his Elect and under that Condition it was necessary that he should suffer for them It was the Love of the Father to accept of Christ to bear the sins of the People and it was his Justice that disclosed his Anger against Sin although his Son did but represent the sinner and yet the merit of this Suffering hath its strength from the free acceptation of his Father according to his Eternal Covenant with his Son. 3. From hence it follows that it is a Full and Perfect Satisfaction The reason is because the measure of the Satisfaction is the Acceptation of the offended God for it appears before that there can be no other Measure or Rule to him but his own Will though that be a most Just Will. Now that God was fully satisfied and pleased in Christ we have the Testimony of Angels Luke 2.14 On earth peace good will to men Of Christ John 17.4 when by way of Anticipation he saith I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do which he fully perfected when John 19.30 he said It is finished By the eternal Father by a voice from Heaven Matth. 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased By the Spirit of Truth Heb. 10.14 By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that be sanctified And from the sufficiency of this satisfaction doth arise that assurance in which the Apostle glories Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect c. it is Christ that died And hence called the Author and Finisher of our Faith Heb. 12.2 4. It was an Vniversal Suffering The sin of Man had an universal Contagion both upon his Body and Soul and an universal Guilt and consequently an universal Curse went over both his Soul and Body In the day that thou eatest thou shalt die the death This death extended to his Body and Soul and the whole Compositum his very Life was mingled with Death both in Sense and Expectation And answerable to the extent of this Contagion Guilt and Curse was the extent of Christ's Satisfaction who was figured by the first Adam Rom. 5.14 His Life was mingled with Pain Isa 53. A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief in his Body he suffered a cursed and a painful Death and though the nailing to the Cross was not sufficient naturally to have made a separation of the Body and Soul no more than of the two Thieves yet he had those other Concurrences to his dissolution that they had not viz. the bearing of his Cross John 19.17 His scourging and Crown of Thorns Matt. 27.26 29. But especially the suffering of his Soul the very anticipation of this suffering made him even to shrink at it John 12.27 Now is my soul troubled what shall I say Father save me from this hour And this like the Trumpet upon Sinai waxed louder and louder till his very dissolution witness his affirmation In the Garden of Gethsemane Matth. 26.28 My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death and that astonishing Cry of the Son of God upon the Cross Matth. 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me His sorrow and the suffering of his Soul in the Garden that was so strange as to cause a sweat of Blood had been enough without the interposition of any outward force to have caused his dissolution for it was a sorrow unto death had not God supported his Humane Nature with a supernatural aid Luk. 22.43 An angel from heaven strengthened him and when the Divine Dispensation withdrew that extraordinary supply he died Matth. 27.50 He cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost If it be asked What was the cause of this extremity of suffering in the Soul of Christ we say as he willingly took upon him to stand in our room to bear our sins and to become Sin for us so he felt the wrath of God against that sin which he by way of imputation did bear as he bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree 1 Pet. 2.24 and God laid on him the iniquity of us all and as he was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 so he trode the wine-press of his Fathers wrath for that time Isa 63.3 and was made a Curse for that Sin. The Guilt that he had was not inherent but imputed but the sense of that wrath of God against Sin was not imputed but real and inherent If it be inquired How could such a sense of the wrath of God be consistent with that union that was between his Natures in one Person such Knowledge is too wonderful for me Nevertheless thus far we may say that as in the highest extremity of the suffering of his Soul there was no interruption of that strict Union between the Humane and Divine Nature yet so it pleased God to order this great Work that the actual communication of the presence of the Divine Nature was to the sense of the Humane Nature eclipsed the Sun still remained in the Firmament yet the Light thereof Eclipsed at the time of the death of Christ Matth. 27.45 to shadow to us that interruption of Vision which was in our Redeemer that so his Soul might be made an Offering for Sin as well as his Body If it be inquired How it came to pass that a perpetual Punishment due to Man was expiated by a temporary suffering of Christ we answer Man's suffering must needs be perpetual because it could never be satisfactory Matth. 5.26 Thou shalt not come out till thou payest the uttermost farthing But Christ's suffering was satisfactory and the satisfaction being made the suffering could not continue 1. It was a Voluntary Suffering 2. An Innocent Suffering 3. A Suffering of the Son of God. 4. An Accepted Satisfaction by the offended God. 8. That Christ having suffered death did arise again from death the third day This was that which the Prophet David foretold of Christ Psal 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my soul in grave by Isa 53.10 When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin c. He shall prolong his days he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death prefigured by Jonah and so expounded by Christ himself Matth. 12.40 and predicted by himself Matth. 20.13 And the third day shall rise again attested by an Angel Matth. 28.6 He is risen as he said And this Truth was that which was the great Means of Conversion and therefore received the greatest opposition of Devils and Men Acts 2.24 Acts 4.10.33 Acts 5.30 And as it was the greatest Caution of the High Priest if it had been possible to falsifie the Prediction of Christ concerning his Resurrection Matth. 27.63 64. So this was the Truth that they most persecuted Acts 25.19 And being a Truth of that great concernment was most evidenced by the Evangelists and Apostles whose Business it was to be Witnesses of the Resurrection Acts 1.22 1 Cor. 15. per totum for by this he was
operations and whose Gifts and Callings are without Repentance hath promised to be with us to the end of the World He cannot sin because his sâ—â—d abideth in him 1 John 3.9 It is true there may be intermissions of the acting of Grace in the Heart and there may be falls in the Life but to be given over to a course of sin without repentance to be brought under the power and dominion of Sin as a King or a Ruler the Honour and Truth of God is engaged in it it shall not be 2 Thes 3.3 The Lord is faithful who shall stablish you John â—0 28 Nâ—er shall any man pluck them out of my hand Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you for 〈…〉 under the Law but under Grace And these Promises of God cannot make the Heart of any one to whom they truly belong any whit the more careless or loose in his watch over himself for that very Spirit whereby those Promises are sealed to us is an active vigilant pure Spirit and puts the Heart and Life upon those Practices that do naturally and properly conduce to this very Perseverance viz. Assiduity in Duties Humble and Watchful walking before God Examination and search of the state of our Souls and Lives Jealousie over the Treachery of our own Hearts and the snares that are within us and without us a Guard upon our Affections and Senses a frequent Consideration of the Will of God of his Goodness to us in Christ of the Price wherewith we are bought of the Hope whereunto we are redeemed and all those other helps that conduce to the settling and stablishing of our Hearts and Lives in a Conformity to the Will of God and in avoiding of all those things which are contrary thereunto and consequently as contraries do would impair corrupt and destroy that Life of Grace which he hath begun in us And from hence ariseth 3. An Increase and Growth in a more exact Conformity to the Will of God than formerly This is that which is so often commended unto us by the Spirit of God Colos 2.7 Rooted and built up in him Colos 4.12 Compleat in all the will of God Phil. 1.9 that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment 1 Cor. 15.58 abounding in the work of the Lord Heb. 13.21 make you perfect in good works to do his will Phil. 3.13 forgetting what is past and reaching forth to the things that are before Ephes 4.13 growing to a perfect man 2.16 increase of the body 2 Pet. 3.17 beware lest ye fall from your own stedfastness but grow in grace Jude 20. building up your selves in your most holy faith Prov. 4.18 Increasing more and more unto the perfect day John 15.2 Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit And as this is the Will of God so it is as naturally the effect of this Life that is wrought in the Heart as it is the effect of natural Life in the Body for it is an active and operative Life If any quality have got the mastery in a mixt Body it doth ever more and more by degrees waste and consume the contrary qualities and assimulates the whole unto it self And although as long as our Flesh hangs about us it is impossible that a compleat and absolute conquest can be wrought of all that Sin that is in us because it is a spring of Corruption yet it is wasted weakned and decayed By this work of Grace Saul's House waxeth weaker and weaker Every habit though it be moral or natural only receiveth an augmentation and degrees by its continual actings And the Grace of God which is more operative and active in the Heart than any habit can be for it is accompanied with the immediate Power and Efficacy of the Divine Spirit never stands still but like the little Leven that was hid in the great quantity of Meal it never gives over till the whole be leavened 4. Renewed Repentance Thy corrupt Nature is a Body of Sin and Death a spring of Corruption that will ever cast up mire and dirt and Grace in thy Heart is a spring of living Waters that as often as that corrupts will be washing it again When thou hast made the chamber of thy Heart as clean as thou canst yet there will be leaks in it that will let in Corruptions enough quickly to make it as foul as ever Grace by the continual examination of thy self humbling of thy Heart before God renewing thy Covenant with him doth not only pump out the filth that would poyson and drown and dam thee but stops the decays and leaks of this thy infirm Vessel When the Grace of God at first found thee thou wast dead in trespasses and sins and it came into thee and by Repentance did exercise its own act of Life to quicken thee And that same Body of Death that did at first inclose thee is still about thee and takes all opportunities to get its old mastery of thee and by this means thou catchest many a fall and bruise but that same Life by which thou livest re-acts against those inroads of sin and death and doth conquer them so that though thy renewed sins are not thy ruine yet they ought to be thy burden though they must not make thee despair yet they cannot chuse but make thee mourn though thy Saviour hath born their Guilt yet it is but equal thou shouldest bear thy shame When thou hadst no Life in thee thou couldest not feel thy self dead But now thou hast Life in thee thou canst not chuse but be sensible of thy sickness and thy hurts which thy own folly have occasioned and judge and condemn and avoid that Folly of thine that occasioned it Though thou canst not be rid of thy sins that fight against thy Life yet thou wilt not entertain them with better Entertainment than Bread of Affliction and Water of Affliction Though thou canst not expiate for any of them yet thou canst not look upon them without indignation as Traytors against thy Life and thy Peace thou canst not look upon thy self without loathing and detestation thou canst not look unto Christ without shame and confusion that one that he hath redeemed from so great a Misery with so great a Price to so great a nearness as to be a member of himself a partaker of his Spirit a Co-heir of his Glory should so unworthily so unthankfully in his sight dishonour his Head and pollute himself Thou canst not look upon what is past without Repentance nor upon what is to come without a Resolution of more Vigilance and keeping a better Guard upon thy self And yet in the midst of all these thy perplexed thoughts thou canst not chuse but admire and bless that Mercy of Christ that when thou deniest him looks back upon thee as once on Peter and with that look sends in a Messenger that makes thee go by thy self and bewail thy Relapse that leaves
Job 33.14 he useth a sharper and louder Messenger he speaks that he may not strike and if he strikes it is unwillingly Lam. 3.33 and that he may not destroy and destroys nor rejects not till his strokes prove fruitless Isa 1.5 Why should ye be stricken any more till there be no remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 He endures with long-suffering even the Vessels ordained to wrath Rom. 9.22 His Spirit did strive with the old World Gen. 6.3 was grieved forty years with the passages of a rebellious people Psal 95.10 pressed with our sins as a Cart under sheaves Amos 2.13 and yet no final destruction That admirable Expostulation of God's merciful Patience Hos 11.8 How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I see thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim I am God and not man. As if he should have said 'T is true thou art Ephraim and Israel a People that I have known of all the Families of the Earth Amos 3.2 a People that I have chosen and thou art called by my Name but by how much the nearer thou art unto me by so much the greater is thy Ingratitude That which in another People would be a Sin is in thee Rebellion and Apostasie Admah and Zeboim were a People that knew me not that never entred into Covenant with me they had no light to guide them but that of Nature and when they sinned my wrath broke out in the most eminent Judgment that ever was heard of But thou hast been a Vine of my own planting and watering and dressing and yet thy fruit hath been the fruit of Sodom thou hast made me to serve with thy sins and according to the number of thy Cities were thy Gods O Israel Jer. 11.13 Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me Isa 1.3 And should I not be avenged upon such a people as this How can I How can I not make thee as Admah and set thee as Zeboim If a man as thou art should but once shew but a grain of that ingratitude unto thee which thou multipliest towards me days without number thy Revenges would be as high as thy Power and thou wouldest justifie thy severest dealings with him nay if I thy Lord that can owe thee nothing but Wrath should withdraw but any of my own Blessings from thee thou art ready to throw off all and presently to upbraid me with thy unuseful Services What profit have I if I be cleansed from my sins Job 35.3 And how canst thou after all this expect any thing from me but that my Wrath should burn against thee like fire till thou wert consumed and that I should stir up all the fury of my Jealousie towards you O but Ephraim I am God and not man and therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed my Mercy and my Patience are not the narrow qualities or habits of a mortal Man but the infinite Attributes of an Infinite God. Though I can see nothing in thee but what deserves my wrath I can find that in my self that sends out my compassion a heart turned by returning upon my own Mercy and repentings kindled upon the considerations of my own Covenant with thy Fathers kindled by a Sacrifice that thou little thinkest of even the Sacrifice of my own Son I will not therefore execute the fierceness of my anger although it be thy duty to repent Sinner yet I will repent of my wrath even before thou repent of thy sin it may be my long-sufferings will as it should do lead thee to repentance Rom. 2.4 But if after all this thou despisest the riches of my Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering know that thou treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and that day will surely find thee and then thou wilt find that every days forbearance and patience that thou hast had and abused hath ripened and improved thy Guilt and made thy sin out of measure sinful and will add weight and fire to my wrath which like a Talent of Lead shall everlastingly lye upon that treasure of thy Sin and Guilt 2. His Pardoning Mercy Those tender and pathetical Expressions of God's Mercy in pardoning Sin upon Repentance and turning to him carry more weight than it is possible for our Spirits to arise unto Isa 1.18 Come now and let us reason together though your sins were as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red as crimson they shall be like wool Isa 43.24 25. Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways for as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my ways higher than your ways Jer. 3.12 Go and proclaim these words Return thou back-sliding Israel and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and will not keep anger for ever only acknowledge thine iniquity c. FINIS A Catalogue of what Books are Printed and Publish'd written by Sir Matthew Hale Kâ— sometime Chief Justice of the King's Bench and are to be Sold by Will. Shrowsbery at the Sign of the Bible in Duke-lane THE Primitive Origination of Mankind considered and examined according to the Light of Nature Folio Contemplations Moral and Divine in Two Parts Octavo An Essay touching the Gravitation or non-Gravitation of Fluid Bodies Octavo Difficiles Nugae Or Observations touching the Torricellian Experiment Octavo Observations touching the Principles of Natural Motions especially touching Rarefaction and Condensation Octavo The Life and Death of Pomponius Atticus with Observations Political and Moral Committed to the Press since his Death viz. 1. Pleas of the Crown or a Methodical Summary of the principal Matters relating to that subject Octavo 2. A short Treatise touching Sheriffs Accounts Octavo 3. Several Tracts 1. Three Discourses of Religion viz. 1. The Ends and Uses of it and the Errours of men touching it 2. The Life of Religion and Superadditions to it 3. The Superstructions upon it and Animosities about it 2. A short Treatise touching Provision for the Poor 3. A Letter to his Children advising them how to behave themselves in their Speech 4. A Letter to one of his Sons after his recovery from the Small Pox. Octavo * Of this the Author hath written more largely in his Origination of Mankind * All which and divers others the Author hath largely prosecuted in another Work in the 6. first Parts This he hath likewise more largely handled in the 7. Part of the same Work. Of the Law of Nature the Author hath written a particular tract * That the Willing still continues the same shall be and is and hath been are the several relations of the thing willed which is capable of these successions of duration they are not relations that may fall upon that will which is incapable of them or upon the acts of it V. Originat 1. c. 2. * Of this the Author hath written a large Tract which he finished but a little before his Death and it was the last Work he meddled with This the Author hath elsewhere considered in two or three several little Tracts upon this Subject Of thiâ— the Author hath pâ—oâ—â—ssâ— and more largely wâ—â—tten in other Works Jam. 1.17 Mal. 3.6 〈◊〉 Rom. 2.26
as far exceed all other Happiness in the World as far as it falls short of that perfect Knowledge Love and sense of the Love of God which shall be enjoyed hereafter Were a Man from the highest Honour and Reputation in the World cast into the greatest Scorn and Ignominy that the most exact and exasperated Envy could impose or wish or were his Body laden with as many Necessities Miseries and Torments as Hunger and the most sublimated and ingenious Malice could inflict or contrive could as well the highest sense as the most imminent expectation of Death the greatest of Evils be felt and yet protracted for an age yet if under all this the Soul can look upon these Miseries as such as must end and see though at a distance a Fruition of an Everlasting Beatitude infallibly expecting upon the close of these Miseries the Expected Happiness is made Present by Faith and over-ballanceth the Present but Ending Misery How much more when in the instant of these Sufferings the intention and bent of the Soul is to her Maker and the Great God shall by the secret yet real beams of his Favour send into the Soul Messages of Acceptation and Love How small and low doth this render the highest Contempts and Malice of Men and Devils and how much rather would this Man choose to enjoy these effects of the Love of his Maker with these Miseries than barely to see the Experiments of his Power and Justice in removing or revenging them 2 How far forth this Union of the Soul to God doth conduce to the Happiness of the Compositum the Whole Man or Whether it doth so or no Wherein we say 1. That the Happiness that is answerable to the Compositum without considering the great relation of the soul doth consist in the perfecting and continuing of his subsistence and kind and whatsoever the Compositum desires and moves after it is in order to these and not otherwise as in that one instance of Meats the Wise God hath given him the Sense of Tasting whereby he takes delight in those things that please the Appetite but this is in order to the taking in of those Nourishments that may preserve the Compositum the like of the other Senses Now as long as the Man in these things moves to these Ends he moves naturally and orderly but when in stead of moving to this End he rests in the Means then he moves inordinately and out of the way to that temporal Happiness the support of the Body as when he eats and drinks to excess the like for all other outward matters as Honours Riches Women c. When they are not enjoyed to those Ends for which they are ordained then is the Man out of that way to the temporal Happiness of the Compositum viz. the due Support and Subsistence of it 2. That the Felicity of the Soul may consist with this Felicity of the Compositum ex natura rei The reason à priori hath been already given because the Wise God in the first Institution of things did order every thing to their several Ends with that Wisdom that there was no clashing of the several Ends of the same thing or of several things but one did and might Consist with the other the Felicity of the Soul might and ex natura rei may consist with the Happiness of the Body and Compositum Therefore it follows 3. That Inconsistency of the Happiness of the Soul with that of the Body is not real but because however it comes to pass we have misplaced and mistaken the Happiness of the Body we now place the Happiness of the Body in turning our selves over to Sensuality in excessive using of the Creatures in excessive Lusts These are clear mistakes for it is most apparent that these are enemies to the very subsistence of the Body and Composium 3. That this Felicity of the Body is inferiour to the Felicity of the Soul and therefore if ex accidente it falls out though it seldom doth in truth that the temporal Felicity of the Body is in hoc individuo inconsistent with that of the Soul right Reason tells us that the greater End and that of more concernment is to be preferred so that as there is and ought to be a subordination of those Faculties and Powers placed in the Body to those Ends for which they were implanted viz. the preservation of the Compositum so there ought to be a subordination both of these Means and that End to the Great End the Happiness of the Soul. 4. As the Great End of Man doth consist with the Happiness of his Body or Compositum so it doth much and effectually conduce to it And as this is apparent in the original creation of Man when the Happiness of his Mind by the Knowledge and Presence of his Maker was accompanied with the Felicity of his Compositum and as it was likewise apparent in his Fall as he contracted Misery in the one so he did in the other so it is most rationally evident in the present state and condition of Mankind as will be evident in consideration of these ensuing particulars 1. It shews a Man the right use of the Creature viz. to be subservient and in order to the preservation of the Compositum The want of a true and rational use of secular matters is a great cause of the great unhappiness of Man as when he desires Riches because he would be rich or Honours because he would be great or delicate Fare because he would eat Now when Men mistake the use of things resting in that as an End which is only useful to something else this breeds these disorders in and among men which doth disturb even their outward Peace and Happiness This is regulated when the Heart is set upon the Love of God it takes off any inordinate Love to any thing else but in order to that End to which it is properly conducible and therefore in order to that only rationally desirable 2. It adds a sweetness to the enjoyment of the Creature which cannot be had without it because it mingles with it the sight of the great Master of this Family of the Earth that provides it the sense and security of his Love that gives it and so brings up the enjoyment of the Creature to a higher station and nearer to that which is the true Felicity of the Soul. A Blue Ribon bought in a Shop and a Blue Ribon given by a King in token of Honour is the same thing but with the latter there is a mingling of somewhat else with it as it imports a Gift from a King in token of Honour and therefore higher-prized 3. It takes away all that Sollicitousness in the Enjoyment and all that Anguish in the Loss and all that Anxiety in the Provision of external Accommodations though in very truth the real Happiness of the Compositum is its subsistence according to the perfectest degree of his Being which is the perfection of
Deut. 8.3 is due to this Word of Command and Benediction that the Lord at first spoke to the Creature Now concerning the particular Creation of Man not to enter into the consideration of the manner of his Creation his Essentials the Body the Soul or the nature of either but we shall enquire What is meant by the Likeness or Image of God There was a twofold Image of God 1. Essential viz. A participation in his very Essence of a Conformity to the Divine Nature which consisted in three particulars 1. That he had an Immortal Soul this is that which Wisdom 2.23 is called the Image of his Eternity 2. That he was an Intellectual Being 3. That he was a Free Agent These being essential to Man were not lost by him and for this reason God required the same severity against Murder as if Man had never fallen Gen. 9.6 For in the Image of God made he Man. 2. An Accidental Image which consisted in an adventitious Perfection which God added to Man. 1. Dominion Gen. 1.26 And let them have Dominion c. So God created Man in his own Image The Dominion which he gave to him made him resemble God and hence it is that those that have power of Command are called Gods Exod. 4.17 And thou shalt be to him instead of God. Psal 82.6 I have said ye are gods Vid. Gen. 9.2 This Dominion consisted not only in his Power to inforce his Commands by the advantages of Wit and Strength above other Creatures but likewise in a Subjection in the Creatures to his Dominion 2. An incorruptible Union between the Body and the Soul Gen. 2.17 The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Hence Rom. 5. the Apostle concludes Death the fruit of Sin. This might have been either by reason of the excellence of his natural Constitution or by supplying it with special Assistance by which means the Lives of the Fathers before the Flood had so long a duration or by assuming of him into Heaven without any dissolution of Soul and Body as was Enoch Gen. 5.24 3. A filling of the Intellectual Faculty with the Light and Knowledge of all things especially of his Maker And herein consisted his high degree of Happiness But as the Object or the Union of the Object to the Faculty is not of the Essence of that Intellectual Nature wherein that Faculty resides but may be removed without any essential change so was this and that herein consisted the Image of God appears by Colos 3.10 The Renovation by Christ which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him 4. Holiness or Conformity of the Will to the Will of God. This appears likewise by the state of Renovation Epes 4.24 Put on the New Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness which as it presupposeth a true Knowledge of the Will of God so it was a free choice of Obedience to it This was not essential to the Will because the Will was essentially Free but had been necessary to the Will in case the Understanding had not been abused CHAP. IV. Of the Providence of God in special concerning Man in order to his supream End. THUS much shortly touching the Creation and Man's Constitution in it the second part of the Dispensation of this Counsel is God's Providence and herein we shall pass over that part which is the General Providence of God and consider of that Special Providence or Dispensation of Divine Counsel which concerneth Man and that not meerly as a Creature but in order to his everlasting End. We shall consider therefore the course of this Providence of God in order to the Eternal End of Man under those three Conditions or Times wherein we find Man Before the Fall After the Fall In Christ Concerning the estate of Man before the Fall or sin of Adam we have already examined certain Generals that are conducible to this point viz. 1. That God did appoint Man to some End or Good answerable to the constitution and value of his Nature and this is his Happiness 2. That this Good must therefore be an Infinite Immortal Intelligible Good otherwise it could not be answerable to the Nature of Man. 3. That there is not nor can be any such Good but only God. 4. That the Actual Enjoyment of this Good is by the Union of the Soul to God and the Communion of God to the Soul. 5. That the only Means of attaining this Union and Communion must needs be such and such only as the Will of God pleaseth to appoint We shall now descend to these two particular Inquiries viz. 1. What was that great End or Happiness which Man did or might enjoy in his created condition 2. What was the Means whereby to attain and keep that Happiness 1. Concerning the former viz. What was Man's Happiness in his Creation we shall consider him in those three degrees of Living which he had 1. As a Vegetable Creature an exact Constitution and temper of Body which though naturally corruptible yet by the interposition of the Divine Power not subject to corruption those things that were for his use and sustentation the Air the Water the Fruits of the Earth most exactly conducible to the perpetuating of his Life without Pain or Sickness 2. As a Sensible Creature Exquisiteness of Sense and receptive of whatsoever the Creature could afford conducing to his Use or Delight and the Creature likewise fitted for the supply of those Senses every Herb given him for Food all the Creatures came to him to receive their Names he had Dominion over them a most pleasant Garden planted by God himself for his Habitation with a Tree of Immortality in it 3. As a Rational Creature 1. A most just and sweet Subordination of the inferiour Faculties to the superiour the sensitive Appetite the Passions and Motions of the Spirits 2. A most exact fitness and perfection of those Organs of the Body which are necessary for the operations of the Faculties of the Soul and a perfect and just Union of the Body and Soul whereby the Soul might clearly and perfectly exercise all her Faculties 3. Which is the height of all the rest fitting of those Faculties with the most perfect and suitable Object even God himself for all Faculties or Powers receive their perfection by their Objects to have an Understanding as comprehensive as Heaven to have a Will of as vast Desires as infinitude it self and not to have an Object suitable to either were a greater Unhappiness than to want the Faculties In the Creation therefore God filled the Understanding with the sight and knowledge of Himself of his Majesty Glory Bounty Goodness with the knowledge of his Will and Mind concerning Man with the knowledge of his Works and of his Workings This could not chuse but work in the Mind of Man answerable returns to the nature of this Object He is fully conceived to be the highest and most supream Good and
an actual exercise of right Reason they have in all successions of times and places taken up those Laws of Nature which we call the Moral Law or the most parts of them 2. Touching the-Obligation of these Laws it was twofold 1. From the Injunction and Command of God who had an Universal Infinite and Unlimited Power over his Creature and might most justly require his Obedience And into this Power of God together with his actual Command or Prohibition is all the Obligation of all Laws whether Natural or Positive and of all inferiour Laws Compacts or Agreements to be resolved And without the due consideration of this Mankind is loose Though the natural Congruity of the Moral Law to the Nature of Man might be the means of its Publication it is the Command of God that is and ever was the cause of its Obligation 2. From the Compact and Stipulation of Man. God put into Man's hands a stock both of Blessedness and Liberty and though he might have commanded his Creature and it had bound eternally yet to add the greater engagement upon him he enters into Contract with him concerning his Obedience Hence it is called the Covenant of Works And in all ensuing times when it pleased God to reinforce the Law of Nature or Obedience he doth it by way of Compact or Covenant as well as Command to add another Obligation as well of Contract as Duty And from this grew the Universality of the Guilt that was contracted by Disobedience Adam covenanted for him and his Posterity Rom. 5.19 As the Obedience of Christ is effectual for his Seed by way of Contract and Stipulation with God the Father so was the Disobedience of Adam binding upon his Seed partly by reason of his Contract and Stipulation and so they are made there parallel Sed de hoc infra 3. The Sanction of the Law given to Adam The Violation of any Law given by him that hath Power contracts Guilt that is Obligation to Punishment the measure of this Punishment is that Sanction which God did put upon the Violation of this Law Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest thou shalt surely die Herein are four Particulars 1. The Offence eating the forbidden Fruit 2. The Punishment Death 3. The Time of the inflicting of it in the day 4. The Extent of it thou shalt die c. Touching the first The thing specially prohibited was eating the forbidden Fruit but that which was in the Mind of God to enjoyn was Obedience to his Command and although this particular was by God made the Experiment of Man's Obedience yet questionless the same Injunction and under the same Penalty was given to Men touching those other Moral Dictates which were received Exod. 20. which lost not their Obligation by the Fall of Man no more than if he had continued in his Integrity Gen. 4.7 If thou dost not well Sin lieth at the door and Verse 14. Cain acknowledgeth Death to be the consequent of that Guilt which he contracted by his Murder Every one that findeth me shall slay me The like of Lamech Verse 23. For the Formality of any Sin as hath been before observed consisteth in the disobedience of the Will to the Command of God By one Mans disobedience sin entred into the World. And as the object of Mans obedience was whatsoever God had injoyned so the disobedience to any one Command had contracted the like Guilt and were under the like Penalty as this though this being purely a positive Command wherein only the Obedience or Disobedience of Man could be seen was that which is here mentioned because that wherein he offended 2. Thou shalt die God made not Death saith the wise Man Wisd 1.14 but Death entred into the world by sin Rom. 5.12 It imports three things 1. A loss or loosning of that strictness of Union which was between the Body and Soul or temporal immortality This is the Argument that the Apostle makes that from the time of Adam's transgression till Moses sin was in the World because Death reigned all that while and in the place before mentioned till sin the Kingdom of Death was not upon the Earth This immortality was not essential to the Nature of man but was freely super-added to it by the Divine Will upon those terms of Obedience and he that gave it might with all imaginable Justice give it upon what terms he pleaseth and he doth it upon terms of Obedience Obedience to himself which but even now gave Man his Being and might justly exact the utmost of his Being Obedience to a Law most possible easie and quadrate to the Powers and Aids given to man Obedience ingaged by a world of Blessedness attending it and an inevitable loss ensuing the breach of it This was his Vegetable loss 2. A loss of that Happiness which accompanied this immortal Being in respect of his Senses viz. an uninterrupted stream of Pleasure and Contentment and instead thereof Shame Gen. 3.7 Pain and Slavery Verse 26. Sorrow Verse 17. anxious and painful Labour Verse 19. a Curse upon the Earth Verse 17. A loss of Eden Verse 23. 3. The withdrawing and stopping of that stream of Light and Love that passed between God and the Soul of man which filled his reasonable faculties brimful of Happiness and Contentment and instead thereof in the understanding darkness distractedness a continued motion to know and yet for want of Light not knowing what to pursue and therefore pursuing trifles and follies In the Will loss of the Good that it before injoyed yet a craving Appetite after somewhat but it knows not what and to satisfie this unsatiable desire takeâ— in whatsoever the Suggestions of the World Flesh and the Devil offers fills it self with Vanity and then with Vexation In the Affections especially our Love it hath lost what did take up the whole Vigour and Comprehension of it and what it loved it injoyed but now raves and boils like the Sea after Follies and changeable and unsatisfying pursuits The Conscience that Chamber of the Soul wherein the beams of the Light and Favour of the Creator and of the Love and Duty of the Creature met as it were in the point or angle of reflection and carried those comfortable Messages of Sincerity and Obedience of the Soul to God and delight and acceptance from God to the Soul is now become the Chamber of Death and like the Spleen to the Body the receptacle of the Melancholy and sad Convictions of a guilty and ungrateful Soul and of an injured and revenging God and pre-apprehensions of farther Misery But if in the midst of Millions of Miseries he could see his Creator inviting him to dependance and recumbance upon him the Miseries were nothing they are born by his strength upon whom he leans But when the Lord of Heaven shall give him a trembling Heart and failing of Eyes and Sorrow of mind as in that most lively Expression he threatens the Jews Deut. 28.65 66 c. and when he
in his Friend scorn and oppression from his Superiour supplanting from his Equal envy and mischief from his Inferiour falsness and temptation from the Wife of his Bosom rebellion from his Children vanity and disappointment in his Purposes Diseases Distempers and infections in his Body madness and blindness in his Understanding perverseness in his Will tumult and confusion in his Affections guilt and preapprehensions of terrour in his Conscience Death and dissolution of Body and Soul and Judgment Vengeance Hell and yet Eternity after all this Then let Man know that in all this and that which is all this and more than this the Aversion of the Favour and Light of the Countenance of God he eats but the Fruit of his own ways and thou O God art just when thou thus judgest and whatsoever is better than the worst of all this to any of the Children of men is meer Mercy and more than their due But if now in the midst of Judgment God remembers Mercy and Mankind being now condemned and concluded under sin if the merciful God that at first gave Being and Blessing shall after we had spent that Patrimony and lost our selves provide for our Restitution that when we of Free-Men had made our selves Slaves and Vessels of Wrath shall provide a Means for our Deliverance This engageth us to a higher degree both of Admiration and Duty than even our first Creation did This then is the next thing considerable viz. The means and way of Man's Restitution CHAP. V. Of the Restitution of Man by Christ ALL Mankind lay by the Fall under Guilt which is an Obligation to Punishment both of loss of Happiness and everlasting subjection both to temporal and eternal Curse And this estate of Man and his Posterity even to the end of the World was present in the infallible Foresight of God from all Eternity In that consideration he had a Kingdom but over Rebels and Traitors and had everlasting cause of the execution of his Justice and the Power of his Wrath but nothing to deserve or draw out his Mercy among all the Sons of Men who were all present and stood up together in his Eternal Foresight Thus Man had as far forth as was in him disappointed the End of God in his Creation insomuch that in the outward dispensation of God's Providence it seemed that he repented that he had made Man on the Earth Gen. 6.6 But though Man as much as in him lay had made himself an useless Creature and interrupted the possibility of attaining an End answerable to his Being yet God's Counsel was not disappointed But the great Lord of his own free Goodness did in his Eternal Counsel fore-appoint some of lost Men to Remission of their Sin and eternal Happiness in Christ by such Means as he had before ordained to be effectual for that purpose And this is the great Discovery of the Scripture and contains that great Business which Man hath to do in this World because it is that which concerns his great and everlasting End without which his very Being is not only unprofitable but miserable and now comes to be consider'd This then is the sum of all That Almighty God out of his own Free-will and Goodness did in his Eternal Counsel fore appoint some of lost Mankind to Remission of sin and guilt and Reconciliation and Eternal Happiness in Christ by such Means as he had before ordained in the same Counsel to be effectual for that purpose In this description we have these Particulars to be sifted and we have done our Business 1. What the Motive of this Purpose God's meer good Will 2. What the Object of it some of Mankind 3. What the End of this Counsel Remission of sin and Restoration to Happiness 4. What the Hand or immediate Instrument of effecting it Christ 5. What those subordinate Means of attaining it 6. What the Consequents of it 1. Touching the Motive nothing at all meritorious in Man but only the good will of God thus to select some out of the lost multitude of Men to be Vessels of Mercy And this is that which is so often inculcated in the Book of God in all the successions of it Exod. 33.19 I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy So Deut. 9.5 Moses's sad Admonition to the Jews who in all things were typical Vnderstand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land for thy righteousness for thou art a stiff-necked people Ezek. 16.6 When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live. Isaiah 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins Luke 10.21 And hast revealed them to babes even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Ephes 2.3 When we were by nature children of wrath even as others But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he hath loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace are ye saved 2 Tim. 1.10 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began but now made manifest by the appearing of Christ 1 John 4.10 Here is love not that we loved God but that he loved us Ibid. 19. We love him because he loved us first Rom. 5.8 God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us And indeed it is impossible it should be otherwise for the Scripture hath concluded all under sin Galat. 3.22 And we have shewed before an utter impossibility in Man to extricate himself The fore-appointing therefore of any to Eternal Life could not be from any Cause in the Creature meritoriously moving God to this Mercy The Freedom and Liberality of this Purpose of God. 1. In respect of the Elect to take away all matter of boasting Ephes 2.8 To keep them humble and to keep them thankful that God may be all in all It pleaseth the great God to order the Execution of his Counsels touching Man that they are brought about as with a powerful and irrisistible Hand so they are brought about by such means as is naturally suitable to the nature of Man Rationally and Freely Psal 110. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy Power Now there cannot be a more engaging Argument to Humility and Thankfulness than the consideration of this Free Goodness of God that when I had thrown away my Happiness lay in the common lump of condemned Men God should freely single me out among thousands that he passed by and make me a Vessel of Mercy And this doth most sweetly and effectually win upon the Heart So
And the suffering of Christ without the Gate was not without some Allusion to the placing of this Altar without the Tabernacle Vide Heb. 13.12 And as the situation of the Altar so the Sacrifice upon this Altar not without a Mystery for besides those many Sacrifices which were diversified according to the several natures of the Occasion here was one Sacrifice appropriate to this Altar the continual Burnt-Offering a Lamb of the first year in the Morning a Lamb of the first year at Even Exod. 29.38 Numb 28.3 And the Spirit of Truth takes up this description of Christ more frequently than any John 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world 1 Pet. 1.19 Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish or spot Revel 5.6 The Lamb that was slain c. Revel 13.8 The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world And between this Altar and the Sanctuary stood the Laver of Brass not only typifying the Sacramental Initiation by Baptism but that Purity and Cleansing that is required of all those that partake of this Altar before they enter into the Sanctuary John 3.5 Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God As the Blood of Christ cleanseth from the Guilt of our Sin so it cleanseth us from the Power of our Sin before we are to expect an admission into the Sanctuary It was as well Water to cleanse as Bloud to expiate 6. The typifying of Christ in the Priesthood of Aaron and his Successors High Priests Divers of the Ceremonies especially in the Consecration of them were meerly relative to their natural pollutions and the cleansing of them Heb. 7 27. Offering Sacrifices first for their own Sins such was the Sin-offering Levit. 9.7 Levit. 8. â—4 Others in reference to their service and designation thereunto and exercise thereof as their washing with Water Levit. 8.6 Their anointing with the holy Oyl Ibid. Verse 12. The Ram of Consecration Ibid. Verse 22. Their residence at the door of the Tabernacle seven days Ibid. Verse 33. And some parts of his Garments But there were some things that in a special manner were typical of Christ 1. The Breast-plate of Aaron bearing the Names of the Children of Israel called the Breast-plate of Judgement Exod. 28.29 And Aaron shall bear the Names of the Children of Israel in the Breast-plate of Judgment when he goeth into the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually importing not only the nearness of the Church and redeemed of Christ unto him but also his continual presenting of their Names their Persons in his Righteousness before his Father 2. The Plate of Gold upon the Mitre engraven with Holiness to the Lord Exod. 28.38 And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of their holy things that they may be accepted before the Lord. As our Persons are accepted by God in the Righteousness of Christ presented for them to his Father so our Services are accepted in the strength of the same Mediation Christ presenting our Prayers and Services to his Father discharged of those Sins and Defects with which they are mingled as they come from us 3. His Solemn Atonement when he entred into the Holy of Holies Levit. 16. Wherein we shall observe 1. A most special Reconsecration almost of all the things incident to that Service before it was performed the Priest was to make an Atonement for himself by the Blood of the Bullock Verse 11. and for the Altar Verse 18. which signifie that Purification of the Humane Nature of Christ from all Sin Original and Actual from all Sin even in his Conception that so he might be a fit High Priest Heb. 7.26 For such a high priest became us who is Holy Harmless Vndefiled Separate from Sinners and made higher than the Heavens The difference was this Aaron notwithstanding his first Consecration to his Office needed a new Atonement when he entred into the Holy of Holies and exercised that high Type of Christ's Ascension and Intercession But Christ being once Consecrate needed no new Consecration Heb. 7.28 For the Law maketh men High Priests which have infirmities but the Word of the Oath which was since the Law maketh the Son who is Consecrated for evermore 2. This was to be done but once in the year Some services had frequent iterations but those special Services that were but once in the Year were Types of those things that were to be done but once though remembred yearly such was the killing of the Passover Christ by one Offering hath perfected them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 3. This great Atonement not made but by Blood Heb. 9.7 The high Priest entred not without Blood Livit. 26. And this Atonement was to be made upon the Horns of the Altar Levit. 16.18 viz. The Golden Altar of Incense Exod. 30.10 Hence Christ called the Blood of sprinkling Hebr. 12.24 The Offering that was to be used in this solemn Atonement for so much as concerned the Sins of the People were two Goats which were to be presented before the Lord at the door of the Tabernacle Levit. 16.7 And Lots to be cast one for the Lord the other for the Scape-Goat the former was to be the Sin-offering for the People and his Blood to be brought within the Veil Verse 23. And the other was to bear the Iniquity of the Children of Israel but to be sent into the Wilderness Ibid. Vers 21. Although in the Sacrifice of Christ his Body only died and his Soul escaped yet both were but one Sacrifice he did bear our sins in both his Soul was heavy unto death as well as his Body crucified and as God had prepared him a Body in order to this Sacrifice Heb. 10.5 So he made his Soul an Offering for Sin Isa 53.10 4. As after all this the Priest entred into the most Holy and presented this Blood of Reconciliation before the Mercy Seat and no Man was to be in the Tabernacle when he goeth in Levit. 16.17 So Christ having trodden alone the Wine press of his Father's Wrath Isaiah 63.3 Is entred into the Holy Place not made with Hands now to appear in the presence of God for us Hebr. 9.24 And as the People did representatively by their Mediatour Aaron pass into the Holiest so our High Priest hath consecrated for us Access into the Holiest by a new and living way through the Veil of his Flesh Hebr. 10.20 Who as he is our Advocate with the Father John 2.1 To bear our Names before him as the High Priest did the Names of Israel to present his own Blood before the Father of Mercy as the High Priest did the Blood of the Sin-Offering before the Mercy Seat to bear the Iniquity of our holy things as the High Priest did upon his Forehead so likewise to present our Prayers to the Father Ephes 2.18 Through him we have access
and consequently the Life to the Will of God the Mind of Christ for the same Spirit of Christ which dwells in Christ our Head dwells likewise in those that are the Members of the same Body and as the oneness of the Soul in Man makes that oneness of motion in all the Body and that Conformity that is in all its motions to the mind of the Soul so that oneness of the Spirit in Christ and his Members makes that Conformity of the Members of Christ unto the Mind and Will of Christ which is the uncreated Image of God This is Regeneration the birth of the Spirit the forming of Christ in us the Sanctification of the Spirit 2 Thes 2.13 2. That whereof before is spoken Love unto God which is always the Soul of all true Obedience The Soul finds the Goodness and Rectitude and Beauty of God and of all his Commands and therefore out of a Judicial Love it is sensible of the ingagement that it ows to God and therefore out of Gratitude it will as far as the strength of the Soul can reach obey the Commands which are so Righteous of her God that is so Gracious It finds that it was the Purpose of God he created us unto good Works Ephes 2.10 that as many as are in Christ ought to walk as he walked 1 John 2.5 That the Son of God died to destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 to purifie unto himself a People zealous of Good Works Tit. 2.14 That Christ hath ordained that his Disciples should bring forth Fruit John 15.16 That for this cause Christ died c. that from thenceforth they that live should not live unto themselves c. 2 Cor. 5.15 Now the true Love of God makes the Will of God to be his Will and the Glory of God his End if there were no Beauty in the thing commanded yet shall I dispute his Will that hath redeemed me shall I go about to disappoint him in the End of his Death for me ordinary Reason teacheth me to subscribe and yield Obedience to the Commands of God for they are all most Wise and most Just Commands and though I see not the Wisdom Usefulness and Justice of them yet the same Truth that tells me his ways are unsearchable and past finding out teacheth me to obey when I discern the Authority though not the Reason of the Command But if it were not so suppose I could be a loser by my Obedience I cannot lose so much as I have freely received from him that commands me When Abraham received a Son from the Goodness of God and God required him again Abraham obeys though his Obedience had left him as Childless as the Promise found him But the greatest Command that I can receive from my Saviour cannot return me to so bad a Condition as his Pity and Mercy found me in If he require my Riches my Liberty my Life yet he leaves me somewhat which without his Goodness I had lost and doth more than countervail all my other Losses even my Everlasting Soul When he requires these of me he pays me interest for them Matth. 19.29 But if he did not yet the Price of my Soul in ordinary Gratitude may deserve the life of my Body for what can a Man give in Exchange for his Soul Matth. 16 26. CHAP. XIII Concerning the putting off the Old Man and 1. What it is NOW concerning the putting off the Old Man two things are considerable 1. What this Old Man is 2. How we must put him off For the former it is nothing but that Ataxy Disorder and Corruption which by sin did fall upon our Nature It is not our Nature in its essentials for that is still good but the absence of the Goodness and Perfection of the reasonable Soul which consisted in the Conformity to the Will of God which is the Beauty and Perfection of every thing And from this disorder in the Soul proceeds the disorder in the Life and Actions And this Old Man hath a double strength and advantage uâ—on us 1. In it self the Corruption and Disorder is so universal that the whole Soul is bound under it it hath no supplies of its own to rescue it self for they are all corrupted it is therefore called a Dominion of Sin Rom. 6.12 a body of death Rom. 7.24 a Law of Sin bringing the Soul into captivity Rom. 7.23 2. Accidentally the Prince of the Power of the Air taking advantage of this confusion and disorder of the Soul gets as it were into it and so worketh in the children of disobedience Ephes 2.2 inhabits it as his Castle and useth the Faculties of the Soul as the Weapons wherein he trusteth became a Ruler of Darkness in the Soul Eph. 6.12 Is Judas covetous the Devil gets into that covetousness and acts it even unto the betraying of the Lord of Life Luke 22.3 Is Peter lifted up upon his Master's atâ—estation of his Confession the Devil gets into that Pride and he becomes a tempter of our Redeemer Matth. 6.23 Is a Man immoderately angry the Devil gets into that Anger and will turn it into Malice Ephes 4.27 The Prince of the World could get no advantage upon our Redeemer he had nothing in him John 14.30 but so much of the Old Man as remains in us such a party hath the Devil in us to entertain nourish and actuate his temptations We shall therefore consider wherein this Corruptition or Deficiency in our Soul consists It is in every part and faculty of the whole Man as may evidently appear by tne enumeration of particulars 1. In the Vnderstanding there wants Light Rom. 1.21 Their foolish heart was darkened Ephes 4.18 And from hence the imaginations become vain Rom. 1.21 and not only vain but evil and continually evil Gen. 6.5 pursues unprofitable Curiosities Acts 19.19 Lusts of the Mind Ephes 2.3 Fables and impertinent Questions Tit. 3.9 1 Tim. 1.4 vain deceit Colos 2.8 It wants a capacity to discern things of greatest concernment 1 Cor. 2.14 the best habits of the Understanding are corrupt The Wisdom of the World is not only Foolishness 1 Cor. 3.19 but Enmity to God is earthly sensual devilish James 3.15 These and the like are the Old Man in the Understanding for the Light being either out or dim the actings of the Understanding are irregular and it is one of the great works of Christ in our renovation to give us the Spirit of a sound Mind 2 Tim. 1.17 2. In the Conscience This is the tenderest part of the Soul the receptacle of that Light and Authority of God which he hath left in us to be our Monitor and his Vicegerent Rom. 2.15 And yet the Old Man hath mastered and corrupted this also puts it awry or out 1 Tim. 1.19 defiles the Mind and Conscience Tit. 1.15 sears the Conscience so that it is insensible and past feeling Ephes 4.19 And if the Conscience be so vigorous as not to be stifled by means of this
lost in those Pursuits that have left no footsteps of Content in my Soulâ— but instead thereof a bruised and wounded Conscience a displeased and an angry God an infinite Happiness offered and sold for a few unprofitable and perished Pleasures and Lusts when I shall find an infinite Guilt contracted a Soul clogged with a custom of sin a Body now ready to drop into dissolution a great work to do to make the Peace of my Soul a God by whose only strength I can do it hiding himself and his influence from me and Death by his hasty and churlish Officers still ready to seize me to carry me off without regard to the importunity and concernment of a little longer time such thoughts as these will work upon a Man to keep a hand over himself over his Flesh over his Lust while it is called to day not to harden the Heart to give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure to get Oyl in the Lamp to break off the course of sin to cleanse our hearts to improve this little portion of time to our best advantage for Death will come and after that Judgement Lord so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom CHAP. XVI Meditation of the Vnreasonableness of the Dominion of Lust 6. A SAD and deep Consideration of the Vnreasonableness and Vnbecomingness of the Power and Dominion of any Lust upon a Man. And this though it be a moral Consideration is of good use for the mortifying of our Lusts S. Paul divides our Lusts into the Lusts of the Flesh and the Lusts of the Mind Ephes 2.3 S. John tells us that all that is in the World is the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life 1 John 2.16 Out of both these we may divide the Enemies of our Soul within us into these Divisions 1. Lust which is nothing else but the immoderate and inordinate actings of the Appetite either beyond that measure it ought to be or upon those Objects it ought not to be And this either 1. In the Rational Appetite those are the Lusts of the Mind 2. In the Sensitive Appetite those again 1. In the Lusts of the Flesh 2. The Lust of the Eyes 2. Pride in an overvaluing of our selves in the fruition of those things we have thus pursued Now we shall a little consider how far forth any of these do hold a disproportion even with right Reason 1. The Lusts of the Mind The great Desire of the Mind is that of Knowledge an Appetite that God hath put into the Soul of Man and so a thing beautiful and good But this very Desire of Knowledge becomes a Lust of the Mind when either it is misplaced in respect of his Object thus Adam's desire of Knowledge of Good and Evil became a Lust or when acted beyond its proportion The chiefest Object of our Love ought to be the chiefest object of our Knowledge and consequently of our desire of Knowledge and that is only God and he is to be known and consequently we ought to desire to know him as he hath revealed himself in his Word in his Works and by his Spirit When either therefore we desire to know even in things pertaining to God beyond what we ought to know as the Counsels of his Will looking into the Ark or when we desire to know things of an inferiour nature with an over-intensive desire which is only due to God our want of Sobriety in the former and our want of Moderation in the latter turns our desire of Knowledge into a Lust of the Mind or when acted without his due End Good and the fruition of it is the great and final object of the Soul and as the Acts of the Understanding are preparatory to the Will so Knowledge and the desire of it is or should be preparatory to the fruition of some Good farther and beyond the bare speculative Knowledge of it If it were possible for a Man truly to know God without the Love of him and the sense of his Love to the Soul a desire of such a Knowledge though I dare not term it a Lust of the Mind yet it is such a desire as is not rightly qualified To desire to know a thing fit to be known meerly because I would know it It is but a Lust of the Mind and such a Knowledge as only puffeth up Now any Man may rationally conclude that such desires of the Mind as these are even condemned of Reason it self as irregular and useless It is true that whatsoever is an object of our Knowledge may be an object of our desire of Knowledge if not forbidden by him that gave the Power if acted with Moderation and Sobriety if subordinated to that desire which I have or should have to that great object of my Knowledge But for a Man to spend his choicest hours and thoughts and inquiries upon unnecessary perishing useless objects Reason it self will conclude as the Preacher would have the covetous Man Eccles 4.8 For what do I labour and bereave my soul of good And as thus in the Intellectual Faculty there are Lusts of the Mind so are there in the Rational Appetite the Will and Affections The Passions in the Soul are natural to it and therefore naturally good therefore want of natural Affection is a thing condemned in the old World Rom. 1.31 But when these Affections are acted beyond their natural end and use they become corrupt and putrified and so Lusts of the Mind And this is seen in either Faculty Irascible and Concupiscible and by how much the more spiritual they are by so much the more devilish and hurtful and yet condemned by sound Reason The Passion of Anger was planted in the Mind and is good when acted upon a right object and in a due measure Ephes 4.26 But this Passion being over-acted it becomes putrified and a Lust of the Mind it then turns into Malice to Envy The Spirit that is in us lusteth after Envy Jam. 4.5 into desire of Revenge and thus Lust conceiveth upon this Passion of the Soul and bringeth forth Sin. Now all these are evidently against right Reason Because even sound Reason teacheth us to love all that is good Every Being hath in it self a goodness and doth naturally challenge our Love and therefore to desire the destruction of any Being is against the Law and Rule of Reason or to desire a less or more low degree of Being to it than it hath It is true there may be some irregularity in it which I may and must hate But when my hatred is in the concrete and takes in the Being of any thing which is good as well as that which I conceive an irregularity within the compass of it as is in all Malice and Revenge then is my Passion mis-acted corrupted and proves a lust of the Mind Suppose a Man hath done me an extream injury and intends to continue it right Reason
am an unclean things and all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags Isa â—â— 6 and my own Heart tells me that even to my most exact observance there be secret adheâ— of sin and defect and how much more are thâ— in thy sight who seest through every cranny of the Soul and therefore thou mayest justly reject them yet O Lord thou knowest that that little good that is in them proceeds from an upright Heart from an unfeigned desire to obey thee that it is my Hearts desire and my hearty and daily endeavour to serve thee better that it is the sorrow and gâ—f of my Heart that my returns of obedience and conformity unto thee are so infinite short of what I every way owe unto thee I do not content my self with these loose and half performances that I make before thee and though I see my best obedience gives me daily occasions of repentance yet I will not give over but what I want in my own strength I will beg thy Grace to perfect and thy Mercy to accept according to what I have and to pardon what I want 2 Cor. 8.12 and since I have prepared my Heart to seek the Lord God the good Lord pardon me though I am not cleansed according to the purification of thy Sanctuary 2 Chron. 30.19 2. An over-matching of the Power of Sin by the Power of Sanctifying Grace It is true that in the best Condition we can arrive unto in this World there is with us a body of Sin and Death as well as a Principle of Holiness and Life Rom. 7.24 a lusting of the Flesh against the Spirit as well as of the Spirit against the Flesh Gal. 5.17 a wrestling against Flesh and Blood actuated by Principalities and Powers Ephes 6.12 But where God is pleased to begin this work in the Heart though it never arrives to the abolition of sin yet it ever ariseth to a Victory over it Rom. 6.15 Sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under the Law but under Grace And now as where there is but one degree of heat in any subject more than there is of cold though that subject be not perfectly hot but there is a mixture of cold in every atom of it yet is denominated from the predominate quality so this Man though he be not exactly conformable to the exact Rule of Righteousness and therefore could not in the severe Justice of God be accepted but that rigorous course of the Law would lay hold upon him Gal. 3.10 Cursed be every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them which Book of the Law required a Love of God with all the Heart Might and Soul and that not only all that Heart Might and Soul which a Man now hath but which a Man once had and by his own fault hath lost and therefore that Law being weak through the Flesh Rom. 8.2 that is meeting with an impotency in us exactly to fulfil it became rather a Law of Death than Life yet when Christ came into the World and brought with him a perfect Righteousness of his own whereby to justifie us in the presence of God he did likewise by an Eternal Covenant of Peace with the Father stipulate for an acceptation of this imperfect Righteousness of ours which is wrought in us by his Grace and Spirit So that as the Righteousness of Christ the Lord our Righteousness which was perfect in Degrees was by the acceptation of the Father made our Justification so the Righteousness which is begun in us here by his Grace though mingled with our own defects is accepted by God with a Promise of increase of our Glory And the same Christ that hath fulfilled a perfect Righteousness for our Justification doth continually by his own Spirit begin and support a true though imperfect Righteousness in us to our Sanctification and helps against and pardons our many infirmities and defects as he hath promised Jer. 3.12 Return thou back-sliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you Jer. 31.19 Surely 〈◊〉 I was turned I repented Is Ephraim my dear 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 a pleasant child for since I spake against him I do 〈◊〉 remember him still Isa 42.3 A bruised reed shall â—e nâ—t break and smoaking flax shall he not quench Isa â—â— 11 He shall â—ed his flâ—ck like a shepherd he shall gather 〈…〉 with his 〈◊〉 and carry them in his bosom and shall gerth lead thâ—se that are with young Hos 11.3 〈◊〉 Ephraim also to go taking them by the arm Which several expressions shew 1. The Original of that initiate Righteousness in us even the Grace of God in Christ continually by degrees mastering our corruptions and in some measure conforming us unto him â— His Tenderness towards those small inceptions of his Grace in us cherishing and encouraging 〈◊〉 His Mercy and Goodness accepting of our sincerity and pardoning our weakness And this is that Evangelical Perfection of our Righteousness and Sanctification here And from this Advantage that the Grace of God hath over our Perfections do arise these four Consequents of it 1. Universality of Obedience 2. Constancy in it 3. Growth and increase in it 4. Renewing of our Repentance all which as they are the gifts of God so they do naturally flow from the over-matching of our Corruptions by Grace as appears in these Particulars 1. Vniversality of Obedience The Heart wherein the Grace of God hath over-matched his sinful Nature cannot allow it self in any known Sin or any known neglect of any one Command but hath respect to all God's Commandments Psal 119.6 Whosoever shall keep the whole yet if he offend in one point he is guilty of all James 2.10 The Grace of God and Sin are universally opposite one to another and as they are so in the abstract so are they in the concrete Where Sin hath an advantage in the Soul it doth oppose universally the whole Will of God and where Grace is in the Soul it doth oppose the whole will of Sin and therefore where any one Sin or neglect of any one Command of God is entertained knowingly and advisedly in the Soul there the Grace of God hath not the upper hand for the same Principle by which it acts viz. the Love of God equally engageth the Soul to every Duty and against every Sin according to the measure of Knowledge that is commmunicated to the Soul. 2. Constancy and Perseverance The change that is wrought in our Nature it is true is not in the essence of it but it is the presence of the Grace of Christ in the Heart that preserves and upholds the Heart and Life in Holiness and Righteousness If that could be withdrawn or intermitted we should like the Iron removed from the Fire soon return to our ancient Nature again but that great God whose presence alone supports all the things in Heaven and Earth in their being and
Wisdom is within my call and within my vieâ— and I can beg his counsel and I am sure to have it and his is the best counsel Are my losses great and of those things wherein I took most delight yet they cannot countervail the enjoyment of the Presence of the All-sufficient God. Is my body full of tortures or diseases and death looks in upon me between the Curtains and my Soul sitting upon my lips and like the light of a dying Candle taking her flight from my body yet the Presence of the All-sufficient God is able to make this valley of the shadow of death lightsom and those pains easie and bear up my Soul against the horrour and amazement of death for he stands by me with strength to support me with Victory and Immortality to receive that Soul the only seat where my fear can dwell into a more near and immediate sense of his Presence than in my body it could feel Only remember that though the Presence of his Essence cannot be excluded from any place or person Jer. 23.34 yet there are occasions that may separate from the sense of his presence or make his presence terrible unto thee Isa 59.2 Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear And if such an unhappy time befal thee that he hide from thy Soul his comfortable presence let it be thy care to return unto him by humbling of thy heart sincerely before him for thy relapse He never departs from any till man first depart from him and he never hides himself long from any that in sincerity return unto him The very moving of thy heart to seek him is the work of his Power and Mercy upon thee and is an undeniable evidence that he hath not utterly forsaken thee unless he first did seek and find thee and touch that heart of thine with his own finger thy heart would rather die in her sin than return unto God and therefore be sure thy returning to him shall not be without a finding of him Only make this use of thy Experience of such a case bless the Mercy of God that hath not rejected thee though thou hast forsaken him bless the Mediation of thy Redeemer that when thou little thinkest of it intercedes for thy pardon and sends out his Spirit to reduce his wayward sinful wandring Creature bless the Bounty and Patience of God that is so ready to accept again into favour his relapsed but humbled Creature and remember that it is an evil thing and a bitter to depart from him fall upon thy knees with tears of sorrow for thy ingratitude and tears of joy for thy re entertainment into the presence of him that yet is pleased to own thee as a Father take up indignation against thy sin that hath deprived thee of so great a Good as the comfortable Presence of God and take up jealous thoughts over thy self and all thy ways and consider well of all thy enterprises before thou undertake them whether there be any thing in them that may offend thy reconciled Father and because thy Judgment is weak and cannot so clearly discern thy way and thy strength is weak in opposing of temptation suspect thy own judgment and strength and beg his Wisdom to teach thee and his Strength to assist thee and lean not to thy own Understanding Again The consideration of the Presence of God is of singular use in all thy Duties of Piety and Charity In the doing of them it will cleanse thy heart from Hypocrisie because thou art before the God that searcheth the heart and accordingly accepteth of the action It will keep thee from unseemliness and want of Reverence because the Lord of Heaven and Earth is present and an Eye-witness to all the deportment of thy Body and Soul. It will keep thee from sluggishness formality and deadness of heart because he stands by thee that sees not as man sees It will keep thee from Pride and vain Glory it will make thy heart sincere reverent watchful earnest and humble in all thou dost because as he that stands by thee requires all this in all thy Duties so these affections or habits of the Soul become the Creature that knows he is in the Presence of the Glorious and Infinite God that searcheth the hearts and sees the actions And as in thy Duties it will fit thee for them so after thy Duties it will comfort thee in them Hath thy heart been truly humbled in his presence for any sin for which thou hast begged pardon and mingled the Blood and Intercession of thy Saviour with thy Prayers Hast thou been upon thy knees before him for any thing necessary for thy Soul Body or Relations Hast thou endeavoured by a serious Meditation to consider of Divine Truths Hast thou examined the state of thy Soul and of thy Life and upon the view thereof taken up resolutions of amendment of what is amiss and persevering and increasing in what is agreeable to his Will Hast thou sought out to relieve those that are in want to recompense those that thou hast injured to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ Hast thou been doing any thing that is the duty of thy general Calling as thou art a Christian or that particular Calling or Employment into which God's Providence hath cast thee And can thy heart bear thee witness that in all this thou hast endeavoured with all sincerity as in the Presence of God to walk and act in obedience to him and with a clear and upright heart and conscience Be sure thy heart cannot more clearly evidence it self to thy self than it doth to God and God was all this while present with thee beholding of thee there is not one grain of the sincerity and integrity of any of these thy actions not one tear not one thought of thy heart lost but most exactly observed and weighed by him that weigheth the Spirits and they shall not return unto thee empty Acts 10.4 Thy Prayers and thy Alms are come up for a memorial before God. 3. The Truth and Vnchangeableness of God he is unchangeable in his Nature Psal 102.27 They shall be changed but thou art the same Mal. 3.6 I am the Lord I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed James 1.17 The Father of lights with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning And from this Immutability of his Essence flows the Truth of his Word in his Covenant in his Promises in his Threatnings in his Works Psal 111 7. The works of his hands are Verity and Judgment and all his Commandments are sure And the very variety of his Dispensations of Mercy and Justice to the Children of men ariseth from the very unchangeable Nature of God even from the very first Creation until now Gen. 4.7 If thou dost well shalâ— thou not be accepted and if thou dost not well sin lyes at the door which is the very same