sin is a privation an Obliquity no effect but a defect and therefore wee are not to trouble our selves to enquire after any proper and efficient cause God cannot bee a deficient cause bee cause there can bee no defect in him and therefore the defect must bee in the Angell and wee must rest in the will of the Angel who without motion from with in or any tentation from without fell from his estate abode not in the truth as Iudes Phrase is left his habitation voluntarily and maliciously left it because he would leave it The first sin or Lust was a sinne then whose cause was such cause as a sinne could have not sinne for then the first sinne could not bee the first sinne if there were a sinne the cause of that sin and againe we are where we were and are left to inquire the cause of that sin to which if wee say sinne to have bin the cause of that then wee may aske after the cause of that sinne againe and so in infinitum Here then we must stop and say that Eves sinne and Adams sin came not from any Lust within but from an act of their owne free will drawne out by the tentation of the devill and of the devils first sin no internall Lust no externall tempter at all was the cause for there was neither but we must say that of that sin sin was not the cause but the will of the Angell created good but mutable and free no good I confesse can be the univocall cause of any sin but an equivocal cause and accidentall cause of sin good may be for the will of the Angels good in it selfe was the cause not by working neither but by not working Adam then to come to him turning himselfe of himselfe from God God then took away his assisting and actuall grace and then Adam did put away from him his original righteousnesse put out his owne eyes and so came in Originall sin viz. this Lust that ever after tempts all meere men that are tempted by drawing them aside from good and entiâ—ing them to evill They dreame then who say that God tooke away originall righteousnesse from Adam and that hee by an act of his will did not thrust it away T is safest to say that hee deprived himselfe fell off from God else wee come to neare to make God some kinde of author of his sinne Thus came in this Lust the fewell of all sinful tentations whatsoever What cause have wee then to looke about us sith our righteousnesse within in the regenerate is very weak and exceeding imperfect our lusts strong a world of sins lurking up and downe in our soules For did the Angels in heaven whose innate holinesse and righteousnesse was most perfect in whom there was a concurrence of all grace in all perfection did they fall and did Adam in whom there was no spice of sinne oh then how stands it us upon to implore the continuall assistance of the actuall grace of God and incessantly to call in for the supply of the spirit of Iesus Christ else we fall and sin most miserably we have strange lusts within the devils souldiers warring against our soules Satan ever blowing at the divine Candle of the spirit of God hee never gives over by a circle and round of tentations to powre cold water on our faith Looke wee ever upward then for the daily ayd of Gods assisting grace that hee would ever blow the bellowes to keepe this holy fire in for we see by Adam and the Angels that it is not the perfect habit of internall grace no nor the absence of external tentations neither that can keepe a man from sinne t is onely the actuall worke of the right-hand of the most high must doe the deed else if Adam having no lust fell we having little else but lust must needs be drawne aside and enticed Say day and night Lord lead me not into tentation Habits of grace are like the fire of a Smith be they never so pure and perfect they burne not in us no longer than they bee blowne if God withhold or withdraw his assisting hand Lust drawes us aside presently and down we fall CHAP. 2. Of drawing aside QVestion is made whether this first drawing of lust be sin I say it is for if lust be sin then the effect of it must needs be sin Evill may come out of good by accident but out of sinne comes nothing but sinne Lust is sin and cause of sin and of nothing but sin Let it goe for a weake opinion of the Iesuites who tell us of vicious things that are no sin for Becanus no babe doth confesse that God doth hate this concupisence with a true hatred but forsooth not redounding on the person in whom this lust is as though that were not sin and all that sin which God hateth God can hate nothing but what is against his nature and will and whatever is against his nature and will is sin Originall sin is properly sinne and to make it a sin it is enough that it is voluntary in the will of Adam so Bonaventure Besides as soone as ever wee come to have the power to do it we doe all give a full and a free consent to that sin and the motions of it which after-consent makes the sin in the guilt of it the more ours wee then have no excuse left but to cry peccavi and to fetch all from the sin as David did in which we were conceived In originall sin lies a tacite consent eminently to all sin 2 Iames makes this drawing aside to be a fruit of sin 2. to be a sin 3. to be a cause of sin therfore these drawings aside are sins 3. They bee sins whether wee like them or mislike them because they are against the Law of God For that which is urged that there is no consent I think there is some consent as the offers of the understanding are quicke so the Acts of the will are quicke and sudden I rather say that there is some sudden inchoate imperfect consent given to all motions that arise that an actuall sin should bee without all consent I cannot conceive Paul did sin against his Iudgement I confesse for so he meanes when hee saith he did that hee would not but to speake in proper tearmes he neither did no nor could sinne either without or against all motion or any inclination of his will Paul did sin this sinne with his will for else hee would not do it it was an act of his will and it is impossible to coact and force the will of man though the consent makes it not properly a sin but rather our sin to be imputed to us yet I thinke ther is no motioÌ„ no first thought that riseth out of our Lust but as the thought is so the consent is sudden short quicke
unnaturall killings selfe murthers pollutions against nature passions of dishonour and the like Satan hath no naturall affection in him nor lust as lust hath none neither Satan hath no naturality in him for he lost all in his fall the law of nature was not given to him hee was not to hold order and termes of civillity and humanity amongst men and therefore there was not use of any such law to bee given to him All wee can say of him is that Satan is kept under held in awe by God restrained by feare within and ordered by Gods providence without it is awe not naturall law that keepes Satan within bounds Man hath indeed in him naturalnesse but lust which is our Originall sin hath no naturall affection in it some sins then are called unnaturall because they are against the law of nature in us which law of nature is no part of Originall sin for in it selfe it is good and the very unwritten law of God which law of nature as it is now in us doth neither see nor greeve at all sinnes but only at some greater sins which sins are therefore called unnaturall In every man there are two things the law of nature is one Originall sin the other for the law of nature some say it is a relique of the old Image left in Adam I thinke not for then man in Adam lost not all the Image of God then in man by nature there is some peece of goodnesse but the frame of mans heart is onely evill There is none that doth good no not one wee are all together become filthy Then it would follow that man brings w th him of his own into the world the seeds of vertue some roots of goodnesse which is Pelagianisme and condemned by the Church of God The seeds of vertue are not saith Prosper in the soule of man because they are utterly lost in the first sin of Adam neither can wee come by them except GOD who first gave them restore them againe I thinke rather to say that in things usefull to hold in the wild lusts that be in man GOD presently after all was lost by the fall all and every peece of the Image of God I say to maintaine discipline amongst men GOD planted in the heart of all mankinde an inward law checking many sins against God but more against men and accordingly GOD hath made a fuller and greater revelatiō to nature in the things of the second Table than in the first and what else is meant by the phrase where speaking of the power of nature to see into the booke of the creature it is said God shewed it unto them viz. by the law and light of nature which God hath given to all men as men they shewed it not to themselves God is said to shew it unto them Now then to come home to ou◠point Sins against nature are such as are against the law of nature lust hath in it all sins and when it is so great and breaketh out so grossely that nature cries shame of it why then wee call that sin an unnaturall lust a sinne against nature which sinnes have their roote in Original sin and would shew themselves and appeare were there no divell albeit herhaps not in that manner and measure as wee see some men who cannot bee said to bee haled to it by the divell but onely by their owne wicked lusts who when their lusts are in care no more for wife children friends brother father than they doe for a dog are moved no more with the teares of their owne bowels than with the whinening of a pigge Let lust alone and without any help from Satan it will make a man give over to bee a man shake off all humanity go beyond all shame all sense put off all naturall affection deliver a man up to obdurate heart not discerning betwixt good and evill either in morall or naturall respects as Paul shewes how some men put off all manhood become dogs yea worse than dogges for dogge with dogge useth not to commit filthinesse and some women shaketh off all woman-hood also for there is no who with lust for were it not for the watching providence of God over us and the restraining power of God with us and the law of nature in us men would fling out into all kind of wickednesse there would bee no being no living amongst men we would all bee such fooles as to thinke with our hearts and say with our mouthes there is no God Originall sin hath all Atheisme in it there will bee nothing but murther amongst us Husband would kill the wife and wife the husband father son sonne the father brother brother Caine Abel our houses and townes would bee full of parracides and fratricides and men would doe execution on themselves as common as might be oh the bottomlesse depth of Originall sin Our own lust is a fearefull murtherer it comes immediately from Satan at the first and he is a murtherer from the beginning Men would bee Wolues Beares Tygers Divels one to another neither would any shame keepe men and women from monstrous adulteries most infamous uncleanenesse Incests Rapes Beastiality what not Looke wee what is in any man that is by nature in the heart and lust of every man were it not for God restraining and natures law curbing should our Originall sinne be drawne forth and let out we should all doe as Caine did as Absalom did as Ammon did as the Sodomites did for what sin soever is forbidden in the Word and hath bin ever practised in the world that sin every man carries in his bosome there is no man but is of himselfe a dead dogge for why should God forbid that in the word to all if the nature of all were not subject to it Bestiality the foulest sin is forbidden to thee as well as to any other therefore it is in thy corrupt nature as well as in the nature of any other Besides wee are cut all out of the same cloth we are al alike in the guilt of Adams sinne one man hath not sinned more in Adam than another and therefore our Originall sin being the penalty of Adams sin must needs bee one and the same in all where the cause is just the same there the effect must needs bee the same Originall sin then by nature is no more no worse in one than in another it differs not so much as Magis minus In some what by reason of the tempter of the body education occasion tentations influences of Gods providence and chiefly by reason of the liberty of mans will man having his will at some command to sin I say by reason of that and other things lust is drawne forth more in one than in another and more to one sinne than another and that breakes out in the life of one which doth not in another but
more than we beleeve how 108 Tentations of Perjury what and how cured 281 When Prayer for others come too late 365 R NO true Reasons to be found for any sinne 47 Reprobate-sense in such as are not Reprobates Many Reprobates never committed some sinnes of are probate sense 71 72 Reasons will not serve in Tentations 106 Resisting a great helpe in Tentations 109 Relapses dangerous yet curable 214 To Repent of sinne is as great a worke of grace as not to sinne 298 Relapses not usuall after Repentance in the lusts of uncleannesse 426 S SAtan did and doth properly sinne 5 Sinne not the cause of the first sinne 7 A single apprehension of Sin is not sinne 15 Satan must have leave ere he can hurt us 33 Satan hath no naturall affection in him 53 Every man Subject to every sinne 60 Security makes way for Tentations 80 Death of Sinne what and how 111 Sinne punished with sinne Sinne the punishment is not ever greater than the sin punished 147 Strength from God helps us in Tentations 161 A man after repentance may fall into the same grosse Sinne againe 215 Not to Sinne is better than to repent 219 Sinne is not to be made worse than it is 2â—5 Satan hurts most when he comes with holy ends Sodomy the tentation of it and the Cure 358 T SAtans Tentations 30 Tentations comming from our selves 38 Mixe Tentations 43 The definition of Tentation 46 The best that be often Tempted 48 Vses to be made of the Tentation 86 Rules after the Tentation is over 201 Evill Thoughts how farre subdued 208 We are subject to the same tentation againe 245 Theft a sore Tentation the cure of it 318 How to know when the lust is killed or Satan doe onely cease to Tempt 416 V ALL Vices properly sinnes 11 Vnnatur all sinnes 50 Vowes broken prove great Tentations 289 Vprightnesse of obedience and of repentance 300 Vnbeleefe in Christ a great Tentation 302 Lusts of Vncleannesse their tentation and cure 345 Religious men and women must beware one of another in the lust of Vncleannesse 407 Heed must be taken of our owne servants that they infect him not in the lust of Vncleannesse 410 Lust of Vncleannesse dangerous 345 W SAtan himselfe cannot force the Will of man 31 Will not taken for the Deed in sins 93 Watching a great helpe in tentations 158 Wisedome a great helpe in tentations 164 The Word a chiefe weapon in tentation 168 Women stand freer from perjury than men 282 Widowes estates and their danger 399 Y YEelding hurts not helps in Tentations 157 How to avoyd the lust of Lust 399 The end of the Table TENTATIONS Their Nature Danger Cure IAMES 1. 14. But every man is tempted when hee is drawne aside of his owne lust and entised IT appears that we all came out of Adams loynes in that we smell of his disease to father our sinnes on the Lord a common thing it is and not so common as wicked for a man to say that hee is tempted of God and so to make God at least a co-authour of our sins which S. Iames finding to be up and downe in his time cleares God and layes the fault on man where the root of all tentation is He would have man to learne that hee carries the cause of all tentations within his owne bosome which the Apostle findes out to be our Lust This Lust doth worke our tentation by degrees 1 By drawing the minde of man aside from thinking on God and goodnesse raising up sudden thoughts in us of that which is not good without any consultation giving a man no time to dispute the matter with himselfe or with his God 2 By inticing and baiting the hart of man as men do for fishes working on the will to bend towards such or such object represented by Lust as in appearance good and pleasant and here though we doe repell such thoughts as draw and withdraw and such wishes as intice and allure even as fast as they come to our consideration yet S. Iames tels us here that they are the first fruits and effects of our concupiscence By Lust is meant our naturall and originall corruption the conclusion is That all our tentations are long of our originall sin I deny not but Satan tempts and so doth the World but yet neither Satan nor the World can now hurt us if all be well within they tempt but it is by working on our own concupiscence should they finde nothing in us we needed not to care thus much for their tentations Christ indeed was tempted and had no Lust in him and did not Satan lose his labour And all because nothing was found in him fire burns not where is no matter for it to work upon no meere man is tempted and drawne aside but he may thanke his owne concupiscence The greatest quaere is of Adam in Paradice and of the Angels in heaven The maine answer is that Iames speakes of Man as he is now not as he was then The greatest matter then is how sin came into Adam which must be from the liberty of his will hee was tempted from without and so was Eve but no motion of Lust within could draw him to his first sinne for then there must needs have beene in him a sin before his first sinne and then the first sin could not have beene his first sin he was of such a condition that he might fal if he would and hee did fall but not without any tentation simply though without any from himselfe for he was tempted by the Devill Lust in Satan was the occasion of Adams fall but the cause was his owne will his first sin was from Satans sin sin I say for it is a weake conceit for any learned man to write that the divill hath no sin because the Law was not given to him which proves that in forme he is not such a sinner as man is but a sinner hee was and is being and doing that which was contrary to the will and Law of God laid upon him in his Creation The holy Page is for it in the very termes Io. 8. 44. Hee was a murtherer from the beginning and abode not in the truth therefore a sinner He is a Lier and the father of lies therefore a sinner and 1 Iohn 3. 8 The Devill sinneth from the beginning His Lusts then that were in him did draw him to worke upon Eves and Adams free-will to draw them aside The Devill was an Angell and then he had no Lust within him to draw him no object without being in heaven where was nothing but all perfection A Deepe it is then to conceive how sinne came first into the Angels That one great Angell now Belzebub did first fall and then drew after him the rest is like enough but yet the question remaines how the first sinne came into that Angell sith there was no defect within nor none without I must first say that
What are we what are our fathers houses that we have beene preserved in our houses from such scandalous sins are we better are wee so good as these fathers were Should God sit still and the law of nature stand still and looke on and let our Originall sin our lust within shew it selfe the next would be sin upon sin against Scripture against Nature no Bonds no Bounds would hold us worse and worse still with greatest violence we should long after the greatest sins and the end would be a reprobate sense from the which good Lord deliver us The Summe is that the cause why wee feele not such pronenesse to the sin against nature is not because Originall lust is not as prone in it selfe if not more prone to those sins as to others but because there is by God for necessary causes a law of nature superadded to Originall sin in all mankinde holding us off from such unnaturall passions which law of nature doth suffer when such sins are committed and therefore the Apostle fitly cals them Passions as water suffers when it is made hot and therfore as long as the law of nature is not suppressed a man is not patient about such lusts But when our lust hath gotten the better of natures law then to what sins are such men more eager than to those Therefore such lusts are by the Apostle stiled the lusts of their owne hearts We said with St. Paul that God doth deliver men into a reprobate sense and then they fall into such lusts Here a doubt may arise whether such sins are done onely by those who are Reprobates sith one would thinke that this Reprobate sense were onely in Reprobates and therefore so named This is I confesse out of my way yet because I would not stumble any mans conscience I am bold to speak a word to the point and the thing I affirme is that unnaturall sinnes are done sometimes by such as are no Reprobates and I thinke there are many reprobates who nein all their lives committed and acted these sins It is a fearfull estate to be cast by God into a reprobate sense and the danger is so much that hee is not himselfe who dares to venture on such rocks because some onely escape There is no sin except the sin against the holy Ghost but an elect person may commit all sins else may stand with the grace of Election but this reprobate sense is not that sin against the holy Ghost what ever it bee what ever a man may repent of may stand with our estate in Christ Now to say that this is a condition which admits not of repentance is hard neither can it be proved and 1 Cor. 6. Instance is given in one of the worst of all unnaturall sins and yet the Apostle saith Such were some of you and they were Elect repented and are now in heaven GOD forbid then that we should bee so sâ—uer to the conscience of man as to thinke that all those Rom. 1. and all others like to those who are in Gods Iustice for a time given up to a reprobate minde are past all hope of reconciliation and salvation There is a sacrifice for those sins some have gotten out of that estate and others may It is then called a Reprobate minde not because it is the minde of none but Reprobates but because such have in regard of their present condition a mind as one saith rejected disallowed abhorred of God yet not a mind past all hope of cure and recovery or if you will a minde as another speakes worthy of reprobation making choice of matters reprobated Wee have a phrase in St. Paul That Christ is in you except you bee reprobates but such are in such an estate that except they get Christ into them it is all one with them as with Reprobates they are as it were for the preâ—ent in the state of reprobation for any goodnesse that is in them but Reprobates they are not and as Beza notes the scope and dispute of the Apostle will not beare this sense sith hence hee proves that no man can be justified by the law of nature because it is in all men to breake the law of nature and that the Apostle proves by this that all men except GOD stay them all run on to a reprobate minde by a reprobate minde then he will have meant a mind going against the dictates of conscience and the principles of Nature out of which estate it pleaseth GOD to call some to grace God doth call in some that are cast farre behind hand by their sins and therefore we must not say that there is such a point of sinning that no man doth ever come backe from it againe for no man goes so far but hee might have done worse and gone farther and therefore when and where can one fix the measure to rest that a man going so farre can never come to good againe There is a fullnesse I know of sinning which some must come unto ere the Iudgement can come on them but that all who fill up sinne or sins to the height are Reprobates or that none are reprobates but such as make up the extremity of sinning I deny for the conscience must have some where to rest and to pitch a degree of sinning that hee that comes not to that degree may repent and returne hee that comes to that degree of sinning and may not returne would trouble the wit of the acutest Disputer in all the world Neither doth indeed the Greeke word properly carry the sense of one cast away but of one reproved not as contrary to the word Elect but as contrary to the word reproved so Paul useth it 1 Corin. 9. 27. Lest I my selfe be a Reprobate that is reproved for Paul knew full well by confession of all Papists that hee neither was nor could be a Reprobate and the learned Borgius expounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Reprobates minde to be a minde that no man hath cause to glory in but rather to be much ashamed of which is indeed the right and full sense of the Greeke word Roffensis therefore is in an uncomfortable errour who writes that when a man is hardened as Pharaoh was or given up to a Reprobate sense as those of whom Saint Paul speakes were that God doth cast them off for ever without ever tendring to them the offer of his grace again that God doth forsake some such is true but that hee doth forsake all such which is his assertion is false And sundry learned amongst the Papists have a dreame that when a man comes to such a number and such a measure of sinnes then God is bound in Iustice not onely not to give him though that were too much but to deny him favour and grace ever after aud so saith Abulensis it is all one as though such a man were already actually in hell This unsound and unsafe opinion is also confessed to
finde them to goe and come to be in and our very suddenly and without any coherence at all and the rage of our Lust is terrible and violent of it selfe and therfore passe that and be sure come the tentation which way it will wee doe reject it and then wee are safe it is not set on our score if it come from Satan it is no sinne of of ours at all if from our lust sin it is materially but not formally for the guilt is done away in that we doe not allow it but abhorre it as some are of opinion SECT II. Of Tentations which come from our selves I Confesse it is but now and then that Satan if he may bee suffered doth not joyne issue with us when wee doe deceive and tempt our selves but yet the thing I urge is that there is no sin that is committed but might bee committed if Satan were dead and buried Could one kill the Divell Yet you cannot name the sinne that Originall lust would not draw and entice a man unto It is agreed on that Originall sin is virtually every sinne neither would God have forbidden all sins to man if mans nature had not in it seminally sinnes of all sorts and sizes and so much we have from Christs own mouth Out of the heart proceeds evill thoughts murthers adulteries c. That is all evill thoughts what sinne worse than murther and adultery and may we not think that the holy Ghost saith not murther but murthers not adultery but adulteries to shew that all sorts and so the worst sorts of murthers came out of the heart of man yea selfe murthers and all Neither stands our heart that is our lust free from highest impieties against God and therefore those blasphemies that is all sorts kinds and degrees of blaspheming are said to proceed out of the heart Sathan need not put them in there they are though he draw them not out thence they will spout out of themselves so that though the divell did not owe men a spight yet the lust of man may marre all and will make some sinne all manner of sins whatsoever I thinke the divell hath great wrong done him when men to excuse themselves derive their sins from him when perhaps Satan hath not to doe in the provoking them to sin those things He is not truly acquainted with the depth of Originall sinne nor soundly humbled who thinkes he had never done those faults except the divell had tempted him for a man hath in him all sins that be at least potentially Indeed we read not of any mention made in the old Testament of the sinne against the holy Ghost not that original sin had not this sinne hid in it then but I think there was not the occasion then of finishing and acting this sin for sin this supposeth greater light as touching CHRIST IESUS in the Gospell than was set a foot under the Old Testament and therefore I say that in lust then it was but it was not drawne forth How can it come into the heart now if it were not there from the very first Is there a new Originall sin or a new kind and species added unto it was not the heart of man onely evill and prone to all evill ever since the fall Out of the heart saith Christ proceedeth blasphemies What some or all if not all which are excepted and why those rather than these if all as truth is then blasphemies against the holy Ghost comes out of the motions of mans heart all this is to shew that there is no new sinne which hath not ever bin radically in our lust and nature else we are more in Adam than ever all men have bin but all have equally sinned in Adam and therefore Originall lust is equall in all perhaps by our default we doe ad new strength to Originall sin in us but for the kindes of it Originall sin is equall in all and there is no sin but lust had it in ever and my conclusion is that a man doth carry fire in his bosome which hath enough in it to kindle any sin though the divell should stand by and say nothing We all read that the heart of man is deceitfull above all things yea above the divell why Because Satan doth not so know the thoughts of our hearts as wee our selves doe as also for that Satan cannot come within us to deceive us except as I have said our hearts doe give some way unto him how true is that then that every one is tempted when hee is drawne aside and enticed by his owne Concupiscence SECT III. Of mixt Tentations wherein Satan joynes with us and wee with him THE next are such Tentations wherein either Satan begins to us and wee pledge him or wee begin to him and hee joynes with us when wee by discontent or other inward motion as by offering our selves to some outward occasion expose our selves then wee doe light a candle to the divel then we begin but when Satan doth make the offer by moving the fancie with thoughts within or by proposing some object without and wee entertaine him then he doth begin to us these waies are ordinary and it is but rare that the divell will not interpose Hee dogs us up and downe and waites upon his opportunities by sin to devoure us and now because we sin few sins where Satan hath not a hand and Satan seldome sets upon us indeed but more or lesse wee hearken unto him therefore understand all that follow to-bee meant of those Tentations where lust and Satan joyne hands the cheefe hand is from our selves the principall lyes in our owne lust without us Satan could not have his desire but wee may and doe finish many sins without Satan the cause of those sins is in us whereof the occasion is from him and so we finde that people of God in the confession of sins we have in the word doe never so much as touch upon the divell as knowing that to bee but a bare excuse Indeed Eve who had not then her heart wrought upon put off all upon the Serpent but the Saints charg all on themselves David was by very importunity of the divell wonne to number the people the Text saith Satan provoked him but yet we see when hee comes to confesse not a word of Satan but al is his own I have sinned greatly I have done very foolishly Lord forgive the iniquity of thy servant When the Saints were to speake of the sins of others it is often found that for their encouragement they make Satan an agent he is not then left out as Christ rebuking Peter get thee behind me Satan because Christ saw Satan was too hard for Peter and wrought him to it and so Paul lest Satan tempt you for your incontinency But when men are on their owne sins all is laid on their owne con-nate lust nothing said of Satan he perswades us we yeeld the amends is
hath no hope to speed Iudah went about an honest businesse yet because hee tooke not his armour with him in the morning he fell ere night we must carry our Antidotes about us because wee walke in places that are infectious and chiefly we must see to our matters in sins wee are given unto if to pride then goe not where fashions are without a commission and weapon if wee be apt to quarrell goe without a sword and when we have not our weapon about us wee shall not bee so tempted to brawle if to the lust of unelcannesse come not neere the doores of her house and that will keepe our hearts free having our hearts still an end full of serious meditation of the presence of God Almighty sith our nature is so apt to be tempted by our lust and we are so soone afoot after every sin that like children wee had rather be in the dirt than in the cleane have wee not cause to looke after these directions and such as these are that we may not be lead into tentation that our lust may not draw us aside frō God and entise unto evill 2. Rules for the remedy in the Tentation To him that would know what hee is best to doe when the tentation is come or comming we prescribe him to follow this order 1. To make a right use of it 2. To get by good meanes out of it For the use to be made of the Tentation doe thus 1. Know that the tentation is suffered to come upon us by God for our humbling whether it bee to commit a sin or to despaire for some sin committed when it is to some fault as in this case most times it is which is against our mindes and to the trouble of our soules God he knowes that if any thing under heaven will humble us this will doe it what else will so gaule and cut the heart of a Christian man what else will so set us a praying a whining a watching a fasting this hee see will even vile a man in his owne eyes and make him base to himselfe this will season and fit us for Gods building and the use wee are to make of it is to see our selves what we are and to looke up to Christ Iesus God sees and wee must see that wee cannot well come to heaven without such a purge and therefore wee must joyne with God make his end our end hee doth it to breake us and humble us and wee must humble our selves humbly our selves saith St. Iames and God will exalt us it is to humble us and doe us good when In the latter end saith the Text this is not done in a day and therefore we must waite Gods time It is a plaster and it must lye on some time if God meane us any good the tentation shall not over straight but hover and hang about us some long time some good space GOD doth drive out one naile with another Pride with a tentation of Lust but this is not done in an houre if it be somewhat long a doing yet it is worth our while Let us stay and waite upon God from whom commeth our humiliation the cause of a tentation is pride the use of the tentation is to take away our pride there is great dispute which is and which is the way to finde out our master-master-sin but when all is done pride is the master-sin in all Wee all hold of Adam in Capite pride was the first and and great sin in Adam and so it is in all his see wee had our lust from him He his from the Angels the sinne of sins in the Angels was pride it gave them their fall so it was in Adam it gave him his fall and so it is in us There is we say in trees a master-roote and that roote in Originall sinne is no other than pride indeed there is in most some other particular streame and vaine which carries one one way another another arising from Complexion Education Condition and other causes and occasions which often varies as the temper of our bodies and the order of our estate doth change and this yeere it is one sin seven yeere henc as every seven yeere there is a sensible change in the humour of the body it is another when poore it is one when rich it is another sin but that sin of all sins which goes thorow all the race of man kinde is pride the universall and general Captaine Sin in all the world Vnbeleefe may have that name and be well called our master-sin in respect of our Iustification instrumentally taken because it hinders our union with Christ but the chiefe sin which is our greatest morall vice and carries the greatest straine and power with it in respect of sanctification is this same sin of Pride and spirituall pride is the pride of all prides all other sins doe a kind of homage to pride as to their king and Lord. Austine hath it that the Romans did forbeare many vices that carried shame with them and did many commendable acts and all to serve their sin of of vaine-glory and Scipio by name and others did abstaine from that which their nature would have beene right willing to have enjoyed and all to keepe their name and to maintaine their credit and outward reputation amongst men so that all other sins doe as it were vaile to this and therefore God may bee said to resist all other sins but this sin he resists afarre off he cannot abide the sight of it and so wee say that God doth use to give us up for some time in some measure to some base tentations he lets out some vile corruptions and why but all to take down this sin of pride it is say wee all little enough to humble us affliction without the true sight and sound feeling of some of our corruptions will not doe it a man is then humble when hee is humbled before his Originall sin and amonst all the bitter fruites of that cursed lust pride is chiefe and doth play the Rex amongst the rest other sins that wee speaking from feeling doe call our master-sin or sins our predominant lusts are but made use of by God to humble us and to eate out this dangerous sinne of pride and therefore it cleares it selfe my thinkes to say that this sinne of pride is in every man his cheefest sin sith other beloved sins are let to have their swing in men all to master this Master of sins our pride The use then that wee are to put our tentations unto when they come is to humble our hearts to abase us to pluck away the feathers of our pride 2. The next use wee are to make of our tentation is that we see a mercy in it whatsoever it be if wee feele nothing but what is common to man and others have had and have the like we must learne to beare it with a kinde
particular yet nothing but what wee have faith for one way or other if not in the particular yet in the generall viz. we beleeve that wee shall conquer all the tentations we see and all others wee neither see nor feele such as we doe know and those wee does not know of wherein a kinde of implicite faith is sufficient thus and then wee aske nothing but what wee have faith for one way or other In the generall we aske in the general and we have many things whereof wee have no faith for in the particulars Vp then and bee doing worke it out by having and using our faith Satan flyes at the sight of faith there is such an Antipathy betwixt Satan and the faith of a Christian that faith no sooner comes in place but Satan is gone Other graces have their use and place to resist the impulsions of the divell some one some another but faith as Paul showes doth quench all I say all the fiery darts of the divell because it doth take in Christ Iesus with all his merits Value Virtue and Power And thus much for the first meanes to get out of tentations which is by Beleeving 2. The second is by Resisting Resist saith Peter how resist Stedfastly how stedfastly In the faith and what then why then Satan will flye The Apostle showes us in another phrase Stand saith hee and then Sathan hee fals It is not here saith Chrysostome as it fares w th wrastlers for there except we cast down our adversity we conquer not here wee conquer Satan if hee cast not us down we are then in acceptation as though we did cast him down alas Satan is quelled and as it were cast downe and killed already he is too far in hell ever to come out againe Satan can looke for no crowne hee is in perdition his aime is to cast us downe into the same destruction he himselfe is in so that if we doe resist and but keepe our Stand this is our conquest we must not looke for a greater victory than is to bee had in this world That which troubles some with discomfort is because no sooner doe they begin to resist but it is rather worse with them than it was before these consider not that it will be thus for if we will let sin and Satan alone they will let us alone sleepe in sinne and spare not we may have quiet enough and come by degrees to be past feeling but resist wee sin and Satan and the divell will play his part to hold his hold hee is a strong man and will not out except hee be forced now possession by force wee know is with some stir struggle sin will and must when we labour to cast the old man off it will because it is now a dying and all dying things that dye by peeces as sin doth reluct and struggle and stirre for life it must because else a godly man would not so well discerne the going out of sin the Candle blazeth most stinketh worst when it burnes in the Socket and so it fares with sin when it is towards it's last There is a double death of sin one in respect of the guilt of sinne which then is killed when we have our pardon this is in Iustification and when we beginne to get our pardon the Conscience is more out of quiet greater stirs being there than when wee sate still and did nothing that way But when the pardon is had once then the conscience is alive sin is dead and our hearts are at quiet being justified by faith wee have peace with God The other death of sin is in respect of the power of sin and this is in our sanctification and this wee meane chiefest here when a godly man sets about it to kill up and dry up this running disease the plucking out of the weapon the removing of the guilt of sin is done on a sudden but the healing of the wound the mending of the languor is done gradualy now a little and then a little and when a man is come to abhor his lusts then he hath given his sin it 's deaths wound as touching the power of it so on now some then some sinne doth dye more and more Now when a man can once come to resist sinne hee is dead to sin both wayes to the guilt of it and to the power of it for had hee not the pardon of it he could not resist it had hee not some power against it hee could not resist it Now looke how much power we get to resist it so much power sin loseth And now because sin will not give ground and lose the Field without fighting and some opposition hence it is that when wee begin to resist sin and Satan make to feele to the greater head and wee take our case to bee the worse wee cannot sleepe in a quiet skinne here except wee will sit downe here by Satans fire for if wee once goe about to get off from him hee will not lose us so but some stir he will make but we must live by faith and know that Satan is going and sin is a dying When the divell went of out of the mans body he tare him and puld him miserably he would not take his far-well but he should feele it so when wee doe by prayer conjure and charm him out of our soules he will make all the hurly burly he can when he is going out but bee of good heart our faith doth assure us that there is never a prayer we make nor act of resisting that we doe use but gives Satan a knock and sin a mortifying blow when ones hands do ake for cold yet when wee come first to the fire the fingers ends ake worse which makes children cry when they first come to the fire the cause is because the heat doth draw out the cold to the utmost parts and ends of every finger like to this it is that our sinnes doe make us ake worse when first wee bring our selves to the enlightning and healing ordinances of God our sinnes then are drawne out more therefore they vex more wee doe stirre them more and therefore they stinke worse wee see them more then and are troubled at the sight of them I confesse But yet so as a man is at the sight of many huge enemies whom yet hee knowes that through the helpe of his Captaine by fighting he shall beate and conquer by resisting and fighting what ever we see and feele at first wee doe and shall conquer sin and the lusts thereof and save our selves from the tentation of the divell Some questions may here come in by the way Quest. 1. When lust is sufficiently resisted Ans Some kind of faint resisting may bee made by generall and common graces and some againe against some sins by the law of nature but for the resisting that proves effectuall and is against all sin as sin is against
to swim when God doth hold us up by the chin w th comfortable feeling But he is a man of faith that can then say God is my God my King when hee sees nothing but the promise Oh Blessed is the man who beleeves and sees not for want of sense their song once was mine 1. eyes failes my 2. flesh failes my heart faile my 2. knees faile my all failes but my faith which never failes well then though a mans marrow be consumed like the drought in Summer say not onely ones flesh be pined which after sicknesse will come againe but ones very bones be consumed which when once dried they say never come to themselves againe aye and ones juice whithin the bones do wast away yet there wee must hope against hope and set faith against sense when wee cannot see one shine in the face of God yet we may fetch support out of the promise Gods countenance doth change and turne away but the promise is ever the same and al in al is in the promise we are childern of what of the promise heires of what of the promise sight and sense lookes onely on the face of God but our faith lookes onely on the promise and it is the Evidence of thingâ— not seene it gives a being to that which in existence is not and thus living by faith a Christian on all occasions may say God is mine and so mine as though hee were nones but mine he is all mine and what we speake out of feeling a tentation may make us unspeake it againe but what we say by faith once wee say it ever and all the tentations Satan can devise cannot make us unsay it againe I mourne Blessed not shall be but are those that mourne why They shall be not are comforted He then is a blessed man who mournes though hee be without present comfort 3. We must keepe this order as to begin with the right end and the right end is then to finde out what the sin is that is chastise or punised when the tentation to a lust is a punishment for some other sin it is all in vaine and meere lost labour for a man to thinke to get off the sin which is the punishment when we let the sin punished alone hence it is that we doe finde many a good man strive and strive even his very heart out to master a lust and are where they were or rather worse and why But because that vexing sin is a correction for some other sin which wee over-see and say nothing unto and thus men run upon flats of discomfort as though they were none of Gods and all because they cannot conquer a sin which is not because they are not Gods nor for want of faith neither but for want of art and method The effect cannot bee taken away untill such time the cause be removed now wee must know that one sin is the cause of another two wayes 1. First by effecting and producing by a very efficiency another sin as Covetousnesse is a very Caust working oppression Vsury rapine buying and selling for dayes and enclosure now I confesse it is hard to bee convinced that that which is an effect of a former sin is a sin till we be convinced that the sin which is the cause is a sin as hee that knowes not what covetousnesse is or is not convinced that covetousnesse is a sin cannot bee cured of Vsury Enclosure hoarding up of Corne c. and therefore the sin which is the cause must bee pardoned and healed first So pride of life is the cause why men doe follow fashions to follow that which was a fashion is no sinne but to bee in that which is the fashion whilst it is called the fashion is a sin else there is no such sin as following of fashions which Scripture and Nature have condemed for a sin I say this sin comes out of pride as out of a working cause and t is not possible for a man to bee mended in one except hee dig out the other So Passion springs out of pride of heart as out of his very next cause and so doth Envy too many are troubled with their Passions and disquieted with Envy and make a great marvell of it that they cannot get the victory all this while I will tell you the reason they pray against passion but not against the cause not against pride they stop at the streame but choake not up the spring they lop the boughs and it growes thicker after and pluck not up the roote Therefore if we meane to cast out of our heart and life such a sinne as is an effect of a former sin wee must first begin with the causing sin or else he doth wash a stone and Satan will hold him where he was doe what he can and what a weary hand is this for a man to pray to reade to heare to fast against a sinne and yet to make nothing of it 2. By meriting which Schoole Divines call demeriting and deserving to bee cast into some sin by God as a just Iudge for some other offence and this as it comes from God is a Good of justice thinke not that wee meane it as though God did infuse or put into a man the matter or forme of the punishing sin it needs not there is matter enough in our hearts already God cannot breath sin in the minde or breast of any man but by letting lust out and setting Satan loose upon us we are punished and corrected by one sin for another Some say it ought not to be said that God doth punish sin with sin why then say they that sin which is the punishment doth deserve more punishment and so it doth What say they and doth that deserve another no for albeit God may and doth punish sin with sin it followes not that the second sin must bee punished with another sin but with some other punishment it must and what if in some cases sins in a row be punished with sins yet there is no processus in Infinitum because as the Schooles have agreed when once it comes to hell there is no demerit sinnes on earth merit further punishment but sins in hell doe not because there is satisfaction given and so full a point put to the Iustice of God Besides the damned are in actuall possession of their last punishment and therefore there is in them no demerit of more or further torment God in justice then doth and may punish one sinne with another here some say with a greater that is not alwaies so for hee punisheth Idolatry with Fornication yet Fornication must not bee held to bee a greater sin than Idolatry it is sufficient that the sin which is made the punishment be a more vexing sin bringing more shame and more inward or outward distresse that so the sinner may be made the more
detestable to himselfe or others the greatest sins doe not alwayes vex they should I know but they doe not To come to our point Wee say that sin doth cause sin by way of desert when GOD doth by Permission Desertion and Tradition give a man up to some sinne of shame or inward biting sorrow to judge him for some other sin bare permission it is not for so we sin all sins we commit I hope wee cannot sin any sin except he suffer and his power doe permit yet wee finde that Pharaoh had his heart hardened worse for manner and measure than other common sinners had but all sinners are sinners by permission therefore there was a delivering up an act of justice and power in hardening the heart of Pharaoh and so it is when God doth plague one sin with another the thing I educe is this that it is impossible with all our whining to get off the sin merited except we first deale with the sin meriting we cannot affront the justice and power of God when he doth inflict and lay it on for some other fault it is out of our element to take it off till first wee have removed and done away the guilt and power of the former sin when sin doth worke and produce another sin by its own force then it comes from the power of sin when sin doth demerit to have another sin made a punishment of it that comes out of the guilt of sinne and justice of God therefore we must make our peace for the sinne which is is the cause and subdue that ere wee can possibly make any hand with the other sin which is the punishment That then wee may cleere our selves of some tentations wee must looke see what brought it if wee try and try and can make nothing of it then wee may see it is for some other sin which sin wee must finde out and then cast out that corruption and the worke is done we finde some what to the purpose in Ionas a good old Prophet he fled away from God was found out throwen into the Sea swallowed by a Whale and God in his goodnesse did deliver him and yet after hee fell into the like sin againe no doubt he did aske God forgivenesse in the Whale for his first sin yet hee after fell into the same way againe and did chafe because Ninive was not destroyed now see here the roote of sinne was not moared up he did at first flye out of pride because hee would not bee thought to preach the destruction of so famous a place hee thought none would be well pleased w th such a message and therefore do it whose would for Ionas This fact hee was sorry for but saw not the cause of all to be pride and therefore after when hee saw that Ninive was not destroyed what a chafe was hee in and was not this horrible pride too that so many must be destroyed rather than Ionas should bee thought to misse in denouncing a judgment which should not come had he found out the Canker at the first and killed it he had not fallen this second fall T is certaine that as in diseases in the body if one disease bee caused by another that is more in the spirits and humours of a man the disease causing must bee done away ere the disease caused can be remitted it may be eased for a time but it will returne again as long as the sicke matter is there to feed it and therefore wise Physitians strike alwayes at the roote so must wee and when Satan is upon us with some vexing lust and we cannot with all our power put it off Let us say sure it is for some other sinne that must bee killed ere this will bee cured and so we must cast out the mother-lust we must not say that we cannot find what it is what the sin is for which we are vexed with these or those afflictions for the Word and the Spirit will show it if wee aske it at the hands of God the Lord will point it out unto us so David Psal 139. 24. See saith he if there be any wicked way in mee and leade me into the way everlasting See if there be any wicked way in mee see it and show it unto me it being the office of the Spirit to convince a man of his sins it followes that the Spirit if we secke it in sincerity with a desire to be healed will finde out our sinnes for us and shew them unto us and when by the line of the Word and Spirit we have found out that Nest we are to turne our griefe upon those lusts rather than upon the present tentation the matter is that when wee are thus haunted and dogged with such tentations as are corrections say it is rather for some sins either 1. Past So some when maried are tempted but not brought to adultery because when single they were uncleane one way or other and thought to mend all by marying without repentance and so when once maried they grow secure and lay all on the Physick and not on God as Asa did in another case and then when they feele that sinne urgeth and Satan tempteth as much and perhaps more after than before because the sinne is worse men faint and sing many a heavy song and hang up their sword and say as good not at all as never the better Now here the right and ready way to heale all is to repent truly and thorowly of former uncleannesses lusts and then the Coasts will cleere first doe that and then marry bring not old sins to the mariage bed and when the knot is knit tentations as many as strong perhaps more perhaps greater may come but they shall not overcome and therefore they must not say better not marry at all if it be so I say he that hath the gift let him not marry but hee who hath not the gift as all have not hee were best marry or he must and will doe worse Resolve the case thus such a man if hee marry not use what helpes naturall morall spirituall he can yet he burnes still and the more he opposeth the more strong his affections grow a man maried cannot say that hee shall not bee tempted to defile the bed but this I say that using all GODS meanes and calling in for Gods blessing on the ordinance hee shal not fal his soule will heale Now in case one finde that for all his care his lusts grow exorbitant and violent look back and humble for what are past before this is to pluck us by the eares for what we were before we were maried make all that well compound with God for old matters and then ease and peace will come 2. Present As say a worldly man to bee told and convinced of his sin and yet will not mend as wee see a man may see a sin to be a sin and yet
goe on in it witnesse that young Gentleman who went away like one well beaten when it came to selling all Now many times in such a case God will have such an one to be tempted by Satan as his Instrument with strong passions to adultery which usually of all sins he could never abide and this goes to the heart of him He whines and wrings his hands teares his haire is weary of himselfe knowes not what to doe and is even angry with God because he cannot finde ease and is often upon the point to despaire here I say it will not off the tentation will not away till it hath done its cure till I meane we finde out that all that is for our covetousnesse by which sin wee vex and anger God and therefore hee doth order Satan to follow us with wave upon wave in that sinne of uncleannesse which God sees will vex us Hee would not have us sit and rest quiet in that sinne of earthlinesse the worst of the two and for that it is that wee are terrified with those or some other passions of shame dishonour 3. To come so we are tempted to some sins we thought our hearts till now had no minde unto now in this case we must know that it is a mercy and so to be taken to let us see and feele that by tentation when we might justly be suffered to fall into the action it self that we may know that it was neither in our worth nor in our strength but onely in the preventing grace of God that wee have stood cleere all this while and that it must bee by the same supporting grace of God that wee must stand firme for the time to come Looke what is past present forward backward every way to see what it is for that wee may remove the cause for which wee are thus tempted and then the tentation will away even of it selfe when that is once cured of all wee must beware of Sathans Sophistry when hee would needs perswade us to ease our selves of the vexation by yeelding once or twice or so to the sinne in hand and then no more now this is quite against Reason and Experience against Reason for in all morall acts whether vertuous and vicious chiefly vicious because our nature is so strong that way this is certaine when we once commit it it doth leave a wonderfull pronenesse to doe it againe When then Satan saith doe it once and then no more no Satan must we say should I commit it once I should be more earnest to commit it the second time than ever I was the first Against Experience for wee doe finde that when wee once sin a sin the power of grace and faith doth decay we have not that heart to pray against it and so wee are ready to turne that way againe as put fewell to the fire it burnes the more so doth hee who thinkes to satisfie the motion to a sinne by sinning the sin the onely way to satisfie a lust is not to satisfie it 3. The third Generall Rule is to make use of the Ordinances to put off the tentation and they are chiefly two 1. Prayer Watch and Pray Watching is but a preparation to and a fortification of Prayer Prayer is a turning of our selves to God and so a turning of us from the tentation some turne to some other sin as to thinke of the world when they are tempted to some unpleasing Passions some to that which is lawfull in it selfe and here they finde some kinde of respite but the cure is not done except we doe by prayer come to God and call unto him for favour and succour A man is never overcome in and by the tentation as long as one can pray against it the tentation prevailes not till it please it pleaseth not as long as we can pray in earnest against it Some for forme doe pray as Augustine saith once hee did against the lust but would not for any thing part with the profit or pleasure of them as yet this is to say rather than to pray a prayer delight in prayer and in the Lord and then the tentation doth not delight wee cannot promise that you shall pray away the suggestion but the consent and delight you shall But you will say I pray and yet I finde some delight in the sin what of that This is the delight of the flesh which Paul instancing in himselfe dates call it a serving the law of sin with his flesh but the matter is whether we doe take delight in that delight which way the delight of our inward man is carried as long as wee finde that our delighting in the lust doth grive and trouble us more than the lust it selfe doth Our case is good and our prayer is of force and what if for all that sinne bee there yet it raignes not there and what if worse haunted than when I set my selfe against it then before It is common to bee worse sick when we first take our Physick we thinke of the sinne and the circumstances of it most when in our prayers we set our selves to aggravate it and out of that Satan picks matter to delight us with and when we oppose the lust the lust then doth most oppose us and Satan will come upon us then with his greatest impressions to see if now hee can allure us with some fleshly delight then hee cals upon us to give over prayer that sure our prayer is naught that wee are naught that God hath no mind to us that sin hath dominion in us sith it stirres and pricks most even then when at prayer but wee must beleeve that sith we aske according to his will hee heareth us wee know that we have the petitions wee desire of him what ever wee feele say our prayers prove an occasion to ripen a disease when it must ripen ere it will cure all is to drive us out of all selfe confidence and then the malady will heale Go then on in praying with perseverance all manner of prayer and the end will be that if we doe not give over to pray Satan must and will give over to tempt The three maine matters I could wish Christians to sue for in their prayers are 1. Strength to conquer satan when he sets upon us w th main force and plaine violence and seidge I know hee cannot compell us for then the sinne were his not ours but yet forall that he can and doth w th a strong hand drive and make us to consent bringeth us to yeeld and in that sense we cannot of our selves stand in his hands when hee comes against us with his power no standing against him and his tentation except we bee underlaid by the power of God he wil wrest a consent from us and worke us to a delight doe we what wee can for wee can doe nothing of our selves it is out of our hands
tempter will come and bring seven worse with him than before and our lust will come againe and take us at some advantage and doe us a spoile in case wee thinke the tentation ended when there is a politike giving over to bite for a season onely What must wee doe to know when the ceasing is because the tentation is conquered and when it is onely by withdrawment for a time Many things might here bee said that which satisfies is to affirme that if wee have taken paines used Gods meanes waited Gods time then the worke is done as it should be but if meanes or all ordinary meanes to bee had have not beene used wee have not set God and prayer against the motion if we find that the lust is gone we know not how on a sudden no sooner come almost but gone hereis cause of suspicion to feare that all is but a practise of our great enemy a purpose to rock us in security that he may come and take us in the sinne or some other when we least thinke of it and and stand unprepared Againe if wee finde no good fruits and effects to follow no good to come of it to our heart and life that wee are no more humble no more if not lesse spirituall than before here is great doubt that the tentation is gone the wrong way for if we do drive this Divell away by GODS meanes which are spirituall as prayer reading watching spirituall seed-corne will leave behind it some spirituall fruit prayers and holy exercises use not to bee lost they fall not in the dust but mortifie and sanctifie they both must and doe and therefore if wee finde ease but not grace some quiet but not the quiet fruit of righteousnesse for all that I know as good the tentation had stayed as depart thus But if we finde that we have not onely a bare freed once from the stirre and power of the tentation but the tentation is over and good is left behind more modest humble fearefull of sin carefull of God then the worke is done by God and we have our comfort when a man then doth finde some respit by turning his thoughts over to thinke of the world that this or that is to be got or saved be set or sold here or there is a purchase to bee made this is not Gods cure but if the liberty we now have over we had be made ours by turning to God and his wayes then wee may boldly tell our selves and bid our consciences rest upon it that we have gone the right way to worke and that there is no mistake in the matter and as wee must not thinke wee have it when wee have it not so wee must not think we have it not when indeed and in truth we have Satan doth play on both sides and his devices to coozen us of our comfort this way are many what saith hee all that is nothing but a forbearing of old and wonted occasions and a wicked man may doe this indeed we must not lay the fault on the occasion as the Tipler doth on drinke that it is made so strong and the Glutton on his fare it is so choice that who can choose but feed by the belly for the creatures are no kind of cause Before the Floud when men did as great Divines conceive drinke water and feed upon plants wee see there was a world of abominations and therefore we must lay the fault on our lusts within not on the occasions without yet this I say that if a man finde that by the use of prayer and the word a man doth in conscience and with constancy shun all the occasions of that sin which heretofore hee neither could nor would there is a cure wrought for a brunt in some fit an unregenerate man may but to doe it still alwayes forever hereafter thus to doe is a signe of power of grace and after constancy we must see that wee doe it in conscience that we do not avoid the thing or person which were to us occasions of sinning out of hatred to the person or to the thing but to the sin that our stomack doth not rise at them as they are such or such things materially but formally as they are to us occasions of offending and that by reason of coruption not in them but in us He that can doe that that man may say that Sathan lyes when hee tels him that a wicked man may surcease by hiding himselfe from his old occasions for in this sense nothing but grace and the spirit and some power of the Holy Ghost can make a man shake off his old occasions a man in his sins will be so far from refusing occasions when they come in his way that hee will look and make after them and have them he will if hee may have them for love or money An hungry man will thorow stone wals for meate so where the love and raigne of sin is there a man will and must breake thorow fire and water to have his desires finished the occasions of that sin hee must and will follow what ever come of it I say it that nothing but grace can make a man abstain from the occasions of sinne when hee is tempted when not tempted the matter is not so much and some men without the strength of grace may forbeare but when the tentation is up and the passion is on fire though a man dye and without Gods mercy damne in the place he cannot possibly forbeare without the force of the spirit I dare affirme it that hee that can and doth in the order and manner I have set down either put the occasion from him or himselfe from the occasion of a sin he hath been and is tempted unto that man hath made an acceptable conquest of that lust and wee doe wrong our selves I cannot say how much when we suffer Satan to perswade us the contrary The next thing wee are to looke to is that we doe not coozen and deceive our selves so as to thinke we have not overcome the tentation why Because we are not rid of evill thoughts it is conquest enough that evill thoughts are borne as a burthen and that lust and Satan for their hearts are not able to bring it any further than thoughts I know God could if he would and would if hee saw it good and fit take away the swarme of evill thoughts but for our good they are suffered to flye up and down in our imaginations not onely to humble us for as the thoughts are so we should be if we were let alone they show our nature and when wee are come to some practise and growth wee are then apt to heave up with conceits of our selves above what is written to thinke that wee are not as other men are and therefore to prevent and discure the malady evill thoughts are left in us to remember us what wee are of our selves as also that by feeling the thoughts
such a sin and I may fall againe Now where this full point lyes that a man may be able to speake it thus much I must and have grieved and am now come to the height of sorrow that is required and now I know I shall never fall the same fall againe These bee strange riddles the heart of man I know must come down it must melt and breake but yet a little sorrow doth it in one when a great deale doth but do it in another some mens hearts after sin are like hard wax great heate is required to melt it but others like soft wax a little will supple it as we finde that at mans first conversion some men turne to it without much adoe with legall sorrowes and the sinne before regeneration I hope hardens the heart more than the sinne after for before there is nothing but a stone nothing but sin and flesh but after be the sin committed never so great yet there is some spirit some grace abiding and so some softnesse with all We Divines doe use to teach that it is the love of God and not the sorrow for sinne which is the cause to keepe us from relapsing and that too much sorrow doth hurt and drive us from Christ We all agree that a man may goe too far when there is so much as doth bring us to Christ it is sufficient and that sometimes a lesser degree of humbling and mourning will doe that GOD doth not delight to see us in our ashes no further than he may heare of us and t is not terror of the law but the peace of God which doth garrizon and keepe our hearts and mind and therfore this reason is of no force it hangs the conscience on uncertainty and no man can determine when his sorrow is come to bee enough and serve the turne in this Divinity besides who sees not that wicked men doe grieve over and above out of feare or shame or both for some sins and more than godly men doe for the same or the like sinnes and yet who dares say that by reason of this their griefe they could never offend in the same againe Iudas did grieve and sob extraordinary for killing Christ yet I do not thinke but had the case come in his way hee would have murthered him againe no trusting him who presently after killed himselfe and we finde some who for murther fall into those flats of sorrow that they doe run upon their owne deaths and cause themselves for very remorse of conscience to dye a dogs death Let us then say that it is a dāgerous case for a godly man to sinne the same great sin after repentance what if it doe not put him out of Christ what if it do not hang him Yet it burnes him in the hand whips him up and down the towne my meaning is that it doth cast him into a bed of miserable sorrow but withall we must say that it may possibly be that after true hearty repentance for such a fault a child of God may chance to fal into the same sin againe and again how often I cannot tel but this I can tell that how often soever hee sinneth let him repent and returne and his pardon is ready They wrong GOD in his mercy and men in their comfort who doe say the contrary 3. The third duty that wee are to looke to after the tentation is that in case we do not finish the sin not act the fault but doe drive away this fury that then wee bee very thankefull to God t is his doing only t is his grace that moved him to stand for us when we were in danger to cast away our comfort it is a great mercy to rise againe but a greater too when God comes and stands betwixt us and the fall Of the two it is better not to sin the sin than to bee recovered after wee are down as it is in it self for a man to bee preserved from a disease than to be cured of the disease I confesse that wee have a greater experimentall taste both of the love and power of GOD when wee are recovered but yet as touching our peace and comfort I hope wee all see it is better not to sin the sin than having sinned to be healed we save a great deale of inward paine and bitter sorrow by the bargaine Christ I know tels us most Divinely and sweetly that to whom much is forgiven such doe love much but yet we must not sin many sins that so much may bee forgiven us and wee love much this were to turne the grace of God into wantonnesse and that which Augustine hath up and downe in his Tomes answers all that those also are to love much who have beene preserved by the providence and power of God from doing such and so many transgressions as some others have for why saith hee have we not sinned those sins was the cause in our nature Is the reason in our will No but only in the goodnesse of God wee are then to thanke him and love him for the sins we have committed and have had our pardon for them and for those many more which wee should have done had not the Lord beene all one as though wee had done them and had found a pardon of them and one degree more and that is that by reason of his meere mercy we have beene strongly preserved from so sinning against our God from so troubling the quiet of our owne hearts and in some particulars from so scandalizing the Church and people of GOD. 4. The fourth duty after the tentation is to make a good use of it to get some good out of it wee must come to some fruit after wee have beene so handled with such bitter plunges The Earth after Winter becomes fruitfull so must wee be now the good that comes by tentation is manifold 1. A sight of some corruption wee saw not before the beginning of all our comfort ariseth from an humble sight of our corruptions and t is fit that when we will not see them and abhor them by what we finde in the word we should have the experience of them in our selves then we say till now little did I thinke I had beene thus and thus given to such rebellions then wee cry ah wretched man that I am what a Beast what a divell am I This doth mightily empty us of our selves and then we quickly fill with God with Christ this is amends enough for all our toile that wee are made to see somewhat in our selves which wee never thought to bee in our hearts 2. The second is to see that ther is some sin not sufficiently and thorowly mortified that as yet wee have not gone to the quick of it and what that sin is and now to take it in hand againe and never give over till wee breake the heart of it lest it lye in the winde and doe us some spight against
base corruptions or some dishonourable passions then this is from spirituall pride and all this is no true trouble of conscience at all we may know whether it be thus or not if that other sins as grosse and great in Gods sight which have in them or after them no shame nature shames not at them the world doth not cry shame of them but rather as many sinnes of profit and delight are in credit in the world and doe bring respect amongst men now if wee finde that such sins do passe without any such trouble the conscience saith as much as nothing though wee be convinced that they are sins if thus then the case is cleare that it is a trouble which wee make and not which sinne or God doth make It is shame as shame not sinne as sin that doth cause all this cry it is not for the sin but for the effect of sin that we thus complaine 2 If bad and not base whether to the face of the world or to the naturall principles which are in us then the troubles that wee feele in the conscience are spirituall and sincere they are for sinne as sinne because it is naught or rather because it is for bidden by God for many things have no morall naughtinesse in them yet are sins because they are forbidden by God and if these things trouble the minde such wounds come the right way and God will cure them as because wee heare not the Word receive not the Sacrament which in the dictates of nature were no sinnes had not Gods written law bin In a word when we finde that the blow our conscience doth give us is because the fact is a fault a thing forbidden by God here the matter doth run right and it is very conscience which moves in that case 3. When bad and base both the terror is great and it proves an occasion of great humiliation and casting a man downe wee are so proud and high in our owne conceits that base tentations which produce inward shame to the minde of a man and if they come abroad outward shame and scorne amongst men doe mightily abase a man and are an excellent cure for spirituall pride Here wee shall finde a mixt passion working feares in the heart and complaints in the conscience of a man for as the sin is bad so it doth trouble because it threatens the wrath of God and is accompanied many times with a fore-feeling of the wrath to come As it is base so it doth draw over the heart and conscience of a man an inward blushing and shame and I may say it that true internall shame making the conscience red againe with blushing testifies repentance more and rather than sorrow A wicked man may grieve but for this spirituall intrinsicall shame it is not in wicked men we must note that an outward shame is in the unregenerate when they have sinned some sins which the world doth point at this is a shame before man and there is some inward shame also which wicked men do feele in themselves too and that is in and for such sins as are against the law of nature and such conviction as generall illumination and common graces doe cause here the heart will blush but in such sins as are not knowne to be sins but by the conviction of the spirit here to shame to have an heart as red as fire with a blushing before GOD this is a good thing and proper to the godly and it is most when the sins are base thinke not that there is any sin which is not base in it selfe but to us and in comparison we use to name some speciall sins base sins this is that shame Paul meanes what fruit have you in those things wherof ye are now ashamed Ro. 6. 21 Yee are now which showes that when and whilst they were in the state of nature they were not ashamed of them Well then a wicked man may grieve for sin because of the punishment feared or felt or both because there is wrath hanging over his head by an haire because sins lyes at the doore and here are selfe-respects out of love and care to our skin because we would not be punished here or hereafter but this shame is not because sin is punishable but by reason that it is filthy it ariseth from the turpitude of sin and this is hearty to make a stand at sin because it is filthy and ugly To be ashamed of some effects of sin as Adam in his fall I meane at his nakednesse is in wicked men but to have this inward shame in the coÌ„science because of the innate filthinesse and turpitude of sin this is not in the wicked nor in their trouble of minde and was not in Iudas when I say there is not onely griefe for sin as bad as punishable as bad respecting God as punishable respecting our selvs but also a shame in the mind of a man that he cannot looke up for blushing then it is as it should be and the pang of conscience which comes from this sorrow and shame is many times very great and this is a troublesom estate while it doth last but it is not danger ouâ— To apply the three sins I mentioned viz. Theft Vncleannesse Murther doe smite home partly because they be bad and partly because they be base 1. To begin with Theft wee must beware that wee doe not filch the worth of a penny froÌ„ any man that which in our common notation is called theft is more base than the great sin of Rapine and Robery because that in rapine there is som manhood and fortitude showed such as it is but in theft is nothing but a base minde and because the law is so strict and flat against theeving the name of a theefe is odious and it doth pay our hearts home and there is very much trouble of minde because men doe use to spit at this sin and the reason is rather because it is a wrong to man than for that it is a sinne against God and sure wee must see that wee doe keepe cleane fingers that by no kinde of unjust alienation wee either take or keepe any thing from any body which in right is his wee all love to be truly and justly dealt with and therefore nature it selfe if it may bee heard speake will cry fye and shame upon a false finger Because then it maks a breach into the meum tuum of mâ—n which we see rather than for that it doth make a breach in the law of GOD which wee see not this sinne doth clogge the consciences of men what ever the ful cause be we finde that it doth pester the minde of man and the conscience held and hampered with a clogge is like a distempered lock which no key will open we must therefore to keep our conscience as free as may bee beware that wee doe not touch that which is anothers but if
wee have doe or shall what then We must free our mindes againe by confession to God and restitution to men Here wee see that a great cause why these same sins of theft do urge the conscience so much is because of the wrong done to men whom we see in that as soone as ever we have made restitution the minde begins to settle and the heart to quiet it selfe presently I know if wee have meanes so to doe we must give as a work of charity to expresse our thankefulnesse to God a largesse to the poore too as Zachous did but the maine thing which quiets the conscience is to restore which is a worke of Iustice the other of Charity this worke of making restitution to the party wronged or to the poore in case of defect that the party cannot be knowne or had will still the Allarum which the cry of unjustice ariseth in the conscience of men And by the way we may note that the very cause why the other sinnes of murther and uncleannes are more dangerous to the peace of our consciences is because that in them there is no possible place left for restitution for who can restore to another their life or chastity But here in theevery there is and therefore there lies a faire way to hush all in this sinne which doth not in those The summe is take nothing from no man it saves a great deale of horror if wee have then let him that stole repent of the sin restore the dammage and steale no more 2 The next shall be murther a sinne that makes a foule and hellish noise in the conscience in that it deprives a man of his life his best peece I meane not to speak of murthering our enemies or plaine killing any as David did to avoid shame or so Tentations to this sinne are amongst the people of God David for one did it for once and it did so cast him behinde hand that he came not to himselfe about a yeere after and then too by the particular strok of Nathans ministry hee himselfe was a Prophet and a rare Saint of God yet he lost himselfe for a great time and Nathan being sent from God was faine to goe about the bush and at last to close with him and to take him as it were by the throat and say thou art the man David had his fits of minde in all this space betwixt hee roared hee cried by reason of the quietnesse of his heart his marrow was dried within him he was like a chip or hearth and therefore this sin by all meanes must be avoided and the occasions and causes of it it springs from anger and hatred and these irascible passions must be mortified and to mortifie them we must deny our selves in our reason else wee shall say when wee are provoked and abused that we have reason to bee angry and to beate downe hatred we must beware of envy Cain killed Abel for nothing but envy and the Scribes and Pharisies did what they did to Christ for very envy Downe with these burning and provoking affections and we are safe from the sin but the tentations to murther which follow many of the people of God are to murther ones selfe or ones nearest friends as parents wife children the cause of this is diverse in selfe-murther that which makes way for this hellish motion is discontent arising for some sin or from some heavy crosse and when we are in this case then because wee have not faith to beleeve that it will ever be better and are so full of pride that because wee cannot be as we would be we begin to thinke it is best not to be at all wee must then labour for faith to beleeve that one day it will mend if a sin God will forgive it if a crosse God will remove it and to be content to be any thing t is no matter what as long as we be out of hell and then this tentation will away and of all see that wee dispaire not for he that is once out of hope wil desire to see the worst as soon as may be so leape into their own death Hold out be patient waite stand still and fee the salvation of God Satan will tempt the Lord Iesus to breake his neck and are we better than our master And when Moses Eliah Ionas and others of the best sort of Saints were in a fit of discontent and grew weary of their lives wishing for death I doubt not but Sathan gave a push at them to dispatch and ease themselves of the present by cutting off their own dayes Far be it from us then to thinke that wee are none of the Lords because wee are tempted or followed with such hideous tentations or that sure we shall at last doe it sith we are tempted to it long and often No no thousands of Saints have gone thorow this tentation and have happily closed their eyes in peace our lives are not our owne the Lord gave them and it lies not in us to take away our owne lives from our selves our lives I say are not our owne and wee neither ought nor can without GODS permission take our lives away Man in his life being so neere himselfe as his life is and the consequent being of such danger wee must trust and hope that the Lord will hold our selves in life I meane not to give any way to any in this sin for though I see that many have beene weary of their lives yet in all the Word wee read not of any godly man or woman that ever did it few scape the tentation that live out their time they are to follow Christ in that as in other tentations of Satan but in all the word we read not of any of the generation of the just that ever did it that God who kept them will if wee looke up to him doe as much for us A marvellous matter it is serving much to humble us that men who dares not thinke of taking away the life of another should be so pestered with impulsions to stop their owne breath but to settle the point we will remove false meanes of ease and set downe the true way to peace in this malady 1. A false meanes is for a man to yeeld to much to feares so as to thinke to avoid the tentation by declining and not by resisting as some dare not carry a knife about them or when their knife is out cast it from them this is to yeeld too much to Satan neither doth it helpe the matter but rather keepe the tentation in I will not say what may bee fit when a man is subdued and held downe by Satan herein weakens may dispence but while a man is in the conflict this is not the way indeed if a man have his knife about idle occasions perhaps it may doe well to put it up to put it out of sight and so out of
is towards him albeit for the present wee feele not our hearts and affections to move towards him our affections are usually most deepe when they run on without any noise wherefore what ever Satan puts upon us we must hold our owne that for all him and his tentations and those impulsions of Originall sin we doe love our selves and love our second selves full dearely and would be full loth to suffer any wrong to bee done to them 2 The true and right meanes of helpe in these bloudy tentations are First to labour to bee contented with our selves the peace wee have the comfort wee have the health wee have the meanes we have and considering what we doe deserve to blesse God that it is no worse with us A cheerefull heart is not subject to such malicious motions of the divell he useth to worke on man whom hee takes to bee discontented We are alone thinking on heaven by some Well-side he seeing us alone taking us to bee there in some discontented moode thrusts at us with a tentation to cast our selves into the water here runne not away walke on still proceed in good meditations thrust away these thoughts that are put in by the divell and know that our Originall sin is the receiver worse than the theefe 2. Humble for that wee carry about with us such a corrupt heart as will on such occasions take thought of discontent it is our proud flesh that will not sit downe under some heavey crosse and because we have not al we would have and cannot bee that wee would be we care not to be at all we must have as others have else wee fall a powting presently we must learne to be thankfull for any life downe with the proud humour bee not high minded these thunders and lightnings of tentations are to fright us and by such feare to bring us to walke humbly before the Lord. 3. See what sin wee live in if in any that is a true cause of deepe discontent repent of that doe the contrary duty sin is the proper cause not to the crosse which makes us weary of our lives Satan sets our eyes onely on the crosse for he knowes it is out of our reach to remove that but indeed it is some sinne that doth pinch us and put a sting into the affliction and we have it in our hands by repentance to remove the sin and the crosse will remove it selfe Goe to God to finde out the sinne for us and away with that if there bee any and as when the tooth is once drawne we shall finde ease and peace presently if we bee not weary of sinne it is but fit wee should be made to be weary of our selves if no sin then know it is to humble us and to fit us for some great peece of service that the Lord meanes to imploy us in Waite and joyne with the tentation to rend the heart to bring the minde low and then it will be gone 4. See whether we do not abuse God and our selves in our wives and children perhaps we dote upon them make so many Gods of them and if so then it is reason that they shold by this tentation be made bitter unto us that wee may have wives and children as though wee had none at all or if otherwise we sinne against God in them oâ— for them let this goe for the cause why Satan is set on and let on us with such killing suggestions that we may be corrected in the very thing wherein wee have offended 5. That which must hit it on the head and doe the deed it selfe is to get it off by prayer by a fast if need bee and by the Word There are some which will not off but by prayer and fasting but there are none so terrible so strong but prayer and fasting will give us ease and comfort against them but the matter must bee sanctified to us by the Word wee must bring Scripture not reason To tell Satan or our selves of the shame of the danger to us to ours will not doe the deed that which will worke the worke is to set the word of commandement of promise of the threatning against the powers of Sathan I shall sin if I doe I shall offend God It is written thou shalt not kill if not an enemy then not a friend if not a friend then much lesse my selfe Love to mine enemy is the reason why I must not murther him love doth begin at home and it runs warmest in mine owne veines in mine owne bosome therefore I will not lay hands on my selfe I shall dye the death if I doe The word and prayer will fright him away sin and Satan care for nothing feare nothing but the word they are the Ordinances and the power of God and by his might do extinguish all the fiery darts of the divell 6. Never thinke of making any mends or satisfaction by destroying ones selfe for any sin perhaps Iudas thought by killing himselfe to make some amends for his horrible murther committed against the person and life of Christ Iesus Satan never doth a man more hurt than when hee comes preaching and sets upon us with holy ends that because we have done this or that grand offence and abuse to God that therefore they are to pacifie him or to satisfie him by sacrifising of our selves This corrupt Divinity growes in our flesh as we see by those who fetch their penniworth as they thinke out of themselves by whipping themselves a mad part it is for a man to thinke that by committing murther the greatest of all murthers upon himselfe to make any an ends for their sinfull life and yet so foolish doth the divell make som men Beware of this deceit fire is not put out with fire no satisfaction can possibly bee made but by the bloud of the Lambe that holy Lambe Christ Iesus and I would have men beware how they plead for such as draw their owne bloud because thereby they doe make way for Satan to push hard on the consciences of weake Christians by bearing them in hand that they may ease themselves of some present horrors by killing themselves and yet be saved in heaven for all that such cases perhaps may possibly be but for man to pleade for such to exempt them out of the rule may make foule worke for Satan to play upon the weaknesse of many poore Christians souls I know no medicine next to the Word and prayer of better use to hold such mens hands from their own lives than feare of being damned in hell an indirect plea it is for any to speak for such and full of danger some think thereby to ease perplexed consciences but it is the ready way to perplex the hearts and engulsie the soules of feeble Christians they doe not know what hurt they doe to men under this tentation to vent such unsavory Doctrine that a man do well for the main for all this that
go for another usefull consideration to move us by all meanes to keepe from the lust of uncleannesse And lastly the sinne many times weakens the body and pines away that darkens ones semes shortens ones life and then comes in a huge cry that wee have rotted away our life are guilty of hastning our own death and much adoe there is to quiet the storme which comes in this way Wherfore for this cause also abstain from fleshly lusts We see then that it leaves the greater brand on the conscience because of the dishonour and blot of this sin as well as by reason of the dishonesty of it as also for that there is a degree of uncleannes in this sin over there is in any else which foulenesse the heart of man doth rise against and this cannot but touch us with some degrees of terrour also and that this sinne doth carry some speciall staine of dishonour with it read it in Solamon A wound dishonour shall he get and his reproch shall not be wiped away And in Paul Who cals chastity a mans honour Vpon these grounds and considerations it was that Saint Peter saith That fleshly lusts doe warre against the soule These are the devils Captaines and doe meaning to kill us smite at the head war against the soule other lusts doe war against the soule too but there is some speciall matter in it that these fleshly lusts are said to warre against the soule shall I say that it is because that the other lusts doe warre as much against the graces of the soule yet there is not any that doe war more no nor in some respects so much against the peace of the soule and therefore in Peters words we are to be beseeched of all lusts to abstaine from fleshly lusts Wee will now enter into a particular discovery of such speciall branches as may make the matter the plainer Lust of uncleannesse are committed either First with ones selfe Secondly with others First we will begin with that committed with ones selfe which are greater in themselves abtract them from all other circumstances than with any other as selfe-murther is worse than the murther of another so in and of it selfe this sin is worse than of another For the rule is that the sin that doth breake the order of love is the worst love being the keeping of the Commandement I must not defile my neighbour because I am to love my neighbours chastity but I am to love my selfe and mine owne chastity before the chastity of any else and this is a foule sinne much against nature and therefore the worse for the more unnaturall the sin is the greater the guilt is still in that respect and whereas it is thought that there is not that wrong in it as is in taking away the chastity of another I urge that there is most wrong when a man doth wrong himselfe and as the theefe doth in the candle so these selfe defilements doe rot and weaken the body by the curse of God exceedingly And as in all such inordinate practises there is a secret kinde of murther what if not in the intention of the doer yet in the condition of the thing done God is much displeased with these kinde of sins they are execrable in his sight pay the conscience home when they are set before us in their true and right colours make people unfit for mariage without the great mercy of God ever after I could wish people to marry on ever so poore termes rather than to fall into such illicite darke and abominable practises which doe grieve the very principals of nature say let the worst come that can for outward things it is better to beg than burne in hell I will trust in God I will follow him he that feeds the Ravens he will provide I will rather bring trouble on the outward man than on the soule it is wisdome to look to the soule what ever becomes of the body whatsoever comes it cannot bee worse than sinne nay whatsoever it be it cannot bee bad with us so long as we obey For howsoever there may bee some difference of Estates in the generall yet sure it is that is the best for us in the particular which God cals us unto there lyes our peace our joy our comfort 2. With others and here comes many kindes we will begin with the worst first and that is Beastiality forbidden in the Word and therefore our corrupt nature and originall sin is capable of it and when once in too too prone unto it The worst things when the law of nature is suppressed yeeld strongest delight such as it is this must be looked unto it turnes man into a very beast makes a man a member of a bruite creature a sinne that man would soone fall into if the Lord shold let sin and Satan alone with us what one man doth that another may possibly doe wee being all of the same masse and cloth and that since the law was given men have run upon this horrible abomination Stories and experience and law have shewed and doe show wherefore by all meanes this soule corruption must be avoided over familiar usage of any bruite creature is to bee abhorred And the Iewish Doctors doe charge their novices by no meanes to feed their eyes with staring on the generation of beasts for feare of the worst It is a pit out of which those few that do fall into it do hardly recover it is like a winter plague some doe recover but in comparison of those that perish a poore few 2. The next is Sodomy Iud. v. 7. A going after strange flesh not onely strange in the law of God as in fornication it is but strange in nature a sin to which our law of nature hath no great minde unto at first but if our corrupt lust our originall sin bee let out wee see how it carries too many after this abomination God would never have forbidden it in the law but that our nature is subject to it we see how it did over-run Sodome and Gomorrah when it once takes how doth the sinfull flesh of man runne after it Lots daughters were young fresh and maides too and yet they would not serve they must have the men And Ro. 1. they forsooke the naturall use of the women therefore it is spoken of such as had wives else how could it bee said that they forsooke the naturall use of the women and it is said that such doe burne or scald and not only men with men working that which is unseemely but women also when given up to this unnaturall passe doe as Paul said change the naturall use into that which is against nature that is so against nature that posterity which is natures end is utterly lost by it and such as are acquainted with Stories and Poets know that this sin hath beene too much
world the quite contrary way I meane now to grow towards a conclusion and the rest shall be taken up in some directions 1. To prevent these Lusts 2. To helpe against the two effects of these lusts viz. 1. Horrour of the tentation 2. The deadly blowes of senselessenesse which they give First for such as are young these are called the lusts of youth they are most strong in youth and come on worst there because that their affections are strong their judgements weake and youth do conceit that they may take some liberty this way and no man must aske them why they doe so They must be exhorted to flye the lusts of youth Timothy was young in age but old in conditions a very true penitentiary a drinker of water a very weak crazie body a great pains-taker a man fuller of grace than ordinary being an extraordinarie Officer in the Church and yet Paul cals upon him being young 〈◊〉 what onely to avoid No what to runne No but fly from the lusts of youth make all post-haste away from them If Timothy such a chast and chastened peece as he was had need of such a warning-peece then all youth have great need not to come neere the doore of her house as Salomon doth advise his young Saint Secondly such as are old must not crie holy-day and thinke that no danger lyes this way alas the day age will kill no sinne it is Christ and grace onely that can cure any 〈◊〉 there were a sinne 〈…〉 whereof in all 〈…〉 if this bee found that age doth kill it in some such then as are in yeares must not cast away their weapon but walke in feare and care this way yea though they bee good people I know the body is then frigid and there is not that stirring with that strength but if Satan come and blow the coales there will rise a great flame a mighty burning an old house will fire quickly and so will old people if they let Satan alone Iob was not young and married hee was too when he said he made a covenant with his eyes taking bonds of his senses that he would not bee catched with a maid and maides are more inductive this way than such as are married Iob not such a man in the whole world againe a chast man a married man one that had children and now some what in yeares and yet you see his â—are and circumspection this way No man must then thinke to walke at large because hee hath the remedy and is now growing towards his last declension Saint Hierome saith that his face was pale with fasting that his body was cold his flesh halfe dead already yet he complaines that in his witheted carcase the flames of lust did boile and that his minde was inflamed and even all in a scalding fâ—â—e with fleshly desires and old hee was also and therefore we see in the best men that be age of it selfe is no priviledge none must dare to heare himselfe bold on his age Satan can helpe an old man and woman to a wanton eye to a young tooth sin is not so much in the act as in the affection it 〈◊〉 in the root and GOD will suffer such 〈◊〉 one to fall into burning passions that by his 〈◊〉 experience he may learne to know that sinne is properly and immediately in the soule and the soule growes not old that grace not age must be the death of sin now an old man to fall into the passions and lusts of youth is monstrous and proves almost uncurable To see an old man covetous is no such strange sight but to see him lascivious is a great eye-sore as to see an old man to be affected with the Gowte and Stone the diseases of age is not so much but to see an old body to bee taken with the diseases of youth is a strange sight and proves most dangerous as to have the small-pox the wormes and other diseases of children so in his soule to finde an old body wantonly given to be carried away with affections of uncleannesse which are properly and commonly the lusts of youth is dangerous I wish then old people to keepe off and not to thrust themselves upon the fire relying too much on their age yea say that a man hath passed over his youth with some freedome this way and it may be hath not felt himselfe much given after this veine yet he were best see that he hang not loose when he comes to yeares for wee have the confession of a most strict and godly man Gregory Nazianzen by name who having in his fresh and younger time carried a good hand over these lusts when old and even done he cries out that hee was haunted and pestered most miserably with them And David a better man than he yet it was in the afternoone of his age that hee fell into adultery And when Salomon was old saith the Text hee doted on an our-landish woman how comes â—his Like enough because men being young feare themselves when old they thinke the worst is past trust too much to the advantage of the body lye not in their armour have not their weapons ready and then Satan is too hard for them 2. When old then men are subject to much spirituall pride and that perhaps because they stood so free from this sinne as though they had beene somewhat in themselves and now to cure that spirituall sicknesse this base tentation is suffered to molest them 3. If they had beene thus set upon when hot and young and full of sap with such strong motions this way like enough they should and would have sunke and yeelded and GOD will have such know by their owne feeling what these lusts meane wherefore that they may not receive that hurt by the temptation and impulsion they have their hands full of them when old and cold who did scape them when greene and young However I wish both young and old by all meanes to beware of this Snake Thirdly whether they be or bee not given to this sinne yet care must be used to be as much as we can out of the way when the tentation doth come such as are much given to this sinne have cause to looke round about them because Satan hath such a potent friend in their bosome hee holds a side and a faction in the hearts of such This sinne is a sinne which is much drawne out by the temper of the bodie it holds more of the body than any as we see it shewes not it selfe till the body comes to such an age it may rather than any be called a bodily sinne if then wee finde that by the constitution and graine of the body as also by sinister education or otherwise the minde and heart runne much or more than ordinary this way such must be at it day and night to keepe the occasion away all they can to keep
be up and down in the world and have much society where men are and yet must not bee maried except some one will come and have her with nothing Examples of any that have so done are so rare that in my experience I never knew any 2. Next when we are to enter our selves and ours into mariage we must see to the chiefe and the principall end which is as the state of man is since the fall to keep a man chast he that maks mariage to be the meanes in his intention to make him rich maries in the flesh and not in the Lord hee cannot with any face invite the Lord to the wedding Mammon not the Lord doth lead the Bride to Church the Apostle saith it is not good for a man to touch a woman but yet saith he to avoid fornication he saith not to pay debts to get money to make one rich let every man have his owne wife but to avoid fornication Matrimony then was ordained to make men and keepe men chast and not to make men rich And we doe finde that many of those who marry to bee rich which is their end and have rich widdowes too after mariage doe attaine neither their owne end nor Gods marry and after are neither rich nor chast and then they fall upon mariage with many heavy complaints and cries and that if there bee any hell above ground it is in mariage We must then be before hand and marry so seasonably for time and so wisely proportionably for age and other convenient circumstances that it may preserve our chastity It is too late to bring water when the house is burnt as soone as the sparkes arise and it begin to grow toward burning and we see the smoke up goe to Physick there must be no time of lusting what ever there bee of woing many complaine of too much trouble in that estate because they bring sin with them thither there bee too many who are afraid to marry but not to sin and at last when it is heard late marry they doe and rue it all daies of their lives did we conceive what the horror of uncleannesse is like to be and that there is in the sinne of fornication a staine above other sins that it makes ones body the member of an harlot it doth defile the soule as in their manner all sins do it doth defile the body in making it an actor in the sin as many other sins doth it doth abuse the body in making it the member of an harlot which no other sin but the sin of uncleannesse doth and this will presse hard on the conscience when time shall serve that in sinning this sin the body is thus made the member of a strumpet 3. When entred into the estate we must be convinced of the greatnesse and foulnesse of the sin of adultery it gives a deadly blow to the 〈◊〉 it selfe it is cried out of exceedingly in the Word it cuts a-sunder the sinews of families we must judge of it by the Word not by the world Once I am sure amongst the Papists it was placed among the lesser sinnes and because too many every where stand guiltie of this sin the world hath not a right â—â—dgement of this sinne it doth corrupt the mind of a man and takes away the use of the power and faculty of discerning it brought Salomon the Wise to run into all idolatry against common sense And Sampson the strong made Iudge of Israel by a miracle from the Lord and therefore no foole though he knew that the harlot would betray him yet when he had once tasted of it hee did so lose his right wits that for his heart he could not forbeare we must not then thinke of this sinne as the world doth but as the LORD doth wee see customs takes away 〈◊〉 and judging exactly of any sin in the very Church it selfe and that a non after Christ we find that by reason of use the Christian Gentiles held fornication to be scarce a sin as we may see in that Synode in the Acts and the second Chapter of the Revelations a tricke of youth it was counted and is amongst too many but for a tricke of youth ye for such tricks God the just will damne men in hell unlesse they repent In 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. we reade that fornicators as distinct from adulterers and adulterers shal not inherit the kingdom of God and againe fornicators adulterers though men doe not as they should yet God wil judge Yea but say a man lye in the least knowne sinne that is he must not inherit the kingdome of heaven and therefore this is no argument to prove these sins to be great because they keepe out of heaven But these sins are named above others to shew that a man cannot be fornicator or adulterer and be in Christ A common practicer of those sinnes one cannot be but he must and shall allow them they are of that nature that they will lord it where they be but other lesser infirmities a man may practice them commonly and yet not allow them and so notwithstanding bee in Christ Iesus These then be sins whose ordinary use cannot stand with grace nor is compatible with ones being in Christ and by that meanes they are said to barre out of heaven over lesser and smaller thoughts and thus the argument is good and firme hence to prove them to be great sins what then love cannot doe let fear doe for God doth puniâ—â— these sins with a chiefly see this in Peter The Lord knoweth how to preserve the unjust to the day of judgement to bee punished but chiefly them that walke after the flesh in the lusts of uncleannesse Being convinced of the hainousnesse of this crime the next is that the mariage-bed must with all care be preserved in all purity the tentation is strong to fornication stronger to adultery for the worser a sin is the stronger is the impulsion of Originall lust unto it and Satan is more eager to make men adulterers after than fornicators before but here is the difference that as I shewed before except a man hath the gift hee that will not take Gods medicine and marry let him doe what he can use any use all other meanes yet he hath no promise it shal do but when married use the meanes and we have a promise and an assurance that we shall be kept undefiled let sin and Satan doe their worst The chiefe and necessary meanes to maintaine conjugall chastitie is for such to-love one another it is not the having but the loving of a yoake-fellow which doth keepe us cleane and chast 2. To keepe in with God in other matters for that man with whom the Lord is angrie for some other former matter shall fall into the hands of a filthy woman We must not then by lying and living in any other crime give God cause
to give us over unto this sinfull sinne 3. Such must be chast betwixt themselves beware of excesse and defect Divines tâ—ll of excesse but if there be too much there may be too little else what meanes that phrase of S. Paul lest Satan tempt you for your incontinencie there must bee quenching nor provoking of lust raging lust is a great enemie to love and it is raging and is loth to be contented with one and if not with one then indeed and upon the matter with none Dalliances are forbidden First words and talke full of obscenity betwixt them two is not lawfull they must not by words corrupt one anothers chastitie worse than to taint the chastitie of a stanger for that here is or ought to be most love What if no body be by yet God is by and chastity the honour and honesty of the estate is by Secondly the eyes must be pure and chaste else the next will be that the eyes of such will be full of adultery it crosseth the end of matrimony which is not to fire but to extinguish lust I have read that it is against the Law of Nature for one without necessary cause to see his owne nakednesse but what ever credit we give to the judgement of men we have it in the Word that Adam and Eve when there was no living creature by the very instinct of nature did teach them to make coverings to hide their nakednesse from the sight one of another this I am sure that the Lord doth use to correct such intemperate couses and practises with strong and vexing tentations after strange flesh this is the ordinary effect of this abuse and they who shall avoid such irregular prankes shall finde a sweet enjoyment one of another and true affections stirred up with more naturall delight and heavenly content Isaac I know sported with his wife but it was no body being by and what if it were such that the King who over-saw all knew thereby that shee was his wife yet it was in all modesty for no dâ—lliance nor sporting is allowed to a man with another woman this sporting did discover to an heathen that hee was her husband although he gave it out that he was her brother But it was not of that nature we now treat of that the Patriarches and Matriarches carried it with all possible modesty in those dayes we may see it cleare by the story of Iacob and Leah Beleeve it modesty is the best preserver of nuptiall chastity mariage is no stale nor cover to any uncleane and base practises love doth no unsightly nor unseemely thing 4. The bed must be sanctified and kept undefiled by the Word and Prayer The Word is as Divines show us up and downe a mighty healer of this corruption and it stands like a strong Tower against all these base and uncleane lusts To the Word there must be Prayer adjoyned else wee rely too much on the Physick and it is not like to doe and if Physicke workes not right it makes one worse and so here as we finde none so uncleane as some married people God must then be sent for to blesse the physick to the soule other things we know as eating and drinking must be sanctified by prayer prayer is then rather and more to bee used here because the passion is so strong and reason so weake where reason is in a manner put besides its present use there I hope prayer hath greatest place eating is to take away the naturall passion of hunger and drinke of thirst yet we are to pray over our meales but here the ordinance is to cure sin to worke on the soule to heale a strong corruption which cannot usually bee done without the influence of heaven and thence it followes that wee have cause to pray more in this case than in eating and drinking praying I say there ought to bee say by way of supposition that prayer at meat should take away ones minde to ones meate why then wee would counsell one to pray for a blessing before-hand so here to pray will bring in the blessing of God which is all in all in spirituall medicines as this is being as I said to cure the sin of the soule prayer will keepe men that they shall not surfet and so come to a loathing nor fall into a defect here must be a satisfying as Salomon sayes and drinking away our thirst at our owne Cesterne lest wee hanker after a strange fountaine prayer will make a man keepe himselfe from all base and absurd and abusive dalliances it will make and keepe the bed undefiled and encrease love and mutuall affection Love hath a sure foundation when it is built not on beauty or wealth but upon prayer and grace Satan cannot abide to see men and women in this estate to live in quiet and love and this makes him to use all the art and power hee hath to trouble the waters to blow up the affections after a wrong object for then when such lusts are in love goes out he knowes that the droppings of love will keepe us from such immoderate desires which makes him to goe all the wayes he can to worke to fill the head full of surmises and jealousies the heart full of extravagant lusts and all to marre the harmony which ought to be betwixt couples the house the towne is out of quieâ— when such are out of love all which cals upon such as are married to be as watchfull and carefull to keepe all right to remember that it is the convenant of the Lord that it is not made by man but by the Lord all covenants else that are lawfull are a far off the covenant of the Lord and done in his sight but here the Lord is a party and God hath a speciall hand in this bargaine and he sees as within book quite â—horâ—w and is acquainted with all our thoughts a far off wherefore wee must in thought in word and in deed keepe close to the party the Lord hath bound us unto and wherein we have entred into bond to the Lord for our faithfulnesse such then must be a covering to one anothers eyes else the heart will not stand cleane and the meanes before prescribed and other both naturall and morall directions which wee finde up and downe in Writers must be used with all care and conscience and much diligence and all little enough our nature is catching this way and once in it is not so easie to come off but rather to runne in this case further and further off or else grow into discontents pangs of conscience terrours of heart inward gripings out of which if wee come the right way it must bee with much bitternesse after we have waded first 〈◊〉 a kinde of purgatory if we never claw off those gripings the right way then such run into a seared conscience or which is worse breake prison and thrust themselves out of this