will not suffer mee to paint them out to the life yea I know how many large volumes have beene published already on this subject by worthy and learned men only by the by as it were and in so farre as the vvords here shall offer us occasion I will point at them and from their weake considerations speake some words of comfort and instruction to your soules It is certaine that the chiefe and arch enemy of mans salvation is Sathan the devill who hath beene a lyer to man and a murtherer of man from the beginning But because he is a spirit therefore invisible that man cannot know him whilst hee fights with him he suborneth two souldiers against man the world from without man the flesh the lusts thereof within man that man having fightings within terrors without may fall and never rise againe But that I may make you senfible of these his assaults and temptations know that whilst I speak of the world I do not understand this great and majesticke frame of the world composed of these foure elements fire aire earth and water for by these man is not tempted all and every one of these Sathan hath imployed to punish man for sin but by none of these hath hee at any time tempted man for sinne But by the world I understand the children of disobedience and wicked ones that are in the vvorld and that not simply or absolutely as they are flesh of our flesh and bone of our bones but conditionally and as they are either cloathed with prosperity and wealth or else as they are stripped naked in the day of their want and misery And that the wicked of the world are called of God the world it is cleare out of that prayer of our Saviour Christ whilst hee saith I pray not for the world but for those whom thou hast given mee out of the world Now these as they stand either invested or cloathed with prosperity or stripped naked with calamity and want do prove a stumbling blocke and snare or temptation to the children of God For in the day of their prosperity by their carnall joy wherewith they are overjoyed in their pleasures by their carnall security whereby they cry peace to themselves when God mindeth them no peace and by their proud trampling upon the weake and despising of them that want what do they but invite us to runne with them in the excesse of their riot and by their temporall felicities labour to draw away if it were possible the very elect of God from the search and purchase of that felicity which is immortall and undefiled Againe in the day of their adversity what do they but cry to us with Iobs wife Curse God and die With Iehoram I will wait no longer on the Lords leisure And with Israel in the wildernesse Would God wee had dyed by the flesh pots of Egypt But brethren vvith these things let us not be moved let neither the prosperity of the vvicked draw thee to a carnall rejoycing or love of the vvorld for the prosperity of the vvicked is but like cracking of thornes under a pot nor let the calamity of the godly vvho suffer justly for their sinnes dravv thee to apostacie and back-sliding from the faith for it is better to suffer affliction with the children of God then to enjoy the perishing pleasures of sinne for a season Heb. 11. And it is more honourable for us to imbrace the Crosse of Jesus Christ then all the treasures of a corrupt and perishing Egypt Againe Sathan in the second place hireth our flesh to fight against us and here by the word flesh I do not understand this body of ours alone which is composed of flesh blood but also that naturall corruption which we have drawne from the loynes of our first parents who have infected us both soule and body and dwelling in us fighteth desperately and maliciously against us This corruption the Scripture expresseth by many names and titles as The old man The old Adam The naturall man The law of our members and The lusts of the flesh which fight against the soule Thus wee see that the flesh is also our enemy and so much the more odious by how much it is traiterous For of it wee may say what David said in Psalm 41. My familiar friend whom I trusted and hee that lay in my bosome and did eate bread with mee hath lifted up his heele against mee To this Iudas who betrayeth us wee may justly say It were good for thee thou hadst never bin borne To this Dalilah wee may say If thou hadst not plowed with my heyfer thou couldst not have read my riddle To this wife of Iob wee may say Thou speakest like a foolish woman And lastly to this unadvised counseller wee may justly say Get thee behinde mee Sathan for thou knowest not the things that are of God but the things that are of man Now wouldst thou know O man why thou shouldst so encounter thy flesh I answer because it is thy deadly enemy and that in three respects In respect of malice of power and policy In respect of malice for it is written In mee that is in my flesh there dwelieth no good Rom. 7.18 Now that wherein there is no good must of necessity bee exceedingly malicious and fully replenished with evill Tucaro saith a Father cunctis virtutibus denudata es ideo diceris caro a carendo quia cares omni bono And would you have a true anatomy of the flesh looke to St Paul Rom. 3. Her eyes are full of adultery her throat an open sepulcher her mouth the mouth of deceit the poyson of aspes is under her lips her feet are swift to shed blood destruction and calamity are in her wayes and the way of the Lord shee hath not knowne Secondly the flesh is a powerfull enemy both in respect of the unregenerate and also in respect of the regenerate In the unregenerate it is a mighty King in the regenerate it is a cruell tyrant In the unregenerate I say it is a mighty king for as a King in his kingdome swayes the scepter enacteth lawes forceth obedience and subdueth rebells So is it in the unregenerate man sinne beareth dominion giveth a law to the members and leadeth all the affections captive to disobedience And from this it is that the Apostle exhorteth us not to suffer sinne to raigne in our mortall bodies And as the flesh is a King in the unregenerate so in the regenerate it is a cruell tyrant for howsoever by the grace of God in Jesus Christ wee are set free from the law of Sinne and of death yet so long as wee dwell in the body it dwelleth in us and both tormenteth us with the torture of a wounded conscience for sinne past with continuall molestation to sinne in time to come So that the best of Gods Saints have deeply sighed and groaned under the yoke and bondage thereof David could say I dwell too long in
the valley of Meseck and in tents of Kedar And the Apostle Saint Paul could say O miserable man that I am who shall deliver mee from this body of death Finally the flesh is an enemy exceedingly politique for howsoever the power of the flesh be great yet the policie thereof is greater because it is not a publique enemy but a home-bred and domestique traitor therfore by the subtile sleight cunning undermining thereof many times we fall and are overthrowne From hence it is that the Prophet Ieremy forewarneth us of the policy thereof whilst hee saith The heart of man is desperately wicked and deceitfull above all things none can know it but the Lord that made it Wouldst thou know and try this O man go home to thy heart and see how it dealeth with thee The world is a great temptation and a great tempter Sathan also hath many temptations and is an arch tempter but what can the temptations of the world do to thee or what can all the temptations of the devill do against thee except thy owne heart and thy owne flesh deceive and betray thee for as Sathan said to Christ Cast thy selfe downe c. and as Iohn said to Iesabel Who is there on our side c. so doth Sathan say to man whilst by the flesh hee tempteth him except wee cast our selves downe except the flesh be on his side within us neither prosperity nor adversity famine nor nakednesse life nor death can ever prejudice us But if in these baits hee can hire our owne flesh against us wee are easily overcome and like another Aza hyring a Benhadad against us Israel getteth the foile and the best treasures of Gods house are but a prey to him Vse Thus having deciphered our inbred enemy it becommeth us carefully to watch over it for the spirit may well bee ready but the flesh is weake Let us therefore deale with this our domesticall adversary as the citizens of a besieged city do with their inbred traitors if any city were besieged with forraigne forces and they knew that they harboured a traitor within their bosome they would give no rest to their eye-lids nor slumber to their eyes till they should apprehend disarme condemne and put him to death So is it with us our citadell the soule is besieged by a fierce and for raigne enemy wee have a traitor lurking in our bosome our owne flesh Let us therefore with all speed rise up against it disarme it by fasting and prayer let us beate it downe and bring it in subjection and let us mortifie the lusts thereof by the spirit and wee shall be sure that God shall shortly tread it under foot and give us the victory for it is written The elder shall serve the younger The last enemy we have to fight against is the Devill a chiefe and arch enemy for he goeth about cōtinually seeking how hee may devour us No time can free us from his temptation the morning the noonetide of the day or the midnight of darknes No place not the throne of judgment nor the street of our trade nor the cabinet where wee rest No person also is free from him he spared not the first Adam nor did hee spare the second Adam How are the sonnes of the first Adam according to the flesh and the sonnes of the second Adam according to the spirit free from his assaults No surely wee may not nor cannot be free from them But wouldst thou know O man the manner of his fight Know that the temptations of Sathan have three gradations even the same which every voluntary action of man whether good or bad hath in it For in the soule of man there are 3 faculties one sensitive another appetitive the third locomotive And the actions of these three faculties are accordingly three sense appetite motion For first a man sees or heares an object presented to his eyes or eares the sense representeth the object to our appetite or delight the delight or will either imbraceth or refuseth the object and this wee call the motion Now as it is in every action so is it in the temptations of Sathan for first hee bewitcheth the sense secondly hee inflameth the appetite and thirdly hee procureth the action Would wee have this made more cleare I will Looke on David when hee fell in adultery how playd Sathan the souldier with him Hee first fascined or bewitched his sense for it is written Hee saw a woman washing her selfe and the woman was beautifull Secondly inflamed his delight for it is written Hee sent messengers and enquired after the woman and shee came in unto him Thirdly by both of these and from both of these hee procureth and propagateth the action for it is written And hee lay with her Againe if this one example sufficeth not behold another When the woman saw that the fruit was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to bee desired to make one wise shee tooke of the fruit and did eate Behold here also a third It is confessed by Achan when hee saw amongst the spoyles a goodly Babilonish garment and a wedge of gold of fifty shickles then I coveted them and tooke them These three then sense desire and motion as they are in every action so they are in every temptation For Sathan in his temptations first besiegeth our senses and seeing they are the gates of the soule these being opened hee windes himselfe into our delight and appetite and being there shall wee thinke that he who hath taken paines to gather so many stickes together will not take paines to blow a fire to warme himselfe No no hee is an angell of darknesse but there hee transformeth himselfe into an angell of light there he speaketh evill of Good and good of evill and there hee putteth bitter for sweete and sweet for sowre Last of all when by the abuse of our senses hee hath captivated our affections thinkest thou that hee will leave that fire which hee hath blown so much untill it burn No no I tell thee he will not leave it till it burst forth in a flame and till thou burne in the midst of it Will the husbandman when hee casteth his seede in the ground fall too and plow up the ground againe without hope of harvest No surely in patience hee will wait for it and first let it come to a blade then to a stalke then to an eare then to be ripened and last of all hee cutteth it downe and bringeth it into his barne I will assure thee it is so with Sathan for though hee bee not a husbandman yet hee is an envious man and whilst the husbandman sleepeth hee soweth tares amongst the wheat And though he seeme to mis-know it yet is not he carelesse of it but by all meanes hee watereth it with the stolne waters of pleasure untill hee bring it to harvest and maturity Hee can say to the young man Rejoyce O yong man in thy youth and let thy heart cheere thee
many malicious powerfull and politick And like the sons of Zerviah too mighty for us unlesse that hee who commandeth us to fight fight in us and for us wee cannot be victorious Secondly when hee is called to battell let him not bee a coward for hee hath more then good company his God for a Captaine watching over him his Redeemer his elder brother fighting for him the holy Ghost his comforter fighting in him his fellow brethren standing on his one hand and all the Angels of heaven on the other and who would not fight with so good company No no my brethren let us lift up our faint hearts and strengthen our weake knees though the conflict be hard the conquest is honourable for God will shortly tread Sathan under our feet through Jesus Christ out Lord. Amen LECTIO 20. Lead us not into temptation c. ACcording to the tenor of of our first proposed method wee have already spoken unto you of the first three things that were remarkable in this Petition to wit of our calling temptation of our enemies the world the devill and the flesh And thirdly of our fellow souldiers Jesus Christ in the dayes of his flesh our fellow brethren now Saints in heaven and our fellow brethren here militant on earth It resteth now that wee consider and ponder aright the fourth and last thing remarkable in them to wit who is our Leader and it is God for to him and to him alone it is that we put up supplication and say Lead us not into temptation Now in handling of this point three things are chiefly remarkable First who it is that is our Leader and why it is that hee is so called Secondly how it is that hee leads us into temptation And thirdly whilst hee leads us into temptation whether hee be guilty of sinne or no The first thing observable is Who is our leader I answer God and that very God who being one in essence is three in persons the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost God the Father is our leader and therefore hee is called the Lord of Hosts God the Sonne is our leader and therefore tooke upon him our flesh that in it hee being first a souldier might thereafter become our leader Finally God the holy Ghost is now by deputation become our leader and therefore it is written That as many as are led by the Spirit are the Sonnes of God God the Father is our leader and for that cause is stiled the Lord of Hosts Dominus exercituum this is his name for ever and this is his memoriall unto all ages Of all the titles that God hath in scripture there is not one so often used by God himselfe as this For shall wee looke but upon two Prophets Isayah and Ieremiah and in them alone this title is attributed to God above an hundred thirty times It is not a title then likely to bee looked upon but with deepe and due consideration let us then looke upon it Our leader God is called the Lord of hostes in these respects first in respect of the generall frame of all his creatures who being viewed and considered in a masse together are nothing else but a pitched field and a battell set in aray fighting for the honour of God and the obedience that is due unto him For in the heaven of heavens there is an host of blessed Angels covering their faces and bowing their knees before his Throne singing a deepe Halleluiah and casting their crownes downe at his feet And this company is called an host for Luke 2. whilst they appeared to the sheepheards at the birth of Christ it is written of them There was a multitude of Angels and an heavenly host praising God and saying Glory be to God on high and to men on earth peace and goodwill Let us from that place looke a little lower and behold the starry firmament that is above our heads and there wee shall finde that hee is the Lord of hosts also for there the Sunne moone and Starres are his souldiers they fight for him and against his enemies as it is cleare out of the history of Ioshuah and Iudges and of these the Prophet Isayah saith 45.12 speaking of God I even I have stretched out the heavens and their host I have commanded but let us come a little lower and looke to the cattle that walke and the creeping things that move on the face of the earth and all of these are both the host and army of God fighting for his obedience and treading under foot those that rise up against him as is cleare from the dust and ashes of Egypt fighting against Pharo Againe if wee shall withdraw our eyes from the unreasonable creature to man who is indued with reason What I pray you are all the battells armies conflicts and skirmishes of nation against nation of kingdome against kingdome of country against country of people against people but the armies and battells of the Lord the rods of his indignation and the staffe of his wrath punishing the land because of the sinnes of them that dwell therein and man by the sword of man for his iniquity for the sword of a stranger is the revenger of the quarrell of Gods covenant Thirdly will wee looke on these our native and domesticke armies of flesh that are in these our mortall bodies I meane the ague the webbe in the eye the paine in the tooth the consumption of the lungs the shortnesse of the breath the stone in the reines the tympany of the belly and the gout in the feet what are all these but the armies of God and host of the Almighty fighting in man against man because man hath fought against God who was his leader Last of all hee is Lord of hosts also in a spirituall sense for he is our Captaine and leader in our spirituall warfare against the devill the world and the lusts of our owne flesh For it is by him and by his grace alone that wee have either courage to encounter strength to stand fast or patience to persevere unto the end And as in this hee is our leader and Captaine so doth he also hold the reines of our enemies chariots it was hee that made the wheeles of Pharoes chariots to fall off It was he that threw the stone at the fore-head of Goliah It was hee that smote the Philistines with the jawbone of an Asse It was hee that thrust the dart through Achabs brigandine and it was he alone that put a bridle in the lips of Zenacharih and a hooke in his nostrels and finally it is hee and hee alone who for our sakes by death hath destroyed him who hath the power of death that is the devill and hath put into our mouth that tryumphant song of victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Blessed be God the Father through Iesus Christ our Lord in all these things we are more then Conquerers because our leader hath
it for us hath set us free and this hee did in the fulnesse of time for when that fulnesse came God sent his owne Sonne made of woman and made under the law that delivered us that were under the law that wee might receive the adoption of sonnes For Gods sake therefore seeing whilst we were Captives hee hath done so much for our deliverance forget not the captivity of thy soule thy selfe and first when thou hearest it told thee in the word of God pittie it Secondly at all occasions offered not snatched knock at thy dore and goe in and visite it Thirdly when thou hast seene it cry with Israel to Rehoboam to make thy yoke lighter and in the end though thou cannot procure by thy selfe an absolute deliverance yet come to him that poured out his heart blood for thee runne and cry for thy deliverance and dissolution sigh and groane for it and in due time if thou faint not thou shalt bee heard in that which thou fearest These things being thus cleared to you the third thing that wee are to remarke in the words is our deliverance or release in this word Deliver now that wee may know this deliverance the better it shall not bee amisse to distinguish deliverance into three severall sorts First there is a deliverance à toto Secondly à tanto Thirdly à tali Our deliverance à toto is a perfect deliverance both from temptation to sinne practice of sinne and punishment for sinne A tante is not perfect but partiall from so much of temptation practise or punishment as God thinketh meete and expedient A tali is that whereby wee crave exemption and protection from sinnes of grievous qualities Such as we call presumptuous enormious heinous and crying sinnes And from such kinde of punishments as are not the testimonies of Gods love but rather the effects of his wrath and indignation Now seeing deliverance in effect and properly is an actuall release from evill what sort of deliverance do wee crave here is it that wee call â toto No no wee cannot expect a totall and perfect deliverance in this life for so long as this life lasteth wee can neither be totally free froÌ„ sinne nor from punishment notwithstanding because of this same possibility wee are bound to cry for our perfect deliverance by death Secondly as for that deliverance which is â tanto that is to say from so much as will make us slaves to sinne or punishment for this wee cry in these words and this deliverance we are commanded to desire and by this desire wee are distinguished froÌ„ the reprobate for whilst we are led captive to Sathan at his will sinne ruleth not though dwelleth in our mortall bodies And for the punishment the Lord hath promised not to tempt us above our power but so farre onely as wee may bee able to beare it Thirdly as for the deliverance à tali that is to say from blasphemous presumptuous and crying sinnes which are the effects of the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience from these and such as these we cry and must cry coutinually Lord deliver us from evill Vse Know further that whilst wee begge of God a deliverance from evill wee do not pray against all evill of sin and punishment but so much of punishment as wil or may overwhelme us and such sins as are raigning and crying in us shall one day cry against us to our perpetuall confusion One thing remaineth to wit who is our deliverer and that is neither man nor Angell but hee who is both God and man by nature and the great Arch-angell of the Covenant by office In whom three things are considerable His right and title to do it His wonderfull power in doing of it And lastly the exceeding benefit arising from it LECT 22. For thine is the kingdome c. VVHen I did first undertake the explication of this prayer I told you they did resemble a house or edifice For as in the Courts and Palaces of Princes there are first Courts and Porches serving for entrance into the royall presence Secondly there are roomes and places of rest Lastly posternes and passages of retiring serving both for pleasure necessity so is it in this building spirituall edifice of prayer For in it there are three distinct and severall stations A preface serving for the porch Sixe severall Petitions serving for roomes of court And finally a conclusion serving for a posterne or tarras from whence wee may in a view behold the glory and beauty of the whole palace Of the Preface and of the Petitions wee have spoken already according to the measure of grace given us from above It resteth now onely that in this Sermon we take a view of the conclusion and from it draw up the full and finall seale of all the prayer And from both their edification When I looke on the words I finde in them three things remarkable First their inference Secondly their tenor and scope and thirdly their seale The inference is in the word for the tenor is Thine is the kingdome power and glory for ever The seale in the word Amen Let us returne then to their inference in the word For. Here it is evident that this conclusion or last part of the prayer is knit and tyed to the former Petitions with a causall particle for For the better understanding whereof let us know that against the necessity and use of this prayer prescribed unto us an objection might bee moved by the weaknesse and infirmity of man For let us looke on the best of the children of God when hee censureth and examineth his owne soule and paralleleth his practise with the desire of these petitions and wee shall finde that hee shall come farre short of that which is required of him For when wee looke on the three first Petitions which concerne God the honour of his name the advancement of his kingdome and the obedience of his will who is able to give that due obedience thereunto which is required of him Not one for God himselfe hath thus complained against man The Lord looked downe from heaven and beheld the actions of men to see if there were any that would seeke after him and do good and hee could finde none no not one Against this it is that the Prophets complained in the name of God and for his sake Who hath beleeved our report and to whom is the arme of God revedled Finally it is against disobedience and rebellion that the Saints of God have so deeoply sighed and groaned for their deliverance David could say Alas I have dwelt toe long in the valley of Mesech and tents of Kedar And the Apostle Paul could say Miserable man that I am who shall dâ—…ver mee from this body of death Againe if from these wee shall withdraw our eyes to consider that Petition wherein wee crave for our selves the release of our temporall casamities How many have called upon the Lord and have not