of holinesse and grace which in Christ wee haue receiued For as sense of sin as a cursed thing which is legall humiliation doth arise from that faith whereby wee beleeve and assent to the truth of God in all his threatnings which is a legall faith so the Abominating of sinne as an uncleane thing and contrary to the image and holinesse of God which is evangelicall repentance doth arise from evangelicall faith whereby we look upon God as most mercifull most holie and therefore most worthie to bee imitated and served Secondly Renovation and that two fold First inward in the constitution of the heart which is by faith purified Secondly outward in the conversation and practice when a man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and as he hath received the Lord Iesus so walketh in him Now in all our obedience wee must observe these three Rules First that binding power which is in the law doth solely depend upon the authority of the Lawgiver who is God Hee that customarilie and without care of obedience or feare of displeasure or antipathy of spirit breaks any one Commandement ventures to violate that authority which by one and the same ordination made the whole law equally binding by consequence is habitually in praeparatione animi a transgressor of the whole Law And therefore Obedience must not bee partiall but vniversall as proceeding from that faith which hath respect equally to all Gods will and lookes upon him as most true and most holy in all his commands Secondly As God so his Law is a spirituall and a perfect Law and therefore requires an inward universality of the subject as well as that other of the Precepts which wee walke by I meane such a spiritual and sincere obedience of the hart as may without any mercenary or reserv'd respects uniformely sway our whole man unto the same way and end Thirdly In every Law all matter Homogeneall and of the same kind with the particular named every sprig seede originall of the Dutie is included as all the branches of a tree belong unto the same stock And by these rules wee are to examine the truth of our obedience Before I draw downe these premises to a particular Assumption and Applycation I must for Caution sake premise that faith may be in the heart either habitually as an actus primus a forme or seede or principle of working or else actually as an actus secundus a particular Operation and that in the former sense it doth but remotely dispose and order the soule to these properties but in the later it doth more visibly and distinctly produce them So then according as the heart is deaded in the exercise of Faith so doe these properties thereof more dimly appeare and more remisly worke Secondly we must note that according as faith hath severall workings so Satan hath severall wayes to assault and weaken it There are two maine workes of Faith Obedience and Comfort to purifie and to pacifie the heart and according unto these so Satan tempts His maine end is to wrong and dishonour God and therefore chiefly hee labours to disable the former vertue of Faith and tempts to sinne against God But when hee cannot proceede so farre hee labours to discomfort and crush the spirits of men when hee prevailes in the former he weakens all the properties of Faith when in the later onely he doth not then weaken all but onely intercept and darken a Christians peace For understanding this point we must note that there are many acts of faith Some direct that looke outward towards Christ others reflexive that looke inward upon themselves The first act of faith is that whereby a man having beene formerly reduced unto extremities and impossibilities within himselfe lookes upon God as Omnipotent and so able to save as mercifull and in Christ reconcileable and so likely to save if he be sought unto Hereupon growes a second act namely a kinde of exclusive resolution to be thinke himselfe of no new wayes to trust no inferiour causes for salvation or righteousnes to sell all to count them all dung not to consult any more with flesh or blood but to prepare the heart to seeke the Lord To resolve as the Lepers in the famine at Samaria not to continue in the state he is in nor yet to returne to the Citie to his wonted haunts and wayes where he shall be sure to perish and from this resolution a man cannot by any discomforts bee removed or made to bethinke himselfe of any other new way but onely that which hee sees is possible and probable and where he knowes if he finde acceptance hee shall have supplyes and life enough and this act may consist with much feare doubt and trembling The Syrians had food and Samaria had none therefore the Lepers resolve to venture abroad Yet this they cannot doe without much doubting and distrust because the Syrians whom they should meete with were their enemies However this resolution over-rul'd them because in their present estate they were sure to perish in the other there was roome for hope and possibilitie of living and that carried them co Esters resolution If we perish we perish such is the Act of Faith in this present case It is well assured that in the case a man is in there is nothing but death to bee expected therefore it makes him resolve to relinquish that It lookes upon God as plenteous in power and mercie and so likely to save and yet it sees him too as arm'd with Iustice against sinne as justly provoked and wearied in his patience and therefore may feare to bee rejected and not saved alive Yet because in the former state there is a certainty to perish in the later a possibility not to perish therefore from hence ariseth a third act a conclusive and positive purpose to trust Christ. I will not onely deny all other wayes but I will resolve to trie this way to set about it to go to him that hath plenty of redemption and Life If I must perish yet He shall reject me I will not reject my selfe I will goe unto Him And this act or resolution of faith is built upon these grounds First because Gods Love and free Grace is the first originall mover in our salvation If God did beginne His worke upon prevision of any thing in and from our selves we should never dare to come vnto Him because wee should never finde any thing in our selves to ground His mercie towards us upon But now the Love of God is so absolute and independant that it doth not only require nothing in us to excite and to cal it out but it is not so much as grounded upon Christ himselfe I speake of His first Love and Grace Christ was not the impulsive cause of Gods first Love to mankinde but was Himselfe the great gift which God sent to men therein to testifie that Hee did freely love them before God so
services 246 In the best there is a partiall impotency 250 What a man should doe when he finds himselfe disabled and deaded in good workes 253 2. It is an estate of extreme enmitie against God and his waies 255 How the spirit by the Commandement doth convince men to be in the state of sinne 258 The spirit by the commandement convinceth men to bee under the guilt of sinne 260 There is a naturall conviction of the guilt of sinne and 260 There is a spirituall and evangelicall conviction of the guilt of sinne 261 What the guilt and Punishments of sinne are 262 ROM 6. 12. Sinne will abide in the time of this mortall life in the most Holie 273 Our death with Christ unto sinne is a strong argument against the raigne of it 275 Difference betweene the regall and tyrannicall power of Sinne. 277 Whether a man belong unto Christ or sinne 279 Sinne hath much strength from it selfe 282 from Satan and the world 285 from us 285 What it is to obey sinne in the lusts thereof 286 Whether sinne may Raigne in a regenerate man 288 How wicked men may be convinc'd that sinne doth raigne in them Two things make up the raigne of sinne 1. In sinne power 290 2. In the sinner a willing and vncontroled subiection 290 Three exceptions against the evidence of the raigne of sinne in the wicked 291 1. There may be a raigne of sinne when it is not discerned 292 Whether small sinnes may raigne 293 Whether secret sinnes may raigne 294 Whether sins of ignorance may raigne 295 Whether naturall concupiscence may raigne 296 Whether sinnes of omission may raigne 296 2. Other causes besides the power of Christs Grace may worke a partiall abstinence from sinne and conformitie in service 1. The power of restraining grace 298 Differences between restraining and renewing Grace 2. Affectation of the credit of godlinesse 302 3. The Power of pious education 304 4. The legall power of the word 305 5. The power of a naturall illightned Conscience 305 6. Selfe love and particular ends 307 7. The antipathy and contradiction of sinnes 309 3. Differences betweene the conflicts of a naturall and spirituall conscience 1. In the Principles of them 310 2. In their seates and stations 313 3. In the manner and qualities of the conflict 314 4. In their effects 316 5. In their ends 317 Why every sinne doth not raigne in every wicked man 317 2. COR. 7. 1. The Apostles reasons against Idolatrous communion 321 The doctrine of the pollution of sinne 322 The best workes of the best men mingled whith pollution 325 The best workes of wicked men full of pollution 237 What the pollution of sinne is 328 The properties of the pollution of sinne 1. It is a deepe pollution 329 2. It is an universall Pollution 330 3. It is a spreading Pollution 330 4. It is a mortall Pollution 332 Why God requireth that of us which he worketh in us 335 How promises tend to the dutie of cleansing ourselves 1. Promises containe the matter of rewards and so presuppose services 337 2. Promises are efficient causes of purification 1. As tokens of Gods love Love the ground of making fidelity of performing Promises 338 2. As the grounds of our hope and expectations 340 3. As obiects of our faith 342 4. As the raies of Christ to whom they lead us 345 5. As exemplars patterns and seeds of puritie 346 3. Many promises are made of purification itselfe 347 Rules directing how to use the Promises 1. Generall Promises are particularly and particulars generally appliable 350 2. Promises are certaine performances secret 352 3. Promises are subordinated and are performed with dependence 357 4. Promises most usefull in extremities 359 5. Experience of God in some promises confirmeth faith in others 360 6. The same temporall blessing may belong to one man onely out of providence to another out of promise 361 7. Gods promises to us must be the ground of our prayers to him 364 ROM 7. 13. The Law is neither sinne nor death 368 The Law was promulgated on Mount Sina by Moses onely with Evangelicall purposes 371 God will doe more for the salvation then for the damnation of men 372 The Law is not given ex primaria intentione to condemne men 385 The Law is not given to iustifie or save men 386 The Law by accident doth irritate and punish or curse sinne 386 The Law by itselfe doth discover and restraine sinne 387 Preaching of the Law necessary 388 Acquaintance with the Law strengthens Humility Faith Comfort Obedience 392 The third Treatise The Life of Christ. 1. IOH. 5. 12. ALL a Christians excellencies are from Christ. 400 1. From Christ wee have our life of righteousnesse 401 Three Offices of Christs mediatorship His Payment of our debt 401 Purchase of our inheritance 401 Intercession 401 Righteousnesse consisteth in remission and adoption 402 By this Life of righteousnesse we are delivered from 1. Sinne. 403 2. Law as a Covenant of righteousnesse Law full of Rigor Curses Bondage 2. From Christ we have our life of holinesse 407 Discoveries of a vitall operation 407 Christ is the Principle of our holinesse 409 Christ is the patterne of holinesse 410 Some workes of Christ imitable others unimitable 410 Holinesse beares conformity to Christs active obedience 412 How we are said to be holy as Christ is holy 413 Holinesse consists in a conformitie unto Christ. Proved from 1. The ends of Christs comming 415 2. The nature of holinesse 416 3. The quality of the mysticall body of Christ. 418 4. The vnction of the Spirit 418 5. The summe of the Scriptures 419 The proportions betweene our holinesse and Christs must be 1. In the seeds and principles 419 2. In the ends Gods glory the Churches good 420 3. In the parts 4. In the manner of it Selfe-deniall 421 Obedience 422 Proficiencie 423 What Christ hath done to the Law for us 423 We must take heed of will-holinesse or being our owne Rule 425 Christs life the Rule of ours 427 3. From Christ wee have our life of glorie 429 The attributes or properties of our Life in Christ 1. It is a hidden life 432 2. It is an abounding life 437 3. It is an abiding life 438 No forrsigne assult is too hard for the life of Christ 439 Arguments to reestablish the heart of a repenting sinner against the terror of some great fall from 1. The strength of Faith 442 2. The love and free grace of God 446 3. Gods Promise and covenant 448 4. The obsignation of the spirit 449 5. The nature and effects of Faith 449 THE VANITIE OF THE CREATVRE AND VEXATION OF THE SPIRIT By EDWARD REYNOLDS Preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolns Inne PAX OPVLENTIAM SAPIENTIA PACEM FK LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostock 1631. Christian Reader Importunitie of Friends hath over-rul'd me to this Publication and importunitie of businesse crossing me in the putting of these pieces together hath made
loved the World that He gave His Son Herein is Love not that we loved Him but that Hee loved us and sent His Son The love must needs go before the gift because the gift is an effect a token a testimonie of the Love Christ first loved the Church before He gave Himselfe for it Now then if the first Love of God to man was not procured merited or excited by Christ Himselfe as Mediator but was altogether absolute much lesse doth the Love of God ground it selfe upon any thing in us The whole series of our Salvation is made up without respect to any thing of ours or from us He Loved us without cause or ground in our selves For we Love Him because He first loved us He elected us of meere grace without cause or ground from our selves There is a remnant saith the Apostle according to the Election of grace and if of grace then is it no more of workes otherwise grace is no more grace Hee called us without Intuition of any thing in our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle not according to our owne workes but according to His purpose and grace He called us with an Holy calling He Iustified us without any ground in or from our selves frely by his grace when we were enemies and ungodly persons He saveth us without any ground in and from our selv's By grace ye are sav'd through faith that not of your selvs ' There is nothing in us of which wee may boast in the matter of Salvation and therefore there is nothing in us which should make us despaire or flie from God for all the gradations and progresses of our Salvation are alone from His Grace Secondly because there is an All-sufficiencie in the righteousnesse and merits of Christ To cleanse all sin To consummate all our saluation to subdue all our enemies To answere all our objections to silence all challenges and charges that are laid against us Thirdly because of the manifold experiences which many other grievous sinners have found of the same love and All-sufficiencie When Faith lookes upon a converted Manasse upon a thiefe translated into paradise upon a persecutor turned into an Apostle and when it considers that God hath a residue of spirit still that the blood of Christ is an inexhausted fountaine and that these spectacles of Gods compassion are in the Scriptures exhibited that wee through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope and that God in them did shew forth all long suffering for a patterne to those who should after beleeue in Him It then makes a man reflect inward upon himselfe and resolve to trie that gate at which they have entered before Fourthly because there is a generalitie and unlimitednesse in the Invitation unto Christ. Come unto mee all that are wearie Let every one that will come There is in Christ erected an Office of Salvation a Heavenly Chancerie of equitie and mercie not onely to moderate the rigor but to reverse and revoke the very acts of the Law Christ is set foorth or proposed openly as a Sanctuarie and ensigne for the natious to flie unto and He hath sent His Ambassadors abroad to warne and to invite every man As a Fountaine is open for any man to drinke and a schoole for any man to learne and the Gate of a Citie for any man to enter and a Court of Equitie for any man to relieve himselfe so Christ is publikely and universally set forth as a generall refuge from the wrath to come upon no other condition then such a will as is nor onely desirous to enjoy His mercie but to submit to His Kingdome and glorifie the power of His Spirit and Grace in new obedience Fifthly because God Himselfe workes the worke and the will in us For in the new Covenant God workes first In the first Covenant man was able by his created and naturall strength to worke his owne condition and so to expect Gods performance But in the New as there is difference in the things covenanted then only righteousnesse and Salvation now remission of sinnes and adoption in the meanes or intermediate causes which are now Christ and His righteousnesse and Spirit in the stability that a perishable this an eternall and finall Covenant that can never be changed in the conditions there legall obedience heere only faith and the certaine consequent thereof repentance So likewise is there difference in the manner of performing these conditions for now God Himselfe beginnes first to worke upon us and in us before we move or stirre towards Him Hee doth not onely commaund us and leave us to our created strength to obey the Command but He furnisheth us with His owne Grace and Spirit to fulfill the Commaund and when He bids us come unto Him He doth likewise draw us unto Him In this Covenant the first Treatie is betweene God and Christ. For though the Covenant be betweene God and us yet the negotiation and transaction of it is betweene God and Christ who was a suretie of the Covenant for us For first God in His decree of Love bestowed us upon Christ. Thine they were and thou gavest them unto me we were chosen in Him wee to be members in Him and He to be a Head and Fountaine unto us of all grace and glorie For God had committed unto Him an Office of power to redeeme His Church and He received a Commandement from His Father to finish the worke of mediation Secondly being thus made Christs partly by the gift of Gods eternall Love partly by Christs owne voluntarie susception of that Office whereby He was to be a Head and Captaine of Salvation to His Members God in due time reveales Himselfe His Name Power and Covenant unto us I have manifested thy Name unto the men which thou gavest mee and this is the tender of the Covenant and beginning of a Treaty with us And here God beginnes to worke in us for though the Covenant be proposed under a condition yet God gives us as well the condition as the Covenant Our Faith is the operation of God and the work of his Power that which he requires of us He doth bestow upon us and here the first worke of God is spiritual and heavenly teaching The second is the terminus or product of that teaching our learning which I call Gods worke not as if we did nothing when we are said to learne and to come unto Christ but because all that we doe is by the strength and grace which from Him we receive wee come unto Christ as a childe may be said to come unto his mother or nurse who holds him at a distance from her selfe and drawes him neerer and neerer when she cals him Thus as we were made Christs by donation Thou gavest them me so after likewise by incorporation
expose as few of thy affections to the rage of worldly lust as may be beware of being carried where two seas meet as the ship wherein Paul suffer'd shipwracke I meane of plunging thy selfe in a confluence of many boisterous and conflicting businesses least for thine inordinate prosecution of worldly things the Lord either give thy Soule over to suffer shipwracke in them or strip thee of all thy lading and tackling breake thine estate all to pieces and make thee glad to get to Heaven upon a broken planke 3. The fashion of this world passeth over it doth but goe along by thee and salute thee and therefore use it as if thou used'st it not doe to it as thou would'st doe to a stranger whom thou meetest in the way he goes one way and thou another salute him stay so long in his companie till from him thou have received better instructions touching the turnings and difficulties of thine owne way but take heed thou turne not into the way of the Creature least thou lose thine owne home Secondly Get an Eye of Faith to looke Through and Above the Creature A man shall never get to looke of from the world till he can looke beyond it For the Soule will have hold-fast of something and the reason why men cling so much to the earth is because they have no assurance if they let goe that hold of having any subsistence else-where Labour therefore to get an interest in Christ to finde an everlasting footing in the stedfastnesse of Gods Promises in him and that will make thee willing to suffer the losse of all things it will implant a kinde of hatred and disestimation of all the most pretious endearements which thy soule did feede upon before Saint Peter saith of wicked men that they are Purblinde they cannot see a farre off they can see nothing but that which is next them and therefore no marvell if their thoughts cannot reach unto the End of the Creature There is in a dimme eye the same constant and habituall indisposition which sometimes happeneth unto a sound eye by reason of a thicke mist though a man be walking in a very short lane yet he sees no end of it and so a naturall man cannot reach to the period of earthly things death and danger are still a great way out of his sight whereas the eye of faith can looke upon them as already expiring and through them looke upon him who therefore gives the Creatures unto us that in them we might see his power and taste his goodnesse And nature it selfe me thinkes may seeme to have intended some such thing as this in the very order of the Creatures Downeward a mans eye hath something immediately to fixe on All is shut up in darkenesse save the very surface to note that we should have our desires shut up too from these earthly things which are put under our feete and hid from our eyeâ— and buried in their owne deformitie All the beauty and all the fruit of the earth is placed on the very outside of it to shew how short and narrow our affections should be towards it But upward the eye sindes scarce any thing to bound it all is transparant and dâ—…aphanous to note how vast our affections should be towards God how endlesse our thoughts and desires of his kingdome how present to our faith the heavenly things should be even at the greatest distance The Apostle saith That Faith is the Substance of things hoped for that it gives being and present subsistency to things farre distant from us makes those things which in regard of naturall causes are very remote in regard of Gods Promises to seeme hard at hand And therefore though there were many hundred yeeres to come in the Apostles time and for ought we know may yet be to the dissolution of the world yet the Apostle tels us that even then it was the last houre because faith being able distinctly to see the truth and promises of God and the Endlesnesse of that life which is then presently to be revealed the infinite excesse of vastnesse in that made that which was otherwise a great space seeme even as nothing no more in comparison then the length of a Cane or Trunke through which a man lookes on the heavens or some vast countrey And ever the greater magnitude and light there is in a body the smaller will the medium or distance seeme from it the reason why a perspective glasse drawes remote objects close to the eye is because it multiplies the species We then by faith apprehending an infinite and everlasting Glory must needs conceive any thing through which we looke upon it to be but short vanishing And therfore though the promises were a farre off in regard of their owne existence yet the Patriarkes did not onely see but embrace them their faith seem'd to nullifie and swallow up all the distance Abraham saw Christs day and was glad he looked upon those many ages which were betweene him and his promised seed as upon small aâ—…d unconsiderable distances in comparison of that endlesse glory into which they ran they were but as a curten or piece of hangings which divide one roome in a house from another Labour therefore to get a distinct view of the height and length and breadth and depth and the unsearchable love of God in Christ to find in thine own soule the truth of God in his promises that his word abideth forever and that will make all the glory of other things to seeme but as grasse Lastly though the Creature be mortall in it selfe yet in regard of man as it is an Instrument serviceable to his purposes and subordinate to the graces of God in him it may bee made of use even for Immortality To which purpose excellent is that speech of Holy Austin If you have not these earthly Goods saith he take heed how thou get them by evill workes here and if thou have them labour by good workes to hold them even when thou art gone to heaven Make you friends saith our Saviour of the unrighteous 〈◊〉 that when you faile they may receive you into everlasting habitations a religious and mercifull use of earthly things makes way to Immortalitie and Blessednesse Cast thy bread upon the waters and after many dayes thou shalt finde it It is an allusion unto husbandmen They doe not eate up and sell away all their corne for then the world would quickely bee destitute but the way they take to perpetuate the fruits of the earth is to cast some of it backe againe into a fruitfull soile where the waters come and then in due time they receive it with encrease so should we doe with these worldly blessings sow them in the bowels and backes of the poore members of Christ and in the day of harvest we shall finde a great encrease If then draw out thy soule to the righteous and satisfie the afflicted soule then shall
entred by Moses that sin might abound that is That that concupiscence which reigned without conviction before during the ignorance of the originall implanted Law might by the new edition and publication of that Law be knowne to be sinfull and thereby become more exceeding sinful to those who should be thus convinced of it that so the exceeding sinfulnesse of sinne might serve both the sooner to compell men to come to Christ and the Grace of Christ might thereby appeare to be more exceeding gratious for the Law was reviv'd and promulgated anew meerely with relation to Christ and the Gospell and therefore the Apostle saith It was added and ordained by Angels in the Hand of a Mediator or by the ministery of a Mediator Where there are three reasons to shew Gods Evangelicall purpose in the publication of the Law anew First it was not published alone but as an Additament with relation to the Evangelicall promise which was before made Secondly the service of Angels or Messengers which shewes that in the Law God did send from Heaven anew to instruct men and therein to take care of them and prepare them for salvation for Angels minister for this purpose that men might be heires of salvation Thirdly the ministry of a Mediator namely Moses who was Mediator in the Law with reference whereunto Christ is cald Mediator of a better Covenant and was faithfull as Moses Now where there is a Mediator appointed therein God declares his purpose to enter anew into a treaty with men and to bring them to termes of agreement and reconciliation with him Men were rebels against God held under the sentence of death and vengeance they are in darkenesse know not whither they goe are well pleasde with their owne estate give no heed to any that would call them out For this reason because God is willing to pull mē out of the fire he sends first Moses armed with thunder and brightnesse which can not be endur'd for the shining of Moses his face which the people could not abide denotes the exceeding purity and brightnesse of the Law which no sinner is able with peace to looke on and he shews them whither they are hastning namely to eternall death and like the Angell that met Balaam in a narrow roome shuts them in that either they must turne backe againe or else bee destroyed and in this fright and anguish Christ the mediator of a better covenant presents himselfe as a Sanctuary and refuge from the condemnation of the Law Secondly there is universalitie of men and in men universality of parts All men and every part of man shut up under the guilt and power of this sinne Both these the Apostle proves at large Iewes Gentiles all under sinne none righteous no not one all gone out of the way altogether become unprofitable none that doth good no not one Every mouth must be stopped all the world must be guilty before God all have sinned and come short or are destitute of his glory God hath concluded all in unbeliefe the Scripture hath shut up all under sinne this shewes the universality of persons The Apostle adds Their throate is an open sep◅lcher with their tongues they have used deceit the poyson of aspes is under their lips their mouth full of cursing and bitternesse their feete swift to shed bloud destruction and unhappinesse are in their wayes and the way of peace they have not knowne there is no feare of God before their eyes these particulars are enough to make up an Induction and so to inferre a universalitie of Parts Every purpose desire Imagination incomplete and inchoate notion every figment so the word properly signifies with reference whereunto the Apostle as I conceive cals sinne The creature of the Heart and our Saviour the Issue of the Heart is evill onely evill continually evill Originall sinne is an entire body an old man which word noteth not the impotencie or defects but the maturity wisedome cunning covetousnesse full growth of that sinne in us and in this man every member is earthly sensuall and divelish As there is chaffe about every corne in a field saltnesse in every drop of the sea bitternesse in every branch of wormewood so is ehere sinne in every faculty of man First looke into the minde you shall finde it full of vanitie wasting and wearying it selfe in childish impertinent unprofitable notions Full of ignorance and darknesse no man knoweth nay no man hath so much knowledge as to enquire or seeke after God in that way where he will bee found nay more when God breakes in upon the minde by some notable testimonie from his Creatures Iudgements or providence yet they like it not they hold it downe they reduce themselves backe againe to foolish hearts to reprobate and undiscerning mindes as naturally as hot water returnes to its former coldnesse Full of Curiositie Rash unprofitable enquiries foolish and unlearned questions profane bablings strife of words perverse disputes all the fruits of corrupt and rotten mindes Full of Pride and contradiction against the Truth oppositions of science that is setting up of philosophy and vaine deceit Imaginations thoughts fleshly reasonings against the spirit and truth which is in Iesus Full of domesticall Principles fleshlie wisedome humane Inventions contrivances super-inducements upon the pretious foundation of rules and methods of its owne to serve God and come to happinesse Full of Inconsistency and roving swarmes of empty and foolish thoughts slipperinesse and unstablenesse in all good motions Secondly looke into the Conscience you shall finde it full of Insensiblenesse the Apostle saith of the Gentiles That they were past feeling and of the Apostates in the latter times that they had their consciences seared with a hot iron which things though they be spoken of an Habituall and acqui◅'d hardnesse which growes upon men by a custome of sinne yet wee are to note that it is originally in the Conscience at first and doth not so much come unto it as grow out of it As that branch which at first shooting out is flexible and tender growes at last even by it owne disposition into a hard and stubbo◅e bow as those parts of the naile next the flesh which are at first softer then the rest yet doe of themselves grow to that hardnesse which is in the rest so the consciences of children have the seedes of that insensibility in them which makes them at last dea◅e to every charme and secure against all the thunder that is threatned against them Full of Impurity and disobedience dead rotten unsavorie workes Full of false and absurd excusations and accusations fearing where there is no cause of feare and acquitting where there is great cause of feare as Saint Pauls here did Looke into the Heart and you shall finde a very He◅ of uncleannesse Full of deepe and unsearchable deceit and wickednesse Full of hardnesse no sinnes no judgements no mercies no