Precept for such Anger as is required of us by way of duty the Sun may safely go down upon nor is it a pardon for anger whē we fal into it to take of the inordinatenes of it but it is a speech by way of concession or unavoidable supposition It cannot bee but that the Saints themselves upon severall occasions and provocations will be overtaken with anger but yet though their infirmity break forth into the passiō let not pride self love harden that passion into a habit let them be wary that the flame grow not upon them to set them on fire Give no place to the Divell The longer a man continues in anger the more roome the Divel hath to get in upon him enrage him Anger is the kernell and seed of malice if it be let lie long in the heart that is so fertile a soile and Satan so diligent a waterer of his owne plants that it will quickly grow up into a knottie and stubburne hatred Wee read of hatreds which have runne in the bloud and have been entaild Hereditarie malice as the Historian cals it Hatreds which have surviv'd the parties and discover'd themselves in their very funerals Hatreds which men have bound upon their posterity by oaths as Hasdrubal took a solemne oath of Hanibal that he should be an irreconcileable enemie to Rome And what doe all such expressions import but that there is a boundlesse frenzy in the flesh of men a fiercenesse which no lawes can tame and that there is enough of it in the best men to breake out into implacable affections if grace and prayer and watchfulnesse doe not prevent it Fourthly in Afflictions paines of body temptations of spirit abridgement of estate trials in reputation and favour or the like looke by all meanes unto thy heart take heede of these seedes of rage and madnesse which are in thee Never more time to looke to thy mounds to repaire thy bulwarks then when a tempest is upon thy sea Have you seene a beast breake his teeth upon the chaine that bindes him or a Dog poure out his revenge upon the stone that did hurt him then have you seene some darke shadowes of that fiercenesse and furie that is apt to rise out of the hearts of men when Gods hand lies close upon them When thou hearest of the strange impatiencie of Ionah at the beating of the Sun upon his head unto whom yet it was a mercy beyond wonder that he did now see the sunne when thou hearest of those deepe expostulations of David with God Hath he forgotten to be gracious forgotten his promises forgotten his truth forgotten his power and mercy and shut up all his kindenesse in displeasure When thou hearest of the impatiencies of Iob a man yet renowned for his patience expostulating and charging God Is it good for the◅ that thou should'st oppresse When thou hearest of those deepe curses of ◅eremie against the day of his birth of those froward expostulations and debates of the people of Israel with Moses of Moses with God Why hast thou evill entreated this people why hast thou sent me O then reflect upon thy selfe and be afraid of thine owne evill heart which is farre more likely to breake out against God then any of those were And for a remedie or prevention hereof keepe in thy sight the historie of thy sinnes make them as hainous to thine owne view as they are in their own nature The way not to rage against afflictions is to know our selves aright that will make us confesse unto God with Ezra let our calamities be what they will That the Lord hath punish'd us lesse then our iniquities have deserved The way to beare the hand of God with patience and with acceptance is to confesse our sinnes and to be humbled for them If their uncircumcised hearts bee humbled and then they accept of the punishment of their iniquities saith the Lord noting thus much that the sight of our sin and humiliation for it makes a man willing to submit to Gods chastisements Wherefore doth a living man complaine a man for the punishment of his sins there are three strong reasons together why we ought not to murmur in our afflictions First Wee are men and what an impudence is it for the clay to swell against the potter that form'd it and complaine why hast thou made me thus Secondly wee are sinners all the punishments wee suffer are our owne the wages of our iniquities and what a madnesse is it to complaine against the justice of our Iudge Thirdly wee are living men and therefore God hath punished us lesse then our sinnes deserve for the wages of sinne is death and what ingratitude is it to repine at mercifull and moderated punishments but yet such is the frowardnesse of our nature that wee are very apt thus to murmur what is the cure and remedy of this evill affection Let vs search and try our waies saith the Church and turne to the Lord our God the more wee grow acquainted with our sinnefull estate and marveilous provocations with the patience and promises of God the more we shall justifie God and waite upon him the more wee shall judge our selves lesse then the least of Gods mercies and forbearances I will beare the indignation of the Lord saith the Church againe in the same case I will not repine nor murmure at his dealing with me I will acknowledge that righteousnesse belongeth unto him and confusion unto me and the ground of this resolution is the sense of sinne Because I have sinned against him I have pressed and wearied and grieved and vexed him with my sinnes without any zeale or tendernesse of his glory but he hath visited me in judgement and not in fury in wrath he hath remembred mercy and not quite consumed me as he might have done he hath not dealt with me after my sinnes nor rewarded me according to mine iniquities he hath spared me as a sonne when I dealt with him as a traytor and hee will pleade my cause and bring me forth to the light and revenge my quarrell against those which helped forward my affliction Thus we see the way not to rage against Afflictions is to understand and be sensible of the foulenesse of our sinnes Otherwise pride and madnesse will undoubtedly shew themselves in our Afflictions What desperate and horrible rage did the heart of Pharaoh swell into when in the middest of those fearefull Iudgements hee hardned his heart and exalted himselfe against the people of God and trampled upon them and did not set his heart unto the iudgement but threatned and drave out M◅ses and Aaron from his presence and pursued them with finall and obdurate malice through the midst of that wonderfull deliverance The like example we see in that impatient and fretfull reply of Iehoram king of Israel in the great famine This euill is of the Lord what should I
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
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
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
the holy Ghost takes notice of often in the nature of wicked men that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implacable men whom no bounds not limits nor covenants will restraine or keepe in order and againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fierce headstrong violent rash they know not where not when to stop Therefore the Scripture compares it to a breaking forth or violent eruption like that of fire out of an Oven or of mire and dirt out of a raging Sea Men flattet themselves in their sinnes and thinke when they have gone thus or thus farre they will then give over and stop at their pleasure Sed modo modo non habent modum as Austen said of his counterfeite and hypocriticall promises sinne can never finde a center to rest in a fit place to stop at These are but like the foolish conceits of children who not being able to discerne the deception of their owne senses and seeing the Heavens in the Orizon seeme to touch the earth resolve to goe to the place where they conceive them to meete and there to handle and play with the Starres but when they are come thither they finde the distance to be still the same so is it with the foolish hearts of men they conceive after so much gaine or honour or pleasure I shall have my fill and wil then give over but as long as the fountaine within is not stopt the pursuites of lust will bee as violent at last as at first As he in the Fable Expectat dum defluat amnis at ille Labitur labetur So though men thinke that their lusts will at last grow drie and they shall easily step over them unto God yet the truth is the cutragious desires of men will grow stronger and stronger even as a river the farther it goes from the fountaine doth of ten times spread it self the wider The heart is strongly set upon its owne sinne as any Creature is upon its owne motion They set their heart saith the Prophet on their iniquity the heart of the sonnes of men saith Salomon is fully set in them to doe evill As impossible it is for lust to stop it selfe as for the Sea to give over swelling or the fire devouring the matter that is before it The man possest with a Legion of Divels is a notable Emblem of a mans sinfull nature for indeed sin makes a man of the Divels blood yee are the children of your Father the Divell Ioh. 8. 44. He is conversant with nothing but death dead workes dead companions death the service and death the wages He is full of hideous affections he cuts and teares his owne soule the presence of Christ is horrible and affrightfull to him and if hee worship him 't is out of terror and not out of love his name may well bee called Legion for the swarmes the services the strength the warre of lusts in the heart 'T is a torment to lust to come out of a man and to a man to be dispossest of his lusts there will be paine at the parting of sinne the uncleane spirit will teare when he must come out but in this principally was he the picture of our evill nature in that hee was exceeding fierce and untameable no man durst passe by him no chaines were strong enough to hold him and this is the character of wicked men To breake bands and cords asunder and to bee their owne Lords Examples of this fiercenesse of nature the Scripture doth give us abundantly The Iewes are for this propertie compar'd to a swift Dromâ—…dary or to a wilde Assefull of desires that snuffeth up the winde as the use of Horses is in their lust and cannot be turned To a Horse rushing into the battell 't is a similitude from the inundation and precipitancy of torrents that carry downe all before them To a backesliding Heiser whom no bounds can hold but he will breake forth into a large place and have roome to traverse his wayes To a wilde Aâ—…se that goes where his owne will and lust carries him alone by himselfe no Rider to gvide him no bridle to restraine him no presence of God to direct him no Law of God to over-rule him but alone by himselfe as his owne Lord. With very fiercenesse they did even weary themselves in their way Notably did this rage shew it selfe in the Sodomites they reject Lots entreaties they revile his person they grow more outragious and pressed in even to teare open the house Like where unto was the rage of the Pharisies and Iewes against Christ when he had fully convinc'd them of their sinne and his owne innocency and they could hold dispute to longer with him they run from arguments to stones and raylings Thou art a Samaritane and hast a Divell And elsewhere it is said That they were filled with madnesse at the sight of the Miracles which Christ wrought Such was the rage of those which stoned Stephen they gâ—…ashed their teeth they stopped their eares they shouted with their voyce they ran with one accord and stoned him and Saul who was one of them is said to have breathed out threatnings like a tyred Wolfe unto which some make the Prophecy of Iacob touching Beniamin of which Tribe Saul was to allude and elsewhere to have wasted the Churches and to have dragg'd the Saints into prison and to have been exceeding mad against them And such measure himselfe afterwards found combinations uprores assaults draggings wrath clamors confusions rushings in casting off of clothes throwing of dust into the aire any thing to expresse rage and madnesse But you will say All these were at the time wicked men what is that to nature in common Have the Saints such fierce and intemperate affections too Surely while we carry our flesh about us wee carry the seeds of this rage and fury Simeon and Levi were Patriarches of the Church and Heads of the Congregations of Israel yet see how Iacob aggravateth and curseth their fiercenesse In their anger they slew a man in their wrath they diggeâ—… downe a wall Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruell Peter was a holy man yet when the windes blew when the sluces were open and the water had gotten a little passage see how it gathers rage how fierce and mad it growes even against the evidences of his owne heart against the conscience of his owne promises a deniall growes into an oath and that multiplies into cursings and damnings of himselfe for so the word imports an imprecating of Gods wrath and of separation from the presence and glory of God upon himselfe if he knew the man Ionah was a holy Prophet and one whose rebellion and fiercenesse against God might in reason have been quite tam'd by the Sea and the Whale yet looke upon him when his nature gets loose
unto two men in severall by diverse wayes of propriety or unto sundry purposes A house belongs wholly to the Landlord for the purpose of profit and revenew and wholly to the tenant for the purpose of use and inhabitation but it seemes in ordinary reason impossible for the same thing to belong wholly to sundry men in regard of al purposes for which it serves But such an ample propriety hath every man to originall sinne that he holds it all and to all purposes for which it serves For though some sinnes there are which cannot by some men bee properly committed properly I say because by way of provocation or occasion or approbation or the like one man may participate in the sinnes which another commits as a King cannot be 〈◊〉 to his superiors in governement because he hath no superiors a lay man cannot commit the sinneâ—… of a Minister an unmarried man the sinnes of a husband c. yet this disability ariseth out of the exigence of personall conditions but no way out of the limitednesse or impotency of originall sinne which in every man serves to all the purposes which can consist with that mans condition and as his condition alters so is it likewise fruitfull unto new sinnes And these are two great aggravations of this sinnefull inheritance That it comes whole unto every man and that every man hath it unto all the purposes for which it serves Thirdly it is to be observ'd that in originall sin as in all other there are two things Deordination or sinfulnes and Guilt or obligation unto punishment And though the former of these be inseparable from nature in this life yet every man that beleeveth and repenteth hath the damnation thereof taken away it shall not prove unto him mortall But now this is the calamitie Though a man have the guilt of this sinne taken of from his person by the benefit of his owne faith and the grace of Christ to him yet still both the deordination and the guilt passeth over unto his posteritie by derivation from him For the former the case is most evident what ever is borne of flesh is flesh no man can bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane an evill roote must bring forth evill branches a bitter fountaine corrupt streames leaven will derive sowernesse into the whole masse and the Fathers treason will staine the blood of all his posterity And it is as certaine for the latter that though guilt and punishment may bee remitted to the Father yet from him it may be transmitted to his childe Every parent is the chanell of death to his posterity Totum gonuâ—… 〈◊〉 fecit Adam is damnationis traduceâ—… Adam did diffuse and propagate damnation unto all mankind Neither is 〈◊〉 any wonder or injustice that from a cursed roote should proceed branches fit for nothing but the fire As a Iew that was circumcised brought forth an uncircumcised sonne as cleane crne sowed comes up with chaffe and stubble as the seed of a good Olive brings forth a wilde Olive so is it with the best that are their Graces concurre not to naturall generation and therefore from them is nothing naturally propagated For first the wiping off of Guilt while the fault abides is an Act of Grace and pardon now pardons are ever immediate from speciall favour from direct grant and therefore cannot runne in the bloud nor come to a man in the vertue of his birth or by derivation especially where the pardon runnes not in generall termes but personally by way of priviledge and exemption and that too upon certaine conditions the performance and vertue whereof is intransient and cannot availe any by way of imputation or redundancie Secondly though the personall Guilt be off from the man yet the ground of that Guilt the damnablenesse or liablenesse to be imputed unto punishment is inseparable from sin though sin be not mortall de facto So as to bring damnation to the person justified yet it never ceaseth to be mortall de merito that is to be damnable in it selfe in regard of its owne nature and obliquity though in event and execution the damnable vertue of sinne be prevented by faith which cures it and by repentance which forsakes and cuts it off For wee must observe that To merit damnation belongs to the nature of sinne but to bring forth damnation belongs to the accomplishment and finishing of sinne when it is suffered to grow to its measure never interrupted never prevented God hath patience toward sinners and waiteth for their repentance and doth not presently powre out all his wrath if in this interim men will bee perswaded in the day of their peace to accept of mercy offer'd and to Breake of sinnes before the Epha be full then their sinnes shall not end in Death But if they neglect all Gods mercie and goe on still till there be no remedie then sinne growes to a ripenesse and will undoubtedly bring forth Death Since therefore the nature of sinne passeth to posterity even when the guilt thereof is remitted in the paâ—…ent needs must the guilt thereof passe too till by grace it be done away Fourthly In originall sinne there is a twofold denomination or formalitie It is both a Sinne and a Punishment of sinne For it is an absurd conceite of some men who make it an impossibility for the same thing to be both a sinne and a punishment When a prodigall spends all his mony upon uncleannes is not this mans poverty both his sin and his punishment When a drunkard brings diseases on his body and drownes his reason is not that mans impotencie and sottishnesse both his sin and his punishment Indeed sinne cannot rightly be cald an inflicted punishment for God doth not put it into any man yet it no way implies contradiction but rather abundantly magnifies the justice and wisedome of Almighty God to say that he can order sinne to bee a scourge and punishment to it selfe And so Saint Austen cals it a penall vitiousnesse or corruption So that in the derivation of this â—…in wee have unto us propagated the very wrath of God It is like Aarons rod on our part a branch that buddeth unto iâ—…iquitie and on Gods part a Serpent that stingeth unto Death So that Adam is a twofold cause of this sinne in his posterity A meritorious cause he did deserve it by prevarication as it was a punishment an efficient cause he doth derive it by contagion as it is a sinne And this is the wretchednesse of this sinne that it is not onely a meanes to bring the wrath of God upon us but is also some part and beginning of the wrath of God in us and so is as it were the earnest and first fruits of damnation Not as if it were by God infus'd into our nature for wee have it put into us no other way but by seminall contagion and propagation from Adam but God seeing man throw away and wast
after all death it selfe For though these things may be where there is no guilt imputed and so properly no punishment inflicted neither the blinde man nor his parents had sinned that he was borne blinde as in the same ship there may bee a malefactor and a Merchant and to the one the voyage is a trafficke to the other a banishment yet to the wicked where they are not sanctified they are truely punishments and fruites of Gods vindicative justice because they have their sting still in them For the sting of death is sinne Secondly Spirituall and those threefold First Purishment of losse separation from the favour and fellowship with God expulsion from Paradise the seat of Gods presence and love Aliens forreiners farre from God Secondly Of sense the immediate strokes of Gods wrath on the soule wounds of Conscience scourges of heart taste of vengeance implanting in the soule tremblings feares amazements distracted thoughts on a cleare view of the demerit of sinne evidences of immortality and presumptions of irreconciliation with God This made Cain a runnagate and Iudas a murtherer of himselfe yea some touches of it made David cry out that his bones were broken and marrow dryed up and his flesh scortched like a potsheard It is able to shake the strongest Cedars and make the mountaines tremble like a leafe The sonne of God himselfe did sweate and shrinke and pray against it and with strong cries decline it though the suffering of so much of it as could consist with the holinesse of his person were the worke of his office and voluntary mercy Thirdly of sinne when God in anger doth forsake the soule and give it over to the frenzie and fury of lust to the rage and revenge of Satan letting men alone to joyne themselves unto idoles and to beleeve lies Now as the operation of the sunne is strongest there where it is not at all seene in the bowels of the earth or as lightning doth often blast and consume the inward parts when there is no sensible operation without so the Iudgements of God doe often lie heaviest there where they are least perceiv'd Hardnesse of heart a spirit of slumber blindnesse of minde a reprobate sense tradition unto Satan giving over unto vile affections recompencing the errors of men with following sinnes are most fearefull and desperate judgements But doe we then make God the Author of sinne God for bid In sinne we may consider the execution and committing of it as it is sinne and this is onely from man for every man is drawne away and enticed by his owne lust and the Ordination of it as it is a Punishment and this may be from God whose hand in the just punishment of sinne by sinne in obstinate contemptuous impenitent sinners may thus farre be observed First Deserendo by forsaking them that is taking away his abused gifts subtracting his despised Graces calling in and making to retire his quenched and grieved spirit removing his candlesticke and silencing his Prophets and giving a bill of divorce that either they may not see nor heare at all or hearing they may not understand and seeing they may not perceive because they did not see nor heare when they might Secondly Permittendo when he hath taken away his own Grace which was abused unto wantonnesse he suffers wicked men to walke in their owne wayes and because they like not to retaine him in their knowledge nor to live by his prescript therefore he leaves them to themselves and their owne will Thirdly Media disponendo ordering objects and proposing meanes not onely to Try but to punish the wickednesse of men and to bring about whatever other fixed purposes of his hee hath resolved for the declaration of his wonderfull wisedome to execute and as it were to fetch out of the sinnes of men as the conspiracie of Pilat Herod and the Iewes which their former wickednesse had justly deserved to have them given over unto was by God order'd to accomplish his determined and unchangeable counsell touching the death of Christ. Excellent is the speech of Holy Austin to this purpose The Lord enclineth the wils of men whither soever pleaseth himselfe whether unto Good out of his mercie or unto evill out of their merit sometimes by his manifest sometimes secret but alwayes by his righteous judgement and this not by his patience onely but by his power Fourthly Perversas voluntates non invitas flectendo sed spontaneas suo impetu faciles ulterius Satanae praecipitandas tradendo By giving over perverse wilfull rebellious sinners to the rage and will of Satan to hurry and enrage them at his pleasure unto further sinfulnesse When Iudas had listued to the Temptation of Satan to betray Christ had set himselfe to watch the most private opportunitie had been warned of it by Christ and that upon a question of the most bold and impudent hypocrisie that was ever made Master Is it I though it is not an improbable conjecture that Iudas at that very time upon the curse that was pronounced might secretly and for that time seriously resolve to give over his plot and upon that resolution to aske the question then at last Christ by a sop did give Satan as it were a further seisin of him and the purpose of Christ was that that which he was to doe hee might doe quickely He was now wholly given up to the will of Satan whose temptation haply before though very welcome in regard of the purchase and project of gaine which was in it had not fully silenc'd nor broken through all those reluctancies of Conscience which were very likely to arise upon the first presentment of so hideous a suggestion but now I say whether out of a sinister Construction of our Saviours words That thou doest doe quickly as if they had been not as indeed they were a giving him over to the greedinesse of his owne lust and to the rage of Satan but rather an allowance of his intention as knowing that hee was able to deliver himselfe out of their hands unto whom he should bee betraide and so his treason should onely make way to Christs miracle and not to his crosse or whether it were out of a secret presumption that notwithstanding Christ had made him know how his conspiracie was not hid from him yet since he was of all the company singled out whom Christ would Carve unto therefore his conspiracie was not so vile but that Christ would redâ—…re in gratiam countenance and respect him after all that and that as by the plot hee had not so lost him but that hee had gain'd him againe so also hee might doe after the execution too Now I say after that soppe and those words without further respect to the strugglings and staggerings of his Conscience hee goes resolvedly about that damned businesse for he was now delivered unto the will of Sathan The like libertie and commission was that which God gaue to