of practising it when known which pride doth not Thus we see both how exte â—sive and how necessary to Christians in whatsoever station they are this excellent grace of humility is which is a special ornament of Christians and a notable piece of beautiful conformity to meek and lowly Jesus THE SIXTH COMMAND Exodus 20.13 Thou shalt not kill IN the fifth Command the Lord generally prescribed humility and that respect which is to be shown by every one to another in their several stations and relations he proceedeth now more particularly to give directions in these things that are most dead and necessary to men first in the matter of life command sixth 2. In the matter of chastity and temperance Com. 7. 3. In what concerneth their Estate Com. 8. 4. In what concerneth truth and more especially our neighbours name Com. 9. Lastly in what concerneth the inward frame of our hearts towards our own estate and the estate of others Com. 10. For understanding this Command Thou shalt not kill we may consider 1. It 's Object 2. It 's act to kill 3. It 's subject to speak so Thou As for the first this Command cannot be considered as relating to Beasts as if they were not to be killed because God gave man all the Beasts for his use to feed on them Gen. 9.3 and we are to eat of whatever is sold in the shambles by his allowance whose is the earth and the fulness thereof I Cor. 10 25. Beside man in all these Commands is properly directed in reference to his Neighbour and not to beasts Yet I grant by striking a beast a man may offend as 1. when that stroke wrongeth his Neighbour to whom that beast belongeth 2. when in our striking there is 1. unreasonableness as if we would require that capacity in a be â—st that is in reasonable creatures and so are ready to offend when they answer not our expectation 2. when there is a breaking out into anger and passion at brutes as when a horse rydeth not well a Dog runneth not well a hawk flyeth not well c. which speaketh an impotency in us who are so easily mastered by irrational passions which will sometimes also seize upon us even in reference to senseless and lifeless Creatures when they do not accommodate us to our mind â— 3. when there is bitterness and cruelty in striking Something of this the Lord reproveth by making Balaams Ass speak and rebuke the madness of that Prophet who unreasonably smote the Ass and wished he had had a Sword to kill her Numb 22.29 whereas a just man pitieth his beast and regardeth the life thereof Prov. 12.10 But for the better Understanding of the Object of the Command we shall proceed to speak to it and the act of killing vvhich is the second thing complexedly and if we consider killing in reference to a mans self it is certainly understood here for that being the sum of all the commands of the second Table thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self it must be understood as repeated in each of them as here thou shalt not kill thy Neighbour more than thy self or shalt preserve him as thy self which supposeth that it is not free for a man to wrong himself more than to wrong others and generally these reasons whereby the Lord restraineth us from killing others will also hold in restraining us from killing and other ways wronging our selves therefore there is no question if it be a sin to wrong hurt or torture others whether in body or in their soul as to the tranquillity and quiet frame thereof and any ways to procure or further their death it will be no less so to do thus to our selves because love to our selves is the pattern that we ought to walk by in loving others We may be guilty of the breach of this Command in reference to our selves by omissions as well as by commissions as when things needful for entertainment and health of the body are either designedly or with an excessive misregard to health and life omitted We may further fall into the breach of this Command in reference to our selves either directly as purposing and intending hurt to our own bodie or indirectly by casting our selves in unnecessary seeming dangers by wilful or careless overusing of known unwholesome food by excessive and immoderate toyl by spending and wasting the body with unchastness by drunkenness and gluttony vvhereby many more are destroyed then with the Sword according to the common saying plures gulâ quà m gladio pereunt and many other vvays If we consider this command vvith respect to others vve may conceive it in reference to a threefold life which vve should endeavour to preserve and promote in them in any one of which a commission or omission will make a breach thereof 1. There is a life of the body and vvhatever cometh from us that vvrongeth that either directly as stroaks challenges or appeals c. or indirectly if it vvere but by keeping back something that is in our power to give vvhich might be useful to our neighbour in his need that no doubt maketh guilty of this sin of killing in respect of this bodily life I have mentioned appeals to Duels under the former branch because albeit that in the matter of private duels the pride and corruption of men do ordinarily either commend a vain bravery and gallantry or pretend the ex â—uses of a seeming Obligation in the point of honour or necessary defence Yet vve are sure that the judgment of God vvhich is according to truth by pointing out on the part as vvell of the accepter as of the appealer these ensuing irregularities â—do condemn the thing as exceeding sinful As 1. Impotency of mind and excess of passion vvhich if sooner in the accepter doth only add deliberation to his other guilt 2. Contempt of the publick Laws and civil order 3. An Usurpation of the Magistrates sword vvhich is given to him both for punishing and protecting And 4. An invasion of Gods â—ight of vengeance vvhich he hath so expresly reserved to himself and from this the accepter observing ord â—nar â—ly no more moderament in his defense than there vvas necessity for the engagement hath no excuse more than the challenger so that in effect although the mediate rise may be thought to be on the appealers part yet the sin is common land is in a vvord a plain complication of hatred against our neighbour contempt against the Laws and Powers and God who hath appointed them â—and a bold and desperate despising and rashing upon Death Judgment and Eternity vvhich do so immine â—tly attend all such rencounters O how much more heroick and noble were it for men to approve the wise and great King â— choice he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he that ruleth his spirit then he that taketh a City to hear him vvho is higher than the Princes of the earth who commands us Love your Enemies
A Practical EXPOSITION OF THE X. Commandements WITH A Resolution of several Momentous QUESTIONS AND Cases of Conscience By the Learned Laborious and Faithful Servant of Jesus Christ JAMES DURHAM Late Minister of the Gospel at Glasgow Thy Commandements are exceeding broad Psal. 119. LONDON Printed for Dorman Newman at the Kings Armes in the Poultry and the Ship and Anchor at the Bridge-foot on Southwark-side 1675. To the Right Honourable Truly Noble and Renowned Religious LADY My Lady Marquess of Argile Noblest Madam HAD it so seemed good to the Soveraign Holy and Infinite Wise God he might at the first moment of his Peoples Conversion have quite expelled all even the very least remainders of indwelling Corruption and perfectly conformed them to his own Image in Holiness but he hath in the depth of his insearchable Wisdom otherwise disposed for ends best known to himself concerning which whatever may be even here our strongly-probable and in a good measure quieting Conjectures as to some of them it will be our Wisdom to make a reference for full satisfaction to the day of that great Solemn and Celebrious general Assembly of the first Born wherein all such references shall be called and satisfyingly discussed And seeing he hath thought it fit that some relicts of sin but exanctorated of its ringe and dominion should indwell and that thereby the spiritual constitution of sojourning Saints should be a mixture of Grace and Corruption each of these notwithstanding retaining still its own natural irreconcileable Antipathy with the other and lusting against the other so that in all their actings both gracious and sinful they are still divided and neither one as they were before Regenerating Grace nor as they shall be in Glory its highly congruous and sutable to the same infinit Wisdom that there should be a proportionable and correspondent mixture in the dispensations of his Providence towards them while on this side Heaven some more smiling and some more cross the Flesh and Unregenerate part requiring crosses to whip it up and drive it forward and the Spirit and Regenerate part calling for them also to keep it awake and on its guard against the surprising prejudice and hurt it may sustain from the restless ill Neighbour and troublesome Companion a Body of Death that cleaveth close to them as a Girdle doth to the Loins of a Man by reason of which they have not many hours let be days to do well to an end When their Constitution cometh to be purely Grace perfectly defecat and resined from all the dreggy and drossy mixture of indwelling Corruption then will their Lot be pure Solace and Joy even perfection and perpetuity of Joy without any the least mixture of Sorrow or Trouble of what ever sort but till then and Blessed Eternally be God it is not long to that even but a moment Trouble and Sorrow less or more will wait on them who through much Tribulation must enter into the Kingdom of God Yet on a just reckoning there will be found no real nor well grounded Reason of dissatisfaction with this wise disposal of Divine Providence since He never afflict â—th nor are they in heaviness through one or more or even manifold Temptations but when there is Need and such need that a few serious reflections will constrain the Patient to acknowledge it and to say This same particular Cross so and so circumstantiated could not well have been wanted without a greater prejudice nay considering the inseparable connection that God in his Eternal and Unalterable Decree hath established betwixt the end and all the means that lead to it When ever such and such a Cross is actually met with there is ground to think that it is as necessary as the Salvation of the Christian is that Cross being appointed as one mean with others to bring about the purposed end to wit the Salvation of such a Person which one consideration That they are dvpointed thereunto as the Apostle writing to the Thessaolni â—ns afserteth well pondered would contribute not a l â—ttle to reconcile the most sadly Crossed and Afflicted Children of God a great deal more to their respective Crosses and would make them to be taken up and borne more patiently pleasantly and chearfully and would with-all make them to look out on them with a less formidable and more amiable Aspect than ordinarily they do And since in the second place all their Afflictions are afflictions only of this present time for a season and but for a moment not protracted according to desert one minute beyond Death let be Eternities length Since moreover the heaviest Loads and greatest measures of them are but light and moderate Afflictions and His severest correctings of them are in measure with Judgment and Discretion He stayeth his rough Wind in the day of his East Wind and doth in great Wisdom sute and proportion the tryals of his People to their strength and standing in His faithfulness not suffering them to be tempted above what they are able but with the temptation making a way to escape that they may be able to bear it It s not his manner to put new Wine into old Bottles nor to sew a piece of new Cloath unto an old Garment He that teacheth the Husband-man discretion about the fit time and season of Plowing Tilling Sowing Harrowing and Reaping of every kind of Seed and Grain according to its Nature and how to Thresh out these several sorts of Seed and Grain by fit means and instruments can being wonderful in Counsel and excellent in Working with infinitely more wisdom skill judgment discretion and tenderness pitch the fittest seasons kinds measures and durations of his Peoples Afflictions according to their several Necessities Dispositions Standings Capacities and Abilities And since withal our Soveraign Lord the King the King of Saints out of the absoluteness of his Dominion and the super-aboundance of his richest Grace hath imposed upon every Cross that his People meet with not excepting to say so Vessels of the greatest Burden of Affliction that Sail up and down the Sands as it were of the troublesome Sea of this World the Tole and Custom of some spiritual Good to be payed to them Allowing Warranting and Commanding them by his Commission granted to them under his Great Seal for that effect to demand require and exact it from every occurring Cross and Affliction And if there shall be any demur or delay let it be seeming den â—al to pay this Custom to wait and search for it and with a piece of holy peremptoriness to persist in the exacting of it as being most certainly without a possibility of misgiving to be got there for which the Commission more and more endeavoured to be really believed and made use of according to the Gran â—er's mind should be produced wherein he hath given the highest security that All things having a special look at all their Afflictions as the context in the confession of most if not all Judicious Commentators
though Civil or Religious being seldom speedily reclaimed from them This was also Examplified in that late English Gentle-Woman of good-rank Who spending much of her pretious Time in Attendance on Stage-Plays and falling at last into a Dangerous Sickness whereof she dyed Anno 1631. Friends i â— her Extremity sent for a Minister to prepare her for Death who beginning to Instruct and Exhort her to repent and call on God for Mercy she made him no Reply at all but cryed out Hieronimo Hieronimo O let me see Hieronimo Acted And so calling for a Play instead of calling on God for Mercy closed her Dying Eyes and had a Fearful End answerable to her Miserable Life And in these sevearl Persons who were distracted with th Visible Apparition of the Devil on the Stage at the Bell-Savage-Play-House in Queen Elizabeth's Dayes while they were there beholdidg the History of Faustus prophanly Acted To which might be added many other Lamentable Examples and Warnings of such who by little and little have made Desection from the Faith being allured hereto by the Dangerous custome of beholding such Plays wherein Tertullian saith They Communicate with the Devil Will any Man or Woman dare to appear before the Dreadful Tribunal of God to maintain and make out the warrantableness of allowing more t â—me to these and such other Practises several of which are excellently discoursed by the Author in the following Tractat and most of them with their Respective Authorities by Master Prinn in his Histrio Mastrix then to reading of this and other such Treatises If any will they must answer it I mind not through Grace to take part with them i â— so bold and desperate an Adventure Now Christian Reader without further Prefacing to bring thee in upon the Treasure of the Treatise it self If thou wilt read it seriously and consider it suitably I think I may humbly in the Name of the Lord bid thee a Defyance to come away from it without a Bosom-full of Convictions of much guilt and without crying out with the Lepper under the Law Unclean Unclean With Job Behold I am vile With David looking stedfastly on the Glasse of this Law brightly shined on by Gods Light and ref â—ecting a most clear Discovery of Innumerable Transgressions of it as so many Attoms in a clear Sun-shine Who can understand his Errours Cleanse thou me from secret faults With the Prophet Isaiah VVe are all as one Unclean thing as uncleanness it self in the Abstract most Vnclean and all our Righteousness are as Filthy Raggs With the Apostle James In many things we offend all And finally with the Apostle Paul VVe know that the Law is Spiritual but I am Carnal and sold under Sin O VVretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death That thou mayst also with the same Apostle bein â—ase to say and sing to the Commendation of his Grace I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord is the Cordial desire of Thy Servant in the Gospel for Christs sake Postscript Christian and Candid Reader THOU seest that in this Epistle which for the most part of it was written above two years ago I have spoken a word of Stage-playes prophane Interludes Comedies c. at that time and several years before much in use amongst us whereto I would now add a few words more and deduce a little their infamous idolatrous devilish and damnable Pedigree and Original and give thee a brief account of the judgment of the ancient Christian Church about them that the Actors in them with the Patrons and haunters of them may with the greater dissatisfaction reflect on their own by-past unsutable and disconform practise and that all others may for ever hereafter learn to fear and to do no more so unchristianly To which I am the rather induced that the worthy Author of this Treatise hath only in passing made mention of them as a breach of the Seventh Command they being then utterly in disswe â—tude with us and it having not so much as once entered into his thoughts that after so bright and glorious a Sun-shine of Gospel-light the Generation would ever let be so quickly have so far degenerated as to suffer themselves to be tempted to have any fellowship with such unfruitful works of darkness I say then that Stage-playes in their several sorts were prohibited reprobated and condemned and the Actors in them appointed to be excommunicated by the Canons of several more particular and of some general Councels which Canons I forbear for brevities sake to â—et down at length as namely by the fifth Canon of the first Councel at Arl â—s in France Ann. 314. in the time of Constanstine the Great by the twentieth Canon of the second Councel held there Ann. 126. or more probable 389 as Fr. Longus a Coriolano reckoneth in his sum of all the Councels by the fifty seventh sixty second and sixty seventh Canons of the Eliberine Councel in Spain Ann. 30 â— by the eleventh and thirty fifth Canons of the third to wit from Constantine's time as Spondanus reckoneth Councel of Carthage An. 397. the very same with the thirteenth and thirty fifth Canons of the Councel of Hippo in Africk held Ann. 393. as Longus a Corialono sheweth who sets down the sum of the Canons framed at Hippo at the close of the Canons made in this third Councel of Carthage by the twelth Canon of the African Councel held Ann. 408 whe â—â— Augustine was present the Canons of both which Councels suppose persons to have been excommunicated on this account and provide for their reconciliation to the Church in case of repentance and turning from these practises to the Lord and by the fifty first and sixty second Canons of the sixth general Councel called by some the fifth held a â— Const â—ntinople Ann. 680. the Canons w â—â—â—eof we â—e â—on â—w â—d in that Counc â—l held at Constantinople Ann. 692. which is called Qui â—isex â—um these two Canons are very express and â—â—eremptory in this thing And can any Christians warrantably and without sin recreate themselves with beholding such playes the Actors wher â—in deserve to be excommunicated what is there no bet â—er no more innoc â—n â— and inoffensive way or is this th â— only or the â—est way to recreate men to refine sharpen and polish their wits to pers â—ade and prevail with them to ha â—â— and flee vic â— and to love and follow vertue to acquaint â—â—â—em from History with to impress on them the remembrance and to ex â—ite them to the imi â—â—tion of the noble and truly â—â—itable actions of illus â—â—â—on â—â—â—e â—oes and other great men to breed them to a sutable confidence to make them eloquene and fine spokes-men and to help them to a becoming gest in all actions places and societies the grave Seers and great Lights of the Church did never see any such thing in them but on the contrary have with common
yet we cannot but incline to think that there is some guilt that may and ought to be r â—pented of in such dreams and so that men may in their sle â—p sin against these holy Commandments seeing that in many dre â—ms as in many words th â—re are divers even sinful vanities Eccl â—s 5.7 This Truth is something clear from the grounds already laid down but we shall for further clearing and confirming of it add these following Arguments The first is this 1 That tickling delight as an evil against the Law of God is a fruit of original sin which sin infects all our imaginations and makes them evil Gen. 6.5 yea they are the flowings out of habitual lust which is now natur â—l to us and if they be a Fruit of that Tree or a Daughter of that Mother must th â—y not be of the same nature and so sinful and that they must flow from Original sin may thus be made out That none can imagine such dreams to have been incident to Adam in the state of Innocency while all was pure even though sleep and dreams w â—re natural to him And this may be confirmed â—rom that one Maxim of the School-men that Adam's Innocency was capable of no deception nor of any thing which might make him sad â—ither sle â—ping or waking but such dreams c â—rtainly imply both It it be said such dreams may be from an external cause as the Devils objecting such and such things to m â—n in sleep I answer I g â—â—nt in part it may be so but 1. Though he object th â—m to us sl â—â—ping as well as waking yet it is we that entertain th â—se objected Representations it is we that delight in them and move by them though tempted thereto by him we may say he is Father and as it is Act. 5.3 he filleth the heart and furnisheth fewel but we are the Mother I say it is our corruption that bringeth sorth and can any say that if there were no corruption within us that th â—se would be so entertained 2. Though they come from him as an external cause yet considering that our nature is inclined to such things so that Powder or Flax taketh no sooner with Fire cast into them than our corrupt nature doth with these temptations Is it possible to imagine that a Dut of temptation should be thrown in and not at least awake and stir the savour of corruptions Indeed pure Nature in our blessed Lord who was without Original sin was like wat â—r presently to quench all such Fiery Darts 3. If they come from the D â—vil to what end can he object them to men it must either be because they are sinful that being his aim to d â—file them th â—r â—by and draw them to sin or because th â—y are troublesome and heavy to men he having delight also in mens mis â—ry but such dreams are no way weighty and troublesome to the most part of men that th â—refore is not his aim nor would they be so much burdensome to others were it not from their apprehension of guilt under them and therefore Satan's aim must be thereby to de â—ile men with sin 2 Argument which confirmeth the former and let us consider it with reverence our blessed Lord J â—sus was made in all things like unto us exc â—pt sin none of the fruits of original sin which are sinful are to be found in him and yet I suppose none can without horrour imagine such dreams to have been incid â—nt to him or that his absolute Holin â—ss was capable of them He is the only instance of one free from original sin yet may he be supposed lyable to any other penal thing excepting 1. What impli â—s sin 2. What impli â—s dist â—mp â—rs and infirmities in the contemp â—rature and constitution of his body from inward causes because he had no inward cause being fr â—e of sin as Adam before his Fall and therefore not naturally I mean from inward principl â—s or n â—cessity as we are subj â—ct to sickness or death 3 The third Argument is That men are often accessary to th â—se sinful dreams thems â—lv â—s either 1. By ex â—â—ss disposing thems â—lves to such inclinations or â— By a loose mind that delights in following such things throughout the day in their more reasonable m â—ditations and more determinate purpose â— it being ordinary that dreams follow much the constitution of the boâ—y or the habitual strain of our practise in which respect m â—ns Callings or particular Imployments will run up and down before the Fancy in their sleep and so their sinful exercises also or 3. By not praying to God to guard against them and neglec â—ing to pr â—ss more after mortification for that end or 4. By not being suitably affected with them after they are past and gone In which cases even the School men who are not the most rigid and tender Casuist â— will grant all things being considered sin to be ex cons â—quenti in dr â—ams and we suppose few fall in such dreams who may not in one circumstance or other read their accession to sin therein and though our â—rame and constitution be in it self natural yet that it should incline us sleeping or waking to any thing sinful that is and must be f â—om corrupt nature seeing it clearly speaketh the inordinateness of our natural inclination 4 The fourth Argument â—s from the Law of Washings and Sacrificings for the sin of uncleanness in mens dreams when they pass se â—d in their sleep which seemeth to say thus much that both sleeping and waking men should be holy and although there be sacrifices and cleansings appointed for some things that are not morally sinful as the touching of a dead body having Leprosie c. yet simply to say so of the case in hand were hard For 1. If it be said there was no moral sinfulness in that kind of pollutions what then could these Sacrifices and Washings signifie If any say as th â—y must say they looked to secret actings of original sin it doth confirm what we have said But 2. Is there in any such things as are not accounted sinful in themselves such a dependency upon or likeness to any Commandm â—nt as there is in that which is mentioned Levit. 15. to the seventh Commandment to which it seemeth to have a direct reference 5 The fifth Argument may be taken from the extent of the Law which reacheth to the whole man outward and inward soul heart mind and if to the whole man then why not to the fancy memory imagination c. And we are sure when Spirits are made perfectly conform to the Law of God there will not be found in them any such fancy imaginable as consistent with it Besides doth not this Law oblige and tye always even fleeping men as we conceive are under the negative Precepts of it that is although they be not bound to pray and
with the lot that God hath carved out â—o you without the least inordinate motion or inclination to the contrary which may either be inconsistent with love to him or with contentment and a right composure of spirit in your selves From this we may see that this Command is unreasonably and unjustly divided by Papists into two Commands the one relating to the Neighbours house th â— other to his wife and what followeth For 1. this concupiscence or lust looketh not only to the Seventh and Eighth but to the Fifth and Sixth and Ninth Commands there being an inordinate affection towards thy Neighbours life and honour or estimation also and it is instanced in these two because they are more discernible and common This then sheweth that God t â—keth in this inordinateness of the heart under one Command in reference to whatsomever object it be otherwayes we behoved to say that either the Commands are defective or that there is no such inordinateness to other objects of other Commands which is absurd or by the same reason we must multiply commands for them also which yet the adversaries themselves do not 2. The Apostle Rom. 7.7 comprehendeth all inordinateness of heart towards whatsomever object it be in that Command Thou shalt not lust which is as Thou shalt not desire his wife so nothing else what is thy Neighbours 3. The inverting the order which is here in Deut. 5.21 where the wife is put first not the house sheweth that the Command is one otherwayes what is Ninth in the one would be Tenth in the other and contrarily and so the order of these ten words as they are called by the Lord would be confounded But the great thing we are mainly to inquire into is the meaning of this Command in which Papists being loath to acknowledge corrupt natures case to be so desperate as it is and designing to maintain perfection of inherent righteousness and justification by works do make this sin of Lust forbidden in this Command a very general thing and all of us ordinarily are apt to think light of this sin We would therefore say 1. That we are to distinguish Concupiscence and consider it as it is 1. Spiritual in a renewed man for there are motions and stirrings called Lustings of the Spirit against the Flesh Gal. 5.17 2. As it is partly natural to man to have such stirrings in him as flow from the natural faculty and power of desiring so Christ as man desired meat and drink and this being natural was certainly in Adam before the fall and as the will and understanding a â—e not evil in themselves so is not this It is neither of these that this Command speaketh of 3. There is a sinful Concupiscence called evil Concupiscence Coloss. 3.5 and the lusting of the Flesh against the Spirit it is this that is here spoken of the inordinateness of that Lust or concupiscibleness or concupiscible power turning aside out of its natural line to that which is evil It is this which God forbiddeth in this Command and setteth bounds to the desiring or concupiscible faculty 2. We say there is a twofold consideration of this sinful Concupiscence 1. As it is in the sensual part only and the inferiour faculties of the soul as to meat drink uncleanness c. Or 2. we may consider it as it reacheth further and riseth higher having its seat in the heart and will and running through the whole affections yea even the whole man who in this respect is called Flesh in the Scripture Gal. 5.17 and there is Heresie and other evils attributed unto it v. 19 20 21. which will not agree to the former so Rom. 7.23 24 it is called the Law of the Members and the body of death and hath a wisdom Rom. 8.7 that is enmity against God corrupting all and inclining and byassing wrong in every thing so that a man because of it hath not the right use of any faculty within him This Concupiscence which is seated not only in the sensible but in the rational part of the soul is that which is intended here which is the fountain and head-spring of all other evils for from the heart proceed evil thoughts c. Matth. 15.19 it is the evil treasure of the heart Matth. 22.25 3. We may consider this Lust 1. As it is habitual and is even in young ones and in men when they are sleeping whereby there is not only an indisposition to good but an inclination to evil it lusteth against the Spirit Gal. 5.17 and is enmity to the Law of God Rom. 8.7 and lusteth to envy James 4.5 and conceiveth sin James 1.15 this is the sad fruit and consequent in all men by nature of Adams first sin and hath a disconformity to the Law of God and so is called the Flesh Rom. 7.5 and the law of sin and death â— Rom. 8.2 in the first respect this sin is a body and a person as it were an old man Rom. 6.6 and in the other it hath members in particular to which it giveth Laws requiring obedience 2. We may consider i â— as acting and stirring in its several degrees And 1. we may say it stirreth habitually like the raging sea Isa. 57. penult and as grace tendeth to good or as fire is of an heating nature so is this Lust still working as an habitual distortion crook or bending upon somewhat that should be straight or as a defect in a legg which possibly kytheth not but when one walketh yet there is still a defect or rather it is a venom which is still poysonous thus Rom. 7.5 it is called the motions of sin in the Flesh. 2. The more actual stirrings of it are to be considered either in their first risings when they are either not adverted into and without direct excitation or actual and formal approbation or as they are checked and rejected as Paul did his Rom. 7.15 and 2 Cor. 12.3 or as they are delighted in though there be not a formal consent yet such a thing in the very mind is someway complyed with as desirable and pursued after this is called morosa delectatio or as they are resolved on to be acted and when men seek means and wayes how to get the sin committed after that inwardly approving complacency and liking of the thing hath prevailed to engage the mind to conquish for instance such an estate unjustly or to compass and accomplish the act of filthiness with such a woman 3. It may be considered in general either as the thoughts are upon riches or covetousness or filthiness without respect to any particular thing or person or as they go out upon them in particulars 4. We say we would put a difference betwixt tentations objectively injected by the Devil as he did on our Lord Jesus Matth. 4.1 and Lusts rising from an internal principle which are most common see James 1.14 The first is not our sin of it self except it be 1. entertained some way or 2. not rejected
assertion Rom. 7.7 that he had not known this sin of Lust but by the Law maketh it evident that the Command speaketh of Lust not easily discernable yea that he himself discerned it not till he was renewed and so it spoke of such Lusts as after regeneration to his sense and feeling abounded most Now none can say there were either in him more resolutions to sin or more delight in them then before but a quicker sense of these sinful stirrings and irritations then he had formerly 3. We take in here morosa delectatio o â— the entertaining of extravagant Imaginations as of honour greatness lust pleasure c. with delight where the heart frameth such Romances and pleaseth it self with meditating and feeding on them which Eccles. 6.9 is called the wandring of the desire and in other places of Scripture the imaginations of the heart of man which even nature it self may teach to be sinful this properly cometh in as a legg to say so or member and degree of this sin and as an evidence of one ac â—â—ally discontented with his own lot contentedness wi â—â— which is the positive part of this Command and is a whoring of the heart after vanity in a palpable degree to satisfie it self in its phantasies and notions and this is not only when the heart runneth upon sinful objects but also vain objects which David hated Psal. 119.113 for this reilling proving of heart is ever upon some other mans portion at least upon what is not ours and tendeth ever to the imagining of some thing which is not as an addition to our good which supposeth discontent with what we have 4. We take in here such Concupiscence as though it approveth not unlawful means to prosecute its inordinate designs yet it is too eager in the pursuit and discontent when it falleth short as for instance when Achab would buy Naboths Vineyard and pay for it or a man would marry such a woman lawfully supposing she were free and there were consent of parties c. the one is not stealing nor the other adultery yet both of them suppose a discontent when the desire of having is too eager and when there is an inordinateness in the affection or desire after it as when one cometh thus peremptorily to desire to have such a thing or to wish that such a thing were I would fain have this or that O that this or that were even as David longed for a drink of the Well of Bethlehem In a word we take in all that is opposite to or inconsistent with satisfaction in our own lot and love to our Neighbour under which this Command as the rest is compreh â—nded Rom. 13.9 even the least risings of any thing tending that way or that inclineth to discontentment in our selves It is true every desire to have something added to our lot or amended in it is not to be condemned but when it is inordinate as 1. when the thing is not needful 2. when the desire is too eager 3. when the thing too much affecteth and even discontenteth till it be effected and done Now this being the scope and sum of this Command it may be gathered of how broad and vast extent the breaches of it are Is there one hour wherein there a â—e not multitudes of these evil thoughts flowing running and roving through the heart Ah! what discontents with providences grudgings vain wishings c. are there and although all these as they reflect on God are against the first Command yet as they imply discontentment in us with our lot or as they are risings of heart to evil though wrestled against and wherein the Spirit getteth the victory they are against this Command so that not only vain Imaginations that are formed with delight but even those that are scarce suffered to breath yet having once a being are against this Command and sinful For 1. they break a Law and are disconformed to that which we should be 2. In Paul Rom. 7. who yet gave not way to these they are called sin and the body of death 3. He wrestleth against them and cryeth out under them desiring to be quit of them verse 24. now if they were only penal such out-cries and complaints were not so like him whom a complication of sharpest afflictions could never make once to groan but this body of death made him to cry out 4. They lust against and oppose the Spirit Gal. 5.17 and so are against the Law of God Rom. 7. and tend to obedience to the Law of Sin and further the execution of its decrees 5. These are of the naâ—ure of Original sin and a branch growing of that â—oot and so what is born of the flesh is flesh the branch â—ust â—e of the nature of the root if the tree be corrupt the fruit must be so 6. These make way for other sins and keep the door open for temptations to grosser evils and give the Devil access to blow up the fire 7. They keep out many good motions and obstruct many duties and indispose for them 8. They marr communion with God who should have the all of the soul heart and mind and sure if he had his due there would be no place for these as there will be none for them among the spirits of the just men made perfect 9. These sinful risings in the heart are a great burthen to a tender walker who groaneth under that habitual lightness and vanity of his mind in the gaddings whorings and departings of it from God for because of it he cannot get his whole delight uninterruptedly set on him and though he delighteth in the Law of God after the inner man yet he cannot win up to full conformity to it in his practise or when he would and resolveth to do good yet ere he wit as it were ill is present with him and his heart is away and on the pursuit of one foolish toyl and vanity or another 10. Paul speaking of these lustful stirrings of the heart doth make it evident Rom. 7. throughout the Chapter that this Command speaketh of such Lusts which he had not known except the Law had said thou shalt not lust Now men naturally know that inward assent to sin even before it be acted is sinful yea Paul knew he had such things as these corrupt motions in him but he knew not that they were sinful but from the Law and that after its spiritual meaning was made known to him and from this it is that such who are regenerate see more sins in themselves then ever they did while unregenerate not simply because they have more but now having the spirit and a contrary principle within they discern that to be sinful which they took no notice of as such formerly 11. The frequency of this sin of inordinacy in the first stirrings and motions of the heart is no little aggravation of it for what hour of a mans life when waking yea even when asleep in dreaming a man
they take no notice of 2. That generally men in nature do not advert to this and are never throughly humbled under it 3. That there is such an indwelling lust as this which is spoken of here even in the heart of the believer and obedience to this Command will be as seriously aimed at by him and he will be as much troubled and affected with the breach of it as of any of the other Commands As to the first I shall first interrogate you a few things 1. How often is your mind stirring and reeling like the raging Sea 2. How often or rather how seldom can ye say that these motions and stirrings are conform to the Law of God or consisting with true love to God and delight in him and in his Law Are there not in your hearts wonderful swarms of vain Imaginations that ye cannot give a reason for and cannot tell how they come in nor how they go out which yet are all breaches of this Command 3. How often do ye take notice of them or are suitably affected with them 2. For further conviction of the sinfulness of this consider the extent of the Command 1. A man by the breaking of this Command may be guilty of the breach of all the rest 2. It 's extensive in respect of the occasions a man hath to break it his eye will look to nothing but this lust will take occasion from it to sin the hearing of such and such a thing will by means of this waken a desire to be at it though the impossibility of acting it may impede his determination 3. It is extensive in respect of the continual bad posture the heart is in so that hardly can a person take a look of it but he will find this sin of inordinacie in the thoughts in it and some plagues as effects following on it 3. For yet further conviction consider the greatness of the sin 1. In that it not only runneth after particular objects the coveting whereof is against the other Commands but foreseeth and inventeth objects in the brain and so this Lust is broader then a man hath existent objects to it as when he desireth to be rich but knoweth not how 2. We may gather the greatness of this sin partly from the nature of it called in Scripture enmity against God Rom. 8.7 partly from the brude and product of it called the fruit of the flesh partly from the fruit that it bringeth forth and that is death it begetteth other sins not only by indisposing to duty but by actual inclining and disposing to evil so that when the Devil cometh to tempt he hath no more to do but to blow up this fire of Lust that is within and needeth not bring new fire to kindle it Our scope in all this is to bring you to know that such a thing as this inordinate Lust is in you and that it is exceeding sinful ye cannot deny but the Devil and Lust stirreth as much in you as it did in regenerate and eminently holy Paul and yet how is it that ye are as quiet as if it were not in you at all such serious and sensible souls as have rightly seen this will loath themselves as being because of it most polluted and unclean and will cry out Oh! we are vile For the second thing in the words folks may be a long time ere they take up this sin and generally men in nature do not know it there are many vile sins in the heart that never were deliberate nor yet fully consented to when this sin is discovered to Paul he getteth another sight of the nature of sin then he would have believed formerly he could have had folks are rarely affected with Original sin that thwarteth with and is contrary to the Law of God and seldom burthened with this habitual Lust that stirreth even in Believers because but renewed in part and so it is but destroyed in part and it is a great and gross mistake to think that grace altogether expelleth it here and it is sometimes their guilt that they fret and are discontented and discouraged not so much because of the sinfulness of the sin as that it should be in their lot for it is one thing to be seriously wrestling against this Lust and bemoaning it and another thing to have a perplexedness about it as when there is a fretting that such a thing is not better done and yet no serious sorrow because of the wrong doing of it simply and in it self considered and there is an inordinateness wherein the â—lesh prevaileth even in complaints of sin and in desiring good And so this Command regulateth our desire not only in reference to the object but as to the way and manner of pursuing it As to the third thing in the words that this Lust or Concupiscence is in the Believer as we have just now said it is uncontrovertibly clear from what the Apostle asserteth of himself and most bitterly bemoaneth in that Chapter and from the universal experience of the Saints so that we need say nothing more particularly of it then we have said only it may be asked if there be such a Concupiscence in the Believer how doth it differ from that which is in Natural men Answ. 1. Sin not only dwelleth but commandeth and reigneth in the Natural man but though Corruption dwell in the Believer and many sometimes take him captive yet he doth not with the bensel of his sould yield to it 2. A Natural man is wholly one or if there be any warring or dissention it is but one lust striving with another the Believer is tuosome as they use to say he hath two parties or sides and when corruption prevaileth grace will be saying O that it were otherwayes 3. The Believer discerneth his lusts far better nor he did while unregenerate and seeth them as so many evil spirits dancing and reeling within him 4. This indwelling corruption is one of his greatest weights yea it is exceeding weighty and his most grievous burthen heavier not only then all outward afflictions but even in some respect then actual transgressions for he findeth that he is never sooner off his watch but his evil inclination setteth on him this is his exercise this marreth his peace and maketh him loath himself when the world seeth nothing in his conversation reproveable This did much more pinch and afflict Paul then his persecution and maketh him cry out What shall I do O wretched O miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death All the outward afflictions and tribulations that he met with drew never such a word from him he could through grace rejoyce yea glory in the midst of them but this maketh him cry out of himself as miserable it being indeed the thing that in it self and in the esteem of the Child of God when at himself maketh him beyond all things in the world look at himself as wretched and miserable and if Faith in Christ were not kept up the Believer in this case would despair and give it over but it is neither the Natural mans exercise nor yet his burthen 5. The Natural man hath not a spiritual sense to savour and relish the things of God and as little inward feeling of his corruption that is opposite to the grace of God but outward things are only or most sweet to him The Believer relisheth spiritual things but remaining corruption marreth his satisfaction even in outward things and the more he finds that he is satisfied with them he is therefore the worse satisfied with himself if he take a glut of satisfaction in them with more pain he vomits it up again and it troubleth his stomach as it were till he get it cast out Gods people get not leave to drink with full satisfaction of the things of the World as Natural men do for the Believer having two parties in him Grace and Corruption whereof while out of heaven he is constituted what contenteth the one can never content the other but the Natural man having but only one party and being wholly constituted of Corruption he hath more delight not only in sinful things but also in worldly things then the Believer The scope of all is to discover your superficialness and overliness in examining your selves to put you to be more serious in that necessary and useful exercise and to teach you by what Command ye should most examine your selves even by this Tenth Command as being that which will make the clearest and most throughly searching discovery of your selves to your selves and will best rid marches betwixt you and hypocrites to put you in thankfulness to acknowledge and with admiration to adore the exceeding great goodness of God in providing and giving a Mediator on whom he hath laid all these innumerable Iniquities of all his people which would have sunk them eternally under the unsupportable weight of them to let you see how absolutely necessary how unspeakably useful and stedable he is to so many wayes and so deeply guilty sinners and withal to lead you to improve and make use of him for doing them away both as to the guilt and filth of them which when God shall for Christs sake be graciously pleased to do will not every believing soul have reason to say and sing to the commendation of his Grace Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity Bless the Lord O my soul who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases to him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood be glory and dominion for ever Amen FINIS