and Debaucheries Hast thou a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is thy Body turned black and sallow and thy beauty faded 't is probably occasioned by a too great delight and content in admiring the excellency of thy frail Complexion Hast thou a Paralysis is the use of thy Limbs taken from thee 't is Sin is the cause perhaps thy Hands have been shut to the Poor or thy Feet swift to shed Blood or to walk in the paths of ungodliness Sin therefore is not the object of a rational man's Choice because it is the Souls Sickness and the sourse of all bodily Distempers and Diseases Seventhly Sin is not a sit Object to be elected because it is the unhappy parent of Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Death By Sin Death entred into the World Rom. 5. 12. Death is the Child of sin not of Nature Nay it destroys our Souls as well as our Bodies The Soul that sinneth shall dye the death of Nature and the death of Grace Sin occasion'd both and not only so but the death that never dies is sins Wages 't is Sin keeps in the fire of Hell to all Eternity that lays on those everlasting torments prepared for the Devil and his Angels 't is sin that not only feeds the Worm with our Bodies but the never-dying worm with our Souls likewise it kindles the slames of Lust here in our hearts and blows the coals in Hell to torment both our bodies and souls to eternal Ages and who can dwell with everlasting burnings Lastly Sin is not the object of a rational Man or good Christians Choice if put in the ballance with Afflictions and that is the last Branch of the Thesis which I laid down at the beginning of my Discourse occasioned by Elihu's Reprehension of Job under the notion of chusing wickedness rather than sufferings and this I shall demonstrate briefly and plainly and make Application to our selves My Position is this without any Equivocation it is the property of a good Man to chuse the greatest Affliction before the least Sin or there is more evil in one sin than in all whatsoever Suffering This appears in ten Particulars 1. Sin separates from God but Affliction not 2. Affliction is not Sin is evil in its self 3. A sinful state cannot but an afflicted may consist with the love of God 4. The evil of Suffering is but momentany of Sin everlasting 5. We are called to Suffering commanded by Christ to take up our Cross and to follow him but not called to sin 6. The end of Suffering is glory of Sin shame 7. By suffering we lose some outward good by Sin the soul 8. Suffering speaks our conformity to Christ Sin to the Devils 9. God is the Author of Affliction not of Sin Lastly Afflictions may be good if sanctified to us but not Sins I shall not observe a strict order as to every one of these Heads but single out the chiefest and most useful for a mixt Audience 1. To chuse Affliction is a hard choice for Affliction is not good in its self but however it may be useful to us happy is the man that endureth temptations and chastnings the Scripture speaks in many places but happy is the man that commits Iniquity hath not the patronage of one single Text David could say upon tryal Psal 119. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes but he never said It is good for me that I have sinned unlearned thy Precepts or broke thy Commandments David pleased himself in being afflicted but not in thinking he had sinned as is visible enough in his seven Penitential Psalms and particularly if we compare the 2 Sam. 10. chap. 11. ver with Psalm 51. we shall find David reckoning his sins as the 1 2 3. greatest punishment in all the World David did not first pray that his House might be delivered from the fury of the Sword or that his Wives might not be violated before his face his Children might not be Rebells the good man passed by these things as temporal and trivial punishments but he cries upon his Sins his Sins his Sins three times in a breath Psal 51. 1. as so many haunting Devils that disturbed his rest When Paul of a Persecutor became a persecuted Apostle and was delivered from his sins he was immediately so ravished with the love of his deliverer and the joy of his deliverance that he cared not to be delivered from any misery besides he even gloried in tribulation as very useful both to exercise and feed his patience as Rom. 5. 3. Acts 21. 13. he was ready not to be bound only but dye for the Lord Jesus Sickness and Plunder Banishment and Bonds and every kind of Persecution are heavy burthens to the Flesh but light being wighed in the ballance with the pressures and miseries of Sin and Wickedness when God the Father of Spirits afflicts his Sons and Daughters he doth it that they may be partakers of his Holiness as Heb. 12. 10 11. but Sin is the sting of all afflictions 't is the suffering as Evil doers that keeps men from being Martyrs but they are happy who suffer in a good cause for even hereunto are ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should tread in his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his lips Moses well understood himself when he chose rather to be afflicted with the people of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Heb. 11. 25. So the old Martyrs Will you have a Prison or deny your Saviour and your Lord Will you burn in this fire or commit that Idolatrous Act Will you dye by a Halter or forsake the Faith Oh say they give us Prisons Fires Axes Gibbets Wheels Lyons all the Torments invented by Men or Devils rather than we will comply with Sin and Wickedness This is a Point necessary in all but especially these Times wherein men boast of a Zeal for God but not according to Knowledge and seek to avoid future possible Afflictions by present unlawful Actions As in the Duke of York's Case no man that understands the Scriptures and will not suffer his Reason by passion to be ecclipsed can believe it lawful by Gods Laws to bar any man of his Right of Succession to a Crown of all temporal Rights the greatest to avoid future probable Inconveniences in Sacred and Civil Administrations nor do I believe that any the framers of this Bill would think it a piece of Justice to have their Children or in default of Issue their Brethren in the flesh thus debar'd of their Rights for different modes of Worship from what is now Legally Established That which is simply evil may not for any good be done the Case we are now upon if Saint Paul or the Holy Ghost speaking by him understood the Christian Religion 't is not lawful to tell an officious Lye for the glory of God as Job 13. 7.
and if you will pardon my hasty Conceptions I resolve to speak what is very Plain Innocent and Honest consonant with the primitive rule of Reforming and preservng Churches recommended by Christ and his Apostles and their immediate and best Successors First Sin is not the object of a Rational man's choice considered either in its self or Consequences 1. Not with respect to its self for it is de numero ineligibilium as the Schools speak There is no Form nor Beauty in it that we should desire it Election is the act of the Will whose adequate object is good and so Sin which is malum in se evil in its self cannot be properly said to be elected hence it comes to pass that such who have not their Senses exercised to discern between Good and Evil chuse Sin by a mistake thinking it to be good putting light for darkness and darkness for light Isaiah 5. 20. thus Saint Paul rather Saul before he was Converted verily thought with himself that he ought to doe many things against Jesus of Nazareth and Christ tells his Disciples that some that Kill'd them by a mistaken zeal should think they did an acceptable service unto God thus Iniquity in practice passeth for Duty and Error in opinion for Truth and Evil is chosen sub ratione boni not for its own sake but under the notion of being at least seemingly good Others chuse Sin that good may come thereof that God may have glory or themselves advantage by it This was objected against St. Paul and his Doctrine which in great Disdain he rejected not as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say Let us doe evil that good may come whose damnation is just Rom. 3. 8. Others chuse evil to escape Danger by it elect the evil of Sin to avoid thereby the evil of punishment So Demas resolving to sleep in a whole skin and not to be persecuted for Christs sake forsook St. Paul and imbraced the present world now in all these three respects whether Sin be chosen under the notion of good by a mistake or that good may come thereof or that Danger be escaped by it each of these single and much more united are a clear demonstration that Sin is not eligible for its self Sin indeed is the worst of any thing that is enemy to God or man it is very much worse than Hell not only as its cause or parent but considered in its self for Hell is good for something even to glorifie God's Justice but Sin serves only to abuse his grace and goodness Hell was of God's making Sin of the Devil 's Nay God made Hell as well to terrifie men from coming there as to punish the willful intruders into that place of torments And hence the chief end of Christs taking our flesh was to save us from our sins our worst kind of enemies Hence in Scripture when God is said to be angry to the highest pitch the stile runs thus I will give him up that is filthy to be filthy still I will choose your delusions give them over to their iniquities so that were there no Hell 't were in this sense a kind of Damnation to be sinners Of all sorts of punishments sin it self is the greatest and so not the proper object in its self of a Rational mans or true Christians choice Secondly As Sin is not to be chosen in and for its self so neither with respect tothe Consequences thereof The first and most immediate fruit of Sin is ignorance man was first tempted by the promise of Knowledge and fell into darkness by believing the Devil holding forth his new lights Adam and Eve knew what was good before the Devil promised them the knowledge of evil and had they not imbraced this temptation they had continued in their happiness This knowledge of evil was the introduction of ignorance the Understanding being baffled the Will became foolish and both conspired to ruine each other for the Will beginning to love Sin the Understanding was set on work to commend and advance it and so became both Factious in approving their new miserable Purchase for ever since Adam and Eve yielded to the Tempter who told them they should be as Gods in knowledge Man hath a double disadvantage for the Devil is hence grown more quick-sighted to abuse us and we the more blind by his opening of our eyes as is sufficiently manifest by the prevalence of Atheism and Idolatry in the world than which nothing can be more ridiculous occasioned originally by the Fall of our first Parents from their native paradise A second effect of Sin is Shame which is an immediate consequence of all sort of wickedness what fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed Rom. 6. 21. We see the truth of this by a too sad Experience what Arguments what Preaching what Necessity can perswade men to confess their sins how do men chuse to involve Sin in excuses and denials in the clouds of Lying and the white Linnen of Hypocrisie to shew that a mans spirit is amazed and his face confounded when he is dressed of so shameful Disease It was the unhappy Patrimony which our first Ancestors bequeathed us first to Sin and then to be ashamed of our selves and Actions The woman which thou gavest me said Adam charging his sin upon God The Serpent beguiling me said Eve imputing it to the Devil both betraying the nakedness of their Souls as well as bodies and proportionably making Aprons of Excuses as well as Leaves And you may read the Character of the Parents in the Childrens foreheads for Shame makes us as backward to reveal our sins as we are forward to confess our Sicknesses and less desirous to trust God with the diseases of our Souls than the Physician with those of our Bodies None will own sin amongst all its acquaintance If a man pursue Vengeance he will Christen it Justice he that hates another mans person pretends enmity to his sins and the theft of Rachell shelters its self under the modesty of her sex Genesis 30. 34 35. he that designs to play the Devil first personates the Saint and Rebells call themselves the people of the Lord thus Sacriledge and Schism are a godly thorough Reformation popular Fury is Zeal Obstinacy against Laws tenderness of Conscience Treason and Nonsence praying by the Spirit to dye in Rebellion a glorious Martyrdom and the madness of the Commons against the King and the Priests is courage in the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ oppression of our brethren Subjects calls its self a High Court of Justice and such as seize our Estates were the Keepers of our Liberties and Doctors Elders and Deacons the only Sceptre of Christ and to avoid Arbitrary Government we kneel at the bar of our fellow-Subjects and are imprison'd for new unheard of Crimes to preserve our Properties and Privileges A clear Argument that Sin dares not appear in its own colours
an assistance equall to the difficulty of his Commands or else St. John was in an Error which may not be supposed when he tells us that his Commandments are not grievous 1 John 5. 3. and grievous they must be if Gods grace we being weak of our selves be not sufficient for the performance in such Evangelical measures and degrees as God expects from us I can doe all things through Christ that strengthens me Philip. 4. 13. Observe here three things 1. The strength of Christ is the original and fountain of all ours 2. The strength of a Christian derived from Christ hath a kind of Omnipotence sufficient for the whole duty of Christians it can doe all things 3. The strength and power thus bestowed is the work of a Christian the man strengthened by Christ I can doe all things I Paul can through Christs strength and assisted by grace keep the Commandments in the Gospel sense If this be not the Apostles meaning I must even go to School again to understand English Through God who strengthens us we are able to perform what he is able to injoyn we can suffer by his Patience what in his Wisdom he can inslict chuse by his direction what in his goodness he can propose In short we can believe his promises and doe his will we can resist his enemy and drink his Cup but by his Wisdom and by his Grace by his Power and by his Patience and if Arminius say more than this or Calvin less with submission to better Judgments the middle way between both extreams is certainly the safest and proves God's Commands the only measure of our Obedience not to be Grievous and consequentially to chuse Sin which is the transgression of such just and reasonable Laws must be Irrational and Irreligious 3 That Law of which Sin is the Trangression is such a Law by obedience to which we attain through Christ Eternal happiness and well did David speak upon this account Thy Commands O God are Righteous and in keeping of them there is great reward Psal 19. 11. An exceeding Eternal weight of Glory such as eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor hath entred into the heart of man to conceive as St. Paul speaks a happiness that doth silence invention non-plus Hyperbolies exceeds all our Conceptions and Imaginations and the Oratory of Men or Angels Now to chuse Sin which is the transgression of such Laws as are suitable to our Natures advantageous both to our Temporal and Eternal Interest Laws Holy Good and Just in themselves and not Grievous to us to chuse Sin which is opposite to such Laws as these is the greatest folly and madness we hereby degrade our selves from our very Essences and bid defiance to our understanding the candle of the Lord in our own breasts Fifthly As Sin is not eligible for its self or Consequences not with respect to Gods Attributes and Essence nor with reference to his Laws so not the object of a rational Choice because it is destructive to our own Souls As 1. to the purity of the Soul Sin takes away its beauty 2. to its Dignity so sin casts down the Soul from its Excellency 3. to the Souls Liberty Sin makes it a Captive 4. to the strength of the Soul Ezek. 16. 30. Impotens libido Sin makes us weak and Impotent 5. to the peace of the Soul ubi peccatum ibi procella there is no peace saith my God to the wicked and Lastly to the safety and life of the Soul 2 Thessal 1. 9. there are known Topical heads which may be inlarged upon in your private Meditations Sin is Expoliatio gratuitorum say the Schools a stripping of the Soul of all those supernatural Excellencies that God gave men when created after his own image and 't is Vulneratio Naturalium Sin wounds the Soul as to its Naturals and Morals as well as Spirituals In short Sin is the disease of our Souls and no rational man that knows what Health is will chuse a sickness and be in love with a Disease Sin is as destructive of the Souls health beauty and safety as distemper'd Humours defect in any Member Solution of Parts or Dislocation of a Joint can be to the Body An ignorant Mind is equivalent to a blind Eye a Will disabled worse than a lame hand and vile Affections more ugly than deformed Members an evil Conscience is more afflictive than a Cancer in the Breast Pining Envy more vexatious than the knawing of our Stomachs the furies of Lust Rage and Intemperance are as unnatural Distempers as Feverish heats and the insatiable desire after Worldly Wealth and Greatness is an Hydropique thirst and hence in Scripture the sicknesses and diseases of our Bodies are used to represent those of our Souls which he that attentively reads and meditates on will furnish himself with many Instances of great usefulness and advantage our First Parents got this disease by eating of an Apple which the Devil had poysoned and infected all their Posterity with the Venom of it Adam fell in Paradise and all his Off-spring are Mephiboseth's line from their Mothers Womb. Sin now runs in a Blood and flies higher and higher instead of abating its first Vigour 't is Morbus epacmasticus epidemicus contagiousus as Symptoms still heighten it is a catching and contagious Disease seizing upon those that come near such as are infected with it Flee from Sin Ecclesiasticus 21. 2. as from the face of a Serpent for if thou comest near it will bite thee the teeth thereof are as the teeth of a Lyon slaying the Sons of men This was the poyson that lay under the teeth of the old Serpent the Devil when he bit our first Parents Nay Sin is Morbus compositus so complicated a Disease that all other diseases are indeed but the Symptomes of this Which brings me to the Sixth Particular That Sin is not only the Souls Sickness but the sourse and fountain of all the Maladies and Distempers that happen to our Bodies and so an enemy to Body and Soul at once and as so not the proper object of our Election or Choice Hast thou a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Does thy head ake 't is Sin it may be Pride or Self-conceit have distended the membranes of thy Brain Hast thou an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are thine Eyes inflamed Sin is the cause thereof perhaps thou hast been too vain in gadding after sinful Objects Hast thou an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is thy Speech taken from thee 't is Sin hath struck thee dumb perhaps thy hearkning after Lies prophane idle and libidinous Discourses Hast thou an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do thy Loines chasten thee in the night season Sin is the occasion perhaps thou hast given thy youth and thy strength unto strange women Hast thou a Volvulus intestinorum a miserere mei and forc'd to cry out Oh my bowels my bowels as 't is exprest Jer. 14. 19. 't is Sin perhaps thy Gluttony Ryot