demonstrativus notans ipsum verbum fieri carnem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indefinite sumitur fine ullo articulo inde notans eum accepisse totam nostram naturam and that he was not formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary but that he passed through the womb of the Virgin as water passeth through a Conduit And dwelt amongst us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek Had his Tabernacle among us There are many other duties which only the Spirit teacheth as justification by faith alone the doctrine of the resurrection of the immortality of the soul of the happiness of the Saints in heaven and of the future torments of the wicked in hell The Schoolmen with their fine-spun distinctions and criticall questions do rather darken the minde of the Spirit in these waies than adde any further light unto them Their teachings are like the way of a serpent upon a stone very slippery and uncertain 4. The evil nature of finne The Spirit alone hath shewed unto us the evil nature of sinne It condemns an evil look a malitious thought Mat. 5. He that looks upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart Eph. 5.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 urbanitas apud Spiritum est vitium upud Aristoteleus est virtus 1 Thess 5. He that hâ—ttih his brother in his heart is a murderer It condemns jesting and evil speaking It is to be observed that that very word which Aristotle cals a vertue the Spirit of God terms a vice Jesting with Aristotle is a vertue with the Spirit of God it is a vice We are commanded to abstain from all appearance of evil To hate the very garments spotted with the flesh To resist the first motions and allurements to sinne Rom 7. I had not known sinne but by the Law for I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Unless the Word of God had told us and the Spirit of God had set down this for a certain truth that these motions to sin are sin we should never have known it or beleeved it These first motions were never counted for sinnes by any of the Heathen Philosophers or by the more refined wits of the Schoolmen only the Spirit hath pricked them down for sinnes That they are sinnes ☜ appears by this because they tempt a man to sinne If concupiscence were not a sinne it would never tempt a man to sinne for nothing bringeth forth sin formally but sinne Lust when it conceiveth it bringeth forth sin and sin when it conceiveth it bringeth forth death Ob. The wages of sin is death now if lust were a sinne it would bring forth death how then is it said that luft when it conceiveth bringeth forth sin and sin when it conceiveth bringeth forth death Resp St James in this place distinguisheth the severall sorts of sinnes There are some sinnes consummated and finished and those bring forth death but it followeth not that other sinnes bring not forth death but that they do not bring forth death to the same degree as those sinnes do for there are diversities of torments in hell and the best place in hell is very lamentable As he that cals his brother fool is worthy of hell fire Raca i.e. a fellow of no worth from the word Rik ovacuare yet it will not follow that he that cals his brother Raca is unworthy of it but that he is not worthy of it in the same degree and measure Lust it bringeth forth death but not to the same degree that sin consummated doth God judgeth the secrets of mens hearts that secret wickedness which is within us and reproves it and makes it manifest to our consciences Rom 2.16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of mens hearts according to my Gospel It is only the Spirit that condemneth heart-wickedness So saith Peter to Simon Magus Pray to God that the thought of thy heart might be forgiven thee The Laws of man do not reach to the conscience to heart wickedness to the secret inward abominations to which God and thy own conscience are conscious to Only the Law of the Spirit doth reprove this heart wickedness The Spirit of God it condemns hypocrisie when men will seem religious and would be counted true Christians though their hearts runne whoring after their base lusts When like a man at Oars they will row one way and look another Pretend for God and for Gods cause when their design is to carry on the interest of the flesh and of the devil When they will worship God and speak him fair to his face and give him a parcell of good words in a few formall words and in an externall lip-service when malice and covetousness and carnall lusts are in their hearts Matth. 23. How many woes hath Christ denounc'd against hypocrites Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites Externall worship is sufficient in mans sight but God requireth the heart and the whole heart Matth. 22.37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy might and with all thy strength Hypocrisie is no sinne in the worlds account but a criminall fault a crimson sinne in the sight of God Dost thou think to mock God and to put him off with shadows in stead of substance with thy formality in stead of sincerity Gal. 5. Be not deceived do not deceive your selves and think to put off God with any thing the heart of man is full of deceit deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked Why be not deceived why I will tell you for what a man soweth that shall he reap if ye sow chaff you shall reap chaff if you sow wheat you shall reap wheat Hypocrisie is an epidemicall sinne in this professing age Consider against this sinne Cor secundum Auagramma est Camera omnipotentis Regis The heart is the seat of the great King of heaven and earth the King of Kings and Lord of Lords God hath two places wherein he most especially is resident the highest heaven and the lowest heart In heaven he is by his glorious presence In an humble heart by his gracious presence 1. That all thy endeavours will be utterly lost unless thou hast an upright heart if thou praiest never so much if thy heart be not perfect with thy God all thy prayers will do thee no good As good not at all as never a whit the better 2. Consider that God judgeth a man and esteemeth of him according as his heart is if that be sincere thou art a sincere Christian but if that be rotten thou art unsavory in the sight of God 3. God answereth a man according to what is in his heart not according to what is in his lips when he praieth to him Thou art a drunkard or a whoremonger or a covetous wretch or an extortioner c. and thou comest as Gods people do and sittest before him and
Spirit moved upon the waters i. e. as a Hen lieth upon her brood cherishing it and giving it heat so did the Spirit of God lie upon that Chaos fomenting and cherishing it Psal 33.6 By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth 3. Adoration and worship is given to the Spirit Quod si Spiritus non esset persoua distincta sed tantum Dei virtus utique non possit in invocatione distinctae illius fieri mentio cum per particulam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aequalitèr distinctè persouae conjunguntur Si non esset Deus non esset adorandus which is only proper to God We are said to be baptized in the Name of the Father Sonne and of the holy Ghost And St Paul in his Epistles frequently The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the holy Ghost be with you all Amen 2 Cor. 13.14 Fifthly We have the end for which the Spirit is given i. e. That we might know the things which are freely given unto us of God Without the Spirit we are in the dark and we know not whither we go But of this hereafter Sixthly We have the adjunct or circumstance put to the things which are given unto us of God to wit that they are given freely That we might know the things which are freely given unto us of God How God is said to give us the things of salvation freely God gives and he gives freely liberally and bountifully and expects nothing at our hands but a thankfull heart The things of God are given freely upon a double account 1. In opposition to merit 2. In opposition to compulsion and unwillingness God gives freely in opposition to merit We deserve nothing at Gods hands but hell and destruction We merit hell but we merit nothing else Rom. 6.23 Primarily eternall death is meant there as appears by the Antithesis between life and death 1 Cor. 4.7 The wages of sinne is death i.e. all manner of death the death of afflictions temporal death eternall death but the gift of God is eternall life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our common mercies as life health peace liberty friends food for our bodies and the like are all from free-grace What hast thou that thou hast not received and that thou hast not received freely If our common mercies be of free-grace for every step we step is a step of mercy the breath we breathe forth is Gods breath and not our own if he taketh away our breath we perish how much more are spiritual things of free-grace which are more eminently called the things of God It is of Gods abundant grace and goodness that by his Spirit we might know our election of God ☜ God might have elected us unto everlasting life and we never have known it untill we should have enjoyed it We might have been left in despair and under a cloud of temptation all our daies had not God freely given unto us the earnest of his Spirit The Gospel or the glad tidings of peace and reconciliation through Jesus Christ is of free grace therefore it is called the Gospel of his grace Act. 14.3 So likewise Jesus Christ is a most signall fruit and effect of Gods free grace and love to mankinde Joh. 3 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Sonne c. Salvation by Jesus Christ it is of free-grace Eph. 2.5 By grace ye are saved All of grace and nothing of debt All from Gods love and nothing that is in us Gods good pleasure and his free-grace is the impulsive cause of all our mercies and that we are acquainted with those mysteries which were hid from all eternity Erigu me gratia divina sed terret me indignitas mea atqui si dignus essem jam non esset gratia sed merces si ex operibus utique non ex gratia gratia cuim non est gratia ullo modo nisi sit gratuita omni modo oie Gethardus untill these last ages Ascribe all to free grace and account thy self less than the least of all Gods mercies and unworthy of any smile or any favour from Gods hands So likewise God gives freely in opposition to compulsion or unwillingness say the Schoolmen Gods will is the cause of all things Eph. 1.11 Who worketh all things according to the counsell of his own will Nothing moves God to do good to poor sinners but the riches of his grace in Jesus Christ Remember this thou poor drooping soul that complainest by reason of the burden of thy sinnes and thinkest that the multitude of thy sinnes do exceed the greatness of Gods mercies As the most righteous man that ever lived could merit nothing at Gods hands or move God to bestow any thing upon him upon his own account so neither can the greatest sinner that ever lived hinder God or his sinnes put a stop in Gods way that he cannot shew him mercy in Jesus Christ if God be pleased to shew him mercy God sheweth mercy because he will shew mercy Rom. 9.15 Exod. 33.19 God is gracious because he will be gracious As all thy prayers tears duties fastings watchings can prevail nothing with God but upon the account of Jesus Christ so neither can thy unkindness thy unprofitableness thy sinfulness thy disingenuous and foolish carriage with the great God of heaven and earth keep God from shewing thee mercy God hath his therefores of mercy in himself and not in the creature Ezek. 30.18 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may have mercy upon you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have compassion upon you It is a strange therefore that hath no dependance upon the words foregoing but upon Gods infinite mercy God shews mercy because he delights in mercy God gives us heaven because he delights to magnifie his glory upon all the vessels of mercy And when we by our prayers at the Throne of grace obtain good things at the hand of God we do not change God but only those things which God had decreed from all eternity to give us upon the condition of our asking though not for our asking we receive in time when we beg them at Gods hands Ob. How can the things of salvation as Justification Adoption c. be freely given unto us of God Baxter in his excellent Book called the Saints Everlasting Rest seeing Christ Jesus hath purchased them for us Ans 1. The purchase of Christ doth not clash with the freeness of the things of God to us They were dear to Christ but free to us If the Father freely gives the Sonne and the Sonne freely paies the debt and if God freely accepts that way of payment when he might have required all which Christ hath done at our hands and if the Father and the Sonne and the holy Ghost do freely offer those things
much how much more will the way of reasoning of one spirit by strength of argument work upon another spirit Arguments are spirituall weapons ☜ and he that stands to argue the case with the devil fights with the devil with his own weapons Who is the great disputer of this world the great Sophister the great Logician but the devil He useth all sorts of arguments to raise fears and jealousies in the hearts of Gods people to drive them to despair and to keep wicked men in their carnall security and desperate presumption He is the spirit of this world he is the great agent that commonly sets all the wheels and the springs a going That drives furiously as Jehn did How Satan is said to be the spirit of the wicked world hurrying wicked men in their pernitious waies The devil is the spirit of the world upon a double account 1. He acts in the world and quickens and puts vigour and brings forth into act that originall corruption that lies rooted in the heart of all men by nature The work of the Spirit it is to give life and heat and motion to cherish and refresh to excite the parts to do their office Now as the Spirit of God moved upon the waters in the first Creation hovering over the Mosaicall matter fomenting and cherishing it so the evil spirit the devil moves upon the filthy puddles in our hearts hovering over that filthy corruption which is in us cherishing and fomenting that body of death which we carry aboot us As the Vulture loves to feed upon dead carkasses so the devil loves to rake up that stinking cartion matter which is in the hearts of all men by nature Now the devil is not only an assistant spirit to the world that sees the wheels a going as the assisting Angels are ☞ which Aristotle supposeth to set the primum mobile a work but he worketh with us and he worketh in the world Sometimes our hearts like a mint out of that abundance of corruption that is in them may coin evil things for sinne in the heart will appear in the life obscene and filthy words do naturally flow from a lustfull heart But yet the coin often carries upon it the devils stamp Pliny speaks of the scorpion that there is not one minute wherein it puts not forth the sting as being loth to lose any opportunity of doing mischief so Satan will lose no fit time to tempt us to draw us to his allurements that he might destroy us Burrought Moses choice if he sees us inventing mischief he will be sure to put to his helping hand Many times the devil is the father of evil thoughts but our own hearts are the mother the devil suggesteth but it 's our own hearts that conceive according to the Psal mist They conceive mischief and bring forth falshood It is the devil that blows up the fire of lust in our hearts and adds fuell to it by his delicious objects That makes men rush into sinne as the horse rusheth into the battell As we commonly say he must needs runne whom the devil drives Satan did but put it into Judas his heart to betray his Master and presently he sets about his business As soon as the devil had entred into him he runs headlong to the destruction of his immortall soul When a man hath winde and tide and the sails be up he must needs go apace Our affections are the sails our carnall interest and self-seeking is the tide and the devil is the winde If our sails are up ☜ and the tide favours us the stream of the times or our Dallilah lusts do prosper and the devil comes and addes winde to the tide and flatters us in our waies by promising us the same gales of prosperity still we fail apace and in abundance of delight for a time till at length we fall down into the Mare mortuum into the dead sea of everlasting misery Think upon this who with a full career swim down with the current of the times and care not whither you are carried so be it your carnall interest may prosper and that you may have the favour of a flattering world You are acted by the devil and certainly at death he will pay you your wages He is that filthy unclean Idolatrous spirit that keeps the world in their superstitious waies and which to this day beguiles the poor Indians and holds the greatest part of the world in Idolatry and Heathenish impiety to the great dishonour of the true God and to their own everlasting condemnation 2. He is the spirit of the world because he not only acts the world but also because the world willingly suffers it self to be acted by him Wicked men are said to be led captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 He leads them in a string to eternall perdition As a Falconer carries his Hawk upon his fist so the devil carries poor creatures They do not take up arms to fight against him Wicked men most properly are said to act evil And because they willingly submit themselves to the devil while they are acted by the devil they may be said to act because they do not resist him The godly are rather acted to evil than said to act evil because they do that which they allow not and which under a serious debate with themselves they utterly hate but they willingly subject themselves to his Government preferring the devil before Christ and these transitory enjoyments before the God of heaven I may say the world is a sworn enemy to Jesus Christ and a faithfull drudge to do the devils drudgery As Christ admits none but voluntiers and suffers none to be of his society but they that willingly submit themselves to his discipline so the devil hath a great army of voluntiers and they willingly accept of his tearms and conditions This only is the difference the godly do take Jesus Christ for their Lord and Saviour directly and as they serve Jesus Christ who is the great Master so they love him and embrace him for their Head and Governour but now the wicked world doth not directly take the devil to be their Lord and Master for the thought of a devil is odious in the hearts of all both good and bad and none would be said to be the devils servants but in as much as they voluntarily do his works and subject themselves to his yoke they may be said indirectly and by consequence not only to have the devil for their Lord Joh. 8. but for their father Ye are of your father the devil for his works ye will do 2. As the world hath Satan for its evil spirit so it hath another evil spirit to wit that imbred evil spirit of wickedness that naturall frame of spirit in the hearts of wicked men continually tending to the waies of sinne This worldly spirit this spirit of sinne or this sinfull spirit 1 Joh. 4.3 it is called