or in his keeping of it CHAP. II. For what Ends the Law was added to the Promise I Now come to shew in the next place for what end the Law of Moses was added to the Promise And before I do this in particular I shall note only in general That it was not added to cross or confront the Promise or God's Design in it but to be subservient to it Gal. 3.21 Is the Law then against the Promises God forbid For it is not to be thought that God would prevaricate in his Design so that when he had once made a New Law of Grace for the Saving of faln Man he would yet afterwards give any Law but what should one way or other subserve to the same End if Men do not deprive themselves of the intended Benefit by perverting it And therefore to be sure God did not intend to revive the Old Covenant of Works made with Adam in Paradise in the after promulgation of the Law of Nature which we call the Moral Law already broken He did not therein come to demand his full Debt of Innocency in Mans Broken and Bankrupt Condition or to let him know that he would without any other Condition than perfect Innocency cast him into Prison until he had paid the utmost farthing For if he had then the Law indeed would have been against the Promise which declares quite otherwise It is true the Law of Nature as it is a perfect Rule of natural Righteousness founded in God's Nature and Man's Nature doth of it self require perfect Innocency and can require no less being suited to the Nature of Man in its perfect State But when God brings this Law forth and sets it before Men that are now faln from that state as he doth in the promulgation of it it is to let them know indeed what they once were and from whence they are fallen and how unhappy their Condition now is according to the Tenour and Terms of that Law and that it would have continued so for ever if God had not made a New Law of Grace to over-rule that Law and to let all know that they shall still remain in that Condition that wilfully exclude themselves from the benefit of the Law of Grace by not performing the Condition of it But not to let them know they should have no better terms from him than that Law affords them nor to make their perfect keeping of it the condition of their Justification But the Law of Moses entirely taken in all its parts was rather given as an Appendix to the Promise both as a Rule of the material part of that Obedience which God would now require of the Israelites in conjunction with their Faith in the Promise and as a Motive to that Obedience This in general The Question is put Gal. 3.19 Wherefore then serveth the Law And the Answer there is That it was added because of transgression until the Seed should come And it was added because of transgression in more respects than one 1. It was added to discover Sin to make that known to be Sin which was so of it self and in its own nature before the promulgation of the Law For by reason of that grievous Wound which Man got in his Understanding by the Fall and by reason also of a progressive Degeneration in Mankind the natural Sense of Moral Good and Evil was to a great degree worn out of the minds of Men. For the repairing of which decay a promulgate Law the Ten Commandments answerable to the Law of pure Nature in the Spirituality of it was set on foot in the World And by this Law came Sin and Duty to be more clearly known than they were before Rom. 3.20 By the Law is the knowledge of Sin Rom. 7.7 I had not known Sin but by the Law For I had not known Lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not Covet 2. The Law was added not only barely to make known that to be Sin which was so of it self before but to set it out in its Colours to make it known in the horrid nature and consequence of it that Men might be the more afraid to have to do with it The Law entred that the offence might abound That is that by that means it might be rendred the more Criminous and Demeritorious That Sin by the Commandment might become exceeding sinful Rom. 5.20 and 7.13 3. The Law as it discovered Sin and made it more criminous and the People the more sensible of guilt and more apprehensive of their obnoxiousness to punishment was given to set off so much the more the Glory Beauty and Desirableness of God's Grace in the Promise of Pardon and Salvation Rom. 5.20 The Law entered that the offence might abound But where Sin abounded Grace did much more abound By how much the more Sin appeared Sin and was enhanced and aggravated and rendred manifestly mischievous by a Promulgate Law by so much the more Grace appear'd to be Grace in all its Glory that brought Deliverance from it Rom. 5.21 That like as Sin hath reigned unto death viz. by the Law that being the strength of Sin 1 Cor. 15.56 Even so Grace might reign through Righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. After Christ came the Rest which he gave was so much the more sweet to those Jews who received him by how much they had been weary and heavy-laden under a Spirit of Bondage before 4. The Law saith St. Paul was our Schoolmaster to bring â—s unto Christ that we might be justified by Faith Gal. 3.24 That is It was a lower sort of Institution accommodated to the weak and more imperfect state of the Church until afterward it should deliver them over to a more perfect Institution under Christ Parents first teach their Children to Speak and after put them to School to learn Letters Syllables Words and Sentences the use and design of all which they do not understand while they are Children as they do when they come to be Men. In proportion to this hath God dealt with his Church in the World beginning with a lower and more imperfect sort of Instruction Precepts and Promises and so proceeding to those that are higher and more perfect and so by certain gradations to lead on and build up his Church to a more perfect Spiritual and compleat state of Faith and Holiness To all the riches of fulness of understanding of the Mystery of God of the Father and of Christ Col. 2.2 And thus the Law as Schoolmaster had a double end and use The one respecting the time then present The other that which was then future and to come The then present use of it was twofold also 1. To reclaim and restrain them from the Superstitious Customs of the Heathen to which they were addicted in which respect also it was added because of transgression The Heathen-Worship stood in divers Superstitious Rites or Ceremonies And because the Israelites were addicted to a bodily Worship
that there is a certain Distemper of Mind called Curiosity which as it is of like Nature so it is of full as hurtful and mischievous Effects to the Mind as that Distemper is to the Body which stirs up Persons to eat Chalk or Coals or Trash or whatever affords either none at all or a very ill Nourishment Such is the Curiosity of Knowing Evil which was the thing that ruin'd our first Parents and afterwards Solomon and since him many other Persons Such are they who have a great desire to tast those Pleasures which are in Sin and by tasting of 'em their Minds are defil'd and their Morals corrupted and it is seldom that they do ever after return to have a right Judgment of Good or Evil. Thus hurtful is the Knowledge of some things so that it is much better to be Ignorant thereof than to Know ' em Again there are others whose Curiosity gives 'em a strange Itch to know Hidden Things such as are not proper for Man to know Or not proper for Man to know as the Decrees of Predestination and the Counsels of God's Will which is the Ark that no mortal Eye ought to look into And many are wonderfully Inquisitive to learn the future Events of Kingdoms and States and of their own and others private Fortunes And therefore it is that they are so apt to give heed to every pretended Prophecy and tho' few are so very wicked as to Consult Evil Spirits themselves by Magical Arts yet Multitudes will make no scruple to Resort to Fortune-tellers and Conjurers and those that do consult 'em or are reputed to do tho' it be an Impiety so severely threaten'd Deut. 18.11 12. But all Curious Enquiries whatever into the Secrets of God's Providence are to be Renounc'd by us Christians as being the Gratifications only of a sinful Curiosity Secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are Reveal'd unto us and our Children for ever that we may do all the words of his Law Deut. 29.29 II. When we do immoderately study to be Exquisitely Skilled in whatever humane Arts and Sciences to the Neglect or Contempt of Divine Knowledge 2. We must Renounce that as a sinful Lust of the Fleshly Mind which improportionably to the true worth of things is more desirous to furnish it self with the Knowledge of what concerns only this Mortal Life than with the Knowledge of those Divine Truths which direct us to Life Everlasting Now this is Life Eternal or that Knowledge which leadeth and directs us to Life Eternal That we know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Joh. 17.3 But alas such is the Folly of the Carnally and Worldly wise that most Persons do neglect the Knowledge of God and the Christian Religion as if it were little worth when certainly in the End there is nothing will stand us in that stead as this sort of Knowledge Some there are whose whole search is for the Causes and Cures of Bodily Distempers and yet alas all is but Guess and Conjecture and an ordinary Malady not very seldom baffles the most Learned Physician and he sits down heavy in Disgrace and Disappointment But the Knowledge of God and Religion if duly apply'd never fails to cure the Soul of all its Infirmities nor will it fail to fill the Mind with the sweetest Comforts and Satisfactions Others you shall have who desire and care for nothing more than good Skill in the Laws of their Country whereby they may raise themselves good Estates in this World but alas such Knowledg can only serve a present Interest but by the Knowledge of our Christianity we may be able to provide our selves Bags that wax not old Eternal in the Heavens Some are wholly bent upon Merchandize and Trade but when the most Skilful Pilot shall split upon the Rocks or be foundred in the Sands he who has Heaven in his Eye may steer his Course without danger through the roughest Billows of Adverse Fortune And others there are who seem to aim at no higher Knowledge than how to Till their Land and feed their Cattle and when after all the Crop fails the most painful Husbandman he who knows the Laws of Christianity need not fear a joyful and a plentiful Harvest so excellent and useful is Divine Knowledge above all other Arts and Sciences The Knowledge of our Christian Religion as it serves to nobler Purposes so ought it to be prefer'd to any other Not that I would cast a Disparagement upon them they are the Gift of God and useful in their kind but the Knowledge of our Christian Religion as it serves to nobler and better Purposes so ought it to be prefer'd to any other and most study'd by every Christian And hence therefore does St. Paul when he comes at any time to speak of Divine Knowledge not only barely enjoin the Attainment of it as of other Vertues but does moreover add Prayers and Supplications to God to endow 'em therewith and to increase 'em therein We do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the Knowledge of his Will in all Wisdom and Spiritual Vnderstanding that ye might walk worthy of the Lord in all pleasing being fruitful in every good Work and increasing in the Knowledge of God Col. 1.9 10. And again I cease not says he making mention of you always in my Prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of him Eph. 1.16 17. So that tho' to be excellently well skill'd in any Art or Science whatsoever which terminates only in the Conveniencies of this Life be not only Lawful but Commendable yet it is a Profaneness fit to be Renounc'd by every Christian to prefer such to Divine Knowledge and to apply your Mind wholly to the attaining of such Skill to the Neglect of those Great and Important Truths the Knowledge of which is indispensably necessary to our Everlasting Happiness And therefore let your Profession and Calling be what it will you must make it your first Care and Study to know the Nature and Design of the Christian Religion The necessary Points of Christian Knowledge how that it is a Body of the most Excellent Principles and Laws all of 'em tending wholly to render you Holy and Good Livers and then to make you to depend upon the Mediation of Christ with his Father for his Acceptance thereof to your Justification You must also next make it more your Study to understand throughly the Covenant of Grace than the Nature and Obligation of any Humane Covenants or Contracts whatsoever And since we must build our Hopes upon the performance of particular Articles and as exactly as possible square our Lives according to each single Condition of the Covenant of Grace there can be nothing of more concernment to every Christian Lay as well as Clergy
which the Apostle made against them in it For they did still oppose another Covenant as the Covenant of Justification and Eternal Life unto this Mosaical Covenant and Faith as the Conditon of that in opposition to Works as the Condition of this as will appear if we come to Instances 1. St. Paul argues it with them that the Promise of God to Abraham and his Seed was not through the Law but through the righteousness of Faith Rom. 4.13 Not through the Law that is not upon the terms upon which the benefits of the first Covenant were promised to the Nation of the Jews but upon quite other terms express'd by the Righteousness of Faith 2. He argues it farther with them That God's way of accounting Men Righteous by Faith and their way of seeking Righteousness upon the terms of the first Covenant were utterly inconsistent and the one destructive of the other and that but one of these ways could possibly stand For if they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect Rom. 4.14 And again If the Inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise But God gave it to Abraham by Promise Gal. 3.18 And if by Grace then it is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace c. Rom. 11.6 3. And that the Law did not exclude the Promise to Abraham he farther argues in that the Covenant with Abraham was confirmed and unalterably setled and established in the Messias 430 Years before the Law by Moses was given and that therefore for them to go about to introduce the Law in the room of the Promise to Abraham so confirmed would be as unreasonable and unjust as for one Man to alter or make void anothers Covenant after he hath confirmed it Gal. 3.15 17. Brethren I speak after the manner of men though it be but a Mans Covenant yet if it be confirmed no Man disannulleth or addeth thereto And this I say that the Covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ the Law which was 430 Years after cannot disannul that it should make the Promise of none effect 4. St. Paul argues it impossible in the nature of the thing that they should be justified by the Law because one main end of God's promulging the Law of Nature which yet was a great part of the first Covenant was to convince Men of their Guilt and of their obnoxiousness to Wrath and to stop their Mouthes and to leave them without any plea of defence as from it Rom. 3.19 20. Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law That every mouth may be stopt and all the world may become guilty before God Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the Law is the knowledge of sin And if the Law doth convict Men it cannot justifie them For the same Law cannot both Condemn and Justifie the same person in reference to the same Charge If all are Cast and Condemned by the Original Law as they are for he hath concluded all under sin that he might have mercy upon all Gal. 3. then so many as come to be justified after this must needs be justified by another Law superceding that and that is none other than the Law of Grace The Law of Nature Curseth every one that hath broken it though but once and therefore it cannot justifie them too Out of the same mouth in this case doth not proceed Blessing and Cursing 5. He argues this Opinion of theirs to be contrary to the Doctrine of the Prophets many hundred years after as well as contrary to the Promise to Abraham long before the Law That no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God it is evident For the just shall live by Faith and the Law is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Gal. 3.11 12. from Heb. 2.4 The Law is not of Faith that is it doth not promise Pardon or any other Blessing upon Believing but upon condition of Doing the things therein required the man that doth them shall live in them Levit. 18.5 6. The insufficiency of the first Covenant to make Men Eternally Happy and the necessity and validity of the second to that end as further argued in Heb. 8. from another famous Prophecy in Jer. 31.31 c. of God's making a New Covenant with Israel and Judah in the latter days not according to that he made with their Fathers when he brought them out of Egypt 1. It 's argued that the first Covenant was but Temporary and being old was ready to vanish and to give place tâ— a New and Everlasting Covenant Chap. 8.13 2. That the first Covenant was faulty or defective or else there would have been no place sought for a second ver 7. 3. That the Promises of that first Covenant were not of such things as Men stand in need of to make them everlastingly Happy as those better Promises of the second Covenant are ver 6. 4. And yet more particularly that in this New Covenant there is promise of such a forgiveness of sins as that iniquity shall be remembred no more ver 12. whereas the first Covenant did not promise any such Pardons All that it promised was a forgiveness only as to the concerns of this Life otherwise their sins were still kept upon the File to be taken away if ever taken away by the Mediator of the New Testament by means of his Death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament Chap. 9.15 But in those Sacrifices which were but the Sacrifices of the first Covenant there was a remembrance again made of sins every year Heb. 10.3 And now by all these reasonings of the Apostle put together it sufficiently appears that the unbelieving Jews did expect Justification and Eternal Life only upon the terms of the first Covenant and that they held that Covenant as comprehending the Covenant of Circumcision to be the Covenant of Eternal Life And indeed this last mentioned Error of theirs in holding the first Covenant to be the Covenant of Salvation did in a manner contain in it all the rest mentioned before which did naturally grow out of it For if that had been the Covenant of Salvation then it would have followed that the Sacrifices of that Covenant had been sufficient and the Death of Christ needless and that Circumcision and keeping the Law of Moses would have been necessary to the Salvation of the Gâ—ntiles c. And now after all this considering what Erroneous Opinions the incredulous Jews held about the Law and about Circumcision and considering in what sense they asserted Justification by the Law and by Circumcision it will be no difficult thing to understand exactly in what sense the Apostle doth every where deny Justification to be by the Law or by the Works of the Law
Inheritance by adopting them to a participation of the Moral Perfections of his Nature that is to a consimilitude to him in them And this we say is done by Faith that is by Faith in God and by Faith in his Word For in order of Nature God is first believed to be a God of Truth before his Word is believed to be the Word of Truth And the creditableness of his Word depends upon the knowledge or belief or the fidelity of his Nature And this Truth of God and of his Word is the immediate Object of Faith By Faith a Man believes that to be true which God reveals or declares as his Mind and Will let the Import of it be what it will But then this Faith operates upon the Will and Affections according to the Tenour and Import of that which is Revealed If it be matter of sad import it works a hatred to him that threatens it and a fear of the thing threatned if it be apprehended to proceed from an enemy And this is the effect of the Faith of Devils who believe and hate God who believe and tremble Jam. 2.19 But if that which is Revealed by God and Believed by Man betoken unspeakable love and good-will in God to Man and matter of the greatest benefit to him as a proof of such love then it worketh love to him that expresseth such love for Faith worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 and a longing desire after the promised benefit And as the Soul grows more and more in love with God because of his love in love with his Blessed Nature and Divine Perfections such as are his Love and Goodness Truth and Faithfulness Purity and Patience Mercifulness and readiness to Forgive which render him altogether lovely so it contracts a likeness to God in these upon the Soul and so changes and renews the Moral habit and constitution of the Soul and consequently the whole Life There is an aptness and promptness in Men to imitate that in others and so in God for which they love them And frequent imitating Acts beget Habits Custom changing Nature And hence it is that through Faith we are made partakers of a Divine Nature We all with open face beholding as in a Glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 2. Cor. 3.18 This beholding the glory of the Lord is by Faith For we walk by Faith and not by sight 2. Cor. 5.7 and by it Moses saw him who is invisible Heb. 11.27 And the medium by which this Prospect is taken is the Gospel by which the Lord in his lovely Perfections is now openly revealed And Faith being from time to time busied in beholding of and conversing with these Perfections it transforms the Soul into the same Image or likeness from glory to glory that is gradually as by the Spirit of the Lord that is through the co-operation of God's Spirit with Man's Faith To comprehend the breadth length depth and heighth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge is the way to be filled with all the fullness of God by transcribing all his imitable Perfections upon the Soul Ephes 3.18 19. And it is by virtue of their Relation to Christ and being thus begotten and born of God and made partakers of a new Nature conformable to God's that Men can with confidence call God Father This blessed effect of God's Spirit is the Spirit of Adoption by which they cry Abba Father And it is this new Nature that is the Spring and Fountain of a good Life of all pious and virtuous Actions As it is said of God Thou art good and dost good so it is true of all those that are born of him A good Man out of the good treasure of his heart thus renewed bringeth forth good fruit The Tree being good the Fruit will be good And as this new Creature groweth up to strength and maturity so doing of good and acting worthily will become natural and pleasant to him in whom it is To such an one the Commandments of God are not grievous but he will be able in some good measure to say I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is in my heart And for sin it being contrary to this New Nature there is a kind of Moral Impotency in him in whom it is to commit sin He cannot sin because he is born of God 1 Joh. 3.9 Or if such an one be overtaken in a fault it will work a disturbance in the Soul just as that will in the Stomach which a Man hath eaten against which he hath an antipathy in Nature But as for such as perform Religious Duties and do things materially good only by the strength of extrinsecal Motives and not from an inward Principle of this New Nature or love to the things themselves to such those Actions being unnatural become grievous and burdensome and will be continued in no longer than those Motives continue in their strength Sect. 8. The last thing I proposed to consider about God's Promise to Abraham is What we are to understand by God's counting Abraham's Faith to him for Righteousness And I take it to signifie thus much That God in a way of special Grace or by virtue of a New Law of Grace and Favour which was established by God in Christ Gal. 3.17 that is in reference to what Christ was to do and suffer in time then to come did reckon his Practical Faith to him for Righteousness that is that which in the eye of the New Law should pass in his estimation for Righteousness subordinate to Christ's Righteousness which procured this Grant or Law For otherwise Faith neither as it is the Condition of the Promise of Remission of Sin through Christ nor as it works Repentance for sins past or sincere Obedience for time to come is Righteousness in the Eye of the Original Law For that accounts no Man that hath though but once transgressed it to be Righteous either upon the account of anothers suffering for his sin or his own Repentance or sincere imperfect Obedience but Curseth every Man that from first to last continueth not in all things which are contained in that Law But it is as I said an Act of God's special Favour and by virtue of his New Law of Grace and as it is established in Christ that such a Faith as I have described comes to be reckoned or imputed to a Man for Righteousness and through God's imputing it for Righteousness to stand a Man in the same if not in better stead as to his Eternal Concerns as a perfect fulfilling of the Original Law from first to last would have done Christ's Righteousness being presupposed the only Meritorious Cause of this Grant or Covenant And thus indeed the Faith which I have described is a Man's Righteousness in the Eye of this New Law because it is summarily all that is required of him himself to make him capable
favourable in their Censures since they cannot but pay the greatest Deference to the Judgment of a Prelate whom all the Learned both at home and abroad do Unanimously rank amongst the Greatest Divines that this or former Ages can glory in But that I may not too much lessen that Esteem which the Judicious part of Mankind at least do justly bear to your Lordship as the nicest Judge in Things of this Nature by Proclaiming to the World that Encouragement you have given to a Work which no doubt will be found very defective I am apt to believe and am forward to own it that it might be more your Approbation of the Design than the Goodness of the Performance that has made your Lordship so exceedingly Kind to it and its Author And indeed if ever there were a Necessity of attempting any thing to promote Catechetical Instruction there is now too sad an Occasion for it Some Years since we thought it sufficiently hard upon us that we were put to the trouble of Defending a Church so excellently Constituted as ours is by susteining those slight Skirmishes made only upon its Outworks namely against its Rites and Ceremonies Solemnities I would rather call 'em so wisely order'd for the more grave and solemn Administration of Divine Worship and for the better Edification of the Souls of Men. But alas the Enemy has now enter'd through our Breaches into the very Heart of our City as St. Austin calls the Church of God And as if there were an Universal Conspiracy made at this time against it All the Grand and Fundamental Articles both of Natural and Revealed Religion are now either most furiously Storm'd by Atheists Deists and Socinians on the one hand or secretly and dangerously undermined by Enthusiasts and Antinomians on the other And if the next Generation should grow worse in its Principles and Morals than the present what Vengeance from Heaven even to the removing of our Candlestick may we not fear But especially what Indignation from God may not we of the Clergy dread should we suffer the Youth of our Nation to go abroad into the World without having first given 'em those Religious Impressions by good Principles as will guard 'em from the Danger thereof and especially without having first prepossess'd the Minds of such with a deep Tincture of Divine Knowledge as are likely tâ— be the Leading Men in their Countries and yet by a fatal Mistake in Education are generally brought up in those Undisciplin'd Societies amongst whom the Oracles of false and pretended Reason are more universally Read and more highly Applauded than the Lively Oracles of Divine Revelation I know how deeply sensible your Lordship is of the growing Infidelity and Heterodoxy of this Age and how much it is your Opinion that a constant Course of Catechizing our Youth in the Fundamental Principles of Christianity is the only Means that can effectually obviate and cure those Great and Prevailing Evils And if what I have here offered to the Publick may be at all Serviceable to any of my Brethren in affording some useful Materials for their own Composures of this kind and in assisting any of 'em in their Method I have my End and shall therein in some measure answer I presume your Lordship's Design who out of a pious Zeal to have this Work of Catechizing universally set forwards by every Individual Minister in your Diocess would have the way so plain'd that we might all proceed therein without Interruption And sure where the Authoritative Injunctions of so Great a Father and Governour of our Church are join'd with such an unparallel'd Industry in the discharge of all the most important and difficult Duties of the Episcopal Care it is impossible for us who are under the Influence of your Power and Example to be Remiss in that which is the very principal part of Ministerial Instruction incumbent upon us For if we no sooner saw your Lordship entring upon that Diocess to which you were Translated so Happily to us though so Disadvantageously to your own Fortunes but we saw you apply your self with the utmost Vigour to the Business of it in Visiting not only your Clergy but Cathedral Schools and Hospitals If in your Lordship's primary Visitation we heard such a Learned Scriptural Proof of the JUS DIVINUM of the THREE DISTINCT ORDERS and what Evidence of that Nature is not to be expected from One so Mighty in the Holy Scriptures as cannot but Silence all Adversaries and all the Learned of our Nation would be glad to see made publick If we also saw at the same time that Venerable Ordinance of Confirmation even amongst those vast Crouds that came to it and with so great a Fatigue to your self Administer'd with a particular Application of the Stipulatory part to every Individual Person that was duly attested to be sufficiently Qualified and with that Order Gravity and Solemnity which raised in all who were present that Value for it which is due to it If against every EMBER we see those wise Precautions used with Reference to the Candidates for Holy Orders as would effectually prevent the Admission of Persons unworthy upon the account of any Immorality or will wholly lay the Guilt at the Doors of those who are backward to Inform their Church-Governors of the Miscarriages they know in order to their Correction and Remedy and yet are most apt to raise their Outcries against the Scandals of the Clergy And if also in the Probation of those who are permitted to stand Candidates there is constantly such a Treasury of Sacred Learning open'd to 'em in your Explications of Holy Writ as renders those Examinations one of the most learned and useful Theological Exercises that this Age does know and is alone sufficient to render those in a good measure Qualified with Scriptural Knowledge who come not thereto altogether prepar'd before-hand And indeed if agreeably to your Lordship 's so useful Examinations those who have the Happiness to be Conversant with you in your Studies do always see you Searching the Scriptures and do scarcely ever find you without the Holy Bible before you though one would think the sacred Page need be no more turn'd over by one who seems to have it wholly by Heart already both in our own and all the Learned Languages If farther yet we have seen your Lordship by a Method equally worthy to be admired and imitated in so short time to have got such an exact Knowledge of a numerous Clergy that from the chiefest Rector to the meanest Curate our Abilities Lives and Ministerial Performances seem not to be better known to our nearest Neighbours than to your Self and our Miscarriages and Neglects of Duty in the remotest Part of your Diocess may almost as soon escape the Reproaches of our own Consciences as your Lordship's Notice and Animadversion If in a word such is your Lordship's Vigilance through all the Parts of a very large Diocess as is alone sufficient to Confute those
11.25 that is That it is the Seal of that Covenant which was Purchas'd by and Ratify'd in his Blood But such as have been throughly Catechized as they have been made to Understand the Terms and Conditions of the Covenant of Grace both the inestimable Priviledges made over to them on God's part and those very reasonable Conditions to be perform'd on their own so they have been also taught that One main End of Communicating in the Lord's Supper is to Ratify and Confirm and Seal this Covenant of Grace between God and Us. And then those that have been taught this cannot come Ignorantly to the Lord's Supper nor consequently are in such danger of coming Unworthily I. Of Receiving Vnworthily for Ignorance of the Nature and Consequence of that Blessed Ordinance is generally as much the cause as any thing that any do approach Unworthily to it Nor if the People of our Nation had been ever throughly Catechized II. Of not Receiving at all would so many Abstain as commonly do from ever coming at all for if all Men were throughly instructed in the Nature Terms and Conditions of their Covenant which it is the Business of Catechizing to do as they would then easily discern that it is the highest and most inestimable Priviledge in the World to be took into such a Covenant of Grace wherein they have God Almighty Engaging himself and putting his Seal to it in the Sacrament to make good to them the most inestimable Blessings Pardon and Happiness on the most reasonable Conditions Repentance Faith and Gospel Obedience So if they did rightly understand this they would then account it as it really is the highest Priviledge in the World to be Confederates with God in so advantagious a Covenant and would think they could never often enough Partake at the Lord's Table whereby the oft'ner they come they do more and more secure to themselves those inestimable Benefits made over to us by the Covenant of Grace and Engage as themselves more closely to God so God himself more inviolably as it were to make good those Blessings to them No surely if all Christians had been but Catechized in those Points both what a mighty Priviledge it is to be in Covenant with God and that Receiving of the Sacrament is the Rite of God's own Appointment of Confirming to our selves all the Benefits of this Covenant we should then have our People Daily crouding to the Lord's Table which they do now so profanely turn their Backs upon we should not then need so much to invite and entreat Persons to come but they would of their own accord Embrace all Opportunities of more and more Ensuring to themselves these most invaluable Benefits by often coming In a word A Man is no more fit to partake of the Lord's Supper that does not well understand the Nature and Terms of that Covenant which he does therein Ratify and Seal with God than he is fit to Seal to Covenants and Leases whose Conditions and Obligations he never had so much as Read over to him nor does he know them But Catechizing is the appointed and most proper Means of gaining a competent Measure of Understanding in the Nature and Terms of the Covenant of Grace Without having been Catechized therefore a Man cannot be well expected to partake worthily of the Lord's Supper And this is the Second Use to which Catechizing does therefore serve to prepare you that you may be sit and worthy Communicants at the Lord's Table Thirdly III. Catechizing is Requisite to Persons being Edifyed by Preaching Catechizing is very useful to render you Capable to receive Edification by the Preaching of the Word and to your Profiting by Sermons That is certainly the true and only edifying Preaching which does most plainly lay open before you the Meaning the Reasons and the Importance of any Article of your Faith whereby you may best know God and the Necessity of serving him and which does most clearly Explain to you the Nature and true Extent of your Christian Duties whereby you may know what it is you have to do and may be freed from all causless Doubts and Scruples about the way of your Happiness And lastly which does give you the most convincing Arguments and Reasons to move and stir you up faithfully to discharge your manifold Obligations to God your Neighbour and your selves Such as this is truly Edifying Preaching because this will if you do duly attend to it build you up perfect Christians in the Knowledge and Practice of true Religion And now One that has been Catechized so as to have a general Understanding in the Nature of his Covenant when such a One hears a Sermon upon any particular Point of that Covenant whereby he has more fully explain'd to him the Nature and Attributes of God and his Saviour's Mediation and of his own Duty than formerly in Catechizing could be done and when he hears any good Reasons and Motives given whereby he should seriously apply himself to live so and so as becomes the Servant of such a God and such a Saviour and one that professes to pay him such Obedience When a Catechized Understanding Person hears such Preaching is this he finds his Understanding more enlightned with Heavenly Truths and his Will and Affections more bent upon doing as he has been Instructed and so as in all reason he ought he accounts such a Sermon truly Edifying and himself Edify'd thereby But the Ignorant and Uncatechized part of the World when they hear a Sermon for want of Discretion to judge of its real Worth such look only at some such trifling Consideration as the Vehemence and Noise of the Speaker and if there be but enough of that as generally there is the greatest Shew where there is the least of Substance tho' they are made to know no more than they did before of the Importance of any Article of their Faith or of the Nature and Extent of any Duty of Religion they are however stunn'd into Admiration of they know not what utterly dis-regarding the most instructing and really edifying Preaching to the very great Prejudice of their Souls and the utter hinderance of their Improvement by our Ministry in all useful and substantial Knowledge Besides it is a mighty Help to the gaining Understanding in any Science whatsoever especially the Christian Religion to have a general View given one of the whole which it is the Business of Catechizing to do and to see how one Point depends upon another and do all sweetly agree together For not to mention other Advantages by this a Man shall be able to judge the better of the Usefulness and Weight of any Sermon or Religious Discourse on any particular Point as whether it does throughly Explain it or does not take in what does more properly belong to some other Matter And by this a Man shall be able also to judge whether the Preacher Builds upon the Foundation Gold Silver precious Stone or Wood Hay
from the Profane part of the World to be a Chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a Holy Nation a Peculiar People To understand which you must know that the World at the time of our Saviour's coming into it was grown to a sad pass and was miserably Estrang'd from God The world indeed soon after the Creation began to fall off from God and to take part with the Devil But by the time that our Saviour came into the Flesh the Apostle declares Rom. 3.11 12. concerning as well Jews as Gentiles that there was none that understood there was none that sought after God that they were all gone out of the way they were all become unprofitable that there was none that did good no not one Particularly as to the Gentiles they were charg'd Rom. 11.23 24.28 29. to have Changed the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man and to Birds and four-footed Beasts and creeping things and were thereupon given up to Vncleanness and vile Affections and as they did not like to retain God in their Knowledge they were given up to a reprobate Mind being filled with all Vnrighteousness Fornication Wickedness c. And as to the Jews they had in a manner wholly voided the Force of God's Laws by their false Interpretations as you will see in our Saviour's Sermon on the Mount which cost him so much Pains to clear the Text from their false Glosses and to shew them the full Extent of their Duty contain'd in the Law This was the State of both Jews and Gentiles at that time And therefore did Christ come to Call out such as would obey his Calls to Call 'em out I say out of the wicked World to a holy Profession and Calling for which reason he is said to have Saved us and called us with an holy Calling 2 Tim. 1.9 and in a great many Places of Scripture Christians are therefore styl'd the Called and Joh. 17.6 they are said to be such whom the Father had given our Saviour out of the world and tho' they are in the world ver 11. that is Live in the World yet they are not of the world ver 16. True it is It is not every Member of the visible Church that does effectually obey this Holy Calling and in his Life and Conversation shews himself not to be of the World and therefore it is that the Kingdom of Heaven that is the Church is liken'd Mat. 13.24 to a Field in which Wheat and Tares grow up together until the Harvest and to a Net that was cast into the Sea and gather'd of every Kind But however tho' too many of those of whom the Church is compos'd are in their own Persons Ungodly yet I say Fourthly They are Called by the Preaching of the Gospel to a Holy Profession and Calling as Namely to Repentance from Dead Works I. Repentance from Dead Works for so our Saviour says He came to Call the sinners to Repentance Matth. 9.13 And thus also his Apostles Preacht unto Men that they should turn from the Vanities of Idol-worship unto the Living God which made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all things therein Acts 14.15 which is an Instance of Repentance that the Gentile World were particularly Call'd to And then as to the Knowledge and Belief of the only True God II. To the Knowledge Belief and Service of the One True God Father Son and Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ the distinguishing Character given of the Church of Christ Joh. 17.2 is that they are such whom the Father hath given him or given him out of the world as it is ver 6. that they might have Eternal Life and this he tells us ver 3. is Eternal Life or the way by which we can only come by Eternal Life That we know the only True God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent The Gentiles they knew not the only True God but Own'd and Worship'd many Gods and did Sacrifice to Devils 1 Cor. 10.20 And as for the Jews tho' they Believ'd indeed in the only True God yet they Acknowledg'd not his Son Jesus Christ whom he had sent to be also the True God as he is call'd 1 Joh. 5.20 And now both these Enemies to Truth our Saviour calls the world Joh. 17. and in Opposition to both tells us ver 3. that This is Life Eternal to know the only True God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent So that the Church of Christ are such who are peculiarly Separated from the World to the Knowledge and Belief of the Only True God And they are such also who have been Baptized into the Knowledge Belief and Service of Three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost in that One Godhead Mat. 28.19 And particularly they are such as are Baptized into the Name of Jesus Acts 19.5 that is into the Belief That Jesus is the Christ or Mediatour between God and Man for this is the great Fundamental Doctrine of Christianity as the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 3.11 assuring us that Other Foundation can no man lay than that Jesus is the Christ And he that denyeth that Jesus is the Christ is the great Liar and an Anti-Christ 1 Joh. 2.22 But whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is Born of God 1 Joh. 5.1 that is is Adopted into the Christian Church and Family III. To enjoy the Priviledges of the Gospel Fifthly And as Christians are a Society of Persons call'd out of the World to Repentance Faith and Gospel-Obedience so to the Enjoyment of those Inestimable Priviledges of the Gospel viz. 1. Most Reasonable and Excellent Laws given by a most Great and Gracious Governour to Conduct 'em to Heaven Laws writ in their Minds and in their Hearts Heb. 8.10 that is Laws which are for the most part the very Dictates of natural Reason 2. They are such as are Priviledg'd with having great Measures of Divine Grace and Assistance to enable 'em to Obey those Laws for whereas the Law was given by Moses Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1.17 and is the Priviledge of the Church of Christ under the Gospel 3. They are such who have Assurance of Pardon of Sins upon their Repentance for the Transgression of those Laws for with respect to those of the Christian Church God is pleas'd to say Heb. 8.12 I will be merciful to their Vnrighteousness and their Sins and Iniquities will I remember no more And lastly As to the Eternal Life and Happiness Christ does assure us Joh 17.2 that The Father has given him power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as are given him or are given him out of the World ver 6. that is that he has a Power of conferring the Rewards in Heaven to as many as come within the Pale of the Church if they do withal live in Obedience to its Laws and Constitutions Thus is the Church of Christ a Society of Men call'd forth of
least-wise if not in Word with a Why did you do so your self And now for these Reasons I say the Devil lays a close Siege against a Person of Exemplary Piety and Goodness As for those who are already Vicious he reckons himself secure of them so he does not so much concern himself about them He only throws a Temptation now and then into their way leaving 'em for the most part to follow the Bent of their own Inclinations But against this Bulwark of Religion a Person of bright and shining Graces he draws up all his Artillery Against this Bulwark of Religion therefore the Devil draws up all his Artillery and levels all his Instruments of Battery Thus he attackt Holy Job when he found that Prosperity would not corrupt him he goes another way to work and with unheard-of Afflictions one following upon the heels of another he endeavour'd to force him to Blaspheme his Maker and desperately to Curse God and dye He is a great Master of Politicks and therefore takes such Measures as a Crafty General in the Conquest of an Enemies Country A wise Commander will always lye down the before Place of greatest Consequence and upon the Taking of which the rest will fall in of Course so the Devil his great Attempt is to Foil an exemplary Pattern of Religion whose Fall he thinks will shrewdly stagger many others But the incessant Industry of Satan to overcome a more than ordinary Piety and the Pride he takes therein The Pride and Pains he takes in overcoming such a One represented in a Parable I cannot better represent to you than in the following Parable given us out of Antiquity Lucifer having sent forth his Officers to fill the World with Death and Ruine they all went on their several Errands Upon their Return he demands an account of their Proceedings What Mischiefs they had done what Plagues they had scatter'd and what Calamities they had sent amongst affrighted Mortals One of them more forward than the rest Replies He had been a Fortnight wandring about and at last had Over-turn'd some Merchant-Ships at Sea insomuch that both Men and Goods were lost The Prince of Darkness enrag'd at his Laziness instead of a Reward gave him an Hundred Stripes because he had done no more Hurt all that time Another Spirit stands forth and Boasts that he had been for a Month together Contriving how to set such a City on Fire and had at last Effected it and he also was severely Punisht for his Idleness and neglect of Accomplishing his Design sooner At last comes forth a Third that had been Fourty Years absent and being ask'd how he had Promoted the Interest of the Black-Empire answer'd Those Fourty Years have I been Tempting such a Religious Man to Fornication and have at last prevail'd and at this time he wallows securely in his Sin Beelzebub immediately rises from his Throne hugs the mischievous Fiend Embraces the Child of Darkness and with Rhetorick fetcht from Hell Commends him before all the howling Crew as having done a greater Exploit after Fourty Years Travel than the other did by Afflicting and Consuming so many Men Ships and Houses in a few Days and Weeks The Moral and Design of the Fable is no other than this That if he can make a sincere Believer weary of his Heavenly Mindedness and burning Zeal to God's Glory he values that Piece of Mischief more than if he Tempted a great many of those who are already Wicked to greater Impieties And that not only because of the Pride and Glory he takes in Conquering such a Heroe in Christianity but because to make One who by his Exemplary Piety and Vertue was an Eminent Instrument in the Advancement of God's Glory to become by his Revolt from God as great an Engine in promoting the Kingdom of Darkness is to his Credit and Interest both And this consider'd the more Exemplarily Pious therefore any Man is the more it concerns him to beware of the Devil The more Exemplarily Pious therefore any Man is the more it concerns him to beware of the Devil and all his Temptations and not to think himself secure on this side Heaven from Satan's Temptations but He that thinketh he standeth should take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10.12 And therefore I shall bespeak such in the words of St. Peter 2 Epist 3.17 18. Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the Error of the Wicked fall from your own stedfastness but grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ In a word and to summ up in short what has been spoke on this Point I have at length shew'd you that next to the Destroying and Perverting of whole Churches the Devil 's great Industry is to gain over to his Party or to Tempt to the Commission of some grievous Sin such Persons as are more than ordinarily Eminent for their Rank or Quality their Order or their Piety in the Church of God And this being so since such are the great Mark of Satan it concerns those excellent Persons who are eminently Great or Good that they do especially and above all other Men absolutely and entirely and utterly Renounce and resist all and every the Temptations of Satan so as not to yield to any of ' em Such are to look upon themselves as the great Commanders in the Church Militant who are to lead and to go before others in the Battles of the Lord against Sin and Satan but if any such should Cowardly Give back in the day of Battle and Temptation they put a stumbling Block and are an occasion to fall in their Brother's way Rom. 14.13 And what says our Saviour in such a Case Matth. 18.6 7. Whoso shall offend One of those little Ones which Believe in him that is discourage and drive from the Christian Practice by his scandalous Life any the meanest of his Disciples It were better for him that a Mill-stone were hanged about his Neck and he were drowned in the Depth of the Sea Woe unto the World because of Offences he adds It must needs be that Offences come but Woe to that Man by whom the Offence cometh So much it concerns Persons Eminent in any Kind that they be Good as well as Great THE Thirteenth Lecture First That I should Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh HAVING shew'd you Who the Devil is and What are his Works of Sin and how we must Absolutely Renounce both him and them And as to that other great Work of his his Tempting of us to Sin having shewed you First By what Methods he over-threw the whole Race of Mankind at first and Secondly How he does still endeavour the Ruine of the Church of Christ and especially Thirdly Of those who are most considerable for their Rank or Order or Piety therein I
Soul perceives when it finds it self Improve in Knowledge or in Vertue or when it reflects upon the Good it has done As to Knowledge the most delicious Dainties are not so truly satisfactory to the Bodily Appetite as real and useful Knowledge is to the Rational nor is Light more grateful to the Eye than Knowledge is to the Understanding And all useful Knowledge especially Divine ought to be sought after with all the Study and Industry possible and we cannot too much indulge the Appetite which craves it Insomuch that St. Paul did not cease to pray for the Collossians and to desire that they might be filled with the Knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding Col. 1.9 And to increase in Vertue to get the victory over of our Passions to subdue our Appetites and the like yields so great and pure a Satisfaction that Happiness it self is defin'd to be that Pleasure which the Mind takes in from a sence of Vertue and a conscience of Well-doing and of conforming all things to the Rules of both And then as to that sence of Joy and Comfort which Vertuous and Heavenly Minds do feel in doing Good this is exceedingly more Excellent and Exalted than all worldly and wicked Pleasures as is exemplify'd in our Saviour who counted it His meat and drink to do the Will of him that sent him and to finish his work Joh. 4.34 which was To go about doing Good Act. 10.28 So excellent a thing is Rational Pleasure and so much it is our Duty as well as Interest to gratify our selves therewith But yet as Excellent and Heavenly a Pleasure as this is there is room for Renunciation even with respect to this And But First no Man must make meer Pleasure the End of his Knowledge First No Man must make the end of his Knowledge to be the meer Pleasure of Knowing that is we must not seek after Knowledge meerly for Knowledge sake and not for the Use and Instruction of our selves and others The true End of Knowledge is to direct our selves and others thereby to Happiness both in this and the other World And indeed such a Greediness as is seen in some Men of swallowing up all sorts of Learning and not letting others to partake of it and to be Benefited by it is but a better sort of Sensuality and Voluptuousness and ought therefore to be Renounced by every Christian The greatest Goods are ever common They were design'd by God to be so and by good Christians they are made so And Knowledge then being a principal Good every good Man is free in Communicating of that and of Edifying others therewith and therefore it is requir'd of a Bishop whose Knowledge is suppos'd to exceed other Men's that He be apt to teach 1 Tim. 3.2 Nor Secondly must that Satisfaction and Delight which arises from the sence and Conscience of good and worthy Deeds be so much because we are admir'd and applauded for it as because they are really in themselves Vertuous Secondly And as to that Pleasure which arises from the Sence and Conscience of good and worthy Deeds as much as we may be permitted to relish and enjoy it yet we must take care that our Satisfaction and Delight be more because we are really Vertuous and that we do Good than that we be admir'd and applauded for it for We must take heed that we do not our Alms or whatever other Good before men to be seen of them otherwise we have no reward of our Father which is in Heaven Matth. 6.1 But to proceed Secondly There is a Sensitive Pleasure and that is when the Animal Life or the Bodily Senses are gratify'd with those Objects which are agreeable to ' em All Pleasure as was said arises from the suitableness and agreeableness between the perceptive Faculties and the Objects that affect them II. Sensitive Pleasure which results from the suitableness between the perceptive Faculties and the Objects that affect them is lawful And our Bountiful Maker as he has given the Animal Life many perceptive Faculties the Senses of Seeing Hearing Smelling Tasting and Feeling so he has provided suitable Objects for all those several Faculties and does allow us to gratify our selves therewith For it is good and comely for one to Eat and to Drink and to enjoy the Good of all his labour that he taketh under the Sun all the days of his Life which God giveth him for it is his portion Eccl. 5.18 Nay it is very necessary that we should take Pleasure in gratifying the sensible Cravings of our Nature for if our Palates do not relish our Meat or if our Stomachs refuse it we should starve And indeed the Comforts and Enjoyments of this Life which we receive from the bountiful Hand of God is a great Subject of our Praises and Thanksgivings to him Thou preparest a Table for me in the presence of mine Enemies thou anointest my Head with Oyl my Cup runneth over said Holy David in a great sence of God's bountiful Goodness towards him in bestowing upon him so many worldly Comforts Thus these Sensitive Pleasures may be lawfully Enjoy'd by us and they are only then and so far to be Renounc'd when they become Thirdly Sensual which when they do These Pleasures unlawful only when they become Thirdly Sensual they are indeed the greatest Temptations the World has to draw us into Sin and many Thousands there are whom when nothing else could Corrupt have been miserably foil'd by the Power of sensual Pleasures Which what they are and how far to be Renounc'd I come now to declare unto you And it is then that these Sensitive Pleasures which otherwise would be for the Preservation and Comfort of our Nature and the Matter of our Praises to God It is then I say that they become Sensual and so are to be Renounced when they gratify only our corrupt and depraved Natures As the sensitive Nature craves such things as are suitable to it and are necessary to its Preservation and Comfort in this Life and sensitive Pleasures are such as arise from such allowable Gratifications So the Sensual and Corrupted Nature of Man craves these sensitive Pleasures beyond Bounds and Moderation It prefers 'em before Rational and Divine Pleasures It appears to relish no Enjoyments like those of Sense it gluts it self with sensitive Pleasures so as to surfeit on these Sweets Nay and lastly the Sensual Man does load and burthen his Nature therewith so as to render it unfit for the Duties of his Calling and Religion These are the inordinate Cravings of the sensual Nature and when we gratify this corrupted Nature of ours to this immoderate Degree with Sensitive Pleasures then those Pleasures which were in themselves allowable become Sensual and such as must be utterly Renounced by every Christian And as we will accordingly Renounce Sensual Pleasures First We must not prefer Sensitive Ones in our Judgments or Desires either before our spiritual
assault us to withdraw us from God and to make us break our Covenant with him And it only remains to compleat this Account of our Spiritual Warfare to consider the sinful Lusts of the Flesh and to know in what Sence and how far we are also to Renounce and Resist them And indeed this is a most Material and Important Part of Christian Knowledge To Know our selves To know our selves especially our natural Imperfection a most useful part of Knowledge is next in Dignity and Usefulness to the Knowledge of God himself And if we did but distinctly Know the Imperfection and Weaknesses of our Corrupted Nature and of all the Powers and Faculties within us neither the whole World with all its formidable Host of Temptations nor Satan himself Marshalling and managing of 'em against us with all the Malice and Cunning he is Master of would be in much danger of doing us hurt For tho' our Case is that of a Besieged Fort to take which there are not only a numerous Army under the Conduct of a wary General who narrowly views every part of us and orders the Attack where he finds us weakest but what is worse the whole Fabrick of our Corrupted Nature is extreamly decay'd and all the Faculties and Powers thereof are but so many Traytors within us ready to deliver us up to our Enemies Yet however in knowing the Weakness of our Nature we may be able to repair its Decays and by knowing also the Treachery of all its Faculties we shall successfully prevent their delivering of us up to our Adversaries And therefore for the more full Discovery of so useful and important a Subject to you 1. I will shew you what is meant by the Flesh 2. What by the sinful Lusts of the Flesh 3. What by ALL the sinful Lusts of the Flesh and together with each of these will also declare unto you in what Sence and how far we are to Renounce the Flesh and its sinful Lusts And The Flesh variously exprest First Let us enquire what is meant by the Flesh and in what sence and how far we are to Renounce the Flesh And in order to this we are to consider that as the Knowledge of things does much depend upon understanding those Phrases whereby they are usually exprest so there are very many Words in the Holy Writings of like Meaning and Importance with this of the Flesh And indeed there is not any one thing so variously exprest in the Holy Scriptures as this is It is call'd the Old Man as to denote the Antiquity of this Corruption and from whom it descended even from Adam the first Father of us all so to signify that it has universally infected the whole Race of Mankind It is called the Natural Man both because this Corruption over-spreadeth the whole Nature and because it is become Natural to Men in this Corrupt State to Sin It is called the Flesh because the very Soul in a Man and all its Faculties are Carnal and Sensual And Lastly 't is term'd Evil Concupiscence because this Fleshly Nature of ours Lusteth after Evil Things And so much for the meaning of the Word Flesh and its synonimous Phrases What 's meant by the Flesh And now by the help of what has been said we may form this account of the Flesh That it is the whole Vnregenerate Nature of Man as spoil'd as to its Original Frame and Constitution and despoil'd of that Image of God consisting in the Perfection Order and Purity of all his Faculties whereby he was Originally making towards GOD his Chief End and Happiness And it is that Corruption of this his Nature and Faculties whereby he is inordinately Converted in all the Tendencies of Soul and Body and of all the Faculties and Powers thereof towards the Creature 1. I say by the Flesh is meant the whole Vnregenerate Nature of Man not only the Body I. The whole Vnregenerate Nature of Man Soul and Body but also the Soul not only the Inferior Powers as the Affections Lusts and Appetites but also the Superior Faculties as the Understanding Conscience and the Will For it is not only said Tit. 1.15 That the Mind and Conscience is defil'd but the Mind as well as the Body is said to be Fleshly Col. 2.18 and Carnal Rom. 8.7 and Gal. 5.20 we find Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Seditions Heresies reckon'd amongst the Works of the Flesh tho' they are Sins that have their residence in the Mind only So that the whole Man as he is by Nature and all the Faculties of his Soul as well as Body as they are unregenerate and till they are sanctify'd by the Spirit and Grace of God come under this one Title of the Flesh But 2. The Flesh is the whole Man not as he was Created by God but as he is now in the State of Corrupted Nature II. The whole Man not as Created by God but as he is now in the State of Corrupted Nature No Humane Nature as it came out of God's Hands was of another Frame and Constitution to what it appears to be now in its Natural State and Condition God made Man upright but he sought out many Inventions Eccl. 7.24 He has found out many ways to crook and bend down towards the Earth that Upright Nature which God once gave him 3. Then the Flesh is the whole Vnregenerate Nature of Man as it is spoil'd as to its Original Frame and Constitution and as it is inordinately converted in all the Tendencies of Soul and Body and of all the Faculties and Powers thereof towards the Creature III. As spoil'd in his Original Frame and Constitution as despoil'd of the Image of God and as inordinately tending towards the Creature In order to the more perfect Understanding of which Matter we must in the first place enquire what was the Original Frame and Constitution of Man In what the Image of God wherein he was created at first consisted and how that in all the Faculties and Powers of Soul and Body his whole Bent and Inclinations were originally Heavenward for by thus comparing the upright Nature of Man as it was at first Created with what it now is in this State of Corruption we shall be able clearly to apprehend what is meant by the Flesh the important Subject of our present Enquiry And now as to the Original Frame and Constitution of our Nature wherein God made us it seems to have been this The Original Frame and Constitution of Humane Nature what He gave Man a Faculty of Understanding whereby he could Contemplate upon and Know in an Extraordinary measure the wonderful Nature and Perfections of his Creator His amazing Works of Creation His surprizing Works of Providence and thereby was able to discover the Good and Evil in any Objects that were presented to him Next he plac'd in his Bosom another wonderful Faculty called Conscience which is the practical Judgment in every Man whereby his own Mind
and consequently when the Divine Image which is now defac'd is in some good measure restor'd when thus we shall have Put on the New Man Eph. 4.24 Partake of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. and Be conformed to the Image of his Son Rom. 8.29 then can we be truly said to Renounce the Flesh 2. To Renounce the Flesh is to be Converted in the whole Bent and Inclination of the Soul toward God II. To Renounce the Flesh is to be Converted in the whole Bent and Inclination of the Soul towards God Smith 's Select Disc p. 374. 430. This is the true Property of the Regenerate Nature to be exalted above all Worldly Things and to be carried out in Love and Affection towards God The Soul says a Learned and Pious Author is a more vigorous and puissant thing when it is once Restor'd to the possession of its own Being than to be bounded within a narrow Prison of Sensual and Bodily Delights but it will break forth with the greatest Vehemence and Ascend upwards towards Immortality For it is only true Religion that teaches and enables Men to die to this World and to all Earthly Things and to rise above the Sphere of Sensual and Earthly Pleasures which darken the Mind and blind it that it cannot enjoy the brightness of Divine Light so that whereas the Fleshly Mind never minds any thing but Flesh and never rises above the Outward Matter but always creeps up and down like Shadows upon the Surface of the Earth and if it begin at any time to make any faint Essays upwards it presently finds it self laden with a weight of Sensuality which draws it down again Holy and Religious Souls being touch'd with an Inward Sense of the Divine Goodness and Beauty are mov'd swiftly after God and as the Apostle expresses himself forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before they press towards the Mark for the Prize of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus that so they may attain to the Resurrection of the Deâ—d In short therefore whereas there is now a continual Conflict betwixt the Flesh and the Spirit the Flesh Lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh we must never cease Mortifying and Subduing all the Motions of Corrupt Nature tending downward towards the Creature till they be brought in Subjection to the Power and Influence of God's Holy Spirit which alone can lift up our Hearts and Affections to God and Heavenly Things THE XXI Lecture First That I should Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh IN order to the full Explication of these Words the sinful Lusts of the Flesh The sinful Lusts of the Flesh what Having already shew'd you First what is meant by the Flesh and in what Sence and how far we must Renounce the Flesh 2. I am now to give you in like manner the full Meaning and Importance of the sinful Lusts of the Flesh and to shew you in what sence and how far we are to Renounce them And as by the Flesh is meant the whole Unregenerate Nature of Man Soul as well as Body in its State of Corruption and as it acts contrary to the Holy Will and Spirit of God so proportionably by the sinful Lusts of the Flesh must be understood all the Faculties and Powers of this corrupted Nature as they carry us out to commit Sin as well the Faculties of the Soul the Understanding and Will as the Bodily Powers viz. the Affections Lusts and Appetites These are all of 'em in their own Nature the Effects of God's Workmanship and were Pure as they came forth of his Hands But ever since the Fall of Adam they are wofully Corrupted and there is none of these Faculties or Powers either of Soul or Body but may be call'd a sinful Lust of the Flesh Every Faculty and Power of Soul and Body is properly enough term'd a Lust as it Craves and Desires its Object And they are all of 'em sinful Lusts of the Flesh just as the whole Unregenerate Nature was said to be Flesh that is either First as those several Faculties of the Soul do move downwards from God and Heavenly Things Immediately and Inordinately towards the Creatures Or Secondly as the Inferior and Bodily Powers the Affections Lusts and Appetites do disorderly Rebel against the Superior Faculty of the Understanding and Reason and do carry the Will into Slavery to ' em I will take the whole Frame of this our depraved Nature in Pieces that so viewing that Corruption which residing in every of the Faculties and Powers thereof renders all of 'em so many sinful Lusts of the Flesh we may be better able to Renounce each of those sinful and fleshly Lusts And First The Sinful Lusts of the Fleshly Mind what Let us consider that Corruption which Resides in the Mind and renders it Fleshly and consequently the Motions even of the Intellectual part of our Nature no better than Sinful Lusts of the Flesh And our Understanding alas which should be full of Divine Knowledge such as may be a Lamp unto our Feet and a Light unto our Paths is in the Unregenerate Man full of Vanity Ignorance of and Prejudice against Divine Truths The Unregenerate Man neither understands nor seeks after God Rom. 3.11 He likes not to Retain God in his Knowledge or to consider any thing concerning him but is vain in his Imaginations having his foolish heart darkned Rom. 1.21.28 Nay the best Habits of the Mind in the Unregenerate Man are Corrupt having the Vnderstanding darkned being Alienated from the Life of God through the Ignorance that is in them Eph. 4.18 And hence it comes to pass that whereas the great and proper Appetite of the Mind is after Knowledge an Appetite which God hath put into the Soul of Man and so a thing Beautiful and Good This very desire of Knowledge becomes a sinful Lust of the Fleshly Mind in several Cases particularly in these following viz. when either we misplace our Desires of Knowledge upon wrong Objects or when we do immoderately study to be exquisitely skill'd in Humane tho' Lawful Arts and Sciences to the Neglect and Contempt of Divine Knowledge And lastly when out of Pride Prejudice and Contradiction to all sacred Truths we set up our own Fleshly Imaginations and Reasonings against the Spiritual Notions that are dictated to us And accordingly such our Appetites or Desires even of Knowledge it self must be Renounced as so many sinful Lusts of a Fleshly Mind And first we must Renounce the Desires of Knowing wrong Objects that is we must not Gratify but Mortify our Desires of Knowing such things which are either Hurtful to be known I. When we are curious to to know things which are either Hurtful to be Known or are not proper for Man to know Now as to this we are to consider
other mad Frolicks or sinful Extravagances without any deliberation or consideration at all shall nevertheless be judged to have wilfully committed those Sins because he did deliberately and wilfully fall into that Sin of Drunkenness which when he was in by depriving himself of his Reason made those or any other Sins unavoidable at that time So again he that watches not over but indulges and gives way to his Passions and in his Anger kills a Man and he that accustoms himself to a Sin so often that he knows not when he commits it as to swear in either of these Cases also he shall be judged wilfully in God's account to have committed Murder and to have swore because any Man may chuse to indulge and humour his Passions or to accustom himself to that Sin which makes his falling into other Sins so unavoidable And lastly he that wilfully neglects the means of attaining to any Grace or Vertue will be judged wilfully to have omitted his Duty which in the use of due Means he might have done acceptably Thus in either of these Cases when Men fall into any Sin either by Drunkenness or by indulging and not watching over their Passions or by reason of having long accustomed themselves to such Sins or lastly by neglecting the Means of attaining to any Grace or Vertue In any of these Cases he that commits a Sin his Sin will be accounted as indirectly and interpretatively chosen and voluntary because he did willingly do those things which brought and betray'd him into such Sin or wilfully neglected those Means which would have preserv'd him from them And so his Sin will be condemn'd as a chosen and wilful Sin and a Transgression of God's Law and he punished as a wilfully Disobedient Person So that the difference between the Law and the Gospel is not such as that wilful Sins shall be now unpunish'd But the difference is 1st that those who sincerely and entirely obey shall not be called to an account for unchosen and involuntary Sins But here the difference is very great and comfortable and it is this That First As to our unchosen and involuntary Sins which through the Weakness and Frailty of our Nature we cannot always avoid through the Mediation of Christ now under the Covenant of Grace those who sincerely and entirely Obey the Laws of the Gospel shall not be called to an account for such And such unchosen and involuntary Sins are those which we commit either through Ignorance because we did not understand our Duty or through Inconsideration because we did not think of it And unless our Ignorance and Inconsideration be themselves wilful we shall not be condemned for the Failings we have committed through either of ' em The first cause of an innocent Involuntariness Ignorance of our Duty The first cause of an innocent and pardonable Involuntariness is Ignorance of our Duty when we do what God forbids because we do not know that He has forbid it for such Failings as we ignorantly commit we shall not be condemned under the Covenant of Grace for Christ who is our High Priest as St. Paul assures us will have compassion on the Ignorant and them that are out of the way Heb. 5.2 Provided it be not wilful True it is there are those that are wilfully ignorant for either they shut their Eyes and will not see their Duty or they are idle and careless and will not enquire after it So that if they do not know their Duty it is because they do not desire the Knowledge of it or will be at no pains for it they neither read the Word nor come to hear it nor to be Catechized and if they do come neither think nor consider afterwards upon what they have heard nor pray to God to make all those Means of Knowledge effectual to their Salvation And in the neglect of these Means of Knowledg they make themselves wilfully ignorant and so their Ignorance will not be their Excuse but their condemning Sin because it was wilful and chosen But if you have an honest Heart desirous to be taught that you may know and do your Duty and use an honest Industry by Reading coming to be Catechized by constantly Hearing of the Word If thus you do all that lies upon you to be informed what you ought to do and yet afterwards if through Mis-understanding you fail then through the Grace of the Gospel and the Mediation of our Saviour what you have been wanting in will not be imputed to your Condemnation Nor 2d Inconsideration Secondly What you do unwillingly commit through Inconsideration We sometimes do things we do not think nor consider the Evil of 'em when we commit 'em and so their Sinfulness being unseen is also unchosen and these Slips do so steal from us without our Consideration and thinking of 'em several ways either first by Surprize and a sudden Temptation Inconsideration excuses 1. when through surprize And thus St. Paul upon an unexpected occasion was surprized into a sudden Anger and into an unadvised Irreverence towards the High Priest Acts 23.1 2 3. And the beginnings of a single Passion whether of Anger or Envy and the unadvised Slips of the Tongue generally enter this way Or secondly we venture upon several Actions without thinking of their sinfulness through our natural Weariness and the length and constancy of a Temptation Thus in times of Affliction or Sickness 2. When thro natural weariness and the length and strength of a Temptation by the uneasiness of the Flesh and the hardness of a Man's Condition a Person is sometimes tempted to fret and murmur and to be peevish and repining And so we find it was with Job who though a Man patient to a Proverb and one to whom by the Testimony of God Himself there was none Equal in the whole Earth a perfect and an upright Man one who feared God and eschewed Evil Job 1.8 Yet this Man I say of admirable Constancy and Patience was wearied out of his Watchfulness by a tedious trial of Afflictions and in that time of his Unadvisedness uttered many things impatient with his Lips as appears from his whole History And lastly Lastly When by the violent discomposure of our Thinking Powers our Minds are so disturbed that we cannot think what we do we sometimes inconsiderately and unadvisedly do an ill Thing by reason of the violent Discomposure and Disturbance of our thinking Powers when our Mind is so disturbed that on a sudden we cannot think what we do as upon a sudden Grief Anger or Fear And thus Samuel who was a Person so dear to God that if he could be intreated by any Man he tells us it would be by him or Moses standing to intercede before him did yet in an instance that would have drawn him into the hazard of his Life dispute God's Command when he should have perform'd it and question where in Duty it became him to Obey for when God
hath its Advantages First All Solicitations from either of the Married Couple must be renounced which would perswade to sinful Compliances in times of Distress 190 Secondly And Engage too much in Worldly Cares Lastly The Cares of this World the last of those things pertaining to it in some measure necessary First It becomes Christians to renounce a Multiplicity of Cares Secondly Every Worldly Care so far as it does alienate our Affections from God and Heavenly Things 191 Lastly All manner of Worldly Care when advanced in Years 192 LECT XVII Secondly What 's meant by the wicked World and how far and in what sence we are to renounce it Thereby is meant such as make it their Business like that wicked One the Devil to tempt others to Sin 193 First We must renounce that Diabolical Wickedness of becoming Tempters our selves of other Persons It is a terrible thing to have been an Instrument of another's Damnation 194 It is an Injury to Men's Souls in some Cases hardly ever in others impossible to be repair'd Secondly We must renounce to Conform our selves to wicked Men when they shall Tempt us viz. First By their evil Examples Examples have the greatest Influence upon us especially 195 First If Examples of Sin Secondly If common and many Thirdly If of such for whom we have a great Esteem Fourthly If of those of whom we stand in awe 196 We must by all Means renounce and refuse Conformity to such bad Examples For First A Christian is called out to Combat against the wicked Examples of the World as much as against any one sort of Enemy in his Christian Warfare 197 Nay secondly to Confront their bad Examples with an excellent One of his own II. When they shall Tempt and Entice us by their evil Company The Company of the Wicked extreamly infectious 198 Most of the Miscarriages of Men owing thereunto This makes Men Atheists Libertines Thieves and Robbers Drunkards Withdraws from the Worship of God Evil Company therefore of all things to be abhorr'd I. Young Women must shun the corrupt Conversation of young Men. 199 200 II. All Persons of either Sex both Young and Old as they will prevent the Infection of evil Company must take all possible Care to avoid it 201 But Thirdly when Employment and necessary Occasions draw Men forth into the World they must refuse to Conform themselves to the Manners of ill Company First By discountenancing their Profaneness and Riot Secondly By diverting 'em by useful Discourse from both Thirdly If all Methods fail by openly Reproving them To do this Service to God we are particularly Listed in our Baptism We shall be much discouraged from this by Men. But have infinite Encouragements to such Fidelity from God 202 LECT XVIII Thirdly Flattery a great Temptation to Sin The Ground thereof our own immoderate Self-love 204 This Flattery keeping Men ignorant of the good or ill Qualities in 'em thereupon the Good never come to Perfection And the Ill that is in Men does thereby grow Incorrigible 205 First In order to Renounce Flattery we must Cashier every vain Opinion of our own selves Secondly We must so far Renounce the Flatteries of Men as to take it kindly to be Reproved 206 Especially the Reproofs of God's Ministers are to be kindly received and regarded Fourthly Wicked Men Tempt others to Sin by their false and fallacious Arguings against the Necessity of a Holy Life 207 All which wicked Reasonings we must fortify our selves against as when they Plead First That it is inconsistent with God's Mercy for the Sins of a short Life to Condemn the Guilty to an Eternity of Woe and Misery 208 Secondly That the Duties of Religion are hard Sayings which no Man can bear Thirdly That they are made of Flesh and Blood and that therefore sure God will not require Men upon the Forfeiture of Salvation if they do not to mortify the Flesh Lastly That God has set us in a World full of Temptations and abounding with sensual Delights and Pleasures and that he therefore who has placed us in it will not command us upon Pain of Damnation to over-come those strong Temptations and to deny these Pleasures of the World Fifthly Wicked Men will add Kindnesses and Promises to Oblige us to do ill Things and on the contrary will much discourage us nay sometimes Threaten us to forbear our Duty 210 211 First Kindnesses must not corrupt us to Sin Secondly Promises must not bribe us Thirdly Discouragements must not hinder us from discharging our Duty Nor Fourthly must Threatnings or Frowns fright us from it 212 Lastly The evil Customs which have prevailed in the World are a powerful Temptation to Sin Custom takes off the sence and fear of Hurt in the most Unchristian Practices 213 A Christian must courageously and vigorously renounce and withstand the Force of all sinful Customs whatsoever Such only as are Immoral are to be Renounced 214 The greatest Courage required to this Part of a Christian's Warfare Cowardice the Cause of Complying with the Custom of Duelling or any other Custom of Sinning 215 LECT XIX First Thereby were anciently meant those pompous Spectacles Plays and Scenical Representations exhibited in the Roman Theatres 217 Our Modern Plays no less Inferior to 'em in Impiety than in Pompousness And having such a malignant Influence upon Faith and Manners ought never to be frequented by Christians 218 Secondly By Pomps in the sence of the Ancients were meant the solemn Processions of the Heathens in Honour of their Gods The Idolatrous Processions of the Papists in honour of the Saints answerable to these And must not therefore be joined in Thirdly By Pomps reductively may be meant the Revels and Drunken Riots of our Youth at Wakes and Festivals 219 These to be abstain'd from Vanity of the World what First when Persons out-go their Ability in Building and Furniture 220 Secondly It appears in striving for Precedence Thirdly In affecting Titles above one's Quality and to be esteem'd Vertuous above one's Desert IV. In the vain Affectation of costly Apparel and Ornaments As First When Persons exceed what becomes their Rank and Degree in what they wear Secondly When they are proud of their Ornaments Thirdly When they adorn themselves to undue Ends and Purposes 221 222 Lastly When they spend too much time and at unfitting Seasons therein Decency according to what is suitable to Age Sex or Quality the Rule in this Case 223 LECT XX. To know our selves especially our natural Imperfection a most useful part of Knowledge 225 The Flesh variously exprest What is meant by the Flesh 1. The whole Unregenerate Nature of Man Soul and Body 2. The whole Man not as created by God but as he is now in the State of Corrupted Nature 3. As spoiled in his original Frame and Constitution as despoiled of the Image of God and as inordinately tending towards the Creature 226 The original Frame and Constitution of Humane Nature what The Image of God wherein Man was
at first created what 227 The Bent and Inclination of the Soul towards God what 1. In the Unregenerate Nature the Original Frame and Constitution of Man wherein he was created is broken 228 2. The Image of God wherein he was first created defaced Lastly the Tendency of all the Faculties both of Soul and Body are towards the Creature 229 1. To renounce the Flesh is to be renewed in the whole Frame and Constitution of our Nature after the Image of God The Image of God must be restored as far as it can in this Corrupt State It must be renewed to a perfection of Parts tho' not of Degrees 230 2. To renounce the Flesh is to be converted in the whole Bent and Inclination of the Soul towards God 231 LECT XXI The sinful Lusts of the Flesh what 232 The sinful Lusts of the fleshly Mind what 1. When we are curious to know Things which are either hurtful to be known or not proper for Man to know 233 2. When we do immoderately study to be exquisitely skilled in whatever Humane Arts and Sciences to the neglect or contempt of Divine Knowledge The Knowledge of our Christian Religion as it serves to nobler purposes so ought it to be prefer'd to any other 234 The necessary Points of Christian Knowledge 3. When out of Pride Prejudice and Contradiction to all sacred Truths we set up our own carnal Imaginations and fleshly Reasonings against those spiritual Notions and those mysterious Articles of our Faith which are delivered to us in Scripture 235 This Humour of opposing Reason to Revelation proceeds from meer Pride This corrupt Will what and how to be renounced 236 3. The Affections what and how to be renounced 237 1. As they are misplaced upon wrong Objects 2. As they are disproportionate to the Love Worth and Evil that is in those Objects towards which it is lawful to be well or evilly affected in moderate Degrees 3. The Lusts and Appetites are such sinful Lusts of the Flesh as are to be renounced 238 1. As they do desire undue Objects 2. As they desire them in immoderate Measures Lastly the inferior and bodily Powers viz. the Affections Lusts and Appetites to be renounced as they rebel against right Reason 239 The Business of Religion is to reduce Man as near as possible to his primitive State of Innocence and Integrity To this purpose of keeping under our fleshly Lusts it was that our Reason was given us 240 3. To renounce ALL the sinful Lusts of the Flesh what There must be no one fleshly Lust suffered to reign in us Our Business is particularly to oppose Lusts of Temper and Constitution This because it is a hard Doctrine to the Carnal Man is much evaded 241 The Objection from Rom. 7. clear'd We must renounce the Flesh and all its sinful Lusts so as to have an Aversion an Antipathy in our Hearts thereunto This the hard Part. 242 243 The reason of having enlarged so much upon this one Article of renouncing the Devil c. 244. LECT XXII Articles of Christian Faith of what Nature The whole Bible the Object of a Christian's Faith both the Old and New Testament 259 Some Instances of such Truths What it is to believe those Truths so as to make us capable of Life and Happiness 261 Our Belief thereof must be operative and practical Such was the Faith of Abraham and of all the Saints And such an operative and practical Principle is Faith whenever the things believed are of great Importance or Concernment to us 262 263. 2. To believe savingly we must apply our selves to Jesus Christ to intercede with God the Father for our gracious Acceptance What to believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith 1. To believe them All does import that we must assent to all and every one of those great Articles of Christian Doctrine contain'd in the Apostles Creed 264 Such as tend to destroy a good Life and send us to other Mediators than Christ to intercede with the Father for its Acceptance no Articles of Christian Faith 2. To believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith is to be fully perswaded of all and of every of those single Truths contain'd in each of those Articles 265 A Heretick may be such by believing only of one of those Truths contain'd in the Article 266 LECT XXIII 1. What it is to obey God's Holy Will and Commandments The Nature and Measures of Christian Obedience 267 1. Our Obedience must be sincere by being a true and undissembled Service of God opposite to all Hypocrisy or a false and feigned pretence of obeying him when in truth we serve our own selves does not forbid us all intending our own Advantage in the performance of his Commandments 268 But 1st That man's Obedience is insincere who together with his Intention of serving God joins another Intention of serving Sin 2dly When he designs some temporal Ends in the practice of Vertue as much or more than he intends God's Service 2. Evangelical Obedience must be entire viz. 1st The Obedience of the whole Man that is in the first place of the Mind and Vnderstanding 2dly of the Will 3dly of the Affections 269 270 This the distastful part and therefore endeavoured to be shifted off 271 2dly It must be an Obedience to the whole Law This endeavoured to be evaded by Excuses But in vain 3dly What it is to walk in the same all the days of our Lives 272 God will not endure a constant Revolution of Sin and Repentance 273 The difference between Evangelical and a Legal Obedience This difference not so great but that our wilful and chosen Sins will put a Barr to our Salvation 274 Some Sins are directly and expresly wilful Some indirectly and interpretatively 275 But the difference is 1st that those who sincerely and entirely obey shall not be called to an account for unchosen and involuntary Sins The first cause of an innocent Involuntariness Ignorance of our Duty Provided it be not wilful 2d Inconsideration excuses 1. When through surprize 276 2. When through natural weariness and the length and strength of a Temptation Lastly When by the violent discomposure of our thinking Powers our Minds are so disturbed that we cannot think what we do Ignorance and Inconsideration excuse not those Sins 1. which we have time to understand and observe nor 2. Crying Sins nor 3dly Those we do not endeavour against nor lastly which we are not sorry for 277 The 2d difference between Legal and Evangelical Obedience That our wilful and more heinous Sins when repented of through the Mediation of Christ according to the Terms he has obtained for us in the Covenant of Grace shall be forgiven us Remission of Sins upon Repentance the great Doctrine of the Gospel Repentance will be accepted to our pardon for our unknown or secret Sins whether wilfully or unwillingly committed but now forgot though generally repented of 2. For our most known and wilful Sins if
the best Expositors do understand the Words which the Apostle means by that Form of Doctrine that he delivered to the Romans Ch. 6.17 and which was the Form of sound Words that Timothy had heard of him 2 Tim. 1.13 The Reason of their making such an Abridgment And the reason of their making such an Abridgment of our Faith was no doubt to guard all true Believers against the Heresies and Errors of seducing Teachers Even in the very Times of the Apostles themselves did Satan and his Instruments begin to sow the Tares of corrupt Doctrines in the Field or Church of Christ and there could be no readier way to discover and distinguish their Pestilent Errors than for every Christian to have a Rule of Faith collected out of the Holy Scriptures ready at hand whereby to try those other Doctrines To which Form or Pattern of Sound Words as it is called 2 Tim. 1.13 if what they taught did not agree it was easie for the most unletter'd Christian to discover their Falshood which without a considerable degree of Skill and Knowledge in the Holy Writings could not otherwise have been done And hence also it is that the Creed is called Symbolum in most Christian Churches viz. because it is the Sign and Badge whereby to know a true and sound Christian a Watch-word to distinguish him from false Hereticks that creep in clandestinely to beguile unwary Souls and a Pass-port in all Christian Churches For all these things does the Word Symbolum mean and to all these Purposes was the Creed made use of in the Primitive Church For did any Stranger come among 'em they did immediately demand of him a Confession of his Faith which if he did deliver agreeable to this Form of sound Words they took it as a Sign of his being Orthodox and not an Heretick and it was a Passport to him whereby he might either remain amongst them or have Letters Commendatory from 'em to go in the Peace of God to other Churches of the Christians And well may our Creed be accounted the surest Test and Touchstone of all Sound and Orthodox Doctrine there being hardly any Heresie and deadly Error that has heretofore or shall hereafter arise in the Church which it does not oppose or obviate Nor any material Truth of Christian Religion that concerns either God or Our selves that it does not hold out to us as necessary to be believ'd as will soon appear to you if from this more general Account of it we do but proceed more nearly to view the Excellent Frame and Method thereof and the particular Articles of which it does consist And this I say if we do we shall see it does contain all the most material and weighty Truths that are necessary to be Believ'd concerning either God or Man and more we are not much concern'd to know First Concerning God A Scheme of the whole Creed we are instructed in the Knowledge 1. Of his Being and Attributes which we are taught in these Words I Believe in God for in the Notion of God are imply'd all those High Perfections which we call the Divine Attributes 2. Of the Three Persons in the one Godhead which we are taught to know and believe under these Three Names Father Son and Holy Ghost 3. And we are instructed in those Personal Works and Operations properly attributed to each Person in the Sacred Trinity This in the following Expressions and Articles of the Creed As to proceed in this General View and Dissection of it I. To God the Father does originally belong the Creation of the World and the Exercise of a wise Providence over it which we are taught to know and believe in these Words Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth II. To God the Son does belong the Redemption of the World that is the reducing from the Power and Dominion of Sin and Satan to the Obedience of the Father that part of the World which had revolted from him and so the Delivery and Salvation of it from cruel Slavery and woful Misery To accomplish which Redemption we are taught 1. In general That he was a Saviour or one that both procur'd for us Salvation and instructed us by revealing the Gospel in the only Way and Method of attaining it This in the Word Iesus And farther yet in the Word Christ to the end he might save us both from Sin and Satan that as a Mediator betwixt God and Man he was invested with the threefold Office of Prophet Priest and King And to enable him effectually to discharge this threefold Office that he was himself both God and Man God which is the Import of these Words The only Begotten Son of God an innocent and sinless Man the Import of these He was Conceived by the Holy Ghost Born of the Virgin Mary 2. In particular we are instructed in each single Act pertaining to these his Mediatorial Offices And indeed it speaks the excellent Structure of our Catechism as I before observed that it lets Instruction gradually into the Souls of its Disciples by giving first a general view of things and by descending afterwards to inform the tender Minds of young Beginners in the School of Christ more particularly and distinctly in each of those Christian Truths contain'd in the General Article And this proportion is also observable in the Form of the Creed where as short as is the Form of sound Words besides the Doctrine of our Saviour's Mediation and the Offices he underwent more obscurely coucht in the Words Jesus Christ in order to our more distinct Apprehension of what he has done for our Redemption from Sin and Satan and for our Reconciliation with the Father we have the Nature and Acts of those several Offices particularly taught us in the following Articles of the Creed Only 1. As to the Nature and Acts of his Prophetick Office they are not indeed so expresly and distinctly taught us as those of the other two namely His Priestly and Kingly are in the following Articles for the whole of that Office being discharg'd in revealing to us the Gospel as the only Way and Method of attaining Salvation and all the Doctrine concerning that being already couch'd in the Words I Believe in Iesus or I Believe that Jesus has reveal'd unto us the true way to Salvation there 's nothing needful to be farther express'd upon that Head But 2. As to our Saviour's Priestly Office there is not one Act which belongs to it that is not particularly and distinctly taught you in the succeeding Articles of your Belief His Priestly Office was to consist in giving a Satisfaction by way of Sacrifice and Attonement for our Offences and in going into Heaven the Holy of Holies to interceed with the Father in the Merit of that Sacrifice for the Forgiveness of our Sins And now 1. What belongs to his Sufferings by way of Sacrifice we are taught in these Words He Suffered under Pontius Pilate Was Crucified Dead and Buried
the full meaning of Justification II. I am now to shew you by what Faith it is that we are accordingly Justify'd 2. By what Faith we are accordingly Justified By what has been said as it does appear that Justification is a Judicial Act of God Adjudging us as Just and Righteous according to the Terms and Conditions of the Second Covenant so likewise that Repentance and Obedience are no less necessary in the Gospel-Covenant than Faith it self is to render us Evangelically Just and Righteous and therefore when our Justification is by Scripture in so peculiar a manner attributed to Faith it cannot but be of mighty Importance rightly to understand what that Faith is by which we shall be approved by God as Just and Righteous And in order to this I must here premise That nothing is more usual in Scripture-Language than to attribute the whole Rewards of a Christian Life to any one of those Conditions of Christianity which by the great Influence they have upon other Parts of Religion may be said to imply all the rest Thus for instance the Mercy of God is promised to be from everlasting to everlasting upon them that Fear him Psal 103.17 The Reason is because Fear is such an active Principle in us that no one who really fears God but immediately seeks out all ways and betakes himself to all Courses to obtain his Favour So again Blessed is the Man that maketh the Lord his Trust Psal 40.4 The reason is because no Man can reasonably trust in God for the performance of his Promise but he must perform those Conditions upon which such Promises are made to him and the greater are his Hopes in God's Goodness and Truth for the making good his Promises the greater will be his Care and Diligence in such ways in which alone he can with reason Trust and Hope in Him And not to mention more even Life eternal is promis'd to the Knowledge of God and Jesus Christ This is Life eternal to Know Thee the only True God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 3.17 And why shall the Knowledge of God entitle any one to eternal Life Shall this be exclusive of Repentance and Obedience No by no means but as productive of 'em and indeed including 'em for it cannot easily be imagin'd but that he who throughly knows the Nature and Attributes of God and the Wise and Great Methods he has taken to Recover Mankind from their lost State and to reconcile 'em to Himself by his Son it cannot easily be imagin'd I say but that lie who thoroughly knows these things must betake himself to such Courses as will Reconcile both himself to God and God to him And he who seriously considers what he thus knows will undoubtedly take this Care And now this being premis'd By a Faith that is perfect and compleat as to all those Acts before-mention'd the like Observation may be made of the Promises of Justification and Salvation made to Faith or Believing Rom. 5.1 Gal. 3.8 Eph. 2.8 and in many other places These great and precious Promises are made to Faith as productive of Repentance and Obedience and indeed as including them for in Jesus Christ or in the Christian Religion or under the Christian Dispensation nothing availeth any thing but Faith which worketh by Love or which is perfected by Love Gal. 5.6 So that the Faith or Belief by which alone we shall be Justified and Sav'd must be perfect and compleat as to all those Acts before mention'd that is it must be so through a Perswasion of the Infallible Truth and Certainty of whatever God has reveal'd to us in the Holy Scriptures as thereby we must not only Assent with our Minds that all these Great Things are true which are revealed to us in the Gospel and summ'd up in our Creed but we must also heartily yield up the Consent of our Wills of our Affections and of the whole Man to be Govern'd in our whole Life and Conversation by those Great Truths and Doctrines And farther yet it must be a firm and steddy Reliance upon God that all his precious Promises of Pardon and Happiness shall be fully made good to us through Christ's Mediation upon our performing of the Conditions on which such this Promises were made Such a Faith as this through the Mediation of Christ obtaining that Benefit of God for us shall be accepted so that they who do so Believe shall be justified and saved but that Faith which is short of this is but maimed and imperfect it is but either the Faith of Devils mentioned by St. James 2.19 or the Faith of Hypocrites or in some respects or other defective and so shall not avail us to Justification or Salvation And this will fully appear to us This exemplify'd in the Faith of Abraham who if we consider the Faith of Abraham what it was concerning which we find several times in Scripture as Rom. 4.22 Jam. 2.23 this Honourable mention That it was imputed to him for Righteousness For such as was Abraham's Faith the Father of us all Rom. 4.16 Such must be our Faith if we will be the Children of Abraham and be blessed with Faithful Abraham Gal. 3.7.9 And as to Abraham's Faith The first great Act of it we find mentioned in the Scripture 1. Consented to the most difficult Performances at God's Command was his readily leaving at God's Command his own Country and his Father's House and his going into a Country that God should shew him Gen. 12.1 2. Which ready Obedience to God's Command of leaving his own Country was so acceptable to God that Gen. 15.6 it is said That this Believing on the Lord was accounted to him for Righteousness And this teaches us that whenever God is pleased to lay upon us the hardest Conditions such as was Abraham's leaving his own Country and his Father's House we must not boggle thereat but immediately consent to set about the performance of them as we will approve our Faith to God and have it accepted by him to our Justification 2. Rely'd firmly upon God's Promises in full assurance of his Power and Goodness to perform ' em A second Act of that Faith which was imputed to Abraham for Righteousness was his steddy Reliance Trust and Confidence in the Promises of God of granting him a numerous Offspring even after that in all human appearance it was impossible for him and Sarah to have Children Yet he against Hope believed in Hope that be might become the Father of many Nations And being not weak in Faith he considered not his own Body now dead when he was about an hundred years old neither yet the deadness of Sarah 's Womb He stagger'd not at the Promise through Vnbelief but was strong in Faith giving Glory to God And being fully perswaded that what he promised he was able also to perform therefore it was imputed to him for Righteousness That is this steadfast Faith and Reliance of
the Vnity in Trinity and of the Trinity in Vnity till I come to the Article And I Believe in Iesus Christ his only Son in which I shall prove the Divinity of the Son in respect of whom principally it is that God is stiled the Father and together with whom and the Holy Ghost the difficulty is to conceive how he should be one To proceed then I shall consider here in their order each of the three former Truths explaining their full Meaning and Importance and shewing the particular Influence each of 'em is to have in the renewing of our Depraved Natures and the Reforming of our Lives and Manners And 1. I am to declare unto you the Nature and Infinite Perfections of that Divine Being which we call God I Believe in God The Knowledge of God's Nature and Attributes highly necessary The Knowledge of God as it is the most Noble Knowledge in respect of the Object whose transcendent Excellencies deserve our most inward and retired Thoughts and can never be sufficiently meditated upon by us so it is the most useful Knowledge in the whole World for there is no Attribute in the Divine Nature but being understood does teach some Vertue or other and all of 'em do necessarily create in the Minds of those who do consider them the highest Veneration Love and Honour towards that Being which does possess ' em The Truth of it is to the want of a due Knowledge of the Divine Nature and Attributes and to Men's Misapprehensions concerning 'em to this for the most part are owing all those higher Enormities which the more degenerate Race of Sinners do commit as Atheism Superstition and whatever other unrepented Habits of Sin The short-sighted Atheist does not behold God as the First Cause of All Things and the Fountain of all those Perfections which are found in the Creatures and therefore he does as Ignorantly as Impiously deny his Being On the other side the Superstitious Religionist does look upon him as a Morose and Arbitrary a Humoursome and Captious Power and therefore does study to flatter him with servile Rites and Observances instead of paying him a Reasonable Service such as the Scripture does prescribe And on the contrary the loose Libertine frames his Notions of God as of one that is wholly made up of Mercy to the Impeachment of his Justice and Holiness and to the utter disanulling the Truth of all his Fearful Threatnings and thereupon does live securely in those Habits of Sin in which he has long indulg'd himself and that without Thoughts of repenting of 'em so mischievous are the Effects of Ignorance and Error concerning the Divine Nature But besides and above all it is to be consider'd that the Knowledge of the Nature and Attributes of God is of such mighty Consequence that it is made the great Condition of Life and Happiness This is Life Eternal to know Thee the only true God Joh. 17.3 As well it may since there is no entring therein 'till we are conform'd to the Image of God but how can we imitate that Nature and those Perfections which we have little or no Knowledge of Not that the Divine Nature can be known to Perfection It is one Attribute thereof that it is Incomprehensible But so far as God has Reveal'd himself to us in the Holy Scripture so far we may safely enough declare that we know him And contenting my self with those accounts which we may be able to derive from thence concerning him I shall adventure to give this very imperfect Description of God Namely That he is a Self-existent Being An Enumeration of the Divine Attributes of Infinite and Incomprehensible Perfections viz. a Spirit Immense and Omnipresent Omnipotent Eternal Independent and All sufficient Immutable that he is a Being transcendent in Knowledge Wisdom Goodness Justice Truth and Holiness and as the Result of all that he is an infinitely Happy and Glorious Majesty And I. I say God is a SELF-EXISTENT BEING 1. He is a Self-Existent Being He it is that is Being it self or self-existent whereas all other Beings whether things in Heaven or things on Earth derive their Being from him and may yet be deprived of their Being or Anihiliated by him But as it is impossible that God shou'd ever heretofore not have been so it is impossible he should ever hereafter cease to be And this is said both by Jews and Christians to be the importance of the word Jehovah by which he would be distinguished from the Crew of Pagan Gods They either had no Being but in the fancy of their Worshippers or else were but meer Creatures Deified by the Superstition of Men but the God whom we serve is and ever was the same from all Eternity and therefore does give that strange account of himself when Moses would needs know by what Name he should set him forth to the People I am that I am thus shalt thou say unto the Children of Israel I am hath sent me unto you Exod. 3.14 II. And as he is necessarily Existent 2. Infinitely Perfect so he is a Being infinitely PERFECT that is all possible Perfection is included in his Nature so that nothing of Perfection can be conceiv'd or seen by us in any of the Creatures but it is infinitely greater in God To understand this we must consider that he is the first Cause of all things for of him and thro' him and to him are all things to whom be Honour and Glory for ever Amen Rom. 11.36 And being whatever Perfection is found in the Effect must needs be eminently greater in the efficient Cause that produc'd it it must therefore follow that considering those manifold and vast Perfections which are found in all the Creatures from the lowest to to the highest God who Created all these and gave 'em these several Perfections must be himself infinitely Perfect such Reason had Zophar in Job 11.7 to cry out Canst thou by searching find out God canst thou find out the Almighty unto Perfection Which brings me III. To shew that as he is of Perfections infinite in themselves 3. Of Incomprehensible Perfections viz so of such as are INCOMPREHENSIBLE by us And indeed how is it possible it should be otherwise For all our Faculties are finite and how then shall we be able to reach that Height or to fathom that Depth of Perfection which is in God It is high as Heaven what canst thou do deeper than Hell what canst thou know The measure thereof is longer than the Earth or broader than the Sea Job 11.8 9. Such reason had St. Paul in Admiration of the Incomprehensibleness thereof to cry out Rom. 11.14 O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and of the Knowledge of God how unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out It is indeed impossible for us to have any Adequate Conception of God or throughly to comprehend his Nature But however we may be able to know a great
the Word God is deny'd to Repent Numb 23.19 God is not a Man that he should Lie nor the Son of Man that he should Repent But as when a Man Repents he changes his Actions so the Divine Spirit in condescention to our ways of Expression is pleas'd to speak of God as repenting of the Destruction he had threaten'd to the Ninevites Jonah 3.10 when upon their Humiliation instead of Destroying he Sav'd ' em The truth of it is with respect to those very Actions upon the occasion of which God is said to Repent there is really the greatest Constancy in the Decrees and Purposes of God which are to save all Believing and Penitent Persons and to cut off Unbelievers and Impenitents And tho' the Persons who are threaten'd to be cut off should afterwards be Sav'd this shews indeed an Alteration in those Persons who have changed from worse to better and so prevented God's Anger but it speaks no Variation in God himself who is ever fixt to his own Rule of Rewarding every Man according to his Works so that the Result is this that with God there is no variableness nor shadow of turning James 1.17 Hitherto we have consider'd such Divine Perfections as do infinitely transcend those of any created Substance tho' never so perfect in Life and Perception those which follow are such as transcend all Perfection discernable in the Rational Nature These indeed are more peculiarly call'd his Communicable Perfections because they are in some lower Degrees and by way of Participation communicated to Man being made after the Image of God For as if we consider the Perfections of the Humane Nature to the Understanding do belong Knowledge and Wisdom to the Will Goodness Justice and Truth to the Affections freedom from Disorder or Perturbation and to the whole Nature Holiness or Integrity and the Result thereof Happiness so there are found in the Divine Nature the like Attributes and Perfections But yet still it is with this vast difference that in God they are transcendently above what is found in Man To proceed then in that short Character we have begun to give you of the Divine Perfections in order to form in your Minds a right Notion of God a thing so exceedingly necessary for all Men to have VII God is OMNISCIENT VII Omniscient and Knoweth all Things Knowledge is a great Perfection of the Rational Nature and great are the Attainments therein that Men may arrive to by Study and Industry And as to the Souls of Men departed and the Blessed Angels their Knowledge is vastly more extensive and their Faculties of Knowing not being clouded with Flesh and Blood and their Thoughts more Free and Disentangl'd from Matter they know things more Intimately more Certainly and more easily than we do And since God is the Author of all this Knowledge both in Men and Angels how transcendently more perfectly both as to the variety of Objects and the manner of Knowing must God apprehend ' em He that planted the Ear shall he not hear and he that form'd the Eye shall he not see and he that teacheth Man Knowledge shall not he know Psal 94.9 10. that is more Objects and that more perfectly than Men or Angels do 1. As to the Object of Knowledge he knows all Things Knowing all things There is not any Creature that is not manifest in his Sight but all things are Naked and Open before the Eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 And he perfectly understands their Natures Dispositions and Qualities their Powers and Vertues particularly he knows the Good and Bad Dispositions of Men. As to the Good I know Abraham that he will Command his Children and his Houshold after him Gen. 18.19 And likewise as to the Bad he sees and views the perverse Doings of the Sons of Men for his Eyes are upon all their ways they are not hid from his Face neither is their Iniquity hid from his Eyes Jer. 16.17 Nay and he is acquainted with the most Secret Thoughts and Contrivances of their Hearts The Lord searcheth all Hearts and understandeth all the Imaginations of the Thoughts 1 Chron. 28.9 He knows Things Past Present and to Come As to things past Past Present and to Come the knowledge of 'em is call'd Remembrance and to signifie his exact Remembrance of the minutest Circumstances past in the World God is said to have a Book of Remembrance Mal. 3.16 As to his Knowledge of things present that cannot but be most distinct when all things are naked and open in his sight Heb. 4.13 And as to his Knowledge of things to come all those Predictions and Prophecies of future Events are so many Proofs of the thing And such a proof they are of the Infinite Extent of God's Knowledge and indeed of the Godhead it self that he Challenges any of the Idols to give the like Demonstration of their Divinity Let them bring forth and shew us what shall happen or declare us things to come shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are Gods Isai 41.22 23. 2. And as to the manner of the Divine Knowledge And infinitely more Perfectly than Men or Angels the Perfection thereof is infinitely beyond what the most Knowing and the most Learned Men can pretend to For first His Knowledge is most deep and intimate reaching to the very Essence of things ours but slight and superficial His is clear and distinct ours but confus'd and dark His Infallible ours liable to Mistake And lastly His Easie without Labour and Difficulty always present and actual ours gotten by sore Travel and easily lost again by the defects of Memory by Sickness or by Age. There is no searching of his Vnderstanding Isai 40.28 such is the Perfection you see of God's Knowledge VIII And in like manner is he also Transcendent in WISDOM VIII Transcendently Wise Wisdom is another Perfection of the Understanding It consists in these four Particulars 1. In fixing upon a right and excellent End 2. In chusing fit and proper Means 3. In observing advantagious Circumstances and Opportunities for compassing a Design by its proper Means And lastly in over-ruling the Stubbornness of Opposition and the Perverseness of Men's Wills so that all Things shall work together to the Good design'd tho' without their own Knowledge and tho' never so contrary to their own purposes And had we time to surveigh the Wisdom of God in all these Particulars we could not chuse but cry out with the Psalmist Psal 147.5 that Great is the Lord and Great is his Power yea and that his Wisdom is infinite But this Attribute will be farther illustrated when we come to consider the Works of God in the Creation of the World in his Providence over it and in his Redemption of Mankind To proceed then IX Transcendently good IX God is transcendent in GOODNESS The two former were Perfections of the Divine Understanding Goodness is perfective