and their knees to smite one against another But to leave these and to make an end of this point Seeing that sinne is such a burden unto our consciences let us take head that we do not load them too much if we were fully perswaded that such and such meats would cause an ague we would willingly abstain from them Now sinne causeth a greater sicknesse unto our soules then is an ague unto our bodies viz a troubled conscience and a wounded spirit who can bear how then dare wee commit it when Rebecca felt the strugling of Esau and Jacob in her wombe she wished she had been barren and said if it be so why am I thus Sinne may be pleasant in getting but it is bitter in bearing better we were barren then feel the pains and throwes before we be delivered of it And if it be so why are we thus Turpius ejicitur quam non admittitur alter Better to give this guest no entertainment at all then discredit our selves with God for harbouring it Therefore before thou do any thing consider with thy selfe whether it be a sinne or no examine it by the law of God if it be a sinne see thou do it not lest afterward thou feel the pain when it shall come into thy bowels like water and like oyle into thy bones When the remembrance of it shall burn within thee like fire and gnaw like a worm upon thy heart perchance thy conscience is so heardned that thou canst not feel nor call to remembrance thy sinnes which if it be so miserable and wretched art thou for without a feeling of sinne and repentance for the same there is no remission to be expectedyet there will a day come when God knowes but certainly it will come when thou shalt find them to be heavier then lead upon thine heart When thy master shall call thee to a reckoning and the day of thy departing cometh then will the book of thy conscience be laid open and thou shalt read such a Catalogue of thy sinnes therein that even then thou sha't plainiy perceive the never dying worm to gnaw upon thy soule and the unquenchable fire to beginne to burn within thee unlesse the Lord in merey shall give thee grace to repent that so thou mayest be saved therefore strive alwayes to hav a good conscience and if thou wilt be carefull that thine eye because it is the most tender and precious part of thy body be not troubled with the least mote Be much more careful of thy conscience the eye of thy soul that it be not troubled with beams of great and horrible sinnes Wilt thou never be sad live well this is the best means to gain the joy and peace of conscience Happy is that man who when his fatal hour approacheth can say with Paul I have in all good conscience served God until this day Verily this will more availe him then if he should conquer the whole world and have all the Monarchs of the earth to cast down their scepters before his footstoole Thus much of the first point his condemnation I proceed to the second his mortification or imperfect repentance He repented himself c. THis repentance was an extreme grief of heart arising from the curses of the law and apprehension of Gods wrath which as it was in Judas so was it in Pharaoh and Ahab and the Ninevites and many of the heathen Orestes and Nero when they had killed their Mothers were exceedingly troubled and wished to be clensed and Hercules in the Tragedy when he had kill'd his wife and children runnes up and down like a madman and cries out that if the whole sea should runne through his hands it would not wash him from that bloudy fact So that this is no part of true mortification yet it is a preparative thereunto The wheat must be threshed with the flayle before it be fanned from the chaffe with the wind and a natural man must be as it were threshed with the terrours of the law before he be fanned from his corruptions with the wind of the Spirit In natural mutations before a substantial forme be corrupted andan other educed è potentiâ materiae certain alterations or previal dispositions are required as necessary for hastning of this change So in a Supernatural mutation when a sonne of wrath is to be made a sonne of God the terrours of the law are required as necessary precedents for hastning this change The law like the shoomakers elson pricks the heart legal sorrowes and fears like the bristle come after and true mortification like the thread comes in the last place Take the elson and the bristle from the shoomaker and he cannot use his thread take legal sorrow and compunction of heart from a natural man and he cannot be brought to true repentance So that Judas goes well thus farre he goes yet further he makes confession of his fault first in general I have sinned then in particular I have been a traytour I have betrayed and which is worst of all I have betrayed the innocent blood If Judas this repentance notwithstanding be damned to hell merciful God what shall become of thousands amongst us which go under the name of Christians and come short of Judas in repentance They are seldome touched with any sorrow for their sinnes but say they be surely not half of that sorrow that Judas was in admit they be come they to the next step do they make confession admit this too come they to a third do they make satisfaction doth the sacrilegious Church-robber bring back again that which he hath wrongfully taken from the sonnes of Levi and say I have sinned doth the bloud-sucking Usurer restore that which he hath wrongfully taken from the poor by sundry practises of covetousnesse and say I have sinned is there any who after that he hath done wrong is sorry for it and confesses his fault and is ready to make amends and say thus and thus have I done thus and thus have I sinned all these are necessary to salvation but these are not all that are necessary to salvation We must go thus farre with Judas but we must not here stay with Iudas Iudas by stepping a foot short got a break-neck fall and is tumbled into the pit of hell We must go a step further and fasten our feet upon the corner stone by a true and saving faith and then our sinnes be they never so many never so grievous shal not bring us to condemnation but though they be as Crimson they shall be made white as snow though they be red like scarlet they shall be as wool We read in the Gospel of 3 whom our Saviour rased from death to life the first was Iairus his daughter she was dead in the house and Christ raised her in the house The second was the widowes sonne of Naein he was dead in the way they were carrying him to the place of burial and Christ raised him in
the way The third was Lazarus and he was dead stinking in his grave and Christ raised him there Saint Austin doth thus moralize the stories ista tria genera mortuorum sunt tria genera peccatorum c. These three kinds of dead men are three kinds of sinners whom our Saviour doth daily raise from death unto life These are those that be dead in the house these be they that have conceived sinne in their hearts but have not actually committed the same he feare dead in the house for there is no sinne no not the least exorbitant thought of its own nature venial but he that raised Iairus daughter will upon their repentance raise these the second sort are those that are dead in the way these are they that have conceived sins in their souls and actually committed the same these are in the way to be buried in Hell but he that said to the widdows sonne of Naim young man arise is able and willing upon their repentance to raise these The third are those that with Lazarus lye stinking in the grave these are they that have not onely conveyed sinne in their hearts and actually committed the same but by long continuance have got an habit of sinning and continued custome like a great stone is laid upon their graves the case of these men is fearefull but he that said Lazarus come forth is able and readie if they lay as deep as Hell upon their serious repentance to raise these Non haec dico fratres saith he ut qui vivunt vivant sed ut qui mortui sunt revivificant I speak not these thiâ—gs Brethren that those that live in sin may be incouraged to continue therein but that those who are dead in sinne may be revived well then let us be sorry with Judas let us make confessâ—ion with Judas let us make fatisfaction with Judas but let us never despaire with Judas be our sins never so hainous for there is no more proportion between our sins and Christs merits apprehended by faith then there is to use Tullies phrase inter Sillam muriae mare Aegeum between a drop of brine and the Aegean nay the whole Ocean Sea For as Rahab the Harlot was saved by reason of a red thred which was tied to her window when Jericho was destroyed so be thou ten thousand times worse then ever Rahab was if the red thred of Christs bloody passion be tyed to the window of thy heart by faith doubt not but thou shalt be saved though not Iericho but the whole world should be destroyed But without this faith our legal sorrow will availe nothing our confession nothing our satisfaction will profit nothing for as a plaster be it never so excellent if as soone as it is laid upon a sore it be wiped off will not heale the sore and as a potion be it never so precious if as soone as it be drunke it be vomited up again will not 〈◊〉 he inward maladies that are in a mans bodie So the precious plaster of Christs merits will not heal the wounds of our soules if it be wiped off by unbeliefe nor will the Soveraign potion of his merits cure our inward maladies if they be vomited up by incredulitie I have read somewhere of a Lacedemonian who riding on his way hapned to finde a dead man and not knowing perfectly that he was dead he alighted from his horse to trie whether he could make him stand when he could not but the dead fell sometime this way and sometime that he said to himself deâ—st profecto aliquid intus there is something wanting within that should keep him up he said truly for his soul was wanting a man without faith be he never so sorrowfull for his sinnes make he never so ample a confession of them be he pressed even to the mouth of hel with a dolefull remembrance of his iniquities yea though he could say the whole Bible on his fingers ends he is never able to stand in judgement nor to make answer before the Lord in the congregation of the righteous and no marvell for by faith wee stand 2 Cor. 1. 24. and therefore it stands us all upon for the best of as all hath but fidem implicitam I mean a weake and imperfect faith to pray with the Apostles O Lord encrease our faith and with the father of the possessed child Lord I believe help my unbeliefe PSAL. 82. 6 7. I have said ye are Gods but yee shall die like men THere are three sorts of men who if they be faithfull in their places and follow the direction of their books are the chief pillars to support a Christian common-wealth the Physitian the Divine and the Magistrate These three are in the body politick as the three principall parts the liver the heart and the braine are in the body of man The Physitian is the liver the Divine is the heart and the Magistrate is the brain of the common-wealth The liver is called the beginning of the natural faculty it segregateth the humours it ingendreth alimental bloud and by veins sends it into each part of the body whereby the whole is nourished and preserved Like unto it is the Physitian who purgeth the body of man from such noxious humours as whereby it may be endangered and prescribeth such a diet as whereby it may be best nourished and kept in health The heart is called the beginning of the vital faculty it ingendreth the vital spirits and by arteries sendeth them into every particular member To which I compare the Divine For as the heart is the fountain of the vital spirits and the beginning of the vital faculty so is the Divine the fountain and beginning though not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of generation nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of radication yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the Physitians terms of the dispensation of the true vital spirit Hee is the means to make thee of a natural man such as the Physitian leaveth thee a spiritual substance The brain which is called the beginning of the animal faculty is the chief commander of the whole it sitteth in the highest room as in a stately palace being compassed about with the pericranium the cranium and the two meninges as so many strong castles and countermures against all forrain invasion It hath the five externall senses as intelligencers to give notice what is done abroad the common sense the phantasie and the understanding as privy counsellers the memory as a book of records But yet it is not idle but is continually busied in tempering the spirits received from the heart which it sendeth by the nerues through the whole body thereby giving sense and motion to every part A fit embleme of a good Magistrate who as he hath his forts and guard and counsellours and records c. so must he remember that he hath not these for his own proper use but for the whole and therefore should bestir himself for benefitting the whole
God of no effect by your traditions So ye shew your selves to be Children of the old Pharises hold on in your courses and fulfill the measure of their wickedness A Sermon preached at the funerall of Dr. Senhouse Bishop of CARLILE Job 14. 14. If a man dy shall he live againe all the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my changing come IF for this lifes sake only the faithfull had hope in Christ they were of all men the most miserable saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 19. For though they be not in distresse yet are they afflicted on every side though not overcome of povertie yet in povertie though they perish not yet they are cast downe though they be not forsaken yet for his sake they are persecuted all the day long and are accounted as sheep appointed to be slain but they know that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up them by Jesus and therefore they faint not knowing that their light affliction which is but for a moment causeth unto them a farre more excellent and eternall weight of glory and that when this earthly house of this Tabernacle is destroyed they have a building given of God that is an house not made with hands but eternall in the heavens 2 Cor. 5. 1. If any man be not fully perswaded hereof I may say to him as Philip did to Nathaniel Come and see Come and behold a lively picture a notable experiment hereof in the speaker of these words who not long before if any men in the world might have taken up Niobe's boast in the Fable Sum foelix quis enim negat hoc foelixque manebo Hoc quoque quis dubitat c. His Garners had been full and plenteous with all manner of store his sheep brought forth thousands and ten thousands in his field his Oxen were strong to labour no leading into captivity and no complaining in his streets his wife was as a fruitfull Vine upon the wals of his house his sonnes grew up as the young plants and his daughters were as the polished corners of the Temple besides this he was so hedged about by Gods providence that the sonne of wickedness could not hurt him And was he not happy that was in such a case But maxima pars est foelicitatis fuisse foelicem the remembrance of a mans felicity past adds to his present miserie For now his Children which were unto him as the Arrows in the hand of a Gyant are taken away by deaths arrow they cannot assist him his goods and cattels the externall complements of his former felicity are violently taken away by the Sabeans his enemies they cannot love him his friends miserable comforters God wot instead of sweet consolations to his distressed soule thunder out such sharp threatnings that they doe increase his calamity and more to grieve him the wife of his own bosome appointed by God as a help for man is now become as Dalilah was to Sampson a snare to him his own flesh like a tinder-box kindling with every sparkle that Sathan doth strike unto it lusts and fights against him yea and God himselfe hath drawn a curtain before his eyes hath his face as though he had quite forsaken him behold now and see if there be any sorrow like his sorrow his Children have left him his goods taken from him his friends revile him his wife entangles him his flesh buffets him God seemeth to forsake him tell me if his hope were only in this life if he were not of all the men in the world the most miserable nothing is left to solace him in this great calamitie but that which the Poet fableth left within the vessels mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some hope remaineth in the crooked and broken vessel which as a helmet keeps him from blows as an anchor holds the ship both sure stedfast that it be not dashed by the winds upon som shelves or rocks as a corke holds up above the waters that he sink not and in a word makes him resolve with himselfe not to be quite dismayed nor utterly discouraged at these calamities which are befallen him being such as are not worthy of the glorie which shall be revealed but with patience to wait when his landlord will come and put him out of this earthly house and cloth him with that house which is from Heaven All the days of my appointed time will I wait til my changing shall come As though he had said the Arrows of the Almighty are in me an the venom thereof doth drink up my spirit and the terours of God fight against mee which makes me I confesse to send forth some unsavourie speeches yet they shall neve◠quite discourage me nor deprive me of my hope which shall be accomplished after this fleshly Tabernacle shall be destroyed for I am sure that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall see him even with these eyes and no other for me and in this hope and confidence I will patiently wait and expect not for a short time but even all the time that my soul shall continue in this Tabernacle which cannot be long for that houre when this body shall be dissolved and the Spirit shall returne unto God that gave it All the dayes c. In which words wee may observe and learne these Lessons 1. That every man hath an appointed time by God which he cannot passe mine appointed time 2. That a mans life is not long before he come to his full period dayes 3. Seeing the time of mans life is limited we ought alwayes to waite and provide our selves for death I will wait 4. We are not to waite some part but all our life long All the dayes 5. That death to the godly and regenerate is but a change or a passage to a better life my changing These shall be handled in their severall order but first I will speake a little of the connexion of this latter part with the precedent part of this verse In the former he proposed this question If a man dye shall he live again not as one denying the resurrection of the body but as I take it as a fleshly man not fully perswaded but somewhat doubting of the truth hereof as in the tenth verse of this chapter man is sick and dyeth and man perisheth and where is he As if he should have said is it impossible that a man shall dye and be turned to dust and eaten up of worms and turned to grasse and goe as it were a progresse through a beasts bodie shall be revived and live againe if a man dy shall he live againe The spirituall man which prevaileth against the flesh makes this reply that though he doe not see any naturall reason for it yet he will believe it and he will defend the conclusion maugre all the premises that can be brought against it All the dayes of mine appointed
time will I waite till my changeing shall come Whence this note doth naturally arise That in this life in the regenerate man there is a combat and conflict betwixt the flesh and the spirit A naturall man of himselfe is like a heavie bodie which in a well disposed medium moveth downwards of it self without resistance he goes downwards without violence nay praecipitat non descendit he throwes himselfe downe as Sathan would have perswaded Christ to cast himself downe from the Pinacle of the Temple and doth not descend downe by staires but a regenerate and spirituall man as he cannot easily fall downe being holden up with the two wings of saith and hope so can he not easily ascend being pressed down by a weighty burthen too heavie for him to beare he is like to the Gyant under Sicily Nititur ille quidem pugnatque resurgere saepe Dextrae sed Ausonio manus est subjectae Peloro Laeva Pachine tibi Lylibaeo crura premuntur Aetna caput Upon his right hand lye presumptuous sins upon his left honour and feare upon his feet and thighs the lusts and affections of the flesh upon his head blindness and ignorance doubting and unbeliefe so that oftentimes the good which he would that he cannot doe but the evill which he would not that he doth or he may be compared to a man that swims against the stream with much ado he gets upward but if he misse the stroke the streame carryeth him back again or to one which ascendeth up to the top of a Hill with a but then on his back much panting and sweating hath he before he can get up and if his foot chance to slip so heavie is the load on his back that he will hardly recover himself without a fall the spirit strives against the streame to swim up to the fountaine of goodnesse and the flesh strives to beat him back and as it were with an easie tyde to carrie him down into the Ocean of sin and iniquitie the spirit strives to creep up the hil upon hand and foot as Jonathan and his armour bearer did between the two rocks Bozez and Seneh when they went against the Philistims but the flesh striveth to beate him backward and to tumble him down like Nebuchadnezzars stone from the top of the mountain so that it fareth with a regenerate man as it did with Rebecca when she was with Child the flesh and the spirit fight and strugle one with another as the Children did in her womb so saith the Apostle Gal. 5. 17. The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to another so that wee cannot doe the thing which we would which is not so to be understood as though the body fought against the soule or that these two the flesh and the spirit were locally separated for as the flesh is partly spirituall so the spirit is partly carnall these two are mingled and joyned in both body and soule and in every part and facultie thereof In the understanding there is knowledge mixed with ignorance and blindness there is spirit mixed with flesh in the Will there is a willing and a nilling in the affections there is a desiring and forsaking of that which is good as Medea in the Poet had between naturall reason and carnall appetite Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor The reason is manifest For as a Child becomes not a perfect man in an instant but groweth by little and little So after our regeneration when we are new born of water and the spirit wee become not presently strong men in Christ Jesus but wee grow dayly in perfection wee ascend as it were up Iacobs ladder wee climb from one degree or staire of perfection to another till all imperfections be removed from us For howsoever justification be actus individum simul totus as judicious writer truly aver-Justification is an individuall act and admits of no degrees yet sanctification comes by parts and degrees for it fareth with him as it doth with cold water when it is made hot by fire as the cold is by degrees expelled so is the heate brought in by degrees omnis remissio est per admissionem contrarii In like manner as the old man which like the earth is cold perisheth so the new man heated by the fire of the spirit quickneth and reviveth and again as there is a strugling and mutuall conflict and encountring betwixt the the contrary qualities Frigida cum calidis pugnant humentia siccis One indeavouring to captivate and destroy the other so it is betwixt these two the spirit indeavoureth to conquer the flesh but like a naturall agent agendo repatitur it suffereth blows of the flesh which rebelleth against it and leadeth it captive to the law of sinne only here is the difference that two contrary qualities may be so tempered as that a mean consisting of both and not specifically distinguished from both may be produced of them but the flesh and the spirit will never make one and therefore the spirit saith to the flesh as Alexander did to Darius who offered him half of his kingdome so that he might quietly enjoy the other half but as one world cannot have two suns so one kingdom must not have two kings and therefore 't wil endeavour utterly to dispossesse the flesh and depose it from its estate which it holdeth in man as Alexander did to depose Darius from his kingdom it can no more live in agreement with the flesh then Sarah could with Hagar and her sonne and therefore it saith as she did to Abraham Cast out this bond-woman and her sonne for the sonne of the bond-woman may not be heire with my sonne Isaac Of heate and cold may be made one individuall quality which wee call luke-warme but the flesh and the spirit cannot be mixed no Christian may be luke-warm for such will Christ spue out of his mouth Thus you see that so long as a Christian remaineth in this world so long there is a contention betwixt the regenerate and carnall part the flesh which like a Zopyrus keeps within the wals of the City is ever ready to betray him unto his enemies hands it is to him as the Canaanites were to the Israelites thorns in their eys and pricks in their sides so that a Christian may say of it as David did of Absalom Even my sonne which comes out of my bowels seeks my life or take up that complaint which the Prophet doth elswhere it is not my open enemie that doth me this dishonour for then peradventure I could have borne it neither was it mine adversarie that did magnifie himselfe against me for then peradventure I could have hid my selfe from him but it is thou my guide and mine own familiar friend my flesh which eatest my bread that liftest up thy heele against me on the other side the spirit seeks to root out the earthy affections
spirituall weapons I end seeing the Church is like unto the Moon sometimes in a glorious splendour sometimes clouded with Schism and sometime so darkned with the shadow of heresie and superstition and persecution that the eyes of Linceus can scarce behold her Seeing that the Papists at this day cannot compare neither with the number of Christians taking the name generally for all such as professe the name of Jesus nor with the Protestant Churches if we take an account onely of such as understand the Principles of their Religion I see no reason why Bellarmine should make multitude a Note of the true Church or if it were why the Papists should challenge it themsemselves and therefore he may be well censured with a hic magister non tenetur or not a quod haec nota nihil notat it was onely to make up the number of notes that he may number one note Nam cum non prosunt singula multa juvant though they be of little force being severally considered yet if they be all joyntly taken they will prove like Seleucus his roddes or like a threefold cord which is not easily broken Indeed he had need to be stronger then Hercules that could cut oft all the heads of Hydra at one blow but a simple warricuâ— taking one by one may make an end of them before he be wearied for they are like to the tail of Sertorius his horse which a valiant Souldier taking it altogether could not pull off but a poore Skull pulling one hayre after an other had quickly made it bare Secondly doth Gods flock sometimes consist of a very small number then it behoveth thee beloved Christian with greater diligence to trie and examine thy self whether thou be comprehended in this number for as in that universall deluge of waters all were drowned that were not in Noahs Arke so in the great floud of fire which shall be at the end of the world all shall be swept away with a river of brimstone which are not of this flock it is a common saying he shall never have God for his father which hath not the Church for his mother and he shall never be a member of the Church triumphant which is not first of the Church Militant first then thou art to enquire whether thou be of the true visible Church and this thou shalt know by two marks by the true preaching of the word by the right use of the Sacraments for where these two are performed according to the prescript of Gods word there must needs be a true church this is somewhat but it is not all for what did it availe Judas to be numbred amongst the twelve he was in hell before any of the rest came at heaven all that are in the Church be not of the Church there are both good and bad fish in this net there is wheat and tares in this field Sheep and Goats in this fold thou must goe further and examine whether thou be one of that Company which God from eternity elected unto life and in time effectually calleth by his holy Spirit and makes true Members of his Sonne Jesus Christ which is the head of this body whether thou be of that flock which Christ calleth his garden his sister his spouse his love his doue his undefiled which the pillar and ground of truth 1. Tim. 3. 13. the body of Christ Eph. 1. 23. the temple of the Lord Eph. 2. 21 which the gates of hell shall never prevaile against Matth. 16. 18. Here thou must exercise thy wits this must be thy care to finde thy selfe in this little number but how may this be knowne by the cause that is the will and good pleasure of Gods which dwelleth in light that none can approach unto This is a bottomlesse depth who can sound it Never man looked into this Arke and lived busie thy braines about it and when thou hast done all thou canst thou art but like a flie about a Candle which playeth so long with the flame that at length she burnes her wings and fals downe and good reason it should be so for it is enough for wretched man to be of Gods Couâ—t and it is too much to be of his Privie Councell Thou must therefore doe as Theseus die with the Labyrinth thou must catch hold of the threeds end that hangs without the doore and so by winding steps come at length to the first cause Seeing thou canst not know it a â—riori by the cause thou must know it a posteriori by the effect one effect of Gods immutable decree and an undoubted marke to let all others passe of Gods child is Sanctification for as on the one side it is certainly true that without holinesse of life no man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. So it is as true on the other side that hee which walketh not after the flesh but after the Spirit is ingrafted into Christ and shall never be condemned So then holines of life is the true touchstone to trie whether thou be of this number but here deceive not thy selfe for there is a verball holinesse and a Pharisaical holinesse and a Herods holines and a Popish holines and an Anabaptisticall holines The verball holines is of such as draw neere unto God with their lips but with their hearts are farre from him as the Prophet speakes the Pharisaical holines is of those which devoure widowes houses under colour of long prayers and such as will not leave a mote on the outside of their cup but never care how filâ—hy it be within The Herods holinesse is of them which will quench the fire on the harth and leave it burning in the top of the Chimney will mend their least faults and let their worst bee marring The Popish holinesse is in observing humane traditions and treading under foot the law of God The Anabaptisticall holinesse is of such as are well perswaded of themselves though without all reason but can never have a charitable opinion of any others they are troubled with a Noli me tangere touch me not come not neare me for I am holier then thou but I say unto thee except thy righteous exceed the righteousnes of all these men thou shalt not enter into the Kingdome of Heaven it is another kinde of holines which thou must have if thou wilt assure thy soule that thou art one of Christs flock it is indeed in the tongue but it proceedeth from another fountaine the heart and makes a man say with David thy words have I hid within my heart that I might not sinne against thee It makes a man have a care to approve by outward actions unto men but much more to approve the cogitations of his heart unto God it strives not to breake off some branches of sin such as may be best forgon reserving the rest but it is most severe against those sinnes which are the sweetest to man because such
and lusts of the flesh as the Hebrews by little and little rooted out the Cananites it seeketh to represse this rebellion as David did the plots of his son Absalom Experience we have in the main pillars of the spirituall Temple David a man after Gods owne heart so moved at the prosperity of the wicked that he begins to say that certainly he hath cleansed his heart in vain and washed his hands in innocencie there is a carnall David which make his feet almost to goe and his steps well-nigh to slip but when he goeth in the Sanctuarie of God then he understandeth the end of these men there is spirituall David which makes him condemn his former thoughts and speeches so foolish was I and ignorant even as it were of a Beast before thee Peter who sometime was so confident as to continue true unto his Master that he made protestation that if all should deny him yet he would never doe it presently after he begins to follow afarre off and anon after the rock of Peters faith is so shaken with the voice of a damosel that he begins to curse and sweare that he never knew him but presently again at the crowing of a Cock the spirit is awakened and goes about to take some avengement of the flesh he went out and wept bitterly who more strong in the spirit then Paul was in zeale fervent in labours abundant in nothing inferiour to the chief Apostles and yet he hath given him a prick in the flesh the Messenger of Sathan to buffet him which makes him say when he would doe good evill is present with him and that he finds a Law in his Members rebelling against the law of the mind and carrying him captive to the law of sinne and good reason it should be so for if the spirit should so domineer over the flesh then there were no resistance and reluctation then would we not have an earnest and longing desire to be out of this world we would not with the faithfully say Come Lord Jesus come quickly we would not desire to be cloathed with our house which is from Heaven but would say as Peter did Master it is good for us to be here To end then that wee should long after our future perfection when corruption shall put on incorruption and mortallity shall be swallowed up of immortallity we find this conflict in our own bowels that we may be wearie of this present state and say as Rebecca did when Esau and Iacob strugled in her womb if it be so why am I thus Only here is our comfort that though the flesh be still lusting against the spirit and we have more flesh then spirit for flesh is like to Goliath the spirit is like to little David yet the spirit shall be in the end sure to prevaile as David prevailed against Goliath for though it be little in quantity yet it is fuller of activity as a little fire hath more action though lesse resistance then much earth for it fareth with these two as with the house of Saul and David the spirit like the house of David waxeth stronger and stronger but the flesh like the house of Saul waxeth weaker and weaker it is with them as it was with John Baptist and Christ I must decrease saith John but he must increase the flesh which like John is before it must decrease but the spirit which like Christ comes after whose shoe latchet the flesh is not worthy to loose it must grow and increase and this is plain and of this place for whereas the flesh objecteth that man is sick and perisheth and where is he and again If a man dye shall he live again the Spirit replyeth and puts the flesh to silence All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my changing shall come Is it true beloved Christians That the Children of God yea even in such as have obtained the greatest perfection that a meer man hath obtained in this life there is reluctation between the flesh and the spirit Oh then let as many of us as long after life and desire to see good daies even life everlasting and daies which never shall have an end Let us I say labour to subdue this Rebel and bring it into subjection to the Spirit for it is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh will profit nothing The flesh is like Caligula who as Tacitus saith of him was a good servant but an ill master It will be a good servant if we keep it in subjection to the spirit but it will be an exceeding bad master if it once get the upper hand and it will use the spirit as the Scythians servants dealt with their masters who when their masters had for many years warred in the Southern parts of Europe and Asia in the mean time married their wives and got possession of whatsoever they had and therefore we must use it as these Scythians used their servants who when they could not prevail against them with open war at length handled them like servants and slaves took rods and beat them and so recovered their ancient possessions We must not proceed against the flesh as against an equal enemy but we must use rods and scourges we must chasten and correct it and so bring it again in subjection to its lawful commander It is like the dumb divel which could not be cast out but by prayer and fasting we must implore the assistance of Gods spirit being of our selves unable that we may be strengthened and enabled to overcome it we must by fasting withdraw its food wherewith it is nourished I do not mean only our meat and drink but all worldly delight and enticing allurements to sin wanton and idle spectacles they be food of our carnal eyes these we must withdraw away and with Job Make a covenant with our eyes that we will not look upon wantonness foolish and undecent speeches be the delight of the tongue those we must remove away and pray with David Set a watch O Lord before our mouthes and keep the dore of our lips In a word whatsoever will be an incitement to sin and is like to strike fire in the tinder of our corrupt affections that must be debarred and kept from them Let us then use the flesh as the enemy useth a besieged City observe and watch the by-wayes that there be no intercourse or secret compact between it and Sathan that there be no provision carried by Sathan and his vassals into it that so it may be inforced to yeild it self or as the Hunters use Mole and Foxes in the earth stop the passages that through hunger it may be at last inforced to come out and leave its habitation otherwise if by excessive eating and drinking we nourish it if by gorgeous and costly attire wee deck it if by epicureous and voluptuous delights wee pamper it what doe we but arme our enemies against us and
Bishoprick in respect of Christ the Bishop of our Soules 1 Pet. 2. 25. The sole oecumenicall and universall President of the whole Church So then as there are many Beames proceeding from the same Sun yet one Sun in which they are United many branches growing from one Tree yet one roote wherein they are conjoyned many Rivers yet one Sea wherein they all meet many lines in a circle but one Center wherein they all concur So the Members of Christs Church though in respect of themselves they be divers yet they have all but one beginning one Spring one roote one Head one Center and in this respect all but one as one in respect of the Head so in respect of the Spirit which animateth every Member thereof This is the soule that informs the whole Church it is that Intellectus agens of which Philosophers have so much dreamed which is Vnas numero in every Member of Christs mysticall Body So that as the integrall Members of mans Body though of themselves they be specifically distinct flesh bones nerves muscles veines arteries c. Every one of them having a peculiar essentiall and specificall form yet being informed with one humane Soule they are but integrall parts of the same man So all Christians in the World though in sex and state and degree and calling and Nation and language they be different yet being regenerated and animated with the same spirit they are but integrall Members of one and the selfe same Church 3. One in respect of Faith and Religion and profession contained in the sacred volume of the Bible the two Brests of the Church out of which Christs Lambs do suck the sincere Milke of the word that they may grow thereby The two Cherubims that with mutuall counterview do face the mercy Seate that is Christ the two great lights that inlighten the World the old like the Moon to rule the night the new like the Sun to rule the day that for the Patriarks this for us the two Pillars to leade us from Egypt to Canaan the old of a Cloud dark and obscure in figures and shadowes the other of fire bright and cleare both of them making one and absolute rule of our faith and profession she is then one because one spirit quickeneth her one because one rule directeth her that is the essentiall form this is the proper passion flowing from this form by which the Church a Posteriori may be demonstrated For they are my Sheep saith Christ which heare my voice John 10. 27. thus then briefly one Spouse one love one Dove one Body one Fleece one Arke on Spirit one Faith one Religion one Head one Shepheard one Flock Here to come to so me application give me leave to use the Apostles protestation I say the truth in Christ Jesus Ilye not my conscience bearing me witnesse in the Holy Ghost that I have great heavinesse and continuall sorrow in my heart and with the Prophet Jeremy could wish that my head were full of water and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night for the Schismes and divisions that are at this day in the Christian world There was a time there was Woe worth that unhappy Tense there was but Est bene non possum dicere dico fuit I cannot say there is I must needs speak as it is There was a time when the whole Church of God in all places of the world was of one heart and one minde of one accord and of one judgment And howsoever there was and ever will be some difference about some circumstances of no great weight yet was there not the least discrepance amongst them in any one essentiall point of our faith Vna agebat in omnibus membris divini spiritus virtus erat omnibus anima una fidei propositum idem divinitatis celebratio omnibus una Euseb lib. 10. hist Eccl. Chap. 3. in somuch that as when any member of the body is ill affected all the rest do conspire to cure it or when a house is set on fire the whole town will run to quench it So if any heresie happened to spring in any part of the World their common desire was to crush the serpents head to make it like Ionas his gourd of short continuance and to smother it in the birth and make it like the untimely fruit of a Woman which perisheth afore it see the Sun they did conspire to heale the affected member and did concu to stay the flame from further combustion Thus did they from the most parts of the world concur at Nice against Arius at Constantinople against Macedonius at Ephesus against Nestorius at Chalcedon against Entiches Thus was the head of Britaines snake as Prosper Aquitanus tells Pelagius crushed by provinciall Synods in most places of Christendome And long before these times when as yet there was not a Christian Emperour thus they dealt with Montanus in many of their Synods And at Antioch against Paulus Samosatenus they met from all Churches under Heaven as it were against a common theife that stole the Sheep out of Christs flock But now O times the one and undivided spouse of Christ is like a Traytor drawn and quattered the North and the South the Orient and the Occident each differ from other in sundry materiall and essentiall points of Faith And here in the West that Church whose faith was once famous through the whole world which was as a Beacon upon an hill a guide for all the Churches round about her a Sanctuary for orthodoxall exiles one of the four Patriarchicall Seas and that in respect of place and order the first the Empresse of the World the Glory of Kingdomes the pride and beauty of Nations the faithfull City is so estranged from the Bridegroomes Voice and hath so depraved the purity of Christian religion both by loosing of her own and the taking in of Forraine water that as one sayd of Athens we may say of Rome thou mayst seeke Rome in Rome and canst not finde it being become like unto one of the old Aegyptian Temples beautifull without and Cats and Ratts and Crocodiles adored within And whereas shee hath no more reason to be called Catholike then the old Mahometans to call themselves Saracens then the Jewes had to call Herod that was ready to be eaten with wormes a God then the Persians that were shortly afterslaine by the Romans to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then Manes had to stile himselfe an Apostle of Jesus Christ then Celsus the Heathen Philosopher to entitle his Books written against Christian Religion the word of truth or Drunkards to be tearmed good fellowes or light housewives honest women having made the rule of her faith like Glaucus the Sea which loosing some part of his Body by beating upon Rocks and shelves hath the same repaired by rocks and sand that cleave to him yet must shee be called the only Catholike Church of
shall ever perish Thou art a Souldier in that Camp whereof the weakest in the end shall be a Conquerour Feare not the Lord is with thee thou valiant man Neither tribulation nor anguish nor nakednesse nor sword nor death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus He whose name is Amen the faithfull and true Witnesse and therefore cannot goe back with his word hath promised to his whole Flocke his divine protection and assistance in his Kingdome of grace and will at length bring us to everlasting happinesse in his Kingdome of glory Feare not little Flocke for it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the Kingdome The Third Sermon LVKE 12. 32. For it is your Fathers good pleasure c. HAving finished the former branch the Doctrine we are now to come to the second part the Reason and herein observe 1. The granter your Father 2. The thing granted a Kingdome 3. The grantees Not all Adams sons but the Sheep of this little Flock you 4. The consideration or cause impulsive and that is nothing in Man but the love and good pleasure of Almighty God your Father is well pleased At this time only of the first the Grantor your Father He who hath one only naturall sonne God begotten from everlasting of the same substance with himselfe and in all things equall to himselfe and one only begotten sonne by grace of Conception Man made of the seed and substance of a Woman both which concur to the making of one and the same individuall person of Immanuel the Messiah is if you take the word not personally but essentially 1. A Father of all his Creatures Similitudine vestigij because there is not the meanest creature in the world wherein he hath not imprinted some characters and foot-steps of himselfe in which respect Job calls the Worm his sister and mother Job 17. 14. 2. A Father of the Angels Similitudine gloriae So they are called The sonnes of God John 1. 6. 3. A Father of all Man-kind Similitudine imaginis wherein man was created Gen. 1. 27. 4. Not of all mankind but only of a certain number whom he before the foundation of the world was laid not for any goodnesse either of faith or works which he did foresee for what did he foresee but what he decreed to bestow upon them of his free grace and love pick'd and cull'd out of that masse of corruption into which by Adams sin they were to come and in the fulnesse of time effectually calleth that is separateth from the world and admits into his houshold and familie and makes them Who by nature were dead in sinnes and trespasses living members of Christs mysticall bodie Thus he is a Father of all believers I will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord Almighty 2 Cor. 6. 18. The spirit of adoption beareth witnesse that we are his children and bids us cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 16. In this sense our Saviour bids us Call no man father on earth because we have but one Father which is God Matth. 23. 9 and sends us in our prayers to our Father which is in Heaven Matth 6. 9. Thus is he a Father of his little flock And well may he be called Father for what doth a natural parent to his child which the Father of Spirits doth not in an infinite larger and better measure to his 1. An earthly father begets his child and is the cause of his naturall being 2. He gives him a name 3. He feeds him 4. He cloatheth him 5. He protects him from wrongs 6. He corrects him for his faults 7. According to his meanes he provides an inheritance or a portion for him God doth all these to his sonnes the Sheep of this little flock 1. He begets us Jam. 1. 18. For which cause he is styled the father of spirits Heb. 12. 9. This is a meer work of God to which the power of free-will doth no more concurre then a child is a Coadjutor to his father at his natural generation I grant that as in substantial mutations before a forme be corrupted and another educed e potentia materia there are certaine alterations or previal dispositions for making way to this change So in this supernatural mutation when a sonne of Adam is to be made a son of God God ordinarily useth certain previal dispositions The Law and the Gospel are preached the heart of man is shaken with the terrors of the law and cast down to the ground as Paul was at his conversion and touched with feare of punishment sorrow for sinne desire and hope of pardon c. But as those previal alterations are no essential parts of natural generation though preparatives thereunto Nor is there in the Matter any more then a meer passive power for receiving the substantial form so neither are these previal dispositions any essential part of our supernatural regeneration Nor is there in the wil any active but a mere passive power for receiving this supernatural being which is only wrought by the finger of God The Apostles evidences are strong for this point let us heare them we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus meaning that there is no more power in a naturall man for begetting himselfe a new then there was in that dry dust whereof Adam was made for assisting God in the creation of man A naturall man is dead in sinne Can a dead man revive himselfe Could Lazarus when he had been three dayes stinking in the grave move hand or foot till Christ had put his soule into him No more can a natural man so much as move himselfe to a supernatural and spirituall work till God regenerate him and as it were create him anew and infuse into the powers and faculties of his soule a quickning spirit He hath a heart of stone I will take the stonie heart out of their bodies a heart of stone not a heart of iron for though iron be hard yet the heate of the fire will mollifie it and the stroak of the hammer will turne it into a new forme but no heat will mollifie a stone no hammer can beate it out or bring it into a new shape but by breaking it So our hearts are by nature such that they cannot be softned or turned to that which is right till they be broken in pieces and cast in a new mould And again as no water can be drawn out of a stone so no goodnesse can be educed out of a natural mans heart We are by nature evill trees and an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit The Apostle tels us That of our selves we cannot so much as think a good thought That it is God that giveth both the will and the deed And our great Master whom we are