in the flesh cannot please God The text it is a conclusion drawn from foregoing premises The Apostle having in the sixth ver laid down what a miserable condition it is to be carnally minded and what a happy condition it is to be spiritually minded to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace In the seventh ver he laieth down the incompetibility between these two conditions and sheweth that the natural man is not and the impossibility that he should be subject to the law of God the carnal minde is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be And then from hence he doth inferre this necessary Conclusion So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God In which words the Apostle doth note three things unto us 1. He doth 〈◊〉 imply that some may be involved in this natural condition here described and set forth unto us they may be in the flesh 2. He doth grant that a great many are involved in this condition ye see it is set forth in the plural number They that are in the flesh and 3. There is the inferrence that the Apostle doth inferre or the conclusion that he draweth from thence They cannot please God First then I will speak of that which the Apostle implieth here which is that some may be involved in this natural condition here described and be in the flesh I purpose not to lay down all the acceptions of the word Flesh in Scripture but to propound onely so many as may make for the necessary explication of the meaning of the holy Ghost in this place where he saith They that are in the flesh cannot please God Flesh then it is taken for the body as it consisteth of bones sinews ligaments bloud arteries all that material massie fleshly lump which we carry about us and for this body informed with a living soul and so it is taken in the 1 Cor. 15. chap. the 50. verse where the Apostle saith flesh and bloud cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven and so it is taken 1 Pet. 3. chap. 18. verse where the Apostle speaketh of our Saviour that he was put to death in the flesh And in this sense are the Apostles words to be understood 1 Phil. the 24. verse where he telleth the Philippians that for him to abide in the flesh was more needful for them that is for him to continue in the body and live upon the earth was better for them Or else flesh may be taken for the remainder of natural corruption in the regenerate So it is taken in the 5. of the Gal. 17. ver the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh And so to be in the flesh it is to live in this frail body incompassed about with sins and infirmities and so the Apostles words may be understood 2 Cor. 10. chap. 3. ver Though we walk in the flesh yet we do not warre after the flesh Or lastly flesh is taken for natural corruption for the pravity of our nature for the proneness and propensity of the heart to evil and the indisposition thereof to do good when the evil desires and motions of the flesh reign and bear sway and rule in the heart and so the Apostles words are to be understood in the 7. Rom. 5. ver where he layeth down that when we were in the flesh the motions of sins which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death Properly in the Apostles meaning they are not said to be in the flesh in this place who live in the body for so we are all in the flesh Neither are they said properly to be in the flesh according to the Apostles meaning in this place in whom the reliques of natural corruption do remain For so likewise we are all in the flesh and the reliques of sin they will still remain in us so long as we live in the flesh until such time as we put off the flesh and this mortal put on immortality But according to the true meaning of the Apostles words in Rom. 6. 12. this place they are said to be in the flesh who suffer sin to reign in their mortal bodies that they should obey it in the lusts thereof And so the Apostle describeth the natural condition of all the sons of Adam and of all sanctified and regenerate persons before their conversion the 2 of the Ephesians 3. ver we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the minde and were by nature the children of wrath This is the condition that all have been in and some must needs acknowledge themselves to be still in They have no knowledge of of Christ or of God their understanding is not enlightned with the saving doctrine of Christ and his kingdom Christ crucified is a stumbling block unto them they esteem it foolishness when they hear it preached they mock at the resurrection of the dead and the principles of Christian Religion are so absurd to their natural sence and reason that they will not down with them by any means Sinâ—â— they know not what it is they have no sight of it or if they have they have no sence nor feeling of the hainousness of it and for the inward corruption of the heart they suffer it to lye there without mortifying it and it is the constraint of the laws of the land that restraineth them from the actual commission of sin for otherwise they give full sway and swinge to their crooked and corrupt affections free scope and liberty to themselves in sin and run their full career in wickedness and if they can but extricate themselves out of the briers so that the laws of the land should not lay hold of them they care not to commit all manner of iniquity and impiety Yea though they hear that the law of God is spiritual and requireth the obedience of the inward man and that God looketh more to the heart then to the outward actions and that a little sin such a sin as it is a question among a great many whether it be a sin is exceeding hainous in the sight of God if mens hearts be set upon it so that they will not part with it Though they hear out of the Scripture that God will call men to account for idle 2 Mat. 36. ver 5 Mat. 28 ver Pet. 2 ch 14 ver 5 Matth. 22 ver 3 Gen. 42. 20 Exod. 17 ver words for wanton looks for lascivious gestures for spleeny passions and revengeful meditations for but purposes to enrich themselves by the gain of oppression yet they suffer these euil motions of their corrupt minde these desires of the flesh to domineer and bear sway and reign and rule in their hearts And as for the works of the flesh which the Apostle reckons up in the 5 of the
and he be become a gracious father unto you in Christ Jesus is your hatred of sin general your love of goodness universal do you increase and grow every day more and more in grace and goodness in your hatred and opposition of sin Have you a care of the inward man as well as of the outward and do you look more to the heart then to the outward actions is not there some secret darling bosome and beloved sin upon which your heart is set which you defend and maintain against all that Gods Ministers can say against it and will not be convinced in conscience of it or acknowledge it to be a sin do you not call your pride decency your lust love your drunkenness goodfellowship your malice zeal your covetousness thrift Or is there not some secret sin like Herod his incest which you defend to be lawful ye may know concerning your selves in what terms you stand with God whether you be in Christ or whether you be in the flesh unless ye be ignorant persons and know not what the desires of the flesh mean But yet though it be an easie matter to know this concerning your selves yet it is the hardest matter of a thousand to know this concerning others whether they be in the faith or no. Restraining grace it may work as perfect a hatred of some sins and as perfect a love of some graces and virtues as saving grace They who outwardly appear very wicked men they may hate some vices with as perfect a hatred as it is possible for men to do who carry about them a body of flesh and love some virtues with as perfect a love as it is possible for men to do who live since the fall of Adam yea restraining grace may work such a reformation of the outward man and of the inward man too that there may not be many sins in the heart unpurged out We read of Herod how he reformed himself in many things at Iohns preaching and he had not many sins with which he was greatly in love beside his incest And Iehu beside his state policy he had not many sins upon which his heart was set And whether it be constraint of laws restraint of shame custome and example of others that teacheth men to do well whether God work by his mercies or by his judgements by his word or by the good motions of his Spirit by fits and by starts extraordinarily Or whether there be a constant and a continued work of the spirit whether there be a general hatred of sin whether mens obedience to Gods laws and commandments be total or partial Whether there be many sins reigning in men or one darling sin upon which their heart is set unpurged out These are secrets known onely to God who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins This men must see unless they will shut their eyes against a known truth that there is in all men living a hatred of some vices and a love of some virtues and though it be restraining grace that worketh in the most yet for ought we know or ought to judge it is saving grace that worketh in all And that there should be in a Christian Common-wealth this distinction of the godly and the wicked for my part I see no reason for it Charity thinketh no evil but is easily perswaded to believe that all the congregation of the Lord is holy This is a certain truth we cannot certainly know and ought not peremtorily to judge of any men or company of men that they are in the whole tenour of their lives wicked men or profane persons or that they are in the whole tenour of their lives hypocrits or false christians But if men may probably conjecture of a great many that they are sinners or hypocrits know them by their fruits because it outwardly appeareth to the world that many sins reign in them What use should they make of their knowledge Let them abstain from their company and not partake with them in their sins If necessity or some occasion of business force them into their company let them soberly admonish them of their faults that they may amend let them reprove and rebuke them sharply if they doe not amend let them informe against them that they may be reformed if their sins be capital or scandalous punishable by the laws of the land let them mourn in secret because they do pray in private that they may not continually dishonour God by their unlawful deeds their open profanes and their secret hypocrisie these things are good and acceptable in the sight of God If beside these you can think of any lawful means to reduce men from their sins their open profaness and their secret hypocrisie on God his name use it But as for all slandring and traducing men for sin all casting out their names and evil all rash censuring of their present condition all uncharitable and unchristian judging of their future as final condition let not these things be once named among you as becometh saints For my part I know no man so flagitiously sinful that I dare determine of him that he is in the state of condemnation though I see him in the acts of impiety for I know there is a salve for this sore his repentant tears And if I say that such a one is a saint in the state of grace and hath right to the kingdome of heaven when he doth well I say no more then charity bindeth me to speak when I see a man that is suspected to have sinned the sin against the holy Ghost I may peradventure think that there is small hopes of remission for such a one because he cannot repent yet I shall be sparing to terme such an one a reprobate when I fee him sin and shall be bold to say he is a saint when he doth well Be charitable and judge of no mans final condition ye cannot certainly know and therefore ought not to say of any men lining though they be never so hainously sinful that they are in the state of condemnation And yet still there are a number a multitude the whole world lieth in wickedness walloweth and tumbleth in this sinful condition in this polluted estate their conscience is defiled their heart is corrupt set upon sin they have no sence nor feeling of their sins they are touched with no remorse for them they will not weed them out of their hearts and though others may not and we dare not judge them any otherwise then as God judgeth them yet unless they will judge and condemne them selves and endeavour to purge sin out of their hearts we must leave them where we found them in the flesh insuch a condition wherein they cannot please God nor have right to the kingdome of heaven but are liable to God his curse and eternal damnation for so they see the scripture speaketh so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God But I shall rather 3 Ephes 16 17 18. 19 ver pray for such as are in the flesh that God would grant them according to the riches if his glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit according to the inner man that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith that they being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth And length and depth and height and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledg that they may be 1 Pet. 10. 4 ver filled with the fulness of God and have right to an inheritance incorruptible immortal undefiled not fading away reserved in the heavens for them Amen FINIS
Galatians 19 and 20 verses The works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication laciviousness uncleanness Idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditious heresies envyings murders drunkenness revellings and such like they are exceedingly in love with these and spare not to commit them so far forth as they come not within the compass of mens laws to be punished yea and many times they leap over the laws of God and the land wallow in swinish pleasures and sinful surfeting follow their brutish appetites their sinful and sensual desires give no law to their unbridled passions to their loose carriages to their dissolute behaviours to their unjust practises the restraint neither of Gods laws nor of mens can keep them within bounds but they break both and pursue their evil courses with all vehemency and violence And are such as the Scripture speaketh of the unjust Judge They neither fear God nor 18 Luke 4 ver regard man but oppress the poor grind their faces undo the fatherless and widows against all law and equity and yet they have no sence nor feeling of their sins they are touched with no remorse for them The terror of the law which doometh death and damnation to the breach of the least of Gods Commandments the horror of their own guilty consciences when they see their sins laid before them in their own ugly plight shape and form doth not make them so to groan under the burden of their sins that they should see what a sweet thing it is to have a Saviour what a happiness it is to be a Christian They are not so wearied with the heavy load and burden of their sins that they should seek and finde rest in Christ Jesus But they 5 Wis 7 8 ver weary themselves in the way of wickednes and never say what hath pride profited us Or what good hath riches with our vanting brought us till they groan out this in hell where they are never like to have part in God or inheritance in Christ These now are the wicked and such as these they are in the flesh and fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the minde and sure some such men as these the Apostle yieldeth and granteth that there may be They have not their understanding informed nor their reason rectified Their talk is of bullocks and they know 〈◊〉 how to give the kine fodder or their discourse is of their wares and their merchandise and they know how to buy and sell and get gain But they are strangers in Israel unacquainted with the mysteries of Christ and his kingdom That Christ came down from heaven and 13 Act. 23 ver was inclosed in the virgins womb that he was born of the seed of David and took flesh for our redemption his Priestly his Princely his Prophetical office his being God his being Man the necessity of his being both for our redemption His humiliation his exaltation his humility that he humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross his exaltation his rising again from the dead his glorification his leading captivity captive These are things that they have small knowledge of or if they have some confused knowledge of the fall of Adam of the corrupt state and condition of all mankind since the fall of the impossibility of keeping Gods Laws and Commandements and of the necessity of a Saviour to free us from the curse of sin which is death and from the punishment of the breach of Gods Laws which is damnation have they now a lively 5 Gal. 6 ver faith that worketh by love to purge their consciences from dead works to serve the living Lord Do they believe in Jesus Christ and him crucified yet they believe that there is one God and one Mediator between 2 Tim. 2 c. 5 ver God and man the man Christ Jesus Yea S. Iames telleth them that the 2 Jam. 19 ver devils believe and tremble But do they believe that Christ died for their sins and rose again for their 4 Rom. 8 ver justification yea they believe that Christ died for the sins of the whole world and more particularly for 1 Tim. 4 c. 10 ver theirs and they are ready at any time when they are weary and heavy laden with the burden of their sins to apply Christ and his merits to themselves for the remission of them and therefore they make no question but they are truly engraffed into Christ and made lively members of his body yea they weary Christ with the load and burden of their sins and make him their pack-horse to bear their iniquities and as God speaketh by his Prophet He is pressed under them as a cart is pressed that 2 Amos 13 ver as full of sheaves But do they so groan under the burden of their sins that they desire to be rid of them and to purge them out of their hearts Doth their faith in Christ for the remission of their sins increase their hatred of 2 Cor. 7 c. 1 ver sin and their desire to cleanse themselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit Hereby they shall know whether they be in Christ or no They that are Christs the Apostle telleth us have crucified the flesh with the affections 5 Gal. 24 ver and lusts Unless therefore men crucifie the flesh and mortifie their earthly members fornication uncleanness immoderate affection evil concupiscence covetousness and the like they are not in Christ but are still in the flesh and whatsoever right or title they may plead to Christ they are carnally they are earthly minded Let not sin reign in your mortal 6 Rom. 12 ver bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof If then mens hearts and consciences tell them that they are not renewed in the spirit of their 4 Eph. 23. minde their hearts are set upon evil the thoughts of their hearts are evil and 6 Gen. 5 ver that continually the evil desires of the flesh they swarm there and the carnal desires of the mind they nourish and cherish them please themselves in them take a great deal of delight to suffer their mindes to wander after vain pleasures and sinful delights and as for the inward corruption of the heart they give no stay nor stop to it For the proneness and propensity of the heart to evil and the indisposition thereof to do good they see it not or if they do they love it with all their heart and desire to live and die in this polluted estate this corrupted condition over run with sin and iniquity Their heart is corrupt their conscience defiled and yet they are touched with no remorse for the inward pollution of their souls for the outward defilement of their bodies but make sin their solace and iniquity their pastime and if God do so work by his word by the good motions of his Spirit by