A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL March the 13 th 1691 2. By the Right Reverend Father in GOD EDWARD Lord Bishop of Worcester Published by Her Majesty's Special Command LONDON Printed by J. H. for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. Romans VIII 6. For to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace IN these Words is imply'd a Distribution of Mankind into those who are carnally and spiritually minded which Distinction is so Large and Comprehensive as to take in all sorts and conditions of Men and of so great Moment and Importance that their Life or Death Happiness or Misery depend upon it But considering the Mixture of Good and Evil in Mankind it is not an easie matter to set the Bounds of the carnal and spiritual Mind and considering the frequent Impunity and Security of bad Men and the Fears and Troubles which the best are not exempted from it seems next to impossible to make out at least as to this Life that to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace Yet our Apostle doth not seem to confine the Consequences here mention'd to another World although the full Accomplishment of them be only there to be expected but if we attend to his Scope and Design in the end of the foregoing Chapter and the Beginning of this we shall find that even in this Life the Result of a carnal Mind is a sort of Spiritual Death and of a Spiritual Mind is Life and Peace For when S. Paul in the 7th Chapter had Represented himself as Carnal and sold under Sin although there were great Strugglings between the Convictions of his Conscience and the Strength of Carnal Inclinations yet as long as the latter prevailed so that he could not do the things that his Mind and Reason told him he ought to do but did those things which he was convinced he ought not to have done The more he Reflected upon himself the more Sad and Miserable he found his Condition to be as appears by that Emphatical Expression which follow'd upon it O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death But he no sooner finds hopes of Delivery and Escape out of that Estate but he breaks forth into a Transport of Joy and inward Satisfaction Thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Not meerly a Victory over Death but over Sin too And so he begins this Chapter after a triumphant manner There is therefore no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit For the Lord of the Spirit of Life which was in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death He that groaned under his Captivity before to the Law of Sin doth now rejoyce in his Deliverance from it by the Grace of the Gospel For what could not be done by Natural Freedom by the Power of the Law and the Force of Reason is brought to pass by the Assistance of Divine Grace given to the Souls of Men by Jesus Christ. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh What was that which the Law could not do It could Awaken Convince Terrifie and Confound the Consciences of Sinners under the Sense and Apprehension of their Sins but it could neither Satisfie the Justice of God nor the Minds of Men it could not Remove the Guilt nor take away the Force and Power of Sin But God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinfull Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh i. e. Jesus Christ becoming an Expiatory Sacrifice for Sin took off the damning Power of Sin and by the prevailing Efficacy of his Grace subdued the Strength and Force of it to such a degree That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit How could this be if S. Paul still considered himself in the same Condition he did in the foregoing Chapter For if he were still in Captivity to the Law of Sin in his Members how was it possible that the Righteousness of the Law should be fulfilled in him How could he walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit if the Good which he would he did not and the Evil which he would not that he did For these things are so repugnant to each other that when they are spoken of the same Person it must be under different Considerations the one of him as meerly under the Power of the Law the other as under the Grace and Influence of the Gospel The one was like Rough and a Churlish sort of Physick which searches into every Part and puts all the ill Humours of the Body into Motion and makes a general Disturbance and Uneasiness within but yet lets them remain where they were the other is like a gentle but more Effectual Remedy which carries off the Strength and Power of inward Corruptions and alters the Habit and Temper and puts quite another Disposition into us which produces very different Effects upon us For instead of Horrour and Despair and inward Anguish and Confusion there will follow a New Life of Joy and Peace here and Eternal Happiness hereafter And this is what the Apostle means in the Words of the Text To be carnally minded c. Wherein are two things which very much deserve our Consideration I. The different Tempers of Mens Minds some are Carnally and others Spiritually minded II. The different Consequences which follow them To be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace I. The different Tempers of Mens Minds The different Denominations are taken from the Flesh and the Spirit which are here represented as two Principles so different from each other that the same Person cannot be supposed to be acted by both of them For as the Apostle saith in the foregoing Words They that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Where the Flesh in a Moral Sense takes in all our Sensual Inclinations which are Sinfull either in their Nature or Degree The Spirit is that Divine Principle which possesses the Mind with the Love and Esteem of Spiritual things and keeps our Natural Inclinations within the Compass of God's Law To be carnally minded is to be under the Influence of Carnal things so as to make the Pursuit of them our Chief Design To be spiritually minded is to have so deep and just a Sense of God and his Law upon our Minds as to make it our business to Please him and therefore to Subdue all such Inclinations which are repugnant to his Will But here lies the main Difficulty how to Judge concerning this matter so as to be able to
Determine whether we our selves be carnally or spiritually minded Which is a thing of so great Consequence for us to know that the Peace of our Minds the true Comfort of our Lives our due Preparation for Death and a Happy Eternity do all depend upon it And yet that this is a real Difficulty will appear from these Considerations 1. It requires a greater Knowledge of our Selves as to our Spiritual Condition than most Persons in the World can pretend to For it is not a slight and superficial View of our Selves not a transient sudden Reflection nor a partial Inquiry into our inward Passions and the Course of our Actions which can make us capable of passing a true Judgment upon the Temper of our Minds but there must be a true Light a serious and diligent Search frequent Recollection free and deliberate Thoughts long Observation and due Comparison of our Selves with our Selves and with the Law of God before we can form a just Opinion as to the prevailing Temper and Disposition of our Minds It 's true this is not necessary in all Persons for some and I am afraid too many are so carnally minded that the least Reflection or Consideration would make them see how bad their condition is For they have no true Sense of God or Religion at all they have no serious thoughts or apprehensions of Divine and Spiritual Things this World they pretend to know something of and have too great an Esteem of the Vanities and Pleasures of it for these wholly take up their Hearts and Time and they have a savour and relish for any thing that tends to their Greatness or Honour or Entertainment of their Appetites or Fancies here but if we speak to them of another World of God and Heaven and a Spiritual Disposition of Soul either they look on us with Amazement as if they were Insensible of such things or else with Scorn and Contempt as if we went about to Deceive them Alas They are too Wise to be imposed upon by us and they have other things to mind I am sure not greater or weightier which take up all their Time and so what through the Business and the Impertinencies of this World their Time passeth away as a Tale that is told and as though it were a very pleasant Tale they are troubled only to think it will be so soon at an End But these are not the Persons who require any such Care to pass a right Judgment upon them for they can pretend to nothing that is Spiritual as to the Tempers and Dispositions of their Minds and therefore such as these must be set aside for it is too apparent that they are only sensual and carnally minded But as the Papists distinguish of the Body of Christ so may we of the Carnal Mind there is a gross and Capernaitical Sense and there is a more refined and if I may use the Expression a more Spiritual Sense of it For although it be a great Absurdity in them to suppose that a meer Body can be after the Manner of a Spirit yet it is not so to suppose a Carnal Mind to have a Mixture of some Spiritual Qualities and Dispositions in it And this makes the difference so much harder to be perceived between the carnally and spiritually minded since there are the same Faculties of Perception Reasoning and Application in both and the same common Principles of Religion may be owned by both which may in Reason be supposed to make some Impression on the Minds of the more Ingenuous part of Mankind who are not given over to such a Reprobate Sense as the former were Now how to distinguish between frequent good Impressions on the Mind and an Habitual Temper and Disposition is not to easie to all who are concerned to distinguish them And yet a Person may be throughly convinced of his Sins and Tremble at the Apprehension of the Justice and Severity of God against them he may have many Checks and Reluctancies of Conscience while he goes on to commit them he may Sigh and Groan and Lament under the wretchedness of his Condition by his Love of Sin and yet may love his Sins all the while more than God or Heaven or any thing in Competition with them The difference doth not lie in the Nature or Number of the Impressions from without but in the inward Principle of Action A Cistern may be full of Water falling down from Heaven which may run as long as that holds which fell into it but a Spring hath it rising up within and so continues running when the other is spent A carnal Mind may have many Spiritual Convictions and good Motions and Inclinations but after a time they wear off and leave no lasting Effect behind them but where there is a Spring in the Soul there is a fresh and continual Supply of such Inclinations as keep up a constant Course of a Spiritual Life which our Saviour calls Rivers of living Water I confess it is hard to determine what a Habit or Principle abiding in our minds is yet the Scripture doth evidently suppose such a thing when it speaks of the New Birth and the New Life and the New Creature and the Children of God all which are very insignificant Terms if there be not under them something answerable to the First Principles of Life and if there be not a Divine Spirit dwelling and acting in the Souls of Good Men and raising them up above Carnal and Sensual Objects to things Divine and Spiritual and carrying them through the Passage of this World so as to prepare them for a better But yet there may be many things which carry some Resemblance to this Principle within which come not up to it There may be such Principles of Education and good Manners such Awakenings of Conscience such a Strength of Natural Reason and Common Ingenuity as may carry one on to do some very Good things and yet he may fall short of having a true Principle of Spiritual Life in him But then there must be another Principle within which contradicts this and prevails over it and carries him on to the Love of Sin which proves too strong for the Love of God and the due Regard to Spiritual things The Result of this Discourse is since the Carnal Mind is not to be taken meerly for such a one which stands out in Opposition to the Gospel nor for such a one which is Insensible of Spiritual things but such as may consist with a Common Profession of Religion and have the same Convictions and good Impressions which others have it doth require a more than ordinary Acquaintance with our Selves to be able to judge aright whether the Temper of our Minds be Carnal or Spiritual 2. But this is not all for since there is so great a Mixture of Good and Evil in the better sort of Mankind there is required not barely Knowledge of our Selves but a good Judgment too to adjust the
of Severity II. I am now to consider the different Consequences of these two To be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace which in short is that the Advantage is far greater which comes to Mankind by one than by the other And that will appear by comparing them together 1. As under Equal Circumstances 2. As under unequal Circumstances 1. As under Equal Circumstances And here we have two sorts of Persons to consider 1. Those who have Convictions of Conscience going along with a Carnal Mind Such who look on the Conditions of Men in this World at a Distance and judge only by Appearance would be apt to think that those who do allow themselves all the Liberties which a Carnal Mind doth incline them to have very much the Advantage of those who are under the Restraints of a Spiritual Mind for they are bound to severe Rules of Vertue and Mortification to deny all Vngodliness and Worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present World and these are thought to be very hard things whereas such who are not under these Difficulties seem to lead the most pleasant and easie Lives enjoying themselves and being full of Noise and Confidence and appear to be all Mirth and Good Humour But there is another Account to be taken of these things If Men could look within and see all the secret Misgivings the inward Horrours of Conscience the Impatience and Dissatisfaction they have when they seriously Reflect on their evil Courses it would quite alter their Apprehensions of these things and make them conclude with the Roman Orator That one Day spent according to the Rules of Vertue were to be preferr'd before everlasting Debaucheries And he was no Fool no Pedant no mean and contemptible Person who said this but a Man of Wit and Sense of Quality and Experience who had Opportunities and Means enough to have pursued the most Sensual and Voluptuous Course of Life which yet we see out of Judgment and Choice he despised and preferr'd a far shorter life according to the Rules of Vertue before a Vicious Immortality And yet how short were the Incouragements to a Good Life and the Dissuasives from Sin among the best of them in Comparison of what we all know now by the Gospel of Christ They went no farther than meer Natural Reason and the Common Sense of Mankind carried them but we profess to believe the Wrath of God revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of Men and that there will be a great and terrible day wherein men must receive according to their Works whether they be Good or Evil. And will not this dreadfull Consideration awaken the Drowsie and Secure Sinner and make him look about him betimes while there is yet any hopes of Mercy Will he not become so wise at least as to enter into the Consideration of his Ways and to look back on the former Course of his Life to examin and compare that with the Law of God by which he must be judged And if we have but Patience to do this he will have no farther Patience with himself for being guilty of such unspeakable Folly He will abhorr himself for all his sensual and sinfull Delights which will turn into the greatest Bitterness and Anguish to his Soul He will lament his Folly and Wickedness with the deepest sorrow and take up sincere and firm Resolutions to return no more to the Practise of them And if this be the Result as it ought to be of all the distinguishing sinfull Pleasures of a carnal Mind I leave it to the most impartial Mind to Resolve whether there will be the least Advantage by pursuing them 2. But we have too great Reason to suppose that Men may harden themselves to such a degree of Wickedness as to be Insensible of the Folly of it and to mock at those who go about to reprove them for it Such as these are at Ease because they have no Sense of their Condition but so are those in a Lethargy Is their Case therefore to be envied or compared with those in Health although more sensible of Pain and Danger Who seem to be better pleased at sometimes and transported with their own Imaginations than Men in a Frenzy and yet no Man thinks their Condition happier for it There is a sort of Moral Frenzy which possesses some part of Mankind who are not only Extravagant in their Actions but Assume such a Degree of Confidence in Committing them as though the Wise Men of all Ages had been the only remarkable Fools in it But it is no such easie matter to Run down the Principles of Vertue and Religion they have stood the Shock of all the Sarcasms and Reproaches of former Times and there is still nothing at the Bottom of all the Scorn and Contempt that is cast upon them but a Carnal and Profane Temper of Mind which may bear them up for a while but it will be sure to End in Everlasting Confusion and then they will find what they were so unwilling to believe That to be Carnally minded is Death Not a meer State of Insensibility but the worst kind of Death A Death of perpetual Horrour and Torment A Death without the Power of Dying and yet with a perpetual Desire of it A Death whose Sting can never be taken out and whose Terror is said to be as everlasting as the Joys of Heaven And shall not the Apprehension of such a Death as this so dreadfull so unavoidable so insupportable make the greatest Sinners to Tremble and be Confounded at the Apprehension of it And if once such Thoughts break into their Minds farewell then to all the Imaginary Pleasure and Satisfaction of a Carnal Mind for it must sink it into the Confusion if not the Despair of Hell 2. But I have hitherto represented the Disadvantages of one side but are there not such on the other too Some are too apt to think a Spiritual Mind to be nothing but a disorder'd Fancy and Melancholy Imaginations of invisible things If this were all it were so far from being Life and Peace that there could be no real Satisfaction about it But a Spiritual Mind is truly the most desirable thing we are capable of in this World For it is the best Improvement of our Minds which are Spiritual It is the purging and refining them from the Dross and Corruption which debased them It is the Advancing them towards the Divine Nature by a gradual Participation of it It is the Raising them above the Carnal Delights and the sollicitous Cares and Perplexing Fears of this World and fitting them for a perpetual Conversation with Divine and Spiritual Objects And what then can be more agreeable to the best Part of our Selves here than to have a Mind so disengaged from this World and so fit for a better So that we may be content to take a View
of the Worst which can be supposed as to Disadvantage here which is that Good Men may be under Unequal Circumstances as to their Condition in this Life that is when the Regarding another World more than this may make their outward Condition more uneasie here than it might have been if they had follow'd only the Dictates of a Carnal Mind There are two sorts of Troubles we are to Expect in this World 1. Such as we bring upon our Selves by our own Acts 2. Such as are common to all Mankind In both these the Spiritual Mind hath the Advantage 1. As to such which men bring upon themselves Let this be supposed as it ought to be when God pleases among Christians who are to follow Christ in taking up his Cross Is there any thing in this which overthrows the Advantage of a Spiritual Mind above a Carnal Can a Carnal Mind secure Men from Pains and Diseases from Losses and Disappointments Nay doth not the Pursuit of Carnal Pleasures bring more Troubles upon Men in this Life than the Case of Persecution doth upon the best Christians If the Loathsome Diseases the Reproachfull and Untimely Deaths which of all things ought to be most avoided by such who believe no Life after this be compared with the Pains and Martyrdoms of those who have suffer'd for their Religion these will appear to be far more Eligible than the other because the Mind hath far greater Satisfaction under them and a certain Expectation of an Infinite Reward to follow upon them Whereas the others can have no Comfort in looking back on what they have done or forward in what they are to Expect For they have destroy'd their own Happiness and hasten'd that upon themselves which they account their only Misery 2. As to the Common Calamities of Life which none can prevent or avoid the Spiritual Mind hath very much the Advantage of the Carnal For the one fills them with inward Peace and Satisfaction of Mind which of all things carry men best through the Troubles of Life being joyned with Patience Humility Self-Denial and Submission to the Will of God which are all the genuine Effects of a Spiritual Mind but a Carnal Mind is froward and impatient uneasie to it self and to all about it and this makes every Pain and Trouble to be much greater than it would have been like the Ass in the Fable which lay down in the Water with his burthen of Wool and so made it heavier than before There were two things the Philosophical Men of Pleasure sought to comfort themselves by under the unavoidable Troubles of Life which the Spiritual Mind hath far greater Advantages than any of them had as to both of them and these are Reflection and Expectation 1. Reflection When Epicurus was in his last Agonies under the Stone what a miserable way was it for him to go about to comfort himself by Reflecting upon his Atoms and his Maxims his Imaginary Notion of the Happiness of Life consisting in Pleasure when his Life was so near being ended by Excessive Pain But a Good Man that hath sincerely endeavour'd to serve God in his Generation and to do all the Good he could and to promote the Interests of Religion and Vertue in the World may in the midst of many Failings and Infirmities look back with Comfort on the Course of his former Life and by the Peace of a Good Conscience may injoy inward Satisfaction under such Pains and Distempers which make Life uneasie and Death more welcome as it is a Passage to a far better State And that is the next thing 2. Expectation It was a sorrowfull Expectation which Epicurus supported himself with when he was in the Prospect of Death which was no more than that the Subtle Atoms which made up his Soul would soon be scatter'd and dispersed he knew not where and then he should be as if he had never been But what Comfort is there in such a Dissolution Men that have deserved it may heartily wish it but they have deserved something worse and that they must Expect For the just and holy God will certainly call them to an Account for all their Vices and Follies and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God and what a miserable Case are those in who have nothing to look for but Judgment and Fiery Indignation which shall consume the Adversaries of God and Religion But O the Blessed Hope and Joyfull Expectation that attends a Spiritual Mind Especially when it is Enliven'd and Assisted by the Powerfull Influences of Divine Grace For without that even Good Men may be liable to some Dejections and Fears as to another World from the vastness of the Change the Sense of their Failings the Weakness of their Minds and Mistrust of their own Fitness for Heaven but so great is the Goodness and Mercy of God towards them that sincerely love and fear him that he always makes their Passage safe though it be not so Triumphant And although the Valley of the Shadow of Death may seem gloomy and uncomfortable at a Distance yet when God is pleased to Conduct his Servants through it he makes it a happy Passage into a State of a Glorious Immortality and Everlasting Life and Peace To which God c. FINIS Rom. 7.14 19 20. 7.24 25. 8.1 2. 3. 4. Ver. 5. Joh. 7.38 Joh. 3.3 6. 1.13 Rom. 8.8 9. 2 Cor. 5.17 1 Joh. 3.9 10. Rom. 7.7 8 9. 12.14.22 Psal. 73.25 Gal. 5.17 24. Chrysost. in Gal. 5.17 Aug. c. Julian l. 4. c. 12. Gen. 6.9.17.1 Job 1.1 2 3. Psal. 37.37 Deut. 3.24 25. Numb 20.2 3. 6. 8. 10. Deut. 1.37 4.21 Num. 27.14 Psal. 106.33 Num. 20.12 ver 10. 1 Sam 24.9 1 Chr. 27.24 Exod. 30.11.38.25 Num. 1.2 19 26.4 1 Sam. 11.8 2 Sam. 18.1 1 Chr. 27.23 Deut. 1.37 3.26 4.21 2 Sam. 24.1 Est autem unus dies benè ex praeceptis tuis actus peccanti immortalitati anteferendus Cicer. Tuss Qu. l. 5. c. 2. Rom. 1.18 2.5 6. 16. 14.10 2 Cor. 15. 10 11. Epicurus Hermacho V. Ciceron de Finibus l. 2. c. 30. Heb. 10.31 27.