him and by the strengths and confidence of these thrusts us forward in a holy and wise Oeconomy and plainly declares that we must serve him by the measures of a new Love do him Honour by wise and material Glorifications be united to God by a new Nature and made alive by a new Birth and fulfil all Righteousness to be humble and meek as Christ to be merciful as our Heavenly Father is to be pure as God is pure to be partakers of the Divine Nature to be wholly renewed in the frame and temper of our mind to become people of a new heart a direct new Creation new Principles and a new Being to do better than all the world before us ever did to love God more perfectly to despise the world more generously to contend for the Faith more earnestly for all this is but a proper and a just consequent of the great Promises which our Blessed Law-giver came to publish and effect for all the world of Believers and Disciples The matter which is here required is certainly very great for it is to be more righteous than the Scribes and Pharisees more holy than the Doctors of the Law than the Leaders of the Synagogue than the wise Princes of the Sanhedrim more righteous than some that were Prophets and High Priests than some that kept the Ordinances of the Law without blame men that lay in Sackcloth and fasted much and prayed more and made Religion and the Study of the Law the work of their lives This was very much but Christians must do more Nunc te marmoreum pro tempore fecimus at tu Si foetura gregem suppleverit aureus esto They did well and we must do better their houses were Marble but our roofs must be gilded and fuller of Glory * But as the matter is very great so the necessity of it is the greatest in the world It must be so or it will be much worse unless it be thus we shall never see the glorious Face of God Here it concerns us to be wise and fearful for the matter is not a question of an Oaken Garland or a Circle of Bayes and a Yellow Ribband it is not a question of Money or Land nor of the vainer rewards of popular noises and the undiscerning Suffrages of the people who are contingent Judges of good and evil but it is the great stake of Life Eternal We cannot be Christians unless we be righteous by the new measures the Righteousness of the Kingdom is now the only way to enter into it for the Sentence is fixt and the Judgement is decretory and the Judge infallible and the Decree irreversible For I say unto you said Christ unless your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Here then we have two things to consider 1. What was the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees 2. How far that is to be exceeded by the Righteousness of Christians 1. Concerning the First I will not be so nice in the Observation of these words as to take notice that Christ does not name the Sadduces but the Scribes and Pharisees though there may be something in it the Sadduces were called Caraim from Cara to read for they thought it Religion to spend one third part of their day in reading their Scriptures whose fulness they so admired they would admit of no suppletory Traditions But the Pharisees were called Thannaim that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they added to the Word of God words of their own as the Church of Rome does at this day they and these fell into an equal fate while they taught far Doctrines the Commandments of men they prevaricated the righteousness of God What the Church of Rome to evil purposes hath done in this particular may be demonstrated in due time and place but what false and corrupt glosses under the specious title of the Tradition of their Fathers the Pharisees had introducedour Blessed Saviour reproves and are now to be represented as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that you may see that Righteousness beyond which all they must go that intend that Heaven should be their Journeys end 1. The Pharisees obeyed the Commandments in the Letter not in the Spirit They minded what God spake but not what he intended they were busie in the outward work of the hand but incurious of the affections and choice of the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Justin Martyr to Tryphon the Jew Ye understand all things carnally that is they rested 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen calls it in the outward work of Piety which not only Justin Martyr but St. Paul calls Carnality not meaning a carnal Appetite but a carnal Service Their error was plainly this they never distinguished Duties natural from Duties relative that is whether it were commanded for it self or in order to something that was better whether it were a principal Grace or an instrumental Action So God was served in the Letter they did not much inquire into his Purpose And therefore they were curious to wash their hands but cared not so much to purifie the hearts They would give Alms but hate him that received it they would go to the Temple but did not revere the Glory of God that dwelt there between the Cherubins they would fast but not mortify their Lusts they would say good Prayers but not labour for the Grace they prayed for This was just as if a man should run on his Masters errand and do no business when he came there They might easily have thought that by the Soul only a man approaches to God and draws the Body after it but that no washings or corporal Services could unite them and the Shechinah together no such thing could make them like to God who is the Prince of Spirits * They did as the Dunces in Pythagoras School who when their Master had said Fabis abstineto by which he intended they should not ambitiously seek for Magistracy they thought themselves good Pythagoreans if they did not eat Beans and they would be sure to put their Right foot first into the shooe and their Left foot into the water and supposed they had done enough though if they had not been Fools they would have understood their Masters meaning to have been that they should put more affections to labour and travel and less to their pleasure and recreation and so it was with the Pharisee For as the Chaldees taught their Morality by mystick words and the Aegyptians by Hieroglyphicks and the Greeks by Fables so did God by Rites and Ceremonies external leading them by the Hand to the Purities of the Heart and by the Services of the Body to the Obedience of the Spirit which because they would not understand they thought they had done enough in the observation of the Letter 2. In moral Duties where God express'd Himselfe more plainly they made no Commentary of kindness but
DIEV ET MON DROIT HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE ἙΒΔΟΜᾺΣ ἘΜΒΟΛΙΜΙΟΣ A Supplement TO THE ΕÎΙΑΥΤΟΣ Or Course of Sermons for the whole year BEING SEVEN SERMONS Explaining the Nature of Faith and Obedience in relation to God and the Ecclesiastical and Secular Powers respectively All that have been Preached and Published since the Restauration By the Right Reverend Father in God JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down and Connor To which is adjoyned His Advice to the Clergy of his Diocese LONDON Printed for Richard Royston Bookseller to the Kings most Sacred Majesty 1663. THE Righteousness Evangelical DESCRIB'D THE CHRISTIANS CONQUEST Over the Body of Sin FIDES FORMATA OR FAITH working by LOVE IN THREE SERMONS PREACHED AT CHRIST CHURCH DVBLIN By the Right Reverend Father in God JEREMIAH Lord Bishop of Down and Connor The second Edition London Printed for R. Royston Book-seller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty 1663. Imprimatur M. Franck. S. T. P. R. in Christ. Pat. ac D. D. Archiep. Cant. à Sac. Dom. Sept. 21. 1663. TO THE Most Noble and Vertuous Princess The Lady Dutchess OF ORMONDE HER GRACE Madam I Present your Grace here with a Testimony of my Obedience and of your own Zeal for the good of Souls You were in your great Charity not only pleased to pardon the weakness of this discourse but to hope it might serve as a memorial to thâ—se that need it of the great necessity of living vertuously and by the measures of Christianity Madam you are too Gâ—eat and too good to have any ambition for the things of this World but I cannot but observe that in your designs for the other World you by your Charity and Zeal adopt your self into the portion of those Ecclesiasticks who humbly hope and truly labour for the reward that is promised to those wise persons who convert souls If our prayers and your desires that every one should be profited in their eternal concerns cast in a Symbol towards this great work and will give you a title to that great reward But Madam when I received your commands for dispersing some Copies of this Sermon I perceived it was too little to be presented to your Eminence and if it were accompanied with something else of the like nature it might with more profit advance that end which your Grace so piously designed and therefore I have taken this opportunity to satisfie the desire of some very Honourable and very Reverend Personages who required that the two following Sermons should also be made fit for the use of those who hop'd to receive profit by them I humbly lay them all at your Graces Feet begging of God that even as many may receive advantages by the perusing of them as either your Grace will desire or He that preached them did intend And if your Grace will accept of this first Testimony of my concurrence with all the World that know you in paying those great regards which your piety so highly merits I will endeavour hereafter in some greater instance to pursue the intentions of Your zeal of souls and by such a service endeavour to do more benefit to others and by it as by that which is most acceptable to your Grace endear the Obedience and Services of Madam Your Graces most humble and Obedient Servant J. D. The Titles and Texts of the several Sermons SERM. I. The Righteousness Evangelical Matth. 5.20 For I say unto you that except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven SERM. II. The Christians Conquest over the Body of Sin Rom. 7.19 For the good that I would I doe not but the evil which I would not that I doe SERM. III. Faith working by Love James 2.4 You see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith alone SERM. IV. Preached at an Episcopal Consecration Luke 12.42 And the Lord said Who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his Lord shall make ruler over his houshold to give them their portion of meat in due season 43. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing SERM. V. Preached at the Opening the Parliament of Ireland 1 Sam. 15.22 Behold to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken then the fat of rams 23. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry SERM. VI. Via Intelligentiae John 7.17 If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self SERM. VII Preached at the Funeral of the L. Primate of Ireland 1 Cor. 15.23 But every man in his own order Christ the first fruits and after they that are Christ's at his coming Rules and Advices to the Clergy of the Diocese of Down and Connor THE Righteousness Evangelical DESCRIB'D MATTH V. 20. For I say unto you that except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven REwards and Punishments are the best Sanction of Laws and although the Guardians of Laws strike sometimes with the softest part of the hand in their Executions of sad Sentences yet in the Sanction they make no abatements but so proportion the Duty to the Reward and the Punishment to the Crime that by these we can best tell what Value the Law-giver puts upon the Obedience Joshuah put a great rate upon the taking of Kiriath-Sepher when the Reward of the Service was his Daughter and a Dower But when the Young men ventured to fetch David the waters of Bethlehem they had nothing but the praise of their Boldness because their Service was no more than the satisfaction of a Curiosity But as Law-givers by their Rewards declare the value of the Obedience so do Subjects also by the grandeur of what they expect set a value on the Law and the Law-giver and do their Services accordingly And therefore the Law of Moses whose endearment was nothing but temporal goods and transient evils could never make the comers thereunto perfect but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Superinduction of a better Hope hath endeared a more perfect Obedience When Christ brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel and hath promised to us things greater than all our explicit Desires bigger than the thoughts of our heart then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle then we draw near to God and by these we are enabled to do all that God requires and then he requires all that we can do more Love and more Obediâ—nce than he did of those who for want of these Helps and these Revelations and these Promises which we have but they had not were but imperfect persons and could do but little more than humane Services Christ hath taught us more and given us more and promis'd to us more than ever was in the world known or believ'd before
regarded the Prohibition so nakedly and divested of all Antecedents Consequents Similitudes and Proportions that if they stood clear of that hated name which was set down in Moses Tables they gave themselves liberty in many instances of the same kindred alliance If they abstained from murder they thought it very well though they made no scruple of murdering their Brothers fame they would not cut his throat but they would call him Fool or invent lyes in secret and publish his disgrace openly they would not dash out his brains but they would be extremely and unreasonably angry with him they would not steal their brothers money but they would oppress him in crafty and cruel bargains The Commandment forbade them to commit Adultery but because Fornication was not named they made no scruple of that and being commanded to Honour their Father and their Mother they would give them good words and fair observances but because it was not named that they should maintain them in their need they thought they did well enough to pretend Corban and let their Father starve 3. The Scribes and Pharisees placed their Righteousness in Negatives they would not commit what was forbidden but they cared but little for the included positive and the omissions of good Actions did not much trouble them they would not hurt their Brother in a forbidden instance but neither would they do him good according to the intention of the Commandment It was a great Innocence if they did not rob the Poor then they were righteous men but thought themselves not much concerned to acquire that god-like excellency a Philanthropy and love to all mankind Whosoever blasphem'd God was to be put to death but he that did not glorifie God as he ought they were unconcerned for him and let him alone he that spake against Moses was to dy without mercy but against the ambitious and the covetous against the proud man and the unmerciful they made no provisions Virtus est vitium fugere sapientia prima Stultitiâ caruisse They accounted themselves good not for doing good but for doing no evil that was the sum of their Theology 4. They had one thing more as bad as all this They broke Moses Tables into pieces and gathering up the fragments took to themselves what part of Duty they pleased and let the rest alone For it was a Proverb amongst the Jews Qui operam dat praecepto liber est à praecepto that is If he chuses one positive Commandment for his business he may be less careful in any of the rest Indeed they said also Qui multiplicat legem multiplicat vitam he that multiplies the Law increases Life that is if he did attend to more good things it was so much the better but the other was well enough but as for Universal Obedience that was not the measure of their Righteousness for they taught that God would put our good works and bad into the balance and according to the heavier scale give a portion in the world to come so that some evil they would allow to themselves and their Disciples alwayes provided it was less than the good they did They would devour Widows houses and make it up by long Prayers they would love their Nation and hate their Prince offer Sacrifice and curse Caesar in their heart advance Judaism and destroy Humanity Lastly St. Austin summ'd up the difference between the Pharisaical and Evangelical righteousness in two words Brevis differentia inter Legem Evangelium timor amor They serv'd the God of their Fathers in the spirit of Fear and we worship the Father of our Lord Jesus in the spirit of Love and by the spirit of Adoption and as this Slavish principle of theirs was the cause of all their former Imperfections so it finally and chiefly express'd it self in these two particulars 1. They would do all that they thought they lawfully could do 2. They would do nothing but what was expresly commanded This was the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and their Disciples the Jews which because our B. Saviour reproves not only as imperfect then but as criminal now calling us on to a new Righteousness the Righteousness of God to the Law of the Spirit of Life to the Kingdom of God and the proper Righteousness thereof it concerns us in the next place to look after the measures of this ever remembring that it is infinitely necessary that we should do so and men do not generally know or not consider what it is to be a Christian they understand not what the Christian Law forbiddeth or commandeth But as for this in my Text it is indeed our great measure but it is not a question of good and better but of Good and Evil Life and Death Salvation and Damnation for unless our Righteousness be weighed by new weights we shall be found too light when God comes to weigh the actions of all the world and unless we be more righteous than they we shall in no wise that is upon no other terms in the world enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now concerning this we shall do very much amiss if we take our measures by the manners and practises of the many who call themselves Christians for there are as Nazianzen expresses it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the old and the new Pharisees I wish it were no worse amongst us and that all Christians were indeed Righteous as they were est aliquid prodire tenus it would not be just nothing But I am sure that to bid defiance to the Laws of Christ to laugh at Religion to make a merriment at the debauchery and damnation of our Brother is a state of evil worse than that of the Scribes and Pharisees and yet even among such men how impatient would they be and how unreasonable would they think you to be if you should tell them that there is no present hopes or possibility that in this state they are in they can be saved Omnes videmur nobis esse belluli Et festivi Saperdae cum simus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the world is too full of Christians whose Righteousness is very little and their Iniquities very great and now adays a Christian is a man that comes to Church on Sundays and on the week following will do shameful things Passim corvos sequitur testâque lutoque Securus quo pes ferat at que ex tempore vivit being according to the Jewish proverbial reproof as so many Mephibosheths discipuli sapientum qui incessu pudefaciunt praeceptorem suum their Master teaches them to go uprightly but they still show their lame leg and shame their Master as if a man might be a Christian and yet be the vilest person in the world doing such things for which the Laws of men have provided smart and shame and the Laws of God have threatned the intolerable pains of an unsufferable and never ending damnation Example here cannot be our rule
strictly enforced you must not suffer your great Master to be dishonoured nor his Religion dismembred by Sects or disgraced by impiety you must give no impunity to vitious persons and you must take care that no great example be greatly corrupted you must make better provisions for your poor than they did and take more care even of the external advantages of Christs Religion and his Ministers than they did of the Priests and Levites that is in all things you must be more zealous to promote the kingdom of Christ than they were for the Ministeries of Moses The sum of all is this The righteousness Evangelical is the same with that which the Ancients called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to live an Apostolical life that was the measure of Christians the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men that desired to please God that is as Apostolius most admirably describes it men who are curious of their very eyes temperate in their tongue of a mortified body and a humble spirit pure in their intentions masters of their passions Men who when they are injured return honourable words when they are lessened in their estates increase in their charity when they are abused they yet are courteous and give intreaties when they are hated they pay love men that are dull in contentions and quick in loving kindnesses swift as the feet of Asahel and ready as the chariots of Amminadib True Christians are such as are crucified with Christ and dead unto all sin and finally place their whole love on God and for his sake upon all mankind this is the description of a Christian and the true state of the righteousness Evangelical so that it was well said of Athenagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no Christian is a wicked man unless his life be a continual lie unless he be false to God and his Religion For the righteousness of the Gospel is in short nothing else but a transcript of the life of Christ de matthana nahaliel de nahaliel Bamoth said R. Joshua Christ is the image of God and every Christian is the image of Christ whose example is imitable but it is the best and his laws are the most perfect but the most easie and the promises by which he invites our greater services are most excellent but most true and the rewards shall be hereafter but they shall abide for ever and that I may take notice of the last words of my Text the threatnings to them that fall short of this righteousness are most terrible but most certainly shall come to pass they shall never enter into the kingdom of heaven that is their portion shall be shame and an eternal prison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a flood of brimstone and a cohabitation with Devils to eternal ages and if this consideration will not prevail there is no place left for perswasion and there is no use of reason and the greatest hopes and the greatest fears can be no argument or sanction of laws and the greatest good in the world is not considerable and the greatest evil is not formidable but if they be there is no more to be said if you would have your portion with Christ you must be righteous by his measures and these are they that I have told you THE CHRISTIANS CONQUEST Over the Body of Sin Rom. VII 19. For the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do WHat the Eunuch said to Philip when he read the book of the Prophet Isaiah Of whom speaketh the Prophet this of himself or some other man The same question I am to ask concerning the words of my Text Does S. Paul mean this of himself or of some other It is hoped that he speaks it of himself and means that though his understanding is convinced that he ouâ—ht to serve God and â—hat he hath some imperfect desires to do so yet the Law of God without is opposed by a law of Sin witâ—in We have a corrupted nature and a body of infirmity and our reason dwells in the dark and we must go out of the world before we leave our sin For besides that some sins are esteemed brave and honourable and he is a baffled person that dares not kill his brother like a Gentleman our very Tables are made a snare and our civilities are direct treasons to the soul. You cannot entertain your friend but excess is the measure and that you may be very kind to your Guest you step aside and lay away the Christian your love cannot be expressed unless you do him an ill turn and civilly invite him to a Feaver Justice is too often taught to bow to great interests and men cannot live without flattery and there are some Trades that minister to sin so that without a sin we cannot maintain our Families and if you mean to live you must do as others do Now so long as men see they are like to be undone by innocence and that they can no way live but by compliance with the evil customs of the world men conclude practically because they must live they must sin they must live handsomely and therefore must do some things unhandsomely and so upon the whole matter sin is unavoidable Fain they would but cannot tell how to help it But since it is no better it is well it is no worse For it is S. Pauls case no worse man he would and he would not he did and he did not he was willing but he was not able and therefore the case is clear that if a man strives against sin and falls unwillingly it shall not be imputed to him he may be a regenerate man for all that A man must indeed wrangle against sin when it comes and like a peevish lover resist and consent at the same time and then all is well for this not only consists with but is a sign of the state of regeneration If this be true God will be very ill served If it be not true most men will have but small hopes of being saved because this is the condition of most men What then is to be done Truth can do us no hurt and therefore be willing to let this matter pass under examination for if it trouble us now it will bring comfort hereafter And therefore before I enter into the main inquiry I shall by describing the state of the man of whom S. Paul speaks here tell you plainly who it is that is in this state of sad things and then do ye make your resolutions according as you shall find it necessary for the saving of your souls which I am sure ought to be the end of all preaching 1. The man S. Paul speaks of is one that is dead v. 9. one that was deceived and slain v. 11. one in whom sin was exceeding sinful v. 13. that is highly imputed greatly malicious infinitely destructive he is one who is carnal and sold under sin v. 14. he is one that sins against
his conscience and his reason v. 16. he is one in whom sin dwells but the Spirit of God does not dwell for no good thing dwels in him v. 18. he is one who is brought into captivity to the law of sin he is a servant of uncleanness with his flesh and members serving the law of sin v. 25. Now if this be a state of regeneration I wonder what is or can be a state of reprobation for though this be the state of Nature yet it cannot be the state of one redeemed by the Spirit of Christ and therefore flatter not your selves any more that it is enough for you to have good desires and bad performances never think that any sin can reign in you and yet you be servants of God that sin can dwell in you and at the same time the Spirit of God can dwell in you too or that life and death can abide together The sum of affairs is this If ye live after the flesh ye shall dy but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live but not else upon any terms whatsoever My Text is one of the hard places of S. Paul which as S. Peter sayes the ignorant and the unstable wrest to their own damnation But because in this case the danger is so imminent and the deception would be so intolerable S. Paul immediately after this Chapter in which under his own person as was usual with him to do he describes the state of a natural man advanced no further than Moses Law and not redeemed by the blood of Christ or inlightned by the Spirit of God and taught by the wiser Lessons and Sermons of the Gospel immediately spends the next Chapter in opposing the Evangelical state to the Legal the Spiritual to the Carnal the Christian to the Natural and tells us plainly he that is redeemed by the blood of Christ is redeemed from the power of sin he that is Christs freed man is not a slave of sin not captive to the Devil at his will he that is in the flesh cannot please God but that every servant of Christ is freed from sin and is a servant of righteousness and redeemed from all his vain conversation for this is the end of Christs coming and cannot be in vain unless we make it so He came to bless us by turning every one of us from our iniquities Now concerning this besides the evidence of the thing itself that S. Paul does not speak these words of himself but by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under his own borrowed person he describes the state of a carnal unredeemed unregenerate person is expresly affirmed by S. Irenaeus and Origen by Tertullian and S. Basil by Theodoret and S. Chrysostom by S. Jerom and sometimes by S. Austin by S. Ambrose and S. Cyril by Macarius and Theophylact and is indeed that true sense and meaning of these words of S. Paul which words none can abuse or misunderstand but to the great prejudice of a holy life and the Patronage of all iniquity But for the stating of this great case of conscience I shall first in short describe to you what are the proper causes which place men and keep them in this state of a necessity of sinning and 2. I shall prove the absolute necessity of coming out of this condition and quitting all our sin 3. In what degree this is to be affected 4. By what Instruments this is to be done and all these being practical will of themselves be sufficient use to the Doctrines and need no other applicatory but a plain exhortation 1. What are the causes of this evil by which we are first placed and so long kept in a necessity of sinning so that we cannot do what good we would nor avoid the evil that we hate The first is the evil state of our Nature And indeed he that considers the dayly experiment of his own weak Nature the ignorance and inconstancy of his soul being like a sick mans legs or the knees of Infants reeling and unstable by disease or by infirmity and the perpetual leaven and germinations the thrustings forth and swelling of his senses running out like new wine into vapours and intoxicating activities will readily confess that though even in nature there may be many good inclinations to many instances of the Divine Commandments yet it can go no further than this velleity this desiring to do good but is not able And upon this account it is that Lactantius brings in the Pagan or natural man complaining Volo equidem non peccare sed vincor indutus enim sum carne fragili imbecillà This is very true and I adde only this caution There is not in the corruption of our nature so much as will save us harmless or make us excusable if we sin against God Natural corruption can make us criminal but not innocent for though by him that willingly abides in the state of mere nature sin cannot be avoided yet no man is in that state longer than he loves to be so for the Grace of God came to rescue us from this evil portion and is alwayes present to give us a new nature and create us over again and therefore though sin is made necessary to the natural man by his impotency and fond loves that is by his unregenerate nature yet in the whole constitution of affairs God hath more then made it up by his Grace if we will make use of it In pueris elucet spes plurimorum quae ubi emoritur aetate manifestum est non defecisse naturam sed curam said Quintilian We cannot tell what we are or what we think in our infancy and when we can know our thoughts we can easily observe that we have learned evil things by evil examples and the corrupt manners of an evil conversation ubi per socordiam vires tempus ingenium defluxêre naturae infirmitas accusatur that indeed is too true we grow lazy and wanton and we lose our time and abuse our parts and do ugly things and lay the fault wholly upon our natural infirmities but we must remember that by this time it is a state of Nature a state of flesh and blood which cannot enter into Heaven The natural man and the natural child are not the same thing in true Divinity The natural child indeed can do no good but the natural man cannot choose but do evil but it is because he will do so he is not born in the second birâ—h and renewed in the Baptism of the Spirit 2. We have brought our selves into an accidental necessity of sinning by the evil principles which are sucked in by great parts of mankind We are taught ways of going to Heaven without forsaking our sins of repentance without restitution of being in charity without hearty forgiveness and without love of believing our sins to be pardoned before they are mortified of trusting in Christs death without conformity to his life of
being in Gods favâ—ur upon the only account of being of such an opinion and that when we are once in we can never be out We are taught to believe that the events of things do not depend upon our crucifying our evil and corrupt affections but upon eternal and unalterable Counsels that the promises are not the rewards of obedience but graces pertaining only to a few praedestinates and yet men are Saints for all that and that the Laws of God are of the race of the Giants not to be observed by any grace or by any industry this is the Catechism of the ignorant and the prophane but without all peradventure the contrary propositions are the way to make the world better but certainly they that believe these things do not believe it necessary that we should eschew all evil and no wonder then if when men upon these accounts slacken their industry and their care they find sin still prevailing still dwelling within them and still unconquerable by so slight and disheartned labours For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every fool and every ignorant person is a child still and it is no wonder that he who talks foolishly should do childishly and weakly 3. To our weak and corrupted nature and our foolish discourses men do dayly superinduce evil habits and customs of sinning Consuetudo mala tanquam hamus infixus animae said the Father an evil custom is a hook in the soul and draws it whither the Devil pleases When it comes to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Peter's word is a heart exercised with covetous practices then it is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is weak and unable to do the good it fain would or to avoid the evil which in a good fit it pretends to hate This is so known I shall not insist upon it but adde this only that wherever a habit is contracted it is all one what the instance be it is as easie as delicious as unalterable in vertue as in vice for what helps nature brings to a vitious habit the same and much more the Spirit of God by his power and by his comforts can do in a vertuous and then we are well again You see by this who are and why they are in this evil condition The evil natures and the evil principles and the evil manners of the world these are the causes of our imperfect willings and weaker actings in the things of God and as long as men stay here sin will be unavoidable For even meat it self is loathsom to a sick stomack and it is impossible for him that is heart-sick to eat the most wholsom diet and yet he that shall say eating is impossible will be best confuted by seeing all the healthful men in the world eat heartily every day 2. But what then Cannot sin be avoided Cannot a Christian mortifie the deeds of the body Cannot Christ redeem us and cleanse us from all our sins Cannot the works of the Devil be destroyed That 's the next particular to be inquired of Whether or no it be not necessary and therefore very possible for a servant of God to pass from this evil state of things and not only hate evil but avoid it also He that saith he hath not sinned is a lyar but what then Because a Man hath sinned it does not follow he must do so always Hast thou sinned do so no more said the wise Bensirach and so said Christ to the poor Paralytick Go and sin no more They were excellent words spoken by a holy Prophet Let not the sinner say he hath not sinned For God shall burn coals of fire upon his head that saith before the Lord God and his glory I have not sinned Well! that case is confessed All men have sinned and come short of the glory of God But is there no remedy for this Must it always be so and sin for ever must have the upper hand and for ever baffle our resolutions and all our fierce and earnest promises of amendment God forbid there was a time then to come and blessed be God it hath been long come Yet a little while saith that Prophet and iniquity shall be taken out of the earth and righteousness shall reign among you For that 's in the day of Christs kingdom the manifestation of the Gospel when Christ reigns in our hearts by his Spirit Dagon and the Ark cannot stand together we cannot serve Christ and Belial And as in the state of nature no good thing dwells within us so when Christ rules in us no evil thing can abide For every plant that my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up and cast away into the fires of consumption or purification But how shall this come to pass since we all find our selves so infinitely weak and foolish I shall tell you It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of heaven said Christ. It is impossible to nature it is impossible to them that are given to vanity it is impossible for them that delight in the evil snare But Christ adds With men this is impossible but with God all things are possible What we cannot do for our selves God can do for us and with us What Nature cannot do the Grace of God can So that the thing may be done not indeed by our selves but gratia Dei mecum saith S. Paul God and man together can do it But if it can be done any way that God hath put into our powers the consequent is this No mans good will shall be taken in exchange for the real and actual mortification of his sins He that sins and would fain not sin but sin is present with him whether he will or no let him take heed for the same is the Law of sin and the Law of death saith the Apostle and that mans heart is not right with God For it is impossible men should pray for deliverance and not be heard that they should labour and not be prosperous unless they pray amiss and labour falsely Let no man therefore please himself with talking of great things with perpetual conversation in pious discourses or with ineffective desires of serving God He that does not practise as well as he talks and do what he desires and what he ought to do confesses himself to sin greatly against his conscience and it is a prodigious folly to think that he is a good man because though he does sin yet it was against his mind to do so A mans conscience can never condemn him if that be his excuse to say that his conscience checkt him and that will be but a sad apology at the day of Judgement Some men talk like Angels and pray with great fervor and meditate with deep recesses and speak to God with loving affections and words of union and adhere to him in silent devotion and when they go abroad are as passionate as ever peevish as a