after the flesh ye shall die but if thro' the spirit ye do mortifie the deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8.6 13. and again he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.8 and again in the latter respect only Rom. 7.5 The motions of sin do work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death And indeed I am apt to believe that all the reveal'd Precepts of God are only Warnings of the Events of Things what will fatally follow the kind of our Moral Behaviour or Actions and the bent of our Minds one way or t'other not what is arbitrarily dispens'd upon them and methinks this more answers the wisdom of God when things are so constituted that Mens Fortunes attend the Habitudes they are under and follow their free Actions or the Dispositions they have brought into their Minds by that means This renders God as kind to us as we will be to our selves he thus putting our Happiness in our own hands that thro' the Helps he has afforded us in his beloved Son we may obtain it to what degree we please and this acquits him of Severity which some call Injustice on the account of eternal Punishments for Temporary Faults when these are the Fates of Mens Aversion to him the wicked Temper they have voluntarily acquir'd and made in themselves I do not deny but that there will be both positive Rewards and Punishments but these are still founded and have their Cause in our own Tempers And I cannot think but the contrary Doctrine that the Heavenly Felicites are merely with respect to a tenour of Obedience that may be such an outside business without deriving its effect to the Heart and not on the ground of such an Effect or internal Habit I cannot think but this lessens the Notion of the Divine Wisdom as it takes away the relation of the two States this and that of Heaven to one another not making their Happiness both of a piece the same Temper or Principle with their proper Enjoyments carry'd on to their perfection there and as it puts the Circumstances of the next World Blessedness or Misery only upon an arbitrary Decree of God not so corresponding with the Natures of things or consequential to them Nor seems it a consistent or agreeable Proceeding with a free Creature that he should have any Events attending him but what are as it were necessary upon him the Results of that Temper he has form'd in him But that we may even have the experience of this Doctrine or observe it in others we plainly see that Habits of Life determine the sort and found the most affecting Relish or Sense of all the Enjoyments we have nay that this Relish commonly lasts not to say always after the proper time is over of pursuing those Acts from whence it was as Plutarch tells us concerning the old Olympick Wrestlers who had safely come off from so many hazards that they mainly delighted to be Spectators of those savage Exercises when years had depriv'd them of the Honour as they esteem'd it of being Parties themselves viz. of spilling their own Blood or that of others in them And we may every day sadly remark in worn out Debauchees among our selves how their Vices stick in their decrepid Natures and what polluted Souls they carry about with them and if this be so as to Vitious Courses when People are disabl'd from acting any more the wicked Instance much more will it hold with regard to the Habits of a Holy Life where the capacity of the Vertuous Act not only continues but is ever increas'd with a farther complacency that must likewise attend it Thus we lay the Foundation of our after State whether Happiness or Misery from our own Behaviour Heaven possesses us according to our Improvements of a Gospel Vertue or Hell seizes us while we persist in our Evil Courses these begin here the one and the other how they will increase or enlarge of themselves in a Spiritual World tho' we may pretty well guess at this part and what positive degrees may be added to either of them what Light and Glory or what inflicted Punishment we cannot tell farther than Revelation teaches us but be sure they are both dispens'd being said to be Recompenses and eternal too upon the ground of the use of our Wills or our voluntary Behaviour as that has wrought certain Dispositions in us or to speak the Pythagorean Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocl p. 314. as by our growth and increase in Holiness the Assimilation That founds to all good Spirits Angels and God we prepare our selves to be Partners with them in the freest Communications of that infinite Being whereon depends all the Happiness of created Natures as well theirs as ours We are thus to be quickned thro' the Efficacy of the Spirit and our earnest Diligence or Strivings with him a Christian Temper a Habit of the highest Gospel-Righteousness is thus to be obtain'd or laid in our Minds And I think no more can be urg'd to engage us to the attainment thereof than that 't will make us as knowing in the best kind and as happy as we can possibly be or our Natures will admit of both here and hereafter unless that will more prevail that the neglect of this or the contrary Habit from a course of Sin will render us miserable to the same degrees which is a matter of equal Truth and a more forcible Argument with most People tho' it express a great Depravity and Disingenuity in them That therefore by all the most prevailing Means and Motives that can be offer'd a reasonable Creature we may arrive at a State of Holiness even according to the Doctrines of our blessed Saviour God of his infinite Mercy grant thro' the Mediation of this blessed Saviour and in the helps of the eternal Spirit to whom three Persons and one undivided Essence or Nature be eternally ascrib'd by us and every Creature in Heaven and Earth all Honour Glory Thanksgiving and Praise Amen Amen THE END
A Description of the Unregenerate and the truly Christian Temper or State IN A SERMON PREACH'D before the University of Cambridge ON COMMENCEMENT SUNDAY In the Forenoon June 30. 1700. By JOHN GASKARTH D. D. Sometimes Fellow of Pembroke-Hall now Vicar of Alhallows Barking London 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyss Orat. Catechet 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Paed. l. 3. c. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12.14 CAMBRIDGE Printed at the UNIVERSITY PRESS for Edmund Jeffery Bookseller in Cambridge 1700. Ephes II. 1. And you hath he quickned who were dead in in trespasses and sins THE Apostle applies this as a general Doctrine not only to the Gentiles but even to the best of those Educated under the Mosaic Discipline himself and his other Fellow-Apostles ver 3. which he likewise declares Tit. 3.3 The word Quickned here is not in the original Greek but the parallel place Col. 2.13 plainly proves that our Author had it now in his mind likewise that 't is well supply'd by our Translators Indeed we find it expresly set down nearer hand even in a continu'd Sentence with the Text and as it were a Repetition of it ver 5. So that we may be sure of our English rendring of these words And as on the one part they belong to all whether in a mere State of Nature or under the Legal Dispensation or those that rest in a formal profession of the Gospel only not being enliven'd by the Grace and Spirit that Christ purchased or as they denote on the other that smaller number of true Christians who from a sinful course of Life according to the corrupt desires of Flesh are recover'd by the Spirit of holiness Rom. 1.4 the great Life-giving Gospel-principle into a Vertuous Demeanour the proper Exercises of our reasonable kind Justice Godliness Temperance Humility in their most exalted Christian degree as the Text has this Latitude or Comprehension in it I shall first explain both these Phrases Dead in sins and enlivened or quickned which divide the two Worlds of Mankind the Ungodly and the Righteous pretenders only and true Believers and then proceed on proper Heads of discourse from them First then dead in sins or thro' their effect cannot here refer to this Animal Life tho' Death often in this sense a shorter period of this Animal-Life than our natural Frame would otherwise arrive at is the consequence of a course of Sin but dead in this place must have another relation to a higher Life and Nature in us which Sin destroys And that is indeed a Spiritual Sensation a just Perception and relish of the Soul as to its proper Objects while it exercises its Faculties more separately from Body that portion of Matter with which it is vitally conjoyn'd not in pursuance of sensual Propensions or â—nder the influence of these but retaining its Liberty or Dominion over them with the true Apprehensions at first given it and by this means chusing or determining it self to right Moral Instances it becomes more capable of the displays of Grace and is more freely acted by them This is the true Life of Man when his Reasonable part lives in him he judges and tasts by his Mind alone and his best Faculties and then enjoys the plentiful effusions and beams of the Spirit and so in His Light sees Light that is knows things with the fullest evidence even in the demonstration of this blessed Agent as I may so speak This true Life is destroy'd by Sin or Men are dead to it thro' the habits thereof while the Mind thus descends from its pure Acts and forms its Judgments only with regard to the Ideas of Sense and in confusion with them and so must also be depriv'd of the freer influences of Divine Grace by that means Now Quickned is when from this sunk this liveless State by a true Repentance and thro' the Communications of the holy Spirit the privilege of Repentance and strength to perform it being both purchased for us by the meritorious Sacrifice of Christ quickned is when from this sunk this liveless State we are thus restor'd to an uncaptivated use of our Minds the true Apprehensions the right Judgments belonging to them and have the Rays of Grace more freely acting our Minds or Spirits to deliver them more from the straitness of Sense enlarge their Capacities beyond themselves and carry them to several advances of Knowledge in the way of Godliness that could be no proper Acquirements of theirs or result from them however honestly prepar'd and exercis'd Thus we attain the utmost advantages of reasonable Creatures or become Christians indeed Let us now see how these two Principles which define the Unregenerate and the Regenerate State Dead in sin and dead to sin so frequent Phrases in the New Testament how each of these will act or operate in the several Obligations Mankind are under with respect to themselves the other individuals of Humane Nature their Brethren and God as likewise take notice of the Fates and Consequences that attend these both And this lower Principle when it determines or governs the Man only prompts to the pleasures of Sense as corrupt Nature has the strongest Byass or stands most inclin'd in several Persons Some it drives on to the grossest Satisfactions an eager pursuance of the Affections of Flesh Lusts properly so call'd That most war against the Soul most hinder its native Aspirings and Powers and even degrade it from the eminency of its Nature its Spiritual Kind that it can employ none of its Faculties on its proper Objects not even on the eternal Being himself whose Image it is and in Communion with whom its truest its chiefest felicity consists but only use them with respect to the Body wherein 't is so immersed to invent some new sensual Entertainments or more enjoy the experienc'd Instances of this Brutish sort or Apologize for them And this the Heathen World who had the Rules of Morality of their own making not being bless'd with Revelation an inspir'd Law true Reason declar'd and enacted by God affords us a dismal example of even in some who were of the most refin'd Thoughts the most rais'd Philosophy among them And 't would be well if many enjoying the advantages of the Gospel in an utter rejection of these advantages and despite of the Spirit of Grace too that more largely accompanies this Dispensation did not still both pursue and defend or maintain such wicked Courses And the reason of these Men is not only thus warp'd to patronize Sin and imploy it self in Fruitless searches of still some new sensual Delights the lawful and allow'd Instances whereof that are without Remorses also ever affording the greatest I say the reason of these Men is not only thus warped but in a great measure defac'd and lost while they so far consent give themselves up to Carnal Relishes confus'd Satisfactions arising from Body as both to destroy those Relishes or Satisfactions thro' too vehement Indulgence of
the Deity whatsoever his sufferings may at any time be who has such dark Apprehensions thereof no grounds of a sure Faith in God so as to enjoy the mighty supports that even the notion of an infinite Being of such Moral Perfections affords Mankind and who is also under such opposite Habits so quite contrarily dispos'd to him that he can no ways partake of him in his blisful Emanations that so freely descend on every Individual of the reasonable World where they are not repuls'd or where a right temper and frame of Spirit can receive them These are the Miseries that accompany an Unregenerate State if they were not rather to be felt than describ'd even in this World But the dismal Scene commences after here are some intervals of a pleasurable Entertainment such as the sensual Faculties afford and compensate Men withal in this state where their alluring Objects are and they can exert their proper Acts tho' these Pleasures be of an inferiour kind below the great Enjoyments belonging to Men and engage such Fatigues in the purchase of them and ever defeat our Promises from them and are so short liv'd at the best But when we come into the spiritual World where the Objects are of a refined Nature and require such Faculties and tasts in us the sensitive Scene being over and finish'd with its whole delights we must then be capable of enjoying God and living upon him in the pure Exercises that refer to him or else we must needs be miserable for ever But it must be by a habit of rectify'd Reason thro' the privileges of the Gospel a spiritual Sensation advanc'd in our Minds by a due Observance of all the parts of a Christian Vertue that these viz. our Minds can be able to exert their own Powers and follow the Tendences that are born in them perceive and relish abstractedly and freely from the infection of Body 't is this alone that can render us qualify'd and truly prepare us for that great Imployment our utmost felicity of Conversing with God and his dwelling in us or we in him 1 John 3.24.4.12 13. But this Principle is dead in profligate Sinners the contrary temper a sensual Habit not slain in the opportunity allow'd for that purpose possessing their Souls and therefore unless this can be mortify'd and the other reviv'd in our after Mansions which the Scriptures afford us no hopes of they being only alive to the things of sense and this World as they went off hence must ever be coveting quite unattainable Satisfactions there with bitter Resentments eager Remorses among vain Desires and shall be able to partake of no blisful Entertainments even when they are in the proper Region where these chiefly are This is the spiritual Death or Death of Sin when the first Propension of the Soul towards God is diverted and lost thro' Foreign Desires promoted in it from its Commerce with this gross Body its habitual pursuance of the Delights of Sense and its Communion intercepted with that only true beatifying Object that it cannot imploy it self upon him in a pure Contemplation of his boundless Attributes which is one part of the great Happiness of Intelligent Creatures nor admit his gracious Influences into it but standing quite in another Inclination to a sensual State now dismiss'd and gone that only had its Reason for our Probation a little while it will ever be hankering after these poor Vanities like the Israelites when they were remov'd from Egypt except as was intimated before its present habit can be chang'd even here in this second Life which is a Dependance altogether groundless nay which has the greatest Argument against it when People have neglected the accepted Time the Day of Salvation graciously offer'd them or except God in the effect of his infinite Goodness would render us happy as it were forcibly without our selves which is impossible the nature of Happiness being such that it must ever proceed from a voluntary Spring and free Actions in a reasonable Being tho' God declaring even his infinite Goodness in other particulars all with relation to this World and our attainment of Holiness here we may be well satisfy'd that such a forcible change of Mens Tempers if it could be would be no proper Instance of his goodness and that no Reserves thereof are to be expected afterwards This is the sad dismal State with the Infelicities that attend Mankind in both Worlds without the Benefits of a Redeemer and being Born again or Renew'd in the Spirit of their Minds thro' him What positive Punishment and to what degree may be poured forth on such Rebels to their Maker nay who have not only contemn'd his Authority but insulted his Mercy in Christ Jesus trodden under foot the Son of God and the Ransom he purchas'd with his own Blood we cannot define however we may be certain from the Expressions of Scripture whether literally taken or to denote Sufferings by Metaphorical Language that these shall be very grievous ones tho' if they should be our own Portion we must confess such Offenders deserve Let us now see how our Redeemer has deliver'd us out of this State and what we must contribute towards our complete our entire Deliverance from our selves as likewise how the Redeemed viz. true Christians will behave themselves and what their Happiness redounding thence must be And as to the Benefits we partake of from Christ we are fully assur'd that he Mediated for us who were in a State of Enmity with God by his own Blood offer'd himself a Propitiation and Sacrifice on our behalf the Dignity of whose Person he being as far exalted above all the Orders or Degrees of Angels as the Creator of them is and the voluntariness of the Oblation entring into the Atonement and adding an infinite Merit to it he not only procur'd us the Favour of God Remission our Pardon of all our Offences on the only possible Term of our Happiness a true Repentance but likewise obtain'd such Communications of the Spirit to be even a preventing Influence and conferr'd upon us without any Preparedness in our Tempers for them as the first Graces are so conferred according to the manifold Testimonies of Scripture Phil. 2.13 Eph. 2.3 4. 2 Tim. 1.9 Tit. 3.5 John 15.16 or else we could never be partakers of them in our fallen State And we may even demonstrate these from Experience we often find such workings in our Minds as could not probably proceed from them in the use of their own Faculties as Checks of Conscience then pursuing us while we are just about engaging in any unwarrantable Act and the Animal Affections being afloat overcome Consideration and will not admit of any sober Thought as likewise immediate Instantaneous Enlightnings sudden Admonitions cast into us concerning some important Duty or Behaviour whereas the progress of Reason is in a Chain of Things by Deductions or Inferences and the Lessons it teaches in the just and due Exercise of it self not as