nature would have lasted or might have lasted longer in almost all were it not for some defect excesse or default in our selves and therefore this accusation lies against almost all Secondly this is besides a mans intention to give his yeeres to the cruell The Libidinous intention is to satisfie this sin in the lusts thereof in that there is withall a waste of the radicall moysture and thereby a cutting off of his dayes this is by accident only and a consequent of the thing done not a thing meant by the door Thirdly sith repentance heales the pollution intended by the offender it is against Religion reason both to question whether it will heale the coÌ„sequent consumption not intended Amen OF VSURY Nehemiah 5. 11. Restore to them even thâ—◠〈◊〉 their Lands theiâ—â—â—â—e-yards their Olive 〈…〉 and their houses also the hundred part of the Money the Wine and the Oile that yee exact of them THE matter here is a case of Restitution of Lands Monies gotten froÌ„ the poore by usury so our last translation reades it Ver. 7. The Hebrew is Burden because usury is a great burthen and carries an heavy weight with it The hundred part of the money is meant either of the yeare then it is but one in the hundred or of the moneth as some thinke then it is twelve in the hundred We see that covetousnesse is rightly tearmed the roote of all evill of al wrongs and evill dealings besides other sins else it could not bee imagined that in their bondage the Iewes should thus have grated one upon another The place the time the scandall besides the expresse law of God one would have thought shold have made them forbeare but a covetous heart cannot hold he cares more for money than all reports of God and man The next thing of note is that what comes in by usury aswell as by other extortion must ordinarily be restored out of hand even this day it is not safe to give the heart of man time in any sin but of all not in this wilely sin of covetousnesse if ever Satan bee a fox and a serpent it is here give him but a space to play and angle a little with our hearts with this sin of worldlinesse he will quickly catch us with a golden hook It is great wisdome to be present the wit of man will distinguish else and creepe out by one evasion or other we are too apt to be pleased with any leafe and shift to beare our selves in hand that we may lawfully continue in such practises as feed this greedy humour this eating Wolfe doe it then while it is called to day doe it now lest our hearts deceive us and wee deceive our hearts and so we doe it never Delayes are ever dangerous but in nothing like as in getting out of the hands of sin but of no sin so as to get out of the snare of this sinne of covetousnesse The last thing is that Vsurers are bound by the Law of God to make restitution What ever comes in this way comes in at the wrong doore and it must out againe If the conscience be not â—eared it makes it sick againe there is paine there is no quiet till the conscience take a vomit and up comes all We use to Saint the man who doth but give over this golden trade of usury but the truth is that such come but halfe way our repentance is not thorow our sorrow comes not home except as it is here we doe restore When we leave the practise of usury we doe not properly leave the sin as sin except wee restore and turne the stolne dog home againe when we have not wherwithall there necessity hath no law The King of heaven must and will lose will part with his right where nothing is to be had and there the will doth stand for the deed but where there is no such answer that wee cannot but we see that we ought wee have wherewithall and will not here I say it is right and reason that the Lord should make use of his authority and use us according to law and justice Now as this act of restitution secures our hearts so that the bels ring not backwards in our consciences within in like manner it makes much for the safety of our estate without it sets a marke upon our goods and they are safe thereby under the Kings Seale whereas a little of these ill-gotten profits like fellons goods endanger all a little you know brings all the rest into the tenure of the Crowne and all must bee as it were in capite I am certaine that a golden wedge will fire all the rest of the stuffe and therefore hee that hath been or is an Vsurer he must leave his usury and make all well by restitution as hee meanes good to his soule as he intends safety to his estate and it is his happinesse that his sin lies in such a thing wherein he may make restitution and lick the parties wronged whole againe this makes the conscience quiet helpes us to peace when as in murders adulteries in such and some other the like sins where there is no place left for restitution an hard matter it is to set such in comfort when once the conscience fals a complaining but here let the conscience accuse at the worst yet as it is a sinne godly sorrow makes all well and as it is a wrong repaire is made by restoring repenting takes up the matter as it is to God restoring helpes heales all as it is to men The most that can be said is that the Vsury-taker paies the use willingly and where a man parts with his money willingly restitution is not of force Iudas might have retained the money with the good content of the Priest who gave it willingly yet hee did restore it and was bound to doe it and were this good Divinity then a great deale of that which comes in by bribery and dicery may bee lawfully and comfortably kept Then I say that though it bee not against the will of the borrower that the Vsurer keepe the use yet it should bee what if hee thinke that to take use be no sin in the Vsurer What if he bee not convinced that the fact of the Vsurer herein is a fault in this case he may be willing he should keepe it for want of true light and sound judgement wheras were he aware of what is truth that the Vsurer had no right to take it he would withall thinke that the Vsurer hath no reason to keepe it and this kinde of willingnesse is an interpretative unwillingnes And lastly I say that he seemes many times to be willing because hee cannot tell how to helpe it the Travellor gives his purse to the theefe because hee cannot doe otherwise or at least dares not and there is a morall necessity which is of force to cause a man to
lawes are in the substance of them the very lawes of nature and by the Decalogue there is in all cases of necessity still a propriety of goods the argument in Melancthon is firme The eight Commandement is a naturall law it stands Iure Divino but by the eighth Commandement there is established a distinction between mine and thine so it concludes strongly that propriety of things is not by law positive but by law Divine and naturall Moreover if that community of things were a law of nature it had bin immutable and al things shold and ought to be common in all times and cases Neither can any man shew why the eighth Commandement being a law of nature should be subject to be dispensed with by cases of necessity any more than any other or al the ten Commandements Al the rest stand firme in the body of theÌ„ against all necessities whatsoever and therefore this Next we prove our case out of the Word There is a stealing for need saith Salomon but if this be so that need maks all things common there can bee no stealing for need sith in cases of necessity what ever a man takes to supply his need he takes but his owne say they I am sorry then that any Protestant should write and print that in this case necessity taketh away all reason of sinning This is but to close with Bellarmine as though now in extreame necessity it were alienated no longer The onely objection worth the answering is from Mat. 12 1. where we read that the Disciples being an hungred did pluck and eate the eares of câ—rne and that therefore they doing well in it it is a lawfull thing to take that which is anothers in case of necessity The answer is that this was not done by theÌ„ on this ground because necessity tooke away propriety but because it was their owne they tooke by the gift of God who is the right chiefe owner of all the creatures in the World In Deut. 23. 25. God had given them a warrant so to doe in the Land of Canaan and that things were not then made common by necessity it is plaine by the words which follow in that very text But thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbours standing corn which might have been done without offence to GOD or wrong to man if this were true which Iesuites teach that in point of necessity not onely in respect of one person but also in respect of ones condition nothing is any mans but all things are every mans for the case may bee that a man and his family may be cast upon extreame need that a sickle put in his neighbours corne will not supply the hunger of him and his so much as the plucking the eares of corne did stay the stomacks and the hunger of the Disciples and yet I think that it was never held but as a thing forbidden to the Iewes by that law for a man in never so great necessity to put his sickle in his neighbours corne and that a Iew was rather to famish than so to doe which shewes the little truth that is in that assertion that necessity maks things common amongst men The Disciples did it because they had warrant and leave from God who was the owner of that corne and the law of God was on their side And for our times I doubt not but it is lawfull for one to pluck an apple or to take an eare or so of corne and eate it not only for ones very need but for ones delight and content The equity of that judiciall law of Moses saith somewhat but my ground is because a man in such cases hath an implicite and tacite consent the owner sometimes is by when we pluck plums and apples or so and wee never aske him leave though he looke on and in this case hee that saith not no saith yea and say he be absent and we know not who is the owner neither yet I thinke this lawfull because we have an interpretative consent wee have a morall perswasion that were the owner by hee would give us leave to pluck an eare to catch a peare with heart and good will which motion being in the heart of man doth free him from any theft and also wee see it a common matter which ordinarinesse of the thing helpes to make this good that there is in all men a kinde of consent and leave vertually given to all passengers and the like to pluck an eare an apple or apples a plum a peare or so and this is warrant enough if it bee not abused to save the conscience of a man harmelesse against that law of God Thou shalt not steale here is no stealing because here is a kinde of consent of the owner though not actuall yet vertuall and implicite and such a tacite consent is enough whether the fact be done before the owners face or behind his back Againe if need did make things so far forth common as might satisfie our need then where no need is we sin if we pluck a peare or so but wee may lawfully doe it onely for delight so also were this new Divinity right in case of need wee might satisfie our soule even against the consent of the owner he flatly forbidding us for in their sense who thus teach wee take but our owne all which is false wherefore we must rather speake with the truth and say that not only for need but for our very delight in the owners absence in case he directly forbid us not wee may I say lawfully pluck an â—are of corne or so by vertue of a common supposed consent intimated in the equity of that law of Moses which in such cases doth run thorow the veines of all mankinde Lastly I conceive this matter to bee put past al peradventure by the very law of God once in force amongst the Iewes commanding the theefe stealing for very need to make restitution to the forth and fifth and in a case to the seventh degree and if selling all to his very shirt would not make up the summe then by law hee was to bee sold and lose his liberty to make restitution for the principall not for the over-plus of his theft Now this Law of God had gone against sense if need did dispence with propriety and give a right and title to so much of ones neighbours substance as would serve to satisfie ones want for I hope reason it selfe is flat against it that a man should be thus bound to make restitution for taking that which by their Doctrine is his owne Aye common understanding it selfe at the first sight is against it that a man can be said to steale his owne can stand bound by Gods law thus to restore his owne and therefore to returne home again I conclude and say that our main point doth stand free and firme viz. That albeit in case of need as of some
particular yet nothing but what wee have faith for one way or other if not in the particular yet in the generall viz. we beleeve that wee shall conquer all the tentations we see and all others wee neither see nor feele such as we doe know and those wee does not know of wherein a kinde of implicite faith is sufficient thus and then wee aske nothing but what wee have faith for one way or other In the generall we aske in the general and we have many things whereof wee have no faith for in the particulars Vp then and bee doing worke it out by having and using our faith Satan flyes at the sight of faith there is such an Antipathy betwixt Satan and the faith of a Christian that faith no sooner comes in place but Satan is gone Other graces have their use and place to resist the impulsions of the divell some one some another but faith as Paul showes doth quench all I say all the fiery darts of the divell because it doth take in Christ Iesus with all his merits Value Virtue and Power And thus much for the first meanes to get out of tentations which is by Beleeving 2. The second is by Resisting Resist saith Peter how resist Stedfastly how stedfastly In the faith and what then why then Satan will flye The Apostle showes us in another phrase Stand saith hee and then Sathan hee fals It is not here saith Chrysostome as it fares w th wrastlers for there except we cast down our adversity we conquer not here wee conquer Satan if hee cast not us down we are then in acceptation as though we did cast him down alas Satan is quelled and as it were cast downe and killed already he is too far in hell ever to come out againe Satan can looke for no crowne hee is in perdition his aime is to cast us downe into the same destruction he himselfe is in so that if we doe resist and but keepe our Stand this is our conquest we must not looke for a greater victory than is to bee had in this world That which troubles some with discomfort is because no sooner doe they begin to resist but it is rather worse with them than it was before these consider not that it will be thus for if we will let sin and Satan alone they will let us alone sleepe in sinne and spare not we may have quiet enough and come by degrees to be past feeling but resist wee sin and Satan and the divell will play his part to hold his hold hee is a strong man and will not out except hee be forced now possession by force wee know is with some stir struggle sin will and must when we labour to cast the old man off it will because it is now a dying and all dying things that dye by peeces as sin doth reluct and struggle and stirre for life it must because else a godly man would not so well discerne the going out of sin the Candle blazeth most stinketh worst when it burnes in the Socket and so it fares with sin when it is towards it's last There is a double death of sin one in respect of the guilt of sinne which then is killed when we have our pardon this is in Iustification and when we beginne to get our pardon the Conscience is more out of quiet greater stirs being there than when wee sate still and did nothing that way But when the pardon is had once then the conscience is alive sin is dead and our hearts are at quiet being justified by faith wee have peace with God The other death of sin is in respect of the power of sin and this is in our sanctification and this wee meane chiefest here when a godly man sets about it to kill up and dry up this running disease the plucking out of the weapon the removing of the guilt of sin is done on a sudden but the healing of the wound the mending of the languor is done gradualy now a little and then a little and when a man is come to abhor his lusts then he hath given his sin it 's deaths wound as touching the power of it so on now some then some sinne doth dye more and more Now when a man can once come to resist sinne hee is dead to sin both wayes to the guilt of it and to the power of it for had hee not the pardon of it he could not resist it had hee not some power against it hee could not resist it Now looke how much power we get to resist it so much power sin loseth And now because sin will not give ground and lose the Field without fighting and some opposition hence it is that when wee begin to resist sin and Satan make to feele to the greater head and wee take our case to bee the worse wee cannot sleepe in a quiet skinne here except wee will sit downe here by Satans fire for if wee once goe about to get off from him hee will not lose us so but some stir he will make but we must live by faith and know that Satan is going and sin is a dying When the divell went of out of the mans body he tare him and puld him miserably he would not take his far-well but he should feele it so when wee doe by prayer conjure and charm him out of our soules he will make all the hurly burly he can when he is going out but bee of good heart our faith doth assure us that there is never a prayer we make nor act of resisting that we doe use but gives Satan a knock and sin a mortifying blow when ones hands do ake for cold yet when wee come first to the fire the fingers ends ake worse which makes children cry when they first come to the fire the cause is because the heat doth draw out the cold to the utmost parts and ends of every finger like to this it is that our sinnes doe make us ake worse when first wee bring our selves to the enlightning and healing ordinances of God our sinnes then are drawne out more therefore they vex more wee doe stirre them more and therefore they stinke worse wee see them more then and are troubled at the sight of them I confesse But yet so as a man is at the sight of many huge enemies whom yet hee knowes that through the helpe of his Captaine by fighting he shall beate and conquer by resisting and fighting what ever we see and feele at first wee doe and shall conquer sin and the lusts thereof and save our selves from the tentation of the divell Some questions may here come in by the way Quest. 1. When lust is sufficiently resisted Ans Some kind of faint resisting may bee made by generall and common graces and some againe against some sins by the law of nature but for the resisting that proves effectuall and is against all sin as sin is against
the written Word and Law of God it is done by faith and saving grace and by the Spirit of GOD giving lust such a wound that let Satan lick it all hee can it never recovers nor comes to it selfe againe Should we take the word sufficiently in a legall sense then while we breath we neither do nor can resist sin but it may be and it ought to be more and better resisted still but if we take it in an Evangelicall sense so as to be sure that our sin is dead at the heart as some trees be that yet carry boughs that we may bee sure that wee are in Christ here I say that a man hath sufficiently resisted sin and Satan when he doth not allow the sin when he doth no way consent to the tentation Some expresse it by a distinction and say that if a man doe not allow infirmities and doe not live in the practise of grosse sinnes then all is well and there is comfort enough to bee had to stay our thoughts against the day of refreshing as a little will stay the stomacke for a time so will an assurance that wee have broken the heart of sinne binde in our hearts from despaire The answer which is made hath this sense in it that if we allow not infirmities 2. If wee doe not practise grosse sins then there is sufficient resisting as touching the maine That there is a difference betwixt infirmities and presumpuous sins is not to be denied it is expresly in the holy scripture Papists say that the man who doth a mortal sin is not in the state of grace But for venials a man may commit in their Divinity who can tell how many of them and yet be in Christ for all that I hope there is no such meaning in any of our Divines as to tye up mens consciences to hang on such a distinction of sins sith it is beyond the wit of man to set downe a distinct point betwixt mortall and veniall sins now when it is an impossible matter punctually to set downe to the understanding of man which is and which is not a veniall sin they must pardon mee from giving the least way to such Divinity as must needs leave the conscience of man in a maze and Labyrinth I finde that the nature of infirmities doth so depend upon circumstances that that is an infirmity in one man which is a grosse sin in another and some men pleade for themselves that the things they doe are but infirmities He that will sin and when hee hath done will say not to comfort his soule against Satan but to flatter himselfe in his sin that it is but an infirmity for ought I know he may goe to hell for his infirmities Besides if that be good that a man who is in grace may doe infirmities but not practise grosse sinnes Then I would I could see a man that would undertake to finde us out some Rule out of the word by which a sinner may finde by his sin when hee is in Christ and when out of Christ at what degrees of sinning where lies the Mathematicall point and stop that a man may say thus far I may goe and yet bee in grace but if I step a step farther then I am none of Christs Wee all know that sinnes have their latitude and for a man to hang his conscience on such a distinction as hath no rule to define where the difference lyes is not safe Divinity The conscience on the racke will not be layd and said with formes and quiddities the best and neerest way to quiet the heart of man is to say that be the sinne a sinne of infirmity when we strive and strive but yeeld at last or of precipitancy when we be taken in haste as he was who said in his haste all men are lyers or a meere grosse sin in the matter aye say it be a presumptuous sin yet if we allow it not it hinders not but wee are in Christ though wee doe with reluctancie act and commit it and I say that we doe resist it if wee doe not allow it For let us not goe about to deny that a godly man during his being a godly man may commit grosse and presumptuous sins and for infirmities if wee allow them and like them that we know to be sinnes then wee doe not resist them and such a man who allowes himselfe in one is guilty of all and is none of Christs as yet bee the sinne what it will Iames makes no distinction and where the law distinguisheth not there wee must not distinguish I speake not of doing a sin but allowing for a man may doe it and yet allow it not as in Paul that which I would not that I doe and hee that allowes not sinne doth resist it therefore a man may resist it and yet doe it all the difference that I know is this 1. That a man may live after his conversion all his dayes and yet never fall into a grosse sin by grosse I meane presumptuous sinnes so Psal 19. David saith not cleanse but keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins we may then be kept from them I speake not that all are but some be and therefore in it selfe all might be 2. For lesser sinnes secret faults we cannot live without them they are of dayly and almost hourely incursion but yet wee must bee clensed from them as David speakes dayly get your pardon and there is a pardon of course for them and they doe not usually distract and plunge the conscience but yet we must not see them and allow them if we do our case is to be pittied wee are none of Christs as yet 3. Great staring sins a man cannot usually and commonly practise them but hee shall allow them So Ps 19. 13. Keepe back thy servant from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over mee Implying that except wee be kept back from them they will have dominion over us it followes then shall I be upright So that the man in whom presumptuous sinne or sins have no dominion he is an upright man To practise a sin is one thing to live in the practise is another how farre a man being and remaining in grace may goe in the committing of great sinnes is past my skill to determine The case of Salomon and others proves that a man may goe farre tentations may hang long if a day a week if a weeke a yeere if a yeere many yeeres and how many Who can say a man lives in a sin when he loves it though he doe not practise it at all as hee is a Drunkard who is never â—â—unke if hee love drinke and he Covetous who loves money though he have not a penny in his purse So say a man never act the sin yet if hee love it if hee doe not hate it hee lives in it As in the Body a man is said to have his health albeit he hath
for feare lest hee be out who could say perfect till hee came to say and a girle being threatned and terrified breaks the glasse only for feare of breaking it so when we are in feare joyned with discouragement Satan hath a great advantage and those sinnes amplified and set up doe mightily faint and discourage the heart and spirits of men and who can fight with any heart against an enemy that hee hath little or no hope to conquer Now when we doe make our sins worser than they are then it doth secretly steale away our hope and so we make no great hast to resist nor have no great heart to fight we then must learne not to make it lesse lest we be too slothful nor more lest we be too fearefull but just as the matter is as neere as we can that so wee may bee fitted and prepared to fight the good fight of faith with diligence and watchfulnesse 2. Wee must not suffer the thoughts of these horrible tentations to tarry in our mindes they are Gods and our greatest enemies and we must shut the doore against them what if we dislike and distaste them yet as one notes this rowling of them up and downe in our heads doth show that there is an insensible likening of them in our hearts we must set our hatred against them and thrust them away presently and hold it a dangerous thing to thinke of them God cannot take it well if wee mislike a thing in judgement and doe not set against it with the meanes God hath appointed and sanctified to that use Satan will coozen us as though that our very misliking of them were enough in things foule and that there were no feare of danger wheras nature it selfe doth looke sadly at these tentations and the mislike we feele may well come from the influence of the law and light of nature I have learned that we are never the further off from a tentation for our misliking it onely but the nearer except withall in affection we humble for it as well as distaste it in our judgments what if the dislike be not because it is a sin but because there is some feare or shame This is selfe-love and pride and this will worke in the sin if we goe no further and that by Gods just judgement our duty then is not to suffer the thoughts of such wounding and terrifying tentations to tumble up and downe in our mindes though we have no minde to them for either by discouraging us or enticing us they will get further hold but wee must cast them off set the word against them and turne our thoughts to some better subject and chiefly to thinke on those two great Dayes the day of Death and the day of Iudgement 3. Wee must of all see that we set not against those of our owne strength we can doe nothing by our owne power against any lust but least in these because what through feare horror in som what through the swinge and violent torrent of these two passions of anger and lust a man hath but little use of that reason he hath and so the more he strives this way the worse it is it doth but encrease our desires to the sinne our strength is here to pray and expect and laying all naturall and carnall weapons aside let God alone to doe all and out of grace it is that hee doth doe for us what he doth in our trials and conflicts and therefore Paul had his answer that all was to bee done by the grace and mercy of God and so we finde that the Lord said not to him my power but my grace is sufficient for thee wherefore we must put al upon the power and grace of God turne Satan to God to Christ for his answer set the grace of God against our sins when comming to prevent them when come to pardon them set the power of God against the strength of them all beleeve it that the grace of God is sufficient either to prevent us or preserve us He is in great danger who in any but of all in these potent tentations goes by his owne wit or reason or worth or strength Hee is in safe case who can say I deserve nothing I can doe nothing but hurt my selfe and make worke for sinne and Satan I meane to put all upon GOD who will worke mightily in me and for me but the grace of God which is with me he is all in all hee will doe all or nothing that he may have all the praise of his grace The helpes which serve in severall for every particular assault might be many some we will propose and first for those tentations which are in things of God then in things of man for God we are much assaulted to Atheisme and Blasphemy to Atheisme as the greatest sin that is in that it smites at the roote of all for to say the truth all sin is from Atheisme for who would sin did he then verily thinke that there were a God that saw all and would punish all and such a God God must be or no God and to Atheisme for when we have sinned sinne doth draw towards Atheisme exceedingly wipes out all notions of a Deity as much as it can and when wee are in sin wee must bee either willing to get out of it by repentance or else wee shall bee willing to turne Atheists the best of our play then being to feed our selves with a conceit that all is but talke to hold men in awe and that there is indeed neither heaven nor hell no place of torment that when wee dye all is gone no otherwise than with a Beast when the conscience will not get quiet by turning to God by repentance then it will seeke to quiet it selfe by unbeliefe bearing it selfe in hand that there is no such thing as hell to torment men in consider withall that Sathan doth all he can to make men Atheists because when there is no feare of God before mens eyes they will sinne all manner of sinnes that the divell would have them sin So Psal 14. The foolish hath said in his heart there is no God what followes They are corrupt they have done abominable works thus then when once men take to Atheisme they grow most corrupt and doe abominable workes there is no hoe in sinning then for what shold or can keep the wit and wil of man in when once wee conceit that there is no such thing as God the divell cannot bee a flat Atheist for he beleeves trembles and were it nothing but the sence he hath of the wrath of God tormenting why That is enough to prove that Satan doth fully undoubtedly acknowledge a Divine power He is not an Atheist because he cannot because he shall not but yet he beares good will to Atheisme because that sin doth much advantage his kingdome Saint Iames doth prove that God tempts no man
their sin of blasphemy against God too great for him to pardon as though it were possible for man to sinne a sinne which Gods mercy being simply infinite had not enough in it to forgive it This their errour is worse than the first to thinke so meanly of the rich and high and boundlesse mercy of the most Eternall and Infinite GOD we must now learne better to prize the mercy of God and say I cannot once repent of a sin bee it ever so great and maine but the mercy of God is ready to forgive it Could the Blasphemer against the Holy Ghost repent he must have his pardon conceive wee hope of pardon and then we will returne to the Lord by repentance and the Lord will take away the guilt and wash away the staine of this great sin The third tentation is of perjury Here we must take great heed that we doe not forsweare our selves chiefly in open Court where if any where a man should shew himselfe a religious a true a just and an honest man a fruit it is of deep Atheisme to perjure ones selfe and perjured persons bee hated of God and man wherefore the conscience will deepely and bitterly accuse for this sinne of perjury I could wish all men who love their owne quiet and have a desire to sleep in a whole conscience that they would take heed that they do not take a false oath come what will rather dye a thousand deaths it is much against the light of nature and more against the light of Scripture and these two will flye in our faces with wild fire and except God bee mercifull to us make us weary of God and of our selves And me thinkes by the way Women may comfort themselves against the infirmities and troubles which have ever bin afflicted on their sex since they were first in the transgression I say that sex may see a mercy that they are not so subject to this sinne of formall perjury as men are they serve not in Iuries grand or petty they are not brought in Courts to take oathes in Homages and the like they serve not the office of Church-wardens and so are not sworne and deposed any thing so often as men hence they have a great freedome from sinning this vexing sinne over men have which I would have them thanke God for and amongst other matters take this as a recompence for those many inflictions and revenges which God at first laid on that sex so that in respect of this sin and some other tentations that they are free from over men bee they may when they doe thinke of it even thanke God that they were made women and not men let not then Satan bring us into this brake it is hard getting out of it Feare an oath and of all such oathes wherein wee doe wrong and hurt to men for though there be sometimes some corruption in it as tasting of selfe-love to our selves yet for certaine sins wherein wee wrong men whom we see doe so much the more torment and racke the conscience of man and many men have mightily miscarried for this offence and sin of perjury wherefore beware and now to provide for the worst we must tell the man who hath done this sin that there is hope in Israel concerning this sinne also David himselfe was not still as good as his oath as in the case of Mephibosheth hee fell short of that oath of the Lord which hee made to Ionathans house and family and because instances work easier on weake spirits than Rules I would have such to thinke of Peter who did forsweare and renounce the person of Christ and when But in his troubles and where But in the High Priests Hall and who Why Peter a chiefe Apostle in the love and favour of Christ his master and is not Peter in heaven Teares of repentance will fetch out the deepest staine that this sinne of perjury can possibly make but it is the Rule must settle us at last and it is that if wee repent of any sin bee it never so great in substance in circumstances it is as no sinne to us I said I will acknowledge my sin he was but about to doe it and God forgave the iniquity the guilt of his sin If we confesse our sins indefinitely set downe our sins without exception GOD is faithfull and just to forgive them it stands upon him in respect of his Iustnesse to be as good as his word to forgive all repentant sinners all their sins S. Iob 33. 27. If one say I have sinned hee will deliver his soule say peccavi and cry GOD mercy and we shall saith Salomon have mercy mercy presently in pardoning of our sins and mercy now some and then some in healing our iniquities Never did any man confesse his sin to God but hee went away with his pardon wicked men may confesse to their fellowes and to good men they may as Saul did to David but it is an harder matter than so for a man to confesse to God except it be for company or for outward glory but for a man to take God aside to confesse alone to him I thinke a wicked man cannot doe that I finde no instance in the Word that ever any unregenerate man did it A man had need have hope of pardon to confesse to the Iudge Adam did flye from God fell to shifting and so wee doe all while wee are as hee then was out of the state of grace I meane not the grace of election no man can have hope of pardon but by faith and by that I doe hold that it is a signe of a godly man to confesse all alone to God and then I can never beleeve that a man will confesse his sin honestly and ingeniously betwixt GOD and his owne soule except he hate that sinne Now how a wicked man can come to the hatred of his sinne is past my skill to understand To come backe I say despaire not it is worse than perjury it makes GOD a lier or worse than a lier it accuseth him of a kinde of perjury for a man to say there is no hope no pardon to be had repent we never so much sith God hath not only said it but sworne it that he will not the death of a repentant sinner repent and bee pardoned The fourth is breaking of Vowes a vow broken doth crack the comfort of mans conscience exceedingly A vow is defined to bee a religious promise made to God I say that every vow is such a promise but al such promises are not vowes for a vow properly and strictly taken is when a promise is made to GOD of this or that within our power with condition of obtaining some what at Gods hands other promises are simply made and absolutely without any such condition of getting any thing from the hands of God and thus Baptisme is soundly and learnedly denied to bee formally
I cannot finde a reason of things beleeved as touching Christ Iesus yet I doe finde a reason of my beleeving them and that is because I finde it so in the Word I must live and dye by the booke the Bible must carry it How do I know that there is any such thing as sin but because it is written I must then passe my soule upon it First that there is Christ Secondly that Iesus is the Christ Thirdly what this Christ is and what he did and doth for the salvation of the Church Fourthly that hee is my Christ my Iesus my Saviour I say I must dye upon it because these things are in and out of the Word many scruples break in but dare any man set it under his hand that Iesus is not the Christ that any else is the Saviour No. Are wee not ready when wee are at the worst if we be called to subscribe with our hands to this proposition that Iesus borne of the Virgin Mary was and is the Messias the Saviour of his people Why then downe with all oppositions and dubitations dash them al out of countenance with this I doe beleeve in Iesus Christ because it is in the Word the eye and hand of faith must doe it dye with this in our mouthes hee is hee because the word saith so and I do beleeve it the rather because Satan and lust cannot abide to heare of it Hold we our selves then to the letter and tenor of the Gospell and the tentation will blow away faith workes strongest at last where reason is most against it and we finde dying men doubt least of all about the Articles of Christ and the principles of faith it being a received axiome in the Church of Christ that saith workes best and clearest when it workes alone and it workes alone in things wherein reason saith no but the word of God saith yea Thus much concerning the particulars in the first Table now followes to bee treated of some chiefe of the second table The thing we must begin with is that the pangs of conscience which arise out of sinnes in the second Table were generally greater and stronger than of the first and it is because that there is lesse of the light and law of nature in us of the worship of God than of the duties of our neighbour we have here a double sting the spirituall conscience cries and the naturall conscience cries and when two come together to cry that cry must needs bee great it is the better to maintaine order and discipline amongst men that there is more of natures law in the things of men than of God and a greater light to discerne those than these The world must stand and hold in some quiet til the period of it expire which could not be were it not for this bond and law of nature and thus wee have it that in weaker Christians especially greatest troubles of mind come from matters of the second table And if you aske what the matters of the second table be which doe most vex the conscience of a man and doe prove the worst tentations wee answer that men are usually most disquieted which murther against the sixth uncleannesse against the seventh and theft against the eighth Commandement Disobedience to Parents and Authority as it is first in the second table so caeteris paribus it is the greatest sin and hath the sharpest punishment the Ravens of the Valleys shall pick out their eyes which is never set downe for a punishment of murther it selfe wee read not that hee that is cholerick with his brother must dye but hee that but speaketh evill of father or mother is a man of death by the word of God but yet these cases doe not use to stagger the conscience most in most be-because it is not so flat against the light of Nature neither are they held such heynous faults amongst men and wee use to judge too much of the greatnesse and soulenesse of sins by custome the estimate of men we do account those the worst sins not ever which the Word saith are the greatest sins but such as amongst men in the time and place where we live goe for the mighty sinnes and trouble of conscience doth arise from our opinion and apprehension wee have of things which by the way must teach us not altogether to be led by the wrack of our conscience for conscience is blind in al unregenerate men and in the best it is in part defiled and corrupt and imperfect and therefore it is mistaken and cannot bee our rule and it is our sin to set our conscience in the roome of the Word of God when conscience speakes in the Holy Ghost and according to the word then it must be heard else conscience doth sometimes complaine most of some things that are no sins at all as we see in the Pharisie who was troubled in minde if hee should chance to eate with unwashen hands and through misprision and error they thought they did GOD good service to kill Christ and his Apostles and therefore we must not set up conscience too high put it not in Gods place but when it speakes for God and from God and hath light enough to see what is what then when it speakes out of the word the conscience must bee heard God is greater than our heart and therefore wee must hold to him and to his Word which onely is his Interpreter in this world it concludes not then simply to say my conscience tels me it is a sin my conscience tels me I am not in Gods favour but to returne we must know that those sins doe trouble most which doe most disturbe the society of men for it is the naturall conscience that gives the heaviest blow there is most light and sight in the natural conscience of man in those matters which concerne humane societies of men and so because bloud lust and theft do undermine the state of mankinde and cast all into confusion hence it is that these sins make such a cry as they doe and that not simply because they are the greatest that bee nor for that they are most against the nature or will of God but because they doe most hurt to men and are most against the order and governement of mankinde before I descend to those particulars I would have men to aske the question whether their trouble bee because the tentation is bad or base or bad and base both 1. If we be troubled only because the sin is base and brings with it or after it the shame of the world than it is from sinne and pride that we are so vexed and that is made a matter of conscience which is wholly or chiefly a matter of self-respects or if it be within our selves and secret and yet out of a conceit of our selves wee are much afflicted that we should be haunted to doe or drawne to act such and such vile and
in many Nations And many particular persons have doted wonderfully after this preposterous lust and have taken more bruitish and hellish delight in it than in those passions which are according to nature This then must be avoided by all meanes and all occasions of it warily eschewed he sinne is great it is a corrupting and a rotting of the very rudiments of nature in all things looke what corrupts the foundation and principall of things must needs be worst The punishment was great in that utter overthrow of Sodome In the Deluge water from heaven drownds here as in their sinne they had over-turned the law of nature so in their punishment there was an inversion of the course of nature for not water but fire came from heaven and burned them whose lusts were thus set on fire of hell It is used as a type of hell it is a crying sin The cry of Sodome and Gomorrah is great Gen. 18. 20. There is no sin but hath a voice but this amongst many and above most other sins hath a lowd and a crying voice it is heard to heaven it hath a lowd mouth to accuse which cry is nothing else but the guilt of conscience and the justice of God the conscience being full of matter and ready to accuse and God to heare As a man through importunity is drawn to execute justice against his minde so this sin doth so put God to it that hee must needs proceed except we come with hearty repentance hee cannot res nor be just till hee have sorely and sharpely punished it The thing I urge then sith the sin and the guilt is so great and will make such a noise in the conscience is by all meanes to keepe from the sin and from all spice of it to shun all occasions of it to take heed of that which Quintilian puts off in a Schoole-Master which is Nimium est quod intelligitur and he is so strict this way that he will not have bigger and lesser youths sit much together We may see what wrought Sodome to this sin Idlenesse pride fulnesse of bread these must be heedfully avoided and such sins as wee read Rom. 1. were in the justice of God punished with and by this passion of dishonour we must be thankfull to God for the light we have and in some measure walke according to the truth wee see They made God like a foure-footed beast and GOD gave them up to a sin which did abase them into a worse condition than of beasts and for such as are unmaried and have not the gift and by the use of al the meanes cannot get it such must know that it is better to marry than to burne and if they will rather burne than marry they are in a foule way to fall into this scalding sin which sin if they commit brings with it a world of misery and after when such shall happen to marry by the just hand of God they are suffered for a punishment of the former wickednesse to forsake as Paul saith the naturall use and run into that which is unnaturall and these are most monstrous lusts when all is done by way of preparation disposition of our hearts and thoughts against these corruptions that which will save us from the staine of these filthy puddles must be the pure and holy Word of God Set the Word against the sin and the sin is laid set the Word against Satan in this his tentation and â—atan cannot abide by it Satan 〈◊〉 no more abide the light of 〈◊〉 Word than an Owle can 〈◊〉 â—â—ining of the Sun say I 〈…〉 doe it I may not I 〈◊〉 it is forbidden in such 〈◊〉 place and againe in such a place It is called not onely a sinne but which shewes an height of sinning abomination both of them have committed abomination saith the text The punishment of it by Gods own Law was death no lesse than death present death they shall surely bee put to death their bloud shall bee upon them and the law was flat and peremptory that no Sodomite must bee amongst the sons of Israel and in that never the like reformation Iosiah brake downe the houses of the Sodomites which were by the house of the Lord 2 Kings 23. 7. Asa the father and Iehosaphat the sonne had swept away those unclean nests in their dayes but we see they grew on againe till Iosiah came and made a ful purgation These and such other places show that this sin is strong â—â—â—den and severely 〈◊〉 to which adde the wrath 〈◊〉 God on such in hell 1 Cor. â— These are the best medicines that bee which being rightly used and applied doe ever doe the cure Next to provide against the worst say a man be a sinner in this great wickednesse yet he must not run away from his father that will marre all There be I know degrees in this sinne but say it bee at the worst yet there is mercy with God repentance will make it up againe it is good to make all hast to returne sith lasciviousnesse is a sin which useth to seare up the conscience till the time of reckoning for al comes and God doth sometimes after a while shut up his gates of mercy and then as Chrysostome notes often though Noah Iob Moses Samuel and Daniel shold intercede it would bee to no purpose They were men of God who in their times did by their prayers do great things and compasse marvellous matters for particular persons for Families for Countries and yet when the glasse is out and the decree determined is past when the time is over wherein God may be found their prayers for others come in too late it is good then to bee at it with the soonest I meane not that ever it is too late to repent or that if we repent we can misse of mercy No no the fountaine stands open alwayes open in the house of David for sin and for uncleannesse and this unclean person as Paul cals him if he repent he shall finde mercy God forbid we should have such a thought as though this sin could staine so deepe that the bloud of Christ could not fetch it out our meaning is that whilst the conscience is awake and we have a faire offer made us by the Word and Spirit knocking at our hearts it is good wisdome to take Gods offer delaies be dangerous for if we will not know the day of our visitation God may and what if in justice he shall refuse to give us to repent then let our friends move for us God will not heare were they as good at praying as ever Iob Daniel Noah and Samuel were Let such then who are in this offence come in by all meanes in all hast to the Lord and when the Angell moves the water step into this Bath this Fountaine know that GOD would never
move our hearts to repent and returne had hee not a meaning to pardon and to accept as looke into the 1 Cor. 6. and there we read that some who were thus sinfull were yet sanctified were washed and are now with Christ and if they then why not some now It is not to the purpose that they were so before their callings sith Divines do agree that there is no one sinne that a man may commit before his calling but should God leave that man to himselfe to his lust to Satan he might and would and should commit the same sin after neither lies there any reason why on our repentance a sin done before is pardoned and the same sin if wee repent after must stand unpardonable or that a man may repent of a sin done before ones conversion and not repent of the same sin after adde but this that the sin committed before is in it selfe greater than the same sin committed after for before it is done with a full swing saving that perhaps the law of nature and in-bred modesty doth at the first make some recoile but after calling there being some seeds at least of grace in the wil there is some inward opposition made it is not done without some saying nay in the law of their minde and so the sin is the lesser Now if repentance could doe it at first when the sin was greater can wee question whether repentance doth fetch it off when the sin is lesser Indeed if no repentance no healing no not of the least knowne sin but if we repent all our Divinity lies upon it that such shall bee pardoned and that God hath not peremptorily bound himselfe to deny repentance unto life to any sinner except the blasphemer against the Holy Ghost is point agreed on in our Schooles and Pulpits Indeed if such as are in this foule fault doe finde that it workes a stupifying that it seares takes away the inward power of discerning things that are not convenient deadens our tast if such finde that their inward touch-stone hath now lost its vertue the danger is a great deale the greater because such having little or no feeling of their estate are not as yet in the way to repentance but if such finde it a fiery dart burning like any poyson working a world of troubles in the minde and a fearefull consternation in the conscience then there is the more hope that true humiliation and mercy is not far off such have a faculty in them which will worke out of their feares a desire to be eased and if once upon sight of the promises they conceive hope of mercy they are in a faire way to repent of their wickednesse and that God who hath made tender of his mercy to worse than Sodomites will receive those to favour upon true sorrow for what is past and stedfast resolution to doe so no more for the time to come And here I will leave this uncomfortable argument wishing all who meane not say they do scape hell to carry the smoke of this sinne to their graves to flye from it Now because I said that when in committing a sinne the conscience is against it the sin is the lesse I will not conceale what a late Divine saith that the sin is the greater when it is done when the conscience doth say no for saith he if this were any signe of a mans having grace that in acting his sin he feeles a moving within against those sinnes he doth doe it would follow that great sinners aye all sinners might perswade themselves that their estate were good because there is a con-flicting against vices out of the principles of natures light which are in the brests more or lesse of all men living that in an unregenerate man sins against the naturall conscience are the worse even in that respect because he doth them against his conscience is most true We must then say that when the sin is done against the voice of the conscience sometimes it makes the sinne the lesse sometimes the worse If we take part with the sinne against the conscience are angry that our conscience would not let us take that fill of Delight and content in committing the sinne and are not willing that conscience should say any thing unto us when we have done here the sin is much the worse because it was done against conscience but now if we take part with the voice within and are heartily sorry that the temptation and our passion meeting together doe beare downe the power of our conscience and doe what wee can to take part with the reluctation while it is a doing and when it is done nothing in the world troubles us so much as that wee did not give way to the act of conscience and keepe from the sinne and doe joyne with our conscience against our lust and are putting more strength into the power of grace and conscience against another time In this case when wee take part with the conscience against the sinne it makes the sinne the lesser which the ungodly never doe but doe joyne with the sinne against the conscience and for inward combates there are some in the unregenerate where no grace is betwixt originall sinne and other habituall lusts and the Law of Nature but not with such sinnes as nothing saith are sinnes but the Word and Spirit of GOD. In unnaturall Lusts wee grant there is some strife in some yea in most unregenerate men but in other more spirituall sinnes there neither is nor can bee that civill warre within because there is not a power of grace to make the resistance how-ever the wicked doe take part with Lust even against the Law and rules of Nature which circumstance doth aggravate theiâ— sinnes but of the difference betwixt the combate which is onely in the good and that combate which is also in the bad there is enough and enough said by Divines to Satisfie any man and in this point all care must bee used to keepe off unnaturall passions the sting of conscience is great the cure is hard and so much the more difficulâ—â— because what for the danger and what for the shame of them men cannot be easily brought to make their minde knowne to any man which gives the greatest advantage to Satan to worke his will upon us but if any be overtaken in any hand let him send up to God and in case GOD put him off out with it to some spirituall man who must and will and as God shall be pleased to blesse his labours shall restore him with the Spirit of meekenesse Next wee are to looke over those which are naturall called naturall because that nature hath an end in them for though the wrong way in unlawfull lust yet they tend to the propagation and continuation of mankinde and first for such as are single then for such as are married 1. Such are single if God give them by the use of
with the Lord. 2. The other extreame is to grow senselesse to be past feeling wee are apt in these cases to feele too much or too little for if our terrours overcome us wee despaire if wee overcome them by faith wee take comfort if wee put them off by the flesh we grow secure and it is common out of great feares to runne into great want of feeling and so we finde it in the Apostle that lasciviousnesse breeds in us a senselesnesse it feares up the conscience and such come to be past feeling To open this there is a partiall want of feeling when wee commit sinnes and aile nothing in some particulars Thus wee finde that otherwise good people breake out into excesses in buying and selling doe they care not what in matters of profit and feele nothing the conscience sees all saith nothing or as good as nothing one would wonder how men can sell day I speake not against giving day but selling of it let out their money to use hoard up corne directly against the Word of God in the very letter make up some peeces of workes on the Lords day are told of it in the ministry and yet nothing come of it why Because custome in them and in others hath taken away their feeling covetousnesse hath made them in most matters of commodity to bee past feeling yet this is but partiall we meane not to say that those allow those sins for the point is that though the Word be plaine yet custome doth so dazle their eyes that they cannot in the particulars see the right so David and Salomon did multiply wives against that Text Deut. 17. 17. The like did the Patriarches for Polygamie And the beleeving Gentiles saw not single fornication to be more than a thing indifferent Act. 15. 20. 21 25. Rev. 2. 15. 20. Yet this fornication is forbidden in the Word So great is the force of custome But should these men meddle halfe so much in forbidden lusts of uncleannesse oh what pangs rise in their conscience they feele it with a witnesse But now the passions of lasciviousnesse when once men have broken thorow the terrours of it which usually come first then they bring a man to a total senselesnesse to be past feeling not only in these and the like affections but in all universally to make conscience of nothing to commit any sinnes that comes to hand with all greedinesse devoure any thing like some stomackes and be never troubled with it it is so sensuall a sinne and gives such a blow to the naturall conscience too that like a sound knocke on the head it takes away all sense and feeling let Satan propose what he will nothing comes amisse for this sinne of uncleannesse fights against both light of nature and grace and if the naturall conscience speake and wee will not heare and the spirituall conscience crie and we will not hearken the conscience will grow speechlesse and speake no more and hence it is that such as come to a custome in some covetous practises are past feeling in some things for some time but such as come to a custome in the lust of uncleannesse are soone made to be past feeling simply and totally scruple at nothing whatsoever Sith then the danger is as great as a seared conscience comes to such as have broken the peace with God must returne and make all haste to repentance the crie is so great and the sight of it is so odious and the sense of it is so grievous at first and so palpable that we may with the more ease come to repent It is a sinne that doth convince it selfe to bee a sinne till a man hath lost his judgement and his spirituall taste while it is a doing the judgement cries shame and there is little to doe because our worke lyes in a manner onely with our affection whereas many passions of anger and pride and covetousnesse are such that the offender is long ere hee can bee brought to see the thing to be a sin the fact to be a fault But in pollutions of uncleannesse they are so direct against the principles of reason and so flat against al shew of Religion that they carry their conviction in their mouthes which makes the heart the more ready to entertaine the work of repentance unto life Iudah repented David repented Lot repented and so did Thamar and so did others and they were taken into speciall favour and honour as we see them upon record in the first of Matthew Those sinnes which much humble doe much honour none humble more than such base lusts David died in honour Mary Magdalen is in great honourin the Church of God Christ to comfort and honour her appeared first and foremost to her what ever heales the soule heales the name repentance doth both The truth of our repentance wil best appeare if wee goe away as Iudah did and doe so no more come not neere the garment spotted with the flesh affections of another nature are more apt to bring a relapse than these passions they leave such a sting and sent behind them goe away but with a smart have such a tast and are such a base sight that few relapse such as are by Gods mercy cured of these diseases are commonly ever after very chast Become as children in all purity and chastity when wee fetch out a great staine the cloth is after whiter than ordinary and so after this staining sin is washed away such must be very holy passing chast beware of the least sparke of sin this is the meaning of that of Iohn the Baptist Bring forth fruits meet or worthy of repentance how worthy of repentance It is that when a man hath beene at it in the worke of repentance his workes and deeds must afterwards be better than ordinary hee must looke like a true penitent that as a Physitian can judge by the colour of the face that his patient is recovered so must our workes shine and carry such a lustre and colour with them that one of skill may read it as written in our faces that there is amendment of life that now all is well and sound within And say by intemperate courses one have bin the occasion of hastning our owne end before the time I grant that there is just cause as Salomon speakes to mourne at the last when the flesh and the body are consumed and we are accidentally guilty of hastening our owne death before the time of Natures Period but never before the time of Gods councell mourne here spare not but yet not as men without hope repentance will mend this also First hardly one man in a thousand but one way or other more or lesse cuts off some of his dayes Had it not bin for one thing or other hee might have lived a day a yeere longer as I thinke is plaine enough in David who was bed-rid at or about the age his father begat him either