that is requir'd then as that Persian King who could not find out a Law to warrant the particular which hee would have done found out another That hee might doe what hee would so sinne when it hath no reason to alleage yet it hath Selfe-will that is all Lawes in one Gen. 49. 6. 2. Pet. 2. 10. Rom. 7. 23. In one word the strong man is furnished with a whole Armour Secondly sinne is a Husband Rom. 7. 1. 5. and so it hath the power of love which the wise Man saith is as strong as death that will have no deniall when it comes S. Paul tels vs there is a constraining power in love 2. Cor. 5. 14. Who stronger then Sampson and who weaker then a woman yet by love she overcame him whom all the Philistimes were unable to deale with Now as betweene a man and a strumpet so betweene lust and the heart there are first certaine cursed dalliances and treaties by alluring temptations the heart is drawne away from the sight of God and his Law and enticed and then followes the accomplishment of uncleannesse Iam. 1. 14. 15. This in the generall is that life or strength of sinne here spoken of Wee are next to observe that the ground of all this is the Law The sting of Death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law 1. Cor. 15. 56 1. Ioh. ◅ 4. from the Law it is that sinne hath both strength to condemne and to command us or have dominion over us Rom. 6. 14. Now the Law gives life or strength to sin three wayes First by the curse and obligation of it binding the soule with the guilt of sin unto the Iudgement of the great Day Every sinner hath the sentence past upon him already and in part executed He that beleeveth not is condemned already the wrath of God abideth on him All men come into the world with the wrath of God like a talent of lead upon their soule and it may all be pour'd out within one houre upon them there is but a span betweene them and judgement In which interim First the Law stops the mouth of a sinner Shuts him in and holds him fast under the guilt of his sinne Secondly it passeth sentence upon his soule sealing the assurance of condemnation and wrath to come Thirdly it beginneth even to put that sentence in execution with the spirit of bondage and of feare shaking the conscience wounding the spirit and scorching the heart with the pre-apprehensions of Hell making the soule see some portion of that tempest which hangeth over it rising out of that sea of sinne which is in his life and nature as the Prophets servant did the Cloud and so terrifying the soule with a certaine fearefull expectation of Iudgement Thus the Law strengthens sinne by putting into it a condemning power Secondly by the Irritation of the Law Sin tooke occasion saith the Apostle by the Law so by the commandement became exceeding sinnefull Rom. 7. 8. when lust finds it selfe universally restrain'd meets with Death and Hell at every turne can have no subterfuge nor evasion from the rigor and inexorablenesse of the Law then like a River that is stopt it riseth and fomes and rebels against the Law of the minde and fetcheth in all its force and opposition to rescue it selfe from that sword which heweth it in pieces And thus the Law is said to strengthen sinne not perse out of the Intention of the Law but by Accident antiperistasis exciting and provoking that strength which was in sinne before though undiscern'd and lesse operative For as the presence of an enemie doth actuate and call forth that malice which lay habitually in the heart before so the purity of the Law presenting it selfe to concupisence in every one of those fundamentall obliquities wherein it lay before undisturb'd and way laying the lust of the heart that it may have no passage doth provoke that habituall fiercenesse and rebellion which was in it before to lay about on all sides for its owne safety Thirdly by the conviction and manifestation of the Law laying open the widenesse of sinne to the conscience Man naturally is full of pride and selfe-love apt to thinke well of his spirituall estate upon presumptions and principles of his owne and though many professe to expect salvation frō Christ only yet in as much as they will be in Christ no way but their owne that shewes that still they rest in themselves for salvation This is that deceite and Guile of spirit which the scripture mentions which makes the way of a foole right in his owne eyes The Philosopher tells us of a Sea wherein by the hollownesse of the earth under it or some whirling and attractive propertie that sucks the vessell into it ships use to be cast away in the mid'st of a calme even so many mens soules doe gently perish in the mid'st of their owne securities and presumptions As the fish Polypus changeth himselfe into the colour of the Rock and then devoures those that come thither for shelter so doe men shape their mis-perswasions into a forme of Christ and faith in him and destroy themselves How many men rest in pharisaicall generalities plod on in their owne civilities moralities externall Iustice and unblameablenesse account any thing indiscretion and unnecessary strictnes that exceeds their owne modell every man in Hell that is worse then themselves I am not as this Publican and others that are better but in a fooles paradise and all this out of ignorance of the Law This here was the Apostles Case when he lived after the strictest sect of the Pharisies sin was dead he esteemed himself blamelesse but when the Commandement came discoverd its owne spiritualnes the carnalnesse of all his performances remou'd his curtald glosses and presumptuous prejudices opened the inordinatenes of natural concupiscence shewd how the lest atome doth spot the soule the smallest omission qualifie for hel make the conscience see those infinite sparkles and swarmes of lust that rise out of the hart and that God is all eye to see and all fire to consume every unclean thing that the smallest sins that are require the pretiousest of Christs blood to expiate and wash them out then he began to be co◅vinc'd that he was all this while under the Hold of Sinne that his conscience was yet under the paw of the Lyon as the Serpent that was dead in snow was reviu'd at the fire so sinne that seemes dead when it lies hid under the ignorances and misperswasions of a secure heart when either the Word of God which the Prophet calls fire or the last Iudgement shall open it unto the conscience it will undoubtedly revive againe and make a man finde himselfe in the mouth of Death Thus wee see that unto the Law belongs the Conviction of sinne and that in the whole compasse of evill that is in it Three hatefull evils are in
more love then strength therefore if it did not of us require strength to love but onely suppose it it could require no love neither for the Apostle tels us that by nature we are without strength So that if the meaning of the Law be onely this Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all the strength which thou hast and not this Thou shalt love him with all the strength that I require thee 〈◊〉 have and that I at first gave thee so that the strength and faculty as well as the love and duty may câ—…dere sub prâ—…cepto fall under the command the meaning of the Law would amount but to this Thou shalt not or needest not to love the Lord thy God at all because thou hast no strength so to doe and art not to be blamed for having none Thirdly it is not the being voluntary or involuntâ—… that doth make a thing sinfull or not sinfull but being opposite to the Rule which requires complete strength to serve God withall Now all a mans strength is not in his will the understanding affections and bodie have their strength which failing though the will bee never so prompt yet the worke is not done with that perfection which the Law requires yet withall wee are to note in this point two things First That originall sinne is â—…do voluntarie too because brought in by that will which was originally ours for this is a true rule in divinity Voluntas capitis totius naturae voluntas reputatur that Adams will was the will of all mankind and therfore this sinne being voluntarie in him and hereditarie unto us is esteemed in some sort voluntary unto us too Secondly that a thing may be voluntarie two wayes First efficienter when the will doth positively concurre to the thing which is done Secondly Deficienter when the will is in fault for the thing which is done though it were not done by it selfe For wee must note that all other faculties were at first appointed to be subject to the will were not to move but upon her allowance and conduct and therefore when lust doth prevent the consent and command of the will it is then manifest that the will is wanting to her office for to her it belongs to suppresse all contumacie and to forbid the doing of any illegall thing And in this sense I understand that frequent speech of Saint Austen That sinne is not sin except it be voluntarie that is sinne might altogether be prevented if the will it selfe had its primitive strength and were able to exercise uprightly that office of government and moderation over the whole man which at first it was appointed unto Which thing the same Father divinely hath expressed in his confessions What a monstrous thing is this saith he that the minde should command the body and be obeyed and that it should command it selfe and bee resisted His answer is The will is not a totall will and therefore the command is not a totall command for if the will were so throughlie an enemie to lust as it ought to be it would not be quiet till it had dis-throned it These things being premised wee conclude That as our nature is universally vitiated and defil'd by Adam so that pollution which from him wee derive is not onely the languor of nature the condition and calamitie of mankinde the wombe seed fomenter formative vertue of other sins but is it self truly and properly sin or to speak in the phrase of the Church of England hath of it selfe the nature of sin First where there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transgression there is sin in this sin there is more for there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rebellion and antipathie against the whole Law therefore concupiscence is sin Secondly That which inferres death and makes men naturally children of wrath is sinne but lust and fleshly concupiscence reviving bringeth death and wrath therefore it is sinne Thirdly where there is an excesse of sinne that thing must needs be sinfull but concupiscence by the commandement is exceeding sinfull ergo Fourthly that which is hatefull is evill and sinfull for God made all things beautifull and good and therefore very lovely but concupiscence is hatefull what I hate that I do Fifthly that which quickneth to all mischiefe and indisposeth to all good must needs be sinfull as shee that tempteth and solliciteth to adulterie may justly be esteem'd a harlot but concupiscence tempteth draweth enticeth begetteth conceiveth indisposeth to good and provoketh to evill therefore it is sinne Sixthly that which is hellish and divelish must needs be sinnefull for that is an argument in the Scripture to prove a thing to be exceeding evil but concupiscence is even the Hell of our nature and lusts are divelish Therefore they are sinfull too Nemo se palpet saith Saint Austen desus Satanas est de Deo beatus Let no man sooth or flatter himselfe his happinesse is from God for of himselfe he is altogether diuelish Seventhly that which was with Christ crucified is sinne for hee bore our sinne is his body upon the tree but our flesh and concupiscence was with Christ crucified They that are Christs have crucified the flâ—…sh with the affections and lusts Therefore it is sin Lastly that which is washed away in Baptisme is sinne for Baptisme is for remission of sinnes but concupiscence and the body of sinne is done away in Baptisme Therefore it is sinne And this is the frequent argument of the ancient Doctors against the Pelagians to prove that infants had sinne in their nature because they were baptized unto the remission of sinnes To give some answer then to those pretended reasons To the first wee confesse that nothing can bee toto genere Necessarie and yet sinfull neither is originall sinne in that sort necessary to the nature in it selfe though to the nature in persons proceeding from Adam it be necessarie For Adam had free will and wee in him to have kept that originall righteousnesse in which wee were created and what was to him sinfull was to us likewise because wee all were one in him Wee are then to distingvish of naturall and necessarie for it is either primitive and created or consequent and contracted necessity the former would indeed void sin because God doth never first make things impossible and then command them but the latter growing out of mans owne will originally must not therefore nullifie the Law of God because it disableth the power of man for that were to make man the Lord of the Law To the second three things are to be answer'd First The sinfulnesse of a thing is grounded on its disproportion to the Law of God not to the will of man Now Gods Law sets bounds and moderates the operations of all other powers and parts as well as of the wil. And therfore the Apostle complaines of his sinfull concupiscence even when his wil was in a readines to desire
the evill spirit against Ahab and his Prophets that hee should goe forth with lying perswasions and should bee beleeved and prevaile according to that of the Apostle that God giveth over those that beleeve not the Truth but have pleasure in unrighteousnesse to strong delusions that they may beleeve a lye and that the God of this world doth blinde the eyes of those which beleeve not Lastly the Punishment of sinne is Eternall That wrath which in the day of the Revelation of Gods righteous Iudgement shall bee powred forth upon ungodly men The Saints are redeemed already in this life and are said to have Eternall Life but yet that great day is by an excellency called the day of Redemption because then that life which is here hid shall be then fully discovered So on the other side though the wrath of God be revealed from Heaven already against all unrighteonsnesse and Abideth vpon those that beleeve not yet after an especiall manner is the last day called a day of wrath because then the heapes treasures stormes and tempests blackenesse and darkenesse of Gods displeasure shall in full force seize upon ungodly men And this wrath of God is of all other most unsupportable First In regard of the Author It comes from God Now we know a little stone if it fall from a high place or a smal dart shot out of a strong bow wil do more hurt then a farre greater that is but gently laid on How wefull then must the case of those be who shall have mountaines and milstones throwne with Gods owne arme from Heaven upon them for though God in this life suffer himselfe to bee wrestled with and even pressed downe yet at last he shall come to shew forth the glory of his Power in the just condemnation of wicked men Secondly in its owne nature because it is most heavie and invincible All conquest over an evill must proceede either from Power which is able to expell it or from Faith and Hope that a man shall be delivered from it by those that have more power then himselfe what ever evill it is which doth either keepe downe Nature that it connot rise or hedge it in that it cannot escape is very intollerable Now Gods wrath hath both these in it First it is so great that it exceedes all the power of the Creature to overcome it heavier then mountaines hotter then fire no chaffe nor stubble shall stand before it and it shall be All within a man folded up in his very substance like the worme in the wood on which it feedes And secondly as it is heavie and so excludes the strength of nature to overcome it so is it infinite too and thus it excludes the hope of nature to escape it The ground of which infinitenesse in punishment is the infinite disproportion betweene the Iustice of God which will punish and the nature of man which must suffer Gods Iustice being Infinite the violation thereof in sinne must needes contract an infinite demerit and debt because in sinning we robbe God of his Glory which we must repay him againe Now the satisfaction of an Infinite debt must needes be Infinite either in degrees which is impossible For first nothing can bee Infinite in Being though it may in duration but onely God And secondly if it could yet a finite vessell were not able to hold an infinite wrath or else in some other infinitenesse which is either infinitenesse of worth in the person satisfying or for defect of that infinitenesse of time to suffer that whith cannot bee suffered in an infinite measure And this is the reason why Christ did not suffer infinitely in time because there was in him a more excellent iâ—…finitenesse of person which raised a finite suffering into the value of an infinite satisfaction though Scotus and from him some learned men have rendered another reason hereof because hee suffered onely for those who were to breake off their sinnes by Repentance Now then to conclude all In as much as sinne is by the Law made exceeding sinfull and death exceeding deadly not to legall but evangelicall purposes not to drive men to blaspheme or despaire but to beleeve not to frighten them from God but to drive them unto him in his Sonne for the Law comes not but in the hand of a mediator And in as much as this is the accepted time and the day of Salvation that now he commandeth All Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a Day in the which he will Iudge the World in righteousnesse whom hee doth now invite and beseech in mercy We should therefore be wise for our selves and being thus pursued and cast in the Court of Law flie to that Heavenly Chancery that Office of Mercie and miâ—…gation which is set up in the Gospell and that while it is yet called to Day before the Percullis bee shut downe before the blacke flagge be hung out before the Talent of Lead seale up the measure of our wickednesse and the Irreversible decree of wrath be gone forth for we must know that God will not alwayes bee despised nor suffer his Gospell to waite ever upon obdurate â—…ners or his Sonne to stand ever at our dores as if he stood in need of our admittance But when there is no remedy but that we judge our selves unworthy of Eternall Life and stand in contempt and rebellion against his Court of Mercie he will dismisse us to the Law againe O Consider what wilt thou doe if thou shouldest bee dragg'd naked to the Tribunall of Christ and not bee able with all thy cries to obtaine so much mercie from any Mountaine as to live for ever under the weight and pressure of it When thou shalt peepe out of thy Grave and see Heaven and Earth on fire about thine eares and Christ comming in the flames of that fire to revenge on thee the quarrell of his Covenant Whither then wilt thou fly from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne Let us therefore learne to Iudge our selves that wee may not be condemned of the Lord to fly to his Sanctuary before wee be haled to his tribunall Hee requires no great thing of us but onely to relinquish our selues and in humilitie and sincerity to accept of him and receive that redemption by beleeving in him which hee hath wrought by suffering for us this if in truth and spirit we doe all the rest will undoubtedly follow namely the life of our Faith here in an universall obedience and the end of our faith hereafter even the falvation of our Soules THE RAIGNE OF SINNE ROM 6. 12. Let not sinne therefore Raigne in your mortall bodiâ—…s that you should obay it in the lusts thereof AFter the doctrine of the state and guilt of sinne It will be needefull for the further Conviction thereof that sinne may appeare exceeding sinfull to shew in the next place the Power and the Raigne of sinne from which the Apostle in
or filthinesse which is iâ—… the world through lust so do they serve to ad one grace to anâ—…ther and to make them abound in us till we come to chaâ—…ity which is the bond of perfection as Saint Peter shewes And againe Grow saith he in grace and in thâ—… 〈◊〉 of our Lord 〈◊〉 Christ. The more a 〈◊〉 doth abound in the knowledge of Christ who is the sâ—…mme fountaine â—…le treasurie of all the promises the more will he grow in grace and unto perfection For as some promises are in our hand and perform'd already as Rewards for our service past so others are still before our eyes to call and allure us as the price unto which we pâ—…este Be ye stedfast and unmoveable and abound alwaies in the worke of the Lord saith the Apostle for as much as you know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. Holding fast and going on hath a Crowne attending it The more we proceede in holinesse our salvation is still the Neerer unto us If we lose not the things which wee have wrought we shall receive a full reward THE VSE OF THE LAW ROM 7. 13. Was that then which is good made death unto me God forbid But sinne namely was made death unto me that it might appeare sinne working death in me by that which is good That sinne by the Commandement might become exceeding sinfull HEre we finde the Originall discovery of all that Sinfulnesse of sinne which wee have hitherto insisted upon namely the manifesting and working property which is in the Law of God It will bee therefore very requisite by way of Appendixe to the preceding Treatise and of manuduction to the consequent to unfeld out of these words The uâ—…e of the Law by which we shall more distinctly understand the scope and purpose of the Holy Ghost in loading the spirit of man with tâ—…e vanity of the Creature and in shutting up the conscience under the sinfulnesse of sinne both which have respect unto the Law that as an effect of the cursing and this of the Convincing power thereof and yet in both nothing intended by God but Peace and Mercie The Apostle in the beginning of the Chapter shewes that we are by nature subject to the Law and death which is an unavoidable consequent of the breach thereof even as the wife is to her husband as long as he liveth And that by Christ we are delivered from that subjection who hath shine our former husband and taken him out of the way as the Apostle elsewhere speakes Now because this doctrine of justification by faith in Christ and deliverance from the Law by him was mainely opposed by the Iewes and was indeed that chiefe stumbling blocke which kept them from Christianitie which I take it was the reason why the false brethren under pretence the better to worke on that people to pacifie affections and reconcile parties and ferruminate the Churches together would have mingled the Law with Christ in the purpose of Iustification as the papids now upon other reasons doe Therefore the Apostle who was very zealous for the Salvation of his brethren and kiâ—…sfolke according to the flesh labours to deerâ—… thâ—…s doctrine from two maine objections in this Chapter which it seemes the Iewes did use against it The ground of both is tacitely implied and it is the same generall hypothesis or supposition that all deliverance is from evill and carries necessary relation to some mischiefe which it presupposeth Therefore if that doctrine be true which teacheth deliverance from the Law then it must be granted that the Law is evill for to be unsubjected to that which is good is no deliverance but a wilde and bâ—…utish loosenesse Now evill is but two fold either sinne or death So then if the Law be evill it must be either sinne or death The former objection is made vers 7. What shall wee say then is the Law sinne that we should now heare of a deliverance from it Doth not the Scripture account the Law a priviledge an honour an ornament to a people and from the Iustnesse and Holinesse of the Law conclude the dignity and greatnesse of a nation What nation is so great saith Moses which hath statutes and iudgements so righteous as I set before you this day He shâ—…weth his word unto Iacob his statutes anâ—… iudgements unto Israel He hath not dealt so with every nation saith David I sent unto them Honorabilta Legis saith the Lord the honorable and great things of my Law but they were counted as a strange thing And is that which Moses and the Prophets esteemed a priviledge and honour become now a yoke and burden Shall wee admit a doctrine which over-throwes the Law and the Prophets To this the Apostle answeres God for bid The Law is not sinne for I had not knowne sinne but by the Law It is true sinne tooke occasion by the Law to become more sinfull vers 8. but this was not occasio data but arrepta no occasion naturally offered by the law but perversly taken by sinne whose venomous property it is to suck poison out of that which is holy So then the Law is not sinne though by accident it enrage sinne For of itselfe it serveth onely to discover and reveale it ver 9. But as the Gospell as well when by mens perversnesse it is a savour of dâ—…ath as when by its owne gratious efficacie it is a savour of life is both wayes a sweete savour So the Law either way when by it selfe it discovereth and when by accident it enrageth sin is still Holy lust and Good ver 11 Vpon this followes the second Objection in the words of the Text. Is that which is good made death unto me If a deliverance presuppose an evill in that from which we are deliver'd and no evill but belongs either to sinne or death then admitting a deliverance from the Law if it be good in respect of holinesse it must needs be evill in the other respect and then that which is good is made death unto me And this casts a more heavie aspersion and dishonour upon God then the former that he should give a Law meerely to kill men and make that which in its nature is good to be mortall in its use and operation Wine strong waters hard meates are of themselves very good to those purposes unto which they are proper yet under pretence of their goodnesse to craâ—…me the stomicke of a sucking infant with them would not be kindnesse but crueltie because they would not in that case comfort or nourish but kill Gold is good of it selfe but to fetter a man with a chaine of gold would be no bounty but a mockery So to conceive God to publish a Law good indeed in it selfe but deadly to the subjects and to order that which is holy in its nature to be harmefull and damnable to the Creature in its use is so odious an aspersion
services 246 In the best there is a partiall impotency 250 What a man should doe when he finds himselfe disabled and deaded in good workes 253 2. It is an estate of extreme enmitie against God and his waies 255 How the spirit by the Commandement doth convince men to be in the state of sinne 258 The spirit by the commandement convinceth men to bee under the guilt of sinne 260 There is a naturall conviction of the guilt of sinne and 260 There is a spirituall and evangelicall conviction of the guilt of sinne 261 What the guilt and Punishments of sinne are 262 ROM 6. 12. Sinne will abide in the time of this mortall life in the most Holie 273 Our death with Christ unto sinne is a strong argument against the raigne of it 275 Difference betweene the regall and tyrannicall power of Sinne. 277 Whether a man belong unto Christ or sinne 279 Sinne hath much strength from it selfe 282 from Satan and the world 285 from us 285 What it is to obey sinne in the lusts thereof 286 Whether sinne may Raigne in a regenerate man 288 How wicked men may be convinc'd that sinne doth raigne in them Two things make up the raigne of sinne 1. In sinne power 290 2. In the sinner a willing and vncontroled subiection 290 Three exceptions against the evidence of the raigne of sinne in the wicked 291 1. There may be a raigne of sinne when it is not discerned 292 Whether small sinnes may raigne 293 Whether secret sinnes may raigne 294 Whether sins of ignorance may raigne 295 Whether naturall concupiscence may raigne 296 Whether sinnes of omission may raigne 296 2. Other causes besides the power of Christs Grace may worke a partiall abstinence from sinne and conformitie in service 1. The power of restraining grace 298 Differences between restraining and renewing Grace 2. Affectation of the credit of godlinesse 302 3. The Power of pious education 304 4. The legall power of the word 305 5. The power of a naturall illightned Conscience 305 6. Selfe love and particular ends 307 7. The antipathy and contradiction of sinnes 309 3. Differences betweene the conflicts of a naturall and spirituall conscience 1. In the Principles of them 310 2. In their seates and stations 313 3. In the manner and qualities of the conflict 314 4. In their effects 316 5. In their ends 317 Why every sinne doth not raigne in every wicked man 317 2. COR. 7. 1. The Apostles reasons against Idolatrous communion 321 The doctrine of the pollution of sinne 322 The best workes of the best men mingled whith pollution 325 The best workes of wicked men full of pollution 237 What the pollution of sinne is 328 The properties of the pollution of sinne 1. It is a deepe pollution 329 2. It is an universall Pollution 330 3. It is a spreading Pollution 330 4. It is a mortall Pollution 332 Why God requireth that of us which he worketh in us 335 How promises tend to the dutie of cleansing ourselves 1. Promises containe the matter of rewards and so presuppose services 337 2. Promises are efficient causes of purification 1. As tokens of Gods love Love the ground of making fidelity of performing Promises 338 2. As the grounds of our hope and expectations 340 3. As obiects of our faith 342 4. As the raies of Christ to whom they lead us 345 5. As exemplars patterns and seeds of puritie 346 3. Many promises are made of purification itselfe 347 Rules directing how to use the Promises 1. Generall Promises are particularly and particulars generally appliable 350 2. Promises are certaine performances secret 352 3. Promises are subordinated and are performed with dependence 357 4. Promises most usefull in extremities 359 5. Experience of God in some promises confirmeth faith in others 360 6. The same temporall blessing may belong to one man onely out of providence to another out of promise 361 7. Gods promises to us must be the ground of our prayers to him 364 ROM 7. 13. The Law is neither sinne nor death 368 The Law was promulgated on Mount Sina by Moses onely with Evangelicall purposes 371 God will doe more for the salvation then for the damnation of men 372 The Law is not given ex primaria intentione to condemne men 385 The Law is not given to iustifie or save men 386 The Law by accident doth irritate and punish or curse sinne 386 The Law by itselfe doth discover and restraine sinne 387 Preaching of the Law necessary 388 Acquaintance with the Law strengthens Humility Faith Comfort Obedience 392 The third Treatise The Life of Christ. 1. IOH. 5. 12. ALL a Christians excellencies are from Christ. 400 1. From Christ wee have our life of righteousnesse 401 Three Offices of Christs mediatorship His Payment of our debt 401 Purchase of our inheritance 401 Intercession 401 Righteousnesse consisteth in remission and adoption 402 By this Life of righteousnesse we are delivered from 1. Sinne. 403 2. Law as a Covenant of righteousnesse Law full of Rigor Curses Bondage 2. From Christ we have our life of holinesse 407 Discoveries of a vitall operation 407 Christ is the Principle of our holinesse 409 Christ is the patterne of holinesse 410 Some workes of Christ imitable others unimitable 410 Holinesse beares conformity to Christs active obedience 412 How we are said to be holy as Christ is holy 413 Holinesse consists in a conformitie unto Christ. Proved from 1. The ends of Christs comming 415 2. The nature of holinesse 416 3. The quality of the mysticall body of Christ. 418 4. The vnction of the Spirit 418 5. The summe of the Scriptures 419 The proportions betweene our holinesse and Christs must be 1. In the seeds and principles 419 2. In the ends Gods glory the Churches good 420 3. In the parts 4. In the manner of it Selfe-deniall 421 Obedience 422 Proficiencie 423 What Christ hath done to the Law for us 423 We must take heed of will-holinesse or being our owne Rule 425 Christs life the Rule of ours 427 3. From Christ wee have our life of glorie 429 The attributes or properties of our Life in Christ 1. It is a hidden life 432 2. It is an abounding life 437 3. It is an abiding life 438 No forrsigne assult is too hard for the life of Christ 439 Arguments to reestablish the heart of a repenting sinner against the terror of some great fall from 1. The strength of Faith 442 2. The love and free grace of God 446 3. Gods Promise and covenant 448 4. The obsignation of the spirit 449 5. The nature and effects of Faith 449 THE VANITIE OF THE CREATVRE AND VEXATION OF THE SPIRIT By EDWARD REYNOLDS Preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolns Inne PAX OPVLENTIAM SAPIENTIA PACEM FK LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostock 1631. Christian Reader Importunitie of Friends hath over-rul'd me to this Publication and importunitie of businesse crossing me in the putting of these pieces together hath made
heart upon thine Asses for the desire of Israel is upon thee Why should a Kings heart be set upon Asses so may I say why should Christians hearts be set upon earthly things since they have the desires of all flesh to fix upon I will conclude with one word upon the last particu lar How to use the Creatures as Thornes or as vexing things First Let not the Bramble be King Let not earthly things beare rule over thy affections fire will rise out of them which will consume thy Cedars emasculate all the powers of thy Soule Let Grace sit in the throne and earthly things be subordinate to the wisdome and rule of Gods Spirit in thy heart They are excellent servants but pernicious Masters Secondly Be arm'd when thou touchest or medlest with them Arm'd against the Lusts and against the Temptations that arise from them Get faith to place thy heart upon better promises enter not upon them without prayer unto God that since thou art going amongst snares he would carry thee through with wisedome and faithfulnesse and teach thee how to use them as his blessings and as instruments of his glory Make a covenant with thine heart as Iob with his eyes have a jealousie and suspicion of thine evill heart lest it be surpriz'd and bewitched with finfull affections Thirdly touch them gently doe not hug love dote upon the Creature nor graspe it with adulterous embraces the love of mony is a roote of mischiefe and is enmity against God Fourthly use them for Hedges and fences to relieve the Saints to make friends of unrighteous Mammon to defend the Church of Christ but by no meanes have them In thy field but onely About it mingle it not with thy Corne least it choake and stifle all And lastly vse them as Gedeon for weapons of Iust revenge against the enemies of Gods Church to vindicate his truth and glory and then by being wise and faithfull in a little thou shalt at last be made ruler over much and enter into thy Masters Ioy. FINIS THE SINFVLNES OF SINNE Considered in the State Guilt Power and Pollution thereof By EDWARD REYNOLDS Preacher to the Honourable Societie of Lincolns Inne PAX OPVLENTIAM SAPIENTIA PACEM FK LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostocke 1631. THE SINFVLNESSE OF SINNE ROM 7. 9. For I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandement came Sinne revived and I died WEE have seene in the foriner Treatise that man can finde no Happinesse in the Creature I will in the next place shew That he can find no happinesse in Himselfe It is neither about him nor within him In the Creature nothing but vanitis and vexation in Himselfe nothing but Sinne and Death The Apostle in these words sets forth three things First The state of Sinne Sinne Revived Secondly the Guilt of Sinne I Died or found my selfe to be a condemn'd man in the state of perdition Thirdly the evidence and conviction of both When the Commandement came which words imply a conviction and that from the spirit First a conviction for they inferre a conclusion extremely contradictory to the conclusions in which Saint Paul formerly rested which is the forme of a conviction Saint Pauls former conclusion was I was alive but when the commandement came the conclusion was extremely contrary I Died. Secondly It was a spirituall conviction For Saint Paul was never literally without the Law but the vaâ—…le till this time was before his eyes he is now made to understand the Law in its native sense and compasse the Law is spiritual v. 14. and he is enabled to discerne it spiritually Absurd is the Doctrine of the Socinians some others That unregenerate men by a meere natur all perception without any divine superinâ—…us'd light they are the words of Episcopius and they are wicked wordes may understand the wholâ—… Law even all things requisite unto faith godlines Foolishly confounding and impiously deriding the spirituall and divine sense of holy Scriptures with the grammatical construction Against this we shall need use no other argument then a plaine Syllogisme compounded out of the very words of Scripture Darknesse doth not comprehend light Ioh. 1. 5. 〈◊〉 men are Darkenesse Eph. 5. 8. 4. 17. 18. Act. 26. 18. 2. Pâ—…t 1. 9. yea Held under the power of darkenesse Col. 1. 13. and the word of God is light Psal. 119. 105. 2. Cor. 4. 4. therefore unregenerate men cannot understand the â—…d in that spirituall compasse which it carries There is such an asymmetry and disproportion betweene our understandings and the brightnesse of the word that the Saints themselves have prayed for more spirituall light and vnderstanding to conceive it That knowledge which a man ought to have for there is a knowledge which is not such as it ought to be doth passe knowledge even all the â—…ength of meere naturall reason to attaine unto peculiar to the sheep of Christ. Naturall men have their principles vitiated their faculties bound that they cannot understand spirituall things till God have as it were â—…nplanted a â—…ew understanding in them framed the heart to attend and set it at liberty to see the glory of God with open face Though the vaile doe not keepe out Grammaticall construction yet it blindeth the heart against the spirituall light and beauty of the Word We see even in common sciences where the conclusions are suteable to our owne innate and implanted notions yet he that can distinctly construe and make Grammar of a principle in Euclide may be ignorant of the Mathematicall sense and use of it much more may a man in divine truths bee Spiritually ignorant even where in some respect hee may be said to know For the Scriptures pronounce men ignorant of those things which they see and know In divine doctrine obedience is the Ground of knowledge and Holinesse the best qualification to understand the Scriptures If any mâ—…n will doe the will of God he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God The 〈◊〉 will he teach his way and â—…eale his secret to them that feare him to babes to those that conforme not themselves to this evill world To understand then the words we must note first that there is an opposition between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those two Clauses in the Text Once and When the Commandement came It is the conceite of some that the latter as well as the former is meant of a state of unregeneration and that Saint Paul all this Chapter over speaketh in the person of an unregenerate man not intending at all to shew the fleshlinesse and adherency of corruption to the holiest men but the necessitie of righteousnesse by Christ without the which though a man may when once the Commandement comes and is fully revealed will good hate sinne in sinning doe that which he would not
consent unto and delight in the Law feele a warre in his members mourne and cry out under the sense of his owne wretchednesse yet for all this he is still an unregenerate man an opinion tending directly to the honour of Pelagianisme and advancement of nature which made Saint Austen in that ingenuous and noble worke of hiâ—… retractations to recant it and in all his writings against the Pelagians in which as in other polemicall workes where the vigilancy of an enemy and feare of advantages makes him more circumspect how he speaks his expositions of Scripture are usually more literall and solid then where he allowes himselfe the scope of his owne conceits He still understandes those passages of the complaints of a regenerate man against his inherent concupiscence We are therefore to resolve that the opposition stands thus Once in my state of unregeneration I was without the law that is without the spirituall sense of the Law but when the Lord began to reveale his mercy to me in my conversion then he gave me eye to understand it in its native and proper compasse The Apostle was never quite without the Law being an Hebrew and bred up at thefeet of Gamaliâ—…l therefore the difference betweene being without the Law and the comming of the Law must be onely in modo exhibendi before he had it in the letter but after it came in its owne spirituall shape And there is some emphasis in the word caâ—…e denoting a vital moving penetrative power which the Law had by the spirit of life and which before it had not as it was a Dead letter Secondly wee must note the opposition betweene the two estates of Saint Paul In the first he was Alive and that in two respects A live in his performances able as he conceiv'd to performe the righteousnesse of the law without blaâ—…e Phil. 3. 6. A live in his Presumptions mispersuasions selfe-justifications conceits of righteousnesse and salvation Act. 26. 9. Phil. 3. 7. In the second estate Sinne revived I found that that was but a sopor a benumdnesse which was in my apprehension a death of sinne and I died had experience of the falsenesse and miseries of my presumptions The life of sinne and the life of a sinner are like the ballances of a paire of scoles when one goes up the other must fall downe when sinne lives the man must dye man and sinne are like Mâ—…entius his couples they are never both alive together Many excellent points and of great consequence to the spirits of men would rise out of these words thus unfolded as First that a man may have the Law in the Church wherein he lives in the letter of it and yet bee without the Law in the power and spirit of it by ignorance misconstructions false glosses and perverse wrestings of it as a covetous man may have the possession of monie and yet be without the vse and comforts of it 2. Cor. 3. 6. 2. Pâ—…t 3. 16. Matth. 5. 21. 22. 27. 28. 31. 32. 33. 38. Which should teach us to beware of Ignorance It makes the things which wee have unusefull to us If any man have the Law indeed hee will labour First to have more acquaintance with it and with God by it The more the Saints know of God and his will the neereâ—… communion doe they desire to have with him Wee see this heavenly affection in Iacob Gen. 32. 26. 29. Gen. 49. 18. in Moses Exod. 33. 12. 18. in David Psal 119. 18. 125. in the Spouse Cant. 1. 2. in Manoah Iud. 13. 17. in Paul 2. Cor. 5. 2. Phil. 3. 13. 14. As the Queene of She ba when shee had heard of the glory of Salomon was not content till she came to see it or as Absolom being restor'd from banishment and tasting some of his Fathers love was impatient till he might see his face so the Saints having something of Gods will and mercy revealed to them are very importunate to enjoy more Secondly to be more conformable unto it to Iudge and measure himselfe the oftner by it Psal. 119. 11. The law is utterly in vaine no dignity no benefit nor priviledge to a people by it if it be not obeyed Thirdly to love and praise God for his goodnesse in it Ioh. 14. 21. Secondly ignorance of the true meaning of the Law and resting upon false grounds doth naturally beget these two things First blinde zeale much active and in appearance unblameable devotion As it did here and elsewhere in Saint Paul Phil. 3. 6. Act. 22. 3. in the honourable women Act. 13. 50. in the Pharises Matth. 23. 15. in false brethren Col. 2. 23. in the Iewes that submitted not themselves to the righteousnesse of God Rom. 10. 2. 3. In the papists in their contentions for trash rigorous observation of their owne traditions out-sides and superinducements upon the pretious foundation Secondly strong mis-perswasions and selfe-justifications dependant upon our workes and rigid endeavors for salvation at the last Hos. 12. 8. Esai 48. 1. 2. 58. 2. 7. Amos 5. 18. 21. 25. Mic. 3. 11. 12. Zech. 7. 3. 4. 5. 6. Hos. 8. 2. 3. Luk. 18. 11. 12. unregenerat men are often secure men making principles and premises of their owne to build the conclusions of their Salvation upon But beware of it It is a desperate hazard to put eternity upon an adventure to trust in God upon other termes then himselfe hath proposed to be trusted in to lay claime to mercy without any writings or seales or witnesses or patents or acquittance from sinne to have the evidences of hell and yet the presumptions of heaven to be weary of one sabbath here and yet presume upon the expectation of an eternity which shall be nothing else but sabbath In the Civill Law Testes domestici Houshold witnesses who might in reason be presum'd parties are invalid and uneffectuall Surely in matters of Salvation if a man have no witnesse but his owne spirit misinform'd by wrong rules seduc'd by the subtilties of Satan and the deceite of his owne wicked heart carried away with the course of the world and the common prejudices and presumptions of foolish men they will all faile him when it shall be too late God will measure men by his owne line and righteousnesse by his owne plummet and then shall the Haile sweepe away the refuge of lies and waters over-flow the hiding place of those men that made a covenant with death Secondly beware of proud resolutions selfe love reservations wit distinctions evasions to escape the word these are but the weapons of lust but the exaltations of a fleshly minde but submit to the word receive it with meekenesse be willing to count that sense of scripture truest which most restraineth thy corrupt humors and crosseth the imaginations of thy fleshly reason Our owne weapons must be render'd up before the sword of the spirit which is the word of God will be on our
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
quoad Regnum in regard of the dominion and government of it in regard of the vigorous operation which is in it First sinne is condemn'd Rom. 8. 3. and therein destinated and design'd to death It shall fully bee rooted out Secondly in the meane time it is disabled from a plenarie Rule over the conscience though the Christian be molested and pester'd with it yet he doth not henceforth serve it nor become its instrument to bee subject in every motion thereof as the weapon is to the hand that holds it but Christ and his love beare the sway and hold the Sterne in the heart Rom. 6 6. 〈◊〉 Cor. 5. 14 15. 1. Pet. 4. 1 2. Thirdly the sentence of the Law against sin is already in execution But we are to note that sinne though condemnd to die yet such is the severity of God against it it is adjudg'd to a lingring death a death upon the Crosse and in the faithfull sin is already upon a Crosse fainting struggling dying daily yet so as that it retaines some life still so long as we are here sinne will be as fast to our natures as a nailed man is to the Crosse that beares him Our Thorne will still bee in our flesh our Canaanite in our side our Twinns in our wombe our counterlustings and counterwillings though we be like unto Christ per primitias spiritus yet we are unlike him per Reliquias vetustatis by the remainders of our flesh not to sinne is here onely our Law but in heaven it shal be our Reward All our perfection here is imperfect Sinne hath its deaths blow given it but yet like fierce and implacable beasts it never le ts goe its hold till the last breath Animamque in vulnere ponit never ceaseth to infest us till it cease to bee in us Who can say I have made my heart cleane Cleanse thou be saith holy David from my secret sinnes Though I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not thereby iustified saith the Apostle and the reason is added He that iudgethme is the Lord which Saint Iohn further unfolds God is greater then our hearts and knoweth all things Which places though most dangerously perverted by some late Innovators which teach That a man may bee without secret sinnes that he may make his heart cleane from sinne and that Saint Paul was so doe yet in the experience of the holiest men that are or have been evince this truth that the lusts of the flesh will be and worke in us so long as we carry our mortall bodies about us And this God is pleased to suffer for these and like purposes First to convince and humble us in the experience of our owne vilenesse that wee may be the more to the prayse of the glory of his great grace As once Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria dealt with the Egyptian Idols after the embracement of Christianitie most he destroyed onely one of their Apes and Images he kept entire not as a monument of Idolatry but as a spectacle of sinne and misery that in the sight thereof the people might after learne to abhorre themselves that had liv'd in such abominable Idolatries Secondly to drive us still unto him to cast us alwayes upon the hold and use of our Faith that our prayers may still finde something to aske which hee may give and our repentance something to confesse which he may forgive Thirdly to proportion his mercy to his justice for as the wicked are not presently fully destroyed have not sentence speedily executed against them but are reserv'd unto their Day that they may be destroi'd together as the Psalmist speakes even so the righteous are not here fully saved but are reserv'd unto the great day of Redemption when they also shall be saved together as the Apostle intimates 1. Thess. 4. 17. Fourthly to worke in us a greater hatred of sinne and longing after glory therefore we have yet but the first fruites of the spirit that we should grone and waite for the Adoption and Redemption therfore are we burdened in our earthly tabernacle that we should the more earnestly groane to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven Fiftly to magnifie the power of his Grace in the weakest of his members which notwithstanding that inhabiting Traytor which is ready to let in and entertaine every temptation shall yet make a poore sinfull man stronger in some respect then Adam was himselfe even able to overcome at last the powers of darkenesse and to be sufficient against all Satans buffets Lastly to commend the greatnesse of his mercy and salvation when we shall come to the full fruition of it by comparing it with the review of that sinfull estate in which here we lived when we were at the best without possibility of a totall deliverance Thirdly consider the great Contagion and pestilentiall humour which is in this sinne which doth not onely cleave unseparably to our nature but derives venome upon every action that comes from us For though we doe not say That the good works of the Regenerate are sinnes and so hatefull to God as our adversaries belie and misreport us for that were to reproach the spirit and the grace of Christ by which they are wrought yet this we affirme constantly unto the best worke that is done by the concurrence and contribution of our owne faculties such a vitiousnesse doth adhere such stubble of ours is superinduc'd as that God may justly charge us for defiling the grace he gave and for the evill which we mixe with them may turne away his eyes from his owne gifts in us Sinne in the facultie is poison in the fountaine that sheds infection into every thing that proceeds from it Ignorance and difficultie are two evill properties which from the fountaine doe in some measure diffuse themselves upon all our workes Whensoever thou art going about any good this evill will be present with thee to derive a deadnesse a dampe a dulnesse an indisposednesse upon all thy services an iniquitie upon thy holiest things which thou standest in neede of a priest to beare for thee Exod. 28. 38. and to remove from thee In the Law whatsoever an uncleane person touched was uncleane though it were holy flesh to note the evill quality of sinful nature to staine and blemish every good worke which commeth from it This is that which in thy prayers deads thy zeale fervencie humiliation selfe-abhorrencie thy importunitie faith and close attention this like an evill sauour mingleth with thy sacrifice casteth in impertinent thoughts wrong ends makes thee rest in the worke done and never enquire after the truth of thine owne heart or Gods blessing and successe to thy services This is it that in reading and hearing the Word throwes in so much prejudice blindnesse inadvertency security infidelity misapplication misconstruction wresting and shaping the word to our selves This is that which in thy meditations makes thee roving and unsetled
by better promises and therefore respect none of the wages of Lust consider that God is the Fountaine of life that thou hast more and better of it in him then in the Creatures that when thou wantest the things of this life yet thou hast the promises still and that all the offers of lust are not for comforts but for snares not for the use of life but for the provisions of sin and there is more content in a little received from God then in whole treasures stollen from him and all sinfull gaine is the robbing of God Fourthly for the law of lust setup the law of the spirit of life in thy heart It is a royall Law and a Law of liberty whereas lust is a law of death and bondage and where the spirit comes a man shall be set free from the law of sinne and of death Keepe thy selfe alwayes at home in the presence of Christ under the eye and government of thy husband and that will dash all intruders and adulterers out of countenance Take heed of quenching grieving stifling the Spirit cherish the motions thereof stirre up and kindle the gifts of God in thee labour by them to grow more in grace and to have neerer communion with God the riper the Corne growes the looser will the chaffe be and the more a man growes in grace with the more ease will his corruptions be sever'd and shaken off Fifthly when lust is violent and importunate First be thou importunate and vrgent with God against it too when the Messenger of Satan the Thorne in the flesh did buffet and sticke fast unto S. Paul hee reiterated his prayers unto God against it and proportion'd the vehemency of his requests to the violence and urgency of the enemy that troubled him and he had a comfortable answer My Grace is sufficient for thee sufficient in due time to cure and sufficient at all times to forgive thy weakenesse In the Law if a ravisht woman had cried out shee was esteemed innocent because the pollution was not voluntary but violent And so in the assaults of lust when it useth violence and pursues the soule that is willing to escape and flye from it if a man with-hold the embraces of his owne will and cry out against it if he can say with Saint Paul It is no more I that doe it but sinne that dwelleth in me though in regard that the flesh is something within himselfe he cannot therefore be esteemed altogether innocent yet the Grace of God shall bee sufficient for him Secondly when thou art pursued keepe not Lusts counsell but seeke remedy from some wise and Christian friend by communicating with him and disclosing thy case unto him sinne loves not to bee betrayde or complained on mutuall confession of sinne to those who will pray for a sinner and not deride him or rejoyce against him is a meanes to heale it Thirdly when thou art in a more violent manner then usuall assaulted by sinne Humble thy selfe in some more peculiar manner before God and the more sinne cries for satisfaction denie it and thy selfe the more as Salomon saith of children so may I say of lusts Chastice and subdue thy lusts and regard not their crying Sixthly cut off the materials and provisions for lust weane thy selfe from earthly affections love not the World nor the things of the World desire not anything to consume upon thy lusts pray for those things which are convenient for thee turne thy heart from those things which are most likely to seduce thee possesse thy heart with a more spirituall and abiding treasure hee who lookes stedfastly upon the light of the Sunne will be able to see nothing below when he lookes downe againe and surely the more a man is affected with heaven the lesse will he desire or delight in the world Besides the provisions of sinne are but like full pastures that doe but fatten and prepare for slaughter Balaam was in very good plight before able to ride with his two servants to attend him but greedinesse to rise higher and make provision for his ambitious heart carried him upon a wicked businesse made him give cursed counsell against Israel which at length cost him his owne life Lastly for the instruments of lusts make a covenant with thy members keep a government over them bring them into subjection above all keepe thy heart establish the inward government for nothing can be in the body which is not first in the heart keepe the first mover uniforme and right all other things which have their motions depending there must needs be right too Having thus opened at large the life and state of originall sinne it remaines in the last place to shew how the spirit by the commandement doth convince and discover the life of actuall sinne in omitting so much good in committing so much evill in swarving and deviating from the rule in the manner and measure of all our services And this it doth by making us see that great spiritualnes and perfection that precise universall and constant conformitie which the Law requires in all we doe Cursed is every one that abideth not in all things that are written in the booke of the Law to doe them Perfection and perpetuitie of obedience are the two things which the Law requires Suppose we it possible for a man to fulfill every tittle of the Law in the whole compasse of it and that for his whole life together one onely particular and that the smallest and most imperceptible deviation from it being for one onely time excepted yet so rigorous and inexorable is the Law that it seales that man under the wrath and curse of God The heart cannot turne the thoughts cannot rise the affections cannot stirre the will cannot bend but the Law meets with it either as a Rule to measure or as a Iudge to censure it It penetrates the inmost thoughts searcheth the bottome of all our actions hath a widenesse in it which the heart of man cannot endure They were not able to endure saith the Apostle the things which were commanded and Why tempt you God saith Saint ' Peter to those that preached Circumcision and put a yoake upon the brethren which neither we nor our fathers were able to beare Circumcision it selfe they were able to beare but that yoke which came with it namely the Debt of the whole Law was by them and their fathers utterly unsupportable For this very cause was the Law published that sinne might thereby become exceeding sinfull that so Gods grace might bee the more magnified and his Gospell the more accepted Let us in a few words consider some particular aggravations of the life and state of actuall sinne which the spirit by the Word will present unto us First in the least sinne that can bee named there is so much life and venome as not all the concurrent strength of those millions of Angels one of whom was
in one night able to stay so many thousand men had been able to remove More violence and injustice against God in a wandring thought in an idle word in an impertinent and unprofitable action then the worth of the whole Creation though all the Heavens were turned into one Sunne and all the earth into one Paradise were able to expiate Thinke we as meanely and slightly of it as wee will swallow it without feare live in it without sense commit it without remorse yet be we assured that but the guilt of every one of our least sins being upon Christ who felt nor knew in himselfe nothing of the pollution of them did wring out those prodigious drops of sweat did expresse those strong cryes did poure in those wofull ingredients into the Cup which he dranke as made him who had more strength then all the Angels of Heaven to shrinke and draw backe and pray against the worke of his owne mercy and decline the businesse of his owne comming Secondly if the least of my sinnes could doe thus O what a guilt and filthinesse is there then in the greatest sinne which my life hath been defiled withall If my Atomes be Mountaines O what heart is able to comprehend the vastnesse of my mountainous sinnes if there bee so much life in my impertinent thoughts how much rage and fury is there in my rebellious thoughts In my thoughts of gall and bitternesse in my contrived murthers in my speculative adulteries in my impatient murmurings in my ambitious projections in my coverous worldly froward haughty hatefull imaginations in my contempt of God reproching of his Word smothering of his motions quenching of his spirit rebelling against his grace If every vaine word be a flame that can kindle the fire of Hell about mine eares O what vollies of brimstone what mountaines of wrath will be darted upon my wretched soule for tearing the glorious and terrible name of the great God with my cursed oathes my crimson and fiery execrations What will become of stiâ—…king dirty carrion communication of lies and scornes and railings and bitternesse the persecutions adulteries and murthers of the tongue when but the idlenesse and unprofitablenesse of the tongue is not able to endure this consuming fire 3. If one great sin nay one small sin be so full of life as not all the strength nay not all the deaths or annihilations of all the Angels in heaven could have expiated O how shall I stand before an army of sinnes So many which I know of my selfe swarmes of thoughts steames of lusts throngs of sinfull words sands of evill actions every one as heavie and as great as a mountaine able to take up if they were put into bodies all the vast chasmâ—… betweene earth and heaven and fill all the spaces of nature with darkenesse and confusion and how infinite more secret ones are there which I know not by my selfe How many Atomes and streames of dust doth a beame of the Sunne shining into a roome discover which by any other light was before imperceptible How many sinfull secrers are there in my heart which though the light of mine owne conscience cannot discover are yet written in Gods account and sealed amongst his treasures and shall at the day of the revelation of all things bee produc'd and muster'd up against me like so many Lyons and Divels to flye upon me Fourthly if the number of them can thus amaze O what shall the roote of them doe Committed out of ignorance in the midst of light out of knowledge against the evidence of conscience out of presumption and forestalling of pardon abusing and subordinating the mercies of God to the purposes of Satan not knowing that his goodnesse should have led me to repentance out of stubbornnesse against the discipline out of enmitie against the goodnesse out of gall and bitternesse of spirit against the power and purity of Gods holy Law Fifthly not the roote onely but the circumstances too adde much to the life that is in sinne See how notably Saint Austen aggravates his sinne of robbing an Orchard when he was a Boy that which others lesse acquainted with the foulenesse of sinne might be apt enough but to laugh over First it began in the will and the members follow'd I had a minde and therefore I did it Secondly I did not doe it for want of the things but out of the naughtinesse of my heart and my inward enmitie to righteousnesse Thirdly I did it not with any aime at fruition of the fruite but onely of the sinne it was not my palate but my lust which I studied to satisfie Fourthly the apples I stole were very unapt to tempt no rellish no forme in them to catch the eye or allure the hand but the whole temptation and rise of the sinne was from within Fifthly I did it not alone there were a troope of naughty companions with mee and wee did mutually cherish and provoke the itch of each others lust Sixthly it was at a very unseasonable time of night when at least for that day we should have put a period and given a respite unto our lusts Seventhly it was after wee had spent much time before and should now at least have been tired out in pestilent and foolish sports Eighthly wee were immodest in our theft we carried away great loades and burdens of them Ninthly when wee had done we feasted the Hogs with them and our selves â—…ed upon the review and carriage of our owne lewdnesse Lastly the chiefe sport and laughter which wee had was this that we had not only robb'd but deceiv'd the honest â—…en who had never so bad an opinion of us as that wee should doe it and thus another mans losse was our jest And after all this his meditations upon it are excellent with David hee goes to the roote Ecce cor meum Deus meus ecce cor meum O Lord what a nature and heart had I that could commit sinne without any 〈◊〉 without any incentive but from my selfe and againe What shall I returne unto the Lord that I can review these my sinnes and not be afraid of them Lord I will love thee I will prayse thee I will confesse to thy Name it is thy Grace which pardoneth the sinnes which I have committed and it is thy Grace which prevented the sinnes which I have not committed Thou hast saved me from all sinnes those which by mine owne will I have done and those which by thy Grace I have been kept from doing If every man would single out some notable sinnes of his life and in this manner anatomize them and see how many sinnes one sinne containeth even as one flower many leaves and one Pomegranate many kernels it could not but be a notable meanes of humbling us for sinne Sixthly not evill circumstances onely but unproâ—…ble ends adde much to the life of sinne when men spâ—…d mony for that which is not bread and labour for that which satisfieth not when
much set forward by the Word because therein is made more apparant to the Soule the Glory and the Power of God therefore the Two Prophets are said to Torment the inhabitants of the Earth and the Law is said to make men guilty and to kill to hew smite and destroy those whom it deales with all Secondly such a faith as the Divels have begotten by the Word and assented unto by the secret suggestions of the heart witnessing to it selfe that it hath deserved more then yet it feeles and this begets a fearefull expectation of being devoured surpriseth the heart with horrid tremblings and presumptions of the vengeance to come which the Apostle calls the Spirit of bondage and feare But all this being an Assent perforce extorted for wicked men confesse their sinnes as the Divels confessed Christ more out of Torment then out of Love to God or humiliation under his mighty hand amounts to no more then a Naturall Conviction Secondly there is a Spirituall and Evangelicall Conviction of the Guilt of sinne and the damnation due thereunto arising from the Law written in the heart and tempered with the apprehension of mercie in the new Covenant which begets such a paine under the Guilt of sin as a plaister doth to the impostumation which withall it cures such a Conviction as is a manuduction unto righteousnesse And that is when the Conscience doth not onely perforce feele it selfe dead but hath wrought in it by the Spirit the same affection towards it selfe for sinne which the word hath is willing to charge it selfe and acquit God to endite accuse arraigne testifie condemne it selfe meete the Lord in the way of his Iudgements and cast downe it selfe under his mighty hand That man who can in secret and truth of heart willingly and uncompulsorily thus stand on Gods side against sinne and against himselfe for it giving God the Gloâ—ie of his righteousnesse if he should condemne him and of his uâ—searchable and rich mercie that hee doth offer to forgive him I dare pronounce that man to haue the Spirit of Christ. For no man by nature can willingly and uprightly Owne damnation and charge himselfe with it as his due portion and most just inheritance This can never arise but from a deepe sense and hate of sinne from a most ardent zeale for the Glory and Righteousnesse of God Now then since the Conviction of sinne and of the death and Guilt thereof are not to drive men to despaire or blasphemie but that they may beleeve and lay hold on the righteousnesse of Christ which they are then most likely to doe when sinne is made exceeding sinfull and by consequence death exceeding deadly give mee leave to set forth in two words what this Guilt of sinne is that the necessitie of righteousnesse from Christ may appeare the greater and his mercie therein bee the more glorified Guilt is the Demerit of sinne binding and subjecting the person in whom it is to undergoe all the punishments legally due the reunto This Demerit is founded not only in the Constitution Will and Power of God over his owne Creatures of whom hee may justly require whatsoever obedience hee giveth power to performe but in the nature of his owne Holinesse and Iustice which in sinne is violated and turned from and this Guilt is after a sort Infinite because it springeth out of the aversion from an Infinite Good the violation of an infinite Holynesse and Iustice and the Conversion to the Creatures infinitely if men could live ever to commit adultery with them And as the Consequence and reward of obedience was the favour of God conferring life and blessednesse to the Creature so the wages of sinne which this Guilt assureth a sinner of is the wrath of God which the Scripture calleth Death and the Curse This Guilt being an Obligation unto punishment leadeth us to consider what the nature of that curse and death is unto which it bindeth us over Punishment bearing necessarie relation to a command the trangression whereof is therein recompenced taketh in these considerations First on the part of the Commander a will to which the Actions of the subject must conforme reveal'd and signified under the nature of a Law Secondly a justice which will and thirdly a power which can punish the transgressors of that Law Secondly on the part of the subject commanded there is requir'd first Reason and free-will originally without which there can be no sinne for though man by his brutishnesse and impotency which he doth coÌ„tract cannot make void the commands of God but that they now binde men who have put out their light and lost their libertie yet originally God made no law to binde under paine of sinne but that unto the obedience whereof hee gave reason and free-will Secondly a debt and obligation either by voluntarie subjection as man to man or naturall as the creature to God or both sealed and acknowledged in the covenants betweene God and man whereby man is bound to fulfill that law which it was originally enabled to observe Thirdly a forfeiture guilt and demerit upon the violation of that Law Thirdly and lastly the evill it selfe inflicted wherein we consider first the nature and qualitie of it which is to have a destructive power to oppresse and dis quiet the offender and to violate the integritie of his well being For as sinne is a violation offered by man to the Law so punishment is a violation retorted from the Law to man Secondly the Proportion of it to the offence the greatnesse whereof is manifested in the majestie of God offended and those severall relations of goodnesse patience creation redemption which he hath to man in the quality of the creature offending being the chiefe and lord of all the rest below him in the easinesse of the primitive obedience in the unprofitablenesse of the wayes of sinne and a world of the like aggravations Thirdly the end of it which is not the destruction of the creature whom as a creature God loveth but the satisfaction of justice the declaration of divine displeasure against sinne and the manifestation of the glory of his power and terrour So then Punishment is an evill or pressure of the Creature proceeding from a Law giver just and powerfull inflicted on a reasonable Creature for and proportionable unto the breach of such a Law unto the performance and obedience whereof the Creature was originally enabled wherein is intended the glory of Gods just displeasure and great power against sinne which hee naturally hateth Now these punishments are Temporall Spirituall and Eternall Temporall and those first without a man The vanitie of the Creatures which were at first made full of goodnesse and beautie but doe now mourne and grone under the bondage of our sinnes The wrath of God revealing it selfe from heaven and the curse of God over-growing the earth Secondly within him All the Harbingers and Fore-runners of death sicknesse paine povertie reproach feare and
cares not for the things of this World because he is in Law dead and so reserv'd to an execution and utterly devested of any right in the things hee was wont to delight in the sight or remembrance of them doth but afflict him the more A divorc'd man cares not for the things of his wife because in law she is dead vnto him and hee unto her So should it bee with us and sin because we are dead with Christ therefore we should shew it no affection Thirdly Deadnesse argues liberty unsubjection justification He that is dead is freed from sinne as the woman is from the husband after death And therefore being freed thus from sinne we should not bring our selves into bondage againe but stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath set us free and sinne should appeare in our eyes as it is in it selfe a dead thing full of noisomenesse horrour and hideous qualities We therefore should labour to shew forth the power of the death of Christ in our dying to sinne for this is certaine we have no benefit by his sufferings except we have fellowship in them we have no more fellowship in them then we can give proofe of by our dying dayly to sinne For his blood clenseth from all sinne Let us not by raigning sinne Crucifie Christ againe for he dieth no more In that hee died hee died once unto sinne Death hath no more power ovâ—…r him to shew that sinne must have no more power over us but that being once dead to sinne we should thenceforth live unto him that died for us There is a speech in Tertullian which though proceeding from Novatianisme in him doth yet in a moderated and qualified sense carry the strength of the Apostles argument in it Si possit fornicatio moechia denno admitti poterit Christus denno mori If fornication and adultery may bee againe committed by a man dead to sinne in that raging and complete manner as before if raigning sinne after it hath beene ejected out of the Throne and nail'd to a Crosse can returne to its totall and absolute soveraigntie as before Christ may dye againe for the sinnes of a Iustified and regenerate man are Crucified upon his Crosse and in his body Now I proceede to the maine thing in the Text namely the Regall power of sinne It is an observation of Chrysostome and Theodoret on the Text which though by some rejected as too nice I shall yet make bold to commend for very pertinent and rationall The Apostle did not say say they Let not sinne Tyrannize for that is sius owne worke and not ours as the Apostle sayeth Now then is it no more I that doe it but sinne that dwelleth in me all the service which is done to a tyrant is out of violence and not out of obedience But he sayes Let it not raigne in you for to the raigne of a King the obedience of the Subjects doth as it were Actively concurre whereas the subjects are rather patients then agents in a tyranny So then in a Raigning King there is a more Soveraigne power then in a Tyrant for a Tyrant hath only a Coactive power over the persons but a King hath a sweete power over the wills and affections of his Subiects they freely and heartily love his person and rejoyce in his service which rule though it be not perpetuall in the letter and in civill governements for the unwillingnesse of a people to serve a Prince may not onely arise from his tyrannie but even when he is just and moderate from their owne rebellion yet it is most generall and certaine in the state of sinne which is never a King over rebellious subjects who of themselves reject its yoke and governement For the better discovery then of the power of sinne we must note first that there are but three wayes after which sinne may be in a man First as an usurping Tyrant and seditious commotioner either by surprizall invading or by violence holding under or by projects circumventing a man against his will taking advantage of some present distemper of minde or difficultie of estate as in David of idlenesse in Peter of teare and danger or the like And thus sinne doth often incroach upon the Saints of God and play rhe Tyrant use them like Captives that are sold under the power of sinne It was thus a Tyrant in Saint Paul we reade of him that hee was sold under sinne and wee read of Ahab that hee was sold to sinne but with great difference the one sold himselfe and so became willingly the servant of sinne the other was sold by Alam from which bondage hee could not utterly extricate himselfe though hee were in bondage to sinne as the Creatures are to vanity not willingly but by reason of his act that had subjected him long before Secondly As a stâ—…ve a Gibeonite or Tributarie Cananite as a spoyled mortified crucified dying decaying sinne like the house of Saul growing weaker and weaker and thus sinne is constantly in all the faithfull while they are iâ—… the field the chaste is about them Thirdly As a raging and commanding King having a throne the heart servants the members a counsell the world flesh and Divell a complete armorie of lusts and temptations fortifications of ignorance malice rebellion fleshly reasonings lawes and edicts lastly a strict judicature a wise and powerfull rule over men which the Scriptures call the gates of Hell And of the Power of this King we are to speake In a King there is a Two fold Power A Power to command and a Power to make his commands be obeyed Sinne properly hath no power to command because the kingdome of it is no way subordinated to Gods Kingdome over us but stands up against it And even in just and annointed kings there is no power to command any thing contrary to that Kingdome of Christ to which they are equally with other subject But though sinne have not a just power to command the soule yet it hath that upon which that power where it is is grounded namely a kinde of Title and right over the soule Sinne is a spirituall Death and man by his first fall did incurre a subjection to every thing which may be called Death so that then a man did passe into the possession of sinne whence that phrase spoken of before Thou hast sold thy selfe to worke evill Now Quod venditur transit in potestatem ementis when a thing is sold it passeth into the possession of that to which it is sold. This is the covenant or bargaine betweene a Sinner and Hell Man purchaseth the pleasures and wages of sinne and sinne takes the possession of man possession of his nature in Originall sinne and possession of his life in Actuall sinne The tryall of this title of sinne that wee may discerne whether we are under it or no must be as other Titles are we must first
and pharisaicall outsides begets much dispensation and allowance in many errours that he may keepe pace and not seeme too austere censorious and ill conceited of the men whom hee walkes with Therefore David would not suffer a wicked man to be in his presence nor any wicked thing to be before his eyes lest it should cleave unto him Take heede saith the Apostle lest any roote of bitternesse springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled Fourthly it spreads not onely upon men but defiles and curses the good Creatures of God about us It puts a leprosie into the stone in the wall and the beame in the house barrennesse into the earth mourning into the Elements consumption into the Beasts and Birds bondage vanitie griefe and at last combustion and dissolution upon the whole frame of nature Fourthly it is a mortall apoysonous pollution the pollution of deadly sores putrifactions I said unto thee in thy blood live yea I said unto thee in thy blood live It notes that that estate wherein they were in their sinnes was so deadly that the cure of them was very difficult it required the repetition of Gods power and mercie If a childe new borne should lie exposed in its blood to the injurie of a cold ayre not have the Navell cut nor the body wrapp'd or wash'd or tended at all how quickly would it be that from the wombe of the mother it would drop into the wombe of the Earth The state of sinne is an estate of nakednesse blood impotencie obnoxiousnesse to all the temptations and snares of Sathan to all the darts of death and hell The ancients compare it to falling into a pit full of dirt and stones a man is not onely polluted but hee is bruized and wounded by it To conclude there is no deformity nor filthines extant which did not rise from sinne It is sin which puts bondage into the Creature which brings discords and deformities upon the face of Nature It is sin which put devilishnesse into Angels of Heaven and hurried them downe from their first habitation It is sin which put a sting into death without which though it kil yet it cannot curse It is sin which puts fire into Hell and supplies unto all eternitie the fuell materials for those unextinguishable slames It is sin which puts hell into the Conscience and armes a man with terrours and amazements against himselfe It is sin which puts rottennes and dishonour into the grave he that died without sin rose up without corruption It is sinne which wrings out those clamors and grones of bruit creatures which wrestle under the curse of Adams fall It is sin which enrageth and maddeth one beast against another and one man against another one nation against another It is sin which brought shame and dishonor upon that nakednesse unto which all the Creatures in Paradise did owe awe and reverence It is sin which turn'd Sodom into a stinking lake and Ierusalem the glory of the Earth into a desolation and haunt for Owles and Bitterns It is sinne which so often staineth Heauen and Earth with the markes of Gods vengeance and which will one day roule up in darkenesse and devoute with fire and reduce to its primitive confusion the whole frame of nature It is sinne which puts horror into the Law makes that which was at first a Law of life and liberty to be a Law of bondage and death full of weaknesse unprofitablenesse hideousnesse and curses It is sinne which puts malignity and venome into the very Gospell making it a savor of Death unto Death that is of another deeper death and sorer condemnation which by trampling upon the blood of Christ wee draw upon our selves unto that death under which wee lay before by the malediction of the Law And lastly which is the highest that can bee spoken of the veâ—…ome of 〈◊〉 It is sinne which in a sort and to speake after the manner of men hath put hatred into God himselfe hath moved the most mercifull gratious and compassionate Creator to hate the things which he made and not to take pittie upon the workes of his hands If God had look'd round about his owne workes hee could have found nothing but Goodnesse in them and theresore nothing but Love in himselfe But when sinne came into the World it made the Lord repent and grieve and hate and destroy his owne workmanship And the consideration hereof should drive us all like Lepers and polluted wretches to that Fountaine in Israell which is opened for sinne and for uncleannesse to buy of him white rayment that wee may be clothed and the shame of our nakednesse may not appeare For which purpose we must first finde out the pollution of sinne in our selves and that is by using the Glasse of the Law which was published of purpose to make sinne appeare exceeding sinfull For as rectum is sui index obliqui so purum is sui index impuri That which is right and pure is the measure and discovery of that which is crooked and impure Now the Law is Right Pure Holy lâ—…st Good Lovely Honourable Cleane and therefore very apt to discover the contrary affections and properties in sinne And having gotten by the Law acquaintance with our selves there is then fit place for the Apostles precept To cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit First the Lord discovered the preposterousnesse of Israels services unto him when they came before him in their uncleannesse and lifted up hands full of blood and then comes the like precepts to the Apostles here wash ye make ye cleane put away the evill of your doings from before mine eyes c. But can an uncleane thing cleanse it selfe Can that which is intrinsecally naturally inherently uncleare purifie it selfe It may pollute any thing which toucheth it but how can it cease from that which belongs to its nature or wipe out that which hath eaten in and is marked in its very substance It is true of our selves wee cannot cleanse our selves It is Christs Office to Sanctifie his Church and it is His comlynesse with which wee are adorned without him we can doe nothing but yet having him we must wash our selves For God worketh not upon men as a carver upon a stone when he would induce the shape and proportions of a man but yet leaves it a stone still and no more but as himselfe did worke upon Earth in Paradise when hee breath'd into it the Soule of man and so made it a Living Creature It is true a naturall man is as dead to grace as a stone is to naturall life and therefore if onely man should worke upon him hee would continue as dead still but hee who of dead Earth made a living man is able of stones to raise up children unto Abraham and the worke of conversion is a worke of vivification Now then being quickned we must walke and worke
upon so just and gratious a God as may safely bring into suspicion and disgrace any doctrine which admits of so just an exception Now to this likewise the Apostle answeres God forbid The Law is not given to condemne or clogge men not to bring sinne or death into the world It was not promulgated with any intention to kill or destroy the Creature It is not sin in it selfe It is not death unto us in that sense as we preach it namely as subordinated to Christ and his Gospell Tnough as the rule of righâ—…eousnesse we preach deliverance from it because unto that purpose it is made impotent and invalid by the sinne of man which now it cannot prevent or remove but onely discover and condemne Both these Conclusions that the Law is neither sinne nor death I finde the Apostle before in this Epistle excellently proviâ—…g Vntill the Law sinne was in the world but sinne is not imputed where there is no Law neverthelesse death â—…atgned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression That is as I conceive over those who did not sinâ—…e against so notable and evident Characters of the Law of nature written in their hearts as Adam in Paradise did for sinne had betweene Adam and Moses so obliterated and defaced the impressions of the morall Law that man stood in need of a new edition and publication of it by the hand of Moses That place serves thus to make good the purpose of the Apostle in this Sinne was in the world before the publication of the Law therefore the Law is not sinne But sinne was not imputed where there is no Law men were secure and did flatter themselves in their way were not apt to charge or condemne themselves for sin without a Law to force them unto it And therefore the Law did not come a new to beget sinne but to reveale and discover sinne Death likewise not onely was in the world but raigned even over all men therein before the publication of the Law Therefore the Law is not death neither There was Death enough in the world before the Law there was wickednesse enough to make condemnation raigne over all men therefore neither one nor other are naturall or essentiall consequences of the Law It came not to beget more sinne it came not to multiply and double condemnation there was enough of both in the world before Sinne enough to displease and provoke God death enough to devoure and torment men Therefore if the Law had beene usefull to no other purposes then to enrage sinne and condemne men if Gods wisedome and power had not made it appliable to more wholsome and saving ends he would never have new published it by the hand of Moses Here then the observation which from these words we are to make and it is a point of singular and speciall consequence to understand the use of the Law is this That the Law was revived and promulgated a new on Mount Sina by the ministery of Moses with no other then Evangelicall and mercifull purposes It is said in one place That the Lord hath no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth but it is said in another place That the Lord delighteth in mercie Which notes that God will doe more for the Salvation then he will for the damnation of men He will doe more for the magnifying of his mercy then for the multiplying of his wrath for if that require it he will revive and new publish the Law which to have aggravated the sinnes and so doubled the condemnation of men He would never have done Before I further evidence the truth of this doctrine It will be needefull to remove one Objection which doth at first proposall thereof offer it selfe If God will doe more for his mercie then for his wrath and vengeance why then are not more men saved then condemned If Hell shall bee more fill'd then Heaven is it not more then probable that wrath prevaileth against Grace and that there is more done for furie then there is for favour To wave the solution given by some That God will intentionally and effectually have every man to bee saved but few of that every will have themselves to be saved An explication purposâ—…ly contradicted by Saint Austin and his followers whose most profound and inestimable Iudgement the Orthodoxe Churches have with much admiration and assent followed in these points I rather choose thus to resolve that case It will appeare at the last great day that the saving of a few is a more admirable and glorious worke then the condemning of all the rest The Apostle saith That God shall bee gloryfied in his Saints and admired in those that beleeve For first God sheweth more mercie in saving some when He might have judged all then Iustice in Iudging many when he might have saved none For there is not all the Iustice which there might have beene when any are saved and there is more mercy then was necessary to haue beene when all are not condemned Secondly the Mercie and Grace of God in saving any is absolute and all from within himselfe out of the unsearchable riches of his owne will But the Iustice of God though not as essentiall in him yet as operatiâ—…e towards us is not Absolute but Conditionall and grounded upon the supposition of mans sinne Thirdly his Mercie is unsearchable in the price which procured it Hee himselfe waâ—… to humble and empty himselfe that he might shew mercie His mercie was to be purchased by his owne merit but his Iustice was provoked by the merit of sinne onely Fourthly Glory which is the fruite of Mercie is more excellent in a few then wrath and vengeance is in many as one bagge full of gold may bee more valuable then tenne of silver If a man should suppose that Gods mercy and Iustice being equally infinite and glorious in himselfe should therefore have the same equall proportion observed in the dispensation and revealing of them to the world wee might not therehence conclude that that proportion should be Arithmeticall that mercy should be extended to as many as severitie But rather as in the payment of a summe of mony in two equal portions whereof one is in golâ—… the other in silver though there bee an equalitie in the summes yet not in the pieces by which they are paide so in as much as Glory being the communicating of Gods owne blessed Vision Presence Love and everlasting Societie is farre more honourable and excellent then wrath therefore the dispensation of his Mercie in that amongst a few may bee exactly proportionable to the revelation of his Iustice amongst very many more in the other Suppose wee a Prince upon the just condemnation of a hundred malefactors should professe that as in his owne royall brest mercy and Iustice were equally poised and temper'd so he would observe an equall proportion of them both towards that number of
malefactors suffering his justice to condemne and his mercy to spare just so many as might preserve his Attributes iâ—…aequilibrio that the one might not over-weigh the other Certainely in this case there would be more mercy in saving tenne out of favour then in punishing and condemning all the rest for their Iust demerit Fifthly and lastly let me problematically and by way of 〈◊〉 onely propose this question Why may it not be justly said that there shall bee in Heaven as much Glorie distributed amongst those few which shall be saved as wrath in Hell amongst those many which perish I dare not speake where the Scripture is silent yet this by way of argument may bee said The proportion of wrath is measured by the finite sinnes of men the proportion of Glory from the infinite merits of Christ. There is more excellencie and vertue in the merit of Christ to procure life for his few then vilenesse or demerit in sinne to procure death for many As there may bee as much liquor in tenne great vessels as in a thousand smaller so there may bee as much Glory by the merit of Christ in a few that are saved as wrath from the merit of sinne in multitudes that perish But to returne to that from whence I have digressed Manifest it is that God will doe more for the magnifying of his mercie then â—…or the multiplying of his wrath because to be mercifull he will new publish the Law which for enlarging his judgements hee would not have done but would have left men unto that raigne of sin death which was in the world betweene Adam and Moses Notablâ—… to this purpose is that place which I have before 〈◊〉 touched and shall now 〈◊〉 againe more particularly to unfold with submission of my judgement therein unto the better learned It iâ—… Gal. 3. beginning at the 15. vers Brethren I speak-after the mannâ—…r of men though it be but a mans covenant yet if it bâ—… câ—…firmed no man disâ—…ulleth or addeth thereto The Apostle before mentioned the covenant of Promise and Grace made to Abraham and in him as well to the Gentilâ—…s as to the â—…ewes unto which the consideration of the Lawes insufficiencie to justifie and by consequence to Blesse had led him In these words hee doth by an Allusion unto humane contracts prove the fixednesse and stability of the Covenant of mercy even from the courses of mutable men If one man make a grant and covenant to another doe â—…grosse signe seale take witnesses and deliver it to the oâ—…her for his benefit and behoofâ—… it becomes altogether irreversible and uncancellable by the man which did it If a man make a Testament and then die even amongst weake and mutable men it is counted sacred and impiety it is for any man to adde diminish or alter it But now saith the Apostle God is infinite in wisedome to foresee all inconveniences and evill consequences which would follow upon any covenant of his and so if neede be to prevent the making of it Things future in their execution and issuing out of second causes are yet all present to the intuition of God and so any thing which might after happen to disaâ—…ull or voyde the covenant was pâ—…esent and evident to his Omniscience before and therefore would then have prevented the making of it If then men whose wills are mutable whose wisedomes may miscarry who may repent and be willing to revoke their owne covenants againe doe by their hand seale and delivery disable themselves to disanull their owne act when it is once past much more God who is not like man that hee should repent when hee makes a covenant doth make it sure and stable constant and irreversible especially since it is a Covenant established by an oath as the Apostle elsewhere shewes aâ—…d when God sweares he cannot repent Thus the Apostle prooveth the Covenant of mercy and grace to be Perpetuall from the Immutability and wisedome of him that made iâ—… and if it be perpetuall then all other subsequent acts of God doe referre some way or other unto it It followeth vers 16. Now to Abraham and his seede were the Promises made he saith not and to seedes as of many but as of one and to thy seede which is Christ. Where by One we understand one mystically and in aggregato not personally or individually and by Christ the whole Church consisting of the Head and Members as he is elsewhere taken 1 Cor. 12 12. Now these words doe further ratifie the stabilitie of the Covenant for though a Covenant bee in it selfe never so constant and irreversible yet if all the parties which have interest in or by it should cease the Covenant would of it selfe by consequence expire and grow voyde but here as the covenant is most constant in regard of the wisedome and unvariablenesse of him that made it so it can never expire for want of a â—…eede to whom it is made for as long as Christ hath a Church and Members upon earth so long shall the Promise be of force Vers. 17. And this I say that the Covenant which was confirmed before of God in Christ the Law which was foure hundred and thirty yeeres after cannot disanull that it should make the Promise of none effect These words are a Prolepsis or prevention of an objection which might be made A man might thus argue when two lawes are made whereof the one is expresly contradictory to the other the later doth in common presumption abrogate and disanull the former else men should be bound to contraries and so punishments would bee unavoydable But here wee finde that foure hundred and thirty yeeres after the promise to Abraham there was a Law published extremely contrary unto the promise A law without mercy or compassion a law both impossible and inexorable which can neither be obeyed nor endured therefore it should seeme that some cause or other had hapned to make God repent and revoke his former covenant The Apostle retorts this Objection And his meaning I thus apprehend If there bee a covenant made by a Lawgiver in wisedome infinite to foresee before hand and to prevent any inconveniences which might follow upon it any reasons which might fall out to abrogate it A Lawgiver in all his wayes constant and immutable as being by no improvidence disappointments or unexpected emergencies ever put to repent and this covenant made to a man and his seede for ever and that without dependance upon any condition being all of Grace and Promise save onely that Abraham have a seede and Christ a Body Then if it happen that another law be after made which primâ facie and in strict construction doth implie a contradiction to the termes and nature of the former Law for Abrogation notwithstanding whereof there have no other reasons at all de novo intercurr'd then only such as were actually in being when it was made namely the sinnes of the world and yet were not then valid
and therefore hee bringeth them unto these extremities that when their mouth is stopp'd and their guilt made evident they may with the more humilitie and abhorrencie of their former lewdnesse acknowledge the Iustnesse of the Law which would condemne them and the great mercy of the Prince who hath given them liberty to plead his pardon The same is the case betweene God and us First to Abraham he made promise of mercy and blessednesse to all that would pleade interest in it for the remission of their sinnes But men were secure and heedlesse of their estate and though sinne was in them and death raigned over them yet being without a Law to evidence this sinne and death unto their consciences therefore they imputed it not to themselves they would not owne them nor charge themselves with them and by consequence found no necessity of pleading that promise Hereupon the Lord published by Moses a severe and terrible Law so terrible that Moses himselfe did exceedingly feare and quake A Law which fill'd the Ayre with Thunder and the Mount with fire A Law full of blacknesse darknesse and Tempest A Law which they who heard it could not endure but intreated that it might not be spâ—…ken to them any more yet in all this God doth but pursue his first purpose of mercie and take a course to make his Gospell accounted worthy of all acceptation that when by this Law men shall bee roused from their security shut up under the guilt of infinite transgressions affrighted with the fire and tempest the blacknesse and darknesse the darts and curses of this Law against sinne they may then runne from Sina unto Sion even to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and by Faith plead that pardon and remission which in him was promised Thus we see the point in the generall â—…leered That God in the publication of the Law by Moses on mount Sina had none but mercifull and Evangelicall intentions I shall further draw downe the doctrine of the use of the Law into a few conclusions First The Law is not given ex primaria intentione to condemne men There was condemnation enough in the World betweene Adam and Moses before the Law was new published It is true the Law shall prove a condemning and judging Law unto impenitent and unbeleeving sinners But to condemne or judge men by it was no more Gods intention in the publishing of it by the ministery of Moses I speake of condemnation not pronounced but executed then it was his purpose to condemne men by the Gospell which yet de facto will be a savor of death unto death to all that despise it It is said that Christ should be as well for the faâ—… as for the riâ—…ing of many in Israel and that hee should be a stone of stumbling and a rocke of offâ—…nce yet hee faith of himselfe I came not to condemne the World but that the World by me might bee saveâ—… The meaning is the condemnation of the World was no motive noâ—… impulsiue cause of my comming though it were an accidentâ—…ll event conâ—…quent and emergencie thereupon Even so the condemnation which by the Law will be aggravated upon 〈◊〉 sinners the powring forth of more wrath and vengeance then raigned in the World betweene Adam and Moses was no motive in Gods intention to publish the Law by his ministery but onely the furtherance and advancement of the Covenant of Grace Secondly The Law was not published by Moses on mount Sina as it was given to Adam in Paradise to iusti fie or to save men God never appoints any thing to an end to which it is utterly unsurable and improper Now the Law by sinne is become weake and unprofitable to the purpose of righteousnesse or salvation nay it was in that regard Against us as Saint Paul saith and therefore we are delivered from it as a Rule of justification though not as a rule of service and obedience Thirdly The uses of the Law are severall according to divers considerations of it For we may consider it either Per se in it selfe according to the primarie intention thereof in its being and new publication or Per accidens according to those secondary and inferior effects thereof By accident or secondarily The Law doth first irritate enrage exasperate lust by reason of the venomous and malitious quality which is in sinne And this the Law doth not by ingenerating or implanting lust in the heart but by exciting calling out and occasioning that which was there before as a chaine doth not beget any furie in a wolfe nor a bridge infuse any strength into the water nor the presence of an enemie instill or create de novo any malice in a man but onely occasionally reduce unto Act and call forth that rage which though lesse discerned was yet habitually there before Secondly the Law by accident doth punish and curse sinne I say by accident because punishment is in no law the maine intention of the Lawgiver but something added thereunto to backe strengthen and enforce the obedience which is principally intended Neither could the Law have cursed man at all if his disobedience had not thereunto made way which shewes that the curse was not the primary intention of the Law but onely a secondary and subsequent act upon the failing of the principall For I doubt not but the Lord accounteth himselfe more gloryfied by the Active and voluntary services then by the Passive and enforced sufferings of the Creature Herein saith our Saviour is my Father glorified that you bring forth much fruite Secondly consider the Law by it selfe and in its primary intention and so there are two principall uses for which it serves First It hath rationem speculi It is as a glasse to manifest and discover sinne and death and thereupon to compell men to fly for sanctuary unto Christ and when they see their miserie to sue out their pardon And this the Law doth first by convincing the Conscience of its owne widenes as the Prophet David speakes I have seene an end of all perfection but thy Law is exceeding broad By revealing the compasse of sinne in proportion to the widenesse and the filthynesse of sin in proportion to the purity of that Holy Law by discovering the depth and foulenesse the deceitfulnesse and desperate mischiefe of the heart by nature and giving some evidences to the soule of that horrid endlesse and insupportable vengeance which is due to sinne We know saith the Apostle that whatsoever things the Law saith it saith to those that are under the Law That every mouth may be stopped and all the World may become guilty before God Secondly By judging sentencing applying wrath to the Soule in particular For when it hath stopped a mans mouth evidenced his guiltinesse concluded him under sinne it then pronounceth him to bee a cursed and condemned Creature exposed without any strength or possibility to evade or overcome unto all the
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
secret for your pride to note that pride is the principle of disobedience They and our fathers saith â—…ehemiah in his confession dealâ—… proudly and hardned their neckes and hearkered not unto thy Commandements and refused to obey And therefore Ez kiah used this perswasion to the ten tribes to come up to Ierusalem unto the Lords Passeover Be ye not stiffenecked as your fathers but yeeld your selves unto the Lord. To note that humiliation is the way unto obedience when once the heart is humbled it will bee glad to walke with God Humble thyselfe saith the Prophet to walke with thy God Receivâ—… the ingraffed Word with meeknesse saith the Apostle When the Heart is first made meeke and lowly it will then bee ready to receive the Word and the Word ready to incorporate in it as seede in torne and harrowed ground When Paul was disâ—…ounted and cast downe upon the Earth terrified and astonished at the Heavenly vision immediately hee is qualyfied for obedience Lord what wilt thou have mee to doe When the Soule is convinc'd by the Law that of it selfe it comes short of the Glory oâ—… God walkes in darkenesse and can go no way but to Hell It will then with ioy and thankfulnesse foâ—…ow the Lambe wheresoever hee goes as being well assured that though the way of the Lambe be a way of blood yet the End is a Throne of Glory and a Crowne of Life FINIS THE LIFE OF CHRIST OR THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE SAINTS WITH HIM IN HIS LIFE Sufferings and Resurrection By EDWARD REYNOLDS Preacher to the Honourable Societie of Lincolns Inne PAX OPVLENTIAM SAPIENTIA PACEM FK LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostocke 1631. THE LIFE OF CHRIST 1. IOHN 5. 12. He that hath the Sonne hath Life HAving shewed the Insufficiencie of the Creature to make man happie as being full of vanitie and the Insufficiencie of Man to make himselfe Happie as being full of sinne we now proceede in the last place to discover first the Fountaine of Life and Happinesse Christ and secondly the Channell by which it is from him unto us conveyed the Instrument whereby wee draw it from him namely the knowledge of him and fellowship with him in his resurrection and sufferings These words we see containe a Doctrine of the greatest consequence to the Soule of Man in the whole Scriptures and that which is indeede the summe of them all They containe the summe of mans desires Life and the summe of Gods mercies Christ and the summe of mans dutie Faith Christ the Fountaine Life the Derivation and Faith the Conveyance Whatsoever things are excellent and desireable are in the Scripture comprised under the name of Life as the lesser under the greater for Life is better then meate and the body then ray ment And whatsoever Excellencies can bee named wee have them all from Christ. In Him saith the Apostle are bid the treasures of wisdome and knowledge Hâ—…d not to the purpose that they may not be found but to the purpose that they may bee sought And we may note from the expression that Christ is a Treasurer of his Fathers Wisedome He hath Wisedome as the Kings treasurer hath wealth as an Officer a Depositarie a Dispenser of it to the friends and servants of his father He is made unto vs Wisedome The Apostle saith that in him there are unsearchable riches an inexhausted treasurie of Grace and Wisedome And there had neede bee a treasure of riches in him for there is a treasure of sinne in us so our Saviour cals it the treasure of an evill heart He was full of Grace and Truth Not as a vessell but as a Fountaine and as a Sunne to note that Hee was not onely full of Grace but that the fulnesse of Grace was in Him It pleased the Father that in him should all fâ—…lnesse dwell God gave not the Spirit in measure unto Him And as there is a fulnesse in Him so there is a Communion in us Of his fulnesse wee receive Grace for Grace that is as a Childe in generation receiveth from his Parents member for member or the paper from the Presse letter for letter or the glasse from the face image for image so in regeneration Christ is fully formed 〈◊〉 a man and he receiveth in some measure and proportion Grace for Grace there is no Grace in Christ appertaining to generall sanctification which is not in some weake degree fashioned iâ—… Him Thus there is to Christ a fulnesse of Grace answerable to a fulnesse oâ—… sinne which is in us The Prophet cals him a Prince of Peace not as Moses onely was a man of peace but a Prince of peace If Moses had beene a Prince of peace how easily might he have instill'd peaceable and calme affections into the mutinous and murmuring people But though hee had it in himselfe yet hee had it not to distribute But Christ hath Peace as a King hath Honours to dispense and dispose of it to whom hee will Peace I leaue with you my Peace I giue unto you If I should runne over all the particulars of Grace or Mercy we should finde them all proceede from him He is our Passeover saith the Apostle As in Egypt wheresoever there was the blood of the Passeover there was life and where it was not there was death so where this our Passeover is there is life and where hee is not there is death To me to live is Christ saith the Apostle and againe now I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life that I live I live by the Faith of the Sonne of God who loved me and gvae himselfe for me To consider more particular this Life which we have from Christ. First It is a Life of Righteousnesse for Life and Righteousnes are in the Scripture taken for the same because sin doth immediatly make a man dead in law He that beleeveth not is condemned already and in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death And this Life being a Resurrection from a preceeding death hath two things belonging unto it First there is a Libertie and Deliverance wrought for us from that under which we were before held Secondly there is an Inheritance purchased for us the Priviledge and Honour of being called the Sonnes of God conferr'd upon us There are three Offices or Parts of the Mediation of Christ. First his Satisfaction as hee is our Suretie whereby hee paid our debt underwent the curse of our sinnes bare them all in his body upon the Tree became subject to the Law for us in our nature and representatively in our stead fulfill all righteousnesse in the Law required both Active and Passive for us For we must note that there are two things in the Law intended One principall obedience and another secondary malediction upon supposition of disobedience
in you which was in Christ that is have the same judgement opinions affections compassions as Christ had As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation Secondly in his passive obedience though not in the end or purposes yet in the manner of it Runne with patience saith the Apostle the race which is set before you looking vnto Iesus who for the joy that was set before him endured the crosse despised the shame c. If the head be gotten through a strait place all the members will venture after Therefore since Christ hath gone through shame contradiction death to his glory let us not be wearied nor faint or despaire in our mindes The head doth not thinke all its worke ended when it is gotten through it selfe but taketh care and is mindefull of the members that follow Therefore the Apostle cals our sufferings A fulfilling or making up of the sufferings of Christ. The Resolution of all is briefely this We must follow Christ in those things which hee both did and commanded not in those things which he did but not commanded But heere it may be objected Christ was Himselfe voluntarily poore Hee became poore for our sakes and he commanded poverty to the young man goe sell all that thou hast and give it to the poore Is every man to be herein a follower of Christ To this I answere in generall that poverty was not in Christ any act of Morall Obedience noâ—… to the yong man any command of Morall Obedience First for Christs poverty we may conceive that it was a requisite preparatorie act to the worke of redemption and to the magnifying of his spirituall power in the subduing of his enemies and saving of his people when it appeared that thereunto no externall accessions nor contribution of temporall greatnesse did concurre And secondly for the command to the yong man it was meerely personall and indeede not so much intending obedience to the letter of the precept as triall of the sinceritie of the mans former profession and conviction of him touching those misperswasions and selfe-deceits which made him trust in himselfe for righteousnesse like that of God to Abraham to offer up his Sonne which was not intended for death to Isaake but for tryall to Abraham and for manifestation of his faith It may be further objected How can wee bee Holy as Christ is Holy First the thing is impossible and secondly if we could there would be no neede of Christ if we were bound to bee so Holy righteousnesse would come by a Law of workes To this I answere the Law is not nullyfied nor curtall'd by the mercy of Christ we are as fully bound to the obedience of it as Adam was though not upon such bad termes and evill consequences as he under danger of contracting sinne though not under danger of incurring death So much as any justified person comes short of complete and universall obedience to the Law so much hee sinneth as Adam did though God be pleased to pardon that sinne by the merit of Christ. Christ came to deliver from sinne but not to priviledge any man to commit it though hee came to be a curse for sinne yet Hee came not to be a Cloake for sinne Secondly Christ is needefull in two respects First because we cannot come to full and perfect obedience and so His Grace is requisite to pardon and cover our failings Secondly because that which wee doe attaine unto is not of or from our selves and so his spirit is requisite to strengthen us unto his service Thirdly when the Scripture requires us to be Holy and perfect as Christ and God by as we understand not equalitie in the compasse but qualitie in the Truth of our Holynesse As when the Apostle saith That we must love our neighbour as our selves the meaning is not that our love to our neighbour should be mathematically equall to the love of our selves for the Law doth allow of degrees in Love according to the degrees of relation and neerenesse in the thing loved Doe good unto all men specially to those of the houshold of Faith Love to a friend may safely bee greater then to a stranger and to a wife or childe then to a friend yet in all our love to others must be of the selfe same nature as true reall cordiall sincere solid as that to our selves Wee must love our neighbour as wee doe our selves that is unfainedly and without dissimulation Let vs further consider the Grounds of this point touching the Conformitie which is betweene the nature and spirituall life of Christians and of Christ because it is a Doctrine of principall consequence First this was one of the Ends of Christs comming Two purposes He came for A restitution of us to our interest in Salvation and a restoring our originall qualities of Holynesse unto vs. Hee came to sanctifie and cleanse the Church that it should be Holy and without blemish unblameable and unreproveable in his sight To Redeeme and to purifie his people The one is the worke of his Merit which goeth upward to the Satisfaction of his Father the other the worke of his Spirit and Grace which goeth downeward to the Sanctification of his Church In the one He bestoweth his righteousnesse upon us by imputation in the other He fashioneth his â—…mage in us by renovation That man then hath no claime to the payment Christ hath made nor to the inheritance Hee hath purchased who hath not the Life of Christ fashioned in his nature and conversation But if Christ be not onely a Saviour to Redeeme but a Rule to Sanctifie what use or service is left unto the Law I answere that the Law is still a Rule but not a comfortable effectuall delightfull rule without Christ applying and sweetning it unto us The Law onely comes with commands but Christ with strength love willingnesse and life to obey them The Law alone comes like a Schoolemaster with a scourge a curse along with it but when Christ comes with the Law He comes as a Father with precepts to teach and with compassions to spare The Law is a Lion and Christ our Sampson that slew the Lion as long as the Law is alone so long it is alive and comes with terrour and fury upon every Soule it meetes but when Christ hath slaine the Law taken away that which was the strength of it namely the guilt of sinne then there is honie in the Lion sweetnesse in the duties required by the Law It is then an easie yoke and a Law of libertie the Commandements are not then grievous but the heart delighteth in them and loveth them even as the honie and the honie combe Of it selfe it is the cord of a Iudge which bindeth hand and foote and shackleth unto condemnation but by Christ it is made the cord of a man and the band of Love by which He teacheth us to goâ—…
and obediently undertake it Thou hast prepared mee a bodie In the volume of thy booke it is written of me Lo I come to doe thy Will O God Lastly our holynesse must have growth and proficiencie with it grow in grace Let these things be in you and abound as it is said of Christ that He increased in wisedome and favour with God and men and that He learned obedience by the things which Hee suffered If it bee here objected that Christ was ever full and had the Spirit without measure even from the wombe For in as much as his Divine nature was in his infancie as fully united to his humane as ever after therefore the fulnesse of grace which was a consequent thereupon was as much as ever after To this I answere that certaine it is Christ was ever full of Grace and Spirit but that excludes not his growth in them proportionably to the ripenesse and by consequence capacitie of his humane nature Suppose we the Sunne were vegetable and a subject of augmentation though it would be never true to say that it is fuller of light then it was yet it would be true to say that it hath more light now then it had when it was of a lesser capacitie Even so Christ being in all things save sinne like unto us and therefore like us in the degrees and progresses of naturall maturitie though he were ever full of Grace may yet be said to grow in it and to learne because as the capacitie of his nature was enlarged the spring of Grace within him did rise up and proportionably fill it Secondly from this Doctrine of our conformity in Holinesse to the life of Christ we may be instructed touching the vigor of the Law and the consonancie and concurrencie thereof with the Gospell True it is that Christ is the End of the Law and that wee are not under the Law but under Grace Yet it is as true that Christ came not to destroy the Law and that no jot nor tittle thereof shall fall to the ground Wee are not under the Law for Iustification of our persons as Adam nor for satisfaction of Divine Iustice as those that perish but we are under it as a document of obedience and a rule of living It is now published from mount Sion as a Law of libertie and a new Law not as a Law of condemnation and bond age The obedience thereof is not removed but the disobedience thereof is both pardoned and cured Necessarie is the observation of it as as a fruite of Faith not as a condition of Life or Righteousnesse Necessarie necessitate praecepti as a thing commanded the transgressing whereof is an incurring of sinne not necessitate medy as a strict and undispensable meane of Salvation the transgression whereof is a peremptorie obligation unto death Three things Christ hath done to the Law for us First He hath mitigated the rigâ—…r and removed the curse from it as it is a killing letter and ministery of death Secondly Hee hath by his Spirit conferred all the principles of obedience upon us wisdome to contrive will to desire strength to execute love to delight in the services of it The Law onely commands but Christ enables Thirdly Hee hath by his exemplary holinesse chalked out unto us and conducted us in the way of obedience for all our obedience comes from Christ and that either as unto members from his Spirit or as unto Disciples from his Doctrine and Example We see then the necessitie of our being in Christ not onely for righteousnesse but for obedience for we must have Life before we can have Operation If we live in the spirit let us walkâ—… also in the spirit Whereas out of Christ a man is under the whole Law as an insupportable yoke as an impossible and yet inexorable rule as a Covenant of Righteousnesse and condition by which he must be tried by which he must everlastingly stand or fall before the tribunall of Christ when he shall come in flaming fire to take vengeance on those who though convinced of their iusufficiencie to observe the Law have yet disobeyed the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ. Thirdly we may hence learne the necessitie of diligent attendance on the holy Scriptures and places where they are explained there is no abiding in Christ but by walking as he walked there is no walking as hee walked but by knowing how he walked and this is onely by the Scriptures in which Hee is yet amongst us walking in the middest of his Church Crucified before our eyes set forth and declared unto us many other signes Iesus did which are not written saith the Apostle but these are written that you might beleeve and that beleeving you might have life Wee know not any of Christs wayes or workes but by the Word and therefore they who give no attendance unto that declare that they regard not the wayes of Christ nor have any care to follow the Lambe wheresoever he goeth Secondly we must from hence bee exhorted to take heede of usurping Christs honour to our selves of being our owne rule or way The Lord is a jealous God and will not suffer any to bee a selfe mover or a God unto himselfe It is one of Gods extreamest judgements to give men over to themselves and leave them to follow their owne rules When hee hath first woâ—…d men by his Spirit and that is resisted enticed them by his mercies and they are abused threatned them with his judgements and they are misattributed to second causes cried unto them by his prophets and they are reviled sent his owne Sonne to perswade them and hee is trampled on and despised when he offers to teach them and they stoppe their eares to leade them and they pull away their shoulder to convert them and they hardned their heart when they set up mounds against the Gospell as it were to non-plus and pose the mercies of God that there may be no remedie left then after all these indâ—…gnities to the Spirit of Grace this is the judgement with which God useth to revenge the quarrrell of his Grace and Covenant to leave them to the hardnesse and impenitencie of their owne hearts to be a rule and way unto themselves My people would not hearken to my voyce and Israel would none of me So I gave them up unto their owne hearts lust and they walked in their owne counsels Let us therefore take heede of a will-holynesse We are the servants of Christ and our members are to bee the instruments of righteousnesse and servants are to be governed by the will of their masters and members to bee guided by the influence of the head and instruments to bee applyed to all their services by the superiour cause Every thing which Moses did about the Tabernacle was to be done after the patterne which he had seene in the mount and every thing which we doe in these spirituall Tabernacles
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
had no holdfast at all of Him When Lazarus was raised It is said that Hee came forth bound hand and foote with Grave cloathes to note that Hee came not out as a victor over Death unto which He was to returne againe but when Christ rose Hee left them behinde because death was to have no more power over Him Thus by His resurrection He was declared to have gone through the whole punishment which Hee was to suffer for sinne and being thus justified himselfe that hee was able also to justifie others that beleeved in him This is the reason why the Apostle useth these words to prove the resurrection of Christ I will give you the sure mercies of David for none of Gods mercies had been sure to us if Christ had been held under by death Our faith had been vaine we had been yet in our sinnes But his worke being fully finished the mercy which thereupon depended was made certaine and as the Apostle speakes sure unto all the 〈◊〉 Thus as the Day wherein Redemption is victorious and consummate is cald the day of Redemption so the worke wherein the merits of Christ were declar'd victorious is said to have been for our justification because they were thereby made appliable unto that purpose The second worke of the Power of Christs Resurrection is to overcome all death in vs and restore vs to life againe Therfore he is cald the Lord of the living and the Prince of life to note that his life is operative unto others wee are by his Resurrection secur'd first against the death and Law which wee were held under for euery sinneâ—… is condemn'd already Now when Christ was condemned for sinne hee thereby deliver'd us from the death of the Law which is the curse so that though some of the grave cloathes may not be quite shaken off but that wee may be subject to the workings feares of the Law upon some occasions yet the malediction thereof is for ever removed Secondly we are secured against the death in sinne regenerated quickned renued fashioned by the power of godlinesse which tameth our rebellions subdueth our corruptions and turneth all our affections another way Thirdly against the hold-fast and conquest of death in the grave from whence wee shall bee translated unto glory a specimen and resemblance of this was shewed at the resurrection of Christ when the graves were opened and many dead bodies of the Saints arose and entred into the Citie As a Prince in his inauguration or sosemne state openeth prisons and unlooseth many which there were bound to honour his solemnitie so did Christ do to those Saints at his resurrection and in them gave assurance to all his of their conquest over the last Enemy What a fearefull condition then are all men out of Christ in who shall have no interest in His resurrection Rise indeed they shall but barely by his power as their Iudge not by fellowship with him as the first fruites and first borne of the dead and therefore theirs shall not be properly or at least comfortably a Resurrection no more than a condemn'd persons going from the prison to his execution may be cald an enlargement Pharaohâ—… Butler and Baker went both out of prison but they were not both delivered so the righteous and the wicked shall all appeare before Christ and bee gathered out of their graves but they shall not all bee Children of the Resurrection for that belongs onely to the just The wicked shall be dead everlastingly to all the pleasures and wayes of sin which here they wallowed in As there remaines nothing to a drunkard or adulterer after all his youthfull excesses but crudities rottennesse diseases and the worme of Conscience so the wicked shall carry no worlds nor satisfactions of lust to hell with them their glorie shall not descend after them These things are truths written with a sunne beame in the booke of God First That none out of Christ shall rise unto Glorie Secondly That all who are in him are purged from the Love and power of sinne are made a people willingly obedient unto his scepter and the government of his grace and spirit and have eyes given them to see no beauty but in his kingdome Thirdly Hereupon it is manifest that no uncleane thing shall rise unto glory A prince in the day of his state or any roiall solemnitie wil not admit beggers or base companions into his presence Hee is of purer eyes then to behold much lesse to communicate with uncleane persons None but the pure in heart shal see God Fourthly that every wicked man waxeth worse and worse that hee who is filthy growes more filthy that sinne hardneth the heart and infidelitie hasteneth perdition Whence the conclusion is evident That every impenitent sinner who without any inward hatred purposes of revenge against sinne without godly sorrow forepast and spirituall renovation for after-times allowes himselfe to continue in any course of uncleannesse spends all his time and strength to no other purpose then onely to heape up coales of Iuniper against his owne soule and to gather together a treasure of sins and wrath like an infinite pile of wood to burne himselfe in Again this power of Christs resurrection is a ground of solid and invincible comfort to the faithfull in any pressures or calamities though never so desperate because God hath power and promises to raise them up againe This is a sufficient supportance first Against any either publike or privat afflictions However the Church may seeme to be reduc'd to as low and uncureable an estate as dried bones in a grave or the brands of wood in a fire yet it shall be but like the darknesse of a night after two daies he will revive againe His goings forth in the defence of his Church are prepared as the morning When Iob was upon a dunghill and his reines were consumed within him When Ionah was at the bottome of the Mountaines and the weedes wrapped about his head and the great billowes and waves went over him so that he seemed as cast out of Gods sight When David was in the midst of troubles and Ezekiah in great bitternesse this power of God to raise unto life againe was the onely refuge and comfort they had Secondly against all temptations and discomforts Satans traines and policies come too late after once Christ is risen from the dead for in his resurrection the Church is discharged and set at large Thirdly against Death it selfe because wee shall come out of our graves as gold out of the fire or miners out of their pits laden with gold and glory at the last Lastly wee must from hence learne to seeke those things that are above whither Christ is gone Christs Kingdome is not here and therefore our hearts should not be here Hee is ascended
art That God that is the same God in thy fidelity and mercy as then thou wert and thy words be true and thou hast promised this goodnesse to thy servant therefore let it please thee to blesse the house of thy Servant c. Excellent to this purpose is that which S. Austin obserues of his mother who very often and earnestly prayed unto God for hâ—…r sonne when he was an Hereticke Chirographa tua ingerebat tibi Lord saith he she urged thee with thine owne hand-writing she challenged in an humble and fearefull confidence the performance of thine owne obligations Thirdly and lastly by this meanes wee hasten the performance of Gods decreed mercies we retardate yea quite hinder his almost purposed and decreed Iudgements The Lord had resolved to restore Israel to their wonted peace and honour yet for all these things will I be enquired vnto by the House of Israel to doe it for them saith He in the Prophet The Lord had threatned destruction against Israel for their Idolatry had not Moses stood before him in the breach to turne away his wrath as the Psalmist speakes And we reade of the Primitive Christians that their prayers procured raine from heaven when the Armies of the Emperours were even famished for want of water and that their very persecutors have begg'd their prayers Secondly as by prayer the Creature is sanctified in the procurement for no man hath reason to beleeue that there is any blessing intended vnto him by God in any of the good things which doe not come in vnto him by prayer so in the next place the Creature is by Prayer sanctified in the fruition thereof because to enjoy the portion allotted us and to rejoyce in our labour is the Gift of God as Salomon speakes The Creature of it selfe is not onely Dead and therefore unable to minister life by it selfe alone but which is worse by the meanes of mans sinne it is Deadly too and therefore apt to poyson the receivers of it without the corrective of Gods Grace Pleasure is a thing in it selfe lawfull but corruption of nature is apt to make a man a lover of pleasure more then a lover of God and then is that mans pleasure made unto him the metropolis of mischiefe as Clemens Alexandâ—…inus speakes A good name is better then sweet oyntment and more to be desired then much riches but corruption is apt to put a flie of vaine-glory and selfeaffectation into this oyntment to make a man foolishly feed upon his owne credit and with the Pharisies to doe all for applause and preferre the praise of men before the glory of God and then our sweet oyntment is degenerated into a curse Woe bee unto you when all men shall speake well of you Riches of themselves are the good gifts and blessings of God as Salomon saith The blessing of the Lord maketh rich but corruption is apt to breed by this meanes covetousnesse pride selfe-dependency forgetfulnesse of God scorne of the Gospell and the like and then these earthly blessings are turned into the curse of the earth into Thornes and Briers as the Apostle speakes They that will be rich pierce themselves thorow with many sorrowes Learning in it selfe is an honourable and a noble endowment it is recorded for the glory of Moses that hee was learned in all the wisedome of the Egyptians but corruption is apt to turne learning into leauen to infect the heart with pride which being arm'd and seconded with wit breakes forth into perverse disputes and corrupts the minde Therefore Saint Paul advised the Christians of his time to beware lest any man spoile them through Philosophy and begvile them with entising words And the ancient Fathers counted the Philosophers the Seminaries of heresie Proofe whereof to let passe the Antitrinitarians and Pelagians and other ancient Hereâ—…ikes who out of the nicenesse of a quaint wit perverted Gods truth to the patronage of their lyes and to passe by the Schoolemen and Iesuites of late Ages who haue made the way to heaven a very labyrinth of crooked subtilties and have weav'd Divinity into Cobwebs wee may have abundantly in those Libertines and Cyrenians who disputed with Stephen and those Stoicks that wrangled with Saint Paul about the resurrection And now learning being thus corrupted is not onely turned into wearinesse but into very notorious and damnable folly for thinking themselves wise saith the Apostle they became fooles and their folly shall be made kâ—…owne unto all men To get wealth in an honest and painefull Calling is a great blessing for the diligent hand maketh rich but corruption is apt to perswade unto cozenage lying equivocation fals weights ingrossements monopolies and other Arts of cruelty and unjustice and by this meanes ouâ—… law full Callings are turned into abominations mysteries of iniquity and a pursuit of death Every creature of God is good in it selfe and allowed both for necessitie and delight but corruption is apt to abuse the Creatures to luxury and excesse to drunkennesse gluttony and inordinate lusts and by this meanes a mans table is turned into a Snare as the Psalmist speakes Now then since all the world is thus bespread with ginnes it mainely concernes us alwayes to pray that we may use the world as not abusing it that wee may enjoy the Creatures with such wisedome temperance sobriety heavenly affections as may make them so many ascents to raise us neerer unto God as so many glasses in which to contemplate the wisedome providence and care of God to men as so many witnesses of his love and of our duty And thus doth prayer sanctifie the Creature in the use of it Lastly and in one word Prayer sanctifies the Creatures in the review and recognition of them and Gods mercy in them with thanksgiving and thoughts of praise as Iacob Gen. 32. 9. 10. and David 2. Sam. 7. 18. 21. looked upon God in the blessings with which hee had blessed them And now since Prayer doth thus sanctifie the Creatures unto us wee should make friends of the unrighteous Mammon that wee may by that meanes get the prayers of the poore Saints upon us and our estate that the eye which seeth us may blesse us and the care that heareth us may give witnesse to us that the loynes and the mouthes the backes and the bellies of the poore and fatherlesse may be as so many reall supplications unto God for us The third and last direction which I shall give you to finde life in the Creature shall bee to looke on it and love it in its right order with subordination to God and his promises to love it after God and for God as the beame which conveyes the influences of life from him as his instrument moved and moderated by him to those ends for which it serves to love it as the Cisterne not as the fountaine of life to make Christ the foundation and all other
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
entred by Moses that sin might abound that is That that concupiscence which reigned without conviction before during the ignorance of the originall implanted Law might by the new edition and publication of that Law be knowne to be sinfull and thereby become more exceeding sinful to those who should be thus convinced of it that so the exceeding sinfulnesse of sinne might serve both the sooner to compell men to come to Christ and the Grace of Christ might thereby appeare to be more exceeding gratious for the Law was reviv'd and promulgated anew meerely with relation to Christ and the Gospell and therefore the Apostle saith It was added and ordained by Angels in the Hand of a Mediator or by the ministery of a Mediator Where there are three reasons to shew Gods Evangelicall purpose in the publication of the Law anew First it was not published alone but as an Additament with relation to the Evangelicall promise which was before made Secondly the service of Angels or Messengers which shewes that in the Law God did send from Heaven anew to instruct men and therein to take care of them and prepare them for salvation for Angels minister for this purpose that men might be heires of salvation Thirdly the ministry of a Mediator namely Moses who was Mediator in the Law with reference whereunto Christ is cald Mediator of a better Covenant and was faithfull as Moses Now where there is a Mediator appointed therein God declares his purpose to enter anew into a treaty with men and to bring them to termes of agreement and reconciliation with him Men were rebels against God held under the sentence of death and vengeance they are in darkenesse know not whither they goe are well pleasde with their owne estate give no heed to any that would call them out For this reason because God is willing to pull mē out of the fire he sends first Moses armed with thunder and brightnesse which can not be endur'd for the shining of Moses his face which the people could not abide denotes the exceeding purity and brightnesse of the Law which no sinner is able with peace to looke on and he shews them whither they are hastning namely to eternall death and like the Angell that met Balaam in a narrow roome shuts them in that either they must turne backe againe or else bee destroyed and in this fright and anguish Christ the mediator of a better covenant presents himselfe as a Sanctuary and refuge from the condemnation of the Law Secondly there is universalitie of men and in men universality of parts All men and every part of man shut up under the guilt and power of this sinne Both these the Apostle proves at large Iewes Gentiles all under sinne none righteous no not one all gone out of the way altogether become unprofitable none that doth good no not one Every mouth must be stopped all the world must be guilty before God all have sinned and come short or are destitute of his glory God hath concluded all in unbeliefe the Scripture hath shut up all under sinne this shewes the universality of persons The Apostle adds Their throate is an open sep◅lcher with their tongues they have used deceit the poyson of aspes is under their lips their mouth full of cursing and bitternesse their feete swift to shed bloud destruction and unhappinesse are in their wayes and the way of peace they have not knowne there is no feare of God before their eyes these particulars are enough to make up an Induction and so to inferre a universalitie of Parts Every purpose desire Imagination incomplete and inchoate notion every figment so the word properly signifies with reference whereunto the Apostle as I conceive cals sinne The creature of the Heart and our Saviour the Issue of the Heart is evill onely evill continually evill Originall sinne is an entire body an old man which word noteth not the impotencie or defects but the maturity wisedome cunning covetousnesse full growth of that sinne in us and in this man every member is earthly sensuall and divelish As there is chaffe about every corne in a field saltnesse in every drop of the sea bitternesse in every branch of wormewood so is ehere sinne in every faculty of man First looke into the minde you shall finde it full of vanitie wasting and wearying it selfe in childish impertinent unprofitable notions Full of ignorance and darknesse no man knoweth nay no man hath so much knowledge as to enquire or seeke after God in that way where he will bee found nay more when God breakes in upon the minde by some notable testimonie from his Creatures Iudgements or providence yet they like it not they hold it downe they reduce themselves backe againe to foolish hearts to reprobate and undiscerning mindes as naturally as hot water returnes to its former coldnesse Full of Curiositie Rash unprofitable enquiries foolish and unlearned questions profane bablings strife of words perverse disputes all the fruits of corrupt and rotten mindes Full of Pride and contradiction against the Truth oppositions of science that is setting up of philosophy and vaine deceit Imaginations thoughts fleshly reasonings against the spirit and truth which is in Iesus Full of domesticall Principles fleshlie wisedome humane Inventions contrivances super-inducements upon the pretious foundation of rules and methods of its owne to serve God and come to happinesse Full of Inconsistency and roving swarmes of empty and foolish thoughts slipperinesse and unstablenesse in all good motions Secondly looke into the Conscience you shall finde it full of Insensiblenesse the Apostle saith of the Gentiles That they were past feeling and of the Apostates in the latter times that they had their consciences seared with a hot iron which things though they be spoken of an Habituall and acqui◅'d hardnesse which growes upon men by a custome of sinne yet wee are to note that it is originally in the Conscience at first and doth not so much come unto it as grow out of it As that branch which at first shooting out is flexible and tender growes at last even by it owne disposition into a hard and stubbo◅e bow as those parts of the naile next the flesh which are at first softer then the rest yet doe of themselves grow to that hardnesse which is in the rest so the consciences of children have the seedes of that insensibility in them which makes them at last dea◅e to every charme and secure against all the thunder that is threatned against them Full of Impurity and disobedience dead rotten unsavorie workes Full of false and absurd excusations and accusations fearing where there is no cause of feare and acquitting where there is great cause of feare as Saint Pauls here did Looke into the Heart and you shall finde a very He◅ of uncleannesse Full of deepe and unsearchable deceit and wickednesse Full of hardnesse no sinnes no judgements no mercies no
men change their glory for that which doth not profit forsake the Fountaine and hâ—…w outbroken Cisternes which will hold no water â—…owe nothing but winde and reape nothing but shame and reproach Our Saviour assures us that it is no valuable price to get the whole World by sione and Saint Austen hath assur'd us that the salvation of the World if possible oughtâ—…ot to be procurd by but an officious lie But now how many times doe we sinne even for base and dishonourable endâ—… lie for a farthing sweare for a complement swagger for a fashion flatter for a preferment murder for a revâ—…ge pawne our soules which are more worth then the whole frame of nature for a very trifle Seventhly all this evill hitherto staies at home but the great scandall that comes of sinne addes much to the life of it the perniciousnesse and offence of the example to others Scandall to the weake and that twofold an active scandall to mis-guide them Gal. 2. 14. 1. Cor. 8. 10. or a passive scandall to grieve them Rom. 14. 15. and beget in them jealousies and suspitions against our persons and professions Scandall to the wicked and that twofold also the one giving them occasion to blaspheme that holy Name and profession which we beare 2. Sam. 12. 14. 2. Cor. 6. 3. 4. 1. Pet. 2. 13. The other hardning and encouraging comforting and justifying them by our evill example Ezek. 16. 51 54. Eighthly the evill doth not reach to men onely but the scandall and indignity over-spreads the Gospell a great part of the life of sinne is drawne from the severall respects it hath to Gods will acknowledged When we sâ—…e not onely against the Law of Nature in our hearts but against the written Law nor onely against the truth but against the mercy and Spirit of God too this must be a heavy aggravation O what a hell must it bee to a soule in hell to recount so many Sabbaths God reached fâ—…rth his Word unto me so many Sermons he knock'd at my doore and beseeched me to be reconciled he woâ—…d me in his Word allured me by his promises expected me in much patience enriched me with the liberty of his owne pâ—…etious Oracles reached forth his blood to wash me poured forth his teares over me but against all this I have stopped the â—…are and pulled away the shoulder and hardned the heart and received all this grace in â—…ine and not withstanding all the raine which fell upon me continued barren still God might have cut me off in the wombe and made me there a brand of hell as I was by nature a Childe of wrath he might have brought me forth into the world out of the pale of his visible Church 〈◊〉 into a corrupted Synagogue or into a place full of ignorance atheisme and profanenesse but he hath cast my lot in a beautifull place and given me a goodly heritage and now hee requires nothing of me but to doe justly and worke righteousnesse and walke humbly before God and I requite evill for good to the hurt of mine owne soule Ninthly the manner of committing these sinnesis is full of life too Peradventure they are Kings have a court and regiment in my heart at best they will be Tyrants in mee they have been committed with much strength power service attendance with obstinacy frowardnesse perseverance without such sense sorrow or apprehension as things of so great a guiltinesse did require Lastly in good duties whereas grace should bee ever quick and operative make us conformable to our head walke worthy of our high calling and as becommeth godlinesse as men that have learned and received Christ how much unprofitablenesse unspiritualnesse distractions formality want of rellish failings intermissions deadnesse uncomfortablenesse do shew themselves How much flesh with spirit how much wantonnesse with grace how much of the world with the word how much of the weeke in the Sabbath how much of the bag or barne in the Temple how much superstition with the worship how wuch security with the feare how much vaine-glory in the honour of God in one word How much of my selfe and therefore how much of my sinne in all my services and duties which I performe These and a world the like aggravations serve to lay open the life of actuall sinnes Thus have I at large opened the first of the three things proposed namely that the spirit by opening the Rule doth convince men that they are in the state of sin both originall and actuall The next thing proposed was to shew what kinde of condition or estate the state of sinne is And here are two things principally remarkeable first it is an estate of most extreme impotency and disability unto any good Secondly of most extreme enmity against the holinesse and wayes of God First it is an estate of impotency and Disability to any good Paul in his pharisaicall condition thought himselfe able to live without blame Phil. 3. 6. But when the commandement came he found all his former moralities to have been but dung Our naturall estate is without any strength Rom. 5. 6. so weake that it makes the Law it selfe weake Rom. 8. 3. as unable to doe the workes of a spirituall as a dead man of a naturall life for wee are by nature Dead in sinne Eph. 2. 1. and held under by it Rom. 7. 6. And this is a wofull aggravation of the state of sinne that a man lies in mischiefe 1. Ioh. 5. 19. as a carkasse in rottennesse and dishonour without any power to deliver himselfe He that raised up Lazarus out of his grave must by his owne voyce raise up us from sinne The dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of man and they that heare shall live Ioh. 5. 25. All men are by nature strangers to the life of God Eph. 4. 18. and sorreiners from his household Eph. 2. 19. Able without him to doe Nothing no more then a branch is to beare any fruit when it is cut of from the fellowship of the roote which should quicken it Ioh. 15. 4. 5. In me saith the Apostle that is in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. 18. a man is as unable to breake through the debt of the Law or his subjection to death and bondage as a beast to shake of his yoke Act. 15. 10. or a dead man his funerall clothes Ioh. 11. 44. In one word so great is this impotencie which is in us by sinne that we are not sufficient to thinke a good thing 2. Cor. 3. 5. not able to understand a good thing nor to comprehend the light when it shines upon us 1. Cor. 2. 14. Ioh. 1. 5. Our tongues unable to speake a good word How can yee being evill speake good things Matth. 12. 34. Our eares unable to heare a good word To whom shall I speake and give warning that they may heare behold their eare is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken Ier. 6. 10. our whole man
enough to prevent the making and therefore by consequence have no force to alter or disanull it then it is certaine that this latter law must be understood in some other sense and admitte of some other subordinate use which may well consist with the being and force of the former covenant and not in that which primâ facie seemes to contradict and by consequence to abrogate it Now in the next words verse 18. For if the Inheritance bee of the Law it is no more of Promise but God gave it to Abraham by Promise The Apostle shewes what the purpose of the Covenant to Abraham was namely to give life and salvation by Grace and Promise and therefore what the purpose of the latter covenant by Moses was not neither could bee namely to give the same life by working since in those respects there would be contradiction and inconsistencie in the Covenants and so by consequence instability and unfaithfulnesse in him that made them The maine conclusion then which hitherto the Apostle hath driven at is this that the comming of the Law hath not voyded the promise and that the Law is not of force towards the seede to whom the promise is made in any such sense as carries contradiction unto and by consequence implyes abrogation of the Promise before made Therefore if it be not to stand in a contradiction it followes that it must in subordination to the Gospell and so to tend to Evangelicall purposes This this Apostle proceedes to shew verse 19. Wherefore 〈◊〉 serveth the Law It was added because of transgressions till the seede should come to whom the Promise was made and it was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator To what enâ—… saith the Apostle should there be a publication of a Law so expresly contrary to the Covenant formerly made In his Answere to this doubt there are many things worthy of especiall observation First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was added or put to It was not set up alone as a thing ingrâ—…sse by it selfe as any adequate complete solid rule of righteousnesse as it was given to Adam in Paradise much lesse was it published as a thing to voyde and disa ull any precedent covenant but so farre was it from abrogating that it was added to the Promise Now when one thing is made an Appendant or Addâ—…ament to another it doth necessarily put the being of that to which it is Appendant and presuppose a strength and vigor in it still But how then was it added not by way of Ingrediencie as a Part of the Covenant as if the Promise had been incomplete without the Law for then the same Covenant should consist of contradictory materials and so should overthrow it selfe For if it bee of workes it is no more of grace else grace is no more grace but it was added by way of Subserviencie and Attendance the better to advance and make effectuall the Covenant it selfe In Adams heart the Law was set up solitary and as a whole rule of righteousnesse and salvation in it selfe but though the sâ—…me Law were by Moses revived yet not at all to the same purpose but onely to helpe forward and introduce another and a better Covenant Secondly It was Added because of Transgressions To make them appeare to awaken the Consciences of men who without a Law would not impute nor charge their sinnes upon themselves and make them acknowledge the guilt of them and owne the condemnation which was due unto them to discover and disclose the venome of our sinfull nature to open the mouth of the sepulcher and make the heart smell the stinch of its owne foulnesse Thirdly Till the seede should come unto whom the Promise was made There were two great promises made to Abraham and his seed The one In thy-seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed and this Promise respects the Person of Christ which yet seemes to bee a Promise not so much made to Christ as in him to Abraham and all nations who were Abrahams seed by Promise though not after the flesh as Saint Paul distinguisheth Rom. 9 The other I will be a God unto thee and to thy seede after thee which respecteth all nations who should beleeve Now whâ—…ch way soever we understand these words they confirme the point which wee are upon that the Law hath Evangelicall purposes If we understand by seede the Person of Christ theâ—… this shewes that the Law was put to the Promise the better to raise and stirre up in men the expectations of Christ the promised seede who should deliver them from that unavoidable bondage and curse which the Law did sâ—…ale and conclude them under If we vnderstand by seed the faithfull which I rather approve then the Apostles meaning is this that as long as any are either to come into the unity of Christs body and to have the Covenant of Grace unto them applyed or to be kept in the Body of Christ when they are comâ—… 〈◊〉 so long there will bee use of the Law to discover Transgressions both iâ—… the unregenerate that they may sâ—…e â—…o Christ for Sanctuary and 〈◊〉 those that are already called that they may learne to cast all their faith and hope and expectations of righteousnesse upon him â—…ull For the same reason which compels men to come in is requisite also to keepe them in else why doth not God utterly destroy sinne in the Faithfull Certainely hee hath no delight to see Christ have leprous members or to see sin in his owne people Only because he will still have them see the necessity of righteousnesse by faith and of grace in Christ he therfore suffers concupiscence to stirre in them and the Law to conclude them under the curse This then manifestly shewes that there was no other intention in publishing the Law but with reference to the seede that is with Evangelicall purposes to shew mercie not with reference to those that perish who would have had condemnation enough without the Law Fourthly It was ordained by Angels who are Ministring Spirits sent forth for the good of those that shall be saved in the Hand or by the Ministery of a Mediator Namely of Moses with relation unto whom Christ is call'd Mediator of a better Covenant for as Christ was the substantiall and universall Mediator betweene God and Man So Moses was to that people a representative typicall or national Mediator Hee stood betweene the Lord and the people when they were afraide at the sight of the fire in the Mount and this evidently declares that the Law was published in mercy and pacification not in furie or revengâ— For the worke of a Mediator is to negotiate peace and treate for reconcilement betweene partiâ—s offended where as if the Lord had intended death in the publishing of the Law hee would not have proclaimed it in the hand of a Mediator but of an Executioner Verse 20. Now a Mediator is not a Mediator of one but God is one
so that sin being once committed there must be a double act to justification the suffering of the curse and the fulfilling of righteousnesse a new Vnto a double apprehension of Iustice in God there must answere a double act of righteousnesse in man or in his surety for him To Gods punishing Iustice a righteousnesse Passive whereby a man is rectus in curia againe and to Gods commanding Iustice a righteousnesse Active whereby he is reconciled and made acceptable to God againe The one a satisfaction for the injury we have done unto God as our Iudge the other the performance of a service which we owe unto him as our Maker Secondly In Christ as a Mediator there is a merit likewise belonging unto both these acts of obedience in Him by vertue of his infinite person which was the Priest and of his Divine nature which was the Altar that offered up and sanctified all his Obedience By the redundancie of which Merit after satisfaction thereby made unto His Fathers Iustice for our debt there is further a purchase made of Grace and Glory and of all good things in our behalfe He was made of a woman made under the law First toredeeme those that were under the Law which is the satisfaction and payment He hath wrought Secondly That we might receive the Adoption or the inheritance of Sonnes which is the Purchase He hath made for us Thirdly there is the Intercession of Christ as our Advocate which is the presenting of these his Merits unto his Father for us whereby He applyeth and perpetuateth unto us the effects of them namely our deliverance and our Adoption or Inheritance So then the life of righteousnesse consists in two things First The remission of sinne and thereupon deliverance from the Guilt of it and curse of the Law against it which is an effect of the satisfaction of Christs Merit Secondly Adoption or the acceptation of our persons and admittance into so high favour as to be heires of Salvation and Happinesse which is the effect of the Redundancie of Christs Merit there being a greater excesse and proportion of vertue in his obedience then of malignitie or unpleasingnesse in our disobedience To consider both these together wee are delivered First from Sinne and the Guilt or Damnation thereof There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus their sinnes are blotted out and forgotten and cast into the depth of the Sea and done away as a cloud or mist by the heate of the Sunne they are forgiven and covered and not imputed unto us they are finished and made an end of they were all laid upon Christ and Hee hath beene a propitiation for them and his flesh a vaile betweene them and his Fathers wrath and in opposition hereunto His obedience and righteousnesse is made ours Hee is made unto us righteousnesse and wee are the righteousnesse of God in Him we are cloathed with Him and appeare in the sight of God as parts and portions of Christ himselfe for the Church is the fulnesse of Him that filleth all in all Secondly wee are consequently delivered from the Law so farre forth as it is the strength of sinne and are constituted under another and better regiment which the Apostle calls Grace or the Law of Faith First we are delivered from the Law as a Covenant of righteousnesse and expect Iustification and Salvation onely by faith in Him who is The Lord our Righteousnesse Christ is the End of the Law for Righteousnes We are righteous by the righteousnesse of God without the Law that is not that righteousnesse by which God as God is righteous but by a righteousnesse which we have not by nature or in our selves or from any principles of our creation which Saint Paul calls Mans own righteousnes but from the meer grace gift of God Secondly hereupon consequently wee are delivered from the rigor of the Law which consisteth in two things first it requireth perfect obedience secondly perpetuall obedience Wee must doe all things that are written in the Booke of the Law and we must continue to doe them Now from this we are delivered though not as a Dutie yet as such a necessity as brings death upon the faile in it When a mans conscience doth summon him before Gods tribunall to bee justified or condemned he dares not trust his owne performances because no flesh can be righteous in Gods sight Though the Gospell both command and promise and worke holynesse in us yet when wee goe to finde out that to which we must stand for our last tryall by which wee resolve to expect remission of sinnes and inheritance with the Saints there is so much pollution and fleshly ingredients in our best workes that we dare trust none but Christs owne adequate performance of the Law whereby wee are delivered from the rigor and inexorablenesse thereof That inherent and habituall exactnesse which the Law requireth in our persons in supplied by the merit of Christ that actuall perfection which it requireth in our services is supplyed by the incense and intercession of Christ. And though wee are full of weaknesse all our righteousnesse as a menstruous cloth many ragges and remnants of the old Adam cleave still unto us and we are kept under that captivitie and unavoydable service of sinne which hee sold us under yet this Priviledge and Immunitie we have by Christ that our desires are accepted that God spareth us as Sonnes that Christ taketh away all the iniquitie of our Holy things that when we faint he leads us when we fall he pitties us and heales us when we turne and repent he forgives accepts welcomes and feasts us with his compassions Thirdly we are delivered from the curse of the Law Christ being made a curse for us and the chastisement of our peace being laid on him From punishments eternall He hath delivered us from the wrath to come and from punishments Temporall as formall punishments When we are judged of the Lord we are chastened but wee are not condemned they are for declaration of Gods displeasure but not of his fury or vengeance they are to amend us and not to consume us blowes that polish us for the Temple and conforme us unto our Head and weane us from the world not tastes and forerunners of further wrath They are like Iobs dunghill set up to see a Redeemer upon And besides this as Sons of promise we are blessed with faithfull Abraham have interest in that pretious vertue of the Gospell which makes all things worke together for the best to those that love God Lastly we are hereupon consequently delivered from those effects of the spirit of bondage which come along with the Law And they are principally three First To manifest to the Conscience that a man is in a desperate and damnable condition in stead whereof there comes along with Christ
principall discovery that Faith makes in Christ and that it fixeth upon is His love to us and this is a most soveraigne and superlative love Herein saith the Apostle God commended God heaped together His Love toward us in that while wee were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5. 8. Secondly Faith having thus revealed to our hearts the Love of God in Christ doth kindle in them a reciprocall Love towards Christ againe working in us the same minde that is in Christ Phil. 2. 5. and enflaming our spirits to a retribution of Love for Love We have beleeved the Love that God hath to us saith the Apostle and therefore saith he we love Him because He loved us first 1. Ioh. 4. 16 19. Thus Faith worketh Love But now thirdly there is a further power in Faith for it doth not onely work Love but it worketh by Love as the text speakes that is it maketh use of that Love which it hath thus kindled as of a goad and incentive to further obedience for that Love which we repay unto Christ againe stirreth us unto an intimate and Heavenly communion with Him unto an entire and spirituall conformitie unto Him And the reason is because it is a conjugall Love and therefore a fruitefull love for the end of marriage is fructification Yee are become dead to the Law saith the Apostle by the body of Christ that yee should be married to another even to Him who is raised from the dead and the end of this spirituall marriage is added That we should bring forth fruite unto God which is presently after expounded That wee should serve in newnesse of Spirit Rom. 7 4 6. If a man Love mee saith our saviour he will keepe my Words and this obedience is the childe of Faith as it is set downe in the same place yee shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you and immediately upon this Faith it followes He that bath my Commandements and keepeth them hee it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my selfe unto Him Ioh. 14. 20. 21 22 23. In which place there are these things of excellent observation First the noble objects that Faith doth contemplate even the excellencie of Gods Love unto us in Christ. You shall know that I am in my Father in His bosome in His bowels in His dearest affection One with Him in mercie in counsell in power That He and I both goe one way have both one decree and resolution of Grace and compassion towards sinners And that you are in mee your nature in me your infirmities in me the punishment of your sinnes upon me that I am bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh that you are in my heart and in my tenderest affections that you were crucifiâ—…a together with me that you live togâ—…ther with 〈◊〉 that you sit together with mee in Heavenly places that â—… died your death that you rose my resurrection that I pray your prayers that you were my righteousnesse and that I am in you by my merits to justifie you by my Grace and Spirit to renew and purifie you by my Power to keep you by my wisedome to leade you by my Communion and Compassion to share with you in all your troubles these are the mysteries of the Love of the Father and the Sonne to us Now this Love kindleth a Love in us againe and that Love sheweth it selfe in two things First in having the Commandements of Christ that is in accepting of them in giving audience unto them in opening our eyes to see and our hearts to entertaine the wonders of the Law And secondly in keeping of them in putting to the strength of our Love for Love is as strong as Death it will make a man neglectfull of his owne life to serve and please the person whom he loves that so wee may performe the duties which so good a Saviour requires of us And now as our Love was not the first mover we loved Him because He loved us first So neither shall it be the last as the Father and the Son did by their first Love provoke ours so will they by their second Love reward ours And therefore it sollowes He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him This is not ment of a new Love but of a further declaration of their former Love namely in a more close and familiar communion and Heavenly cohabitation with them wee will come unto Him and make our abode with Him we will shew Him our face we will make all our goodnesse to passe before Him wee will converse and commune with His Spirit we will Suppe with Him we will provide Him a feast of fatted things and of refined wine wee will open the breasts of consolation and delight Him with the aboundance of Glory Excellent to the purpose of the present point is that place of the Apostle 2. Cor. 5. 14 15. The Love of Christ saith he constraineth us that is either Christs Love to us by Faith apprehended or our Love to Christ by the apprehension of His Love wrought in us doth by a kinde of sweete and lovely violence winne and overrule our hearts not to live henceforth unto our selves but unto Him that died for us and rose againe and the roote of this strong perswasion is adjoyned namely because wee thus â—…udge because we know and beleeve that if one died for all then all are dead to the guilt and to the power of sinne and ought to live a new life conformable to the resurrection of Christ againe Therefore in two paralell places the Apostle useth promiscuously Faith and a new Creature In Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love neither circumcision nor uncircumcision but a new creature The reason of which promiscuous acceptation the Apostle renders the inseparable union between faith and renovation If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature Secondly Faith gives us all good things requisite to our condition Adam was created Lord of his fellow inferiour Creatures invested with proprietie to them all In his fall hee made a forfeiture of every good thing which God gave him In the second Covenant a reconciliation being procur'd Faith entitling a man to the Covenant doth likewise re-invest him with the Creatures againe All things saith the Apostle are yours and hee opens the title and conveyance of them you are Christs and Christ is Gods 1. Cor. 3. 23. So elsewhere hee saith that the living God giveth us all things richly to enjoy that is not onely the possession but the use of the things 1. Tim. 6. 17. where by all things wee may understand first the libertie and enlargement of Christians as it stands in opposition to the pedagogie and discipline of Moses Law which distinguished the Creatures into cleane and