that original righteousnes which he at the first put into him and appointing him to bee the head and fountaine of all mankind not only in nature but in foro-too in regard of legall proceeding with-held from him and his seed that Gift which was freely by him in the Creation bestowed and willfully by Adam in the fall reiâ—…cted and adjudg'd this miserie upon him that hee should passe over to all his posterity the immediate fruit of his first prevarication which was originall sinne contracted by his owne default and as it were issuing out of his willfull disobedience upon him because they all were in him interessed as in their head and father in that first transgression Thus have I at large opened those many great evils which this sinne hath in it that life of concupiscence which the Apostle here speaketh of I cannot say of it as the Romane Epitomizer of his Historie Iâ—… brevit abella totanteius imagiâ—…m amplexâ—… suâ—… that in a small compasse I have comprized the whole Image of old Adam but rather cleane contrary In amplatabull non dimidiam eius imaginem amplexus sum The halfe of this sinne hath not all this while beene described unto you Now therefore to conclude this Argument wherein I have been the larger both because of the necessarinesse of it that we may know whither to rise in our humiliations for sinne and because it is the principall sâ—…ope of the Apostle in the place and serves most abundantly to shew our owne everlasting insufficiency for happinesse in our selves we see by these things which have been discovered in this sin at what defiance we ought to stand with the doctrine of those men first who mince and qualifie and extenuate this sinne as the Papists doe making it the smallest of all sinnes not deserving any more of Gods wrath then onely a want of his beatificall presenâ—…e and that too without any paine or sorrow of minde which might be apt to grow from the apprehension of so great a losse nay not onely denying it after Baptisme to bee a sinne but onely the seed of sinne an evill disease langvor tyranny and impotency of nature but that even in the wicked themselves concupiscence is rather imputed for sinne then is really and formally sinne notwithstanding it be forbidden in the Commandement and upon these presumptions reviling the doctrine of the Reformed Divines for exaggerating this sinne as that which overspreadeth in its beeing all our nature and in its working all our lives Secondly of those who heretofore and even now deny any sinfulnesse either in the privation of the Image of God or in the concupiscence and deordination of our nature It was the doctrine of the Pelagians in the primitive times that mans nature was not corrupted by the fall of Adam that his sinne was not any ground to his posterity either of death or of the merit of death that sinne comes from Adam by imitation not by propagation That Baptisme doth not serve in Infants for remission of sinne but onely for adoption and admission into Heaven that as Christs righteousnesse doth not profit those which beleeve not so Adams sinne doth not prejudice nor injure those that actually sinne not That as a righteous man doth not beget a righteous Childe so neither doth a sinner beget a Childe guilty of sinne That all sinne is voluntary and therefore not naturall That Marriage is Gods ordinance and therefore no instrument of transmitting sinne That concupiscence being the punishment of sinne cannot bee a sinne likewise These and the like Antitheses unto Orthodox Doctrine did the Pelagians of old maintaine And as it is the policy of Satan to keepe alive those heresies which may seeme to have most reliefe from proud and corrupted reason and doe principally tend to keepe men from that due humiliation and through-conviction of sinne which should drive them to Christ and magnifie the riches of Christs Grace to them there are not wanting at this day a broode of sinfull men who notwithstanding the evidence of Scripture and the consent of all Antiquitie doe in this Point concurre with those wicked Heretikes and deny the originall corruption of our nature to bee any sinne at all but to be the work of Gods owne hands in Paradise nay deny further the very imputation of Adams sinne to any of his posterity for sinne And now because in this point they doe expressely contradict not onely the Doctrine of holy Scriptures the foundation of Orthodox Faith the consent of Ancient Doctors and the Rule of the Catholike Church but in no lesse then foure or five particulars doe manifestly oppose the doctrine of the Church of England in this Point most evidently delivered in one article for the Article saith Man is Gone from originall righteousnesse they say Man did not goe away from it but God snatched it away from man the Article saith that by Originall sinne Man is enclined unto evill and calleth it by the name of concupiscence and lust they say that Originall sinne is onely the privation of righteousnes and that concupiscence is a concreated and originall condition of nature the Article saith that the flesh lusteth alwayes contrary to the spirit they say in expresse termes that this is false and that the flesh when it lusteth indeed doth lust against nothing but the spirit and that the Apostle in that place meant onely the Galatians and not all spirituall or regenerate men the Article saith that this lust deserveth Gods wrath and condemnation they say that it doth not deserve the hatred of God and lastly the Article saith that the Apostle doth confesse that concupiscence and lust hath of it selfe the nature of sinne they say that it is not properly either a sinne or a punishment of sinne but onely the condition of nature in all these respects it will be needfull to lay downe the truth of this great Point and to vindicate it from the proud disputes of such bold Innovators And first let us see by what steps and gradations the Adversaries of this so fundamentall a doctrine which as Saint Austin saith is none of those in quibus optimi fidei Catholicae defensores salvâ fidei compage inter se aliquando 〈◊〉 consonant wherein Orthodox Doctors may differ and abound in their owne sense doe proceed to denie the sinfulnesse of that which all Ages of the Church have called Sinne. First they say That the Sinne of Adam is not any way the sinne of his posterity that it is against the nature of sinne against the goodnesse wisedome and truth of God against the rule of Equitie and Iustice that Infants who are Innocent in themselves should bee accounted Nocent iu another therein taking away Baptisme for remission of sinnes from Infants who being not borne with guilt of Adams sinne stand yet in no neede of any purgation Secondly they say that though Adams sinne may be thus farre said to be unto posterity imputed as that by reason of it they become obnoxious unto Death namely to an eternall dissolution of body and soule without any reunion and an eternall losse of the divine vision without any paine of sense yet that death which to Adam in his person was a punishment is not so to his posteritie but onely the condition of their nature Thirdly they say that that which is called originall sinne is
nothing else at all but onely the privation of originall righteousnesse and that concupiscence was 〈◊〉 contracted and brought upon nature by sinne but was originally in our nature suspended indeede by the presence but actuated by the losse of that righteousnesse Fourthly they say That that Privation was not by man contracted but by God inflicted as a punishment upon Adam from whom it comes but onely as a condition of nature unto us that man in his fall and prevarication did not Throw away or actually shake off the Image of God but God pull'd it away from him which if God had not done it would have remained with him notwithstanding the sinne of the first fall Fifthly they say That in as much as the privation of originall righteousnesse was a punishment by God upon Adam justly inflicted and by Adam unto us naturally and unavoidably propagated It is not therefore to be esteem'd any sinne at all neither for it can God justly condemne any man nor is it to be esteem'd a punishment of sinne in us though it were in Adam because in us there is no sinne going before it of which it may bee accounted the punishment as there was in Adam but onely the condition of our present nature Lastly they say that Adam being by God deprived of originall righteousnesse which is the facultie and fountaine of all obedience and being now constituted under the deserved curse all the debt of legall obedience wherein he and his posteritie in him were unto God obliged did immediately cease so that whatsoever outrages should after that have beene by Adam or any of his children committed they would not have beene sinnes or transgressions nor involv'd the Authors of them in the guilt of iust damnation That which unto us reviveth sin is the new covenant because therein is given unto the law new strength to command and unto us new strength to obey both which were evacuated in the fall of Adam Vpon which premises it doth most evidently follow that unlesse God in Christ had made a covenant of grace with us anew no man should ever have beene properly and penally damned but onely Adam and he too with no other then the losse of Gods presence For â—… Hell and torments are not the revenge of Legall but of Evangelicall disobedience not for any actuall sinnes for there would have beene none because the exaction of the Law would have ceased and where there is no Law there is no transgression not for the want of righteousnesse because that was in Adam himselfe but a punishment and in his posteritie neither a sinne nor a punishment but onely a condition of nature not for habituall concupiscence because though it be a disease and an infirmitie yet it is no sinne both because the being of it is connaturall and necessary and the operations of it inevitable and unpreventable for want of that bridle of supernaturall righteousnesse which was appointed to keepe it in Lastly not for Adams sinne imputed because being committed by another mans will it could bee no mans sinne but his that committed it So that now upon these premises we are to invert the Apostles words By one man namely by Adam sinne entered into the world upon all his posterity and death by sinne By one man namely by Christ tanquam per causam sine quâ non sinne returned into the world upon all Adams posteritie and with sinne the worst of all deaths namely hellish torments which without him should not haue beene at all O how are wee bound to prayse God and recount with all honour the memorie of those Worthies who compiled Our Articles which serue as a hedge to keepe out this impious and mortiferous doctrine as Fulgentius cals it from the Church of England and suffers not Pelagius to returne into his owne country There are but three maine arguments that I can meet with to colour this heresie and two of them were the Pelagians of old First that which is naturall and by consequence necessarie and unavoidable cannot be sinne Originall sinne is naturall necessarie and unavoidable therefore it is no sin Secondly that which is not voluntarie cannot be sinfull Originall sinne is not voluntarie therefore not sinfull Thirdly no sinne is immediatly caused by God but originall sinne being the privation of originall righteousnesse is from God immediately who pull'd away Adams righteousnesse from him Therfore it is no sinne For the more distinct understanding the whole truth and answering these supposed strong reasons give me leave to premise these observations by way of Hypothesis First there are Two things in originall sinne The privation of righteousnesse and the corruption of nature for since originall sinne is the roote of actuall and in actuall sinnes there are both the omission of the good which we ought to exercise and positive contumaâ—…ies against the Law of God therefore a vis formatrix something answerable to both these must needs be found in originall sinne This positive corruption for in the other all agree that it is originall sinne is that which the Scripture cals flâ—…sh and members and law and lusts and bodie and Saint Austin vitiousnesse inobedience or inordinatenesse and a morbid affection Consonant whereunto is the Article of our Church affirming that man by originall sinne is farre gone from righteousnesse which is the privation secondly that thereby he is of his owne nature enclined unto evill which is the pravitie or corruption and this is the doctrine of many learned papists Secondly the Law being perfect and spirituall searcheth the most intimate corners of the soule and reduceth under a law the very rootes and principles of all humane operations And therefore in aâ—… much as well being is the ground of well working and that the Tree must be good before the fruite therefore wee conclude that the Law is not onely the Rule of our workes but of our strength not of our life only but of our nature which being at first deliver'd into our hands entire and pure cannot become degenerate without the offence of those who did first betray so great a trust committed unto them Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God Exâ—…ni valdâ—… tuo with all thy might saith the Law it doth not only require us to love but to have mindes furnish'd with all strength to love God so that there may be life and vigoâ—… in our obedience and love of him The Law requires no
after all death it selfe For though these things may be where there is no guilt imputed and so properly no punishment inflicted neither the blinde man nor his parents had sinned that he was borne blinde as in the same ship there may bee a malefactor and a Merchant and to the one the voyage is a trafficke to the other a banishment yet to the wicked where they are not sanctified they are truely punishments and fruites of Gods vindicative justice because they have their sting still in them For the sting of death is sinne Secondly Spirituall and those threefold First Purishment of losse separation from the favour and fellowship with God expulsion from Paradise the seat of Gods presence and love Aliens forreiners farre from God Secondly Of sense the immediate strokes of Gods wrath on the soule wounds of Conscience scourges of heart taste of vengeance implanting in the soule tremblings feares amazements distracted thoughts on a cleare view of the demerit of sinne evidences of immortality and presumptions of irreconciliation with God This made Cain a runnagate and Iudas a murtherer of himselfe yea some touches of it made David cry out that his bones were broken and marrow dryed up and his flesh scortched like a potsheard It is able to shake the strongest Cedars and make the mountaines tremble like a leafe The sonne of God himselfe did sweate and shrinke and pray against it and with strong cries decline it though the suffering of so much of it as could consist with the holinesse of his person were the worke of his office and voluntary mercy Thirdly of sinne when God in anger doth forsake the soule and give it over to the frenzie and fury of lust to the rage and revenge of Satan letting men alone to joyne themselves unto idoles and to beleeve lies Now as the operation of the sunne is strongest there where it is not at all seene in the bowels of the earth or as lightning doth often blast and consume the inward parts when there is no sensible operation without so the Iudgements of God doe often lie heaviest there where they are least perceiv'd Hardnesse of heart a spirit of slumber blindnesse of minde a reprobate sense tradition unto Satan giving over unto vile affections recompencing the errors of men with following sinnes are most fearefull and desperate judgements But doe we then make God the Author of sinne God for bid In sinne we may consider the execution and committing of it as it is sinne and this is onely from man for every man is drawne away and enticed by his owne lust and the Ordination of it as it is a Punishment and this may be from God whose hand in the just punishment of sinne by sinne in obstinate contemptuous impenitent sinners may thus farre be observed First Deserendo by forsaking them that is taking away his abused gifts subtracting his despised Graces calling in and making to retire his quenched and grieved spirit removing his candlesticke and silencing his Prophets and giving a bill of divorce that either they may not see nor heare at all or hearing they may not understand and seeing they may not perceive because they did not see nor heare when they might Secondly Permittendo when he hath taken away his own Grace which was abused unto wantonnesse he suffers wicked men to walke in their owne wayes and because they like not to retaine him in their knowledge nor to live by his prescript therefore he leaves them to themselves and their owne will Thirdly Media disponendo ordering objects and proposing meanes not onely to Try but to punish the wickednesse of men and to bring about whatever other fixed purposes of his hee hath resolved for the declaration of his wonderfull wisedome to execute and as it were to fetch out of the sinnes of men as the conspiracie of Pilat Herod and the Iewes which their former wickednesse had justly deserved to have them given over unto was by God order'd to accomplish his determined and unchangeable counsell touching the death of Christ. Excellent is the speech of Holy Austin to this purpose The Lord enclineth the wils of men whither soever pleaseth himselfe whether unto Good out of his mercie or unto evill out of their merit sometimes by his manifest sometimes secret but alwayes by his righteous judgement and this not by his patience onely but by his power Fourthly Perversas voluntates non invitas flectendo sed spontaneas suo impetu faciles ulterius Satanae praecipitandas tradendo By giving over perverse wilfull rebellious sinners to the rage and will of Satan to hurry and enrage them at his pleasure unto further sinfulnesse When Iudas had listued to the Temptation of Satan to betray Christ had set himselfe to watch the most private opportunitie had been warned of it by Christ and that upon a question of the most bold and impudent hypocrisie that was ever made Master Is it I though it is not an improbable conjecture that Iudas at that very time upon the curse that was pronounced might secretly and for that time seriously resolve to give over his plot and upon that resolution to aske the question then at last Christ by a sop did give Satan as it were a further seisin of him and the purpose of Christ was that that which he was to doe hee might doe quickely He was now wholly given up to the will of Satan whose temptation haply before though very welcome in regard of the purchase and project of gaine which was in it had not fully silenc'd nor broken through all those reluctancies of Conscience which were very likely to arise upon the first presentment of so hideous a suggestion but now I say whether out of a sinister Construction of our Saviours words That thou doest doe quickly as if they had been not as indeed they were a giving him over to the greedinesse of his owne lust and to the rage of Satan but rather an allowance of his intention as knowing that hee was able to deliver himselfe out of their hands unto whom he should bee betraide and so his treason should onely make way to Christs miracle and not to his crosse or whether it were out of a secret presumption that notwithstanding Christ had made him know how his conspiracie was not hid from him yet since he was of all the company singled out whom Christ would Carve unto therefore his conspiracie was not so vile but that Christ would redâ—…re in gratiam countenance and respect him after all that and that as by the plot hee had not so lost him but that hee had gain'd him againe so also hee might doe after the execution too Now I say after that soppe and those words without further respect to the strugglings and staggerings of his Conscience hee goes resolvedly about that damned businesse for he was now delivered unto the will of Sathan The like libertie and commission was that which God gaue to
but their sins that though our words bring fire and fury with them yet they are still in the hand of a Mediator that the Law is not to breake them unto desperation but vnto humiliation not to drive them unto furie but unto Faith to shew them Hell indeede but withall to keepe them from it if we doe not by these meaneâ—… save their Soules yet we shall stop their mouths that they shall be ashamed to blaspheme the commission by which we speake Secondly The people likewise should learne to rejoyce when the Law is preached as it was published that is when the Conscience is thereby affrighted and made to tremble at the presence of God and to cry unto the Mediator as the people did unto Moses Lâ—…t not God speake any more to us lâ—…st we die Speake thou with us and we will heare For when sinne is onely by the Law discovered and death laid open to cry out against such preaching is a shrewd argument of a minde not willing to bee disquieted in sinne or to be tormented before the time of a soule which would have Christ and yet not leave her former husband which would haue him no other king then the stump of wood was to the frogges in the fable or the moulten Calfe unto Israel in the Wildernesse a quiet idol whom every lust might securely provoke and dance about As the Law may be preached too much when it is preached without the principall which is the Gospell so the Gospell and the mercie therein may bee preached too much or rather indeede too little because it is with lesse successe If wee may call it preaching and not rather perverting of the Gospell when it is preached without the appendant which is the Law This therefore should in the next place teach all of us to studie and delight in the Law of God as that which setteth forth and maketh more glorious and conspicuous the mercy of Christ. Acquaintance with our selves in the Law wâ—…ll First keepe us more loâ—…ly and vile in our owne eyes make us feele our owne pollution and poverty and that will againe make us the more delight in the Law which is so faithfull to render the face of the Conscience and so make a man the more willing and earnest to be cleansed Their heart saith David is as fat as grease but I delight in thy Law The more the Law doth discover our owne leannesse scraggednesse and penurie the more doth the Soule of a Holy man delight in it because Gods mercie is magnified the more who filleth the hungrie and refrâ—…sheth the weary and with whom the fatherlâ—…sse findeth mercie Secondly It will make us more carefull to live by Faith more bold to approach the throne of Grace for mercie to cover and for Grace to cure our sores and nakednesse In matters of life and death impudence and boldnesse is not unseasonable A man will never die for modesty when the Soule is convinc'd by the Law that it is accursed and eternally lost if it doe not speedily pleade Christs satisfaction at the Throne of Grace it is emboldned to runne unto him when it findes an issue of uncleanenesse upon it it will set a price upon the meanest thing about Christ and be glad to touch the hemme of his garment When a Childe hath any strength beautie or lovelynesse in himselfe he will haply depend upon his owne parts and expectations to raise a fortune and preferment for himselfe but when a Childe is full of indigence impotencie crookednesse and deformity if he were not then supported with this hope I have a father aâ—d Parents doe not cast out their Children for their deformities he could not live with comfort or assurance so the sense of our owne pollutions and uncleanenesse taking off all conceits of any lovelynesse in our selves or of any goodnesse in us to attract the affections of God makes us râ—ly onely on his fatherly compassion When our Saviour cald the poore woman of Syrophenicia Dogge a beastly and uncleane Creature yet shee takes not this for a deny all but turnes it into argument The lesse I have by right the more I hope for by mercy even men afford their Dogges enough to keepe them alive and I aske no more When the Angell put the hollow of Iacobs thigh out of joynt yet hee would not let him go the more lame hee was the more reason hee had to hold The Prodigall was not kept away or driven of from his resolution by the feare shame or misery of his present estate for he had one word which was able to make way for him through all this the name of Father He considered I can but be rejected at the last and I am already as low as a rejection can cast me so I shall loose nothing by returning for I therefore returne because I have nothing and though I have done enough to bee for ever shut out of dores yet it may bee the word Father may have rhetoricke enough in it to beg a reconcilement and to procure an admittance amongst my fathers servants Thirdly It will make us give God the Glory of his mercy the more when wee have the deeper acquaintance with our owne miserie And God most of all delighteth in that worke of Faith which when the Soule walketh in darknesse and hath no light yet trusteth in his Name and stayeth upon him Fourthly It will make our comforts and refreshments the sweeter when they come The greater the humiliation the deeper the tranquillitie As fire is hottest in the coldest weather so comfort is sweetest in the greatest extremities shaking settles the peace of the heart the more The spirit is a Comforter as well when he convinceth of sinne as of righteousnesse and judgement because he doth it to make righteousnesse the more acceptable and Iudgement the more beautifull Lastly acquaintance with our owne foulnesse and diseases by the Law will make us more carefull to keepe in Christs company and to walke according unto his Will because he is a Physitian to cure a refiner to purge a Father and a Husband to compassionate our estate The lesse beautie or worth there is in us the more carefully should we studie to please him who loved us for himselfe and married us out of pittie to our deformities not out of delight in our beautie Humilitie keepes the heart tractable and pliant As melted waxe is easily fashioned so an humble spirit is easily fashioned unto Christs Image whereas a stone a bard and stubborne heart must bee hewed and hammered before it will take any shape Pride selfe-confidence and conceitednesse are the pâ—…nciples of disobedience men will hold their wonted courses till they be humbled by the Law They are not humbled saith the Lord unto this day and the consequent hereof is neither have they feared nor walked in my Law If you will not heare that is if you will still disobey the Lords messages my Soule shall weepe in
in you which was in Christ that is have the same judgement opinions affections compassions as Christ had As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation Secondly in his passive obedience though not in the end or purposes yet in the manner of it Runne with patience saith the Apostle the race which is set before you looking vnto Iesus who for the joy that was set before him endured the crosse despised the shame c. If the head be gotten through a strait place all the members will venture after Therefore since Christ hath gone through shame contradiction death to his glory let us not be wearied nor faint or despaire in our mindes The head doth not thinke all its worke ended when it is gotten through it selfe but taketh care and is mindefull of the members that follow Therefore the Apostle cals our sufferings A fulfilling or making up of the sufferings of Christ. The Resolution of all is briefely this We must follow Christ in those things which hee both did and commanded not in those things which he did but not commanded But heere it may be objected Christ was Himselfe voluntarily poore Hee became poore for our sakes and he commanded poverty to the young man goe sell all that thou hast and give it to the poore Is every man to be herein a follower of Christ To this I answere in generall that poverty was not in Christ any act of Morall Obedience noâ—… to the yong man any command of Morall Obedience First for Christs poverty we may conceive that it was a requisite preparatorie act to the worke of redemption and to the magnifying of his spirituall power in the subduing of his enemies and saving of his people when it appeared that thereunto no externall accessions nor contribution of temporall greatnesse did concurre And secondly for the command to the yong man it was meerely personall and indeede not so much intending obedience to the letter of the precept as triall of the sinceritie of the mans former profession and conviction of him touching those misperswasions and selfe-deceits which made him trust in himselfe for righteousnesse like that of God to Abraham to offer up his Sonne which was not intended for death to Isaake but for tryall to Abraham and for manifestation of his faith It may be further objected How can wee bee Holy as Christ is Holy First the thing is impossible and secondly if we could there would be no neede of Christ if we were bound to bee so Holy righteousnesse would come by a Law of workes To this I answere the Law is not nullyfied nor curtall'd by the mercy of Christ we are as fully bound to the obedience of it as Adam was though not upon such bad termes and evill consequences as he under danger of contracting sinne though not under danger of incurring death So much as any justified person comes short of complete and universall obedience to the Law so much hee sinneth as Adam did though God be pleased to pardon that sinne by the merit of Christ. Christ came to deliver from sinne but not to priviledge any man to commit it though hee came to be a curse for sinne yet Hee came not to be a Cloake for sinne Secondly Christ is needefull in two respects First because we cannot come to full and perfect obedience and so His Grace is requisite to pardon and cover our failings Secondly because that which wee doe attaine unto is not of or from our selves and so his spirit is requisite to strengthen us unto his service Thirdly when the Scripture requires us to be Holy and perfect as Christ and God by as we understand not equalitie in the compasse but qualitie in the Truth of our Holynesse As when the Apostle saith That we must love our neighbour as our selves the meaning is not that our love to our neighbour should be mathematically equall to the love of our selves for the Law doth allow of degrees in Love according to the degrees of relation and neerenesse in the thing loved Doe good unto all men specially to those of the houshold of Faith Love to a friend may safely bee greater then to a stranger and to a wife or childe then to a friend yet in all our love to others must be of the selfe same nature as true reall cordiall sincere solid as that to our selves Wee must love our neighbour as wee doe our selves that is unfainedly and without dissimulation Let vs further consider the Grounds of this point touching the Conformitie which is betweene the nature and spirituall life of Christians and of Christ because it is a Doctrine of principall consequence First this was one of the Ends of Christs comming Two purposes He came for A restitution of us to our interest in Salvation and a restoring our originall qualities of Holynesse unto vs. Hee came to sanctifie and cleanse the Church that it should be Holy and without blemish unblameable and unreproveable in his sight To Redeeme and to purifie his people The one is the worke of his Merit which goeth upward to the Satisfaction of his Father the other the worke of his Spirit and Grace which goeth downeward to the Sanctification of his Church In the one He bestoweth his righteousnesse upon us by imputation in the other He fashioneth his â—…mage in us by renovation That man then hath no claime to the payment Christ hath made nor to the inheritance Hee hath purchased who hath not the Life of Christ fashioned in his nature and conversation But if Christ be not onely a Saviour to Redeeme but a Rule to Sanctifie what use or service is left unto the Law I answere that the Law is still a Rule but not a comfortable effectuall delightfull rule without Christ applying and sweetning it unto us The Law onely comes with commands but Christ with strength love willingnesse and life to obey them The Law alone comes like a Schoolemaster with a scourge a curse along with it but when Christ comes with the Law He comes as a Father with precepts to teach and with compassions to spare The Law is a Lion and Christ our Sampson that slew the Lion as long as the Law is alone so long it is alive and comes with terrour and fury upon every Soule it meetes but when Christ hath slaine the Law taken away that which was the strength of it namely the guilt of sinne then there is honie in the Lion sweetnesse in the duties required by the Law It is then an easie yoke and a Law of libertie the Commandements are not then grievous but the heart delighteth in them and loveth them even as the honie and the honie combe Of it selfe it is the cord of a Iudge which bindeth hand and foote and shackleth unto condemnation but by Christ it is made the cord of a man and the band of Love by which He teacheth us to goâ—…
of â—…ther else the Bodie of Christ would be a mangled and a maimed thing and not as Saint Paul calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulnesse of Him that filleth all in all In the Body of Christ there is a supply to every joynt a measure of every part an edification and growth of the whole compacted body from Him who is equally the Head to all Being thus united unto Christ first the Death and Merit of Christ is ours whatsoever Hee really in His humane nature suffered for sinne wee are in moderated Iustice reputed to have suffered with Him The Apostle saith that we were crucified and dead with Christ and that as truely as the hand which steales is punish'd when the backe is beaten and surely if a man were crucified in and with Christ by reason of His mysticall communion with him then he was crucifi'd as Christ for al 〈◊〉 which should otherwise have laine upon him Hee was not in Christ to cleanse some sinnes and out of him to beare others himselfe For the Apostle assures us that the Merit of Christ is unconfined by any sinne The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sinne As Saint Ambrose said to Monica the mother of Austen when with many teares she bewailed her sonnes unconversion Non potest tot lacrymarum filius perire that is that it could not be that the Sonne of so many teares should perish so may I more certainely say to any Soule that is soundly and in truth humbled with the sense of any grievous relapse non potest tot lacrymarum frater perire It cannot bee that the brother of so many teares and so pretious blood which from Christ trickled downe with an unperishable soveraigntie unto the lowest and sinfullest of his bodie should perish for want of compassion in Him who felt the weight of our sufferings or for want of recovery from him who hath the fulnesse of Grace and Spirit Secondly the Life of Christ is ours likewise Christ liveth in me saith the Apostle Now the Life of Christ is free from the power and the reach of death If death could not hold Him when it had Him much lesse can it reach or overtake Him having once escaped Hee died once unto sinne but Hee liveth unto God likewise saith Saint Paul reckon you your selves to be dead unto sinne but alive unto God and that through or in Iesus Christ by whom wee in like manner are made partakers of that Life which Hee by rising againe from the Grave did assume as we were by AdaÌ„ made obnoxious to the same death which heby failing did incurre and contract For Christ is the second Adam and as wee have borne the Image of the earthly in sinne and guilt so must we beare the Image of the Heavenly in Life and righteousnesse and that which in us answereth to tâ—…e Resurrection and Life of Christ which Hee ever liveth is our holynesse and newnesse of life as the Apostle plainely shew's to note that our Renovation likewise ought to be perpetuall and constant not fraile and mutable as when it depended upon the life of the first Adam and not of the second Thirdly the Kingdome of Christ is ours also Now His Kingdome is not perishable but eternall a Kingdome which cannot be shaken or destroyed as the Apostle speakes Heb. 12. 28. Fourthly the Sonneship and by consequence â—…tance of Christ is ours I speake not of His personall Sonneship by eternall generation but of that dignitie and honour which He had as the first borne of every Creature and Heire of all things That Sonneship which Hee had as Hee was borne from the Dead Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee namely in the Resurrection in which respect He is called the first borne and the first begotten of the Dead In this dignitie of Christ of being Heires and a kinde of first borne unto God doe wee in our measure partake for wee are called the Church of the first borne and a kinde of first fruites of His Creatures For though those attributes may be limited to the Iewes in regard of precedencie to the Gentiles yet in regard of the inheritance which was usually and properly to descend to the first borne they may bee applyed to all for of all beleevers the Apostle saith If you are Sonnes then are ye heires Coheires with Christ. We hold in chiefe under his guardianship and protection as his sequele and dependant Now from hence our Saviours argument may bring much comfort and assurance The Sonne abideth in the house for ever and the House of God is His Church not in Heaven onely but on Earth likewise as the Apostle shewes Fifthly Christs victories are ours Hee overcame the World and Temptations and Enemies and Sinnes for us And therefore they shall not bee able to overcome Him in us Hee is able to succour them that are tempted Hee who once overcame them for us will certainely subdue them in us Hee that will overcome the last Enemie will overcome all that are before for if any be left the last is not overcome Lastly we have the benefit of Christs Intercession I have prayed for thee that thy Faith faile not It is spoken of a saving Faith as the learned prove at large And I have shewed before that particular promises in Scripture are universally applyable to any man whose case is paralell to that particular If then Peters 〈◊〉 did not by reason of this prayer of Christ overturne his Salvation or bring a totall deficiencie upon his faith why should any man who is truely and deepely humbled with the sense of relapse or consciousnesse of some sinne not of ordinary guilt or dayly incursion but indeede very hainous and therefore to be repented of with teares of blood yet why should he in this case of sound humiliation stagger in the hope of forgivenesse or mistrust Gods mercie since a greater sinne then Peters in the grosse matter of it can I thinke hardly be committed by any justified man These are the comforts which may secure the Life of Christ in a lapsed but repenting sinner the summe of all is this Since we stand not like Adam upon our owne bottome but are branches of such a Vine as never withers Members of such a Head as never dies sharers in such a Spirit as cleanseth healeth and purifieth the heart partakers of such promises as are sealed with the Oath of God Since we live not by our owne life but by the Life of Christ are not ledde or sealed by our owne spirit but by the Spirit of Christ doe not obtaine mercie by our owne prayers but by the Intercession of Christ stand not reconciled unto God by our owne endevours but by the propitiation wrought by Christ who loved us when wee were enemies and in our blood who is both willing and able to save
spue and rise up no more even that fierce and bitter indignation in the pouring out of which the Lord shall put to his right hand his strong arme not onely the terror of his presence but the glory of his power I say the Lord could let drunkards alone till at last they meet with this Cup which undoubtedly they shall doe if there be either truth in Gods word or power in his right hand if there be either Iustice in heaven or fire in hell till with Belshazzar they meet with dregs and trembling in the bottome of all their Cups but yet oftentimes the Lord smites them with a more sudden blow snatcheth away the Cup from their very mouths and so makes one Curse anticipate and preuent another Though Haman and Achitophel should have liv'd out the whole thred of their life yet at last their honor must have laine downe in the dust with them Though Iudas could have liv'd a thousand yeares and could have improv'd the reward of his Masters bloud to the best advantage that ever Vsurer did yet the rust would at last have seiz'd upon his bags and his monie must have perished with him but now the Lord sets forward his Curse and that which the moth would have been long in doing the gallows dispatcheth with a more swift destruction Thus as the body of a man may have many summons and engagements unto one death may labour at once under many desperate diseases all which by a malignant conâ—…unction must needs hasten a mans end as Cesar was stabd with thirty wounds each one whereof might have serv'd to let out his soule so the Creatures of God labouring under a manifold corruption doe as it were by so many wings post away from the Owners of them and for that reason must needs be utterly disproportionable to the condition of an Immortall Soule Now to make some Application of this particular before wee leave it This doth first discover and shame the folly of wicked worldlings both in their opinions and affections to earthly things Love is blinde and will easily make men beleeve that of any thing which they could wish to bee in it and therefore because wicked men wish with all their hearts for the love they beare to the Creatures that they might continue together for ever the Divell doth at last so deeply delude them as to thinke that they shall continue for ever Indeed in these and in the generall they must needs confesse that one generation commeth and another goeth but in their owne particular they can never assume with any feeling and experimentall assent the truth of that generall to their owne estates And therefore what ever for shame of the world their outward professions may be yet the Prophet David assures us That their inward Thoughts their owne retir'd contrivances and resolutions are that their houses shall endure for ever and their dwelling places to all generations and upon this Immortality of stones and monuments they resolve to rest But the psalmist concludes this to be but brutish and notorious folly This their way is their folly they like sheepe are laid downe in their graves and death feeds upon them And indeed what a folly is it for men to build upon the sand to erectan Imaginarie fabrick of I know not what Immortality which hath not so much as a constant subsistence in the head that contrives it What man will ever goe about to build a house with much cost and when he hath done to inhabit it himself of such rotten and inconsistent materials as will undoubtedly within a yeere or two after fall upon his head and bury him in the ruines of his owne folly Now then suppose a man were lord of all the World and had his life coextended with it were furnished with wisedome to manage and strength to runne through all the affaires incident to this vast frame in as ample a measure as any one man for the governement of a private family yet the Scripture would assure even such a man that there will come a day in which the heavens shall passe away with a noise and the elements shall melt with heate and the earth with the workes that are therein shall be burnt up and that there is but one houre to come before all this shall be Behold now is the last houre And what man upon these termes would fix his heart and ground his hopes upon such a tottering bottome as will within a little while crumble into dust and leave the poore soule that rested upon it to sinke into hell But now when we consider that none of us labour for any such inheritance that the extremitie of any mans hopes can be but to purchase some little patch of earth which to the whole World cannot beare so neere a proportion as the smallest molehill to this whole habitable earth that all we toyle for is but to have our loade of a little thicke clay as the Prophet speakes that when wee have gotten it neither wee nor it shall continue till the universall dissolution but in the midst of our dearest embracements we may suddenly be puld asunder and come to a fearefull end it must needs be more then brutish stupidity for a man to weave the Spiders webs to wrappe himselfe up from the consumption determined against the whole earth in a covering that is so infinitely too short and too narrow for him Wee will conclude this particular with the doome given by the Prophet Ieremy As the Partridge sitteth on egges and hatcheth them not shee is either caught by the fowler or her egges are broken so he that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his dayes and in the end shall bee a foole Secondly this serves to justifie the wisedome and providence of God in his proceedings with men The wicked here provoke God and cry aloud for vengeance on their owne head and the Lord seemes to stop his eares at the cry of sinne and still to loade them with his blessings he maketh their way to prosper they take roote and grow and bring forth fruite they shine like a blazing Comet and threaten ruine to all that looke upon them they carry themselves like some Tyrant in a Tragedy that scatters abroad death with the sparkles of his eyes and darts out threats against the heaven aboue him they are like Agag before Samuel clothed very delicately and presume that there is no bitternesse to come And now the impatiency of man that cannot resolve things into their proper issues that cannot let iniquitie ripen nor reconcile one day and a thousand yeeres together begins to question Gods proceedings and is afraid leâ—…t the World be governed blindfold and blessings and curses throwne confusedly abroad for men as it were to scramble and to scuffie for them But our God who keepeth times and seasons in his owne power who hath given to every Creature under the Sunne limits
Romane Games wherein men kill'd one another to make sport for the people and yet resolving though hee went with his body to leave his heart behind him and for that purpose to keepe his eyes shut that he might not staine them with so ungodly a spectacle yet at last upon a mighty shout at the fall of a man he could not forbeare to see the occasion and upon that grew to couple with the route and to applaud the action as the rest did In another place of the same booke wee reade of Monica the mother of that holy man that she had so often used to sip the wine that came to her fathers table that from sipping shee grew to loving and from thence to excessive drinking which particulars are by him reported to shew the deceitfulnesse of sinne in growing upon the conscience if it can but win the heart to consult to deliberate to indulge a little to it selfe at first for it is in the case of sinne as it is in treason qui deliberant desciverunt to entertaine any the modestest termes of parley with Gods enemy is downe-right to forsake him And if it bee so in any thing then much more in the love of the World for the Apostle tels us 〈◊〉 that is a Roote and therefore we must expect if ever it get 〈◊〉 in us partly by reason of its owne fruitfull qualitie partly by reason of the fertile soyle wherein it is the corrupt heart of man partly by reason of Satans constant plying it with his husbandry and suggestions that it will every day grow faster settle deeper spread wider in our soules By which meanes it must needs likewise create abundance of vexation to the spirits of men For as Manna in the Wildernesse when the people would not be content to have from God their daily bread but would needs be hoarding and multiplying of it bred wormes and stanke so when men will needs heape up wealth and other earthly supplyes beyond stint or measure they do but store up wormes to disquiet their minds that which will rot and annoy the owners They pant after the Dust of the Earth on the head of the poore saith the Prophet of those cruell oppressors that sold the righteous for shooes it notes how the fiercenesse of a greedy and unsatiable desire will weare out the strength of a man make him spend all his wits and even gaspe out his spirits in pursuing the poore unto the dust sucking out their very livelihood and substance till they are faine to lye downe in the dust Woe unto him saith the Prophet that encreaseth that which is not his enlarging his desires as Hell and death that loadeth himselfe with thick clay that is in other expressions that storeth up violence and robbery that heapeth treasures against the last day the words shew us what the issue of vehement and indefatigable affections is they doe but create vexations to a mans owne soule and all his wealth will at length lye upon his conscience like a load and mountaine of heavy earth The third Degree of vexation is from the enioyment or rather from the use of earthly things For though a wicked man may be said to use the Creatures yet in a strict sense he cannot be said to enjoy them The Lord maketh his Sunne to shine upon them giveth them a lawfull interest possession and use of them but all this doth not reach to a Fruition For that imports a delightfull sweet orderly use of them which things belong unto the blessings and promises of the Gospell In which respect the Apostle saith that God giveth unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things richly to enioy This is the maine sting and vexation of the Creature alone without Gods more especiall blessing that in it a man shall still taste a secret curse which deprives him of that dearenesse and satisfaction which he lookes for from it False joy like the crackling of Thornes he may find but still there is some flie in the oyntment some death in the pot some madnesse in the laughter which in the midst of all dampes and surprizeth the soule with horrour and sadnesse there are still some secret suggestions and whisperings of a guilty conscience that through all this Iordan of pleasure a man swimmes downe apace into a dead Sea that all his delights do but carry him rhe faster unto a finall Iudgement Ressevera est verum gaudium True joy saith the Heathen Man is not a perfunctory a floating thing it is serious and massy it sinkes to the Center of the heart As in Nature the Heavens we know are alwayes calme serene uniforme undisturbed they are the clouds and lower regions that thunder and bluster The Sunne and Starres rayse up no Fogges so high as that they may imprint any reall blot upon the beauty of those purer bodies or disquiet their constant and regular motions but in the lower regions by reason of their nearenesse to the earth they frequently raise up such Meteors as often breake forth into thunders and tempests so the more heavenly the minde is the more untainted doth it keepe it selfe from the corruptions and temptations of worldly things the more quiet and composed is it in all estates but in mindes meerely sensuall the hotter Gods favours shine and the faster his raine falles upon them the more Fogges are raised the higher Thornes grow up the more darkenesse and distractions do shake the soule of such a man As fire under water the hotter it burnes the sooner it is extingvished by the over-running of the water so earthly things raise up such tumultuary and disquiet thoughts in the minds of men as doth at last quite extingvish all the heate and comfort which was expected from them Give me leave to explane this Vexation in some one or two of Salomons particulars and to unfold his enforcements thereof out of them And first to begin with that with which he begins The Knowledge of things either naturall in this present text or morall and civill vers 17. of both which he concludeth that they are Uanitie and vexation of spirit The first argument he takes from the weakenesse of it either to restore or correct any thing that is amisse That which is crooked cannot be made strait Wee may understand it severall waies First All our knowledge by reason of mans corruption is but a crooked ragged impedite knowledge and for that reason a vexation to the minde for rectitude is full of beauty and crookednesse of deformity In mans Creation his understanding should have walked in the strait path of truth should have had a distinct view of causes and effects in their immediate successions but now sinne hath mingled such confusion with things that the minde is faine to take many crooked and vast compasses for a little uncertaine knowledge Secondly The weakenesse of all naturall knowledge is seene in this that it cannot any way either
his worship Thus all those phantasticall felicities which men build upon the Creature prove in the end to have been nothing else but the banquet of a dreaming man nothing but lies and vanitie in the conclusion Lastly They Deceive us likewise in respect of evill No Creatures however they may promise Immunitie and deliverance can doe a man any good when the Lord will be pleased to send evill upon him And yet it is not for nothing that a truth so universally confessed should yet bee repeated in the Scripture That silver and gold and corruptible things are not a fit price for the soules of men Doubtlesse the holy men of God forsaw a time when false Christs and false Prophets should come into the world which should set salvation to sale and make merchandise of the Soules of men as wee see at this day in popish Indulgences and penance and the like no lesse ridiculous then impious superstitions Neither is it for nothing that Salomon tells us That riches yea whole Treasures doe not profit in the day of death a speech repeated by two prophets after him For surely those holy men knew how apt wealth and greatnesse is to bewitch a man with conceits of Immortality as hath been shewed Who were they that made a covenant with death and were at an agreement with hell to passe from them but the scornfull men the Rulers of the people which had abundance of wealth and honour Who were they that did put far away the evill day in despight of the Prophets threatnings did flatter themselves in the conceite of their firme and inconcussible estate but they who were at ease in Sion who trusted upon the Mountaines of Samaria who lay upon beds of I◅orie and stretch'd themselves upon their couches But we see all this was but deceite they go captive with the first of those that go captive the banket of them that stretched themselves is removed All earthly supports without God are but like a stately house on the sand without a foundation a man shal be buried in his owne pride He that is strong shall be to seeke of his strength he that is mighty should deliver others shall be too weak for his own defence he that is swift shall be amaz'd and not dare to fly if he be a bowman at a great distance if he be a rider have a great advantage he shal yet be overtaken and he that is couragious adventures to stand out shall be faine to flye away naked at the last What ever hopes or refuges any Creature cā afford a man in these troubles they are nothing but froth vanity the Lord challenges derides them al. And the Prophet Esay gives a sound reason of it all The Egyptians are men and not God their horses are flesh not spirit when the Lord shal stretch out his hand both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is helpen shal fal down and they al shal faile together Before wee proceed to the last thing proposed here is a question to be answered If the Creatures be so full of Vexation It should seeme that it is unprofitable and by consequence unlawfull either to labour or to pray for them Which yet is plainely contrary to Christs direction Give us our daylie bread and contrary to the practice of the Saints who use to call for the fatnesse of the earth and dew of heaven peace of walls and prosperity of Palaces upon those whom they blesse To which I answere That which is evill by accident doth not prejudice that which is Good in it selfe and by Gods ordination Now the vexation which hath been spoken of is not an effect flowing naturally out of the condition of the creature but ariseth meerely by accident upon the reason of its separation from God who at first did appoint his owne blessed communion to goe along with his Creatures Now things which are good in themselves but accidentally evill may justly be the object of our prayers and endeavours And so on the otherside many things there are which in themselves alone are evill yet by the providence and disposition of God they have a good issue they worke together for the best to them that love God It was good for David that he had been afflicted yet wee may not lawfully pray for such evils on our selves or others upon presumption of Gods goodnesse to turne them to the best Who doubts that the calamities of the Church doe at this time stirre up the hearts of men to seeke the Lord and his face and to walke humbly and fearefully before him yet that man should be a curse and prodigie in the eyes of God and men who should still pray for the calamities of Sion and to see the stones of Ierusalem still in the dust Death is in it selfe an evill thing for the Apostle calles it an enemy 1. Cor. 15. yet by the infinite power and mercy of God who delights to bring good out of evill and beauty out of ashes it hath not onely the sting taken away but is made an entrance into Gods owne presence with reference unto which benefit the Apostle desireth to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. Now notwithstanding this goodnesse which death by accident brings along with it yet being in it selfe a Destructive thing we may lawfully in the desires of our soule shrinke from it and decline it Example whereof we have in the death of Christ himselfe which was of all as the most bitter so the most pretious and yet by reason of that bitternesse which was in it hee prayes against it presenting unto his Father the desires of his Soule for that life which he came to lay downe as his obedience to his Father and love to his Church made him most willingly embrace death so his love to the integritie of his humane nature and feare of so heavy pressures as he was to feele made him as seriously to decline it And though the Apostle did most earnestly desire to be with Christ yet he did in the same desire decline the common rode thither through the darke passages of death 2. Cor. 5. 4. Vnlawfull indeed it is for any man to pray universally against death because that were to withstand the Statutes of God Heb 9. 27. but against any particular danger wee may as Ezechiah did 1. King 20. 1 2. reserving still a generall submission to the will and decrees of God For we are bound in such a case to use all good meanes and to pray for Gods blessing upon them which amounts to a prayer against the danger it selfe So then by the Rule of contraries though the Creatures be full of vanitie and vexation yet this must not swallow up the apprehension of that goodnesse which God hath put into them nor put off the desires of men from seeking them of God in those just prayers which he hath prescribed and in those
the holy Ghost takes notice of often in the nature of wicked men that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implacable men whom no bounds not limits nor covenants will restraine or keepe in order and againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fierce headstrong violent rash they know not where not when to stop Therefore the Scripture compares it to a breaking forth or violent eruption like that of fire out of an Oven or of mire and dirt out of a raging Sea Men flattet themselves in their sinnes and thinke when they have gone thus or thus farre they will then give over and stop at their pleasure Sed modo modo non habent modum as Austen said of his counterfeite and hypocriticall promises sinne can never finde a center to rest in a fit place to stop at These are but like the foolish conceits of children who not being able to discerne the deception of their owne senses and seeing the Heavens in the Orizon seeme to touch the earth resolve to goe to the place where they conceive them to meete and there to handle and play with the Starres but when they are come thither they finde the distance to be still the same so is it with the foolish hearts of men they conceive after so much gaine or honour or pleasure I shall have my fill and wil then give over but as long as the fountaine within is not stopt the pursuites of lust will bee as violent at last as at first As he in the Fable Expectat dum defluat amnis at ille Labitur labetur So though men thinke that their lusts will at last grow drie and they shall easily step over them unto God yet the truth is the cutragious desires of men will grow stronger and stronger even as a river the farther it goes from the fountaine doth of ten times spread it self the wider The heart is strongly set upon its owne sinne as any Creature is upon its owne motion They set their heart saith the Prophet on their iniquity the heart of the sonnes of men saith Salomon is fully set in them to doe evill As impossible it is for lust to stop it selfe as for the Sea to give over swelling or the fire devouring the matter that is before it The man possest with a Legion of Divels is a notable Emblem of a mans sinfull nature for indeed sin makes a man of the Divels blood yee are the children of your Father the Divell Ioh. 8. 44. He is conversant with nothing but death dead workes dead companions death the service and death the wages He is full of hideous affections he cuts and teares his owne soule the presence of Christ is horrible and affrightfull to him and if hee worship him 't is out of terror and not out of love his name may well bee called Legion for the swarmes the services the strength the warre of lusts in the heart 'T is a torment to lust to come out of a man and to a man to be dispossest of his lusts there will be paine at the parting of sinne the uncleane spirit will teare when he must come out but in this principally was he the picture of our evill nature in that hee was exceeding fierce and untameable no man durst passe by him no chaines were strong enough to hold him and this is the character of wicked men To breake bands and cords asunder and to bee their owne Lords Examples of this fiercenesse of nature the Scripture doth give us abundantly The Iewes are for this propertie compar'd to a swift Dromâ—…dary or to a wilde Assefull of desires that snuffeth up the winde as the use of Horses is in their lust and cannot be turned To a Horse rushing into the battell 't is a similitude from the inundation and precipitancy of torrents that carry downe all before them To a backesliding Heiser whom no bounds can hold but he will breake forth into a large place and have roome to traverse his wayes To a wilde Aâ—…se that goes where his owne will and lust carries him alone by himselfe no Rider to gvide him no bridle to restraine him no presence of God to direct him no Law of God to over-rule him but alone by himselfe as his owne Lord. With very fiercenesse they did even weary themselves in their way Notably did this rage shew it selfe in the Sodomites they reject Lots entreaties they revile his person they grow more outragious and pressed in even to teare open the house Like where unto was the rage of the Pharisies and Iewes against Christ when he had fully convinc'd them of their sinne and his owne innocency and they could hold dispute to longer with him they run from arguments to stones and raylings Thou art a Samaritane and hast a Divell And elsewhere it is said That they were filled with madnesse at the sight of the Miracles which Christ wrought Such was the rage of those which stoned Stephen they gâ—…ashed their teeth they stopped their eares they shouted with their voyce they ran with one accord and stoned him and Saul who was one of them is said to have breathed out threatnings like a tyred Wolfe unto which some make the Prophecy of Iacob touching Beniamin of which Tribe Saul was to allude and elsewhere to have wasted the Churches and to have dragg'd the Saints into prison and to have been exceeding mad against them And such measure himselfe afterwards found combinations uprores assaults draggings wrath clamors confusions rushings in casting off of clothes throwing of dust into the aire any thing to expresse rage and madnesse But you will say All these were at the time wicked men what is that to nature in common Have the Saints such fierce and intemperate affections too Surely while we carry our flesh about us wee carry the seeds of this rage and fury Simeon and Levi were Patriarches of the Church and Heads of the Congregations of Israel yet see how Iacob aggravateth and curseth their fiercenesse In their anger they slew a man in their wrath they diggeâ—… downe a wall Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruell Peter was a holy man yet when the windes blew when the sluces were open and the water had gotten a little passage see how it gathers rage how fierce and mad it growes even against the evidences of his owne heart against the conscience of his owne promises a deniall growes into an oath and that multiplies into cursings and damnings of himselfe for so the word imports an imprecating of Gods wrath and of separation from the presence and glory of God upon himselfe if he knew the man Ionah was a holy Prophet and one whose rebellion and fiercenesse against God might in reason have been quite tam'd by the Sea and the Whale yet looke upon him when his nature gets loose
us to the uttermost and to preserve his owne mercies in us to whose office it belongs to take order that none who are given unto him be lost undoubtedly that Life of Christ in us which is thus underpropped though it be not priviledg'd from temptations no nor from backeslidings yet is an abiding Life He who raised our Soule from death will either preserve our feete from falling or if we doe fall will heale our backflidings and will save us freely Infinitely therefore doth it concerne the Soule of every man to bee restlesse and unsatisfied with any other good thing till he find himselfe entitled unto this happy Communion with the Life of Christ which will never faile him As all the Creatures in the world so man especially hath in him a twofold desire a desire of perfection and a desire of perpetuitie a desire to advance and a desire to preserve his Being Now then till a mans Soule after many rovings and inquisitions hath at last fixed it selfe upon some such good thing as hath compasse enough to satiate and replenish the vastnesse of these two desires impossible it is for that Soule though otherwise filled with a confluence of all the glory wealth wisedome learning and curiositie of Salomon himselfe to have solid contentment enough to withstand the feares of the smallest danger or to outface the accusations of the smallest sinne Now then let us suppose that any good things of this World without the Life of Christ were able to satisfie one of these two desires to perfect and advance our nature though indeede it bee farre otherwise since without Christ they are all but like a stone in a Serpents head or a Pearle in an Oyster not our perfections but our diseases like Cleopatra her pretious stone when she wore it a Iewell but when she dranke it an excrement I may boldly say that as long as a man is out of Christ he were better be a begger or an idiote then to bee the steward of riches honours learning and wisedome which should have beene improv'd to the Glory of Him that gave them and yet to bee able to give up at that great day of accompts no other reckoning unto God but this Thy riches have beene the authors of my covetousnesse and oppression thy honours the steppes of my haughtinesse and ambition thy learning and wisedome the fuell of my pride But now I say suppose that nature could receive any true advancement by these things yet alas when a man shall beginne to thinke with himselfe may not God this night take me away like the foole in the Gospell from all these things or all these from mee May I not nay must I not within these few yeeres in stead of mine honour be laid under mens feete In stead of my purple and scarlet be cloathed with rottennesse In stead of my luxurie and delycacies become my selfe the foode of wormes Is not the poore soule in my bosome an immortall soule Must it not have a being as long as there is a God who is able to support it And will not my bagges and titles my pleasures and preferments my learning and naturall endowments every thing save my sinnes and mine adversaries and mine owne Conscience forsake mee when I once enter into that immortalitie When a man I say shall beginne to summon his heart unto such sad accompts as these how will his face gather blacknesse and his knees tremble and his heart be even damp'd and blasted with amazement in the middest of all the vanities and lyes of this present world What a fearefull thing is it for an eternall soule to have nothing betweene it and eternall misery to rest upon but that which will moulder away and crumble into dust under it and so leave it alone to sinke into bottomlesse calamitie O Beloved when men shall have passed many millions of yeeres in another world which no millions of yeeres can shorten or diminish what accession of comfort can then come to those glorious joyes which we shall bee filled with in Heaven or what diminution or mitigation of that unsupportable anguish which without ease or end must bee suffered in Hell by the remembrance of those few houres of transitorie contentments which we have here not without the mixture of much sorrow and allay enjoyed What smacke or rellish thinke you hath Dives now left him of all his delicacies or Esau of his pottage What pleasure hath the rich foole of his full Barnes or the young man of his great possessions What delight hath Iezabel in her paint or Ahab in the Vineyard purchased with the innocent blood of Him that owned it How much policie hath Achitophel or how much pompe hath Herod or how much rhetoricke hath Tertullus left to escape or to bribe the torments which out of Christ they must for ever suffer O how infinitely doth it concerne the Soule of every man to finde this Life of Christ to rest upon which will never forsake him till it bring him to that day of Redemption wherein he shall be filled with blessednesse infinitely proportionable to the most vast and unlimited capacities of the Creature And now when we can secure our Consciences in the inward true and spirituall renovation of our heart in this invincible and unperishable obsignation of the spirit who knitteth us as really though mistically unto Christ as his sinewes and joynts do fasten the parts of his sacred body together how may our heads bee crowned with joy and our hearts sweetly bathe themselves in the perfruition and preoccupation of those rivers of glory which attend that Spirit wheresoever he goeth Many things I know there are which may extremely disharten us in this interim of mortalitie many things which therein encounter and oppose our progresse The rage malice and subtilty of Satan the frownes flatterles threates and insinuations of this present World the impatience and stubbornnesse of our owne flesh the struglings and counterlustings of our owne potent corruptions the daily consciousnesse of our fall's and infirmities the continuall entercourse of our doubts and feares the ebbing and languishing decaying and even expiring of our Faith and Graces the frequent experience of Gods just displeasure and spirituall desertions leaving the Soule to its owne dumpes and darknesse Sometimes like froward children we throw our selves downe and will not stand and sometimes there comes a tempest which blowes us downe that we cannot stand And now whither should a poore Soule which is thus on all sides invitoned with feares and dangers betake it selfe Surely so long as it lookes either within or about it selfe no marvell if it be ready to sinke under the concurrent opposition of so many assaults But though there be nothing in thee nor about thee yet there is somthing above thee which can hold thee up If there be strength in the merit life kingdom victories Intercession of the Lord Iesus If there be comfort in the Covenant Promises and Oath of