of original sin it having so many different members and parts which are so diversified and so compleat that they may make up a body which body if it be intertained shall certainly bring and occasion death So when he is under the strong convictions of his guilt and hath had a compleat discovery of himself you may see his exercise holden forth in these words O wretched man the word in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth one that is wearied with troublesome and continual combats with little apparent successe and this doth certainly import that he was a man much and continually taken up in wrestling against his corruptions and endeavouring to bring them unto subjection unto the obedience of Christ Iesus And ye may see likewayes in these words the way that Paul took to overcome his lusts he was much in the exercise of prayer for the words that we have read are indeed a short and pathetick prayer I conceive that word which is recorded in Isa. 38. 14. O Lord I am oppressed undertake for me is a sweet paraphrase upon these words Fourthly You may see his great and principal suit to have been deliverance from this body of death this captive exile was hastning to be delivered and looking out at the windowes of his Prison-house waiting till the Jaylor should come and open the doors and take his chains and fetters from off his feet We confesse these shall not be fully taken off till we shal be passing thorow the door of our everlasting rest and then that woful and sad complaint shall take his everlasting adiew and farewell for if we may speak so the burial place of sin is before the door of our eternal rest it then ceaseth to be when we begin more eminently to have a beeing But may we not be ashamed and blush that we are not more in uttering those inexpressible sighs and groans of the spirit under the conviction of our sinfulnesse since this holy man who had no doubt attained unto a great length in mortification who had plucked out many right eyes and cut off many right hands and oft times returned victor after war was so much in groaning under his corruption O! but we have inverted strangely the way to heaven I conceive practical Antinomianisme is an Epidemick error in these dayes Many think that it is below a regenerat man to mourn and to sit down and lament over the body of death we know not what it is to make our bed to swim with tears and to be bedewing the way to Zion when our faces are thither ward ye conceive that it is a lesson to be practised and learned by those in a lower classe and those who are learning so to speak the Rudiments of Christianity and not to be exercised by those who are now advanced unto the high classe of Christianity that being as it were in our apprehension a degrading of your selves from that pitch of perfection unto which in your imagination you have attained but believe me it is a work not below the eldest Christian nor above the youngest believer and the more one be old in reality in Religion this work will alwayes be new in their practice I shall only give you that divine counsel of a holy man who desired Christians to set about the mortification of their lusts as though they had never been taken up in that duty before each day to set about to mortifie not as a proficient but as a beginner who hath never made any progresse in that blessed work Now in speaking upon Pauls exercise which is here holden forth that he was continually exercised in wrestling against those corruptions and that body of death that was in him we need not stand long to prove that it is the duty of a Christian to be so exercised and taken up there is somewhat of that implyed in that word Act. 24. 16. And it is more clearly pressed Col. 3 5. Eph. 6. 13. and 1 Cor. 5. 7. And no doubt if a Christian did reflect more upon the nature of sin and consider that by it difformity with God is increased and precious conformity with him lost and did we take up sin in its wofull effects that it worketh death and involveth us under the curse of a living God we would be more constant in this spiritual warfare O! but Christians thorow want of the apprehension of these are much disinabled to stand fast to that liherty wherewith Christ hath made them free and oft-times entangled themselves again with the yoke of bondage So that I conceive if God were coming to give a name to the Christians of this generation he might call us Isfachar because we do now croutch down under two burdens and are become servants unto tribute and even those that are more refined and tender in their walk in those dayes he might call them Reuben because they are unstable as water which marreth their excellency But that which first we shall speak to is how the wrestlings of a natural man against the body of death and those corruptions that are within him may be distinguished from the wrestlings of one that is really godly And first we conceive that it is without debate and controversie that a man altogether unregenerate by natures light may be put on to mortifie if so we may speak and contradict those sins which are most sensual and grosse natures light including an antipathy and detestation of those things within it self though we confesse thorow the depravement of our nature those sins which fall under the sphere of natures mortification are now abridged unto a small sum it being not now refined and clear as it was when man was in the estate of innocence Secondly another sort may from some common qualification oppose some sins as those that are of more heroick and refined spirits will have detestation against covetousnesse and other sins of that nature and so in some sense may endeavour the mortification of these things Thirdly the same may a natural man do by such a conviction of the holy Ghost as is but a common work of the spirit he may be put on to mortifie these sins that are more visible and some what grosse in their nature as is clear from the practice of those who cleanse the outside of the platter and studies to have an outward conformity unto the law of God notwithstanding of that inward and secret antipathy against the strictnesse of his law yea more a natural man who hath some predominant evil may endeavour and will atempt to wrestle against that sin which is in a direct line of opposition against it as one that is given to that vice of covetousnesse he will study to mortifie that vice of prodigality those being two opposit vices Now from all these we may conclude that upon every opposition which we use against our corruptions it is not safe to infer that we are really ingaged in this spiritual warfare it being we think another
ye may take it up in its nature and in its effects I think if one should come from the dead having the chains of everlasting wrath wreathed about his feet and the sheckles of the fury of the Lord wreathed about his hands and should preach to you concerning the nature of sin and how damnable a thing it is there are many who would not take heed much to such doctrine Now that which thirdly we proposed to speak to from these words was the difficulty to attain to Mortification which we conceive was held forth under that word Crucify which doth import that Mortification is a longsome work as crucifying was a longsome death as likewayes it doth import that Mortification was a painful work as crucifying was one of the most painful deaths And like wayes it holds forth the intensive nature of Mortification that a Christian should study not to be content until he did kill corruption And concerning these three we shall speak together And we shall point out the difficulty of attaining to Mortification in these things Is there not this which points out the difficulty of it that there is a woful unity of affection betwixt us and our lusts they are dear to us as the right eye and our right hand and right foot And I confesse to convince you of that unity that is betwixt you and your lusts I think that expression which ordinarily ye use when one is reproving you for your passion or for your swearing may suffice ye will answer what aileth you at me which doth speak this that you say your lusts and you are one And I confesse Paul hath an expression like this Rom. 7 8. I know saith he that in me dwelleth no good thing There are two me 's in a Christian there is a spiritual and a refined Me there is a carnal and a wicked Me as Paul doth distinguish them in that verse I know saith he that in me dwelleth no good thing and yet he subjoyneth In me to will that is present which is one good thing And we confesse that word is accomplished in Me They are joyned to their idols let them alone There is that secondly which pointeth out the difficulty of Mortification and it is the strength of those lusts that are within us we think the Scripture is so abundant in pointing out the strength of sin that we need not speak much to it there is that expression Rom. 8. 2. which is a most strange word it is there called the law of sin and of death as it were sin pleads for as much subjection from us as if we were tyed by law to obey it And in that verse there is a sweet contrariety of laws the law of the spirit of life hath made me free from the law of sin and of death If so we may speak there is in a manner one decree and statute of heaven declaring another to be null for it was a law in heaven that we should be under death because we were under sin but behold here is a posterior law that doth sweetly reduce this prior law and it is the law of the Spirit of life As likewayes that expression pointeth forth the strength of corruption which is 2 Cor. 10. 4. where he saith we are to fight for the pulling down of strong holds as it were sin fortifieth it self within our bosome and we confesse if this were believed we should study to mortify our corruptions with a great deal of more pains and constancy There is this likewayes which pointeth it out and it is the deceitfulnesse of our lusts and the subtilty which they vent in their deceiving of us which is clear from that expression Iam. 1. 14. When a man saith he is drawn away and entised of his lusts the word there that is rendered entised is taken from the fishers who deceive the silly fishes with an apparent bait of pleasure We confesse these two are the great obstrucions of a Christians progresse to heaven there are temptations of fear and there are temptations from advantage which two if they were removed we might with greater facility overcome our lusts and sing a song of triumph over our Idols oft-times that expression is recorded the deceitfulness of sin we confesse if this were believed we would use a more divine and holy prudence least we should be ensnared And to shut up our discourse upon Mortification upon which we have been speaking so long we shall only speak a little to obviat any mistake that may be about the difficulty of any Mortification which shall include that which we intended to speak upon which was the certainty of overcoming And that which first we would say unto you is this Be perswaded of this that there is more divine satisfaction in the resisting of your lusts and wrestling against them then there is in the actual fruition of them all that word of Solomons Stollen waters are sweet saith the adulterous woman but at last they shall be convinced of the contrary and that word which he speaketh Bread of deceit is pleasant to the mouth but he knoweth not that the dead are there c. And we think the Apostle sweetly chydeth the Romans concerning this thing What fruit have you of those things whereof you are now ashamed it is sad to think upon that woful disappointment that many shall meet with There is this which we would likewayes say that there is a divine certainty of a Christians overcoming let the difficulties be never so many and O beloved in the Lord are not these glad tidings from a far country and may be as cold water to a thirsty mans soul that a Christian shall once overcome And I confesse there are these four things that speak the certainty of a Christians overcoming 1. The faithfulnesse and the love of Jesus Christ is laid in pawn for our overcoming which is clear from that Joh. 6. 39. And this is the fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should losse nothing but should raise it up again at the last day And we confesse this is certain it is more of Christs concernment that a believer should overcome then it is of his own O! what songs to the faithfulnesse of Christ what songs to his love shall be sung that day when the precious troup of his Saints shall return from the day of judgment and that general infare shall be of all those that have been begotten unto a lively hope when they shall convey Christ home through the ports of the new Ierusalem every one having a harp of God in his hand and shall cry forth Halelujab Halelujab to him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the lamb for ever and ever that song shall have no period though it have a beginning There is this likewayes which pointeth forth their certainty of overcoming Christ hath overcome and therefore a Christian shall overcome It was the sweet divinity of the Apostle Paul Heh
and tribulations in our spiritual warfare we must enter there It is much indeed for a Christian to die a victor after warre though not a triumpher that must come after death and the trophies and rewards of our victory shall then be fully given to us when our feet shall stand within the gates of the new Ierusalem and when we shall receive these two glorious and everlasting badges of our victory a crown set upon our head having this written upon it It endureth for ever A motto which could never be engraven upon any Crown here below and a Palm put in our hands and then indeed shall we sing as those that divide the spoil when we have led captivity captive and fitten down upon a Throne which is established for ever And we conceive much divine reflection and holy contemplation upon that precious recompence of reward and that high and unconceivable pitch of dignity unto which belivers and overcomers are to be advanced would make us with much cheerfulness and alacrity undergo this spiritual warfare And yet all our triumphing is not suspended till our war be ended believe me there is more real joy in the victory and vanquishing of one lust yea more divine satisfaction in a serious pursute and contending with them though with very small successe to our apprehension than in the actuall enjoyment and fruition of all thy lusts Thou may hide sin under thy tongue and have it pleasant to thy taste yet at last it shall be as the gall of asps and the poison of dragons O! put on so much holy generosity and spiritual ambition that though Satan should offer unto thee all the Kingdoms of the world that thou may fall down and worship him thou mayest cry forth in holy zeal and indignation Get the hehind me Sathan O! that deceitfull oratory and malitious guile wherewith he ensnareth immortal souls and brings them into subjection O! but the depths of Satan are subtile and great And he is a man of understanding that can draw them out and not be ignorant of his devices and except we be helped by the candle of the Lord that discovereth the inward parts of the belly to know these mysterious subtilties of him whose name is A deceiver they will remain still riddles and mysteries to us But since we are compassed about with this body of death and there is a law in our members rebelling against the law of our minde we should be much in groaning for the day of our redemption when the lawfull captive may be delivered and the prey taken from the mighty and that blessed decree may come forth O prisoners of hope go forth and shew your selves We are afraid that the Christians of this generation have proclaimed a cessation of armes and have concluded a treaty of peace with their lusts and a league not only offensive but shall I adde this even defensive not only that we shall offend our lusts but shall defend them and if once we have sealed this treaty and agreement with our Idols what can they require more at our hands We conceive we may sadly allude unto that word that there is not one amongst fourty thousand in Israel with whom there is a spear and sheild seen in contending in this holy warfare O! can such a delusion as this overtake you that ye can be an overcomer without fighting is your strength greater then those that have gone before you that you think you can accomplish this war in one day and pursue your enemies till ye overtake and consume them O! when shall that day be when we shall be groaning forth dayly this mournfull dittay O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death In the words we conceive first there is a sweet and pleasant emphasis in that word me speaking so much that if infinite power and grace were capable of any limitation and there could be any bounds fixed to it Paul did conceive he was the bounds and limits of infinite power and grace if there were an impossibility for grace to save any sinner it should be impossible for grace to have saved him who was the chiefest of sinners and lesse then the least of all Saints And if each Christian did look upon himself as the greatest debter to the Justice of God his debt to the infinite grace of God should appear more singular Secondly we may perceive that a Christians happinesse doth consist in a sweet exchange of dominion and governments Once sin doth reign in his mortal body and he is under the dominion of his lusts but then grace doth step in and exauctorats and dethrones the former King and doth reign in the temple of our heart This is clear Rom. 5. last and that is a remarkable word which is there that grace may reign the word in the original doth signifie so much that grace may play the King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this fulnesse of graces dominion is that the Apostle would be at here And certainly there is no repentance of this exchange of Masters There is much noise and rumour of complaints amongst people in these dayes of the exchange of governments from one species of government to another we shall leave these debates unto men who desire to exercise their spirits about them but sure we are of this that those who are given up to this change shall have it passe as most legitimat and lawfull by the divine approbation both of angels and of the souls of just men now made perfect Thirdly the way that Paul taketh here to propose his complaint under the strong prevalency of the body of death by way of question who shall deliver me doth not import any hesitation about his perswasion of certainty that he at last should sing a song of triumph over his lusts but only that it would be among the richest and the most singular monuments and trophies of the victorie of Christ to save him Paul did no doubt conceive that amongst all the royall monuments of Christs conquest that should be as it were hanged about the walls of that higher and glorious palace Paul should be put in the highest place as having least merit to bring him there if there could be any merit at all and most love and grace Now to come more particulary to the words after Paul hath most divinely set forth that woful opposition and contradiction that was betwixt the unrenewed part and the renewed and what strong dominion sin had over him he doth in these words breath out a sweet desire to be delivered not only from his actual corruption but from his original guilt which here he calleth the body of this death not only because corruption is a thing which may be easily discerned and known to us it being so to speak a thing which may fall under the object of our sight being no spirit but a body but also because of these great multitudes of corruptions that flow from that root
the commendation of victory over a mans self Tunc omnia regna tenebis cum poteris rex esse tui ye shall then be made a possessor of all kingdoms when ye shall be made a ruler and king of your self And no doubt one that is once mortified to this passion of discontent he may dwell upon the Mountains of Ararat in the midst of all the revolutions and changes that are here below such a Christian may sweetly contemplat the overturning of Estates and Common-wealths and may patiently endure every lot that doth befall him and possesse his soul in patience And certainly if men knew but this one thing that the whole circumference of the earth is but one point of the Universe and that all time that hath been is or shall be is but one instant in comparison of eternity and what is man but a part of that point and what is his life but a small part of that instant And why then should man anxiously complain to spend a part of a moment in enduring the most anxious and sad things that can befall him And as Christ doth most divinely speak Can a man by taking thought adde one cubit to his stature what poor advantage hath a man by his discontentment and sorrow if it be not to render himself more miserable we may say of heavenly-mindednesse and of contentment they are like Hippocrates Twins that live and die together they are two sweet companions that alwayes go along together and cannot be divided But to descend a little more to the words you have Paul in them obviating any misconstruction that the Philippians might have of his joy which he expresseth in the former verse as if he had been one that was coveting great things for himself or desiring to be great in the world no saith he I speak not these things because of want which formerly I had and is now made up for saith he I have learned in every estate that I am therewith to be content There is no lot saith Paul but I can patiently endure it and can with a divine complacency carry my self under it And this he proveth in the 1 2. verse I know saith he how to be debased I am instructed in this divine art how to walk soberly under debasement and I know saith he how to abound I am not one that is puft up with a prosperous lot in the world And least this assertion of Pauls should seem to be a boasting beyond his line and of being exalted above measure he doth sweetly subjoyn that humble assertion I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me As if he would have said do not mistake me or conceive me under a more divine and high notion then ye ought for I am but a poor and sinful man who can do nothing of my self but as I am over-acted by a divine and supreme hand I am enabled to triumph over the most adverse and sinistrous lot that can befal me The words which we have read in the original they are most significant and emphatick that word which is here rendered Content is All sufficient and so the words may sweetly run thus I have learned in every estate wherein I am to be all-sufficient of which that word Pro. 14. 14. Is a sweet commentary The back-slider in heart shall be filled with the fruit of his own way but a godly man shall be satisfied from himself In a manner there is a well-spring of everlasting consolation with in the Christian which maketh him endure every anxious lot And no doubt that word I have learned doth both speak the difficulty of attaining this mystery of divine contentment as likewayes it speaketh out that ignorance of this divine and noble end wherewith Paul was once possessed I was once saith he as rude as any in the knowledge of this thing but now through the understanding wisdom of God I am made perfect in the knowledge of these things And that word in every estate doth exceedingly commend that great pitch of Christianity unto which Paul had attained there was no lot that could befal him wrong And we shall only say this by the way continuance of affliction is one of the greatest occasions of impatience that is imaginable A Christian when first he meets with a cross may be provoked to salute it and embrace it but if it be lengthened out upon him then he cryeth forth hast thou found me O thou mine enemy and then beginneth to call in question the loving kindness of the Lord and to complain that he hath shut up his mercies in everlasting forgetfulnesse though we may say in the day that a Christian shall be passing thorow the valley of the shadow of death he shall be sweetly convinced of his impatiency when a Christian shall be constrained to engrave that Motto upon the door of his everlasting rest he hath done all things well What thoughts will ye have of these risings and debatings of spirit wherewith ye have been possessed We may imagine and not without some ground that a great part of eternity shall be spent in interrogations Christ shall interrogate us if we laked any thing while we were here below and we shall be constrained to answer nothing even in that day when he sent us forth without scrip or money or without sandals or any thing and those that did belong to us we shall be constrained to subscribe to the infinit wisdom of God in regulating of our lot Now in speaking upon this divine quality and duty of divine contentment which we conceive is a duty most requisit in these dayes we shall not insist long in pointing out what this divine grace of contentment is but we conceive it includeth not only this a sweet and composed frame of spirit under every anxious lot and dispensation with which we meet of which that word is a commentary Lev. 10. 3. where it is said of Aaron when his sons were cut off He held his peace and that word Psal. 62. 1. Truly my soul waiteth upon the Lord But the words in the original are this Truly my soul be thou silent unto God as they are rendered in the margine of the book as if he would have said do not fret nor be disquieted because of any thing that he carveth out unto thee But likewayes this grace and duty of contentment includeth a holy complaceney and sweet serenity and calmness of spirit under every lot of which that word is a commentary Jam. 1. 2. Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations and that word Rom. 5. 3. We glory in tribulation Neither shall we dwell long upon this to prove that it is the duty of a Christian to be content with every estate wherein God shall put him This is clear 1 Tim. 6. 8. Having food and raiment let us therewith be content and Heb. 13. 5. Be content with these things that you have and Iam. 4. 7. and Luk. 3. 14. And we may