the flesh that are in thee make the word of God which is in it selfe most cleare darksome and obscure Is there any obedience in it nothing lesse The law of the members still rebelleth against the law of the mind so that needs wee must confesse with Paul that in vs that is in our flesh in our state of corruption dwelleth no good Rom. 7.18 To apply this to our purpose marke what the flesh is that are we altogether by nature for we come to be spirit not by carnall generation but by spirituall regeneration And this leauen of vncleannesse hath crept into all the outward members that the eyes eares lips tongue hands feet are euery where in the Scripture branded for weapons of vnrighteousnesse And so let vs passe vnto the third consideration 3. By actuall transgression In the third place wee are sinners in regard of actuall transgressions you haue often heard of sins of omission and sinnes of commission In sinnes of omission It is worth the marking to see whence these kindes arise for when we are altogether depriued of righteousnes it cannot be but that wee should omit and ouerpasse whatsoeuer is righteous For where the cause is not nor euer was there the effect must needs be wanting So on the other side when the pollution of sinne doth wholly occupie the faculties of our mind soule and body whatsoeuer we thinke speak And of commission or doe it cannot but be sinfull For such as the tree is such must be the fruit Neither can figs be gathered on thornes nor grapes on thistles Of which our actuall corruption the Scripture euery where and specially very plainly doth accuse man Psalm 14.1 They haue corrupted their waies and done abomination there is none that doth good What is here meant but that the whole way of a naturall man the trade of his life is to worke such things as are abomination and that whatsoeuer is truly good that he altogether pretermitteth But this me thinketh sticketh on the stomacke and is not so easie of digestion as the former Obiection For you will haply say that you haue the knowledge of God that you can heare Gods word The good which we haue by nature that you can conceiue a zeale of some kind of righteousnesse that you can pray giue almes and doe many other good things and why then should you be charged with doing no good Solution But wee must bee as wise in heauenly things as wee are in earthly In other matters touching goodly appearances wee can giue this iudgement Is but appearing that all is not gold which glisters and should not wee be as carefull that in things spirituall we be not deluded with shewes in stead of substance Our Sauiour hath an heauenly speech concerning these glittering and shining sinnes as one doth truly terme them that what is excellent and glorious oft with men the same is abomination in the sight of God Luk. 16.15 You may thinke that you know God But not spirituall and sauing but by nature you haue not nor can haue any true spirituall knowledge of him For as it is 1. Cor. 2.14 The naturall man is not capable of the things of God Onely bleare-eyed as we are and seeing at hand as Peter speaketh 2. Pet. 1.9 we can after a sort reade and conceiue what the great bookes of heauen and earth teach vs concerning him namely that there is a diuine power whose iustice power and bounty doth not obscurely manifest it selfe in the administration of the world And this knowledge standeth vs in no other stead but onely to make vs inexcusable before God So wee can lend a bodily eare vnto Gods word but with the eare of the mind we cannot heare which our Sauiour meanes when he saith to them which heard well enough in respect of the bodily sense Hee that hath eares to heare let him heare Matth. 13.9 So we may receiue a kind of zeale after good but it is like that of the Iewes Rom. 10.2 a wrong zeale in a wrong manner which leadeth from Christ with whom onely is saluation Wee can also giue almes and doe other good works in our owne conceit and of other men but in such a manner as that we cannot stirre an haires breadth from sinne For want of a cleere fountaine viz. a pure heart nor get out of the mire wherein wee sticke For the Law requireth not onely that the substance of the outward worke be conformable thereunto but that the fountaine whence it springeth be pure Tit. 1.15 And a right end viz. Gods glory that the end for which it is vndertaken whatsoeuer it be bee the glory of God 1. Cor. 10.31 Now to haue a hart purified by faith is not such a vulgar thing that all men haue it for all men haue not faith 2. Thes 3.2 but these onely to whom it belongeth to whom it is giuen Phil. 1.29 To you it is freely giuen for Christ that not onely yee should beleeue in him but also suffer for his sake Wherefore when the Scripture doth pronounce that whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne Rom. 4.24 and that without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 let vs not think our pennie made worse siluer than it is when all our workes that are done in our naturall condition are made sins before God and such as wherewith he is highly displeased be they neuer so goodly and beautifull in the sight of man The vse of this doctrine shall be ioyntly handled with the other following wherefore we will passe to the second doctrine touching our misery And come short That is are out of the reach and hope of euerlasting life and so by consequent are plunged ouer head and eares into eternall death Doct. 2. From hence then this is our lesson that by nature we haue no part nor portion in that glorious life We by nature haue no share in life euerlasting and that euerlasting happinesse wherewith the presence of Gods glory replenisheth his for euermore Whē Adam had sinned mark what followed thereupon Genes 3.23 hee was secluded and cast out of the earthly Paradise in which the estate of vs al is pourtrayed out and liuely represented namely that we being sinners are exiled and banished from the Paradise of God hauing no interest in that glorious inheritance But are vnder wrath Wherefore it is that our Apostle saith Ephes 2.3 that we are the children of wrath that is such as to whom appertaine those punishments which the Lord inflicteth in his indignation and not that life of glory which hee giueth to those with whom he is well pleased Because sinfull wretches Neither can it possibly bee otherwise with vs for the wages of sinne is death the iustice of God so requiring Rom. 6.23 What other pay then can wee challenge or expect but that of eternall death who are euery way most sinfull wretches as wee haue already heard Whom heauen
farre from i Themistocles vt Cicero in orat pro Archia his mind which counted that voice the sweetest musicke which did most loudly chaunt his vertues yet may without impeachment of your modesty heare this imperfect Eccho of them from my ruder tongue rather stammering thankes from an honest heart than glozing with you by a lauish blazing of of your praise But not to hold you longer from the Sermon it selfe by my courser manner of discoursing proceed Good Sir to loue and countenance learning and vertue mor specially foster piety and religion hang out from your house as from an high watch-tower a banner thereof for example and encouragement to all that feare God Esteeme vertue the noblest armes of Gentry as not amisse the Heathen k Iuuenal Satyr 8. Poet Nobilitas sola est atque vnica virtus Vertue is onely True Nobility And religion the honour and crowne of Nobility as better the l Prudent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Romano martyre Christian Poet Generosa Christi secta nobilitat viros Cui quisque seruit ille vere est nobilis Illi rebellis inuenitur degener The generous faith of Christs profession Doth men ennoble with the best renowne Who him doth serue comes of the noblest blood Who him reiects much baser is than mud And in all this take in good part my well meaning heart who for this or whatsoeuer seruice I can doe haue the full price of my labour to be reputed Your Worships most respectiue in the Lord I. E. AN EPITOMIE OF MANS MISERIE AND DELIVERIE Rom. 3. vers 23.24 All haue sinned and are depriued of the glory of God and are iustified freely by his grace thorow the redemption that is in Christ Iesus THere are two things very necessary for euery Christian Two things are needfull to be knowne the one is the knowledge of our selues the other is the knowledge of the things that concerne our peace For the first if we bee sinners that is such as feele the burthen of sinne Our miserie and perceiue our selues sicke thereof then Christ Iesus is sent to call vs then he is a physician to vs Mark 2.17 For the second Luk. 19.42 our Sauiour in most tender compassion doth wish vnto Ierusalem but this one thing Our deliuery as that which would make her perfectly hâ—ppy namely that at least she had knowne in that her day those things which belonged to her peace intimating thus much that heerein consisteth true happinesse Now though nothing is more needfull for vs than the knowledge of these things yet few things are more neglected This therefore hath giuen me occasion to speake and discourse of these words wherein both these poynts are sufficiently taught and declared that some who haue hitherto been strangers in them may bee better acquainted therewith others who haue set foot in these waies may be holpen forward But that we may haue the more conuenient passage to the profitable handling of these words it is meet that their coherence bee shewed and that what is more difficult in them be vnfolded The coherence of the text The Apostle in them doth make a digression for the preuenting of an obiection which some Iew might make against his former conclusion For the Apostle in the verse going before thus concluding that all are iustified by the righteousnesse of faith some Iew in regard of the singular preheminences which they had aboue other of which in the ninth of this Epistle wee may reade might stomack the matter and take it hainously that they are thrust into the selfesame order with the vncircumcised Gentiles Wherefore the Apostle to cure all heart-burning in this behalfe doth in this verse by way of preuention proue the vniuersality of his conclusion from equall condition of all in the contrary thus All are sinfull and condemned therefore all both Iew and Gentile haue need to be iustified The sense Gods glory is the image of God In the former words there is no obscurity the latter phrase of being depriued of Gods glory is somewhat intricate some taking it to signifie the image of God but then lesse should bee spoken than was before yea and that with lesse perspicuity others for glorying or reioycing before God but this meaning the words will not beare but by violence and constraint Or rather the glorius presence of God I rather thinke the true meaning to be that all men come short and are depriued of the glory of God that is the glorious estate wherein the righteous should haue liued for euer enioying the presence of God So Psal 73.24 Thou shalt guide me by thy counsell and afterward receiue me to glory And the estate which the godly shal enioy after the labours of this life outwrastled is called the state of glory because the glory of God in the glorifying of his creature shall bee particularly and especially reuealed So then the sum of these words is this All men haue sinned all men by nature haue no part of euerlasting life but are condemned and adiudged to eternall darkenesse Doct. 1. The first instruction which wee must heere take vp is this that all men by nature are sinfull All men are by nature sinfull and stand before the tribunall seat of God guilty sinners All of vs as the Prophet speaketh Isa 53.6 haue turned aside from our childhood like stray sheepe to those waies which are abomination to God dangerous yea deadly to our selues To which purpose Gen. 8.21 the Lord thus speaketh that the imagination of mans heart is onely euill euen from his youth vp And Dauid confesseth of himselfe that he was conceiued in sinne and borne in iniquitie Psalm 51. Neither can it bee otherwise for all of vs came out of Adams loynes Because they descend from sinfull Adam and by Adam must needs be begotten in his image as it is spoken Genes 5.3 that is not onely resembling him in creation but in corruption Vpon which ground Iob. chap. 14. vers 4. asketh who it is that can bring a cleane thing out of filthinesse himselfe making answere thereunto that there is none can doe it it is impossible to be done I will not labour further to proue this poynt for no man but generally doth very contentedly acknowledge it I will onely shew the same doctrine in the particulars thereof We are sinners in three respects Euery man therefore is a sinner before God in three respects first in regard of sinne imputed to him secondly in consideration of sinne inherent in him thirdly by reason of sinne issuing from him 1. By the sinne of Adam imputed to vs. First I say all of vs are sinners before God in respect of Adams first sinne which after a sort appertaineth to vs and is truly ours All flesh when Adam sinned did likewise with him rebelliously transgresse For which cause the Apostle Rom. 5.12 saith that in him viz. in Adam wee haue all sinned For Adam being the
carried away Leuit. 13. and 14. so the whole frame of heauen and earth must burne in the fier to bee purged of it Vse 2 Secondly these doctrines are a ground of all true humility It teacheth vs humility and thankefulnesse and thankfull acknowledgement of Gods mercy If that a man could haue seene the heart of the poore Publican Luk. 18. no doubt one should haue seene that it was the priuity of these things we haue spoken of viz. that he was so sinfull and corrupt so wretched and neare to damnation that made him so abased and abashed in himselfe as not to dare so much as to looke vp to heauen made him with such griefe and passion to smite his breast and to sigh out Lord be mercifull vnto mee a sinner What vvas it but the due pondering of these things that did carry Dauid to such an admiration of Gods bounty toward himselfe and all men crying out Psal 144.4 Lord what is man that thou regardest him or the sonne of man that thou thinkest on him and forceth the Prophet to this confession It is the Lords mercy that we are not consumed because his compassions faile not From the ignorance of it springeth pride and vnthankfulnesse Lam. 3.22 But contrarivvise vvee carry our heads aloft face the heauens and svvell vvith great thoughts of our ovvne vvorth Againe vve are not onely spared from day to day and saued from vvrath but are fed and filled vvith good things from Gods hand without any due and feeling confession of Gods patience bounty and mercies heerein And whence is it but euen hence that we haue not thorowly learned nor taken vnto heart these lessons what wee are naturally before God viz. abominable most filthy and cursed wretches children of wrath and sonnes of perdition Find me the man that doth know this in his soule and is not lowly in his owne eyes doth not tremble and is not with an holy shame confounded in himselfe when hee commeth before God that doth not acknowledge Gods mercy in the least good hee enioyeth and wonder at his bounty that he doth load him such a caitiffe with so great benefits Grant that poore Mephibosheth had been guilty of treason against King Dauid as Ziba did falsly accuse him and that vpon plaine conuiction of the crime and sentence of death being giuen on him and all things made ready for his execution the King had giuen him his pardon restored him to his lands and as formerly admitted him to his owne table Can we thinke that hee would not haue blushed euen as oft as he came in the Kings presence and that he would not much more than formerly haue magnified Dauids princely mercy and clemency vnto him saying What is thy seruant that thou shouldest looke toward much more shouldest deale so graciously with such a dead dog as I am 1. King 9.8 If the apprehension of ones outward miserie and basenesse can so abase our mindes and endeare the curtesies and fauours of other men towards vs how much rather will it make vs truly humble before the Lord and thankfully to record his goodnesse to vnderstand well how vile and wretched our naturall condition is Vse 3 Thirdly this must awake vs to looke about and lay hold of the meanes of our saluation that wee escape death and damnation It should stirre vs vp to lay hold of saluation When the Iewes had heard Peter preaching roundly to them concerning their wickednesse in crucifying the Lord Iesus and their danger for it they were pricked in their hearts and cried out to the Apostle Men and brethren what shall we doe Act. 2.37 And truly it must needs affright vs and make vs to labour for a better estate vnlesse we be of that sort of men that haue made a couenant with hell and are at a league with the graue Isa 28.15 to consider that we are guilty before the Lord in the loynes of Adam to weigh that we are throughout stained and spotted with the filthinesse of sinne to thinke that all we can speake or doe all our thoughts words and deeds are so many inditements against vs and euidences that wee are shut out of heauen into vtter darknesse Will any man vnlesse hee be dead drunke lay himselfe downe to sleepe in the top of the mast the ship being vnder saile in the middest of the sea Prou. 23.34 And wee hold him desperately mad that dare take a nap in a house on fier ouer his head O then let vs not when the wrath of God which is a fier burning to the pit of destruction when I say this wrath is seated in soule and body let vs not presume to snort securely till we know our selues pulled out of this fier and till we perceiue that it is fully quenched and extinguished And thus much spoken concerning our wretched estate by nature were enough But lest those who are deliuered from this misery should thinke that this doctrine concerneth them not it shall be needfull in a word to adioyne one other instruction Marke therefore beloued who it is that vttereth these words all haue sinned It is Paul one who had now laboured 20. yeeres in the worthy Ministery of Apostleship yet hee speaketh this including himselfe in the same number Which teacheth vs thus much Doct. 3. That after our deliuerance wee must not shake hands with the doctrine of our miserie Our miserie must not be forgotten though wee be deliuered from it but still beare it in mind and often recount it It is the practice of Saint Paul almost euery where In the second to the Ephesians vers 3. after he had laid before the eyes of the Ephesians their former estate he spareth not to rip vp his owne constitution by nature thus Among whom wee also haue had our conuersation in time past in the lusts of our flesh in fulfilling the will of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath as well as others So again 1. Tim. 1.15 doth hee ranke himselfe amongst the chiefe sinners Christ Iesus came into the world to saue sinners whereof I am the chiefe Lastly Tit. 3.3 doth he make a large acknowledgement of his owne and others wretched condition what it was before conversion We our selues also were in times past vnwise disobedient deceiued seruing the lusts and diuers pleasures liuing in maliciousnesse and enuie hatefull and hating one another 3. Effects of its remembrance And this lesson is the worthier our learning by how much the vse of it is the greater for it hath three excellent effects 1. To make vs gentle toward others First to remember what we our selues haue bin and are by nature will make vs meeke and gentle towards others not ouer rash and rigorous in our censures Thus much the Apostle sheweth plainly vnto vs in the place aboue-named For in the second verse of that chapter he doth bid Titus to dehort men from speaking euill and exhort them to softnesse
can it stand with faith How Gods free grace doth stand with faith It is true that the grace of God doth not brooke any thing inherent in man and of man and yet notwithstanding may well agree with faith for faith is not of man no not in man by nature For al men haue not faith 2. Thes 3.2 but it is in man renewed and as a gift of meere grace as Phil. 1.29 Vnto you it is giuen for Christ that you should beleeue on him where faith is challenged as a largesse of the Lords liberality Secondly faith doth not iustifie vs as it is an inherent quality in vs for this smelleth somewhat of the Gnosticks but as it apprehendeth Christ Iesus the redeemer who is made vnto vs of God righteousnesse Thus then briefly you see how euery one of vs must through faith take hold of the grace of God in the redemption of Christ and that faith is not at all preiudiciall to Gods fauour And now me thinkes you are willing to know what it is to beleeue What it is to beleeue I will tell you and that according as the Scripture speaketh without any laborious distinction If then beloued you first hauing a sight and sense of your miserable estate and beholding Christ crucified before you in this Gospell viz. Out of a sense of our misery to goe and to rest on Christ for our saluation that is hearing the word of this free grace of God through the redemption of Christ doe come and cast your selues on his mercy in Christ the redeemer and receiue it into your hearts afterward abhorring your selfe more and more euen in dust and ashes louing this God who is so gracious to you and expressing it by walking in his commandements then doe you truly beleeue For in the sight and sense of misery thus to come to and relie on Gods mercy is to beleeue as Iohn chap. 6. vers 35. Hee that commeth vnto me shall not hunger and hee that beleeueth in me shall not thirst Marke heere that to beleeue in Christ and to come to him are put for one when then our will doth moue toward God and make vnto his grace in Christ then we beleeue Againe to receiue the grace of God in Christ And to apply his grace to our selues in particular euen euery one for himselfe particularly with an honest heart in such manner as to say It is mine it belongeth vnto me this by the interpretation of the Scripture is to beleeue Ioh. 1.12 And hee that commeth thus to Christ and layeth hold on him though it be waueringly yet hee truly beleeueth Though it be weakly and not without doubting For true faith is not alwaies an vndoubted certainty which causeth one gloriously to triumph let the wind lie in what corner it pleaseth but it is sometimes as smoking flaxe and standeth rather in groanes sighes and desires than confident defiances and challenges especially vnder the beginnings of our conuersion and time oftentation We speake indeed against the popish doubtings wauerings and vncertainty first to shew that these though they may stand with faith yet they are no vertues but fruits of vnbeleefe Secondly because that true faith which is sometime plunged and perplexed with much doubting doth often get vp and is carried with a ful saile in the perswasion of Gods mercy as it is reported of Abraham Rom. 4.20.21 that hee did not doubt of the promise of God through vnbeleefe but was fully assured of the performance thereof which pitch though we cannot rise and reach vnto yet if wee doe from the heart long after Gods grace in Christ and truly though in much weaknesse rest on him for pardon of our sinnes there is no doubt but we haue that faith vnfained which doth make vs partakers of that redemption which is in Iesus Christ Soli Deo gloria