7. What is required of them who may expect this great priviledge 1. We shall consider what Sin is and what is the foul nature of it that so we may the better estimate the great goodness of God in pardoning of it The Apostle shews us 1 John 3.4 that Sin is the transgression of the Law The Law of God is the rule of the actions of man and any deviation from that rule is a Sin and brings us under guilt 2. Let us consider what are the kinds of Sin Sin is either original or actual 1. Original Sin is by the Church of England in her Articles described to be a fault and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is engendred of the off-spring of Adam whereby man is very far gone from original Righteousness and inclined unto evil In which description three things may be observed 1. Original sin is the corruption of the nature of every man descended from the loins of Adam 2. It is a departure from that original Righteousness wherewith the Lord enriched Adam and our selves in him 3. 'T is an inclination to evil So that the whole race and off-sping of Adam who were then radically seminally and potentially in his loins were infected with this contagion As the Scripture sayes of Levi that he paid tythes in Abraham to Melchisedec Heb. 7.9 10. For he was then in the loyns of his Father Abraham when Melchisedec met him So all we and the whole race of Mankind were in Adam when he lost himself And that we are all from the womb tainted with this original corruption * Unum illud peccatum fons est aliorum Becan and depravation of nature is plain and manifest from these Scriptures Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me Ephes 2.3 And were by nature the children of wrath even as others And that even Infants themselves are tainted with this original corruption may appear from this that they are liable to death Now Death is a wages no way due to Infants for actual sins for actually as yet they have not offended therefore there must need be in them some original guilt some birth-sin which makes them liable to death 2. Actual sin which is the fruit of original is any action or commission or any omission repugnant unto the Law of God 3. Let us consider the wages of sin The Apostle tells us Rom. 6. last The wages of sin is death The wages due reward and fruit of sin is death But life eternal is the fruit of righteousness not as its wages but as a gift freely given by God upon the account of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ Every sin therefore being a deviation from the Law of God brings us under guilt and guilt makes us liable to suffer the punishment which is due to our sins and proportional to our offences And our offences are augmented by the consideration of the dignity of the person against whom they are committed And being committed against God must therefore needs be very heinous and bind us over to suffer eternal punishment except we obtain a pardon and our sins be remitted 4. Let us consider by whom sins are remitted 1. Men may forgive offences committed against them so far forth as they concern them Luke 17.3 4. If thy brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him and if he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him But as Sin is a transgression of Gods Law so God only can forgive it 2. 'T is God the Fathers Prerogative to forgive Sins Isaiah 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgression for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins 3. God communicated this power to his Son while he was here on the earth who had power of forgiving sins as part of that power that was given him both in Heaven and Earth Mark 2.5 and 7. When Jesus saw their Faith he said unto the sick of the Palsie Son thy sins be forgiven thee The Scribes ask who can forgive sins but God only Their position was good that God only can forgive sins but their supposition false that Christ was a meer man and not God as well as Man 4. Ministers may forgive sins not authoritatively but Ministerially and declaratively They preach remission in Christs name declare what persons they must be and what they must do who shall obtain it 5. Let us consider upon what account and for whose sake sins are forgiven The external impulsive cause inclining God to pardon us our sins and trespasses is the respect he hath to the obedience and sufferings of our Saviour Jesus Christ The Apostle tells us Rom. 3.24 that we are justified freely by the grace of God as by the internal impulsive cause of our justification by which he was first moved to forgive us our sins and then through the redemption wrought by Jesus Christ as the external moving or impulsive cause of so great a mercy The death of Christ is the meritorious cause of our forgiveness Mat. 26.28 For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Ephes 1.7 In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace Acts 13.38 39. Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses 1 John 1.7 And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin Rev. 1.5 Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood God is indeed said to remit our sins but never to remit the price without which we had never been redeemed The Law promised life but upon perfect absolute uninterrupted obedience and the voice thereof was Do this and live But this we failed in we need therefore the interposition of the Sacrifice of Christ for us The atonement made by the Sacrifices under the Law clearly had relation to the death of the Messias and whatsoever vertue was in them did operate through his death alone As he was a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world in Gods decree so all atonements which were ever made were only effectual through his blood So that no sin was ever forgiven but by vertue of that satisfaction and God was never reconciled to any sinner but by intuition of that propitiation Yet the general doctrine of remission of sins was never clearly revealed and publickly preached to all Nations till the coming of our Saviour in the flesh 6. Let us consider what forgiveness of sins doth import and contain in it Forgiveness of Sins doth comprehend in it reconciliation of an offended God and a
Resurrection of the just John 6.39 And this is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day verse 40. And this is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day 1 Thes 4.14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him Verse 15. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep verse 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Arch-Angel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ sholl rise first Let us now consider what improvement we should make of this doctrine 1. Let us take heed of erring about this doctrine Let us take heed of the leven of the Sadducees who said there was no resurrection Acts 23.8 There are two sorts of persons that exceedingly erre about this doctrine 1. Those that affirm that there is no other Resurrection but that which is Spiritual viz. that of the soul from the death of sin This was the error of Hymenaeus and Philetus 2 Tim. 2.17 18. They acknowledged no other Resurrection but the renovation of the mind which passes upon a man in this life Now this Spiritual Resurrection is limited only to true Believers but the Corporal belongs to all that are in the Graves of whom our Saviour says John 5.29 They shall all come forth some to life and some to damnation which cannot possibly be meant of the Spiritual Resurrection and therefore there is another besides that 2. Those that say the same numerical body that died shall not rise again but some new airy body not flesh and blood bones and sinews as ours are made up of But this is a great error For 1. If the same bodies do not arise then 't is not a Resurrection but a new Creation I acknowledge 't is not necessary they should arise with every parcel and particle of flesh they ever had or had when they dyed but they shall rise with so much of their bodies as shall make them the same numerical bodies that died As a man in the Wars if he lose an arm or a leg yet we say and say truly he is the same man still that he was before So the dead shall rise with so much of their bodies as shall when reunited to their souls make them the same persons they were before 2. Our Saviour sayes all that are in the Graves shall come forth that is surely the same bodies that lay there and not other bodies for them Rev. 20.13 'T is said the Sea shall render up its dead surely not new bodies but the old bodies that were buried there 3. The Bodies of true Believers as well as their Souls are united to Christ and thereby made the Temples of the Holy Ghost as the Apostle assures us 1 Cor. 6.19 And can you think Christ will lose any one of his members he assures us to the contrary John 6.39 r 40. 4. The Apostle tells us this corruptible this mortal shall put on incorruption and immortality 1 Cor. 15.53 Therefore the same bodies that are now mortal and must die shall be raised And indeed the Apostle plainly shews all along in that excellent discourse of the Resurrection that he intends that the same body that dyed should rise again 5. It seems most agreeable to the Justice of God that it should be so viz. that the same numerical body that was the souls instrument either in good or evil actions either in works of Righteousness or Sin should partake with the Soul also in its rewards or punishments shall they that beat down their bodies and bring them into subjection or suffer Martyrdom in their bodies for the cause of Christ be rewarded in other bodies than those that thus suffered Or shall that body and flesh of a wicked man which was so great an instrument of his soul in sinning against God and dishonouring of him and hurting others be dissolved into dust and shall another body be framed for that miserable soul to suffer with it those exquisite torments that the damned must suffer for ever Surely this cannot be Therefore it seems most agreeable to the Justice and Providence of God that every one should receive either reward or punishment in his own body which he had here in this life 6. Christ himsâ—lf did rise with his own body viz. with that body that had been crucified And others that had slept in their Graves did come forth thence at our Saviours Resurrection and surely they came forth with those very bodies that slept there and not with new bodies Matth. 27.52 53. * We have here the first fruits of the resurrection to confiâ—m our faith And so much of the first use 2. Let us labour to strengthen our Faith in the belief of this Article And in order hereunto let us consider 1. This Article was that which many faithful Christians were ready to suffer Martyrdom for and to seal with their own blood 1 Cor. 15.29 else what shall they do or what shall become of them that are baptized that is that suffer Martyrdom * For so the word to be Baptized signifies sometimes as Mark 38. and the praepos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies for Acts 9.16 See Apost hist page 182. for the dead namely for professing to believe the Resurrection of the dead And why stand we in jeopardy every hour viz. of the like Baptism for the same profession either from persâ—cuting Sadducees who allow no Resurrection or from the furious Jews who deny Christ to be risen 2. This Article is a great foundation of a Christians hope 1 Pet. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead For if in this life only we had hope we were of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15.19 3. This Doctrine tends much to the illustrating the infinite wisdom power justice and mercy of God 4. It teaches us how much we owe to our Lord and Saviour who hath redeemed our bodies as well as our souls and will save our bodies as well as our souls 3. If there will be a Resurrection let us not bewail the death of our pious friends with too much sorrow or concernment Their bodies are but laid up for a glorious Resurrection 4. The consideration and belief of the Resurrection should strengthen us against the fear of our own death As God said to Jacob Gen. 46.3 4. Fear not to go down into Egypt for I will go with thee and bring thee
what sweet Meditations should we have of Gods Mercy Love thankfulness and praise should be our daily exercise Had we Davids heart what Songs of praise would the consideration of Gods Mercy teach us to indite How affectionately should we recount the Mercies of our youth and riper years Yea of every state and condition we have been in to the honour of our great Benefactor But especially if God hath touched our hearts with his saving grace if he hath effectually called us and inabled us to repent of our sins and believe in his Son O then how should we bow down our heads and adore his free grace as the cause thereof If we have received any grace tending to our own sanctification or the edification of others Let us say as Paul did 1 Cor. 15.20 By the grace of God I am that I am Thirdly The meditation of Gods goodness and mercy to us should possess us with a superlative love to God Most certainly the prevailing love of God is the surest evidence of true sanctification He that hath most love has most grace And if you truly love God you will be loath to offend him The love of God doth not reign in that soul where the love of the World or of the Flesh or Pleasure reigneth Fourthly The Mercy of God should teach us to imitate him in this Attribute We should labour to be mercifull as our Heavenly Father is mercifull that is as to the manner though we cannot reach to the measure The goodness of God should possess us with a desire to be conformed to his goodness in our measure Summae Religionis est imitari quem colis Now God is mercifull two ways especially in Giving Forgiving First In Giving O how does the Lord supply our wants daily Let us therefore shew mercy to those that want our help Secondly In Forgiving O what a vast number of debts does the Lord forgive us Gods mercy to us layes the greatest Obligation imaginable upon us to forgive others (c) A Christian may remember offences in cautelam though not in vindictam Matth. 18.23 Shall not we forgive an Hundred Pence who have had Ten Thousand Talents forgiven unto us Fifthly We should especially observe and take notice of the mercy of God so highly manifested in the design of our Redemption 1 Joh. 4.10 Here is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins Was there ever Mercy like this We have reason to cry out O the depth of the riches of the mercy of God! O Lord what is man that thou art so mindful of him or the Son of man that thou thus visitest him with thy favour and mercy Sixthly Gods goodness and mercy should encourage our Souls to trust in him How many friends have some men with whom they dare trust their Estates or Lives because they are confident they truly love them And shall we not trust God who is love it self 1 John 4.16 I come now to the last of Gods communicable Attributes which I shall speak unto which is His faithfulness in keeping of his Covenant and Promises V. God is Faithful Faithful One letter of Gods glorious Name is abundant in truth or faithfulness The Scriptures abundantly bear Testimony unto this Deut. 7.9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithfull God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandements to a Thousand Generations Isai 49.7 The Lord who is faithfull Rom. 3.4 Let God be true that is owned and acknowledged for such though all mankind should be false and deceitful Now Gods Faithfulness is manifâ—sted Two ways In fulfilling his promises In accomplishing his Threatnings God cannot in any case fail of his word It is impossible for him to lie Heb. 6.18 Tit. 1.2 As God is light and in him there is no darkness 1 Joh. 1.5 So he is truth and in him there is no falshood The strength of Israel will not lye 1 Sam. 15.29 And Numb 23.19 God is not a man that he should lye God hath promised to them that repent and believe in his Son that they shall be saved He hath promised to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luk. 11 9. And we have reason firmly to believe these promises As for Temporal things he hath not promised them to any of his Children absolutely but with a tacit condition if he in his infinite Wisdom see it good and expedient for them So that as to these we must humbly refer our selves to his infinite Wisdom 'T is true we are required to pray for these Temporal things in faith but not with an assured particular perswasion that God will give us the very particular things we ask but with a faith of dependance on God and submission to his Holy will When we act faith on the All-sufficiency and Power of God and humbly resign our selves to his Holy will we may be said to pray in faith I come now to the Lessons which we are to learn from the consideration of this Attribute First We should learn from hence that the commands of God are serious and his promises and threatnings will certainly be accomplished There is nothing of reason or sence can be spoken against an Holy life by any one who believes the veracity and faithfulness of God and the truth of his Word Hath God said and do you believe it that he will come in flaming Fire to take vengeance on all them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess 1.8 And can you continue in ignorance and disobedience Hath he said that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 And can you continue in unrighteousnâ—ss Hath he said Heb. 12.14 Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord and can you slight Holiness And mock at serious Piety If you believ'd God to be faithfull and his Word true how could these things be so Secondly Gods faithfulness is a great aggravation of the heinousness of the sin of unbelief He that believeth not God hath made him a lyer faith the Apostle 1 Joh. 5.10 And this is the rather to be heeded that we may stir up in our selves a diligent watchfulness against this sin which with many is accounted but a meer infirmity O what matter of humiliation doth our proneness to this sin namely to distrust God justly minister unto us Many men hardly trust the promises of God so much as they would the word of a mortal man whom they account honest and just Certainly Gods faithfulness and truth should teach us to hate every motion to unbelief Vnbelief is the very bane of all Religion so far as it prevails Let it be our great care therefore to extirpate all remainders of this sin of Infidelity out of our hearts Thirdly If God be faithful this should be a great encouragement to us to trust in him and
had by sin madâ— God his enemy he needed no Mediator to mediate or intercede for him 8. This Covenant in case of disobedience afforded man no relief no not upon his repentance And thus the case stood with man in the state of his Innocâ—nce Of Maâ—s faâ—â— We come now to the second thing I propounded to treat of concerning man and that is his fall from his Original happiness by disobeying the precept and command of God and forfeiting the priviledges of the Covenant contained in it Gen. 3. from 1. to 7. Now the Serpent was mâ—re subtil than any Beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said unto the woman Yea hath God said Ye shall not eat of every Tree of the Garden And the Woman said unto the Serpent We may eat of the fruit of the Trees of the Garden But of the fruit of the Tree which is in the midst of the Garden God hath said Ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die And the Serpent said unto the Woman ye shall not surely die For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil And when the woman saw that the Tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a Tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also untâ— her Huusband with her and he did eat And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed Fig-leaves together and made themselves Aprons Rom. 5.12 19. Wherefore as by one man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous And that I may speak more distinctly of the matter I shall inquire in to these particulars 1. Who were the first sinners among men and by whom sin entered into the World 2. What was the first sin 3. What were the causes and occasions of Adams first transgression 4. What were the sad effects and consequents of this sin and breach of the Covenant First Upon our first Parents Secondly Upon us their Posterity 1. We shall inquire who were the first sinners among men and by whom sin entred into the World Adam and Eve the first Man and first Woman were certainly among men the first transgressors as may appear by those places before cited Gen. 3. And Rom 5.12 And the Apostle tells us 1 Tim. 2.14 Adam was not deceived that is First and by the Devil and so as to draw Eve into transgression but the woman being deceived was first * Thâ—â—gh Eve was first in the trangression yet Adam was the chief and therefore Adam is sometimes taken collectively both for man and woman in the transgression and drew Adam into it Hosea 6.7 God says of the unfaithful Israelites They like Adam have transgressed the Covenant And 2 Cor. 11.3 We read that the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty viz. To eat of the forbidden fruit and she persuaded Adam to eat also It therefore we trace corruption and depravation to the well-head we shall find we cannot stay any where till we come to the first Man the common Parent and Root of us all And 't is very evident that the first Fountain of mankind was corrupted seeing all the streams are so 2. Let us consider what was the first sin God made our first Parents holy and happy and whilst they performed their duty they could not but be happy But the Devil having fallen from God himself as we have seen before Sect 3. and envying our first Parents their present happiness he sets upon Eve to draw her from her obedience to God And the temptation he spred before her is this you shall be as God He pretends to acquaint her with a way whereby they might raise themsâ—lves to a higher condition than that wherein they were at present They should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like God himself or like Angels they should be lifted up to a higher estate than now they enjoyed And this happiness he tells them they might acquire by eating of that Tree in the midst of the Garden which God had forbidden them which he intimates would be so far from procuring death or misery to a them that it had a contrary virtue in it namely to raise them to higher state of happiness than now they enjoyed Eve being caught by this subtil device began to believe this Serpent who thus proves himself a Lyar and a Murderer from the beginning and to dâ— believe God and to doubt the truth of his threatning and commination who Gen. 2.17 had told Adam Of that Tree thou shalt not eat for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Evâ— being thus won upon by the Dâ—vils temptation did venture to eâ—t of this sorbidden fruit and dreâ— Adam to eat also So that infiâ—elity and doubting of the truth of Gods word and threatnings tâ—rough the Devils insinuation and pride and affection of an hâ—gher estate seem to be the first miscarriages and sins of Adam and Eve O the cursed Nature of pride and unbelief How soon did these â—â—ns enter into the very Angels How soon did they undo our first Parents 3. Let us inqâ—ire what were the causes and occasions of Adams sin 1. God was not The pure and holy Nature of God could not be the Original of mans sin The Holy God cannot be the cause of any unholiness God indeed permitted man to fall seeing he knew how to bring good out of it But he inclin'd him not to it 2. Neither external Objects nor the temptations of Satan could necâ—ssitate the will of man to sin The Devil might persuade but could not force 3. The persuading cause in respect of Eve was Satan in the form of a Serpent The Devil opened the Serpents mouth and caused it to speak with mans voice as an Angel opened the mouth of Balaams Ass Numb 22.28 Now the Serpents cunning may appear in this 1. He first assaults the Woman not the Man 2. He equivocates about knowing good and evil which he represents to her as a state of perfection Whereas the forbidden Tree was called the Tree of knowledge because Adam if he did eat thereof should experimentally know to his sorrow from how much good he had fallen and how much evil he had brought upon himself 3. He uses Eve a Companion newly made for Adam and surely very dear to him to draw in her Husband 4. Man being not created at first immutably Holy but defectible and sin being only a defect a person that was mutable and defectibly Holy as Adam was might fall into sin 'T was no strange thing that Man should be created defectible and being a defectible and
mutable Creature that he should fall It was most congruous that God having made such a Creature as Man furnished with such powers and capable of being governed by a Law and of being moved by promises and threats should for some time hold him in a state of tryal unconfirmed that it might be seen how he would behave himself towards his Creator and that he should be rewardable or punishable accordingly in a state that should be everlasting and unchangeable But if any shall further inquire into the manner of this first defection 't is most probable there was in the instant of temptation a suspension of the understanding's Act not only as previous to the sin but as a part of it and thereupon a suddain precipitation of Will as Estius determins But let us not too curiously inquire into this matter 'T is wholsom counsel that one gives that we should labour rather to get sin out of our Souls than trouble our selves how it came in For as a man that falls into a deep Ditch or Pond 't is Austin's similitude does not lie there considering how he fell in but labours speedily to get out so it should be with us in this case 4. Let us consider what were the sad effects and consequents of this sin and breach of Gods Covenant First Upon our first Parents Secondly Upon us their Posterity 1. Our First Parents were hereby deprived of their Original Righteousness and Communion with God 2. They became depraved and corrupted inclin'd to evil and indisposed to good 3. They brought themselves under an estate of wrath were driven out of Paradise and were made liable to death both Temporal and Eternal And though they were reprived for the present from suffering the penalty the Law requires yet 1. Sorrows were inflicted on the Woman in Child-bearing Under which we may comprehend her sorrows in breeding bearing bringing-forth and bringing up her Children 2. Sorrow also was inflicted upon the Man Gen. 3.17.18 Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the dayes of thy life Thorns and Thistles shall it bring forth In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread c. 3. His Dominion over the Creatures was much impaired 4. He was rendred utterly unable to help out of this miserable estate 2. Let us consider the sad effects of Adams fall in reference to us 1. We were involved in the guilt of his first transgression For the Covenant was not made with Adam only but with all mankind who where seminally or radically in him We were not indeed then personally in him for we were not then Natural Persons but we were in him seminally and virtually And God may justly reckâ—n us to have been seminally in him because our Essence was to be derivâ—d from him And as when a man is guilty no part of him is innocent so we were guilty of â—dams first sin so far forth as we were parts of him and in him As Levi is said to have payed Tythes in Abraham because he was in the Loins of his Father Abraham when Melchizedech met him Heb. 7.9 10. though he was born some Generations after him on the same grounâ— it may well be inferred that all Adams posterity did eat of the forbidden fruit in him because they were all at that time in his Loins And the Apostle speaks to the same purpose Rom. 5.12 By one man sin entred into the World c. In whom * Eâ—â— in qâ—â— hâ—â— viro non muâ—ieâ—e qâ—â—d vir sit praecipuuâ— aâ—â—â—or posteritatis tam â—si mâ—lio pâ—iâ—â—est laâ—sa â—raim all have sinned If a Father by Treason forfeit his Estate no wonder if his Children de deprived of it 2. We were hereby dâ—prived of Original Righteousness Rom. 3.23 All have sinned that is in Adam and so come short of the glory of God that is are depriv'd of his glorious Image which in mans first creation was stamped upon him By reason of that first sin of Adams whereof all are guilty want of Original righteousness and depravation of Nature are come upon us as a just punishment of Adams transgression and are the sad consequents of it Therefore some say that God now deprives Souls of Original Righteousness Non qua Creator sed qua Judex 3. Instead of Original Righteousness a corrupt disposition and vitiosity of Nature was imparted to all their Posterity descending from them by ordinary Generation The Soul is now propense to evil because it wants that rectitude that should regulate it As sickness besides the depriving us of health affects our bodies with corrupt humors Mr. Cotton on Eccles 11 Vers 5 holds that God forms the Soul of man of the Spirituous part of the seed of the Parents and so Original corruption is naturally propagated from the Parents to the Children This corrupt disposition is called The old Man Rom. 6.6 The sin dwelling with us Rom. 7.17 It is called Flesh as opposite to grace Rom. 7.18 The Law of the Members Rom. 7.23 Body of sin Rom. 6.6 The body of death Rom. 7.24 Lastly A mans own lust James 1.14 In which place by the next words following 't is plainly distinguiâ—hed from actual sin as being exprâ—sly affirmed to be the procreant cause of it So that by this Original corruption all our Faculties are depraved 1. Our Minds blinded 2. Our Wills rendred averse to that which is good 3. Our Memories unfaithful to retain what is good but too tenacious of evil 4. Our Consciences defiled 5. Our Affections disordered These are some of the sad Consequents of Adams First transgression 4. We are cast under the wrath and curse of God Besides the effects of this wrath and curse upon our Souls of which before our bodies are now liable to diseases and deformities and all our enjoyments and every condition of our lives is subjâ—ct to a curse And which is most deplorable we are liable by reason of our sins to Eternal wrath and misery 5. We are hereby rendred utter unable to help our selves Rom. 5.6 The Law exacts perfect and perpetual obedience under a curse Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them Now here observe Two things 1. What the Scripture speaks concerning mans Impotency and inability to help himself out of this miserable condition wherein he is by Nature 1. He is said to be meer darkness Eph. 5.8 Ye were sometimes darkness sayes the Apostle to the Converted Ephesians but now ye are light in the Lord And 1 Cor. 2.14 But the Natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God For they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 2. To have a heart of stone Ezek. 36.26 3. To be enthralled under the Dominion of sin and Satan Acts 26.18 4. To be dead in sins and trespasses Eph. 2.1.5 5. To be without strength in Spiritual things Rom.
satisfaction made to a just God It contains reconciliation without which God cannot be conceived to remit It comprehendeth satisfaction without which God was resolved not to be reconciled Christ by his death hath reconciled God unto us who was before offended by our sins His death was ordained to be a propitiation for us and to render God propitious to us The punishment which Christ endured was a full satisfaction to the Will and Justice of God He gave his life a ransome for many Matth. 20.28 Now a ransome is a price given to redeem such as are any way in captivity or any thing laid down by way of compensation to take off an obligation whereby he who was before bound becometh free Christ bought us and the price he paid for us was his own blood and that blood was a full and perfect satisfaction unto God And as the offence is augmented as we said before by the dignity of the person against whom the offence is committed so the value and dignity of that which is given by way of compensation is enhaunced according to the dignity of the person who makes that satisfaction If therefore we consider on our side the nature and obligation of sin and on Christs side the satisfaction made and reconciliation wrought we shall easily perceive how God forgiveth Sins and in what the remission of them consisteth Christ taking upon him the nature of man and offering himself a Sacrifice to God for mans sin giveth that unto God for and instead of the everlasting punishment due to man which is more valuable and acceptable unto God than that punishment could be and so maketh a sufficient compensation and satisfaction to God for the sins of man Which sacrifice God accepting releases the offence and becomes reconciled unto man He performing the conditions required of him and for the punishment which Christ endured taketh off mans obligation to eternal punishment And in this act of God consisteth the forgiveness of sins 7. Let us consider what is required of them who may expect this great priviledge and blessedness the remission of all our sins The things required of them are these 1. True Repentance Of which see Chap. 2. of the second part of Knowledge and Practice 2. Faith in Christ Of which see Chap. 3. of the same Treatise 3. Sincere obedience unto Christ Heb. 5.9 He is the author of eternal Salvation to all that obey him 4. A readiness and willingness to forgive others who have done us wrong Matth. 6.14 15. For if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses Mark 11.25 And when ye stand praying forgive if ye have ought against against any that your Father also which is Heaven may forgive you your trespasses Having thus in brief explained the Doctrine of remission of sins it will possibly seem requisite that I should add a few things more for the fuller explanation of so great an Article which we are all so much concerned clearly and distinctly to understand In order hereunto I shall further consider these three things 1. What is meant in Scripture by Justification 2. What is the procuring cause thereof 3. How any come to be partakers thereof For the first Justification and remission of Sins in the Scripture are one and the same thing * See Acts 13.38 39. Matth. 26.28 Eph. 1.7 Acts 10.43 Rom. 5.19 In some texts of Scripture we are said to be justified by Christ In others that we obtain remission of Sins by Christ In others that we are made righteous by Christ By which expressions one and the same thing is intended For Justification is a discharging us from the guilt of all our sins and an acquitting us from the challenges of the Law and a constituting us righteous before God not qualitative by making us inherently righteous with such a perfect righteousness as is Gods Justice-proof for by such a righteousness no Son of fallen Adam can be justified as we shall shew afterwards but it is a constituting us righteous in the sight of God or a judicial absolving of us upon the account of satisfaction given and accepted on our behalf and though Justification principally consists in our pardon and the remission of our sins yet there are other blessings also springing from it For those whom God justifies he sanctifies whom he sanctifies here he will also glorifie hereafter 2. Let us consider the procuring cause of our pardon and justification The procuring cause of it is the Satisfaction made to Divine Justice by the active and passive obedience of Christ And that we may understand this the more clearly let us take into our consideration these particulars 1. The Law or Covenant of Works required of our first Parents perfect and sinless obedience upon pain of death But they transgressing fell under the curse and condemnation of the Law However it pleased God of his infinite mercy that the Law should not be immediately executed upon them And yet he did not abrogate it but only relax it as to the right of it by introducing another Covenant viz. the Covenant of grace 2. By this second Covenant or Covenant of Grace no Son of fallen Adam can be justified with the justification of an innocent person or as one perfectly and inherently righteous For such persons if they should be challenged are justified because they are found without fault or blame and their justification is nothing but a declaration of their righteousness and innocence But by this Covenant of grace we must be justified as sinners and offenders upon a satisfaction made to the justice of God for our sins For offenders can no other way be brought into the state of just men but upon a legal pardon and discharge And so we may be said to be justified when the compensation or satisfaction made for us is accepted and we thereupon are legally pardoned discharged 3. This Compensation or Satisfaction made to the justice of God in our behalf is made by the active and passive obedience of Christ and the whole of our justification is founded thereon I say the active as well as the passive obedience of Christ is here to be reckoned as concurring hereunto For though Christ when he had once assumed our nature and was made Man was bound to obey the Law yet in that he voluntarily came from Heaven and voluntarily took our nature and so voluntarily put himself under the obligation of the Law this consideration makes his active obedience also meritorious These two are therefore joyntly to be considered in this matter For Christ voluntarily took on him the office of a mediator He was not compelled to it Indeed when he was man he was obliged as a man A creatures homage was due from him when he had assumed our nature but it was his own free choice that brought him into that state and condition From
3. Consider our tongues should be our Glory The proper end for which God hath given us the use of speech is to glorify and honour him our Creator and to profit one another Our words therefore should be good sound and savoury Let no corrupt communication sayes the Apostle Eph. 4.29 Proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers And our Saviour tells us Mat. 12.36 that of every idle word which is frivolous and fruitless we shall give an account in the day of Judgment And therefore a much more severe account surely men shall give of their wicked swearing blaspheming and cursing which are no proper works for them to imploy their tongues in but a horrible depraving perverting and defiling of so excellent a member 4. Consider what a high pitch of wickedness it is for any to deprave such an holy institution as an Oath is which should always be used reverently and only upon great and serious occasions and to prostitute it to the venting of every base passion and uttering of Pride and Presumption and fearlesness of God and to make that which should be a tremendous Ordinance to us a common slight and familiar thing 5. Consider how dishonourable it is to our Christian profession that those that call themselves Christians should live in such a flat contradiction to the Laws of Christ and should make nothing of familiar and customary swearing which he so severely prohibits Matth. 5.33 James 5.12 Is not this one of the sins for which the name of our Lord Jesus is blasphemed among Turks Jews and Infidels 6. Consider this is one of those sins for which God hath a controversie with a Nation and which hastens down Judgment upon it Hos 4.1 2. Hear the word of the Lord ye children of Israel For the Lord hath a controversie with the inhabitants of the Land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the Land By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing Adultery they break out and blood toucheth blood Jer. 23.10 Because of swearing the Land mourneth see also Zech. 5 1 2 3 4. Amos 8.14 Zeph. 1.4 5. 7. Consider how highly this sin is aggravated and the guilt of it inhaunced in that there is so little temptation to it Other sins have an external bait and motive either pleasure profit or credit but in swearing and cursing there is none of these O the unreasonableness of this sin What sence is gratified by it or what is there to incite or move a man to it but meerly pride and audaciousness of spirit presumtion and fearlesness of the Almighty Now the less temptation there is to any sin the greater is the contempt of God in the committing of it This sin is therefore much worse than Epicurism * Take not his name who made thy mouth in vain It gets thee nothing and hath no excuse Lust and Wine plead a pleasure avarice gain But the cheap swearer through his open sluce Le ts his Soul run for nought as little fearing Were I an Epicure I could bate swearing The cheapest sins most dearly punish'd are Because to shun them also is so cheap c. Herberts Church-porch for though that be more bestial yet this is more diabolical and proceeding from an obstinate pride and wilfulness more conforms a man to the Devil than other sins do O what a height of wickedness is it for men to sin meerly because they will sin and to transgress the more audaciously because God forbids it 'T is a dreadful doom passed by the mouth of the holy Prophet on such persons Psal 25.3 Let them be confounded that transgress without cause Blessed Lord How infinite is thy patience to bear so long with those hellish Oaths and direful imprecations that the tongues of wretched mortals daily belch out against thee To what a strange pitch of wickedness is the world come that it should be counted a point of bravery and gallantry to swear stoutly and to interlace their language with broad and full mouthed oaths Nay the daring fellows of our dayes as if they were loath to go to Hell the ordinary way have invented new wayes of sinning and such dreadful forms of swearing as may make the heart of any serious Christian to tremble at â—â—e very mention of them These Sons of Belial if they be but crossed in their business or pleasure many times curse and swear like Devils and swear so madly that when they are reproved for it they will swear they did not swear Who is there now that walks abroad especially in our great Towns and Cities but shall here these hellish oaths God damn me or sink me belched out of the mouths of men whose tongues are set on fire of Hell O should we rend our garments every time we hear the name of God blasphemed as the Jews did of old how few sober serious Christians would go in whole apparel Ah besotted Wretches that you should thus sell your selves to do wickedly that you that are but crawling worms should dare thus to set your mouths against Heaven and impudently affront as much as lyes in you the Majesty of the most High Let me speak to you in the language of the Prophet Isay 57.4 Do ye know against whom ye make a wide mouth and draw out the tongue What could your wit wit said I I mean your madness find no cheaper way to undo your selves Are you resolved to try the patience of God and to see how long he can forbear you Are you affraid you shall miss of hell except you sin at a higher rate than ordinary and therefore are resolved by your damning provocations to force your entrance into it and take it by violence Do you fear the Devil will not torment you enough except you do supererogate of him by being more wicked than you had any temptation to be that so you may have a double portion in Hell Could you find out no other way of Damning your selves but by sinning directly against that precious blood and wounds of the Son of God by which others are saved Do you thus perform your Baptismal Covenant whereby you stand ingaged to renounce the Devil and all his works and to fight faithfully under Christs Banner all your dayes What aileth you ye blind wretches Are you in such hast to be with your everlasting companions the Devils and the Damned that you will needs hasten your Judgment and bring on your Damnation with a swifter pace Are you now inuring your selves to the language of Hell and the infernal Tophet that you may not have it to learn when you come thither Poor Wretches what will become of you how soon to your sorrow will your imprecations fall on your heads The Devil whom you have so often wished might fetch you stands eagerly waiting for his commission to do it and then you shall know to your cost whether Gods
Jesuitica aequivocatio mentalis reservatio hoc ipso mendatii convincuntur quibus haec in usu sunt nimirum quia cum veram propositionem animo concipiant falsum tamen enuntient Davenant in Colos Therefore he that speaks what he thinks does not tell a lye though he may speak an untruth or that which is in it self false And in such a case what he sayes is falsiloquium but not mendacium a falshood but not a lye He offends not against moral truth or veracity because he speaks as he thinks and so he does not lye but is himself mistaken 'T is formale mendacium a formal and direct lye when we express or affirm a thing otherwise than we conceive or think with an intent to deceive 2. I come to consider the several sorts or kinds of lyes And so a lye is usually distinguished into Jocosum Officiosum Perniciosum 1. Jocosum when a man uttereth a lye in sport to make others merry To this we may apply that of the Prophet Hosea Chap. 7. Verse 3. They make the King glad with their wickedness and the Princes with their lyes They that tell lyes meerly to make others laugh are guilty of this kind of lying 2. Officiosum when a man tells a lye to help another out of some present danger or inconvenience God himself will not be served with a lye Job 13.7 Will ye speak wickedly for God Will ye talk deceitfully for him We may not lye for Gods cause or glory much less may we do it for any mans benefit * Plato was no good casuist for Christians who allowed a lye either to save a Citizen or deceive an enemy And the piae fraudes allowed among the Papists are also much of this nature 3. Perniciosum when a man tells a lye which tends apparently to the hurt or damage of another either in his life goods or good name 3. I come now to shew the great evil and malignity of this sin 1. 'T is a sin that makes men most unlike unto God God is a God of truth and cannot lye He is stiled the Lord God of truth Psal 31.5 Deut. 32.4 and Isay 65.16 That which makes men so unlike the true and holy God must needs be an odious sin One of the Antients said well that two things make us like unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak truth and to do good And surely this consideration that lying is against the holy nature of God should work in us an extreme detestation of it 2. 'T is a sin that God hath declared in his word a great abhorrence of as may appear if you consider these following Scriptures Prov. 6.16 17 18 19. These six things doth the Lord hate yea seven are an abomination to him A proud look a lying tongue c. A false witness that speaketh lyes and him that soweth discord among Brethren Levit. 19.11 Ye shall not lye one to another Prov. 13.5 A Righteous man hateth lying c. Rev. 21.8 The fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and whore-mongers and sorcerers and Idolaters and all lyars shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 22.15 Without are dogs and sorceres c. and whosoever loveth and maketh a lye Psal 101.7 He that telleth lyes shall not tarry in my sight Hose 4.1 2. Hear the word of the Lord ye children of Israel for the Lord hath a controversie with the inhabitants of the Land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the Land By swearing and lying c. they break out and blood toucheth blood Zech. 8.16 17. These are the things that ye shall do Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour execute the judgement of truth and peace in your gates c. And let none of you imagine evil in his heart against his neighbour and love no false Oath For these are the things I hate saith the Lord. Ephes 4.25 Wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth to his neighbour Col. 3.9 Lye not one to another seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds 3. 'T is a great perverting of that noble faculty of speech which God hath given unto man God hath given unto man a tongue to express his mind and to reveal and declare what he apprehends in his heart so that his tongue is to be the index and discoverer of his mind Now you know if the index or hand of a Clock should point to eight and the Clock presently strike ten we should say it was a lying Index and greatly out of order The case is so here when the tongue utters one thing and the mind thinks another 4. Lying is a work of the Devil and makes people resemble the Devil in a manner John 1.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye will do he was a Murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyer and the Father of it Pride Malice and Lying are the Devils sins after a more especial manner And who would be willing to be like the Devil 5. Lying is destructive to humane society 'T is injurious to all converse between man and man How shall a man know what to look for or what to expect or what to trust to if he cannot believe the persons he deals with but finds that in what they affirm to him or assure him of or promise to him they notoriously lye unto him and palpably deceive him 6. 'T is a sin condemned by the light of natural conscience The more ingenuous among the Heathens abhorred it The Apostle quoteth a verse out of Epimenides a Heathen Poet wherein he condemns Cretians for their frequent lying Tit. 1.12 The Cretians are are alwayes lyars evil beasts slow-bellies * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 7. 'T is a reproachful a shameful sin The maddest fellows and most Ruffianly and debauched who make so little conscience of other sins yet cannot induce to be charged with a lye because 't is looked upon as a cowardly and shameful sin Whoever gives them the lye provokes them beyond all patience 'T is the cause of many duels and many times murders Hear what that excellent person Mr. Herbert saith in his Poems Lye not but let thy heart be true to God Thy mouth to it thy actions to them both Cowards tell lyes and those that fear the rod. The stormy-working soul spits lyese and froth Dare to be true Nothing can need a lye A fault that needs it most grows two thereby 8. Lying easily disposeth to perjury He that useth frequently to lye 't is to be feared he will not much stick at forswearing himself upon occasion For when the heart is once hardened in one sin it is mighty proclive to another of the like kind and nature 9. It makes a man useless in the
burden insupportable some of them have called it the burden of Issacar that they cannot be permitted to live as they list or that they should be barred of any of Christs Ordinances or that any should controul them 17. When they are excessively hard and difficult to be pleased and are too ridged exacters of observance and respect from their inferiors 18. When they love others not according to their true worth but according to the measure of respect which they shew to them 19. Proud persons are usually most injurious both in words and actions towards weak adversaries 20. Proud persons are very resentful of any injuries either reall or supposed done to them and when they are wronged they look for great submission and satisfaction 21. Pride makes people exceeding loath to be beholding to others Some will almost starve rather than make their wants known 22. The Pride of the heart very often shews and manifests its self in the vanity of the garb and attire 23. Pride many times makes people to slight the Ministers and Messengers of God and to hear their teachers as Judges not as Learners 24. Pride very often makes those in place apt to domineer over their inferiours and to think of the dignity of their places more than of the duty they owe to God and the people in those places 25. Pride makes people spend profusely for their credit or reputations sake But when an object of Charity calls they are backward enough Their estates are more at the command of their credit than at the command of God or charity And so much of the second Particular namely what pride is and what are the signs and evidences of it I come now to the third viz. 3. To shew the great evil malignity and danger of it And this I shall represent to you in sundry particulars 1. Consider that Pride is a very ruining sin It undid Angels 1 Tim. 3.6 and our first Parents It overthrew the Tower of Babel drowned Pharaoh prostrated Goliah hanged Haman destroyed Senacharib made Nebuchadnezzar like a beast caused Herod to be eaten up with lice Prov. 15.25 God threatens that He will destroy the house of the Proud 2. 'T is a very disquieting sin 1. 'T is a great disquieter of a mans own Soul Every little thing casts a proud man into a passion It renders his life miserable and puts him in the power of any man to be his tormentor A small neglect or affront disorders a proud man even almost to distraction A remarkable instance hereof we have in Haman Esther 3.5 2. It is a great disquieter of others a great occasion of disquiet in private families and so likewise in Parishes it makes men very firebrands in the places where they live It makes them full of animosity against those that cross them in any thing and full of envy at those that are above them And so in Church and State none so troublesome as proud persons Look also upon the lamentable effects of it in the world O cursed Pride thou child of the Devil how dost thou set the whole world on fire what woful divisions contentions and mischiefs dost thou cause where thou prevailest 3. Pride usually blasts parts It blinds the mind and makes people over confident of their own conceits 'T is also very frequently the high-way to Apostacy Mark those that are proud in a Parish or family and if there come any infection of schism or heresie near them they are commonly the first that catch it 4. Pride commonly hates fraternal admonition and reproof and so keeps off the proper remedy and means of amendment and reformation 5. 'T is the mother of many other sins as of revenge oppression and hard and injurious dealing 6. 'T is a very extensive sin 'T is apt to shoot it self into our whole conversation yea which is saddest of all to creep into our best duties There is scarce a good action we do but this cursed flye will be apt to get into it and poyson it if we take not great care * Sâ—pâ—rbia maxime timâ—nda in recte actis Luth. and watch our hearts very strictly 7. 'T is a great impediment to conversion It obstructs saving illumination A proud person is hardly convinced of the greatness of his Sins Original sâ—n will scarce be acknowledged by him and he thinks but slightly and diminitively of his actual Sins such a person is hardly brought to see the necessity of conversion and his absolute need of a Saviour And so much of the great evil and danger of this Sin 4. I come now in the fourth place to give some remedies and directions against it 1. Enter into a serious consideration of thy own vileness * E Coelo descendit Nosce teipsum Consider the infirmities weaknesses and sicknesses of thy body but especially the great depravedness of thy Soul Want of due and serious consideration and descending into a mans self is the great cause of Pride Meditate on thy manifold sins and the deserts of them and meditate on thy weaknesses and miseries and then tell me whether thou hast any cause to be proud 2. Often meditate on the glorious nature and attributes of God on his infinite greatness holiness and purity and tha is one good means to abase thee and make thee to abhor thy self Job 42.5 6. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes 3. Consider how d declares that he hates abhors and resists a proud person nd he must needs fall whom God sets himself against He resists the proud but his grace and favour is towards the lowly Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord Prove 16.5 4. Look upon the great imperfection of thy graces and thy manifold failings even in thy best duties Ex ignorantia tui venit superbia Ignorance of thy self is the cause of thy Pride 5. Look upon our humble Saviour Nulla creatura humilior Deo sayes Laurentius excellently The most powerful sight in the world for the humbling of the soul is a Crucified Saviour What an example of humility hath he left us His whole life was a constant Lecture of Humility He condescended so low as to wash his Disciples feet John 13. Non ex officio sed ex amore in exemplum as one sayes upon the place 6. Look on the holy Angels how they humble themselves and condescend to minister for the good of the people of God who are so much their inferiors 7. Look upon the examples of the most eminent Saints and you will find they were eminent in this grace of humility See instances hereof in Abraham Gen. 18.27 Behold now I have taken upon me to speak to the Lord who am but dust and ashes In Jacob Gen. 32.10 I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies which thou hast shewed unto thy servant for with my staff I passed