to labour to die with Christ to sin that so wee may come at the last to live with him The meanes are foure The first cause which is the principall cause is the Spirit of God so saith the Apostle Rom. 8.13 the place before alleadged If yee mortifie the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit yee shall live Rom. 8.13 It is true we are enjoyned mortification but wee cannot doe it till by the Spirit of God our sinnes be mortified It is with sinne as it is with some wilde beasts Simile they cannot bee taken and apprehended till they be shot and wounded So it is with sinne till the Spirit of God give the deaths blow to sinne wee cannot mortifie it of our selves therefore the first and principall cause is the Spirit of God he that is in us is stronger then he that is in the world The Spirit of God is strong and powerfull to subdue sinne Secondly Faith in Christ for by faith we must be ingrafted into Christ and so partake of the Spirit of Christ whereby sinne is dead in us so saith the Apostle Rom. 6.5 Rom. 6.5 For if we be planted into the likenesse of his death wee shall be also into the likenesse of his resurrection First we must be planted and grafted into Christ As a Syens must be planted into the stocke of a tree before it partake of the juice of it So we must be planted into Christ by faith before we be made partakers of the vertue of the death of Christ to kill our sins so saâ—th the Apostle Col. 2.13 Wee are raysed though the faith of the operation of God it is through faith not â—â—â—ely as a perswading mooving cause but as an efficient cause because faith as a pipe of Silver conveyes the juice the water of life the Spirit of God whereby our sinnes are mortified it unites us to Christ and makes us partake of the vertue of his death whereby our sinnes are killed The third meanes to worke this death in us it is Prayer Psal 19.13 so David Psal 19.13 Lord keepe mee from presumptuous sinnes let them not have dominion over me that is mortifie and crucifie them so that they may not have dominion over me or not have a being if it were possible Let them not have dominion over me Fourthly and lastly a speciall meanes to put sinne to death is to submit our selves to the Ministery of the Word such as can manage and brandish the two edged Sword of the Spirit against sinne And so in private by meditation to apply to our selves the curses and judgements that God hath threatned against such sinnes as wee give most way to for if once the principall and vitall sinne as I may call it be destroyed then other sinnes will die of themselves this shall be sufficient for the third part touching the meanes to die with Christ I come now in a few words to the motives to perswade us to die with Christ The first ariseth from the necessitie of dying to sinne eyther wee must die to sinne or die for sinne Rom. 8.13 woe to us if we doe not die to sin If yee live after the flesh yee shall die Rom. 8.13 that is if yee live unmortified yee shall die how eternally not onely the death of the body but of the soule too here is the choyce we must eyther mortifie our lusts or incurre the danger of damnation there is no other way to escape it If yee live after the flesh yee shall die that is eternally therefore there lies a necessitie that should perswade us to die to sinne Secondly from the commoditie by dying to sinne we shall not onely free our selves from eternall death but from much trouble and molestation and disquiet also that wee should be sure to have by keeping sinne alive and by yeelding to the lusts of sinne Most true it is that it is with our lusts as with little children humour and observe them and give them that they cry for Simile and you shall never have rest but still they will cry for something more so it is with our corruptions and sinfull lusts yeeld to them upon every desire and we shall never have done when we have satisfied one lust it will call upon us againe and will never have done whereas by mortifying of it we shall bring to ourselves much quiet and free our selves from much molestation Thirdly consider the facilitie by mortifying the deeds of the flesh we loose nothing that will make to our happinesse Adam in innocencie in Paradise was happy without these lusts Christ on earth was happy without them the Saints in heaven are happy without them Iam. 1.21 these are but superfluities Iam. 1.21 Lay aside all superfluitie of naughtinesse and malice Wee may have all true contentment whatsoever yet part with our lusts they are things that we may well spare By mortification of them a man looseth no profit nor pleasure nor honour whatsoever but there is recompence with advantage Let a man mortifie his lusts that bring him profit hee shall have profit in durable riches not onely in this life but for his reward hee shall have a whole kingdome to enjoy Let him loose some present pleasures as we have all too much of common Souldiers in us we love present pay hee shall have infinite recompence he shall have pure pleasures peace of conscience God will praise him and say well done good and faithfull servant he shall have peace of conscience that will lift a man above ground an infinite recompence in the losse of other pleasures Secondly for honour what if a man for the crucifying of his lusts be reproached and contemned in the world yet he shall have true honour of God in heaven he shall have honour of Angels of good men honour did I say of good men nay wicked men shall honour him God is able to command honour from the hearts even of wicked men so much as hee is mortified Let a wicked man see one that is a mortified man that as David was he behaves himselfe as a weaned child from the world he cannot but give a good testimony but if he will not now let him be on the racke in sicknesse let death appeare then he will desire to die the death of the righteous and that his last end may be like his It is true while he is in his jollitie and bravery then such men load a mortified man with reproach and contempt but wee must doe as Phisitians doe when they judge by urine of the state of the body they looke not on the urine that is voyded when men are walking up and downe before they goe to bed Simile but that which they make after their first sleepe when they are come to themselves So take not a wicked man now in the fulfilling of his lusts but looke on that man when hee hath slept and you will judge otherwise of him he cannot chuse but give
A GLEANING IN GODS HARVEST FOVRE CHOYCE HANDFVLS The Gate to Happinesse Wounded Saviour Epicures Caution Generation of Seekers By the late Judicious Divine HENRY RAMSDEN sometime Preacher in London IUDO 8.2 Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better then the vintage of Abiezer LONDON Printed for J. D. and R. M. and are to bee sold by Thomas Slater at the Swan in Duck-lane 1639. The Epistle to the Reader GOOD READER THe Author of these Sermons having served his time and being fallen asleepe before their time came to looke out and doe service in the world I conceived it might beare the construction of a peece of some light charitie to lead them out in their Orphan-like condition by the hand of a recommendatorie Epistle into the world Men for the most part desire in Bookes to know first what is said of them before they care to know what they say and sometimes an Author worthy of prime inspection for want of an Agent to make his worth his harbenger may lie as long neglected and unread as the poore Cripple at the poole of Bethsaida lay uncured for want of one to cast him into the water The subject indeed here principally discoursed and brought out of darknesse into light Christian mortification seemeth to disdaine all mediation and petitioning for it it being of so great weight and transcendent importance that it commands all hearts and eyes to looke up unto it and threatens with power and authoritie from on high even the greatest on earth that shall turne their backe and not their face upon it There are three things especially among others that will say well to make this rough and hidden way of Mortification smooth and plaine The first is the greatnesse of the Author and founder of that honourable order of Mortification and who was the glorious President of it himselfe Even the Lord Iesus Christ the apprehension and sense of such fellowship with us in our way cannot but devoure and drowne all sense and thought of what otherwise might be difficult and distastfull in it Among the Romans the Generall being slaine in the battell there was scarce any Souldier that regarded his life but rather chose to make an exchange of it for such a death wherein hee might beare his Generall company and if any did returne home alive in such a case there was a brand of ignominie set upon him ever after The truth is were not the consideration of sin and the madnesse of unbeliefe in the world at hand to qualifie the matter and give satisfaction it were the most astonishing wonder that ever the world saw that Iesus Christ being dead the whole world should not presently resolve to die with him The second is the greatnesse of the helpe or mighty arme of assistance that is ready to joyne with us in this great worke of mortification if our hearts bee once set upon it this is the Spirit of God and of Christ If you mortifie the deeds of the body by the spirit you shall live Rom. 8. This Spirit of God residing and dwelling in those that beleeve to whom hee is given is alway at hand ready yea desirous and longing to bee set on worke in their soule to be imployed in this honourable service against sin and all inordinate affections evill-concupiscence uncleannesse pride covetousness c. And being stirred up and set on to purpose it carries on his worke before him with an high hand making havock and desolation among the fleshly lusts and corruptions of the soule The greatest and most difficultest undertakings and such which the soule of man would otherwise abhorre and turne aside from altogether are yet digested and carried on with a sweetnes and pleasantnesse of hope when a man sees measure for strength for strength as much in his meanes as in his opposition as many with him as against him Now the Spirit of God within us is of more might then all the hills of the robbers as David speakes in another case hee is stronger than all their strong holds he is above all the high things and imaginations that lift up themselves to the highest within us against the knowledge of God Mortification can bee no other but a solid delight and spirituall recreation to him that duly and deeply considers what oddes and advantage hee hath of his enemie the flesh by the partaking and close standing of that blessed friend of his the Spirit The third and last is the exceeding greatnesse of the reward which the God of recompences as the Scripture termeth him hath sealed and settled by purpose and promise both Yea and Amen upon this worke of Mortification If wee be dead with Christ we beleeve that is wee easily beleeve or have ground sufficient to beleeve that wee shall live with him as the foundation of the ensuing discourse proclaimes aloud to the world whereby living with Christ is not meant of an everlasting being in his presence only though his presence alone be a Paradise of joy and blessedness in abundance but an admittance or taking up into an intire communion with him in all his glory or as himselfe is pleased with the expression Revel 3.21 a sitting downe with him upon his Throne Men for the most part can bee content that any man should chuse or appoint their worke for them if it might bee permitted to themselves to choose their wages and have good securitie for it Who would refuse with Sampson to encounter Lyons if they could be secured to eate honey out of their carkasses Who would not have cast in his lot with those three faithfull servants of GOD and have beene content to have taken part with them in that hotte service of the fierie furnace could they have beene satisfie for their safe comming off with their lives untouched and like advancement afterward in the Kingdome Low wages and slender recompences make even light worke heavie the only way to drowne the sowernesse or unpleasantnesse of any taske is to make it swimme in an Ocean of reward It is a principle in reason Finis dat amabilitatem mediis Good ends make hard wayes or meanes lovely and desireable If Mortification had as bitter and irreconcileable an opposition and repugnancie to nature as the grave it selfe yet the transcendent vastnesse of the reward that same farre more exceeding eternall weight of glory as Saint Paul had much adoe to bring out his notion of it in words without losse and leaving somewhat behinde 2 Corinth 4.17 dearely apprehended and beleeved mightily and effectuously considered is able fully to reconcile the disproportion I am loth to exceed the time and measure of an Epistle The nature necessitie and meanes of this great Master-peece of Mortification with some other things of Affinitie with them are well laid downe in the Sermons following Some straines I beleeve thou wilt meet withall that have beene strangers to thee heretofore and which will doe lively execution and quit themselves like the words of the
wise whose propertie is as the wise man informes to be as goades or nailes throughly fastned Holy and learned men amongst whom not to number were doubtlesse to injure much mine Author are not to bee too deeply charged or too troublesomely expostulated with for some peculiarities of expressions wherein perhaps they give themselves more satisfaction than others And indeed it is a hard thing for any man to write so savourly or warily but that the Reader hath need still to bring a graine of salt with him to make the nourishment wholsome The blessing of the God of heaven bee with this little peece in its going forth into the world that it may goe forth in its might and doe worthily in Israel teaching perswading many to desire with Paul the knowledge of the fellowship of Christs sufferings and how to bee made conformable to his death which is one of the greatest and most hidden misteries of Christianitie and requireth the best and greatest Masters in Israel for its Teachers Thine in the Lord Jesus IOHN GOODWINE The Contents of the ensuing Treatises Treatise 1. TO be dead with Christ what Page 5 Propos 1. Wee must die with Christ first if wee will live with him pag. 10 Reason 1. From the contrarietie between sin and grace 12 Reas 2. Else the Spirit dwells not in us 13 Reas 3. Because it is hard to be a Christian ibid. Use 1. Reproofe of men dead in sinne 14 Morall death to sinne distinguished from the true death to sinne 16 1. In the Essence of it ibid. 2. In the efficient cause 17 3. in the latitude ibid. 4. In the issue 18 Popish mortification differs from true mortification 1. In the object 19 2. The efficient cause ibid. 3. The formall cause 20 4. The finall cause ibid. Characters of a man dead to sinne 1. When occasions to sinne worke not 21 2. When all sinne is dead in us 22 3. When we doe not the service of sinne 23 4. When we abhorre sinne ibid. 5. When sinnes power is daily abated 24 6. When we can willingly have our sins wounded 25 Meanes to be dead with Christ 1. The Spirit of God 27 2. Faith in Christ ibid. 3. Prayer 28 4. Submission to the ministerie of the Word ibid. Motives to die to sinne 1. The necessitie 29 2. The commoditie ibid. 3. The facilitie 30 4. The equitie 31 5. The treacherie of sinne 32 6. The example of others ibid. The difficultie of being a Christian 33 The method to come to live with Christ 36 Spirituall death what 40 Spirituall life what 41 Propos 2. Those that are dead with Christ shall live with him 42 Reas 1. To whom Christ communicates himselfe he doth it wholly 43 Reas 2. Death with Christ insufficient without we live with him 44 Reas 3. From the opposition betweene the life of sinne and grace 45 Use Those that are not dead with Christ doe not live with him 46 How to know wee are alive with Christ 1. By the cause of spirituall life 47 2. By the exercises of spirituall life 48 3. By the properties of spirituall life 49 1 Nourishment ibid. 2 Augmentation 50 3 Generation 51 Use 2. To labour for death with Christ 52 1. Because by him wee shall enjoy a spirituall life 53 2. An eternall life ibid. Propos 3. The knowledge of Mortification seales up the assurance of salvation 55 Reason The promises of eternall life are made to the mortified 68 Use 1. For confutation of Bellarmine 72 Use 2. To labour for Mortification 75 Use 3. Those that are not dead with Christ cannot be assured of life with him 77 Propos 4. As our death to sinne so our life to grace both proceed from christ 80 Reason They are both the worke of grace 81 Christ is the author of the death of sinne and the life of grace 1. As a meritorious cause 83 2. As the exemplarie cause 85 3. The morall cause 86 4. The efficient cause 87 Christ is the efficient cause First in the first working of it three wayes 88 1. By his Spirit ibid. 2. By the Word 89 3. By Baptisme 90 Baptisme is a cause instrumentall 3 wayes 1. As a resembling cause 91 2. As a concurring meanes ibid. 3. By Stipulation ibid. Secondly for the increase of it 2 wayes 1. By Faith 92 2. The Lords Supper 94 Use To indevour to be in Christ 95 Use 2. To returne the praise of grace to Christ 97 Use 3. What to judge of men out of Christ 98 Treatise 2. Observ 1. What Christ suffred was not for his own sin 104 Use 1. To shew how Christ could beare the punishment of sinne 108 Use 2. To discover the malice of the Iewes against Christ 110 Use 3. To condemne those that judge by successe in outward things 114 Use 4. To reade us a Lecture of patience 115 Use 5. Comfort for distressed consciences 116 Obser 2. Christ suffered all for our sinnes 118 Reas 1. The love of Christ ibid. Reas 2. The love of God the Father 119 Use 1. To admire Gods wisedome 120 Use 2. To see the haynousnesse of our sinnes 121 Use 3. To provoke us to sorrow for sinne 123 Use 4. For Consolation 125 Use 5. To set forth Gods love to us 126 Use 6. To returne love againe 127 Treatise 3. Conclus 1. SVrfeiting and Drunkennesse and Covetousnesse to be taken heed of 134 Reas 1. There is danger in these sinne 137 Reas 2. There is danger of falling into them 139 Use 1. Complaint of neglect of this dutie 141 Use 2. Exhortation to Caution 143 4 Helpes to Caution ibid. Conclus 2. The best men to take heed of these sinnes 149 Reas 1. Because they are but men ibid. Reas 2. Satan envies them most 150 Reas 3. Their falling make others fall ibid. Use 1. To shew the best men are fraile 151 Use 2. Why the best should suffer admonition 152 Use 3. How to demeane our selves 153 Conclus 3. Our care and caution must be continuall 154 Reason Because there is danger of the sinnes 155 Reason Because there is danger of judgement 155 Use To discover the abounding of these sinnes 156 Conclus 4. Drunkennesse and Covetousnesse overcharge the heart 161 Reas 1. They presse the soule from heaven to earth 162 Reas 2. They presse it from earth to Hell 166 Use 1. To take heed of these sinnes 167 Use 2. To use Remedies against them 171 Meanes to be disburdened of these sinnes 172 Use 3. To see the false judgement of the world 175 Conclus 5. We should not be overcharged with immoderate eating 177 Danger in coversing with Epicures 178 Reas 1. It unfits us for good Duties 179 Reas 2. It is the nurse of securitie 180 Reas 3. It breeds many lusts 181 Reas 4. It brings Gods judgements 182 Reas 5. It hurts the body 183 Reas 6. It hurts a mans state 184 Reas 7. It hurts the Common-wealth ibid. Reas 8. It wrongs the poore 185 Use To take heed of
the darkenesse must be dispelled before it can be lightned So this new life it is sayd to be a new Image it is a new Image indeede but iâ— is such an Image as we are not capable of till first wee be made pure Tables the former Image of Sathan and the Characters of sinne be defaced till then wee are not capable of the Image of God and the faire impressions of Grace It is called an ingrafting or inocculating now wee cannot bee grafted into Christ till we be cut off from the old stocke I say generally as wee must die to nature before we can live to glory so wee must die to sinne before wee can live to God Looke what the Angell commanded Ioshua Iosh 5.8 to put off his shooes before he came to converse with God If you please to take the allusion of Philo which is this and it is pertinent to our purpose put off thy shooes before thou come to God that is put off dead workes because shooes are made of the skins of dead beasts I say before wee can live with Christ wee must die with Christ we must die to sinne before wee can live the life of grace The reason is plaine Reas 1 First From â—he contrarietie betweene sin and grace because of the contrarietie and opposition betweene the life of grace and a life in sinne A man may live many lives if one bee subordinate to another as a man lives a vegetative a sensative and a reasonable life because these are subordinate one to another but to live in sinne and to God a man cannot because these lives are contrary they come from contrary principles they cannot consist in the same subject It is an ordinary saying The Bed and and the Throne admit not of partners It is true as Christ saith No man can serve two masters It is true when they command contrary things Now sinne and grace command contrary things therefore no man can serve them both eyther he will cleave to the one and deny the other or forsake the one and cleave to the other No man can serve sinne and Christ because they are contrary masters No man can serve two masters when they command contrary things that is the first reason Wee must first die to sinne before wee can live the life of grace because they are opposites that will not admit of one another in the same subject Reas 2 Secondly Else the spirit wells not in us till we be dead to sinne we cannot live the life of grace because we cannot till then admit of the principles of the life of grace where sinne raignes and dominiers the Spirit of grace dwells not and where that is not there is no life of grace Therefore wee must first die to sinne before wee can live the life of grace because before wee be dead to sinne the Spirit of grace that quickens and revives us doth not dwell in us Reas 3 Thirdly Because it is hard to be a Christian if it were not needefull first to die to sinne before wee live the life of grace wherein consisted the hard taske of a Christian How easie were it for a man to bee a Christian if a man might bee a Christian and live after the lusts of his owne heart if he might take libertie to doe what his corruptions prompt and suggest if a man that were ignorant might bee ignorant still and yet be a Christian if hee that is a swearer might sweare still and hee that is proud bee proud still and he that is prophane might be so still what great matter were it to bee a Christian how easie were it to perswade Agrippa not to be almost but to be altogether a Christian Therefore wee must first die to sinne before we can live to grace before we can be true Christians the reason is because the taske of a Christian is a hard taske such a taske as a man cannot performe without denying of himselfe without crucifying and mortifying of his lusts This shall suffice to have spoken for the confirmation of that point by occasion of the method of the Apostle If we be dead with Christ we shall also live with him That wee must first be dead As Christ died for sinne so wee must die to sinne before wee can live the life of grace Now I come to make use and application of it Vse 1 Which if it be so how justly doth the censure of Christ Reproofes of men dead in sinne Revel 3.1 fall upon many Christians that of the Angell of the Church of Sardis that they have a name to lâ—ve but are dead Reas 3 why dead dead because they are not dead dead to grace because they are not dead to sinne many men though they seeme to be lively and active are no better then walking breathing Carkasses The reason is this because till a man be dead to sinne hee cannot live the life of grace wee must first die to sinne with Christ before wee can live the life of grace with Christ Gal. 5. In Gallat 5. Those that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Why then on the contrary such as have not crucified the lusts and affections of the flesh they are not Christs Wheresoever any sinne reignes in whomsoever any lust dominiers what lust soever it be that man is a dead man there is no true life of grace in him The reason the Apostle gives in these words because wee must bee first dead to sinne before wee can live the life of grace first our lusts must bee mortified and crucified in us before wee can live with Christ the life of grace wee must first passe this red Sea that is to die with Christ before we can enter into the Land of Canaan â—o this life with Christ But that I may make it more usefull to you let me shew you these foure things First let mee discover to you some false deaths for as there is a false and counterfeit life of grace so there are false and counterfeit deaths to sinne Secondly let me shew you some characters whereby a man may know a true death to sinne whereby hee may judge and examine himselfe and know whether hee be dead to sinne or no. In the third place I will shew you the meanes whereby if a man bee not dead a man may get this death whereby hee may come to mortifie and crucifie the lusts and affections of the flesh and if hee bee dead whereby hee may proceede on in the worke of mortification because mortification is not one individuall act but hath a latitude and admits of degrees Fourthly I will shew you arguments to perswade you to this death to sinne with Christ especially such as are immergent arising from the words of the Text Of all which briefly First then of false deaths that seeme to be true in shew but are counterfeit deaths There is a threefold death to sinne A Morall Popish Christian death to
sinne The morall death to sinne is distinguished from the true death to sinne especially in foure things First the maine difference is in the Essence of it the truth is a morall death is indeede no death hee that is morally dead to sinne is not indeede dead to sinne for such a mortification takes away not the life of sinne but the harshnesse and rudenesse of sinne it takes it and restraines it it makes sin more tractable and smooth and subtill but it takes not away the life of sinne that is the first Secondly it differs in the efficient cause the efficient cause of a Christians mortification is the Spirit of God Rom 8.13 Rom. 8.13 If yee mortifie the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit but the cause efficient of morall mortification it is from the temper of the body or good education or the like Consider therefore if it proceede from the Spirit from the generall common operation of the Spirit or from the speciall saving and sanctifying vertue of Gods Spirit Thridly morall mortification differs from that which is true in respect of the Latitude he that is morally mortified he is mortified onely in respect of outward grosse sinnes in respect of such things as are more notorious such as run in the eyes of men such as cause disgrace and dishonour and obloquie but secret spirituall sinnes are unmortified nay it is the observation of Saint Austin that a morall man though he seeme to the eye to be never so much mortified as indeede if a man looke on their formal austerity to looke on Gato or such a one a man would judge them mortified yet commonly they feede one lust and for the sake of that they curbe the rest So Saint Austin upon the Romans observes the lust of covetousnesse of injustice of intemperance c. they curbe them being over borne with the lust of ambition saith he they keepe down all other lusts that they may give more scope to this one lust in his fift booke de Civit dei Chap. 12. But a true Christians mortification is universall hee doth not kill some sinnes as Saul killed the small Cattell and left Agag and the great ones but he mortifies and crucifies all sinne true mortification will not suffer a man to allow himselfe in the practice of any one sinne Fourthly morall mortification differs from Christian in respect of the issue hee that is truly mortified in such a one sinne hath received its deaths wound in him it never comes fully to be healed and recovered it selfe againe Indeede if hee be negligent in the exercise of mortification it may get strength upon us as the Canaanites being neglected of the Ifraelites grew stronger but they never obtayned that absolute command and dominion in Canaan as before but for a morrall man because sin is not truly mortified in him therefore when those restraints and retentives are taken away that kept in sinne it rages and dominiers as much as it did before in him or as it doth in another man Let this suffice to be spoken of the difference of morall mortification from that of a true Christian Secondly Popish mortification differs from true mortification in all the degrees and causes It differs from Christian mortification In the efficient materiall formall finall cause First Popish mortification differs from Christian in respect of the object matter the principall object in Popish mortification is not so much perhaps sinne in the members but the members themselves they lash and teare them with scourges and whips their ayme is not so much against sinne as the members whereas true mortification is a revenge on the members as they are instruments of sinne a mans principall grudge is against sinne in his members and not against the members that sinne dwells in Secondly they differ in the efficient cause the cause efficient of true mortification is the Spirit of God Rom. 8.13 Rom. 8.13 If yee through the Spirit doe mortifie the deeds of the body but the cause efficient in Popish mortification is among toot many themselves they offer violence to themselves selfe considerations is the summe of their mortification Thirdly the formall cause of Popish mortification is humbling the body abstinence and rending the humane body by whippes and scourges this they make the true bearing of the dying of Christ in their members So saith Getzer in his second booke of discipline Getzer 2. booke discipline chap. 8. Chap. 8. They beare the dying of Christ in their body that shed their blood with whipping and lashing themselves willingly for Christ such a man is sayd a to mortifie himselfe It is a strange thing as if wee should goe about to please the divinitie by inhumanitie Fourthly they differ in respect of the end and ayme of both Popish mortification ends not in the destruction of sinne and infeebling the power of it so much as the satisfying of God for sinne Heare what Getzer saith in the same place in his second booke of discipline Chap. 8. saith he such as whip themselves till the blood came for their sinnes by such whipping of themselves they satisfie Gods justice for their sinnes What Christian heart can heare such Doctrine and his heart not ake his ears not glow and his joynts tremble Blessed Saviour that they that stile themselves by thy name should derogate from thee by their blasphemies Wee say the blood of Christ expiates sinne they say their owne blood wilfully shed satisfies God for their sinnes whereas the end of Christian mortification is not to satisfie God for sinne but to infeeble the power of sinne to breake downe the command and dominion of sinne This shall suffice to bee spoken concerning the first point proposed the false deaths to sinne and those are two Morall and Popish Now I come to shew the Characters of a man that is truly dead to sinne with Christ The first signe of a man that is dead to sinne is this that when occasions are offered and invite him to sinne hee doth not yeeld this is an argument that that man is dead to sinne It is true I confesse there is great power in occasions that except wee keepe a jealous guard they are able to transport a holy sanctifyed man and so they have done the best but I say such a man as when no sooner an occasion is presented but hee is ready to give way to satisfie his lust such a man let him pretend what he will hee is not dead to sinne He is like a tree wee know in winter there is no visible apparent difference betweene a dead tree and that that is alive neither of them have eyther fruite or leaves Simile they differ not in outward view but when the spring comes againe and the Sunne approacheth then there is a difference then the juice in the roote shootes up and diffuseth it selfe into the rest of the parts you may know a tree whether it be dead or alive when the Spring comes
when the Sun approacheth if it doth not shoote forth and flourish then we say it is a dead tree I apply it thus looke what the Sunne is to the tree so is occasions to lusts he that doth not sin when occasions are offered and present themselves when a man hath occasion to satisfie his lusts if he doe it not this man is truly dead to sin Whereas such a man as eyther through age or want of opportunity and occasion is disabled from fulfilling his lusts but in the meane while he pleaseth himselfe to revolve them in his mind and to discourse of them with his tongue such a man is not dead to sinne if he had the same strength and occasion presented as before such a man would discover that sinne were alive in him as much as ever it was Secondly wee may know we are dead to sinne if all sinne be dead in us it is not sufficient that one lust seeme to be mortified and crucified in us unlesse all be mortified Wee know there is life in an Apple tree or a Peare tree if it produce but one Apple or Peare So we may know that sinne is alive in us if there be but one reigning domineiring sinne It is true I confesse in the best men sinne is so much alive in them that ever and anon it will be shooting forth some of these cursed fruits but yet as wee shall see in the third place the power of it is more infeebled I say where one sinne or lust rules and dominiers in a man that man is not dead to sinne as if an Apple tree bring forth but one apple wee conclude it is not dead Thirdly a dead man cannot performe the workes of a living man when wee performe not the workes and service of sinne then we are dead to sinne Everything hath power to bring forth fruite according to its owne nature Ioh. 8.39 Ioh. 8.39 If you were the children of Abraham you would bring forth the fruits of Abraham Now if a man bring forth ordinarily the fruits of sinne let him say what hee will sinne is alive in that man I grant that as I sayd before sinne will ever and anon bee sending forth bitter and cursed fruits but he that is ordinarily and commonly transported to the service of his owne lusts that man is not dead to sinne Shall a man say hee is a dead man that lives in pride that hee is a dead man that lives in swearing or uncleannesse c I say he that is ordinarily and habitually transported with pride with swearing and blasphemy with uncleannesse c. he that is ordinarily transported to the committing of any sinne that man is not dead to sinne Fourthly it is not sufficient to forbeare the practice of sinne but to abhorre and detest sin we know when we come by a putrified dead Corse we stop our noses to shew that we abhor the noysome smell and detest it If we doe not onely forbeare sin but loath and abhorre it it is a signe that sinne is dead it is a Carkasse we begin to abhorre it Fiftly by this Character wee shall know that sinne is dead if daily more and more wee see the power of sinne abated and infeebled in us we know dying men the nearer they draw to the grave the more weake are all the actions and functions of the soule So I say sinne shall never in this life be utterly dead but it hath its deadly blow and languisheth away Now then we may know we are dead to sinne if sinne more and more decay and the power of it bee more and more feeble if every day the inclinations and provocations to sinne are more weake Yet mistake not a man may deceive himselfe by this Character for oft times it comes to passe that sinne when it hath its mortall and deaths wound it rageth more then it did before Simile It fares with sinne as with a wild beast that hath received his deaths wound he rageth more then he did before So sinne and Sathan then labour to provoke and stirre up corruption in a man to rage more notwithstanding stay a while and you shall see the power of it more infeebled So I say a man must not judge himselfe by the present fit or rage of sinne to have no sparke of regeneration for that may bee occasioned by the deaths blow of sinne but looke if sinne bee enfeebled and the inclinations and lusts to sinne grow every day weaker then other and that is an argument that sinne is dead Sixtly we may know that wee are dead to sinne by this argument then a man is dead to sinne when he can willingly and patiently indure the Axe of the Gospel to be laid to the roote of his sinne when he can patiently submit himselfe to have his sinne wounded and to have it executed by the sword of the Spirit I say patiently to indure the reproofe of his sinne especially when the reproofe is layd against the sinne that most prevailes against him the sinne that a man loves dearest patiently to indure the reproofe of that sinne is an argument that that man is mortified and dead to sinne Let a man say what he will hee that stormes and grudges and grumbles and chafes when his sinne is met with in the Ministery of the word that man is unmortified at the least so farre as he chafes and frets so farre hee is unmortified Hee that is mortified to sinne hee that is growne to a loathing and detestation of his sinne he rejoyceth when the Ministery meets wiâ—h his sinne Oh saith such a one that my sinne might bee met with to day I stand in termes of hostilitie with it I would have it put to death Oh! that it might have one blow to day by the Sword of the Spirit such a man as will not indure the reproofe of his sinne hee is unmortified at least so farre as he is impatient of reproofe Yet mistake not a man may bee more impatient for some sinnes than for others for though in a gracious man all sinne bee mortified yet some sinnes be more rooted and radicated As wee say in Philosophie there are some parts that live first and die last as the heart As it is in the body of it is in the state of nature in the body of sinne there are some sinnes in which life is more radicated and one sinne may have more life when others are mortified one may have more strength then others and life in it and yet the mortification be true yet generally such men as are impatient at the reproofe of their lusts especially that lust that dominiers that man is unmodified he that is a mortified man that sinne is dead in he will suffer reproofe patiently Now I come to the third thing I propoposed to shew the meanes whereby wee may come to be dead with Christ for if wee cannot come to live with Christ but wee must first die with Christ then it mainely concernes us
shall be saved I aske whence comes this death with Christ Whence comes it that sinne is mortified in a man Is it not because hee is in Christ and is united to Christ and thence it is because hee is united to Christ that hee partakes of the vertue and Spirit of Christ whereby sinne is mortified Let this bee sufficient to bee spoken for the proofe of the point Vse 1 In the first place it serves for confutation for if they that are dead with Christ may be assured by this that they shall also live with Christ Then surely a man may attaine a greater assurance of salvation then Bellarmine and the rest of that faction perswade men he may They say a man cannot attaine it by the contemplating and viewing of the grace of God is him hee can but attaine a kind of hope of salvation a kind of doubting conjecturall morall assurance but for this assurance that we speake of our Countrey-men at Rhemes sticke not to say that it is a damnable false thing Rhem. on Rom. 9. upon Rom. 9. such an assurance as is impossible to bee attained in this life except it be by revelation and by extraordinary meanes And then they say moreover if it bee attained it is perillous and dangerous to attaine because it opens to men a gappe to all licentiousnesse for say they if a man may be assured of his salvation let him doe what he will hee shall be saved I cannot now enter into the lists with these Rhemists at this time but give me leave to their objection to returne two things First say they it is impossible for a man by mortification to come to be assured of his salvation I desire them to unriddle me this They say a man by mortifying by macerating himselfe by fasting and sackcloth and by whipping himselfe hee may merit salvation and heaven May hee merit heaven and not bee assured hee shall come to heaven What is it because God is ignorant and knowes not their good deeds or because hee is unjust and will not reward them If they say either it is blasphemie if they give way to either of them then they give way to this doctrine that wee speake of If a man by macerating himselfe in sackcloth and ashes by whipping and beating himselfe may merit heaven as the Papists joyntly affirme or most of them And Getzer in his second booke of Discipline Chap. 8. then certainly a man by mortification may come to have assurance of heaven for if a man bee not assured but doubts that doubt must come that either God knowes not that wee deserve heaven by our mortification and then God is not omniscient Or if hee doe know it hee will not reward us according to our merits and then hee is unjust either of which to affirme is blasphemy So their owne tenent overthrowes themselves See the difference betweene truth and errour one truth and vertue contraries not another but one vice and errour contradict each other as Covetousnesse opposeth Prodigalitie c. Secondly say they as it is impossible to attaine so it is dangerous to attaine this opens a gappe to licentiousnesse I wonder what feare there is of this since wee affirme that this assurance is to bee had by holinesse by mortifying of our sinfull lusts It is true indeed if we had assurance if we did maintaine that it might bee gotten notwithstanding that we went on in the practice of our sinfull lusts then it were another matter but wee affirme that this assurance is had only by the practice of mortification by mortifying and subduing our sinfull lusts And as it is gained by this so it is to be preserved by this I wonder then what feare here can be of opening a gappe to licentiousnesse and wickednesse by maintaining assurance of salvation when we maintaine here with that assurance is had by mortification and is to be kept and preserved only by it The rule of Philosophy here is true the same cause that produceth the same cause preserveth a thing but to let them passe and to returne to our selves Vse 2 If those that are dead with Christ may come to be assured that they shall also live with him how should this stirre up all of us to labour for mortification To indeavour to subdue and mortifie our sinfull lusts that we may come to bee assured that after wee shall live with God! It is that that the Apostle commands 2 Pet. 1.10 saith he 1 Pet. 1.10 Give diligence to make your calling and election sure Give diligence it is not a thing so easily attained as some dreame it is a thing that requires cost and paines a man hath it not but after long practise and indeavour of mortification Now I say it is that that the Apostle perswades us unto to give diligence to make our Calling and election sure It is sure enough in Gods counsell we should labour to make it sure in our owne conscience Wee may complaine men give diligence to make their houses sure to make their lands and preferments and offices and friends sure but how few give diligence to make their Calling and election sure Yet I know not when there was ever more need that wee of this place should labour to make our calling and election sure then now wee perceive already that wrath is gone out from God and the Angell of the Lord hath strucken some among us and they have fallen on the right hand and on the left hand before us and behind us aâ—d wee our selves know not when our turne may come Now the lesse assurance we have of being here on earth the more wee should labour for assurance of our well being hereafter in heaven And if wee have once this assurance this will bestead us and minister comfort in all calamities What though we bee poore if wee have this assurance wee know wee shall come there where there is durable unperishing riches What if we be in disgrace this will make us possesse our soules with patience and tell us that we shall come shortly to a place where wee are assured all teares shall be wiped from our eyes and all that blemisheth our name What though we bee sicke wee are assured that wee shall come to a place where we shall have no sicknesse but constant health What though death come It will make us chearfully to welcome it and it will make us call it as Saint Ciprian doth S. Cyprian the Midwife of immortalitie that shall translate and remove us from a fading perishing life to the everlasting life Then let us that God hath bin so gracious unto that he hath spared us and visited others labour to improve the time to practise mortification that in case worse come wee may yet be provided If wee adresse our selves to this who knowes if God will not graciously spare us and not afflict us or if it come wee shall have infinite comfort then when our dores shall bee shut up and we have
no other comfort yet then our conscience will witnesse comfortably that notwithstanding wee die yet wee shall come where wee shall live for ever Oh then as the Apostle saith let us give all diligenec to make our calling and election sure It is a matter of paines it is not easily gotten but it will abundantly recompence the paines If wee looke and finde our sinfull lusts mortified in part let not that satisfie us let us not rest there but goe further and proceed in the worke of mortification for looke as our mortification is so is our assurance the weaker our mortification is the weaker our assurance of salvation the stronger our mortification the better assurance wee have of salvation Vse 3 Thirdly if they that are dead with Christ may rest assured that they shall live with him then by the rule of contraries they that are not dead with Christ cannot assure themselves that they shall live with him If only he can be assured of salvation in whō sinfull lusts are mortified then hee in whom they are not mortified that man cannot bee assured of salvation Indeed hee may have a kinde of a wilde hope a presumptuous confidence but it is such as will faile him in the time of need Like to your Winter brookes or land-floods In the time of Winter when a man hath no use of water they flow abundantly but in Summer in the time of drought when men have need they are gone they are not to bee had So that assurance that a man hath as long as hee goes on in the practice of his sinfull lusts it is a wild deceitfull presumption such an assurance as will doe him no good when hee comes to need it I have read it was the manner of tryall that was used when there was a controversie of land whether it belonged to Ireland or to England they did take Snakes and Toades and poysonous Serpents and put there and if they lived there they concluded it belonged to England if they died they judged it belonged to Ireland the reason was because no venemous thing will live there I apply it thus sinfull lusts are like Snakes and Toades and venemous creatures looke what soule they live in if they live in a mans soule it is an argument that hee belongs not to heaven and wee know what place he belongs to then onely to hell if it dye in us we may assure our selves that wee belong to heaven Hee in whom sinne lives and his lusts continue unmortified that man cannot assure himselfe of salvation The reason is because all assurance comes from the promise of God God hath made no promise to men that continue and goe on in the service and obedience of their sinfull lusts hee threatens nothing but death and destruction to such If yee live after the flesh yee shall dye Rom. 8.13 Rom. 8.13 This shall suffice to have spoken of the third point the certainty of this connexion If we be dead with Christ we beleeve that we shall also live with him Mortification seales up to a mans soule and conscience the assurance of salvation for they that are dead with Christ may rest assured and perswaded that they shall live with him I come to the fourth and last point The cause and ground of this death to sinne and this life to grace which is Christ If wee be dead with Christ we beleeve that we shall also live with him If we be dead with Christ that is if we be dead by the vertue and power of Christ then wee beleeve that wee shall also live by vertue and power of the same Christ The conclusion is this that As our death to sinne so our life to grace they both proceede from Christ If we be dead with Christ saith the Apostle that is if wee be dead by the vertue and power of Christ if sinne be dead in us then wee beleeve that wee shall also live with Christ the life of grace here and of glory hereafter by the power and vertue of the same Christ I say the point on which I shall insist is this that as our death to sinne so the life of Grace they both proceede from Christ Christ is the author and the producer of both So saith Saint Paul in Gal. 2.20 saith the Apostle Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ yet notwithstanding I live yet not I but Christ liveth in mee and the life that I live in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himselfe for me Looke what the Apostle Paul speakes of himselfe the same may every Christian in whom sinne is dead and mortified and the life of grace wrought speake of himselfe saith the Apostle I am crucified with Christ that is sin is crucified in me sinfull lusts are crucified and mortified in me by the vertue of Christ so saith he I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me I live by the faith of the Son of God As I am crucified to sinne by Christ so I live by the vertue of Christ Phil. 3.8 9 10 So in Phillip 3.8 9 10. He desires so earnestly to be found in Christ that he contemned and undervalued all things but this that he might be found in Christ saith he I account all losse for the excellent knowledge of Christ for whom I suffer the losse of all things nay I account them not onely losse but dung that I may winne Christ and be found in him we see in verse 10. the reason that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffeings being made conformable to his death The reason why the Apostle desired to be found in Christ and why in comparison of this he accounted all things as drosse it was because he might bee made partaker of Christs death What is the fellowship of Christs death but to bee partaker of the Spirit of Christ that raised him from the dead that by the same Spirit of Christ hee might bee raysed from the death of sinne to the life of grace The reason of it is this because as our death to sinne so our life to grace are both the worke of grace from whom can wee expect the worke of grace but from him in whom is the fulnesse of grace so saith Saint Iohn Ioh 1.14 The Word was made flesh that is Christ and dwelt among us Ioh. 1.14 and wee saw his glory as the glory of the onely begotten Sonne of God full of grace and truth Our death to sin and our life to Christ are both the effects of Gods grace Now from whom can we have the effects of Gods grace but from him in whom alone is the fulnesse of grace The word was made manifest among us in whom is the fulnesse of truth and grace Look as it is in the naturall body so it is in the misticall body as in the naturall body all the naturall motion proceeds from the head and from the
vertue that is derived from the head to the members so in the mysticall body all the spirituall motion it proceeds from the influence of the head Christ is the head and from him as from the head is derived all the vertue to the members of Christ by which the death to sinne and the life of grace is wrought in us likewise Looke as it was in the oyle of Aaron the oyle that was powred on the head of Aaron it stayd not on his head but descended to the skirts of his cloathing So the Spirit of Christ it rests not on Christ onely but from Christ as the head it descends upon all the members of Christ The reason thereof why as our death to sinne so the life of grace proceeds from Christ is because both are the workes of grace according to that of the Evangelist in him dwells all the fulnesse of grace and in Collos the Apostle saith In him dwells the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily For the better and fuller opening of the point give me leave to propose and resolve one question and that is this Quest If our death to sinne and our life of grace both proceede from Christ that Christ is the author of them actions then how is Christ the author of them what kinde of cause is Christ sayd to be both of our death to sinne and of the life of grace I answer briefly Answ Christ may be sayd to be the cause both of our death to sin and of the life of grace in a fourefold respect or hee is a fourefold kind of cause Christ is the 1 meritorious 2 exemplary 3 morall 4 efficient Cause as of our death to sin so likewise of our life to grace First Christ is the meritorious cause for Christ did by his death and obedience not onely purchase for us a release and freedome from hell and consequently title to heaven but Christ merited for us the donation of the Spirit of God whereby we are made fit for and capable of that inheritance Christ not onely purchased a right to heaven but grace holines whereby we might come at last to jus inâ—re For as I sayd before by the righteousnes of Christ onely we come to have right to heaven but it is our owne righteousnesse whereby we come to be made capable of that right to heaven for saith the Apostle flesh and blood shal not enter into the kingdome of heaven Flesh and blood that is nature uncorrected unsanctified and uncontrolled it shall not inherit the kingdome of God therefore Christ hath purchased not onely redemption from hell and title to heaven but the donation of the Spirit of God whereby we are made fit and capable of heaven whereby wee are made meete as the Apostle saith to be partakers of the inheritance with the Saints in light Ioh. 17.19 So saith the Evangelist Ioh. 17.19 For their sakes saith our Saviour I sanctifie my selfe that they also may be sanctified through the truth Christ sanctified himselfe not onely to redeeme us from hell and to procure title to heaven but he sanctified himselfe that his members might bee sanctified that by the merit and vertue of Christs sanctification we might be sanctified So saith the Apostle to Titus he hath bestowed on us the spirit through Christ Tit. 3.5 Tit. 3.5 not by the workes of rightcousnesse that wee had done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing if the holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour It is through Christ onely as through the meritorious cause by whom wee obtaine the Spirit of God by which Spirit our sinfull lusts are mortified in us and by which we are quickned and revived to the life of grace so Christ is the meritorious cause hee deserved the donation of the Spirit from his Father Secondly Christ as hee is the meritorious so he is the exemplary cause as of death to sinne so of our life to grace Christ in dying to sinne he set himselfe as a patterne to us to teach as also that wee should dye to sinne Christ in rising from the grave hee set himself a patterne to us to teach us to rise from sinne so he is the exemplary cause For Christ is a patterne for our immitation in his morall actions and wee must resemble after a sort some of his Mediatorious actions also not onely in the good duties that are commanded in the Law but in those that he performed for our redemption It is true in a different manner Christ is a patterne to us in actions morall that is in the good things that he performed that are commanded in the Law he is our patterne to be imitated in the same kinde As Christ was gracious to the poore so should wee to them that are poore and in distresse in the same kind as he was temperate so may wee imitate him in the same kinde though not in the same degree But for his actions Mediatorious we are to resemble some of them too though not in the same kinde yet in some way of use As hee died for sinne so wee should dye to sinne as he rose from the grave so wee should rise from sinne to newnesse of life so still Christ is our patterne As Saint Austin saith Christ came not onely to helpe us and to performe the things that wee ought to have done but he came to teach us by his example what we ought to do And he teacheth us he is our Schoolemaster not only in his actions morall but in his actions mediatorious ous in the former we may imitate him in the same kind though we cannot in the same degree in the latter wee cannot imitate him in the same kinde yet in some sort wee may We should be as the Heletropium that opens and shuts with the Sunne so wee may follow the lambe wheresoever he goeth as hee dyed for sinne so we must dye to sinne as hee rose from the grave so we must rise from the death of sinne to newnesse of life so Christ is the exemplary cause of our death to sinne and the life of grace Thirdly Christ is the morall moving perswading cause of both That the Apostle wills Timothy to remember 2 Tim. 2.8 Remember saith hee that Iesus Christ of the seede of David was raised from the dead according to my Gospel he bids him remember it why remember it because the very thought and remembrance that Christ dyed and rose againe it cannot chuse but be a powerful motive to holinesse for it makes men conclude argue with themselves what did Christ lay downe his life for us and shall not wee lay downe our lusts for him Did Christ arise againe the third day from the Grave and shall not wee rise from the death of sinne to newnesse of life Doe wee professe our selves to bee members of Christ and not indeavour conformitie with our head Christ Shall wee be like the
Image or statue of Nebuchadnezar to have a head of gold and to have feet of mire and clay So Christ is not only the meritorious and exemplary but the moving perswading cause the very thought that Christ died for sin and rose againe it will move us to die to sin and to live the life of grace Fourthly and lastly Christ is the cause efficient as of our death to sinne so of the life of grace It were in vaine that Christ were the meritorious cause that hee had merited the donation of Gods Spirit whereby sinne might be killed and wee be quickened to the life of grace It were in vaine for him to set himselfe as a patterne for us to imitate and that hee is a morall cause to move and perswade us to imitate him unlesse hee were also the cause efficient to worke in us this death to sinne and this life of Grace therefore Christ also is the efficient cause hee workes in us both a death to sinne and the life of grace For the understanding of which know that Christ not only saves us by merit but hee saves us by efficacie too not only by Merite in deserving of life for us but in efficacie in fitting and preparing us to partake of life Hee not only by death hath abolished and removed death for sin but hee abates in us daily the power of sinne so hee is the efficient cause as well as the rest But you will aske how comes Christ to be the efficient cause of death to sinne Quest and of the life of grace by what meanes doth hee worke in us these two I answer Answ in Christs working in us these things there are some things that concurre in the first working of this life of grace and death to sinne and there are others that concurre not to the first worke but to the increasing and augmentation of it Those that concurre to the first worke are three 1. The Spirit of God 2. The Word of God 3. And Baptisme Now those againe that concurre not to the first worke of our death to sinne and kindling of this spirituall life but to the further increase and augmentation of it when it is wrought they are two 1. Faith 2. And the Lords Supper Of every one of these briefly First I say the principall cause of death to sinne and of the life of grace is the Spirit of Christ so saith the Apostle in that place before alledged Rom. 8.12.13 saith he If yee live after the flesh yee shall die Rom. 8.13 but if yee mortifie the deedes of the body through the Spirit yee shall live It is through the Spirit of Christ whereby sinne is mortified in us and through the Spirit of Christ that we are quickned to the life of grate In which respect it is called the quickning Spirit saith Christ Ioh. 8. The spirit quickneth It is called also the Spirit of sanctification Joh. 8. 1 Thess 2. 1 Thes 2. Why is it called the Sanctifying spirit because by it we are sanctified Now what are the parts of Sanctification They are two first our death to sinne the subduing of the power of sinne secondly our enlivening and quickning to grace Now the Spirit of God is said to be a sanctifying Spirit in respect of both these for from the Spirit of God it is that sinne is mortified in us and it is from the quickning Spirit that we are enlivened to a new life so the principall cause is the Spirit of God There are two other causes and those are instrumentall First the Word of God that is a powerfull meanes whereby God workes in us this death to sinne and the life of grace it is a powerfull meanes that God useth as the Apostle saith for the battering and demolution of all Satans strong holds Our lusts of themselves are too strong for us to vanquish it is the Spirit only that is mightier that can vanquish them but by what meanes doth the Spirit doe it It is by the Spirit as the principall cause but by the Word as the instrumentall cause or by the Spirit of God concurring with the Word For the Word of it selfe is not of power to mortifie sinne and to quicken us to a new life of grace but as it is a meanes to convey and derive to us the Spirit of God It is with us as it was with Lazarus when he was raised from the grave to a new life hee was raised by the word of Christ it was indeed by the word of Christ but it was not only the word of Christ that raised him but the vertue of Christs Spirit went along with that word and made that effectuall for the raising of him So it is with us it is not the Word only that is available for the mortifying of our sinfull lusts of that quickens us to the performance of the holy duties of a new life but the Word as it is the instrument of the Spirit of God which is the chiefe Agent Secondly another instrumentall cause is Baptisme that also is a meanes whereby the Spirit of God workes in us this death to sin and life of grace Now Baptisme is a cause of both these three wayes First as it is a cause resembling or as a type shadowing and pointing our to us our death to sinne and our life of grace which type and resemblance was farre more expresse in hotter clymates and Countreys in which in Baptisme they used to drench the child to dippe it in the water which dipping of the child in the water was a resemblance and type to them of their death to sinne with Christ and their rising out of the water exprest their rising to newnesse of life so by Baptisme wee are said to bee dead to sinne and alive to God through it as a resemblance expressing to us this death and life Secondly not only as a resemblance but as a speciall meanes whereby the Spirit of God concurres and goes along with the Element of water and makes it effectuall for the cleansing of us as from the guilt of sin so for the subduing the power of sinne and working in us a new life in which respect it is stiled by the Apostle in Titus 3. The laver of regeneration that is T it 3. it is that meanes whereby the Spirit of God workes regeneration this death to sinne and life of grace Thirdly and lastly Baptisine is said to be a cause as of our death to sinne so of the life of grace in regard of the stipulation or covenant because when wee are baptised wee enter into a solemne vow and covenant with God that we will forsake the Divell and all his workes there is mortification and that wee will lead a new life there is vivification So it is said to be a cause in regard of the stipulation and contract that wee make then solemnly by our selves or by those that undertake for us that are our sureties our God-fathers and God-mothers It is a
meanes in that regard Let this suffice to be spoken of the meanes whereby Christ as an efficient cause workes this death of sinne and life of grace Before I passe let me tell you as by these causes this death to sinne and life of grace is wrought so there are other causes that serve not to kindle this sacred sparke but to increase it and make it grow to a flame such meanes as doe not serve for the performing of the first act of mortification and vivification but when once there is mortification and quickning in the soule they increase both and those are principally two 1. Faith 2. The Lords Supper First Col. 2.12 Faith so saith the Apostle in Collos 2.12 Yee are buried with Christ in Baptisme wherein you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God I say faith is not the meanes to give us the first assault and impression upon sinne to mortifie and subdue it at the first but when we are mortified Faith helpes and increaseth and perfects that worke of mortification So that the sophisme of our adversaries is easily answered say they if wee bee risen through Christ to a new life of grace and through faith then say they wee have Faith before wee be quickned for say they that which is the cause of the effect must goe before as the cause of that effect Now if Faith bee a meanes to raise us to a new life then before wee have a new life we have Faith for saith Apostle Yee are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God therefore wee have Faith before wee can rise I answer with Amesius Faith is not the cause of the first mortification but the cause of the increase of mortification it is not that by which at the first wee are quickned but when once wee are quickned it is that by which the worke of vivification is more and more increased Conceive it thus The worke of grace is only the fruit and effect of the Spirit of grace Now when the Spirit of God enlivens and quickens us it begets in us as other graces so the grace of faith Now when this grace of faith is wrought in us by this wee are united more to Christ then before and so partake more of the vertue of Christ and so the worke of Mortification and vivification is more increased Faith then concurres not to the first act of mortification and vivification but it concurres to the increase and augmentation of both The second meanes or cause that concurres not to the first act but to the increase of mortification and vification it is the Lords Supper for that serves as the antient Father calls it as physicke received into the body not only for the checking and curbing and expelling of obnoxious humours but for the restoring of health by consequent so the Lords Supper duly received it serves as a meanes to abate sinfull lusts in us if it bee worthily received I say not by a dead faith hee that receives it worthily it is a meanes to mortifie sinne in him and so by consequent for the quickning of him to a new life the life of grace though not to the first act yet to the increase of that former life that was in him It is called meate Now as the meate that wee receive cannot availe to beget a new life in a man put meat into the mouth of a dead man it doth not quicken him put meate into the mouth of a living man and it increaseth his life So in the Lords Supper worthily received it is not a meanes to worke the first act of Mortificatification and vivification but when once Mortification and vivification are begun when there is a new life in a man this serves as spirituall food to strengthen and increase that life Let this suffice for the answer to the question proposed If Christ bee the cause of death to sinne and of the life of grace how hee is the cause hee is the cause meritorious the exemplary the morall and efficient cause hee is the cause efficient both by his Spirit by his Word and by Baptisme And then he is the cause efficient though not of the first act of mortification and vivification yet of the increase of them that is by Faith and the Lords Supper I come briefly to the use Well if through Christ alone Vse and by vertue derived from him as a head wee die to sinne and live to grace then this serves to stirre us all up to desire and indeavour to bee in Christ that wee may partake of the vertue of Christ whereby sinne may bee killed in us and mortified and whereby wee may be quickned to the life of grace It was the desire of Constantine and the glory of him too hee professed that hee had rather be a member of Christ then the Lord and King of the Empire Now if wee desire to partake of the vertue of Christ our first care must be to labour to be in Christ For looke as it is with a Plant it partakes not of the vertue of the stocke till it be grafted into it and then it doth so it is with us if we be grafted into Christ wee shall partake of the vertue of Christ by which sinne will be mortified in us and we shall be quickned to a new life of grace As it is in the naturall body the members partake not of the vertue of the head unlesse they be united to the head so it is with us except wee be united to Christ through a true and lively faith which is the sinew and ligament by which we are tyed to Christ we doe not partake of the vertue of Christ Indeede many of us desire the favour of great ones to receive benefit from them but there is no man no Monarch on the earth by whom wee can reape that benefit as we may by Christ if we be in him We acknowledge that Kings are Lords of life and death yet they are not Lords of this life and death All the Kings and Monarchs in the world though they may take away the life of their subjects yet they cannot take away the life of one lust or sinne though perhaps they may give life to a man that is not to take it away when they may yet they cannot give a new life to a man they cannot worke this new life the life of grace Therefore it should bee our desire and indeavour to be in Christ that wee may partake of the vertue of Christ since it is onely hee from whom the vertue comes by which sinne is mortified and wee are quickned to a new life Let us labour to bee in him that wee may partake of this vertue Zach. 13.1 In Zach. 13.1 It is called a fountaine opened for sinne and for trangression Christ is not onely a pond or a poole that is dryed up but a fountaine and perpetuall spring if wee desire to have our soules washed from
our selves burdned oppressed with these sines But you will aske if a man finde himselfe after search Quest that he be opressed with these sinnes how shall he come to relieve and disburthen himselfe I answer briefly to disburthen our selves of these sinnes Answ Meanes to be disburdened of these sins First labour to feele the grievousnesse of them Till a man feele the grievousnesse of the disease he is not diligent to use the remedy 1 To feele the grievousnesse of them it is otherwise with spirituall diseases then with corporall In corporall diseases first we finde the simptomes of them and then wee know them but in spirituall diseases first wee must know them before wee can have the simptomes of them before wee can be relieved of them the first thing wee must labour for is the knowledge of the grievousnesse of them to feele how they burthen us both in spirituall duties and other how they presse our soules except we be disburthened of them in time even to hell 2 Goe to Christ for his Spirit Secondly let us goe to Christ for as it is Christ that beares our burden for us so hee likewise is able to take our burthen from us Let us goe to him and desire him to send his Spirit into our hearts that is a Spirit of strength and power able to lift off these burthens For as I told you when he saith heere take heed least your hearts be overcharged it signifieth such a burthen as is a grievous oppressing burthen such as cannot bee lifted but with a Giants at me such a burthen are these sinnes they oppresse the soule and none but the Spirit of God can case us of them Therefore let us goe to Christ and desire him to send his Spirit into our hearts to ease us of this burthen Looke as it is with those that are troubled with the Incubus the Night-mare when they feele a great weight and burthen on them they put forth all their power to free themselvâ—â— of it so when we finde this Incubus this spirituall Night-mare to lye on us and to presse not onely our bodies but our soules wee should use all our strength and power to bee free that so we may runne with patience the race that is set before us Thirdly and lastly let us use the meanes besides these there are some meanes to bee used to disburden our selves 3. To practise the contrary What are those Looke as in Physicke the rule is contraries are cured by contraries so if we have burthened our selves by surfeiting let us disburthen our selves by the contrary if we have burthened our selves by eating immoderately let us put the knife to our throate abridge our selves in the use of meate not to eate so much as we may doe for as I sayd before out of that doubtfull author he that will goe in the use of indifferent things as farre as he may to the utmost length of his tether it is a thousand to one but that man will offend He that sleepes upon the pitch or brinke of a downfall or Precipis it is twentie to one but hee falls And so for drunkennesse if our hearts and soules be oppressed with the excessive use of strong drinke faith the Apostle rather then I will offend my brother I will not eate flesh while I live if the Apostles argument be good rather then I will offend my brother I will not eate flesh the argument will hold thus too that rather then we wil offend our selves and burthen our soules we will not drinke strong drinke while we live Let us labour thuâ— to take a kinde of holy revenge on our selves so the Apostle calls it 2 Cor. 7.11 saith hee Behold this selfe same thing that you sorrowed after a godly sort what clearing of your selves what revenge it hath wrought I say thus we should take a spirituall revenge of our selves that if we have beene overshot in the use of meate or drinke and exceeded our bounds that for the future we limit and abridge our selves and take a kinde of revenge of our selves This is the way to disburthen our selves if wee find that our hearts have beene oppressed with these things Vse 3 Thirdly and lastly if it bee the propertie of these sinnes to burden the heart then here take notice briefly of the perverse judgement of the world The false judgement of the world how contrary it is to the judgement of our Saviour aske the world who have the lightest and merriest hearts of all men They will tell you those that fare daintily that are good fellowes they are joviall and merrie hearts But aske Christ and hee will tell us that surfeiting and drunkennesse opresse the heart they have not as the world would make us beleeve light-some hearts It is true if wee will beleeve their faces they seeme to have lightsome hearts if we will judge of their hearts by their sleiting and laughter but Solomon saith Prov. 14.13 Prov. 14.13 That even in that laughter the heart is sorrowfull there is sorrow in their laughter it is but from the teeth outward and it is not so only for the present but the end of that mirth is heavinesse It is sorrow for the present and the conclusion is heavinesse Therefore whatsoever the world saith Epicures and drunken men such as are given to the immoderate use of meate and drinke those men have the heaviest hearts Let the world say what it will the life of a Christian is chearefull he hath a lightsome heart Saith Christ Come unto mee Mat. 11 2â— all yee that are wearie and heavy laden and you shall find rest to your soules Take my yoake upon you for my yeake is easie Christs yoake is easie hee that hath given his name to Christ that sets himselfe constantly to the performance of spirituall duties hâ—â—â—ath a lightsome hearâ— Nay whereas 〈◊〉 other things they may beâ— burthened his body and his estate may be burthened for a while and his name may be burthened for a while but his heart is light and merrie Therefore as the Wise man saith A wounded spirit who can beare But if the heart be well it will beare a mans infirmities so long as a mans heart is light as long as the burthen lies in a mans body or his name or estate if the heart bee light they may bee borne Of all men a Christian a good man a conscientious man hath the lightsomest heare This shall suffice to bee spoken of the fourth part in generall what wee are to take heed of lest our hearts be burthened I told you it is the propertie of these things to burthen the heart Now I come in the next place more particularly to tell you what wee are to take heed of that our hearts bee not overcharged with surfeiting Take beed lest your hearts bee oppressed at any time With surfeiting That is with riotous immoderate excessive eating The word in the originall is Clisani The sense and