrupted are become unto the wicked soule as the convenient tooles for the artificer or as a picklocke or fitted weapon in the hand of a theefe therefore Paul calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Weapons of unrighteousnesse or as a shrewish servant to an upright Master 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Servants to uncleannesse For the soule sealing up every evill action with voluntary consent may be said to bee the theefe and the body the receiver both alike culpable before God seeing each in his nature place hath stricken a stroke in the committing of sin That our whole man is naturally corrupt appeares by the verdict of God himselfe who saith that he is but flesh a very heape and lumpe and bundle of iniquity The imagination of mans heart is evill from his youth and so accordingly his whole disposition and estate even from his subsisting to thâ—s present I know that in me that is in my flesh or nature dwelleth no good saith the Apostle There is not so much as a thought of time betwixt a mans naturall being and his sinfull being So soone as ever wee are borne wee are borne sinners being guilty of Adams transgression before God which is therefore called Originall sinne in regard of the auncientnesse of it continuing eversince Adams fall accompanying the nature of man from his very first being and having the source and fountaine of all sinfull practises in it Our first parents being once corrupt how could any cleane thing bee brought out of their filthinesse Of flesh nothing could bee borne but flesh Adam begat children in his own likenesse If the roote had beene holy so had the branches beene but the tree being once corrupt the fruit could not chuse but be according How should this startle and affright the secure worldlings of our time sawest thou ever a leprous person whose body is bespred with sores and scabs Such and a thousand times worse art thou in the sight of God Knewest thou at any time a man in debt for some hundreds of pounds more than he is worth for whom the Bayliffes and Serjeants lye in waite at every corner see the shadow of thy own estate in him A world of actions hath the Lord against thee and his justice is ready to attache thee and seise upon thee every houre Could we seriously thinke on this it would make us unsatisfied in abasing our selves and cause us never to rest till we have made our peace with God Thou beholdest abroad a vaine person fairely set out to the eye tricked and trimmed in the best fashion and it may be thou knowest of some secret foule disease he hath or of some great debt he is in Dost thou not in thy thoughts now scorne such a one of folly Dost thou not say to thy selfe no marvell sure he should be so proud that hath such a deale of filthinesse underneath his gaynesse that lies in every bodies debt and owes more than hee is able to discharge Turne this home to thine own soule and wonder as much at thy selfe that can bee so carelesse so fearelesse so presumptuous when thy soule hath such neede of washing and there are against thee such Bills of iniquity and for ought thou knowest not yet blotted out before the Lord. Canst thou thinke well of thy selfe that hast by nature such a filthy soule Oh bewail that spirituall thraldome wherein thou art plunged commune w th thine own heart and say Into what misery boÌ„dage have I brought my selfe Thou Lord madest me holy pure and upright but by sin I sold my selfe unto the service of Sathan from which to this day I cannot get deliverance My mind is blind vaine foolish my will perverse and rebellious all my affections out of order there is nothing whole or sound within me Night and day I am pestered with sinfull motions The desires of my deceitfull heart bee so strong and prevailing that I am carried headlong to that which is evil The cursed earth is not so apt to bee overgrowne with weedes bryers and thornes as this soule of mine with lusts passions distempers worldly cares and sinfull thoughts the law of the flesh rebelleth against the law of my minde and diffuseth its venome into every action I performe and carrieth me violently to the committing of sin against knowledge and conscience The Gally-slaves condition is very hard and miserable but mine is farre worse No drudgery so base as the service of sinne No Tyrant so cruell aâ— sinne which allows no respite or time of refreshing O miserable man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of death I have deepely defiled my selfe by transgression but have no power to cleanse my heart O Lord. I have defaced thine image but cannot repuire it I have yeelded the powers of my soule to the obedience of sinne and now I would cast off that subjection and breake those snares I am altogether unsufficient for it When I would do well evill is present and I know no meanes to perfect my desire I want no strength to perfect that which is evill and I am ready and apt upon all occasions to goe astray but I am not able to doe any good such is my feeblenesse I am invironed and beset with sinne on every side Oh when shall I bee set at liberty that I may runne the wayes of Gods commandements Hitherto of the phrase of speech used by the Holy Ghost namely the flesh for the whole man body and Soule the particular corruption of either which that wee may shun as farre as wee may wee must learne to know theÌ„ in their speciall heads that so with some certainty we may kenne our owne stepps and discerne our owne hearts whether we walke according to the flesh yea or not Concerning the corruption of the soule and first as touching the fleshly understanding As the fierce dragon bringeth not forth the innocent dove or the roaring Lyon the harmelesse sheepe no more did Adam in the state of his impurity beget children sutable with his condition in the state of innocency but having defiled the holinesse of his nature by eating the forbidden fruit as a little levin levineth the whole lumpe so he imparted the same nature to his son as most evidently appeared in Cain and from him to all the rest of his posterity even unto our selves being all of us begotten in sin and conceived in iniquity So that whereas before the minde was endued with a perfect actuall knowledge of God so far as the humane nature may be supposed capable yea and which is more was enriched with power and ability of knowing more than as yet he had actually attained Now as the cleere sunshine overwhelmed with a cloud so is the minde of man overcast with palpable darknesse being destitute not onely of all reall knowledg excepting that naturall knowledge he hath of God taught him by the creatures which is rather a
worldly matters is no way able to embrace the principles of Gods truth or to retaine that which may be his onely comfort longer then a dynt struck in the water from whence it commeth that a carnall man entertaineth the word at one eare and letteth it out at another his whole religion consisting in hearing not binding himselfe firmely and effectually to remember any thing unlesse it be a matter which he thinketh either cleareth him in his sinne as God is mercifull and at what time soever a sinner repenteth or else that toucheth his neighbour in the next seat but as for the knowledge of God and his nature a saving faith in Christ or the like teach him every weeke nay every day for the space of twenty yeers together he will not remember so much as a beast may bee taught in some active sleights in an houre I know what I say a dogge or horse may sooner be taught to remember a toy whereof his nature is capable in one houre then a meere naturall man the true substance of religion all the dayes of his life 4. Concerning the Will. The former faculties of the soule are called speculative there is another kinde called practicall which are the Will and affections and these are exercised in action as the other in Contemplation The Will is the absolute Monarch in a man and the Vnderstanding is his Counsellor Now whereas before the Will was counselled and guided by true reason and understanding and so was both able and willing to bee conformable unto God now it is both impotent as was said of the understanding not able in any sort to desire or will heavenly things as also rebelleth against that which is good and willeth that which is evill And no marvaile for if the understanding which should be the guide thereof bee grosse and carnall the Wil cannot bee spirituall It must needes bee a miserable State where the Prince wanteth wisdome and the people due moderation 5. Concerning the Affections The affections likewise which are divers dispositions of mans soule stirred up by diversity of objects are more stained with fleshly corruption then any other part of the creature besides which in regard of their violence make a carnall person to be caryed like a mad man upon a wilde horse so as he can neither stay himselfe nor bee staid by others Which fleshly corruption consisteth in this that they are moved unto contrary objects for those which should bee stirred up by the evilnesse of an object to abhorre it doe in that respect embrace it and move towards it and those which should bee moved by the goodnesse of an object to embrace it doe in that respect abhor and shunne it For which cause they may fitly bee compared to a bedlam who rageth and raileth against his keeper or unto a sicke body which loathing that which would worke the cure hankereth still after that which engendreth corruption and increaseth his disease For example whereas man should love God and embrace each thing as incites therunto contrariwise he hateth God and his Ministers yea and embrāceth from his heart each thing which may most soundly and effectually kill and slay that affection in him soft apparell sweet meats faire building outward pompe rich coffers merry company sleepe ease what if I say whores and harlots these be his loves these be his mistresses these be his Paramours and all these in a carnall man are like entising minions labouring to divorce his affection from his maker You cannot love God and Mammon God is a jealous husband he will not communicate the pleasure that hee taketh in an honest heart maryed to himselfe unto any stranger Againe whereas at the first man joyed in the fruition of the presence and favour of God in serving and meditating of him and his workes now he taketh no pleasure therein at all but if by the Law or for shame hee bee drawne to some spirituall exercise nothing is more tedious unto him his body is imprisoned in a seat his minde walketh about all the while either hee climbeth up unto one of the scaffolds viewing his friends defying his foes or else is in his shop counting his ware plotting some bargaine or the like Moreover whereas we should bee sorrowfull for our sinne we are sorrowfull that wee cannot sinne poverty sickenesse danger prison displeasure strike us downe dead but the poverty of the soule stript naked of Gods graces the sicknesse of the minde able neither to see nor know the Almighty grieveth us not at all Whereas in the time of innocēcy man relyed himself upon God for an happy estate and gave credit to his promises now though he protest and binde it with a solemne oath no man beleeveth him though hee hath sent his beloved Sonne from his owne bosome to ransome us out of our spirituall captivity and left it for ever in perpetuall record witnessed by men and Angells yet who regardeth it in his heart or blesseth God in his soule for the same Iesus Christ of Nazareth the Carpenters sonne was too base a fellow to gratifie the stately personages of our times No the Gods of England shall deliver us wit learning beauty strength friends riches nobility sinne Sathan this present world any thing save Jesus Christ. So that hereby it is manifest that man is so farre from having affiance in God that he is at defiance with him refusing and renouncing his patronage and protection By this therfore which in cursory wise hath been uttered you may easily perceive how fearefully this fleshly poyson hath dispersed it selfe over our whole man and made every faculty of soule and body swell with pride and ambition against God yea and like a mad dogge to byte and snatch at every hand even them of his owne nature As a light Chariott drawn with wilde horses and driven with a blinde man willing to give the raines whither soever the horses will runne must needs be in great danger of shattering all to pieces So the understanding being deprived of light which should give notice to our blinde will and wilde affection must needs in the end overthrow both soule and body with the finall calamity of the whole man unlesse the Lord give a better guide and take the whip out of the hand of our corrupt will and govern the affections faculties of our soules with the restraint of his saving Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Originall sinne is an hereditary disease which in time breakes out in whole mankinde it is the match that dischargeth the pealing pieces of all our infamous actions It is the husband which begetteth on us his wife the faculties of our soules and bodies many bratts many actuall transgressions as Paul notably allegorizeth which that I may more fully lay open and worke your hearts to a holy indignatiō against and detestation of consider but in a few particulars the many and great evils which accompany the same 1. It is an universall corruption
all that security and deadnesse of spirit which seares up the heart of many thousands of people This makes so little care of being saved Hence it is that the Gospell preached is so smally reckoned of the name of Christ is no more precious the word of grace no more honoured the promise of salvation no more laid hold on and hearkened after the threatnings of hell no more stood in feare of then they bee it is indeed one and not the smallest part of our native wretchednesse that our eyes are so holden with selfe-love that wee cannot perceive our misery nay wee are pleased with it and think it a peece of our happinesse to continue in it Wee have not onely no disposition to goe from it but which is worse a strong desire to remaine still therein Where is the man that truely discernes he is lost and undone that sensibly groanes under the weight and burthen of sinne that cryes out with the Leaper I am uncleane I am uncleane I have not in me by nature so much as a graine of goodnesse I am a very lumpe of corruption I am an enemy to God and to my owne soule I cannot so much as frame a thought tending to the furtherance of my best good Every thing I meddle with is defiled by me the very earth is weary to beare me and according to the kinde thereof both it and all the creatures complaine to God against me I am a burthen to the times and places wherein I live every man I converse with is the worse for mee c. Lastly to prevent surprisalls by this cruell enemy study his policies before hand for howsoever the strength of the flesh be very great yet the policy thereof doth farre exceed it for being not a professed enemy but a secret traitor it is more exercised in cunning undermining of our safety with subtle slights and politique stratagems then in assaulting us after an open and hostile manner Sathan cannot deceive us unlesse our owne flesh assisting him doe first deceive us The danger whereof is so much the greater because it is so deep and disguised that it can hardly be discovered and found out it displayes not its colours in open field but lyes hid in secret ambushments mingling it selfe with our owne forces and making a shew of simplicity and sincerity when there is nothing but craft and deceit in it perswading us that we are nothing so evill and corrupt as indeed wee are and that those good things which wee seeme to have are of farre more excellency then in truth they bee that our little mite is a great treasury that we are in an happy and blessed condition whereas wee were never neerer unto death and destruction that surely God loves us because we prosper in the world and live civilly and quietly amongst our neighbours wronging no man that so much zeale and strictnesse is more then neede that the best have their failings that great sinnes are very small ones and little sinnes are none at all c. Infinite are the windings and labyrinths of the heart of man the counsells and projects of this flesh of ours to establish the kingdome of sinne in it selfe What man is there who will not outwardly seeme to spit at Sathan and defie his workes of darknesse and yet what man is there in whose bosome secretly Satā doth not plot devise wicked enterprises The more time a man spends to make himself acquainted with himselfe and begs of God to reveale the hidden corruption of his evill nature to him the more abhorrency and condemnation will hee have of himselfe and the more adoration and wonderment at the infinite mercy of God that hee is not consumed when once a man hath his evil wayes discovered to him by Gods spirit he will be abased and confounded in his owne sight It is nothing but ignorance that keepes men in pride If to bee wise to doe evill and foolish to doe good if to plead for sinne and Sathan If to receive good parts and abilities from God and to fight against him with the same bee matters to be boasted of then there is a great crop of pride in every mans nature else wee must all conclude that hee which gloryeth in any thing meerely in himselfe hath chosen nothing to glory in but his owne shame Alas the best of our wisedome is but sensuall and devillish fleshly deceit as the Scripture speakes a man may bee very wise and yet imploy the same upon nothing but mischiefe You have heard the lineaments of originall corruption which in the wisdome of the Holy Ghost is called flesh Now as a body infected with the plague doth not presently complaine or shew the disease till afterward So this venome in children lyeth lurking and worketh not till the faculties of the soule are prettily well hatched up and then like a charmed cup it fumeth up into the braine and fills it with idle thoughts it enchanteth the conscience invenometh the affections and maketh the heart like a tipling house full fraught with ruffian-like passions Such strange and totall disorder such contention betwixt the heart and the conscience such raging in the affections such desperate unrulinesse in the will such error and staggering in the understanding that a man may well be compared to a rude family consisting of treacherous servants al false and idle of equall authority being subject to none but Lords of themselves Vnderstanding directed by the law of nature attempteth to advise the will saith shee will not yeelde but doe as shee lists Affections prevaile with Will and overcast judgement Conscience cryeth out upon them all and threatneth the Law Faire spoken pleasure entreateth it to be quiet and that all villany may bee cōmitted without check Lust by degrees entreateth the will to put out the candle and light of knowledge then when ignorance as dark as hell hath invaded and overshadowed the whole man the minions of Venus court may walke dismasked without kenning adultery fornication uncleanenesse wantonnesse idolatry witchcraft hatred debate envy murther drunkennesse gluttony c. and the whole Crew of fleshly workes may creepe out of the heart like the serpent and her brood in the night or as the Graecians out of the Trojan horse and goe hand in hand securely and without reproofe seeing Conscience being drowsie through the strong wine of voluptuousnesse is laid asleepe and therefore will not awaken unlesse the sins be too great and pricke him sore or els dead feared being deprived of understanding as the body of vitall spirits which should quicken and direct her in both her actions of testimony and judgement The whole man is full of disorder trust not therefore any of thy members alone without making a covenant with it If thou hast occasion to use thine eye take heed unto it it is full of the seeds of adultery pride envy covetousnesse there are lusts of the eye If to use thy tongue set a doore before thy lips
despaire and in the wicked to torment them before their time yet in respect of God a most friendly admonition for by this a man is suffered in a vision to see and feele the torment of hell to know the price of Christs blood to labour by all meanes possibly to make sure his election In the wicked also it hath this use I could never have thought it possible for a mortall man to have beene capable of that measure of distresse had not the Lord in his mercy for the further subduing also of my bedlame flesh suffered mee sometimes to behold and feele the flashings of hell through his grace causing me as a child to be stilled by the view of fearefull beasts If then in a dream or in a mans life time there may bee such an incredible horror that it may cause the eyes to stare the tongue to rave the haire to stand an end How much more hideous will it be when really and in deede with perfect knowledge sense broad waking we shall feele the strokes of the Almighty the terrours of God shall lay hold of us In consideration whereof in the name of God as you tender your eternall welfare enter into the examination of your selves and discerne of your estates whether they bee carnall or no cry out for the spirit you heare what the Holy Ghost saith If you walke after the flesh ye shall dye How strangely doth the sentence of Corporall death appall a man though pronounced by a wretch like himselfe and shall not the doome of death eternall given out by the Holy Ghost at all astonish you Oh let not Sathan harden your hearts resist the devill and he will flye from thee It is a Commandement and a promise What faire warnings doth God give unto men by himselfe and Ministers by the motions of his Spirit and checkes of our consciences from time to time and shall we bee so voide of grace as to make our selves a booty for Sathan to stand still while he deprives us of our lives and soules and all Me thinks reason should something prevaile with us in things so neerely concerning our best good But alas a hardened heart like Pharaohs a flint an adamant a marble spirit no admonition will serve its turn where grace is wanting no impression takes any roote Men will make triall and then beleeve A feareful experience this is thou maist first try in an earthly cause and then be warned but from hell thou canst not returne Remember Dives credit not the multitude Olde Tophet is wide and large humble thy selfe therefore betime and repent of thy grievous sinnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if ye mortifie As before the Apostle described an infallible token of death so here he proceedeth to shew in like manner a teckmerion or a certaine signe of life and that is the killing and slaying of sinne which is called Mortification For as seed which thou sowest is not quickened before it die or this corruptible body glorified before it be for a season dead and buried So neither is the manâ—ramed â—ramed in us which according to God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse untill the olde man bee wounded and laid for dead in us which like a gyant standeth up to expell and oppose the prosters and meanes of all holinesse And this is the cause that the holy Ghost maketh mention onely of this weakning of the force of sin through the death and buriall of Christ not excluding the other part of sanctification which is vivification viz. a vertue flowing from the resurrection of Christ causing us also to rise to newnesse of life It were to small purpose to bring place upon place to prove that which through the whole booke of God is so cleerely apparant How shall we that are dead to sin live yet therein They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof What can be plainer than this As the Physitian first purgeth before hee giveth a restorative so every one that shall be saved hereafter must first receive an allayer of his corruption here he must first be launced before he can be healed You may know the body of sinne in all his particular members by that which hath beene spoken touching the Flesh. Let every man woman here present examine himselfe from top to toe what cure is wrought by the spirit in his soul whether the kingdome of sinne and Sathan be demolished and weakned and the Kingdome of Jesus Christ advanced and built up in him whether corruption dyes and grace lives in his heart I beseech you deale faithfully with your owne soules and answer me directly to these interrogatories Are thy words which heretofore have beene full of prophanenesse and worldlinesse now directed to Gods glory and the good of those among whom thou livest Are thy thoughts which heretofore were loose and ungodly now bounded within a sacred compasse and spent wholly on heavenly things Is thy understanding informed of the mysteries of Christs Kingdome Is thy memory which heretofore hath beene stuffed with trash and toyes now capable and greedy of divine knowledge Doest thou order every passage of thy life by direction out of Gods word Art thou inwardly conscionable in the performance of holy duties Doth the tendernesse of thy coÌ„science smite thee not onely for grosse and open sinnes but even for vaine cogitations and the least appearance of any evill Art thou watchful against all occasions and temptations of sinne Doest thou feele thy selfe grow and increase in the wayes of holinesse Hast thou such a gracious taste of the glory of God and eternall life that thou desirest to meete thy Saviour in the clouds not so much to be rid out of the miseries of this life as to bee freed from the heavy burthen of sin which hangs so fast upon thee In a word doest thou so judge of things now as thou wouldest doe hereafter when thy soule is best able to judge as in the houre of death and the day of distresse Doest thou approve of things as they further thy last account as they commend thee more or lesse unto God and will bring true peace or sorow to thy soul at last and no otherwise then blessed and happy is thy condition and know this for the comfort of thy soule that thou art dearely beloved of God yea his peculiar one and precious in his eyes Sathan and all the powers of darknesse are fast chained up for ever doing thee any hurt Thou shalt never more bee afraid of evill tidings though the earth be moved and the mountaines fall into the midst of the Sea yet thy heart shall abide strong and comfortable I dare boldly pronounce that God is reconciled unto thee and that his sweete love which never changeth hath seized on thy soule What will it availe a man to say he is rich like the bragging Laodicean and yet be extreame miserable poore and naked what will it
further any of us to say we feele the decaying of sinne when as the Kingdome of Sathan still flourisheth in us Away with this glozing and deceitfull dealing hypocriticall holinesse is worse then professed wickednesse this it is so odious in Gods eyes that hee will plague those in whom it ruleth with his severest judgments those very good workes wherein the hypocrite seemeth to make hast to heaven cary him post to hell Nothing brings the soule more into a generall consumption then this sinne it deprives a man of true peace of conscience hardens his heart and fills him with such inward perplexity that hee dares not looke God in the face with any comfort The deeds of the body The meaning of the holy Ghost is not that wee should cut off the outward acts of sinne onely like many a dissembling hypocrite which hath the gift of restraining his affections that they breake not out but that wee should kill sinne at the heart and in the cradle then shall wee make sure worke and never hereafter stand in feare The next way to drench the conduit is to dry up the fountaine In vaine dost thou loppe sinne unlesse it be deprived of its master roote It may be thou wilt say that is a thing impossible Indeed to thee which art wholly evill it is marke therefore what followeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the Spirit This is that little David which taketh the Goliah of our corrupt nature and choppeth off his head this is hee that bringeth light out of darknesse life out of death which shineth as a starre through the watry clouds of humane infirmitie As there bee divers acceptations of the word flesh so also of the Spirit sometimes it is taken for the soule sometimes for naturall reason but that is not here meant To omit all other constructions the word Spirit in this place is taken for that created quality of holinesse which by the holy Ghost is so wrought in the minde will and affections of a man whereby the power and force of sin comes to be abated the faculty of holines inherēt sanctity is renewed in us But why doth the Apostle say if yee mortifie is it in our power to deprive sinne of its life and being It pleaseth God to speake of things as done by us when as indeed they are wrought in us Such is his fatherly wisedome that oft he ascribeth those things to us which hee himselfe secretly effecteth Wee mortifie the deeds of the body but it is by the spirits helpe the strength to subdue sinne is put into us from heaven Wee are as able to shake the foundation of the earth with our little finger as to shake our sin by our owne strength Nature will not slay our lusts it must be the Spirit of Christ corrupt nature labours by all meanes to preserve its owne being Hee that goes among Lions must needs be torne in pieces sinnes are Lions and will soone destroy us if God help us not Mortification of sinne is possible through the Spirits assistance otherwise impossible When therefore thou feelest pride covetousnesse lust growing upon thee looke for power from above or else thou art undone Pray in the words of Iehosaphat Lord there is no strength in mee to stand against these sinnes neither doe I know what to doe but mine eyes are towards thee Alas how are we overcome of evill whereas we should overcome evill with good we shake at the very noyse of temptation and give in presently wee have power over our eyes tongues or thoughts but let sinne passe in and out at pleasure All which shews how nothing wee are in our selves Sathan and the world are too strong for us standing in our owne might but by leaning on the power of God we remaine invincible whatsoever inordinatenesse a true Christian espies hee presently endeavours the killing through the efficacy of Christ. Indeed passions are not so bridled nor corruptions so quelled that they doe not stir but the force and power of them is so farre subdued that they shall not raigne or hale us ordinarily to that which is euill Hast thou been long kept under by some customary vice against which thou hast resolved and resolved but canst not prevaile Get thee to Christ by the help of his Spirit thou shalt get victory over all thy infirmities Die to thy selfe renounce the broken reede of thine owne freewill which hath so often deceived thee and put all thy trust in the grace of Christ that will crucifie thy olde man and give him his deaths wound be weake in thy selfe and strong in the Lord and through his might thou shalt be more than conquerour As faith encreases the power of corruption will decay and languish this fires the heart with such an unquenchable love to God that in comparison of obedience it contemneth the whole world besides It puts into us both courage and constancy to fight against the strongest lusts and set upon the practise of the most difficult duties notwithstanding all opposition from the world and devill yea though wee have beene foyled or taken the repulse Hee will not feare the subduing of the most head-strong passion who resteth upon God for power and abilitie nor bee dismayed because once hee hath received a foyle who depends upon God for strength to recover nor dread the might of his greatest adversary who knowes that God will bee at his right hand to sustaine him nor start aside in the most difficult dutie whose heart is fast linked unto the Lord and relyeth upon his grace to be enabled to whatsoever he is pleased to call him In the affaires of this life we love to excell and outstrip others and in matters of Religion to bee dead and lumpish is it not abominable would we raigne with the Saints hereafter and not labour with them now receive the price and not runne the race divide the spoile and not fight the battle The Merchant undertakes dangerous adventures to raise his estate yet alas what is the gold of India to the joyes of heaven a fading possession to an eternall weight of glory When once we discern what love the Lord beareth to us we cannot but returne love for love when a man considers hath Christ given himselfe for mee forgiven me so many debts conferred favours of all kindes upon mee what then shal I retribute to him againe O my soule why doest thou not resigne thy selfe to the pleasure of his will in every thing run when he calleth and doe what he requireth at thy hands what doest thou feare wherewith art thou entangled God is thy Father and Soveraigne to him thou owest thy selfe and all that thou hast thy honour wealth life or whatever is more precious then those Thou canst not love thy selfe as is meete if thou deny not thy selfe to follow the Lord in all things Is there any thing too hard tobedone for his sake too deare or good for him what hast thou in heaven or
the empty parched soule that comes unto him Hee is an overflowing fountaine his grace is unsearchable his store can never bee diminished Hee filleth the empty and satisfieth the poore that he might bee acknowledged the well-spring of all grace and goodnesse Lastly be sure to keepe the flesh under by stopping all passages of provision for it cleere thy minde of sinfull cogitations blot out of thy memory ribald speeches and obscene jests preserve thy heart from unlawfull lusts wicked desires and unruly passions Keepe thine appetite from intemperance and excesse thy tongue from corrupt communication thine eares from ungodly and dishonest discourses thine eyes from waton wicked objects and finally thy body from sloth and idlenesse effeminate delicacie and carnall pleasures It fares with the flesh and the spirit as with two mortall enemies in the field hee that by any meanes aideth and strengtheneth the one doth thereby make way for weakening of the other Hee that joyneth with the flesh doth oppose the spirit and hee that standeth on the spirits side doth bring the flesh into captivity Who would strengthen an enemie to oppugne himselfe wee give stings and weapons to the flesh arming it against the spirit when as wee pamper the body with delicacy inflame it with wine handle it daintily and nourish inticements and provocations to lust in it If the flesh be full fed it will despise the Spirit and commit many outrages in a Christian soule Yea it will waxe proud and insolent foyle the regenerate part and force it to live in miserable slavery Better to become a swine-heard with the prodigall than to bee a servant to our base lusts The heathen could say he was borne to more noble ends than to bee a slave to his owne body and shall not our spirits bee elevated to a higher pitch of excellency than his as having God for our Father and Christ for our elder brother which of us enobled by birth and liberally brought up being clothed with lothsome some ragges and defiled with noysome excrements would not hastily strippe them off and with indignation cast them away This flesh of ours doth us more mischiefe than the devill himselfe alas hee could never hurt us were we not first betrayed by this inbred enemy yea it is worse then hell and damnation as being the cause of both without it hell were no hell neither could destruction fasten upon us All the outrages and horrible crimes which are committed in the world may challenge the flesh for their chiefe cause and author It was this that pierced our Saviours hands and feete which moveth men daily to crucifie him afresh and trample his precious blood under their filthy feet and can we finde in our hearts to have any peace or truce with such a malicious enemy shall we not rather with implacable rage and constant resolution assault pursue and wound it to the death shall we not rather take part with the Spirit in warring against the flesh and disfurnish all provision and munition from the one that the other may be furnished with all necessaries Our spirit is the better part and should bee most regarded Who would deprive his soule of so sweet a guest to entertaine inordinate lusts The more familiar Sampson was with Dalilah the more was God a stranger to him For the weaknes of the flesh encreaseth the strength of the spirit even as cōtrariwise the strēgth of the flesh bringeth weaknesse to the spirit and indeed what wonder is it for a man to be made stronger by the weakening of his enemy who would purchase the pleasure of a base sinne at so high a rate as to lose the comfortable society of Gods blessed Spirit what meanest thou to admit such a mate into thy heart with which Gods spirit cannot sort It may bee thou wilt not rudely bid him get out of doores yet thou mayest weary him forth by welcomming such guests into thy soule as he can no wayes brook Oughtest thou not much rather to crucifie the flesh and walke in the spirit that so thou mayest not fulfill the lusts thereof doth not God call upon thee to slay thy corruptions to doe thy best not onely to subdue them but to put them to death encouraging thee thereunto by a gracious promise that if through the spirit thou doest mortifie the deeds of the body thou shalt live both the life of grace here and of glory hereafter What is the use of all this but to stir us to looke about us seeing wee have so secret and subtill and adversary to circumvent us Thinke not the Christian combat ended when some few battles are fought that thou art now out of danger rather expect and prepare for more Many stout Captaines have been overthrowne because after a cōquest they feared no fresh assault The flesh is restlesse in its assaults ever besieging us wee can neither fly from it nor chase away that from us it is not therefore sufficient to make good onsett nor yet to hold out the brunt of some assaults but all must be finished how bitter so ever ere we can looke for victory We must resist unto bloud and bee faithfull unto the death if ever we expect the crowne of life He that prevaileth in some conflicts and is at length vanquished cannot be said to overcome Saul fought many of the Lords battels valiantly but hee withdrew himselfe and the Lord forsooke him though thou hast done much yet give not over so long as there remains any thing to be done Consider not what conflicts have beene endured as how many are still to bee encountred Regard what is to come rather than what is past timerously to cease from resisting temptation is dangerous to our selves and dishonorable to God it maketh Sathan to insult over us and get advantage against us let us not thinke if we yeeld the field the devil will bee contented It is not the glory of conquest that he seeketh so much as our destruction which when I consider I cannot but bewaile the naked condition of many persons who suffer their armour to hang on the wals and rust never putting it on to any use Alas what benefit can come by a thing that lies dead doe we thinke we stand in no need of it or that God made this defence in vain experienced Christians find the contrary Our life is nothing but a continuall warfare so long as we are in this mortall body carnall motions will rise in our hearts though wee cut them off they spring out againe though thou quench them they are kindled againe will thou nill thou they soone returne they may be subdued but cannot bee rooted out It is no easie work to lead a christian life considering the continuall conflict of these two parties the flesh and spirit of so contrary dispositions within us It is impossible wee should ever walk after the one unlesse we resist the other Sathan will bee sure to take part with corruption and
THE CARNALL PROFESSOR Discovering The wofull slavery of a man guided by the flesh Distinguishing A true spirituall Christian that walkes close with God from all Formalists in Religion rotten hearted hypocrites and empty powerlesse professors whatsoever BY That faithfull Servant of Christ Robert Bolton B. D. late Preacher in Northhampton Shire LONDON Printed for R. Dawlman at the Brazen Serpent in Pauls Church-yard 1634. TO THE GODLY WELL AFFEcted Reader Christian Reader THe Father of all Spirits having takeÌ„ this worthy Author to himselfe pitty it were to entombe his labours in the grave of silence together with him the rather considering how usefull a member he hath alwayes beene to the Church of God and what prosperous successe his endeavours have found in the hearts of Christians The thing hee chiefly aimed at was fruitfulnesse in the place wherein God had set him which oft he enjoyed experiment of to the cheering of his spirit in no smal measure It cut the very heart strings of his righteous soule to see many dry withered branches fit for nothing but the fire cumbering the precious ground of the Almighties garden and possessing the roome of more growing plants Hee was wonderfull active in the cause of Christ and desired as well to doe good as to be so where ever hee came It was not the least of his care not to live unto himselfe He knew he served a good Master which made him studious of improving every talent for the best advantage wel may hee bee called good that makes others far the better for his goodnesse And indeed setting this aside what hath the creature to commend him to God or releeve his soule in any distresse Thou hast here in briefe the soule of man unbowelled before thine eye and that masse of corruption lodging in a carnall heart together with its power and plague discovered unto thee wherein is plainely demonstrated the miserable condition of a man guided by the flesh and the happinesse attending such as are led by Gods Spirit as also the bitter conflict of these two opposite inmates in a beleeving soule with the meanes of victorie Our life is nothing but a daily warfare every moment wee are more or lesse to encounter with adversaries Satan alwaies labours the destruction of the Saints though his wayes to effect it are not one the same sometimes he inticeth men to sin by allurements sometimes by vexing and disquieting their inward peace at least he aimeth to make the life of a Christian uncomfortable by his manifold assaults hee is vigilant to corrupt upon all occasions as he can espy opportunity and will not cease to assaile though he be overcome when hee cannot prevaile by flatteries he seekes by force and violence to overthrow the poore servants of Christ. Amongst his many snares to entrappe our pooâ—e soules this is not the meanest that he labours to divide the kingdome against it selfe and to use men as his instruments for their owne destruction Satan well knowes that comming in his owne likenesse he would seeme very odious and soone be resisted therefore he maskes under a vaile of humility that he may the more securely withdraw us from our hold in God But we have a valiant leader let us sticke unto him even Iesus Christ the righteous who is a Lion of the tribe of Iuda a mighty Prince able to tread all our enemies under foot well may Satan barke and roare but he can stir no further then God gives him liberty he cannot tempt whom he will nor when he will nor how he will without permissioÌ„ froÌ„ above he may desire to sift us as wheat but the Lord wil make choise of the temptation and set bounds to our enemies malice thus far you shall goe and no further If a child have his father by the hand though he be in the darke or sees any danger approaching yet he feares no hurt neither shal we be dismaid with any temptation whilest by the eye of faith we see that invisible one ready to support us the chiefest strength of soldiers lyeth in their captaine who yet must fight for themselves and him but our whole strength lyeth in Christ who by his Almighty power subdueth all things for us of our selves wee have no ability to prevail against the strong one in the world all our victories come from God we are too weake to withstand the least temptation through our owne strength but relying upon the Lord we shall be more than conquerors over the greatest It had been much to be wished that this holy man had survived the publishing the residue of his worthy labours that so they might have come more refined polished into the worlds view however pitty it is that goodly childreÌ„ should be brought to the birth and there perish for want of helpe to bring them forth These things in their delivery found much acceptance and wrought effectually in the hearts of many who knowes whether a further blessing doth not yet attend them Deare Christian next unto the glory of God thy good was chiefly aimed at in bringing this worke to light be not therefore wanting to thy selfe and thy soules blisse Remember the day cannot alwayes last the night will come and thou knowest not how soone This may be the last booke that ever thou shalt reade and this the last houre that ever thou shalt spend here on earth Oh use it conscionably and blesse God for any furtherance in thy way to happinesse While thou hast the light beleeve in the light and walke in the light that then maist bee the child of light Occasions are headlong being once past they cannot be recovered The five foolish virgins came too late and were shut out of heaven Thy time is short the art of well doing long on this moment depends eternity of blessednesse if it be well of misery if it be ill imployed Hee that is not ready for God to day will be lesse sit to morrow It is no time to begin to live when thou art ready to dye then to seeke after heaven when thou commest to thy Crutches At length grow spiritually wise let the best things have the best place in thee It will be too late when thou art in hell to say oh that I had been more religious and provided better for my soule be exceedingly abased for thy former neglects let it wound thy soule that thou settest out no sooner and art yet no further in the race of godlines get ground of thy corruptions now daily count that a lost day in which thou art not somewhat bettered and labour for such infallible evidences of Gods love that no reprobate under heaveÌ„ 〈◊〉 possibly attain unto get such truth of grace in thy inner man as may distinguish thee from all outside professors meere empty caskes of Religion and such as is not common to hypocrites and castawayes together with thy selfe To which end seriously peruse this following treatise wherein thou shalt finde sufficiency of real worth
light and wavering opinion theÌ„ a grounded and setled perswasion but also of all ability of attaining the true knowledge of God by any faculty vertue industry or meanes whatsoever inherent in himselfe That the Mind is thus fast bolted up in the dungeoÌ„ of ignoraÌ„ce appeareth plainly by the Apostle which affirmeth that the naturall man perceiveth not the things of God and that The wisdome of the flesh is enmity against God Nay reason experieÌ„ce manifests this truth for as the birds behold not the things which betyde in the depths nor the fishes acquainted with the dwelling in the ayre No more doth a poore naturall man go beyond the coÌ„pass of his sense or know further with any certainty then experience the mistris of fooles directeth him And therefore howsoever by reasonable discourse hee may gather as Paul speakes The invisible things of God as his eternall power and Godhead from the consideration of the creatures yet little or nought doth hee truely know either concerning God or his worship as appeareth by all ages and nations who have acknowledged as much and yet every one have chosen a God of their owne making and worshipped him also in their owne manner Moreover that man by nature hath disabled himself is become impoteÌ„t indocible and not capable of instruction appeareth by the Apostle who affirmeth that we are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sufficient of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God and therefore our Saviour Christ opened the understanding of his disciples that they might understand the Scripture From hence it commeth that the pictures in the Church are as much affected and taught by the Word as the common sort of hearers which areas a goodly company of images in a carvers shop having eyes and see not eares and heare not beholding the Preacher with outward reverence attention and yet not able with all their wit and endeavour to perceive any thing that is spoken if it contradict sense or to conceive it if it seeme impossible in nature It is observed in the Church of England that many thousands have lived twenty yeares together under a preaching Minister yea and that minister sometimes very painefull and diligent in the discharge of his calling yet scarce a man among them all able to give an account of his faith in any one article otherwise then hee hath learned it by roate out of his English Credo in Deum or to give any testimony of his profiting more by the Word then in the time of that Popish and blasphemous Idolatry The reason whereof is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or inability of nature before spoken of through which he is as unable to conceive of the incarnation of the Sonne of God the miraculous conception of Christ the spirituall regeneration of the faithful the resurrection of the body eternall glory and the like as an horse to flye in the ayre or a dead man to rise out of the grave by his owne power If your apprentice in tenne yeeres being actively taught bee not able to attaine the mystery and science of his trade you count him an asse or blockhead why then may wee not terme the master an uncapable sot in the mysteries of God which hath spent twenty or thirty yeeres in the knowledge thereof Sabbath upon Sabbath Sermon after Sermon and yet like the mill wheele turning all the yeere is yet in the same place where it was in the beginning It may be you will ask mee what is this to the purpose or at all concerning my text It is very materiall if you marke it for you must know that to bee fleshly minded is not only to be a whoremaster or an adulterer as the world imagineth Oh say they hee is a man given to the flesh he is a bad liver as if there were no fleshly corruption but that Yes beloved if thou be ignorant of God and his worship walking after thine owne inventions dead-hearted secure and carelesse vaine in thy imaginations conteÌ„t with thy naturall estate c. thou art as fleshly as the wretchedst whoremaster and as carnall as the most wicked liver in Gods account Remember that flesh is here opposed against Spirit whatsoever is not Spirit is flesh and therefore ignorance is flesh unlesse thou wilt blasphemously affirme that it hath his originall from the Spirit Now as he that is desirous to seat in his minde the true frame of the body must view it in an anatomy consisting of bones and sinewes so he that would learne the true discription of the body of sinne must see it in his original both in the minde will and affections after this he shall easily perceive how by veines it disperseth it selfe like a net over the whole soule and distills into act both inward and outward to the finall destruction of the whole man Thus much of the Understanding 2. Concerning the Conscience In the next place wee are to consider of the Conscience which is a part of the understanding in all reasonable creatures determining in all particular actions either with or against a man This in the state of innocency did onely excuse to accuse is a defect in the ConscieÌ„ce following the first Creation Now the fleshy infection of the Conscience is the impurity thereof Either it is dead or living and stirring The dead conscience hath two degrees either of slumber which doth not accuse a man for his sinne unlesse it be capitall and not for that alwayes unlesse in some grievous calamity Sâ—ared which accuseth not for any sin and this is compared in Scripture to that part of the body which is without sense life or motion scared with an hot iron this comes not to a man by nature but by encrease of the corruption of his nature These two are caused 1. Chiefly through defect of reason in all crazed braines 2. Through the strength of affections overcasting the minde and swallowing up judgement 3. Ignorance of Gods will and error in judgement The stirring Conscience which doth sensibly either accuse or excuse hath these differences 1. To accuse men for doing evil 2. To excuse for doing well in some particular actions this being in a man without Christ as also sinne for all the vertues of carnall men are Splendida peccata glistring or shining sinnes 3. Concerning Memory As a loving father setting his sonne to schoole giveth him a chest to locke up his bookes and whatsoever hee hath of price and value that hee may there preserve them till neede requires So the Lord in the state of innocencie revealing himselfe and his will unto man gave him a good memory strong treasury wherein he might lay up whatsoever his minde truely conceived and fetch it again to bee meditated and thought upon as occasion was offered But this also being tainted with the flesh in spirituall matters will hold nothing but being already furnished with divers impressions of
difficulty in fulfilling lusts there can never be any in the rising and sprouting of lusts It is no paines to conceive seede though it bee to bring forth a birth the longer any man lives in sinne the sweeter it is to him The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the eare with hearing no more is a sinner with his deeds of darknesse if he should live for ever hee would sinne for ever Evill comes out of the heart as sparkles out of the fire which never cease while the fire continues Lust is like a furious rider never weary of the way hee may have enough to load him but can never have enough to weary him he may quickly have enough to sinke him but can never have enough to satisfie him Lust it selfe growes never olde nor weary when adultery in the heart hath worne out the body so as it strength withereth yet even then it will finde a vent in a wanton eye unchast speeches and thoughts full of uncleanenesse Though a man may weary himselfe in the acting sinne yet lust is never satisfied in conceiving sinne Lastly consider the propagation of this sinne which may well therefore be called an olde man because it dyes not but passeth from one generation to another A mans actuall sinnes are personal they both beginne and end in himselfe But originall sinne is naturall and therefore together with our nature it passeth over to our posterity It is an entaile that can never be cut off it hath held from Adam and so will continue to the worlds end Every parent is the channell of death to his posterity Adam diffused damnation to all mankinde Neither is it any wonder that from a cursed root should proceed branches fit for nothing but the fire What a watch then should we keepe over our evill hearts what paines should we take by prayer and unweariednesse of spirit to suppresse this enemie If there were any time wherein the flesh did sit still and sleepe wherein the water did not runne and seeke for vent wee might then lessen our care but since it is ever stirring in us wee should bee ever stirring against it using all meanes to diminish and abate the same Since the heart is unwearied in evill wee should not faint nor bee weary of well-doing Since the heart is so abundant in evill we should abound likewise in every good worke Retaine in thy freshest memory such quickening thoughts as these If I commit this sinne it will cost me unvaluably more heart-breake and spirituall smart before I can purchase assurance of pardon and peace of conscience then the sensuall pleasure is worth If I never repent it will be the ruine of my soule for ever When thou goest to buy a commodity if the price be great thou forbearest and wilt thou venture up on sinne knowing what it will cost thee If Iudas had knowne as much before he betrayed his Master as now he feeles hee would never have committed that villany Alas thy soule is incomparably more worth then the whole world and wilt thou for a little paltry pleasure of some base and rotten lust which passeth away in the act hazard the losse of so precious a jewell Doe not consider the smalnesse of thy sinnes but the greatnesse of thy God who is displeased with them Mortification is tedious but heaven is sweete men are content to goe all day after their hawkes and hounds enduring hunger and thirst for a little pleasure not worth the enjoying why then should wee refuse any labour for the obtaining so rich a reward In lust a man wearieth himselfe and hath no hope but here our labour is not in vaine in the Lord wee shall reape if we faint not A little glory in heaven nay a little comfort in earth will plentifully recompense all our travaile and paines in this kinde Looke not alwayes on Satans temptations the worlds solicitations and thine owne sinfull inclinations these as clogs will presse thee down and much dishearten thee in thy Christian course but looke unto Iesus the author and finisher of thy faith who will carry through al difficulties and overcome sinne in thee by his grace call therefore to him hee is within the voice of thy prayers and will come to strengthen thee How jealous ought Christians to bee over themselves having so dangerous an enemy nigh unto them Iob would not trust his eye without a covenant nor David his mouth without a bridle so strangely unexpectedly will nature breake out Vēture not on any tēptation presumptuously be not cōfident of any grace received so as to slacken your zeale Ioseph flung out and would not trust himselfe in the company of his Mistresse company might easily have kindled concupiscence and a little of Sathans blowing might have caried the fire from one stick to another David would have no wicked thing to abide in his sight hee knew how full of ill humours his heart was how apt to catch every infection that came neere it and therefore tooke speciall care to decline the very objects and examples of sin When men thinke there is least danger then the danger is greatest sinne and Sathan are ever watching their opportunities which is when wee watch not Security will rust us undoe us and eate out all that good is in our soules if any thing will awaken the dead and drowsie heart of man it is some vexing sin or other Me thinkes the consideration of this thorne in our flesh which we daily carry about us should much humble and abase our spirits Alas how long have we lived in an empty fruitlesse manner barren of grace and goodnesse spending our precious dayes in folly and vanity dedicating the flower of our age to sinne and Sathan How oft have we despised mercy and cast the precepts of the Almighty behinde our backes What little growth in holinesse have wee What little improvement in the wayes of God How much wearinesse and revolting of heart How evill and unprofitable in regard of the meanes we have enjoyed and what we might have beene How many notorious visible sinnes hast thou committed to the scandall of the Gospel and the wounding of thine owne soule How should the consciousnesse of this humble thee in secret before God Brethren think of this the more vile any man is in his owne eyes the more precious he is in Gods And the best way to bring a man to a base esteeme of himselfe is to reflect his thoughts seriously upon his owne estate to view himselfe in his naturall condition There is no good so truly good but his heart abhors it No evill so extreamely wicked but there is an inclinablenesse in him to embrace it no servant so ready to doe his masters will as hee is to doe the workes of the devill no rebell so desperately adverse to his lawfull soveraigne as hee is to God Oh that men were truely sensible of their carnall condition The want of this is the cause of
there is an hell within thee that can set it all on fire and fill it with rotten and stinking communication If to use thy hands or feete watch carefully for there are seeds of more sins theft bribery murther uncleannesse in them then there are joynts and sinewes in those members Originall sinne is an universall corruption it makes us all over flesh the minde a fleshly minde the will a fleshly will the affections and lusts all fleshly so that it is more difficult to roote out this one sinne then to overcome many actuall transgressions That man or woman therefore of what estate or degree soever they be noble or ignoble bond or free which are not transformed by the renewing of their minds but have their hearts full fraught with unbeliefe and ignorance whose Consciences are benummed or dead not able to accuse or if to accuse yet not able to excuse through the righteousnesse of Christ They whose wills are perverse and immeasurably unruly not subject and conformable to the will of God whose affections are like to the Camelion ready to turne themselves upon every object into any estate except that which is holy Lastly those whose bodies are the hardy executioners of every wicked practise given out in charge by these corrupt guides the faculties of the soule they most assuredly without all contradiction walke and live as yet after the flesh If therefore thou art desirous to know in particular whosoever thou art in this present assembly whether thou be carnall or no enquire of the word of God what thou art by nature in all the parts of soule and body how unapt and uncapable of all holinesse how prone and disposed unto all manner of wickednesse Secondly examine thy thoughts how thou hast conceived of God and his incomprehensible nature how acute and sharpe sighted in his wayes Hearken to thy conscience if thou hast any and heare it speake or if thou hast none at all so set it downe in thy examination Summon thy will and affections also to be tryed by the same word if thou perceivest no difference in these from the common estate of most men no alteration from former times it is suspitious thou art carnall But if thou finde by the guide of the word by the word I say for thou being blind canst not see where thou art that yet thou remainest ignorant and still walking in thy erroneous and presumptuous course both towards God and men if thou finde in thy minde these or the like thoughts That there is no God No providence or presence of God If thou thinkest thy selfe safe from all perill and art rocked asleepe by the tempest of other mens judgements If thou thinkest thy selfe a very wise man and farre exceeding others If in deede notwithstanding thy outward holinesse thou thinkest the Gospell and the sufferings of Christ to be meer foolishnesse If thou thinkest perversly and basely of them that worship God truely If thou thinkest death wil not come yet nor yet and so livest as if thou hadst made a covenant with the grave If thou thinkest God is as man that he will pardon thee howsoever thou livest and that the punishment of hell may easily be shunned If thou thinkest the day of judgement to bee far off And upon these corrupt imaginations not onely findest checke for that may be performed in some men by the light of nature enforcing the conscience to accuse thee yet thou never the neerer but also no positive thoughts utterly opposit but rather growest resolute therein cōmitting all to thy will and affections to conclude of thy spirituall estate If thy minde be full of vanity wasting it selfe in childish and unprofitable notions slippery unstable in all good matters full of ignorance and darknesse so as thou seekest not after God in the way where he will be found full of curiosity foolish and impertinent questions full of pride and contradiction against the word of truth having fleshly reasonings against the spirit of God full of carnall wisdome humane inventions methods of its own to serve God and come to happinesse by thou mayest then assure thy selfe thy minde is meere flesh thou being dead in thy understanding through the vanity impotency andignorance thereof Conscience If thy conscience which God hath placed as a sentinell or watchman in thee to observe thy dealings be full of impurity and disobedience full of dead rotten and unsavory workes full of false and absurd excusations If it be either so be nummed and insensible that it will not accuse unlesse it bee for murther adultery the every or such like grosse offences or dead as a limbe taken with a gangrene that it cannot accuse at all Or if it have life yet if it apply it selfe corruptly as to acquit thee for doing evill or to condemne thee and hang thee up for doing good fearing thee where no feare is then hath the flesh prevailed over thy conscience and thou art wholly carnall Memory Further if thy memory be so decayed that if one would give thee a thousand pounds thou art not able to imprint the doctrine of salvation were it never so oftē taught thee and yet able upon a speedy rehearsall to repeat a tale of an houre long with every circumstance concerning any thing done in such a Kings daies or reported to be done as the tale of Robin Whood Guy of Warwick and I know not what paltery stuffe thou maist assure thy selfe that flesh also is the guide of thy memory and that it is voide of all holinesse For as clay will not cleave to iron or brasse So the fleshly memory will retaine no spirituall memorandum but that which is fleshly agreeing with his nature and therefore the story of Gods will offered to the memory is like to quick-silver powred upon a plaine table which never resteth running and dispersing it selfe till it bee harboured in a concavity fit to retain its substance So the principles of Christian science will not stay in a carnall memory no more then an honest man in a brothell Inne or Ale-house and therefore no marvell that they light at the foregate and take horse at the postern come in at one eare and out at another Will. Moreover if thy will be full of loathing and aversation so as it cannot endure to heare or see any thing that is good but pluckes in the shoulder and casts it behinde the backe If it be full of enmity against holinesse slighting and neglecting the best things If it bee full of obstinacy against religious courses thwarting and crossing the strict wayes of God If full of disability to any good so as it cannot hearken nor bee subject to the Law of God but rebells against his blessed truth If thou art resolute to commit the wicked purposes of thy heart stout and stubborne against admonition turning the deafe eare to the preaching of Gods word loath to intermeddle with matters of the Spirit but willing to fulfill the lusts of the flesh
upon them yet shall they escape no more then a beast taken in a trappe or the prisoner included in a strong tower When the Lord shall come in the clouds with his holy Angels the assises shall bee kept in the aire the prisoners of the earth notwithstanding their boasting among their fellows shall all be arraigned before him and then shall ensue the verdict of the conscience upon them even that fearefull sentence of death Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devill and 〈◊〉 angells This may teach us to give small credit to the glittering face and flattering countenance of outward things Let us cheere our selves never so much in our youth and walke forth-right in the wayes of our owne hearts and sight of our owne eyes yet for all that God shall bring us to iudgement The waters are deepest where they are stillest upon a hot gload there followeth a violent storme the terrors of Gods wrath shall assault the wicked man as a sudden tempest and carry him away by night In this one word Yee shall die is contained the infinite volumne of all misery the great Ocean of all sorrow it being an Epitome of mans future calamity Did a man certainely know that hee should lose all his goods friends honor and credit if hee committed this or that particular action I suppose he would shrinke from doing it If the adulterer should know that he was watched and that one behinde the doore stands ready with a polaxe to choppe off one of his legges or armes mee thinkes the feare of that mischiefe should bee too strong for his bruitish affections and conquer his lustfull passions If the drunkard should know that in such a taverne whither he usually goeth posting with his cup companions there standeth in one of the drinking places a man with a pistoll charged with white powder of purpose to shoote him through I imagine how gladly hee would leave his wine and sugar and betake himselfe to his heeles yea and account him his friend that would push him over the threshold and thrust the doore after him And this not without reason for as a man would bee willing to give all that he hath yea and to lose some of his limbes to redeeme his life Skinne for skinne and all that a man hath will be give for his life So will hee be contented to deny his pleasures and profits if in case they prejudice that unlesse it bee those wherein the temerarious rashnesse of affection preventeth reason and enforceth the body to commit the action before the minde hath given any counsell Now if reason can thus prevaile against corrupt passions when hurt is intended against the body why should it not much more perswade the understanding conscience and will to endeavour themselves against fleshly corruptions which are pernicious to the soule and not onely temporall but eternall death to the whole man By death in this place is understood not the first but the second death as appeareth plainely by the antithesis and opposition of eternall happinesse against this everlasting death and misery And so it is taken in many places of scripture Hee that overcommeth shall not be hurt of the second death The fearefull and unbeleeving c. shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death What need many proofes as if every scripture were not given by divine inspiration Here wee see the Tragedy that must follow the pleasant Comedy of worldly joyes and the hard reckoning that is given after all the junkets of fleshly pleasure If you aske mee what this death is I thus define it When the aforesaid ignorant and unconscionable wretch hath played his pageants in City and Countrey upon the scafffold of this present earth and perhaps hath gotten him wealth wife and children builded a faire house borne office in the parishwhere he dwelleth purchased much land engrossed sundry commodities and mounted upon the proud foaming steede of all stumbling vanity of a sodaine when hee most wisheth and hopeth to live as a fish taken with a hooke or a bird with the snare he shall bee entrapped with death His fleshly body shall be cast into the earth for a time and his soule into the bottomeless pit of hell Now after that the soule and body hath for a certain season made their abode in the said places of the grave and hell as a Malefactor in the prison untill the Law day then shall they by the unspeakable power of God be united again into one man at the voice of an Archangell and trumpet of God and be summoned together with the rest of the dead to make their appearance before the Almighty to heare that fearefull sentence of condemnation pronounced against them Depart from mee yee cursed c. This is the truth which the Lord hath spoken let all flesh cover their faces lay their hands on their mouthes and stand agast hereat Mocke not at Gods judgements as commonly thou doest at the devil in a play It is fearful jesting with thy maker or playing the foole with edged tooles If further you demand what shall be the state of this creature thus cursed of God and condemned to death I answer if men may bee deceived in judging of the creature subject to sense and outward being much more hardly are they able to conceive of things invisible and made purposely of God in his wisdome to exceede the apprehension of any creature For which cause as the ioyes celestiall doe farre surpasse all earthly melody and therefore cannot be conceived truely because man wanteth a cleer spectacle wherein to behold them So the sorrowes of everlasting torment being transcendent all the glasse of humane misery cannot be sufficient in full conceit to expresse it or come neere it neither can it be knowne of any fleshly creature saving onely of such as feele it Yet least any man herein should be utterly ignorant and so waxe secure esteeming death eternall as a poeticall fury or vizzard to be playd withall thereby fearfully derogating from Gods power wisdome and glory in inflicting justice the holy Ghost hath given us some secret items concerning this point and slightly in comparison runne it over as a Painter with a little white lead drawing forth the great Elephant not so much teaching us what it is as what indeed it is not The first thing touching this matter to be considered briefly is the separation of these carnall men before spoken of from the presence and glory of God whose communion as it is the head and heart of all felicity so to bee deprived of his favourable presence is the very summe of all misery For as a grievous malefactor once in favour with his Prince bound in chains of iron hung up on the top of an hill debarred of all mortall helpe set apart to be consumed with famine night and day filleth the hils and
dales with his restlesse moanes and stayeth the most speedy passengers with the hollow cryes of his extreme misery Or as a Princes daughter set on shoare by a perfidious shipman where is nought but trees and wildernesse lyons beares and antilopps debarred of all comfort within the hearing of the groveling dens compassed about with seas So and much more fearefull is the state of that man whosoever he be that is banished from the presence of God in regard of the graces of the spirit which are the infallible pledges of his love and favour however he enjoyeth many outward good things as the stranger in a Princes Court may make him selfe glad with his wine though altogether unknowne or at least without any speciall notice taken of him by the Prince But when God shall 1. strip him of all temporall blessings as riches honor health wealth friends peace c. 2. When he shall make himselfe knowne to his blinde soule with a more manifest and apparant resemblance of his glory in justice declaring the detestation hee hath of his supposed knowledge his unconscionable conscience his devillish wil and corrupt affections 3. When hee shall first shut the doore upon him that leadeth unto life and then also for ever cast him out of his presence as a man that throws a toad or serpent out of his garden and that into the place of everlasting tormēt Lord what tongue can expresse or heart conceive the heavy estate of this forlorne or abject creature To be out of favor with a Prince is much but to be out of favour with God who can abide it There is no man living unlesse he be desperate but either hee thinketh himself high in Gods favour and therefore is still peaceable within himselfe or else is possessed with such a spirit of slumber that the faculty of due pondering the pretiousnesse of Gods presence is taken from him as in a drūkard which neither regardeth his frendnor his foe but when the drinke shall be out of his head as at the departure of his soul then shall hee strike his knees together his heart shall bee cold as a stone like that of Nabal when the feast was past and hee had heard the judgement denounced then shall hee open his eyes as the man which hath beene blind from his birth and behold the vengeance of God upon him By the Presence of God in this place I doe not understand a bare locall residence with God so Sathan may stand before God neither can any thing created go from his presence hee being in heaven in hell and in all places but by his Presence I understand as the holy Ghost teacheth me the comfort the joy and blisse which betydeth the Creature through his presence Now what the losse hereof may be I leave to thy owne heart and yet it being fleshly may happily err or not esteem so highly as the thing requireth To helpe thee in a word Adam after his offence fled from Gods presence and the Lord ratified it for indeed hee cast him out of the garden where hee had communion and fellowship with God yet so that hee left him certaine signes and tokens of his former dignity both spirituall and temporall in soul and body from whence it commeth that wee his children doe yet retain some resemblance of our former happinesse though our holinesse is quite lost We have Lordship over all the creatures wee are fed with the fruits of the earth we have some cōlinesse of person and impression of majesty beyōd the beasts yea we have a smack of God And in politicall matters yet preserve some slender and slight footings of his wisdome and providence the King ruleth the people obey the heaven the earth and the stars yeelde themselves according to the will of the Creator propitious unto man hee enjoyeth their light their influences their fruits sundry commodities And all this because man albeit out of the garden of Eden the place of delight yet is still as long as hee liveth in the Cookes garden being thrust as it were out of a most pleasant parlour where God appeared in glory into a more obscure place of lesse communion with him Now when the first death commeth as a sore-runner to the last judgement man is deprived in an instant of all pretended comforts and outward favours and plunged into an infinite depth of woe and bottomlesse gulph of wrathfull misery his body strangely altered being severed from his soule which gave it both life and reason yea and deprived of all earthly succour excepting a ditch in the earth to preserve his bones and Cinders unto the time of the resurrection All which marke it by the decree of the just Judge of heaven shall for ever be deprived of all shew of favour or the least drop of mercy and be exiled the Courts of the Almighty world without end Here the Kings of the earth shall bee degraded the Lords and Ladies of the Court abashed and each rich stately person utterly disherited of all his substance To bee out of favour with the world is troublesome to weake flesh but to bee discountenanced with God this is the Ocean of all misery Every creature then beholdeth with a threatning face the heavens lower the earth frownes and withdraw themselves from our comfort For as hee that loseth the good will of the Master loseth also the heart of the true and trusty servant So he that is once discountenanced with God all creatures in heaven and earth make head against him Oh that our great landed men as wee call them which have seated themselves for ever as they suppose would consider of this tragicall ruine they are so shamefully beguiled with the composed countenance of the harlot voluptuousnesse the strength of pleasure arising from worldly wealth hath so dispossessed them of their wits that they rave in the pride of their hearts not considering their latter end Out beggar I scorne thee my land is worth three hundred pounds by the yeer and wilt thou presume to keepe mee company c. Ah consider that thou art carnall and livest according to the flesh and therefore must dye All outward things shall forsake thee thy wealth and credit thy pastime and acquaintance all shall bee abandoned God himselfe will strippe thee of these robes and clothe thee with shame for ever In vaine doest thou presume of mercy thou caryest the bagge for a season but it shall one day bee rent from thy side and God shall bee glorified in leaving thee naked The second thing to bee considered is that great reproach which shall seise on the carnall man after this life by reason of the cleere revealing of all his hidden sinnes Little Children abide in him that when hee shall appeare we may be bold and not be ashamed before him at his comming If a man come and publish a hidden crime we are ready with our action to cleere our honesty and defend our reputation by challenging
earth worthy to be affected but thy Saviour What is to be dreaded but his displeasure Is there any recompence to the joyes of heaven any danger to the torments of hell any pleasure to the sense of Gods favour Resolve then with thy selfe and say I have fully purposed to observe thy commandemēts for they are the joy of my heart but Lord I leane not upon mine owne strength but upon thy grace who givest both to will and to doe thou hast commanded me to keep thy testimonies give mee I pray thee to doe what thou requirest Teach me the way of thy statutes and I will keepe it to the end Some understand by the mortifying of sinne not onely the first wound which it receives at a sinners first conversion but also the whole practice of repentance renewed thorow the whole course of a mans life for a man after his conversion is continually to lie in armes against his owne flesh and to stir up the spirit with the forces thereof which otherwise will bee overwhelmed with the adversary not able to maintaine the fight For Christians whilest they are here are not wholly flesh nor wholly spirit but a part of each God hath placed in our bodies two inmates of contrary dispositions two strangers of divers natures and qualities not in the highest degree for then they would utterly expell one another but in a remisse māner which causeth this bickering and skirmishing in our inward man Now whereas every one whose understanding is renewed seeth the drift of his flesh however thorow the deceit thereof he doth not alwaies feele it give mee leave to prescribe some few directions wherby he may come to have his corruptions subdued and temptations vanquished that they triumph not over his spirit to the disquiet of his conscience That which I shall principally commend to every Christian is that hee buckle about him the compleat armour of God wee must not fly away from Sathan a run-away never makes a good conclusion of his temptations Some sins indeed are best conquered by flying but from sathan it is neither possible nor lawfull to fly However stand it out what if we quake better tremble every veine than sinne better die in the place than fly from the place Resist the devill and he will fly from you we are sure to conquer if wee keepe our ground Sathan will play his part to hold his hold and will never out unlesse hee be forced When a man comes to abhor his lusts then hee gives sinne its deaths wound It is the nature of sin not to be driven away without force and violence A few angry lookes and sharp words will not doe it you may rate away your dog but sinne is not so easie removed as appeares in many who will speake bitterly against their lusts calling themselves beast and wretch but presently they returne to their former courses Whē thou hast therefore to do with sinne have no compassion fight against it with all thy might never leave till thou hast got the heart bloud of it out so much as thou sparest sin so much thou hurtest thy selfe Saul spared Agag but it was his ruine and if thou sparest sinne it will cost thee the Kingdome of heaven kill therefore thy sinnes or they will kill thee It is a case of life and death bee carefull old wounds must have strong medicines What adoe have wee to bring under our unruly lusts hee that favours these let him want favour we weede our gardens and are ever weeding sins are ill weeds and grow apace our hearts are a step-mother to goodnesse and a natural mother to vice therefore bee alwaies dealing with it The Captaine that batters the enemies fort a day or two and then gives over gives the more courage to his enemy and loses his labour In this life thou shalt never want something to be mortified Hast thou begun to repent never give over so long as thou hast a heart to sigh for thy sinnes Sathan that strong man will not yeeld possession suddenly looke how much power wee get to resist sinne so much power Sathan loseth there is never a prayer wee make nor act of resisting that wee doe use but gives the devill a knock and sin a mortifying blow by fighting against our lusts what ever wee see and feele at first wee doe and shall conquer corruption at last Repell evill motions at their first onset if wee resist at the beginning the worke is halfe done wee shall find Sathan a coward but if wee resist not wee shall find him a lyon wee must trust neither our selves nor sathan with any temptation Begin as soon as the temptation begins to peepe and where sathan begins doe thou begin despise not the least sin a small wound may kil a man in time little gashes make way for greater If the enemy assault one way and the garrison defend another way the towne is lost Sathan will try his skill and doe his uttermost to prevaile against us why should wee not then improve our graces to make head against him we may preserve our selves from being conquered by him though we cannot utterly subdue him There is no possibility of remaining safe without resistance they are much deceived who think though they have no spirituall armour upon them they may rest secure Alas what can a naked man doe hee can no more free himselfe from the power of the devill than a poore silly lambe from a roaring lyon If we bee foyled the fault is our owne for God gives us means to stand fast Who would not be kept from spiritual wounds hurts from eternall bondage to sin and sathan 2. Beware of pride swelling in the body is dangerous so is it in the soule when a man pleases himselfe with his owne weldoing his heart is soone puffed up Hee that thinkes to stand by his owne strength shall suddenly fall the weakest shall be able to overcome their greatest enemies being under-propped of the Lord. In every strong encounter we must look for supply from above It is dangerous to looke for that frō our selves which wee must have from Christ. All our strength lies in him as Sampsons did in his haire therefore dependant spirits are alwaies the best Nothing is stronger than humility that goeth out of it selfe or weaker than pride that resteth upon its owne bottome Sathan knowes that nothing can prevaile against Christ or those that relye upon him therefore hee labours to keepe men in selfe dependancy If you would in truth mortifie sinne represent it to your thoughts as the most hurtfull hatefull and most loathsome thing in the world and represent to your minde the obeying of Gods will as the most sweete profitable and excellentest thing whatsoever and then you cannot but shunne the one and embrace the other for Sinne is the onely object of Gods infinite hatred he hates nothing at all properly but iniquity Now what a bedlam is hee who willingly commits any sinne
which being once done is inseparably attended with the infinite hatred of so great a God for which the paines of hell must of necessity be suffered bee suffered either by the party himselfe or his surety Sinne is the most filthy thing in the world even fowler than the foulest fiend in hell or the devill himselfe for sinne made him a devill and sunke him into hell and whatsoever maketh a thing evill is it selfe much more evill the Sunne lightens all other bodies is it selfe much more light Hence it is that in Scripture it is compared to the filthyest myre in which a sow lyes downe and wallowes to the pollutions and impurities of the world singularly so called sinne being indeed the transcendent filth of the whole world How are the bodies and soules of men stained and defiled with this gangreene It is likewise very infectious corrupting every thing comes neere it The first sinne that ever the Sunne saw was so pregnant with soule-killing poyson that it polluted all the sonnes and daughters of Adam that ever were since At the first breaking out thereof it suddenly blasted as it were both heaven and earth staining the beauty of the one and the brightnesse of the other so as from that houre the whole creation hath groaned under the same If but one sinne be doted upon and delighted in like a lumpe of leaven it sowres all the soule Yea it is the greatest ill that can befal the creature greater than damnation it selfe A man would thinke it a lesser ill to tell a lye than to lye in hell But what saith a Father though wee thinke hell to be the forest of all evills yet I thinke it is farre bitterer and more grievous to offend Christ then to bee tormented with the torments of hell Who would for a space of pleasure here deprive himself of eternal blisse hereafter of the unknowne pleasures of an appeased conscience a Iewell of such infinite value as that all humane glory is but as dust in the ballance to it In the day of tryall the comfort of a good conscience will bee worth ten thousand worlds never was any sound joy or sanctified peace without this Who art thou that liftest up thy proud heart against the Almighty a base unworthy worm the vilest creature that ever God made next unto the devill who when thy breath is gone which may fall out many times in a moment thou turnest to dust rottennesse and filth Oh let the consideration of the immortality and dearnesse of that precious soule that lyes in thy bosome curbe thy corruptions and make thee startle at sinne Onely sinne wounds the soule filling it with the pangs of death though it never dye and with paine not onely above all patience but all resistance Consider the infinite and inestimable price that was paid for sinne I meane the heart blood of Jesus Christ blessed for ever and when ever thou art tempted to doe wickedly suppose thou seeest thy Saviour comming towards thee besmeared with goare blood and speaking thus unto thee Oh goe not forward upon any termes commit not this sinne by any meanes it was that which drew me downe from the fountaine of all blisse to put on this corruptible and miserable flesh to drinke off the dregs of the bitter cup of my Fathers wrath to wrastle with all the forces of infernall powers to lay downe my life at the gates of hell with intolerable paine what an heart hast thou if thou darest goe on against the sweet intreaty of so sweet a Saviour in every sinne thou committest thou layest as it were the blood of Christ in one scale and some worldly preferment or sensuall vanity in the other and shall these things out-weigh that Moreover labour for a tender and wakefull conscience which may bee sensible of the least offence and apprehensive of Gods wrath attending the same what hope is there of his repentance whose conscience is seared and yet how busie are many to increase their owne woe by putting sinne out of their remembrance Certainely a lively conscience that shall faithfully present us with an exact view of our estates is a great blessing if it were not so why should God threaten the Israelites to smite them with blindnesse and with a stony heart meaning that hee would inflict such a kinde of brawny and insensible dulnesse upon them that in doing evill they should bee utterly without any apprehension of their misdoing well is hee that hath a conscience stirring him upon the least sinne that will awake at the least blow and performe its office David could have no peace till he had made his peace with God hee did but cut off the lappe of Sauls garment and his heart smote him and brought him upon his knees and made him cry Lord I have sinned exceedingly take away the trespasse of thy servāt for I have done very foolishly Had his conscience beene dull and hard what security would have crept upon him what carelessenesse to become a petitioner to God for mercy Never therefore turne thine eyes frō beholding that which conscience offers to thy view Alas conscience doth nothing of it selfe but by speciall authority and commissiō from God whose deputy it is Yet it is possible to turne that which of it self is a blessing into a curse It is a blessing to live under a faithfull Ministery yet if a man bee not a doer of the word but a hearer onely he may increase his owne judgement thereby When men come to the Ordinance their consciences are many times wrought upon more strongly than they would now it is good simply for the conscience thus to run and it is a token of Gods great love unto man to furnish his minde with such a reflecting faculty upon himselfe But here lyes the mischiefe many deale with their consciences as rich men doe with an earnest beggar or as great men with an importunate petitioner whom they will make as if they did not heare and passe along by without regard when their heart smites they will not answere when it brings sinne to their sight they turne their heads aside and will not behold it If they find by experience that when they are alone their conscience use to encounter them they furnish themselves with vain and wretched company such as wil be sure to give conscience no leisure to speak If the word of God any whit awakens them and stirres up conscience to doe its office they thrust it from their remembrance by worldly thoughts and cares or sleepe it out that they may not be disquieted The poore conscience must bee conscience off till another time as Paul was when hee disputed with Faelix such variety of trickes doth the devill teach to decline and shun the workings of conscience upon sinfull persons By which meanes that which in it selfe is a great blessing becomes a wonderfull curse unto them the using of conscience in this unkinde manner is the next way to
hand and be blessed but if otherwise they grow downeward and thou live after the flesh assuredly thou shalt fall on the left hand and perish irrecoverably Wee shall not be judged according to the particular instant of our death but according to our general course of life 〈◊〉 according to our deeds in that present but according to the desires of our hearts before But seeing they who walke after the flesh are dead already why doth the Apostle say You shall die I answer both are true every ungodly person is now dead but yet a more fearefull death abides them For albeit they be dead in sinne and deprived of the favour of the Creator yet the vaine comforts of the creature doe so bewitch them that they know not how miserable and wretched they are but when the last sentence of damnation shall bee pronounced against them they shall not onely bee banished from the presence of God into everlasting perditiō where the fire of the Lords indignation shall perpetually torment them but they shall also bee stripped of all comfort and refreshment from the creature whatsoever The least degree of their punishment shall be a fearefull famine of worldly supportments Hee that knowes any thing of the narrow way to heaven of the nature of Gods justice and the cunning sleights of Satan of the difficulty of true repentance and how fearfully mans heart is hardned by custome and continuance in sinne would not delay making peace with God till his last houres for ten thousand worlds Which when I consider I cannot but deplore the iniquity of our times wherein not onely carnall men have set themselves to worke all manner of sinne with greedinesse but even they which heretofore have probably seemed to mortifie the deeds of the body doe now renue the battle and are in outward view reconciled and shake hands with the flesh Now are the dayes wherein the love of many shall waxe cold when men shall bee lovers of themselves lovers of pleasure more then lovers of God Oh how is the Spirit quenched and the flesh inflamed every where shew me the man that truly endeavours the suppressing of sinne Oh this is a hard taske it requireth much patience and vigilancie and will bring no small paine and sorrow to the flesh in the end What then be not dismayed thy future peace will more then recompense thy present trouble What availes a little outward flashy joy when the conscience is disquieted and vexed within who would redeeme a moment of pleasure with eternity of paine All is but bitter sweetes so long as sinne raignes What is the reason of these fearefull outcryes and desperate conclusions of Christians concerning their spiritual estate Whence is it that they taking Satans part in accusing and condemning themselves do utter such dolefull exclamations as these when conscience is throughly awakened Alas I have most wretchedly spent the prime and strength of mine age in vanity and pleasure in lewdnesse and lust The best of my time hath been wofully wasted in obeying Sathan and serving my selfe and therefore though I be weary of my former wayes and looke backe upon them with a trembling heart and grieved spirit yet I am affraid God will never vouchsafe to cast his eye of compassion upon my soule Though I have beene a professour long yet many times my heart is full of doubting when I call to minde the hainousnesse of my unregenerate life and see since I was enlightened and should have behaved my selfe in forwardnesse and fruitfulnesse for God answerable to my former folly and licentiousnesse in evill so many slips and imperfections every day and such weake distracted discharging of duties commanded both towards God and man that my very spirits sink within me Many times when I reach out the hand of my faith to fetch some speciall promise into my soule for refreshing and comfort comparing advisedly my owne vilenesse and nothingnesse with the riches of mercy and grace shining therein I am overwhelmed with admiration and thinke with my selfe how is it possible that this should bee Can such glorious things belong to such a wretch and worme as I am I cannot deny but there is mercy enough in God but for me such a notorious wicked liver as I am mercy for me surely it cannot be Alas I have beene no ordinary sinner my corruptions have carryed me beyond the villanies of the vilest creature you can name the enormity of my wayes have set an infamous brand upon mee in the sight of the world besides those secret pollutions and sinfull practises which no eye ever beheld save God alone Had I not beene extreamely outragious and gone on thus with a high hand I might have had some hope but now all expectation failes me I despaire of salvation c. Oh the feares and perplexities which pursue the soule when sinne is once committed conscience unpacified will rave and dragge a sinner before Gods tribunall The sting of an accusing conscience is like an Harlot more bitter then death Who so pleases God shall escape from it but the sinner shall bee taken in it Conscience being disquieted no earthly thing can asswage and mitigate it Yee shall live After that God hath called iustified and sanctified a poore sinner hee glorifieth him at last with himselfe in eternall blisse Death is but a sleepe to such as are in Christ wherein the body is separated from the soule rotting in the earth a while that it may bee the more capable of glory hereafter but the soule is immediately transported into heaven and there remaineth unto the last judgement praising God and expecting the consummation of the Kingdome of glory Before the comming of Christ the powers of heaven shall be shaken Sunne and Mooone shall suspend their light the starres shall seeme to fall from heaven the Elect shall rejoyce the reprobate shall tremble the whole universe shall bee consumed with fire and depart with a noise of the chariot wheeles the earth and elements with the workes thereof shall be consumed in a moment and brought to nothing At the same time shall the trumpet be heard soūded by an archangell Christ shall come in the clouds with great power glory with a troop of angels Then the Elect which were dead at the hearing of the trumpet shall rise with their bodies and the rest alive shall be changed in a moment and all of them shall bee made like the glorious body of Christ. After which they being gathered before the throne of God shall bee separated from the reprobate and caryed in the aire set upon the right hand of God where they shall heare this sentence Come ye blessed c. After which they shall enjoy everlasting happinesse the parts whereof is eternall life and perfect glory This eternall life is that fellowship with God whereby God of himself is life unto the Elect. They shall not need meat drinke sleepe aire heate cold breath physick apparell the light
of the sun or moone for the spirit of God shall bee instead of all these from whom immediately they shall bee quickened for ever Their glory consisteth in this that they shall continually behold the face of God 2. They shall be like unto Christ just holy incorruptible glorious honourable beautifull strong nimble 3. They shall possesse the new heavens and the new earth they shall joyfully praise and laud the name of the Lord world without end FINIS A Table of the principall heads A DIsorderly Affections discovered Page 41 Misery of being guided thereby 47 Antidotes against sinne 65 B BEginnings of sinne to be resisted 190 Better be in hell than offend Christ. 197 Body not to be pampered 220 C HOw a man may know whether his heart be carnall 87 Conscience corrupted and how 33 What a stirring conscience is 35 Carnall men indocible 38 Corrupt motions natural to a carnall heart 61 A fleshly conscience described 93 The distresse of conscience that betides the wicked 154 The estate of a creature cursed of God 131 Rejoycing to crosse a mans selfe a signe of sincerity 244 D DEath what is meant by it here 127 What the first death is 141 The second death described 133 Then the most secret sinne shall be discovered 149 Danger of being unarmed 191 218 Discovery of a true Christian or infallible marks to try himself by 236 Christians should discerne betwixt the deceit of sin and the fruit of sin 252 F FAith a speciall means to overcome temptations 212 How it doth this 213 Nothing hurts us so much 〈◊〉 our owne flesh 220 Forsakings of sin different 246 Flâ—sh what it signifieth 7 It disperseth sinne into the whole man 11 Why naturall corruption is called by the name of flâ—sh 8 It cleaves close to our nature 50 What it is to be fleshly minded 31 It derives venome upon every action 51 It tempts daily 52 It continually warres against the spirit 55 It is unwearied in sinfull follicitations 59 It raignes in naturall men 57 Not so in the godly 100 They are part flesh and part spirit 101 We must fight with Sathan if wee would overcome him 186 G GRace abides not in a carnall memory 96 How a man may know whether grace hath got the upper hand in him 230 Grace cannot stand with the Regiment of sinne 232 Nothing but grace can subdue sin To bee deprived of Gods favour an unspeakeable misery 141 246 H HEart narrowly to be watched 64 An unsound one discovered 99 The thorne in our flesh should humble us 70 Want of Humiliation very prejudiciall to the soule 73 Symptomes of a good heart 237 Hypocrites speake after the spirit and live after the flesh 107 Hypocrisie the danger of it 170 L LAw hath a double use 1 Little sins very dangerous 117 Lust growes never old 62 Losse of Gods presence what it is 138 Loathsomnesse of sin described 194 M MIsery of being under the flesh 16 Memory corrupt through sin 36 How discerned 94 No member to be trusted alone 85 Man by nature uncapable of goodnesse 27 Hee hath nothing in himselfe to glory of 80 Mortification described discovered 165 183 How we are said to mortifie sin 174 Meanes to subdue the flesh 185 Markes of a spirituall Christian. 239 Jealousie over our hearts a meanes to keepe out sinne 69 Licentious Ministers reprooved 106 O ORiginall sin a hereditary disease 48 It overspreads the whole man 88. 49 It is full of propagation 63 Its manner of tempting us 81 P FLesh powerfull to bring about its projects 57 Policies of the flesh to be studied 76 Pride disableth to resist temptations 192 Provision for the flesh must be hindered 219 Peace with the flesh dangerous 226 Carnall Professors reproved 109 Discovered 112 Our present condition a prediction of our future 253 Price of sin infinite 199 R SInners shall be exceedingly reproched at the day of judgment 146 Root of sin must be killed 171 Reason a weak thing to expell temptations 214 S SOule corrupted by sin 23 Sin must be slaine or it will slay us 250 Signes of a fleshly mind 50 Sinne the greatest ill 197 Hainous sins waste the conscieÌ„ce 116 To live in any sin a signe we are under Sathans bondage 120 Many begin in the spirit and end in the flesh 109 Impenitent sinners shall surely bee damned 122 Society with the devills every sinners portion 151 The Spirit onely can mortifie the flesh â—5 Sinne is not driven away with an â—â—gry locke 186 Signes of the Spirits prevailing in us 235 A Christians strength is in God 216 193 Severity against our owne sinnes a blessed signe of grace 240 T TEmptations of the flesh undiscernable 77 Tendernesse of conscience a speciall preservative against sin 201 It is a great blessing 202 Yet may be turned into a curs 203 Tryall of a true Christian. 166 V VOyce of conscience to bee hearkened to 206 Vniversall hatred of sin discovers a gracious heart 241 W WIll since the fall corrupted 39 A corrupt will discovered 96 Men weake in themselves 176 Every sinner underualues the bloud of Christ. 200 FINIS 1 Pet. 3. 18 1 Cor. 7. Gal. 1. 13. Esay 44. 7. Reas. Gen. 6. 3. Genes 8. John 3. 6. Rom 7. RoÌ„ 7. 21. 1 Cor. 2. 14. Rom 7. 45. Rom. 1. 19. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Luk. 24. 45 Quest. Answ. Tit. 1. 15. What a dead conscience is 1. Tim 4. What a stirring conscience is Phil. 2. 3. Luke 15. Rom. 7 Rom. 7. Iames 1. 14. Joh. 14. 30. Gal. 5. 1 Pet. 2. Mar. 9. 24. Rom. 6. Rom. 7. 23 Rom. 7. Heb. 13. 5. Hos. 14. James 4. 7. Eccles. 1. 8. Vse Job 31. 1. Psal. 39. Gen. 39. Psal. 101. Vse 3. Gal. 5. Iob 31. 1. James 3. 6. Psal 39. 1. Rom. 12. 2. Vse Ephes. 4. 23 2 Cor. 3. 1 Rom. 8. Vse 1. Vse 2. Phil. 3. 8. Mat. 5. Quest. Answ. Obiect Answ. Acts 5. Mat. 25. Eccles. 11. Job 27. Job 2. Rev. 2. 11. Rev. 21. 18 Quest. Answ. 1 Thes. 4. 16. Mat. 25. Quest. Answ. Job 1. Psal. 139. 1 Joh. 2. 18. Esay 66. Rev. 22. 8. Mat. 13. 1 Cor. 15. What vivification is Rom. 6. Gal. 5. Revel 3. Quest. Answ. 2 Chro. 20 Psal. 119. Ephes. 6. 2 Tim. 2. 1 Pet. 5. 1 Sam. 15. 2 Pet. 2. Deut. 28. 18. Psal. 51. 2. Sam. 24. 10. Acts 24. 26 Jonah 4. 4. 1 Joh. 5. 4. Rom. 4. 7. Vse Heb. 12. Bellum est non triumphans Quest. Answ. Rom. 7. Rom. 7 22 1 Pet. 4. Col. 3. Psal. 40. Mat. 16. 25 Quest. Answ. Every sin is as the forbidden fruit Eccles. 11. Obiect Answ. Vse Prov. 7.