Adams sinne may be thus farre said to be unto posterity imputed as that by reason of it they become obnoxious unto Death namely to an eternall dissolution of body and soule without any reunion and an eternall losse of the divine vision without any paine of sense yet that death which to Adam in his person was a punishment is not so to his posteritie but onely the condition of their nature Thirdly they say that that which is called originall sinne is nothing else at all but onely the privation of originall righteousnesse and that concupiscence was 〈◊〉 contracted and brought upon nature by sinne but was originally in our nature suspended indeede by the presence but actuated by the losse of that righteousnesse Fourthly they say That that Privation was not by man contracted but by God inflicted as a punishment upon Adam from whom it comes but onely as a condition of nature unto us that man in his fall and prevarication did not Throw away or actually shake off the Image of God but God pull'd it away from him which if God had not done it would have remained with him notwithstanding the sinne of the first fall Fifthly they say That in as much as the privation of originall righteousnesse was a punishment by God upon Adam justly inflicted and by Adam unto us naturally and unavoidably propagated It is not therefore to be esteem'd any sinne at all neither for it can God justly condemne any man nor is it to be esteem'd a punishment of sinne in us though it were in Adam because in us there is no sinne going before it of which it may bee accounted the punishment as there was in Adam but onely the condition of our present nature Lastly they say that Adam being by God deprived of originall righteousnesse which is the facultie and fountaine of all obedience and being now constituted under the deserved curse all the debt of legall obedience wherein he and his posteritie in him were unto God obliged did immediately cease so that whatsoever outrages should after that have beene by Adam or any of his children committed they would not have beene sinnes or transgressions nor involv'd the Authors of them in the guilt of iust damnation That which unto us reviveth sin is the new covenant because therein is given unto the law new strength to command and unto us new strength to obey both which were evacuated in the fall of Adam Vpon which premises it doth most evidently follow that unlesse God in Christ had made a covenant of grace with us anew no man should ever have beene properly and penally damned but onely Adam and he too with no other then the losse of Gods presence For â—… Hell and torments are not the revenge of Legall but of Evangelicall disobedience not for any actuall sinnes for there would have beene none because the exaction of the Law would have ceased and where there is no Law there is no transgression not for the want of righteousnesse because that was in Adam himselfe but a punishment and in his posteritie neither a sinne nor a punishment but onely a condition of nature not for habituall concupiscence because though it be a disease and an infirmitie yet it is no sinne both because the being of it is connaturall and necessary and the operations of it inevitable and unpreventable for want of that bridle of supernaturall righteousnesse which was appointed to keepe it in Lastly not for Adams sinne imputed because being committed by another mans will it could bee no mans sinne but his that committed it So that now upon these premises we are to invert the Apostles words By one man namely by Adam sinne entered into the world upon all his posterity and death by sinne By one man namely by Christ tanquam per causam sine quâ non sinne returned into the world upon all Adams posteritie and with sinne the worst of all deaths namely hellish torments which without him should not haue beene at all O how are wee bound to prayse God and recount with all honour the memorie of those Worthies who compiled Our Articles which serue as a hedge to keepe out this impious and mortiferous doctrine as Fulgentius cals it from the Church of England and suffers not Pelagius to returne into his owne country There are but three maine arguments that I can meet with to colour this heresie and two of them were the Pelagians of old First that which is naturall and by consequence necessarie and unavoidable cannot be sinne Originall sinne is naturall necessarie and unavoidable therefore it is no sin Secondly that which is not voluntarie cannot be sinfull Originall sinne is not voluntarie therefore not sinfull Thirdly no sinne is immediatly caused by God but originall sinne being the privation of originall righteousnesse is from God immediately who pull'd away Adams righteousnesse from him Therfore it is no sinne For the more distinct understanding the whole truth and answering these supposed strong reasons give me leave to premise these observations by way of Hypothesis First there are Two things in originall sinne The privation of righteousnesse and the corruption of nature for since originall sinne is the roote of actuall and in actuall sinnes there are both the omission of the good which we ought to exercise and positive contumaâ—…ies against the Law of God therefore a vis formatrix something answerable to both these must needs be found in originall sinne This positive corruption for in the other all agree that it is originall sinne is that which the Scripture cals flâ—…sh and members and law and lusts and bodie and Saint Austin vitiousnesse inobedience or inordinatenesse and a morbid affection Consonant whereunto is the Article of our Church affirming that man by originall sinne is farre gone from righteousnesse which is the privation secondly that thereby he is of his owne nature enclined unto evill which is the pravitie or corruption and this is the doctrine of many learned papists Secondly the Law being perfect and spirituall searcheth the most intimate corners of the soule and reduceth under a law the very rootes and principles of all humane operations And therefore in aâ—… much as well being is the ground of well working and that the Tree must be good before the fruite therefore wee conclude that the Law is not onely the Rule of our workes but of our strength not of our life only but of our nature which being at first deliver'd into our hands entire and pure cannot become degenerate without the offence of those who did first betray so great a trust committed unto them Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God Exâ—…ni valdâ—… tuo with all thy might saith the Law it doth not only require us to love but to have mindes furnish'd with all strength to love God so that there may be life and vigoâ—… in our obedience and love of him The Law requires no
spue and rise up no more even that fierce and bitter indignation in the pouring out of which the Lord shall put to his right hand his strong arme not onely the terror of his presence but the glory of his power I say the Lord could let drunkards alone till at last they meet with this Cup which undoubtedly they shall doe if there be either truth in Gods word or power in his right hand if there be either Iustice in heaven or fire in hell till with Belshazzar they meet with dregs and trembling in the bottome of all their Cups but yet oftentimes the Lord smites them with a more sudden blow snatcheth away the Cup from their very mouths and so makes one Curse anticipate and preuent another Though Haman and Achitophel should have liv'd out the whole thred of their life yet at last their honor must have laine downe in the dust with them Though Iudas could have liv'd a thousand yeares and could have improv'd the reward of his Masters bloud to the best advantage that ever Vsurer did yet the rust would at last have seiz'd upon his bags and his monie must have perished with him but now the Lord sets forward his Curse and that which the moth would have been long in doing the gallows dispatcheth with a more swift destruction Thus as the body of a man may have many summons and engagements unto one death may labour at once under many desperate diseases all which by a malignant conâ—…unction must needs hasten a mans end as Cesar was stabd with thirty wounds each one whereof might have serv'd to let out his soule so the Creatures of God labouring under a manifold corruption doe as it were by so many wings post away from the Owners of them and for that reason must needs be utterly disproportionable to the condition of an Immortall Soule Now to make some Application of this particular before wee leave it This doth first discover and shame the folly of wicked worldlings both in their opinions and affections to earthly things Love is blinde and will easily make men beleeve that of any thing which they could wish to bee in it and therefore because wicked men wish with all their hearts for the love they beare to the Creatures that they might continue together for ever the Divell doth at last so deeply delude them as to thinke that they shall continue for ever Indeed in these and in the generall they must needs confesse that one generation commeth and another goeth but in their owne particular they can never assume with any feeling and experimentall assent the truth of that generall to their owne estates And therefore what ever for shame of the world their outward professions may be yet the Prophet David assures us That their inward Thoughts their owne retir'd contrivances and resolutions are that their houses shall endure for ever and their dwelling places to all generations and upon this Immortality of stones and monuments they resolve to rest But the psalmist concludes this to be but brutish and notorious folly This their way is their folly they like sheepe are laid downe in their graves and death feeds upon them And indeed what a folly is it for men to build upon the sand to erectan Imaginarie fabrick of I know not what Immortality which hath not so much as a constant subsistence in the head that contrives it What man will ever goe about to build a house with much cost and when he hath done to inhabit it himself of such rotten and inconsistent materials as will undoubtedly within a yeere or two after fall upon his head and bury him in the ruines of his owne folly Now then suppose a man were lord of all the World and had his life coextended with it were furnished with wisedome to manage and strength to runne through all the affaires incident to this vast frame in as ample a measure as any one man for the governement of a private family yet the Scripture would assure even such a man that there will come a day in which the heavens shall passe away with a noise and the elements shall melt with heate and the earth with the workes that are therein shall be burnt up and that there is but one houre to come before all this shall be Behold now is the last houre And what man upon these termes would fix his heart and ground his hopes upon such a tottering bottome as will within a little while crumble into dust and leave the poore soule that rested upon it to sinke into hell But now when we consider that none of us labour for any such inheritance that the extremitie of any mans hopes can be but to purchase some little patch of earth which to the whole World cannot beare so neere a proportion as the smallest molehill to this whole habitable earth that all we toyle for is but to have our loade of a little thicke clay as the Prophet speakes that when wee have gotten it neither wee nor it shall continue till the universall dissolution but in the midst of our dearest embracements we may suddenly be puld asunder and come to a fearefull end it must needs be more then brutish stupidity for a man to weave the Spiders webs to wrappe himselfe up from the consumption determined against the whole earth in a covering that is so infinitely too short and too narrow for him Wee will conclude this particular with the doome given by the Prophet Ieremy As the Partridge sitteth on egges and hatcheth them not shee is either caught by the fowler or her egges are broken so he that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his dayes and in the end shall bee a foole Secondly this serves to justifie the wisedome and providence of God in his proceedings with men The wicked here provoke God and cry aloud for vengeance on their owne head and the Lord seemes to stop his eares at the cry of sinne and still to loade them with his blessings he maketh their way to prosper they take roote and grow and bring forth fruite they shine like a blazing Comet and threaten ruine to all that looke upon them they carry themselves like some Tyrant in a Tragedy that scatters abroad death with the sparkles of his eyes and darts out threats against the heaven aboue him they are like Agag before Samuel clothed very delicately and presume that there is no bitternesse to come And now the impatiency of man that cannot resolve things into their proper issues that cannot let iniquitie ripen nor reconcile one day and a thousand yeeres together begins to question Gods proceedings and is afraid leâ—…t the World be governed blindfold and blessings and curses throwne confusedly abroad for men as it were to scramble and to scuffie for them But our God who keepeth times and seasons in his owne power who hath given to every Creature under the Sunne limits
Romane Games wherein men kill'd one another to make sport for the people and yet resolving though hee went with his body to leave his heart behind him and for that purpose to keepe his eyes shut that he might not staine them with so ungodly a spectacle yet at last upon a mighty shout at the fall of a man he could not forbeare to see the occasion and upon that grew to couple with the route and to applaud the action as the rest did In another place of the same booke wee reade of Monica the mother of that holy man that she had so often used to sip the wine that came to her fathers table that from sipping shee grew to loving and from thence to excessive drinking which particulars are by him reported to shew the deceitfulnesse of sinne in growing upon the conscience if it can but win the heart to consult to deliberate to indulge a little to it selfe at first for it is in the case of sinne as it is in treason qui deliberant desciverunt to entertaine any the modestest termes of parley with Gods enemy is downe-right to forsake him And if it bee so in any thing then much more in the love of the World for the Apostle tels us 〈◊〉 that is a Roote and therefore we must expect if ever it get 〈◊〉 in us partly by reason of its owne fruitfull qualitie partly by reason of the fertile soyle wherein it is the corrupt heart of man partly by reason of Satans constant plying it with his husbandry and suggestions that it will every day grow faster settle deeper spread wider in our soules By which meanes it must needs likewise create abundance of vexation to the spirits of men For as Manna in the Wildernesse when the people would not be content to have from God their daily bread but would needs be hoarding and multiplying of it bred wormes and stanke so when men will needs heape up wealth and other earthly supplyes beyond stint or measure they do but store up wormes to disquiet their minds that which will rot and annoy the owners They pant after the Dust of the Earth on the head of the poore saith the Prophet of those cruell oppressors that sold the righteous for shooes it notes how the fiercenesse of a greedy and unsatiable desire will weare out the strength of a man make him spend all his wits and even gaspe out his spirits in pursuing the poore unto the dust sucking out their very livelihood and substance till they are faine to lye downe in the dust Woe unto him saith the Prophet that encreaseth that which is not his enlarging his desires as Hell and death that loadeth himselfe with thick clay that is in other expressions that storeth up violence and robbery that heapeth treasures against the last day the words shew us what the issue of vehement and indefatigable affections is they doe but create vexations to a mans owne soule and all his wealth will at length lye upon his conscience like a load and mountaine of heavy earth The third Degree of vexation is from the enioyment or rather from the use of earthly things For though a wicked man may be said to use the Creatures yet in a strict sense he cannot be said to enjoy them The Lord maketh his Sunne to shine upon them giveth them a lawfull interest possession and use of them but all this doth not reach to a Fruition For that imports a delightfull sweet orderly use of them which things belong unto the blessings and promises of the Gospell In which respect the Apostle saith that God giveth unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things richly to enioy This is the maine sting and vexation of the Creature alone without Gods more especiall blessing that in it a man shall still taste a secret curse which deprives him of that dearenesse and satisfaction which he lookes for from it False joy like the crackling of Thornes he may find but still there is some flie in the oyntment some death in the pot some madnesse in the laughter which in the midst of all dampes and surprizeth the soule with horrour and sadnesse there are still some secret suggestions and whisperings of a guilty conscience that through all this Iordan of pleasure a man swimmes downe apace into a dead Sea that all his delights do but carry him rhe faster unto a finall Iudgement Ressevera est verum gaudium True joy saith the Heathen Man is not a perfunctory a floating thing it is serious and massy it sinkes to the Center of the heart As in Nature the Heavens we know are alwayes calme serene uniforme undisturbed they are the clouds and lower regions that thunder and bluster The Sunne and Starres rayse up no Fogges so high as that they may imprint any reall blot upon the beauty of those purer bodies or disquiet their constant and regular motions but in the lower regions by reason of their nearenesse to the earth they frequently raise up such Meteors as often breake forth into thunders and tempests so the more heavenly the minde is the more untainted doth it keepe it selfe from the corruptions and temptations of worldly things the more quiet and composed is it in all estates but in mindes meerely sensuall the hotter Gods favours shine and the faster his raine falles upon them the more Fogges are raised the higher Thornes grow up the more darkenesse and distractions do shake the soule of such a man As fire under water the hotter it burnes the sooner it is extingvished by the over-running of the water so earthly things raise up such tumultuary and disquiet thoughts in the minds of men as doth at last quite extingvish all the heate and comfort which was expected from them Give me leave to explane this Vexation in some one or two of Salomons particulars and to unfold his enforcements thereof out of them And first to begin with that with which he begins The Knowledge of things either naturall in this present text or morall and civill vers 17. of both which he concludeth that they are Uanitie and vexation of spirit The first argument he takes from the weakenesse of it either to restore or correct any thing that is amisse That which is crooked cannot be made strait Wee may understand it severall waies First All our knowledge by reason of mans corruption is but a crooked ragged impedite knowledge and for that reason a vexation to the minde for rectitude is full of beauty and crookednesse of deformity In mans Creation his understanding should have walked in the strait path of truth should have had a distinct view of causes and effects in their immediate successions but now sinne hath mingled such confusion with things that the minde is faine to take many crooked and vast compasses for a little uncertaine knowledge Secondly The weakenesse of all naturall knowledge is seene in this that it cannot any way either
his worship Thus all those phantasticall felicities which men build upon the Creature prove in the end to have been nothing else but the banquet of a dreaming man nothing but lies and vanitie in the conclusion Lastly They Deceive us likewise in respect of evill No Creatures however they may promise Immunitie and deliverance can doe a man any good when the Lord will be pleased to send evill upon him And yet it is not for nothing that a truth so universally confessed should yet bee repeated in the Scripture That silver and gold and corruptible things are not a fit price for the soules of men Doubtlesse the holy men of God forsaw a time when false Christs and false Prophets should come into the world which should set salvation to sale and make merchandise of the Soules of men as wee see at this day in popish Indulgences and penance and the like no lesse ridiculous then impious superstitions Neither is it for nothing that Salomon tells us That riches yea whole Treasures doe not profit in the day of death a speech repeated by two prophets after him For surely those holy men knew how apt wealth and greatnesse is to bewitch a man with conceits of Immortality as hath been shewed Who were they that made a covenant with death and were at an agreement with hell to passe from them but the scornfull men the Rulers of the people which had abundance of wealth and honour Who were they that did put far away the evill day in despight of the Prophets threatnings did flatter themselves in the conceite of their firme and inconcussible estate but they who were at ease in Sion who trusted upon the Mountaines of Samaria who lay upon beds of I◅orie and stretch'd themselves upon their couches But we see all this was but deceite they go captive with the first of those that go captive the banket of them that stretched themselves is removed All earthly supports without God are but like a stately house on the sand without a foundation a man shal be buried in his owne pride He that is strong shall be to seeke of his strength he that is mighty should deliver others shall be too weak for his own defence he that is swift shall be amaz'd and not dare to fly if he be a bowman at a great distance if he be a rider have a great advantage he shal yet be overtaken and he that is couragious adventures to stand out shall be faine to flye away naked at the last What ever hopes or refuges any Creature cā afford a man in these troubles they are nothing but froth vanity the Lord challenges derides them al. And the Prophet Esay gives a sound reason of it all The Egyptians are men and not God their horses are flesh not spirit when the Lord shal stretch out his hand both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is helpen shal fal down and they al shal faile together Before wee proceed to the last thing proposed here is a question to be answered If the Creatures be so full of Vexation It should seeme that it is unprofitable and by consequence unlawfull either to labour or to pray for them Which yet is plainely contrary to Christs direction Give us our daylie bread and contrary to the practice of the Saints who use to call for the fatnesse of the earth and dew of heaven peace of walls and prosperity of Palaces upon those whom they blesse To which I answere That which is evill by accident doth not prejudice that which is Good in it selfe and by Gods ordination Now the vexation which hath been spoken of is not an effect flowing naturally out of the condition of the creature but ariseth meerely by accident upon the reason of its separation from God who at first did appoint his owne blessed communion to goe along with his Creatures Now things which are good in themselves but accidentally evill may justly be the object of our prayers and endeavours And so on the otherside many things there are which in themselves alone are evill yet by the providence and disposition of God they have a good issue they worke together for the best to them that love God It was good for David that he had been afflicted yet wee may not lawfully pray for such evils on our selves or others upon presumption of Gods goodnesse to turne them to the best Who doubts that the calamities of the Church doe at this time stirre up the hearts of men to seeke the Lord and his face and to walke humbly and fearefully before him yet that man should be a curse and prodigie in the eyes of God and men who should still pray for the calamities of Sion and to see the stones of Ierusalem still in the dust Death is in it selfe an evill thing for the Apostle calles it an enemy 1. Cor. 15. yet by the infinite power and mercy of God who delights to bring good out of evill and beauty out of ashes it hath not onely the sting taken away but is made an entrance into Gods owne presence with reference unto which benefit the Apostle desireth to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. Now notwithstanding this goodnesse which death by accident brings along with it yet being in it selfe a Destructive thing we may lawfully in the desires of our soule shrinke from it and decline it Example whereof we have in the death of Christ himselfe which was of all as the most bitter so the most pretious and yet by reason of that bitternesse which was in it hee prayes against it presenting unto his Father the desires of his Soule for that life which he came to lay downe as his obedience to his Father and love to his Church made him most willingly embrace death so his love to the integritie of his humane nature and feare of so heavy pressures as he was to feele made him as seriously to decline it And though the Apostle did most earnestly desire to be with Christ yet he did in the same desire decline the common rode thither through the darke passages of death 2. Cor. 5. 4. Vnlawfull indeed it is for any man to pray universally against death because that were to withstand the Statutes of God Heb 9. 27. but against any particular danger wee may as Ezechiah did 1. King 20. 1 2. reserving still a generall submission to the will and decrees of God For we are bound in such a case to use all good meanes and to pray for Gods blessing upon them which amounts to a prayer against the danger it selfe So then by the Rule of contraries though the Creatures be full of vanitie and vexation yet this must not swallow up the apprehension of that goodnesse which God hath put into them nor put off the desires of men from seeking them of God in those just prayers which he hath prescribed and in those
but after his prayer hee triumphed in the midst of death David full of heavinesse and of gronings in his prayer but after as full of comfort against all his enemies Secondly as Irregular Cares are needlesse and superfluous so they are sinnefull too First In regard of their obiect they are worldly cares the Cares of the men of this world therein wee declare our selves to walke in conformitie to the Gentiles as if wee had no better foundation of quietnesse and contentment then the heathen which know not God And this is Christs argument after all these things do the Gentiles seeke We are taken out of the world wee have not received the spirit of the world and therefore wee must not bee conformable unto the world nor bring forth the fruits of a worldly spirit but walke as men that are set apart as a peculiar people and that have heavenly promises and the Grace of God to establish our hearts Illi terrena sapiant qui promissa coelestia non habent It is seemely for those alone who have no other portion but in this life to fixe their thoughts and cares here Secondly they are sinnefull in regard of their Causes and they are principally two First Inordinate lust or coveting the running of the heart after covetousnesse Secondly Distrust of Gods providence for those desires which spring from lust can never have faith to secure the heart in the expectation of them Lastly they are sinnefull in their Effects First They are murthering cares they worke sadnesse suspicions uncomfortablenes and at last death Secondly They are Choaking cares they take of the heart from the word and thereby make it unfruitfull Thirdly they are Adulterous cares they steale away the heart from God and set a man at enmity against him In all which respects wee ought to arme our selves against them Which that we may the better doe wee will in the last place propose two sorts of directions First How to make the Creature no vexing Creature Secondly How to vse it as a vexing Creature for the former First pray for conveniencie for that which is suteable to thy minde I meane not to the lusts but to the abilities of thy minde Labour ever to sure thy occasions to thy parts and thy supplies to thy occasions If a ship out of greedinesse be overloaden with gold it will be in danger of sinking notwithstanding the capacity of the sides be not a quarter filled on the other side fill it to the brimme with feathers and it will still tosse up and downe for want of due ballasting so is it in the lives of men some have such greedy desires that they thinke they can runne through all sorts of businesse and so never leave loading themselves till their hearts sinke and be swallowed up with worldly sorrow and securitie in sinne others set their affections on such triviall things that though they should have the fill of all their desires their mindes would still be as floating and unsetled as before Resolve therefore to do with thy selfe as men with their ships There may a Tempest arise when thou must be constrained to throw out all thy wares into the Sea such were the times of the Apostles and after bloudy persecutions when men were put to forfake Father Mother Wife Children nay to have the ship it selfe broken to pieces that the Marriner within might escape upon the ruines But besides this in the calmest and securest times of the Church these two things thou must ever looke to if thou tender thine owne tranquillity First fill not thy selfe onely with light things Such are all the things of this world in themselves besides the roome and cumbersomenesse of them as light things take up ever the most roome they still leave the soule floating and unsetled Doe therefore as wise Mariners have strong and substantiall ballasting in the bottome faith in Gods promises love and feare of his name a foundation of good workes and then what ever becomes of thy other loading thy ship it selfe shall bee safe at last thou shalt be sure in the greatest tempest to have thy life for a prey Secondly Consider the burden of thy Vessell All ships are not of an equall capacity and they must be fraighted and mann'd and victualed with proportiō to their burden Al men have not the same abilities some have such a measure of grace as enables them with much wisedome and improvement to manage such an estate as would puffe up another with pride sensualitie superciliousnesse and forgetfulnesse of God Againe some men are fitted to some kinde of employments not to others as some ships are for merchandise others for warre and in these varieties of states every man should pray for that which is most suteable to his disposition and abilities which may expose him to fewest temptations or at least by which he may bee most serviceable in the body of Christ and bring most glory to his Master This was the good prayer of Agur give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me this is that we all pray Give us Our daylie Bread that which is most proportion'd to our condition that which is fittest for us to have and most advantageous to the ends of that Lord whom wee serve Secondly labour ever to get Christ into thy ship hee will check every tempest and calme every vexation that growes upon thee When thou shalt consider that his truth and person and honor is imbarked in the same vessell with thee thou maist safely resolve on one of these either he will be my Pilot in the ship or my planke in the Sea to carry me safe to Land if I suffer in his companie and as his member he suffers with me and then I may triumph to be made any way conformable vnto Christ my head If I have Christ with me there can no estate come which can be cumbersome unto me Have I a load of misery and infirmity inward outward in minde body name or estate this takes away the vexation of all when I consider it all comes from Christ and it all runnes into Christ. It all comes from him as the wise disposer of his owne bodie and it all runnes into him as the compassionate sharer with his owne bodie It all comes from him who is the distributer of his Fathers gifts and it all runns into him who is the partaker of his members sorrows If I am weake in body Christ my head was wounded if weake in minde Christ my head was heavie unto death If I suffer in my estate Christ my head became poore as poore as a servant if in my name Christ my head was esteemed vile as vile as Beelzebub Paul was comforted in the greatest tempest with the presence of an Angel how much more with the Grace of Christ when the Thorne was in his flesh and the buffets of Satan about his soule yet then was his presence a plentifull protection my
the branches yet the rootes are so fastened to the joynts and intralls of the wall that till the stones be puld all asunder it will not be quite rooted out As that house wherein there was a fretting and spreading Leprosie though it might bee scrap'd round about and much rubbish and corrupt materialls removed yet the Leprosie did not cease till the house with the stones and timber and morter of it was broken downe so originall concupiscence cleaveth so close to our nature that though we may bee much repair'd yet corruption will not leave us till our house be dissolved As long as Corne is in the field it will have refuse and chaffe about it as long as water remaines in the Sea it will retaine it saltnesse till it be defecated and clensed in its passage into the Land and so is it with the Church while it is in the world it will have the body of sinne about it it will bee beset with this Sinne. In the Apostle it is for this reason call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an encompassing sinne a sinne that will not be cast off that doth easily occupate and possesse all our members and faculties a man may as easily shake off the skin from his backe or poure out his bowels out of his body as rid himselfe of this evill inhabitant It is an evill that is ever present with us and dwelling in us But it may be objected Doth not the Apostle say that by being baptized into Christ or planted into the likenesse of his death our old man is crucified the body of sinne is destroyed we are freed from sinne as a woman is from a dead husband we have put off the body of the sinnes of the flesh by the Circumcision made without hands that is by Baptisme and the Spirit Doth not the Apostle Saint Iohn say He that is borne of God that is he that is Regenerate by Water and the Spirit sinneth not neither can sinne To this I answer in generall with the same Apostle If we say wee have no sinne we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us More particularly wee must distingvish both of Death and of sinne There is a twofold Death an Actuall or Naturall Death when the essentiall parts of a living Creature are taken asunder and the whole dissolved and a Virtuall or Legall Death when though the party bee naturally Alive yet hee is Dead in Law and that notes two things First a designation unto a certaine Death at hand and ready to bee executed Secondly a disabilitie unto many purposes which lay before in the mans power as a man condemn'd though hee have his life out of indulgence for a short space yet hee is then set apart and appointed for death and in the very sentence disabled to order or dispose of any thing which was then his owne When a woman is divorced for adultery from her husband though she bee Alive naturally yet Legally and to the purpose of marriage she is Dead to her husband so that though shee should live in the same house yet she should have nothing to doe with his bed or body And thus the Apostle speaketh of sinfull Widowes that they are Dead while they Live 1. Tim. 5. 6. In sin likewise we may consider The guilt of it whereby it makes us accursed and the dominion of it wherewith it bringeth us into bondage in these two principally consists the life and the strength of sinne which it hath from the Law Now by being baptized into Christ wee are delivered from the Law Rom. 6. 14. Gal. 3. 25. First from the covenant of the Law Christ hath put an utter period to the Law quoad officium Iustificandi hee is the end of the Law for righteousnesse Wee are righteous now by Grace and Donation not by nature or operation by the righteousnesse of God not that whereby God is righteous but that which God is pleased to give us and stands in opposition to a mans owne righteousnesse which is by working Secondly from the Rigor of the Law which requires perfect and perpetuall obedience Gal. 3. 10. Though the Gospell command holinesse Matth. 5. 48. and promise it Luk. 1. 74. and worke it in us Tit. 2. 10. 11. yet when the Conscience is summon'd before God to bee justified or condemned to resolve upon what it will stand to for its last triall there is so much mixture of sinne that it dares trust none but Christs owne adequate performance of the Law this is all the salvation the maine charter and priviledge of the church Wee are not therefore rigorously bound either to a full habituall holinesse in our persons which is supplied by the merit of Christ nor to a through actuall obedience in our services which are covered with the Intercession of Christ. Wee are at the best full of weakenesse many remnants of the old Adam hang about us this is all the comfort of a man in Christ that his desires are accepted God regards the sincerity of his heart and will spare his failings even as a man spareth his Sonne that desires to please him but comes short in his endeavours that he will not looke on the iniquitie of his holy things but when he fals will pitty him and take him up and heale him and teach him to goe thus wee are delivered from the rigour of the Law which yet is thus to be understood That though wee bee still bound to all the Law as much as ever under perill of sinne for so much as the best come short of fullfilling all the Law so much they sinne yet not under paine of Death which is the rigour of the Law And therefore Thirdly wee are delivered from the Curse of the Law from the vengeance and wrath of God against sin Christ was made a curse for us Lastly from the Irritation of the Law and all compulsorie and slavish obedience we love by Christ all the principles and grounds of true obedience put into vs. First knowledge of Gods will the spirit of Revelation wisedome and spirituall understanding Secondly will to embrace and love what wee know Thirdly strength in some measure to performe it And by these meanes the Saints serve God without feare with delight willingnesse love liberty power the Law is to them a new Law a Law of liberty a light yoke the Commandements of God are not grievous to them Being thus Dead to the Law we are truly Dead to sinne likewise and sinne to us but not universally Dead in regard of its strength but not in regard of its beeing To apply then the premisses Sin is Dead naturally quoad Reatum in regard of the gvilt of it that is that actuall guilt of sin wherby every man is borne a child of wrath and made obnoxious to vengeance is done quite away in our regeneration and the obligations cancell'd Col. 2. 14. Secondly sinne is Dead Legally
the holy Ghost takes notice of often in the nature of wicked men that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implacable men whom no bounds not limits nor covenants will restraine or keepe in order and againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fierce headstrong violent rash they know not where not when to stop Therefore the Scripture compares it to a breaking forth or violent eruption like that of fire out of an Oven or of mire and dirt out of a raging Sea Men flattet themselves in their sinnes and thinke when they have gone thus or thus farre they will then give over and stop at their pleasure Sed modo modo non habent modum as Austen said of his counterfeite and hypocriticall promises sinne can never finde a center to rest in a fit place to stop at These are but like the foolish conceits of children who not being able to discerne the deception of their owne senses and seeing the Heavens in the Orizon seeme to touch the earth resolve to goe to the place where they conceive them to meete and there to handle and play with the Starres but when they are come thither they finde the distance to be still the same so is it with the foolish hearts of men they conceive after so much gaine or honour or pleasure I shall have my fill and wil then give over but as long as the fountaine within is not stopt the pursuites of lust will bee as violent at last as at first As he in the Fable Expectat dum defluat amnis at ille Labitur labetur So though men thinke that their lusts will at last grow drie and they shall easily step over them unto God yet the truth is the cutragious desires of men will grow stronger and stronger even as a river the farther it goes from the fountaine doth of ten times spread it self the wider The heart is strongly set upon its owne sinne as any Creature is upon its owne motion They set their heart saith the Prophet on their iniquity the heart of the sonnes of men saith Salomon is fully set in them to doe evill As impossible it is for lust to stop it selfe as for the Sea to give over swelling or the fire devouring the matter that is before it The man possest with a Legion of Divels is a notable Emblem of a mans sinfull nature for indeed sin makes a man of the Divels blood yee are the children of your Father the Divell Ioh. 8. 44. He is conversant with nothing but death dead workes dead companions death the service and death the wages He is full of hideous affections he cuts and teares his owne soule the presence of Christ is horrible and affrightfull to him and if hee worship him 't is out of terror and not out of love his name may well bee called Legion for the swarmes the services the strength the warre of lusts in the heart 'T is a torment to lust to come out of a man and to a man to be dispossest of his lusts there will be paine at the parting of sinne the uncleane spirit will teare when he must come out but in this principally was he the picture of our evill nature in that hee was exceeding fierce and untameable no man durst passe by him no chaines were strong enough to hold him and this is the character of wicked men To breake bands and cords asunder and to bee their owne Lords Examples of this fiercenesse of nature the Scripture doth give us abundantly The Iewes are for this propertie compar'd to a swift Dromâ—…dary or to a wilde Assefull of desires that snuffeth up the winde as the use of Horses is in their lust and cannot be turned To a Horse rushing into the battell 't is a similitude from the inundation and precipitancy of torrents that carry downe all before them To a backesliding Heiser whom no bounds can hold but he will breake forth into a large place and have roome to traverse his wayes To a wilde Aâ—…se that goes where his owne will and lust carries him alone by himselfe no Rider to gvide him no bridle to restraine him no presence of God to direct him no Law of God to over-rule him but alone by himselfe as his owne Lord. With very fiercenesse they did even weary themselves in their way Notably did this rage shew it selfe in the Sodomites they reject Lots entreaties they revile his person they grow more outragious and pressed in even to teare open the house Like where unto was the rage of the Pharisies and Iewes against Christ when he had fully convinc'd them of their sinne and his owne innocency and they could hold dispute to longer with him they run from arguments to stones and raylings Thou art a Samaritane and hast a Divell And elsewhere it is said That they were filled with madnesse at the sight of the Miracles which Christ wrought Such was the rage of those which stoned Stephen they gâ—…ashed their teeth they stopped their eares they shouted with their voyce they ran with one accord and stoned him and Saul who was one of them is said to have breathed out threatnings like a tyred Wolfe unto which some make the Prophecy of Iacob touching Beniamin of which Tribe Saul was to allude and elsewhere to have wasted the Churches and to have dragg'd the Saints into prison and to have been exceeding mad against them And such measure himselfe afterwards found combinations uprores assaults draggings wrath clamors confusions rushings in casting off of clothes throwing of dust into the aire any thing to expresse rage and madnesse But you will say All these were at the time wicked men what is that to nature in common Have the Saints such fierce and intemperate affections too Surely while we carry our flesh about us wee carry the seeds of this rage and fury Simeon and Levi were Patriarches of the Church and Heads of the Congregations of Israel yet see how Iacob aggravateth and curseth their fiercenesse In their anger they slew a man in their wrath they diggeâ—… downe a wall Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruell Peter was a holy man yet when the windes blew when the sluces were open and the water had gotten a little passage see how it gathers rage how fierce and mad it growes even against the evidences of his owne heart against the conscience of his owne promises a deniall growes into an oath and that multiplies into cursings and damnings of himselfe for so the word imports an imprecating of Gods wrath and of separation from the presence and glory of God upon himselfe if he knew the man Ionah was a holy Prophet and one whose rebellion and fiercenesse against God might in reason have been quite tam'd by the Sea and the Whale yet looke upon him when his nature gets loose
after all death it selfe For though these things may be where there is no guilt imputed and so properly no punishment inflicted neither the blinde man nor his parents had sinned that he was borne blinde as in the same ship there may bee a malefactor and a Merchant and to the one the voyage is a trafficke to the other a banishment yet to the wicked where they are not sanctified they are truely punishments and fruites of Gods vindicative justice because they have their sting still in them For the sting of death is sinne Secondly Spirituall and those threefold First Purishment of losse separation from the favour and fellowship with God expulsion from Paradise the seat of Gods presence and love Aliens forreiners farre from God Secondly Of sense the immediate strokes of Gods wrath on the soule wounds of Conscience scourges of heart taste of vengeance implanting in the soule tremblings feares amazements distracted thoughts on a cleare view of the demerit of sinne evidences of immortality and presumptions of irreconciliation with God This made Cain a runnagate and Iudas a murtherer of himselfe yea some touches of it made David cry out that his bones were broken and marrow dryed up and his flesh scortched like a potsheard It is able to shake the strongest Cedars and make the mountaines tremble like a leafe The sonne of God himselfe did sweate and shrinke and pray against it and with strong cries decline it though the suffering of so much of it as could consist with the holinesse of his person were the worke of his office and voluntary mercy Thirdly of sinne when God in anger doth forsake the soule and give it over to the frenzie and fury of lust to the rage and revenge of Satan letting men alone to joyne themselves unto idoles and to beleeve lies Now as the operation of the sunne is strongest there where it is not at all seene in the bowels of the earth or as lightning doth often blast and consume the inward parts when there is no sensible operation without so the Iudgements of God doe often lie heaviest there where they are least perceiv'd Hardnesse of heart a spirit of slumber blindnesse of minde a reprobate sense tradition unto Satan giving over unto vile affections recompencing the errors of men with following sinnes are most fearefull and desperate judgements But doe we then make God the Author of sinne God for bid In sinne we may consider the execution and committing of it as it is sinne and this is onely from man for every man is drawne away and enticed by his owne lust and the Ordination of it as it is a Punishment and this may be from God whose hand in the just punishment of sinne by sinne in obstinate contemptuous impenitent sinners may thus farre be observed First Deserendo by forsaking them that is taking away his abused gifts subtracting his despised Graces calling in and making to retire his quenched and grieved spirit removing his candlesticke and silencing his Prophets and giving a bill of divorce that either they may not see nor heare at all or hearing they may not understand and seeing they may not perceive because they did not see nor heare when they might Secondly Permittendo when he hath taken away his own Grace which was abused unto wantonnesse he suffers wicked men to walke in their owne wayes and because they like not to retaine him in their knowledge nor to live by his prescript therefore he leaves them to themselves and their owne will Thirdly Media disponendo ordering objects and proposing meanes not onely to Try but to punish the wickednesse of men and to bring about whatever other fixed purposes of his hee hath resolved for the declaration of his wonderfull wisedome to execute and as it were to fetch out of the sinnes of men as the conspiracie of Pilat Herod and the Iewes which their former wickednesse had justly deserved to have them given over unto was by God order'd to accomplish his determined and unchangeable counsell touching the death of Christ. Excellent is the speech of Holy Austin to this purpose The Lord enclineth the wils of men whither soever pleaseth himselfe whether unto Good out of his mercie or unto evill out of their merit sometimes by his manifest sometimes secret but alwayes by his righteous judgement and this not by his patience onely but by his power Fourthly Perversas voluntates non invitas flectendo sed spontaneas suo impetu faciles ulterius Satanae praecipitandas tradendo By giving over perverse wilfull rebellious sinners to the rage and will of Satan to hurry and enrage them at his pleasure unto further sinfulnesse When Iudas had listued to the Temptation of Satan to betray Christ had set himselfe to watch the most private opportunitie had been warned of it by Christ and that upon a question of the most bold and impudent hypocrisie that was ever made Master Is it I though it is not an improbable conjecture that Iudas at that very time upon the curse that was pronounced might secretly and for that time seriously resolve to give over his plot and upon that resolution to aske the question then at last Christ by a sop did give Satan as it were a further seisin of him and the purpose of Christ was that that which he was to doe hee might doe quickely He was now wholly given up to the will of Satan whose temptation haply before though very welcome in regard of the purchase and project of gaine which was in it had not fully silenc'd nor broken through all those reluctancies of Conscience which were very likely to arise upon the first presentment of so hideous a suggestion but now I say whether out of a sinister Construction of our Saviours words That thou doest doe quickly as if they had been not as indeed they were a giving him over to the greedinesse of his owne lust and to the rage of Satan but rather an allowance of his intention as knowing that hee was able to deliver himselfe out of their hands unto whom he should bee betraide and so his treason should onely make way to Christs miracle and not to his crosse or whether it were out of a secret presumption that notwithstanding Christ had made him know how his conspiracie was not hid from him yet since he was of all the company singled out whom Christ would Carve unto therefore his conspiracie was not so vile but that Christ would redâ—…re in gratiam countenance and respect him after all that and that as by the plot hee had not so lost him but that hee had gain'd him againe so also hee might doe after the execution too Now I say after that soppe and those words without further respect to the strugglings and staggerings of his Conscience hee goes resolvedly about that damned businesse for he was now delivered unto the will of Sathan The like libertie and commission was that which God gaue to
this place dehorteth us Having in the former Chapter set forth the doctrine of Iustification with those many comfortable fruites and effects that flow from it he here passeth over to another head of Christian Doctrine namely Sanctification and Conformitie to the holinesse of Christ the ground wherof he maketh to be our Fellowship with him in his death and Resurrection for Christ carried our sinnes upon the Tree with him and therefore we ought with him to die daily unto sin and to live unto God This is the whole argument of the precedent parts of the Chapter and frequently elsewhere used by the Apostle and others 2. Cor. 5. 14 15. Gal. 2. 20. 3. 27. 5. 24. Ephes. 2. 6. Phil. 3. 10. Col. 2. 12. 13. 26. 3. 1. 4. Heb. 9. 14 1. Pet. 4. 1. 2. Now the words of the Text are as I conceive a Prolepsis or answer to a tacite objection which might be made A weake Christian might thus alledge If our fellowship in the death of Christ doe bring along with it a death of sinne in us then surely I have little to doe with his death For alas sinne is still alive in me and daily bringeth forth the workes of life To this the Apostle answeres Though sinne dwell in you yet let it not raigne in you nor have its wonted hold and power over you Impossible it is while you carry about these tabernacles of flesh these mortall bodies that sinne should not lodge within you yet your care must be to give the kingdome unto Christ to let him have the honour in you which his father hath given him in the Church to Rule in the midst of his enemies those fleshly lusts which fight against him By Mortall bodie we here understand the whole man in this present estate wherein he is obnoxious to death which is an usuall figure to take the part for the whole especially since the body is a weapon and instrument to reduce into act and to execute the will of sinne Before I speake of the power of sinne here are Two points offer themselves from the connexion of the words to those preceding which I will but only name First Sinne will abide for the time of this mortall life in the most regenerate who can say I have made my heart cleane I am free from my sinne David had his secret sinnes which made him pray and Paul his thorne in his flesh which made him cry out against it To the reasons of this point before produc'd wee may adde that God suffers our sinnes to dwell in us first to magnifie the glory of his mercy that notwithstanding he be provoked every day yet he doth still spare us It is said in one place that when God saw that every Imagination of the thoughts of mans heart was continually evill he said I will destroy man whom I have created from off the face of the earth yet afterwards God said I will not againe curse the ground any more for mans sake for the imagination of mans heart is evill from his youth The places seeme at first view to be contradictory to one another But we are thus to reconcile them After there had been a propitiatory offering made by Noah unto God upon an Altar which was the type of Christ it is said that God smelt a sweete savour and resolved I will no more curse the earth not Because but Although the imagination of mans heart be evill from his youth that is though men are so wicked that if I would Iure meo uti take advantage to powre out againe my displeasure upon them I might doe it every day yet I will spare them notwithstanding their lusts continue in them For we are not to understand the place as if it tended to the extenuation of originall sinne as some doe I will take pitty upon them Because of their naturall infirmities but onely as tending to the magnifying of Gods mercy and patience I will take pitty upon them though I might destroy them For so the originall word is elsewhere taken Thou shalt drive out the Cananites Though they have iron chariots c. Secondly to magnifie the Glory of his powerfull patience that being daily provoked yet he hath power to be patient still In ordinary esteeme when an enemie is daily irritated and yet comes not to revenge his quarrell we accompt it impotency and unprovision but in God his patience is his power When the people of Israel murmured upon the report of giants in the land and would have made a Captaine to returne into Egypt and have stoned Ioshua and Caleb so that Gods wrath was ready to breake out upon them and to disinherite them this was the argument that Moses used to mediate for them Let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken The Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy Thou hast shewed the Power of thy mercy from Egypt untill now even so pardon them still If we could conceive God to have his owne justice joyned with the impotency and impatiency of man wee could not conceive how the world should all this while have subsisted in the midst of such mighty provocations This is the only reason why he doth not execute the fiercenesse of his wrath and consume men because he is God and not man not subject to the same passions changes impotencies as men are If a house be very weake and ruinous clogg'd with a sore waight of heavy materials which presse it downe too there must be strength in the props that doe hold it up even so that patience of God which upholds these ruinous tabernacles of ours that are pressed downe with such a waight of sinne a waight that lies heavie even upon Gods mercy it selfe must needs have much strength and power in it The second point from the Connexion is That our Death with Christ unto sinne is a strong argument against the raigne and power of sinne in us Else wee make the death of Christ in vaine for in his death hee came with water and bloud not onely with bloud to justifie our persons but with water to wash away our sinnes The Reasons hereof are first Deadnesse argues disability to any such workes as did pertaine to that life unto which a man is dead Such then as is the measure of our death to sinne such is our disability to fulfill the lusts of it Now though sinne be not quite expir'd yet it is with Christ nail'd upon a crosse They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts so that in a regenerate man it is no more able to doe all its owne will then a crucified man is to walke up and downe and to do those businesses which he was wont to delight in He that is borne of God sinneth not neither can sinne because he is borne of God and his seede abideth in him Secondly Deadnesse argues disaffection A condemned man
but their sins that though our words bring fire and fury with them yet they are still in the hand of a Mediator that the Law is not to breake them unto desperation but vnto humiliation not to drive them unto furie but unto Faith to shew them Hell indeede but withall to keepe them from it if we doe not by these meaneâ—… save their Soules yet we shall stop their mouths that they shall be ashamed to blaspheme the commission by which we speake Secondly The people likewise should learne to rejoyce when the Law is preached as it was published that is when the Conscience is thereby affrighted and made to tremble at the presence of God and to cry unto the Mediator as the people did unto Moses Lâ—…t not God speake any more to us lâ—…st we die Speake thou with us and we will heare For when sinne is onely by the Law discovered and death laid open to cry out against such preaching is a shrewd argument of a minde not willing to bee disquieted in sinne or to be tormented before the time of a soule which would have Christ and yet not leave her former husband which would haue him no other king then the stump of wood was to the frogges in the fable or the moulten Calfe unto Israel in the Wildernesse a quiet idol whom every lust might securely provoke and dance about As the Law may be preached too much when it is preached without the principall which is the Gospell so the Gospell and the mercie therein may bee preached too much or rather indeede too little because it is with lesse successe If wee may call it preaching and not rather perverting of the Gospell when it is preached without the appendant which is the Law This therefore should in the next place teach all of us to studie and delight in the Law of God as that which setteth forth and maketh more glorious and conspicuous the mercy of Christ. Acquaintance with our selves in the Law wâ—…ll First keepe us more loâ—…ly and vile in our owne eyes make us feele our owne pollution and poverty and that will againe make us the more delight in the Law which is so faithfull to render the face of the Conscience and so make a man the more willing and earnest to be cleansed Their heart saith David is as fat as grease but I delight in thy Law The more the Law doth discover our owne leannesse scraggednesse and penurie the more doth the Soule of a Holy man delight in it because Gods mercie is magnified the more who filleth the hungrie and refrâ—…sheth the weary and with whom the fatherlâ—…sse findeth mercie Secondly It will make us more carefull to live by Faith more bold to approach the throne of Grace for mercie to cover and for Grace to cure our sores and nakednesse In matters of life and death impudence and boldnesse is not unseasonable A man will never die for modesty when the Soule is convinc'd by the Law that it is accursed and eternally lost if it doe not speedily pleade Christs satisfaction at the Throne of Grace it is emboldned to runne unto him when it findes an issue of uncleanenesse upon it it will set a price upon the meanest thing about Christ and be glad to touch the hemme of his garment When a Childe hath any strength beautie or lovelynesse in himselfe he will haply depend upon his owne parts and expectations to raise a fortune and preferment for himselfe but when a Childe is full of indigence impotencie crookednesse and deformity if he were not then supported with this hope I have a father aâ—d Parents doe not cast out their Children for their deformities he could not live with comfort or assurance so the sense of our owne pollutions and uncleanenesse taking off all conceits of any lovelynesse in our selves or of any goodnesse in us to attract the affections of God makes us râ—ly onely on his fatherly compassion When our Saviour cald the poore woman of Syrophenicia Dogge a beastly and uncleane Creature yet shee takes not this for a deny all but turnes it into argument The lesse I have by right the more I hope for by mercy even men afford their Dogges enough to keepe them alive and I aske no more When the Angell put the hollow of Iacobs thigh out of joynt yet hee would not let him go the more lame hee was the more reason hee had to hold The Prodigall was not kept away or driven of from his resolution by the feare shame or misery of his present estate for he had one word which was able to make way for him through all this the name of Father He considered I can but be rejected at the last and I am already as low as a rejection can cast me so I shall loose nothing by returning for I therefore returne because I have nothing and though I have done enough to bee for ever shut out of dores yet it may bee the word Father may have rhetoricke enough in it to beg a reconcilement and to procure an admittance amongst my fathers servants Thirdly It will make us give God the Glory of his mercy the more when wee have the deeper acquaintance with our owne miserie And God most of all delighteth in that worke of Faith which when the Soule walketh in darknesse and hath no light yet trusteth in his Name and stayeth upon him Fourthly It will make our comforts and refreshments the sweeter when they come The greater the humiliation the deeper the tranquillitie As fire is hottest in the coldest weather so comfort is sweetest in the greatest extremities shaking settles the peace of the heart the more The spirit is a Comforter as well when he convinceth of sinne as of righteousnesse and judgement because he doth it to make righteousnesse the more acceptable and Iudgement the more beautifull Lastly acquaintance with our owne foulnesse and diseases by the Law will make us more carefull to keepe in Christs company and to walke according unto his Will because he is a Physitian to cure a refiner to purge a Father and a Husband to compassionate our estate The lesse beautie or worth there is in us the more carefully should we studie to please him who loved us for himselfe and married us out of pittie to our deformities not out of delight in our beautie Humilitie keepes the heart tractable and pliant As melted waxe is easily fashioned so an humble spirit is easily fashioned unto Christs Image whereas a stone a bard and stubborne heart must bee hewed and hammered before it will take any shape Pride selfe-confidence and conceitednesse are the pâ—…nciples of disobedience men will hold their wonted courses till they be humbled by the Law They are not humbled saith the Lord unto this day and the consequent hereof is neither have they feared nor walked in my Law If you will not heare that is if you will still disobey the Lords messages my Soule shall weepe in
projects and machinations against his Church but thou onely His heele the vitall parts shall be above thy reach And this Christ did not for himselfe but for us The God of Peace saith the Apostle shall bruize Sathan under your feete Hee shall be under our feete but it is a greater strength then ours which shall keepe him downe The victorie is Gods the benefit and insultation ours If He come as a Serpent with cunning craftinesse to seduce us Christ is a stronger Serpent a Serpent of Brasse and what hurt can a Serpent of flesh doe unto a Serpent of Brasse If as a Lion with rage and fierie assaults Christ is a stronger Lion A Lion of the Tribe of Iudâ—… the victorious Tribe Who shall goe up for us against the Cananites first Iuda shall goe up If hee come as an Angel of light to perswade us to presume and sinne The mercie of Christ begets feare The Love of Christ constraineth us Sathan can but allure to disobedience but Christ can constraine us to live unto him If he come as an Angell of darkenesse to terrifie us with despairing suggestions because wee have sinned If any man sinne wee have an Advocate and who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is Christ that is deade yea rather that is risen againe who also sitteth at the right hand of God to make intercession for us Thirdly but I have an enemie within me which is the most dangerous of all The World may be if not overcome yet endured and by being endured it will at last bee overcome The Divell may bee driven away for a time though he returne againe but the flesh is an Inhabiting sinne and an encompassing sinne If I breake through it yet it is still within me and if I reject it yet it is still about me Saint Paul who triumphed and insulted over all the rest over the World Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ Shall tribulation or distresse or persecution or famine or nakednes or perill or sword nay in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us Over Sathan and Hell O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victorie Even hee cryes out against this enemie his owne flesh O wrethed man that I am who shall deliver mee from this body of Death Yet even against this unremoveable and unvanquishable corruption the Life of Christ is safe in us upon these grounds First we have his Prayer which helpes to subdue it and to sanctifie our nature Sanctifie them by thy Truth Secondly wee have His Vertue and Power to purge it out and to cure it The Sunne of righteousnesse hath healing in his wings Thirdly wee have His office and sidelitie to appeale unto and where to complaine against our owne flesh He undertooke it as a part of his businesse to purge and clense his people Fourthly we have His Spirit to combate and wrestle with it and so by little and little to crucifie it in us and lastly we have his Merits as Sanctuarie to flie unto to forgive them here and hereafter to expell them Fourthly for all this I am full of doubts and restlesse feares which do continually fight within me and make my spirit languish and sinke and that which may decay may likewise expire and vanish away To this I answer that which inwardly decayeth and sinketh at the foundation is perishable but that which in its operations and quoad nos in regard of sense and present complacencie may seeme to decay doth not yet perish in its substance A Cloude may hide the Sunne from the eye but can never blot it out of his orbe Nay Spirituall griefe is to that light which is sowen in the heart but like harrowing to the Earth it macerates for the time but withall it tends to joy and beautie There is difference betweene the paines of a woman in travell and the paines of a goute or some mortall disease for though that be as extreeme in smart and present irkefomenesse as the other yet it containes in it and it proceedes from a Matter of Ioy And all the wrestlings of the Soule with the enemies of Salvation are but as the paines of a woman in travell when Christ is fashioned when the issue iâ—… victorious and with gaine the soule no more remembreth those afflictioâ—…s which were but for a moment Fifthly and lastly I have fallen into many and great sinnes and if all sinne be of a mortall and venemous operation how can my Life in Christ consist with such heavie provocations and apostacies To this in generall I answer If the sight of thy sinnes make thee looke to Christ If â—…hou canst beleeve all things are possible It is possible for thy greatest apostacies to vanish like a Cloud and to be forgotten Though sinne have weakned the Law that we cannot be saved by that yet it hath not weakned Faith or made that unable to save For the strength of sinne is the Law it hath its condemning vertue from thence Now by Faith we are not under the Law but under Grace When once wee are incorporate into Christs body and made partakers of the new Covenant though we are still under the Laws conduct in regard of its obedience which is made sweete and easie by Grace yet we are not under the laws maledâ—…ction So that though sinne in a Beleever bee a transgression of the Law and doth certainely incurre Gods displeasure yet it doth not de fectâ—… though it doe de merito subject him to wrath and vengeance because every justified man is a person priviledg'd though not from the duties yet from the curses of the Law If the King should gratiously exempt any subject from the Lawes penaltie and yet require of him the Lawes obedience if that man offend he bâ—…ch transgreâ—…sed the Law and provoked the displeasure of the Prince who haply will make him some otheâ—… way to 〈◊〉 it yet his offence doth not nullyfie his priviledge nor voyde the Princes grace which gave him an immunitie from the foâ—…feitures though not from the observance of the Law Adultery amongst the Iewes was punished with Death and Theft onely wtth restitution amongstus Adulterie is not punished with Death and Theft is Now then though a Iew and an Englishman be both bound to the obedience of both these Lawes yet a Iew is not to die for Theft nor an Englishman for Adultery because wee are not under the Iudiciall Lawes of that people nor they under our Lawes Even so those sinnes which to a man under the covenant of workes do dâ—… facto bring Death if he continue alwayes under that covenant doe onely create a Merit of Death in those who are under the Covenant of Grace but doe not actually exclude them from Salvation because without infidelitie no sinne doth peremptorily and quoad eventum
of â—…ther else the Bodie of Christ would be a mangled and a maimed thing and not as Saint Paul calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulnesse of Him that filleth all in all In the Body of Christ there is a supply to every joynt a measure of every part an edification and growth of the whole compacted body from Him who is equally the Head to all Being thus united unto Christ first the Death and Merit of Christ is ours whatsoever Hee really in His humane nature suffered for sinne wee are in moderated Iustice reputed to have suffered with Him The Apostle saith that we were crucified and dead with Christ and that as truely as the hand which steales is punish'd when the backe is beaten and surely if a man were crucified in and with Christ by reason of His mysticall communion with him then he was crucifi'd as Christ for al 〈◊〉 which should otherwise have laine upon him Hee was not in Christ to cleanse some sinnes and out of him to beare others himselfe For the Apostle assures us that the Merit of Christ is unconfined by any sinne The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sinne As Saint Ambrose said to Monica the mother of Austen when with many teares she bewailed her sonnes unconversion Non potest tot lacrymarum filius perire that is that it could not be that the Sonne of so many teares should perish so may I more certainely say to any Soule that is soundly and in truth humbled with the sense of any grievous relapse non potest tot lacrymarum frater perire It cannot bee that the brother of so many teares and so pretious blood which from Christ trickled downe with an unperishable soveraigntie unto the lowest and sinfullest of his bodie should perish for want of compassion in Him who felt the weight of our sufferings or for want of recovery from him who hath the fulnesse of Grace and Spirit Secondly the Life of Christ is ours likewise Christ liveth in me saith the Apostle Now the Life of Christ is free from the power and the reach of death If death could not hold Him when it had Him much lesse can it reach or overtake Him having once escaped Hee died once unto sinne but Hee liveth unto God likewise saith Saint Paul reckon you your selves to be dead unto sinne but alive unto God and that through or in Iesus Christ by whom wee in like manner are made partakers of that Life which Hee by rising againe from the Grave did assume as we were by AdaÌ„ made obnoxious to the same death which heby failing did incurre and contract For Christ is the second Adam and as wee have borne the Image of the earthly in sinne and guilt so must we beare the Image of the Heavenly in Life and righteousnesse and that which in us answereth to tâ—…e Resurrection and Life of Christ which Hee ever liveth is our holynesse and newnesse of life as the Apostle plainely shew's to note that our Renovation likewise ought to be perpetuall and constant not fraile and mutable as when it depended upon the life of the first Adam and not of the second Thirdly the Kingdome of Christ is ours also Now His Kingdome is not perishable but eternall a Kingdome which cannot be shaken or destroyed as the Apostle speakes Heb. 12. 28. Fourthly the Sonneship and by consequence â—…tance of Christ is ours I speake not of His personall Sonneship by eternall generation but of that dignitie and honour which He had as the first borne of every Creature and Heire of all things That Sonneship which Hee had as Hee was borne from the Dead Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee namely in the Resurrection in which respect He is called the first borne and the first begotten of the Dead In this dignitie of Christ of being Heires and a kinde of first borne unto God doe wee in our measure partake for wee are called the Church of the first borne and a kinde of first fruites of His Creatures For though those attributes may be limited to the Iewes in regard of precedencie to the Gentiles yet in regard of the inheritance which was usually and properly to descend to the first borne they may bee applyed to all for of all beleevers the Apostle saith If you are Sonnes then are ye heires Coheires with Christ. We hold in chiefe under his guardianship and protection as his sequele and dependant Now from hence our Saviours argument may bring much comfort and assurance The Sonne abideth in the house for ever and the House of God is His Church not in Heaven onely but on Earth likewise as the Apostle shewes Fifthly Christs victories are ours Hee overcame the World and Temptations and Enemies and Sinnes for us And therefore they shall not bee able to overcome Him in us Hee is able to succour them that are tempted Hee who once overcame them for us will certainely subdue them in us Hee that will overcome the last Enemie will overcome all that are before for if any be left the last is not overcome Lastly we have the benefit of Christs Intercession I have prayed for thee that thy Faith faile not It is spoken of a saving Faith as the learned prove at large And I have shewed before that particular promises in Scripture are universally applyable to any man whose case is paralell to that particular If then Peters 〈◊〉 did not by reason of this prayer of Christ overturne his Salvation or bring a totall deficiencie upon his faith why should any man who is truely and deepely humbled with the sense of relapse or consciousnesse of some sinne not of ordinary guilt or dayly incursion but indeede very hainous and therefore to be repented of with teares of blood yet why should he in this case of sound humiliation stagger in the hope of forgivenesse or mistrust Gods mercie since a greater sinne then Peters in the grosse matter of it can I thinke hardly be committed by any justified man These are the comforts which may secure the Life of Christ in a lapsed but repenting sinner the summe of all is this Since we stand not like Adam upon our owne bottome but are branches of such a Vine as never withers Members of such a Head as never dies sharers in such a Spirit as cleanseth healeth and purifieth the heart partakers of such promises as are sealed with the Oath of God Since we live not by our owne life but by the Life of Christ are not ledde or sealed by our owne spirit but by the Spirit of Christ doe not obtaine mercie by our owne prayers but by the Intercession of Christ stand not reconciled unto God by our owne endevours but by the propitiation wrought by Christ who loved us when wee were enemies and in our blood who is both willing and able to save
us to the uttermost and to preserve his owne mercies in us to whose office it belongs to take order that none who are given unto him be lost undoubtedly that Life of Christ in us which is thus underpropped though it be not priviledg'd from temptations no nor from backeslidings yet is an abiding Life He who raised our Soule from death will either preserve our feete from falling or if we doe fall will heale our backflidings and will save us freely Infinitely therefore doth it concerne the Soule of every man to bee restlesse and unsatisfied with any other good thing till he find himselfe entitled unto this happy Communion with the Life of Christ which will never faile him As all the Creatures in the world so man especially hath in him a twofold desire a desire of perfection and a desire of perpetuitie a desire to advance and a desire to preserve his Being Now then till a mans Soule after many rovings and inquisitions hath at last fixed it selfe upon some such good thing as hath compasse enough to satiate and replenish the vastnesse of these two desires impossible it is for that Soule though otherwise filled with a confluence of all the glory wealth wisedome learning and curiositie of Salomon himselfe to have solid contentment enough to withstand the feares of the smallest danger or to outface the accusations of the smallest sinne Now then let us suppose that any good things of this World without the Life of Christ were able to satisfie one of these two desires to perfect and advance our nature though indeede it bee farre otherwise since without Christ they are all but like a stone in a Serpents head or a Pearle in an Oyster not our perfections but our diseases like Cleopatra her pretious stone when she wore it a Iewell but when she dranke it an excrement I may boldly say that as long as a man is out of Christ he were better be a begger or an idiote then to bee the steward of riches honours learning and wisedome which should have beene improv'd to the Glory of Him that gave them and yet to bee able to give up at that great day of accompts no other reckoning unto God but this Thy riches have beene the authors of my covetousnesse and oppression thy honours the steppes of my haughtinesse and ambition thy learning and wisedome the fuell of my pride But now I say suppose that nature could receive any true advancement by these things yet alas when a man shall beginne to thinke with himselfe may not God this night take me away like the foole in the Gospell from all these things or all these from mee May I not nay must I not within these few yeeres in stead of mine honour be laid under mens feete In stead of my purple and scarlet be cloathed with rottennesse In stead of my luxurie and delycacies become my selfe the foode of wormes Is not the poore soule in my bosome an immortall soule Must it not have a being as long as there is a God who is able to support it And will not my bagges and titles my pleasures and preferments my learning and naturall endowments every thing save my sinnes and mine adversaries and mine owne Conscience forsake mee when I once enter into that immortalitie When a man I say shall beginne to summon his heart unto such sad accompts as these how will his face gather blacknesse and his knees tremble and his heart be even damp'd and blasted with amazement in the middest of all the vanities and lyes of this present world What a fearefull thing is it for an eternall soule to have nothing betweene it and eternall misery to rest upon but that which will moulder away and crumble into dust under it and so leave it alone to sinke into bottomlesse calamitie O Beloved when men shall have passed many millions of yeeres in another world which no millions of yeeres can shorten or diminish what accession of comfort can then come to those glorious joyes which we shall bee filled with in Heaven or what diminution or mitigation of that unsupportable anguish which without ease or end must bee suffered in Hell by the remembrance of those few houres of transitorie contentments which we have here not without the mixture of much sorrow and allay enjoyed What smacke or rellish thinke you hath Dives now left him of all his delicacies or Esau of his pottage What pleasure hath the rich foole of his full Barnes or the young man of his great possessions What delight hath Iezabel in her paint or Ahab in the Vineyard purchased with the innocent blood of Him that owned it How much policie hath Achitophel or how much pompe hath Herod or how much rhetoricke hath Tertullus left to escape or to bribe the torments which out of Christ they must for ever suffer O how infinitely doth it concerne the Soule of every man to finde this Life of Christ to rest upon which will never forsake him till it bring him to that day of Redemption wherein he shall be filled with blessednesse infinitely proportionable to the most vast and unlimited capacities of the Creature And now when we can secure our Consciences in the inward true and spirituall renovation of our heart in this invincible and unperishable obsignation of the spirit who knitteth us as really though mistically unto Christ as his sinewes and joynts do fasten the parts of his sacred body together how may our heads bee crowned with joy and our hearts sweetly bathe themselves in the perfruition and preoccupation of those rivers of glory which attend that Spirit wheresoever he goeth Many things I know there are which may extremely disharten us in this interim of mortalitie many things which therein encounter and oppose our progresse The rage malice and subtilty of Satan the frownes flatterles threates and insinuations of this present World the impatience and stubbornnesse of our owne flesh the struglings and counterlustings of our owne potent corruptions the daily consciousnesse of our fall's and infirmities the continuall entercourse of our doubts and feares the ebbing and languishing decaying and even expiring of our Faith and Graces the frequent experience of Gods just displeasure and spirituall desertions leaving the Soule to its owne dumpes and darknesse Sometimes like froward children we throw our selves downe and will not stand and sometimes there comes a tempest which blowes us downe that we cannot stand And now whither should a poore Soule which is thus on all sides invitoned with feares and dangers betake it selfe Surely so long as it lookes either within or about it selfe no marvell if it be ready to sinke under the concurrent opposition of so many assaults But though there be nothing in thee nor about thee yet there is somthing above thee which can hold thee up If there be strength in the merit life kingdom victories Intercession of the Lord Iesus If there be comfort in the Covenant Promises and Oath of
on high and hath given gifts unto Men as absent lovers send tokens to each other to attract the affections and call thither the thoughts If Christ would have had our hearts rest on the earth He would have continued with us here but it is his Will that we be where He is and therefore we must make it the maine businesse of our life to move towards him Things of a nature encline to one another even to their prejudice A stone will fall to his center though there be so many rubbes in the way that it is sure to bee broken all to peeces in the motion The same should be a Christians resolution Christ is his Center and Heaven is his Country and therefore thither hee must conclude to goe notwithstanding he must be broken in the way with manifold temptations and afflictions Saint Paul desired if it had been possible to be clothed upon and to have his mortalitie swallowed up of life and to get whole to Heaven But if he may not have it upon so good termes hee will not onely confidently endure but desire to be dissolved and broken in pieces that by any meanes he may come to Christ because that being best of all will be an aboundant recompence for any intercurrent damage It is not a losse but a marriage and honour for a woman to forsake her owne kindred and house to go to a husband neither is it a losse but a preferment for the soule to relinquish for a time the bodie that it may goe to Christ who hath married it unto himselfe for ever And the fellowship of his sufferings This fellowship notes two things First A participation in the benefits of his Sufferings Secondly A Conformity of ours to his First His Sufferings are Ours we were buried and Crucified with him and that againe notes two things First we communicate in the Price of Christs Death covering the guilt of sinne satisfying the wrath of God and being an Expiation and propitiation for us Secondly in the Power of his Death cleansing our Consciences from dead workes mortifying our earthly members crucifying our old man subduing our iniquities and corruptions pulling downe the throne of Satan spoiling him of all his armor and destroying the workes of the Divell And this power worketh first by the propheticall office of Christ Revealing secondly by his Regall office applying and reaching forth the power of his bloud to subdue sinne as it had before triumphed over death and Satan But here the maine point and question will be what this mighty power of the Death of Christ is thus to kill sinne in us and wherein the Causality thereof Consisteth To this I answere that Christs Death is a threefold Cause of the death of sinne in his members First It is Causa meritoria A meritorious Cause For Christs death was so great aprice that it did deserve at Gods hand to have our sinnes subdued All power and Iudgement was given unto him by his father and that power was given him to purchase his Church withall And this was amongst other of the covenants that their sinnes should be Crucified He gave himselfe unto Gods Iustice for his Church and that which by that gift he purchased was the sanctification cleansing of it Now as a price is said to doe that which a man doth by the power which that price purchased so the bloud of Christ is said to cleanse us because the office or power whereby he purifieth us was Conferd upon him Sub intuitu pretij under the condition of suffring For it was necessarie that remission and purification should be by bloud Secondly it is Causa exemplaris The death of Christ was the Exemplar pattern and Idea of our Death to sin He did beare our sinnes in his Body on the tree to shew that as his Body did naturally so sinne did by analogie and legally dye Therefore the Apostle saith that he was made sinne for us to note that not onely our persons were in Gods accompt Crucified with him unto Iustification but that sinne it selfe did hang upon his Crosse with him unto monification and holinesse In which respect Saint Paul saith That he condemned sinne in the flesh because he died as sinne in Abstracto And in this regard of morâ—…ification wee are said to be planted in the likenesse of Christs Death because as when an Ambassador doth solemnize the marriage of his king with a forraine princesse that is truely effected betweene the parties themselves which is transacted by the agent and representative person to that purpose and service authoâ—… so Christ being made sinne for us as the Sacrifice had the sinnes of the people emptied upon him and in that relation Dying sinne it selfe likewise dieth in us And there is a proportion betweene the Death of the Crosse which Christ died and the Dying of sinne in us Christ died as a Servant to note that sinne should not rule but be brought into slaverie and bondage He died a Curse to note that wee should loke upon sinne as an accursed and devoted thing and therefore should not with Achan hide or reserve any He Dranke vinegar on his Crosse to note that wee should make sinne feele the sharpnesse of Gods displeasure aginst it he was fast naild unto the Crosse to note that wee should put sinne out of ease and leave noe lust or Corruption at large but crucifie the whole body thereof Lastly though he did not presently die yet there he did hang till he died to note that wee should never give over subduing sinne while it hath any life or working in us Thus the Death of Christ is the patterne of the death of sinne Thirdly It is Causa Obiectiva an Impelling or moving cause as Obiects are For Obiects have an Attractive Power Achaâ—… saw the wedge of gold and then Coveted it David saw Bathshâ—…ba and then desired her Therefore the apostle mentions Lusts of the Eye which are kindled by the Things of the world As the strength of imagination fixing upon a blackemooâ—…e on the wall made the woman bring forth a blacke child so there is â—… kinde of spirituall Imaginative power in faith to crucifie sinne by looking upon Christ Crucified As the Brasen Serpent did heale those who had been bitten by the fierie serpents 〈◊〉 obiectum fides meerly by being looked upon so Christ Crucified doth heale sin by being looked upon with the eyâ—… of faith Now faith lookes upon Christ crucified and bleeding First as the gift of his fathers love as a token and spectacle of more unsearchable and transcendent mercie then the comprehension of the whole hoast of Angels can reach unto And hereby the heart is ravished with love againe and with a gratefull desire of returning all our time parts powers services unto him who spared not the sonne of his owne love for us Secondly It looketh on him As a sacrifice for Sinne and Expiation thereof to