sinne Aberration from Gods Image obnoxiousnesse to his wrath and rejection from his presence Staine Guilt and miserie which is the product or issue of the two former Now as wee say Rectum est sui index obliqui The Law is such a Rule as can measure and set forth all this evill Ir is Holy Iust and Good Rom. 7. 12. Holy fit to conforme us to the image of God Iust fit to arme vs against the wrath of God and Good fit to present us unto the presence and fruition of God According unto this blessed and complete patterne was man created An universall rectitude in his nature all parts in tune all members in joynt light and beauty in his minde conformity in his will subordination and subjection in his appetites serviceablenesse in his body peace and happinesse in his whole being But man being exactly sensible of the excellency of his estate gave an easie ◅are to that first temptation which layd before him a hope and project of improving it and so beleeving Satans lye and embracing a shadow he fell from the substance which before he had and contracted the hellish and horrid image of that Tempter which had thus deceiv'd him Having thus consider'd in the generall how the Law may be said to quicken or revive sinne by the obligation Irritation and Conviction of it Wee will in the next place looke into the life of those particular species or ◅ankes of sinne which the spirit in the Commandement doth convince men of Wherein I shall insist at large onely upon that sinne which is the subject of this whole Chapter and if not solely yet principally aim'd at by the Apostle in my Text namely those evils which lye folded up in our originall concupiscence Here then first the Spirit by the Law entiseth vs to Adams Sinne as a derivation from the root to the branches As poison is carried from the fountaine to the Cisterne as the children of traytors have their blood ◅ainted with their Fathers treason and the children of bondslaves are under their parents condition We were all one in Adam and with him In him legally in regard of the stipulation and covenant between God and him we were in him parties in that covenāt had interest in the mercy were liable to the curse which belonged to the breach of that Covenant and in him naturally and therefore unavoidably subject to all that bondage and burden which the humane nature contracted in his fall And though there be risen up a sect of men who deny the sinne of Adam to be our sinne or any way so by God accounted and to us imputed yet certaine it is that before that arch-heretick Pelagius and his disciple Caelestius did vex the Churches never any man denied the guilt of Adams sinne and guilt is inseparable from the sinne it selfe being a proper passion of it to belong to all his posterity This then is the first charge of the spirit upon us participation with Adam in his sinne And in as much as that Commandement unto Adam was the primitive Law so justly required so easily observed therefore exceeding great must needs be the Transgression of it Pride Ambition Rebellion Infidelity Ingratitude Idolatry Concupissence ◅heft Apostacy unnaturall Affection Violation of covenant and an universall renunciation of Gods mercy promised these the like were those wofull ingredients which compounded that sinne in the committing wherof wee all were sharers because Adams person was the Fountaine of ours and Adams Will the Representative of ours The second charge is touching universall corruption which hath in it Two great evils First A generall defect of all righteousnesse and holinesse in which wee were at first created and secondly an inherent Deordination pravitie evill disposition disease propension to all mischiefe Antipathy and aversation from all good which the Scripture calls the flesh the wisdome of the flesh the body of sinne earthly members the Law of the members the workes of the Divell the lusts of the Divell the Hell that sets the whole course of nature on fire And this is an evill of the through malignity whereof no man can be so sensibly and distinctly convinc'd as in the evidence of that conviction to cry out against it with such strange strong and bitter complaints as Saint Paul doth till his understanding be by Christ opened to understand the Spiritualnesse penetration and compasse of that holy Law which measureth the very bottome of every action and condemneth as well the originals as the acts of sinne And hence it is that many men pleade for this sinne as onely an evill of nature rather troublesome then sinnefull That concupiscence was not contracted by nature de novo in the fall but that it is annexed to nature by the Law of Creation that it belongeth to the constitution and condition of a sensitive Creature and that the bridle of originall and supernaturall Ri◅hteousnesse being remou'd the Rebellion of the fleshly against the spirituall that is as these men most ignorantly affirme of the sensuall against the reasonable part which was by that before suspended did discover it selfe It will not bee therefore a misse to open unto you what it is to be in the State of originall sinn◅ and what evils they are which the Commandement doth so discover in that sinne as thereby to make a man feele the burden of his owne nature smell the sinke and stinch of his owne bosome and so as the Prophet speakes abhorre himselfe and never open his mouth any more either proudly to justifie himselfe or foolishly to charge God but to admire and adore that mercy which is pleas'd to save and that power which is able to cure so leprous and uncleane a thing First consider the universalitie of this sinne and that manifold Vnivers◅litie of Times from Adam to Mos◅s even when the Law of Creation was much defaced and they that sinned did not sinne after the similitude of Adam against the cleare Revelation of Gods pure and holy will For that I take to be the meaning of the Apostle in those words Untill the Law sinne was in the world but sinne is not imputed where there is no Law Though the Law seemed quite extinct betweene Adam and Moses in the wicked of the world and with it sinne because sinne hath no strength where there is no Law though men had not any such legible Characters of Gods will in their nature as Adam had at first and therefore did not sinne after the similitude of his prevarication yet even from Adam to Moses did sinne reigne over all them even the sinne of Adam and that lust which that sinne contracted And if sinne reigned from Adam to Moses in that time of ignorance when the Law of not lusting was quite extinct out of the minds of men much more from Moses after for the Law
upon so just and gratious a God as may safely bring into suspicion and disgrace any doctrine which admits of so just an exception Now to this likewise the Apostle answeres God forbid The Law is not given to condemne or clogge men not to bring sinne or death into the world It was not promulgated with any intention to kill or destroy the Creature It is not sin in it selfe It is not death unto us in that sense as we preach it namely as subordinated to Christ and his Gospell Tnough as the rule of righâ—…eousnesse we preach deliverance from it because unto that purpose it is made impotent and invalid by the sinne of man which now it cannot prevent or remove but onely discover and condemne Both these Conclusions that the Law is neither sinne nor death I finde the Apostle before in this Epistle excellently proviâ—…g Vntill the Law sinne was in the world but sinne is not imputed where there is no Law neverthelesse death â—…atgned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression That is as I conceive over those who did not sinâ—…e against so notable and evident Characters of the Law of nature written in their hearts as Adam in Paradise did for sinne had betweene Adam and Moses so obliterated and defaced the impressions of the morall Law that man stood in need of a new edition and publication of it by the hand of Moses That place serves thus to make good the purpose of the Apostle in this Sinne was in the world before the publication of the Law therefore the Law is not sinne But sinne was not imputed where there is no Law men were secure and did flatter themselves in their way were not apt to charge or condemne themselves for sin without a Law to force them unto it And therefore the Law did not come a new to beget sinne but to reveale and discover sinne Death likewise not onely was in the world but raigned even over all men therein before the publication of the Law Therefore the Law is not death neither There was Death enough in the world before the Law there was wickednesse enough to make condemnation raigne over all men therefore neither one nor other are naturall or essentiall consequences of the Law It came not to beget more sinne it came not to multiply and double condemnation there was enough of both in the world before Sinne enough to displease and provoke God death enough to devoure and torment men Therefore if the Law had beene usefull to no other purposes then to enrage sinne and condemne men if Gods wisedome and power had not made it appliable to more wholsome and saving ends he would never have new published it by the hand of Moses Here then the observation which from these words we are to make and it is a point of singular and speciall consequence to understand the use of the Law is this That the Law was revived and promulgated a new on Mount Sina by the ministery of Moses with no other then Evangelicall and mercifull purposes It is said in one place That the Lord hath no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth but it is said in another place That the Lord delighteth in mercie Which notes that God will doe more for the Salvation then he will for the damnation of men He will doe more for the magnifying of his mercy then for the multiplying of his wrath for if that require it he will revive and new publish the Law which to have aggravated the sinnes and so doubled the condemnation of men He would never have done Before I further evidence the truth of this doctrine It will be needefull to remove one Objection which doth at first proposall thereof offer it selfe If God will doe more for his mercie then for his wrath and vengeance why then are not more men saved then condemned If Hell shall bee more fill'd then Heaven is it not more then probable that wrath prevaileth against Grace and that there is more done for furie then there is for favour To wave the solution given by some That God will intentionally and effectually have every man to bee saved but few of that every will have themselves to be saved An explication purposâ—…ly contradicted by Saint Austin and his followers whose most profound and inestimable Iudgement the Orthodoxe Churches have with much admiration and assent followed in these points I rather choose thus to resolve that case It will appeare at the last great day that the saving of a few is a more admirable and glorious worke then the condemning of all the rest The Apostle saith That God shall bee gloryfied in his Saints and admired in those that beleeve For first God sheweth more mercie in saving some when He might have judged all then Iustice in Iudging many when he might have saved none For there is not all the Iustice which there might have beene when any are saved and there is more mercy then was necessary to haue beene when all are not condemned Secondly the Mercie and Grace of God in saving any is absolute and all from within himselfe out of the unsearchable riches of his owne will But the Iustice of God though not as essentiall in him yet as operatiâ—…e towards us is not Absolute but Conditionall and grounded upon the supposition of mans sinne Thirdly his Mercie is unsearchable in the price which procured it Hee himselfe waâ—… to humble and empty himselfe that he might shew mercie His mercie was to be purchased by his owne merit but his Iustice was provoked by the merit of sinne onely Fourthly Glory which is the fruite of Mercie is more excellent in a few then wrath and vengeance is in many as one bagge full of gold may bee more valuable then tenne of silver If a man should suppose that Gods mercy and Iustice being equally infinite and glorious in himselfe should therefore have the same equall proportion observed in the dispensation and revealing of them to the world wee might not therehence conclude that that proportion should be Arithmeticall that mercy should be extended to as many as severitie But rather as in the payment of a summe of mony in two equal portions whereof one is in golâ—… the other in silver though there bee an equalitie in the summes yet not in the pieces by which they are paide so in as much as Glory being the communicating of Gods owne blessed Vision Presence Love and everlasting Societie is farre more honourable and excellent then wrath therefore the dispensation of his Mercie in that amongst a few may bee exactly proportionable to the revelation of his Iustice amongst very many more in the other Suppose wee a Prince upon the just condemnation of a hundred malefactors should professe that as in his owne royall brest mercy and Iustice were equally poised and temper'd so he would observe an equall proportion of them both towards that number of
enough to prevent the making and therefore by consequence have no force to alter or disanull it then it is certaine that this latter law must be understood in some other sense and admitte of some other subordinate use which may well consist with the being and force of the former covenant and not in that which primâ facie seemes to contradict and by consequence to abrogate it Now in the next words verse 18. For if the Inheritance bee of the Law it is no more of Promise but God gave it to Abraham by Promise The Apostle shewes what the purpose of the Covenant to Abraham was namely to give life and salvation by Grace and Promise and therefore what the purpose of the latter covenant by Moses was not neither could bee namely to give the same life by working since in those respects there would be contradiction and inconsistencie in the Covenants and so by consequence instability and unfaithfulnesse in him that made them The maine conclusion then which hitherto the Apostle hath driven at is this that the comming of the Law hath not voyded the promise and that the Law is not of force towards the seede to whom the promise is made in any such sense as carries contradiction unto and by consequence implyes abrogation of the Promise before made Therefore if it be not to stand in a contradiction it followes that it must in subordination to the Gospell and so to tend to Evangelicall purposes This this Apostle proceedes to shew verse 19. Wherefore 〈◊〉 serveth the Law It was added because of transgressions till the seede should come to whom the Promise was made and it was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator To what enâ—… saith the Apostle should there be a publication of a Law so expresly contrary to the Covenant formerly made In his Answere to this doubt there are many things worthy of especiall observation First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was added or put to It was not set up alone as a thing ingrâ—…sse by it selfe as any adequate complete solid rule of righteousnesse as it was given to Adam in Paradise much lesse was it published as a thing to voyde and disa ull any precedent covenant but so farre was it from abrogating that it was added to the Promise Now when one thing is made an Appendant or Addâ—…ament to another it doth necessarily put the being of that to which it is Appendant and presuppose a strength and vigor in it still But how then was it added not by way of Ingrediencie as a Part of the Covenant as if the Promise had been incomplete without the Law for then the same Covenant should consist of contradictory materials and so should overthrow it selfe For if it bee of workes it is no more of grace else grace is no more grace but it was added by way of Subserviencie and Attendance the better to advance and make effectuall the Covenant it selfe In Adams heart the Law was set up solitary and as a whole rule of righteousnesse and salvation in it selfe but though the sâ—…me Law were by Moses revived yet not at all to the same purpose but onely to helpe forward and introduce another and a better Covenant Secondly It was Added because of Transgressions To make them appeare to awaken the Consciences of men who without a Law would not impute nor charge their sinnes upon themselves and make them acknowledge the guilt of them and owne the condemnation which was due unto them to discover and disclose the venome of our sinfull nature to open the mouth of the sepulcher and make the heart smell the stinch of its owne foulnesse Thirdly Till the seede should come unto whom the Promise was made There were two great promises made to Abraham and his seed The one In thy-seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed and this Promise respects the Person of Christ which yet seemes to bee a Promise not so much made to Christ as in him to Abraham and all nations who were Abrahams seed by Promise though not after the flesh as Saint Paul distinguisheth Rom. 9 The other I will be a God unto thee and to thy seede after thee which respecteth all nations who should beleeve Now whâ—…ch way soever we understand these words they confirme the point which wee are upon that the Law hath Evangelicall purposes If we understand by seede the Person of Christ theâ—… this shewes that the Law was put to the Promise the better to raise and stirre up in men the expectations of Christ the promised seede who should deliver them from that unavoidable bondage and curse which the Law did sâ—…ale and conclude them under If we vnderstand by seed the faithfull which I rather approve then the Apostles meaning is this that as long as any are either to come into the unity of Christs body and to have the Covenant of Grace unto them applyed or to be kept in the Body of Christ when they are comâ—… 〈◊〉 so long there will bee use of the Law to discover Transgressions both iâ—… the unregenerate that they may sâ—…e â—…o Christ for Sanctuary and 〈◊〉 those that are already called that they may learne to cast all their faith and hope and expectations of righteousnesse upon him â—…ull For the same reason which compels men to come in is requisite also to keepe them in else why doth not God utterly destroy sinne in the Faithfull Certainely hee hath no delight to see Christ have leprous members or to see sin in his owne people Only because he will still have them see the necessity of righteousnesse by faith and of grace in Christ he therfore suffers concupiscence to stirre in them and the Law to conclude them under the curse This then manifestly shewes that there was no other intention in publishing the Law but with reference to the seede that is with Evangelicall purposes to shew mercie not with reference to those that perish who would have had condemnation enough without the Law Fourthly It was ordained by Angels who are Ministring Spirits sent forth for the good of those that shall be saved in the Hand or by the Ministery of a Mediator Namely of Moses with relation unto whom Christ is call'd Mediator of a better Covenant for as Christ was the substantiall and universall Mediator betweene God and Man So Moses was to that people a representative typicall or national Mediator Hee stood betweene the Lord and the people when they were afraide at the sight of the fire in the Mount and this evidently declares that the Law was published in mercy and pacification not in furie or revengâ— For the worke of a Mediator is to negotiate peace and treate for reconcilement betweene partiâ—s offended where as if the Lord had intended death in the publishing of the Law hee would not have proclaimed it in the hand of a Mediator but of an Executioner Verse 20. Now a Mediator is not a Mediator of one but God is one
and therefore hee bringeth them unto these extremities that when their mouth is stopp'd and their guilt made evident they may with the more humilitie and abhorrencie of their former lewdnesse acknowledge the Iustnesse of the Law which would condemne them and the great mercy of the Prince who hath given them liberty to plead his pardon The same is the case betweene God and us First to Abraham he made promise of mercy and blessednesse to all that would pleade interest in it for the remission of their sinnes But men were secure and heedlesse of their estate and though sinne was in them and death raigned over them yet being without a Law to evidence this sinne and death unto their consciences therefore they imputed it not to themselves they would not owne them nor charge themselves with them and by consequence found no necessity of pleading that promise Hereupon the Lord published by Moses a severe and terrible Law so terrible that Moses himselfe did exceedingly feare and quake A Law which fill'd the Ayre with Thunder and the Mount with fire A Law full of blacknesse darknesse and Tempest A Law which they who heard it could not endure but intreated that it might not be spâ—…ken to them any more yet in all this God doth but pursue his first purpose of mercie and take a course to make his Gospell accounted worthy of all acceptation that when by this Law men shall bee roused from their security shut up under the guilt of infinite transgressions affrighted with the fire and tempest the blacknesse and darknesse the darts and curses of this Law against sinne they may then runne from Sina unto Sion even to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and by Faith plead that pardon and remission which in him was promised Thus we see the point in the generall â—…leered That God in the publication of the Law by Moses on mount Sina had none but mercifull and Evangelicall intentions I shall further draw downe the doctrine of the use of the Law into a few conclusions First The Law is not given ex primaria intentione to condemne men There was condemnation enough in the World betweene Adam and Moses before the Law was new published It is true the Law shall prove a condemning and judging Law unto impenitent and unbeleeving sinners But to condemne or judge men by it was no more Gods intention in the publishing of it by the ministery of Moses I speake of condemnation not pronounced but executed then it was his purpose to condemne men by the Gospell which yet de facto will be a savor of death unto death to all that despise it It is said that Christ should be as well for the faâ—… as for the riâ—…ing of many in Israel and that hee should be a stone of stumbling and a rocke of offâ—…nce yet hee faith of himselfe I came not to condemne the World but that the World by me might bee saveâ—… The meaning is the condemnation of the World was no motive noâ—… impulsiue cause of my comming though it were an accidentâ—…ll event conâ—…quent and emergencie thereupon Even so the condemnation which by the Law will be aggravated upon 〈◊〉 sinners the powring forth of more wrath and vengeance then raigned in the World betweene Adam and Moses was no motive in Gods intention to publish the Law by his ministery but onely the furtherance and advancement of the Covenant of Grace Secondly The Law was not published by Moses on mount Sina as it was given to Adam in Paradise to iusti fie or to save men God never appoints any thing to an end to which it is utterly unsurable and improper Now the Law by sinne is become weake and unprofitable to the purpose of righteousnesse or salvation nay it was in that regard Against us as Saint Paul saith and therefore we are delivered from it as a Rule of justification though not as a rule of service and obedience Thirdly The uses of the Law are severall according to divers considerations of it For we may consider it either Per se in it selfe according to the primarie intention thereof in its being and new publication or Per accidens according to those secondary and inferior effects thereof By accident or secondarily The Law doth first irritate enrage exasperate lust by reason of the venomous and malitious quality which is in sinne And this the Law doth not by ingenerating or implanting lust in the heart but by exciting calling out and occasioning that which was there before as a chaine doth not beget any furie in a wolfe nor a bridge infuse any strength into the water nor the presence of an enemie instill or create de novo any malice in a man but onely occasionally reduce unto Act and call forth that rage which though lesse discerned was yet habitually there before Secondly the Law by accident doth punish and curse sinne I say by accident because punishment is in no law the maine intention of the Lawgiver but something added thereunto to backe strengthen and enforce the obedience which is principally intended Neither could the Law have cursed man at all if his disobedience had not thereunto made way which shewes that the curse was not the primary intention of the Law but onely a secondary and subsequent act upon the failing of the principall For I doubt not but the Lord accounteth himselfe more gloryfied by the Active and voluntary services then by the Passive and enforced sufferings of the Creature Herein saith our Saviour is my Father glorified that you bring forth much fruite Secondly consider the Law by it selfe and in its primary intention and so there are two principall uses for which it serves First It hath rationem speculi It is as a glasse to manifest and discover sinne and death and thereupon to compell men to fly for sanctuary unto Christ and when they see their miserie to sue out their pardon And this the Law doth first by convincing the Conscience of its owne widenes as the Prophet David speakes I have seene an end of all perfection but thy Law is exceeding broad By revealing the compasse of sinne in proportion to the widenesse and the filthynesse of sin in proportion to the purity of that Holy Law by discovering the depth and foulenesse the deceitfulnesse and desperate mischiefe of the heart by nature and giving some evidences to the soule of that horrid endlesse and insupportable vengeance which is due to sinne We know saith the Apostle that whatsoever things the Law saith it saith to those that are under the Law That every mouth may be stopped and all the World may become guilty before God Secondly By judging sentencing applying wrath to the Soule in particular For when it hath stopped a mans mouth evidenced his guiltinesse concluded him under sinne it then pronounceth him to bee a cursed and condemned Creature exposed without any strength or possibility to evade or overcome unto all the
Loved us when wee were his enemies and enemies we were not but by wicked workes Now then if wicked workes could not prevent the Love of God why should wee thinke that they can nullyfie or destroy it If His Grace did prevent sinners before their repentance that they might returne shall it not much more preserve repenting sinners that they may not perish If the masse guilt and greatnesse of Adams sinne in which all men were equally sharers and in which equalitie God looked upon us with Love and Grace then which sinne a greater I thinke cannot be committed against the Law of God If the bloody and crimsin sinnes of the unconverted part of our life wherein we drew iniquitie with cordes of vanitie and sinne as it were with cart-ropes If neither iniquitie transgression nor sinne neither sin of nature nor sinne of course and custome nor sinne of rebellion and contumacie could pose the goodnesse and favour of God to us then nor intercept or frustrate his Counsell of loving us when wee were his enemies why should any other sinnes overturne the stability of the same love and counsell when we are once his Sonnes and have a spirit given us to bewaile and lament our falls I cannot here omit the excellent words of P Fulgentius to this purpose The same Grace saith he of Gods Immutable Counsell doth both beginne our merit unto righteousnesse and consummate it unto Glorie doth here make the will not to yeelde to the infirmitie of the flesh and doth hereafter free it from all infirmitie doth here renew it Continuo Iuvamine and elsewhere Iugi auxilio with an uninterrupted supportance and at last bring it to a full Glory Secondly Gods Promise flowing from this Love and Grace An everlasting Covenant will I make saith God and observe how it comes to be everlasting and not frustrated or made temporary by us I will not turne away from them saith the Lord to doe them good True Lord wee know thou dost not repent thee of thy Love but though thou turne not from us O how fraile how apt are wee to turne away from thee and so to nullifie this thy Covenant of mercie unto our selves Nay saith the Lord I will put my feare into their hearts and they shall not depart from me So elsewhere the Lord tels us that his Covenant should be as the water of Noah the sinnes of men can no more utterly cancell or reverse Gods Covenant of mercie towards them then they can bring backe Noahs flood into the World againe though for a moment he may bee angry and hide His face yet His mercie in the maine is great and everlasting The Promises of God as they have Truth so they have Power in them they doe not depend upon our resolutions whether they shall bee executed or no but by Faith apprehending them and by Hope waiting upon God in them they frame and accommodate the heart to those conditions which introduce then Execution God maketh us to doe the things which He commandeth we do not make Him to doe the things which He promiseth Tee are kept saith the Apostle by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation Faith is first by Gods Power wrought and preserved It is the Faith of the operation of God namely that powerfull operation which raised Christ from the dead and your Faith standeth not in the wisedome of men but in the Power of God And then it becomes an effectuall instrument of the same power to preserve us unto Salvation They shall be all taught of God and every man that hath heard and learned of the Father commeth unto mee There is a voluntarie attendance of the heart of man upon the ineffable sweetnesse of the Fathers teaching to conclude this point with that excellent and comfortable speech of the Lord in the prophet I the Lord change not therefore ye Sonnes of Iacob are not consumed It is nothing in or from your selves but onely the immutabilitie of my Grace and Promises which preserveth you from being consumed Thirdly the Obsignation of the Spirit ratifying and securing these promises to the hearts of the faithfull for the spirit is the hansell earnest and seale of our Redemption and it is not onely an obsignation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto redemption arguing the certainty of the end upon condition of the meanes but it is an establishing of us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too into Christ as a meanes unto that end so that from the first fruites of the Spirit a man may conclude his interest in the whole at last as Saint Paul from the resurrection of Christ the first fruites argueth to the finall accomplishment of the resurrection Fourthly the nature and effects of Faith whose propertie it is to make future things present to the beleever and to give them a Being and by consequence a necessitie and certaintie to the apprehensions of the Soule even when they have not a Being in themselves Saint Paul call's it the subsistencie of things to come and the evidence and demonstration of things not seene which our Saviours words doe more fully explaine He that drinketh my blood hath eternall Life and shall never thirst Though Eternall Life bee to come in regard of the full fruition yet it is present already in regard of the first fruites of it And therefore wee finde our Saviour take a future medium to prove a present Blessednesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yee are blessed when men shall hate you c for great is your reward in Heaven Which inference could not be sound unlesse that future medium were certaine by the Power of Faith giving unto the promises of God as it were a presubsistencie For it is the priviledge of Faith to looke upon things to come as if they were alreadie conferr'd upon us And the Apostle useth the like argument Sinne shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law but under Grace This were a strange inference in naturall or civill things to say you shall not die because you are in health or you shall not be rejected because you are in favour But the Covenant of Grace being seall'd by an Oath makes all the grants which therein are made irreversible and constant So that now as when a man is dead to the Being of sinne as the Saints departed this life are the Being of sinne doth no more trouble them nor returne upon them so when a man is dead to the dominion of sinne that dominion shall never any more returne upon him Consider further the formall effect of Faith which is to unite a man unto Christ. By meanes of which vnion Christ and we are made one Bodie for He that is joyned to Christ is one and the Apostle saith that He is the Saviour of his Bodie and then surely of every member of his Bodie too for the members have all care one
that is requir'd then as that Persian King who could not find out a Law to warrant the particular which hee would have done found out another That hee might doe what hee would so sinne when it hath no reason to alleage yet it hath Selfe-will that is all Lawes in one Gen. 49. 6. 2. Pet. 2. 10. Rom. 7. 23. In one word the strong man is furnished with a whole Armour Secondly sinne is a Husband Rom. 7. 1. 5. and so it hath the power of love which the wise Man saith is as strong as death that will have no deniall when it comes S. Paul tels vs there is a constraining power in love 2. Cor. 5. 14. Who stronger then Sampson and who weaker then a woman yet by love she overcame him whom all the Philistimes were unable to deale with Now as betweene a man and a strumpet so betweene lust and the heart there are first certaine cursed dalliances and treaties by alluring temptations the heart is drawne away from the sight of God and his Law and enticed and then followes the accomplishment of uncleannesse Iam. 1. 14. 15. This in the generall is that life or strength of sinne here spoken of Wee are next to observe that the ground of all this is the Law The sting of Death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law 1. Cor. 15. 56 1. Ioh. ◅ 4. from the Law it is that sinne hath both strength to condemne and to command us or have dominion over us Rom. 6. 14. Now the Law gives life or strength to sin three wayes First by the curse and obligation of it binding the soule with the guilt of sin unto the Iudgement of the great Day Every sinner hath the sentence past upon him already and in part executed He that beleeveth not is condemned already the wrath of God abideth on him All men come into the world with the wrath of God like a talent of lead upon their soule and it may all be pour'd out within one houre upon them there is but a span betweene them and judgement In which interim First the Law stops the mouth of a sinner Shuts him in and holds him fast under the guilt of his sinne Secondly it passeth sentence upon his soule sealing the assurance of condemnation and wrath to come Thirdly it beginneth even to put that sentence in execution with the spirit of bondage and of feare shaking the conscience wounding the spirit and scorching the heart with the pre-apprehensions of Hell making the soule see some portion of that tempest which hangeth over it rising out of that sea of sinne which is in his life and nature as the Prophets servant did the Cloud and so terrifying the soule with a certaine fearefull expectation of Iudgement Thus the Law strengthens sinne by putting into it a condemning power Secondly by the Irritation of the Law Sin tooke occasion saith the Apostle by the Law so by the commandement became exceeding sinnefull Rom. 7. 8. when lust finds it selfe universally restrain'd meets with Death and Hell at every turne can have no subterfuge nor evasion from the rigor and inexorablenesse of the Law then like a River that is stopt it riseth and fomes and rebels against the Law of the minde and fetcheth in all its force and opposition to rescue it selfe from that sword which heweth it in pieces And thus the Law is said to strengthen sinne not perse out of the Intention of the Law but by Accident antiperistasis exciting and provoking that strength which was in sinne before though undiscern'd and lesse operative For as the presence of an enemie doth actuate and call forth that malice which lay habitually in the heart before so the purity of the Law presenting it selfe to concupisence in every one of those fundamentall obliquities wherein it lay before undisturb'd and way laying the lust of the heart that it may have no passage doth provoke that habituall fiercenesse and rebellion which was in it before to lay about on all sides for its owne safety Thirdly by the conviction and manifestation of the Law laying open the widenesse of sinne to the conscience Man naturally is full of pride and selfe-love apt to thinke well of his spirituall estate upon presumptions and principles of his owne and though many professe to expect salvation frō Christ only yet in as much as they will be in Christ no way but their owne that shewes that still they rest in themselves for salvation This is that deceite and Guile of spirit which the scripture mentions which makes the way of a foole right in his owne eyes The Philosopher tells us of a Sea wherein by the hollownesse of the earth under it or some whirling and attractive propertie that sucks the vessell into it ships use to be cast away in the mid'st of a calme even so many mens soules doe gently perish in the mid'st of their owne securities and presumptions As the fish Polypus changeth himselfe into the colour of the Rock and then devoures those that come thither for shelter so doe men shape their mis-perswasions into a forme of Christ and faith in him and destroy themselves How many men rest in pharisaicall generalities plod on in their owne civilities moralities externall Iustice and unblameablenesse account any thing indiscretion and unnecessary strictnes that exceeds their owne modell every man in Hell that is worse then themselves I am not as this Publican and others that are better but in a fooles paradise and all this out of ignorance of the Law This here was the Apostles Case when he lived after the strictest sect of the Pharisies sin was dead he esteemed himself blamelesse but when the Commandement came discoverd its owne spiritualnes the carnalnesse of all his performances remou'd his curtald glosses and presumptuous prejudices opened the inordinatenes of natural concupiscence shewd how the lest atome doth spot the soule the smallest omission qualifie for hel make the conscience see those infinite sparkles and swarmes of lust that rise out of the hart and that God is all eye to see and all fire to consume every unclean thing that the smallest sins that are require the pretiousest of Christs blood to expiate and wash them out then he began to be co◅vinc'd that he was all this while under the Hold of Sinne that his conscience was yet under the paw of the Lyon as the Serpent that was dead in snow was reviu'd at the fire so sinne that seemes dead when it lies hid under the ignorances and misperswasions of a secure heart when either the Word of God which the Prophet calls fire or the last Iudgement shall open it unto the conscience it will undoubtedly revive againe and make a man finde himselfe in the mouth of Death Thus wee see that unto the Law belongs the Conviction of sinne and that in the whole compasse of evill that is in it Three hatefull evils are in
Adams sinne may be thus farre said to be unto posterity imputed as that by reason of it they become obnoxious unto Death namely to an eternall dissolution of body and soule without any reunion and an eternall losse of the divine vision without any paine of sense yet that death which to Adam in his person was a punishment is not so to his posteritie but onely the condition of their nature Thirdly they say that that which is called originall sinne is nothing else at all but onely the privation of originall righteousnesse and that concupiscence was 〈◊〉 contracted and brought upon nature by sinne but was originally in our nature suspended indeede by the presence but actuated by the losse of that righteousnesse Fourthly they say That that Privation was not by man contracted but by God inflicted as a punishment upon Adam from whom it comes but onely as a condition of nature unto us that man in his fall and prevarication did not Throw away or actually shake off the Image of God but God pull'd it away from him which if God had not done it would have remained with him notwithstanding the sinne of the first fall Fifthly they say That in as much as the privation of originall righteousnesse was a punishment by God upon Adam justly inflicted and by Adam unto us naturally and unavoidably propagated It is not therefore to be esteem'd any sinne at all neither for it can God justly condemne any man nor is it to be esteem'd a punishment of sinne in us though it were in Adam because in us there is no sinne going before it of which it may bee accounted the punishment as there was in Adam but onely the condition of our present nature Lastly they say that Adam being by God deprived of originall righteousnesse which is the facultie and fountaine of all obedience and being now constituted under the deserved curse all the debt of legall obedience wherein he and his posteritie in him were unto God obliged did immediately cease so that whatsoever outrages should after that have beene by Adam or any of his children committed they would not have beene sinnes or transgressions nor involv'd the Authors of them in the guilt of iust damnation That which unto us reviveth sin is the new covenant because therein is given unto the law new strength to command and unto us new strength to obey both which were evacuated in the fall of Adam Vpon which premises it doth most evidently follow that unlesse God in Christ had made a covenant of grace with us anew no man should ever have beene properly and penally damned but onely Adam and he too with no other then the losse of Gods presence For â—… Hell and torments are not the revenge of Legall but of Evangelicall disobedience not for any actuall sinnes for there would have beene none because the exaction of the Law would have ceased and where there is no Law there is no transgression not for the want of righteousnesse because that was in Adam himselfe but a punishment and in his posteritie neither a sinne nor a punishment but onely a condition of nature not for habituall concupiscence because though it be a disease and an infirmitie yet it is no sinne both because the being of it is connaturall and necessary and the operations of it inevitable and unpreventable for want of that bridle of supernaturall righteousnesse which was appointed to keepe it in Lastly not for Adams sinne imputed because being committed by another mans will it could bee no mans sinne but his that committed it So that now upon these premises we are to invert the Apostles words By one man namely by Adam sinne entered into the world upon all his posterity and death by sinne By one man namely by Christ tanquam per causam sine quâ non sinne returned into the world upon all Adams posteritie and with sinne the worst of all deaths namely hellish torments which without him should not haue beene at all O how are wee bound to prayse God and recount with all honour the memorie of those Worthies who compiled Our Articles which serue as a hedge to keepe out this impious and mortiferous doctrine as Fulgentius cals it from the Church of England and suffers not Pelagius to returne into his owne country There are but three maine arguments that I can meet with to colour this heresie and two of them were the Pelagians of old First that which is naturall and by consequence necessarie and unavoidable cannot be sinne Originall sinne is naturall necessarie and unavoidable therefore it is no sin Secondly that which is not voluntarie cannot be sinfull Originall sinne is not voluntarie therefore not sinfull Thirdly no sinne is immediatly caused by God but originall sinne being the privation of originall righteousnesse is from God immediately who pull'd away Adams righteousnesse from him Therfore it is no sinne For the more distinct understanding the whole truth and answering these supposed strong reasons give me leave to premise these observations by way of Hypothesis First there are Two things in originall sinne The privation of righteousnesse and the corruption of nature for since originall sinne is the roote of actuall and in actuall sinnes there are both the omission of the good which we ought to exercise and positive contumaâ—…ies against the Law of God therefore a vis formatrix something answerable to both these must needs be found in originall sinne This positive corruption for in the other all agree that it is originall sinne is that which the Scripture cals flâ—…sh and members and law and lusts and bodie and Saint Austin vitiousnesse inobedience or inordinatenesse and a morbid affection Consonant whereunto is the Article of our Church affirming that man by originall sinne is farre gone from righteousnesse which is the privation secondly that thereby he is of his owne nature enclined unto evill which is the pravitie or corruption and this is the doctrine of many learned papists Secondly the Law being perfect and spirituall searcheth the most intimate corners of the soule and reduceth under a law the very rootes and principles of all humane operations And therefore in aâ—… much as well being is the ground of well working and that the Tree must be good before the fruite therefore wee conclude that the Law is not onely the Rule of our workes but of our strength not of our life only but of our nature which being at first deliver'd into our hands entire and pure cannot become degenerate without the offence of those who did first betray so great a trust committed unto them Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God Exâ—…ni valdâ—… tuo with all thy might saith the Law it doth not only require us to love but to have mindes furnish'd with all strength to love God so that there may be life and vigoâ—… in our obedience and love of him The Law requires no
much set forward by the Word because therein is made more apparant to the Soule the Glory and the Power of God therefore the Two Prophets are said to Torment the inhabitants of the Earth and the Law is said to make men guilty and to kill to hew smite and destroy those whom it deales with all Secondly such a faith as the Divels have begotten by the Word and assented unto by the secret suggestions of the heart witnessing to it selfe that it hath deserved more then yet it feeles and this begets a fearefull expectation of being devoured surpriseth the heart with horrid tremblings and presumptions of the vengeance to come which the Apostle calls the Spirit of bondage and feare But all this being an Assent perforce extorted for wicked men confesse their sinnes as the Divels confessed Christ more out of Torment then out of Love to God or humiliation under his mighty hand amounts to no more then a Naturall Conviction Secondly there is a Spirituall and Evangelicall Conviction of the Guilt of sinne and the damnation due thereunto arising from the Law written in the heart and tempered with the apprehension of mercie in the new Covenant which begets such a paine under the Guilt of sin as a plaister doth to the impostumation which withall it cures such a Conviction as is a manuduction unto righteousnesse And that is when the Conscience doth not onely perforce feele it selfe dead but hath wrought in it by the Spirit the same affection towards it selfe for sinne which the word hath is willing to charge it selfe and acquit God to endite accuse arraigne testifie condemne it selfe meete the Lord in the way of his Iudgements and cast downe it selfe under his mighty hand That man who can in secret and truth of heart willingly and uncompulsorily thus stand on Gods side against sinne and against himselfe for it giving God the Gloâ—ie of his righteousnesse if he should condemne him and of his uâ—searchable and rich mercie that hee doth offer to forgive him I dare pronounce that man to haue the Spirit of Christ. For no man by nature can willingly and uprightly Owne damnation and charge himselfe with it as his due portion and most just inheritance This can never arise but from a deepe sense and hate of sinne from a most ardent zeale for the Glory and Righteousnesse of God Now then since the Conviction of sinne and of the death and Guilt thereof are not to drive men to despaire or blasphemie but that they may beleeve and lay hold on the righteousnesse of Christ which they are then most likely to doe when sinne is made exceeding sinfull and by consequence death exceeding deadly give mee leave to set forth in two words what this Guilt of sinne is that the necessitie of righteousnesse from Christ may appeare the greater and his mercie therein bee the more glorified Guilt is the Demerit of sinne binding and subjecting the person in whom it is to undergoe all the punishments legally due the reunto This Demerit is founded not only in the Constitution Will and Power of God over his owne Creatures of whom hee may justly require whatsoever obedience hee giveth power to performe but in the nature of his owne Holinesse and Iustice which in sinne is violated and turned from and this Guilt is after a sort Infinite because it springeth out of the aversion from an Infinite Good the violation of an infinite Holynesse and Iustice and the Conversion to the Creatures infinitely if men could live ever to commit adultery with them And as the Consequence and reward of obedience was the favour of God conferring life and blessednesse to the Creature so the wages of sinne which this Guilt assureth a sinner of is the wrath of God which the Scripture calleth Death and the Curse This Guilt being an Obligation unto punishment leadeth us to consider what the nature of that curse and death is unto which it bindeth us over Punishment bearing necessarie relation to a command the trangression whereof is therein recompenced taketh in these considerations First on the part of the Commander a will to which the Actions of the subject must conforme reveal'd and signified under the nature of a Law Secondly a justice which will and thirdly a power which can punish the transgressors of that Law Secondly on the part of the subject commanded there is requir'd first Reason and free-will originally without which there can be no sinne for though man by his brutishnesse and impotency which he doth coÌ„tract cannot make void the commands of God but that they now binde men who have put out their light and lost their libertie yet originally God made no law to binde under paine of sinne but that unto the obedience whereof hee gave reason and free-will Secondly a debt and obligation either by voluntarie subjection as man to man or naturall as the creature to God or both sealed and acknowledged in the covenants betweene God and man whereby man is bound to fulfill that law which it was originally enabled to observe Thirdly a forfeiture guilt and demerit upon the violation of that Law Thirdly and lastly the evill it selfe inflicted wherein we consider first the nature and qualitie of it which is to have a destructive power to oppresse and dis quiet the offender and to violate the integritie of his well being For as sinne is a violation offered by man to the Law so punishment is a violation retorted from the Law to man Secondly the Proportion of it to the offence the greatnesse whereof is manifested in the majestie of God offended and those severall relations of goodnesse patience creation redemption which he hath to man in the quality of the creature offending being the chiefe and lord of all the rest below him in the easinesse of the primitive obedience in the unprofitablenesse of the wayes of sinne and a world of the like aggravations Thirdly the end of it which is not the destruction of the creature whom as a creature God loveth but the satisfaction of justice the declaration of divine displeasure against sinne and the manifestation of the glory of his power and terrour So then Punishment is an evill or pressure of the Creature proceeding from a Law giver just and powerfull inflicted on a reasonable Creature for and proportionable unto the breach of such a Law unto the performance and obedience whereof the Creature was originally enabled wherein is intended the glory of Gods just displeasure and great power against sinne which hee naturally hateth Now these punishments are Temporall Spirituall and Eternall Temporall and those first without a man The vanitie of the Creatures which were at first made full of goodnesse and beautie but doe now mourne and grone under the bondage of our sinnes The wrath of God revealing it selfe from heaven and the curse of God over-growing the earth Secondly within him All the Harbingers and Fore-runners of death sicknesse paine povertie reproach feare and
in these regards First it is very wilfull it is as it were all will Therefore it is called in the Scripture The will of the flesh and the will of the Gentiles and the will of men And the will is the seate of strength especially seeing the will of man and the will of sinne or the flesh are in the Scripture phrase all one If a man had one will and sinne another mans will drew one way and sinnes another peradventure his power to resist might be stronger then sinnes power to command but when the will of sinne is in the will of man as a bias in a bowle as a flame in smoke as a weight or spring to an engine as spirits in the body to actuate and determine it to its owne way how can a man resist the will of sinne who hath no other then a sinfull will to resist by Secondly as sinne is wilfull so it is very passionate and lustfull which addes wings as it were to the commands of sinne The Apostle cals them passions and those working passions when we were in the flesh The motions of sinne did worke in our members There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lust and passions of lust which the Apostle cals vile lusts and burning lusts and affections and lusts that is very lustfull lusts Lust is in the best but these violent passions and ardencies of lust are shrewd symptomes of the raigne of sinne To be fierce implacable head-strong like the horse in the battaile and that not upon extraordinary distemper or surprizall as Ionah and Asa were but habitually so as on any occasion to discover it is by the Apostle put in amongst the Characters of those that denie the Power of Godlinesse For sinne must not hold its power where Godlinesse hath any Thirdly it hath Lawes and Edicts full of wisedome and cunning edg'd and temper'd with many encouragements and provocations to those that obey which as I said before the Scripture cals the Wages of sinne and pleasures of sinne by which Balaam was enticed to curse Gods people A Law is nothing else but a Rule or Principle of working which orders and moderates the course of a mans life And so sinne hath a way to carry men in and Principles to governe men by which Saint Paul cals Seculum the course of the world Such as are Rules of Example Custome good intentions Gods mercy taken by halses without respect to any conditions which it brings with it the common frailâ—…e of our nature that we are All men and that the best have their infirmities distinctions evasions justifications extenuations partiall strictnesse in some particulars the opus operatum or meere doing of dueties requit'd and many like most of which things I have spoken of more largely heretofore upon another Scripture Fourthly it is full of flattery to entice and woe a man cunning to observe all the best seasons to surprize the soule And though enticements be base yet they are very strong like a gentle showre or a soft fire they sinke and get in closer then if they should be more violent That which is as soft as oyle in the touch may be as sharpe as swords in the operation And therefore as a man is said in one place to be enticed by lust so elsewhere he is said to be driven and thrust on by lust Take heede to your selves lest you corrupt your selves lest thou lift up thine eyes to heaven and when thou seest the sunne and the moone and the starres shouldst be driven to worship them and serve them The Objects themselves have no coactive or compulsory power in them for they worke but as Objects which is the weakest way of working that is for Objects aâ—…e never totall Agents but onely partiall they doe never any more then cooperate with some facultie and power unto which they are suteable yet such is the strength of those lusts which are apt to kindle by those Objects that a man is said to be driven to idolatry by them All which false prophets can doe is but morall and by way of cunning and seducement yet such is the strength of those lusts which they flatter and worke upon by their impostures that they are said to Thrust a man out of the way which the Lord commanded him to walke in For as we use to say of the requests of a King so we may of the flatteries and allurements of sinne That they doe amount unto commands In one word sinne is throughly furnish'd with all sorts of Armour both for defence and opposition all strong holds all reasonings and imaginations and thoughts which can be contriv'd to secure it selfe and therefore no marvell if it have much strength from itselfe Secondly it hath much strength from Satan and the world which are the counsellers and aides of sinne which bring in constant supplies and provisions unto it Therefore lusts are said to be of the World and to bee earthly and divellish because the world and the divell supply them with constant fuell But lastly and principally lust hath much strength in and from us First because they are naturall unto us A mans sinne is himselfe it is call'd by the name of our Old man And therefore to be carnall and to walke as man to live after the lusts of the flesh and after the lusts of men are all one To live to sinne in one place is to live to our selves in another To crucifie fleshly affections in one place is to mortifie our earthly members in another To deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts in one place is to deny our selves in another To lay aside the sinne that doth so easily beset us in one place is to cast away our right eye and our right hand in another And therefore the wayes of sinne are call'd our owne waies and the lusts of the flesh our owne lusts and being our owne we love and cherish them No man ever hated his owne flesh neither can any man by nature hate his owne lusts unto which he is as truly said to be married as the Church is to Christ. And this serves much to set forth the power of sin For the love of the subject is the strength of the Soveraigne a king shall then certainely be obeyed when he coÌ„mands such things as it were difficult for him to prohibite Secondly lust hath from us weapons to set forward its strength The heart a forge to contrive and members instruments to execute the heart a wombe to conceive and the members midwives to bring forth lusts into act Lastly sinne must be very strong in us because we are by nature full of it So the Apostle saies of naturall men that they were filled with all unrighteousuesse and full of envie debate deceite c. and S. Peter that they have Eyes full of Adultery that
or filthinesse which is iâ—… the world through lust so do they serve to ad one grace to anâ—…ther and to make them abound in us till we come to chaâ—…ity which is the bond of perfection as Saint Peter shewes And againe Grow saith he in grace and in thâ—… 〈◊〉 of our Lord 〈◊〉 Christ. The more a 〈◊〉 doth abound in the knowledge of Christ who is the sâ—…mme fountaine â—…le treasurie of all the promises the more will he grow in grace and unto perfection For as some promises are in our hand and perform'd already as Rewards for our service past so others are still before our eyes to call and allure us as the price unto which we pâ—…este Be ye stedfast and unmoveable and abound alwaies in the worke of the Lord saith the Apostle for as much as you know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. Holding fast and going on hath a Crowne attending it The more we proceede in holinesse our salvation is still the Neerer unto us If we lose not the things which wee have wrought we shall receive a full reward THE VSE OF THE LAW ROM 7. 13. Was that then which is good made death unto me God forbid But sinne namely was made death unto me that it might appeare sinne working death in me by that which is good That sinne by the Commandement might become exceeding sinfull HEre we finde the Originall discovery of all that Sinfulnesse of sinne which wee have hitherto insisted upon namely the manifesting and working property which is in the Law of God It will bee therefore very requisite by way of Appendixe to the preceding Treatise and of manuduction to the consequent to unfeld out of these words The uâ—…e of the Law by which we shall more distinctly understand the scope and purpose of the Holy Ghost in loading the spirit of man with tâ—…e vanity of the Creature and in shutting up the conscience under the sinfulnesse of sinne both which have respect unto the Law that as an effect of the cursing and this of the Convincing power thereof and yet in both nothing intended by God but Peace and Mercie The Apostle in the beginning of the Chapter shewes that we are by nature subject to the Law and death which is an unavoidable consequent of the breach thereof even as the wife is to her husband as long as he liveth And that by Christ we are delivered from that subjection who hath shine our former husband and taken him out of the way as the Apostle elsewhere speakes Now because this doctrine of justification by faith in Christ and deliverance from the Law by him was mainely opposed by the Iewes and was indeed that chiefe stumbling blocke which kept them from Christianitie which I take it was the reason why the false brethren under pretence the better to worke on that people to pacifie affections and reconcile parties and ferruminate the Churches together would have mingled the Law with Christ in the purpose of Iustification as the papids now upon other reasons doe Therefore the Apostle who was very zealous for the Salvation of his brethren and kiâ—…sfolke according to the flesh labours to deerâ—… thâ—…s doctrine from two maine objections in this Chapter which it seemes the Iewes did use against it The ground of both is tacitely implied and it is the same generall hypothesis or supposition that all deliverance is from evill and carries necessary relation to some mischiefe which it presupposeth Therefore if that doctrine be true which teacheth deliverance from the Law then it must be granted that the Law is evill for to be unsubjected to that which is good is no deliverance but a wilde and bâ—…utish loosenesse Now evill is but two fold either sinne or death So then if the Law be evill it must be either sinne or death The former objection is made vers 7. What shall wee say then is the Law sinne that we should now heare of a deliverance from it Doth not the Scripture account the Law a priviledge an honour an ornament to a people and from the Iustnesse and Holinesse of the Law conclude the dignity and greatnesse of a nation What nation is so great saith Moses which hath statutes and iudgements so righteous as I set before you this day He shâ—…weth his word unto Iacob his statutes anâ—… iudgements unto Israel He hath not dealt so with every nation saith David I sent unto them Honorabilta Legis saith the Lord the honorable and great things of my Law but they were counted as a strange thing And is that which Moses and the Prophets esteemed a priviledge and honour become now a yoke and burden Shall wee admit a doctrine which over-throwes the Law and the Prophets To this the Apostle answeres God for bid The Law is not sinne for I had not knowne sinne but by the Law It is true sinne tooke occasion by the Law to become more sinfull vers 8. but this was not occasio data but arrepta no occasion naturally offered by the law but perversly taken by sinne whose venomous property it is to suck poison out of that which is holy So then the Law is not sinne though by accident it enrage sinne For of itselfe it serveth onely to discover and reveale it ver 9. But as the Gospell as well when by mens perversnesse it is a savour of dâ—…ath as when by its owne gratious efficacie it is a savour of life is both wayes a sweete savour So the Law either way when by it selfe it discovereth and when by accident it enrageth sin is still Holy lust and Good ver 11 Vpon this followes the second Objection in the words of the Text. Is that which is good made death unto me If a deliverance presuppose an evill in that from which we are deliver'd and no evill but belongs either to sinne or death then admitting a deliverance from the Law if it be good in respect of holinesse it must needs be evill in the other respect and then that which is good is made death unto me And this casts a more heavie aspersion and dishonour upon God then the former that he should give a Law meerely to kill men and make that which in its nature is good to be mortall in its use and operation Wine strong waters hard meates are of themselves very good to those purposes unto which they are proper yet under pretence of their goodnesse to craâ—…me the stomicke of a sucking infant with them would not be kindnesse but crueltie because they would not in that case comfort or nourish but kill Gold is good of it selfe but to fetter a man with a chaine of gold would be no bounty but a mockery So to conceive God to publish a Law good indeed in it selfe but deadly to the subjects and to order that which is holy in its nature to be harmefull and damnable to the Creature in its use is so odious an aspersion
Two expositions I conceive may be given of these words both which tend to cleare that use of the Law which wee are upon First where there is a Mediator there must be parties at variance that are two by their differences and disagreements and not one This then shewes first for what reason the Law was promulgated namely to convince men of their offences which had separated between them and God who were at the first one in peace and mutuall affections towards each other Secondly the words following shew why the Law was published in the Hand of a Mediator because God is one Though the law serve to convince men thus of their sinfull variance with God yet they should not thereupon despaire and sinke under the feare of his wrath for as he made a Covenant of Promise to Abraham and his seede so he is the same God still One in his Grace and Mercy towards sinners As a Mediator doth shew that men by sinne are at variance with God so doth he shew likewise that God by Grace is at unitie with men For when the party offended sends a mediator to him who had done the offence to parly and make tender of a reconcilement two things doe herein manifestly appeare First that before this there was a breach or else there would have beene no neede of a Mediator Secondly that notwithstanding that breach yet the party offended from whom the Mediator comes is at unitie and peace againe so that though a mediator is not of one but of disagreeing parties yet God is one that is He in sending this Mediator doth declare to mankinde that Hee is at peace and unity with them againe if they will accept of the reconcilement A second exposition may be thus A Mediator is not of One. By One here may haply bee understood not one Party but one matter businesse or Covenant And then the meaning runnes thus As the Lord hath published Two Covenants A Promise to Abraham and a Law to Israel so hee hath appointed Two Mediators of those covenants or businesses which hee had to communicate to men Moses the Mediator of the Law for the Law came by Moses and Christ the Mediator of the Promise or better covenant For Grace came by Iesus Christ Moses the representative and Christ the substantiall and reall Mediator But now though there be two Covenants and two Mediators and they so much in appearance contrary unto one another as that God may in them seeme inconstant and to have by one cancell'd and repented for the other yet all this while God is One that is He is the same in both Covenants carries the same purpose and intention both in the Lawe and in the Gospell namely a benevolence and desire of reconcilement with men Vers. 21. Is the Law then against the Promises of God God forbid for if there had beene a Law given which could have given Life verily Righteousnesse should have beene by the Law Here wee have an Objection of the Iewes If God be One then Hee doth not speake one thing and meane another pronounce the Law in some words and require them to be otherwise understoode And then it will follow that the Law is against the Promises for in the common construct on and sense of the words it is manifestly contrary This Objection the Apostle doth retort upon them In as much as the Law would be against the Promise if it should stand for a rule of Iustification by it selfe and not for a maâ—uduction unto Christ therefore God being one and the same constant in his Promise for Righteousnesse which he made to Abraham therefore they were in a manifest errour who sought for righteousnesse from the Law because that would evidently inferre one of these two things either inconstancie in Gods Will or inconsistencie in his acts The substance and strength of the Apostles answer I take to be this Contrariety is properly in the Nature of things considered by themselves Now though there bee in the Law an accidentall contrariety to the Gospell by reason of the sinne of man which hath brought weaknesse upon it so that the Law now curseth and the Gospell blesseth the Law now condemneth and the Gospell justifieth yet of it selfe it is not contrary For if any Law would have given life and righteousnesse this would have done it That which is Ex se considered in it selfe Apt to carry to the same end whereunto another thing carries is not of it selfe contrary thereunto but the Law is of it selfe apt to carry unto Life and Righteousnesse as now the Gospel doth therefore of it selfe it is not contrary to the Gospell but that difference which is is from the sin of mâ—…n which hath weakned the Law But now the Law in the hand of a Mediâ—…tor is not onely not against but it is for the Promises Suppose we two wayes unto one Citie whereof the one is Accidentally either by bogges or inclosures or some other reasons become utterly unpassable the other smooth and easie these are not contrary wayes considered in themselves for of themselves they point both unto one place but onely contrary in respect of travellers because the one will de facto bring to the Citie which the other by accident is unable to doe So heere the Law is one way tâ—… Heaven the Gospell another but sinne hath made the Law weake and unpassable which otherwise of it selfe would have sufficed unto righteousnesse And yet even thus the Law is not against the Promise for the impossibilitie which we finde in the Law enforceth us to bethinke our selves of a better and surer way to bring us unto righteousnesse and salvation And this the Apostle shewes in the next words Vers. 22. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sinne that the Promise by Faith of Iesus Christ might bee given to them that beleeve Though Sinne have made the Law contrary to the Promise in that it curseth and condemneth and concludeth men under sin and wrath yet such is the mercy of God that he hath subordinated all this and made it subservient unto the Gospell that the Promise thereby may be applyed and advanced For it is all ordered to no other purpose but that men might beleeve and inherite the Promises But what Doth the Law make men beleeve or beget Faith Formally it doth not but by way of preparation and manuduction it doth As when a man findes one way shut up he is thereby induc'd to enquire after another To summe up all that hath beene spoken touching the use of the Law in a plaine similitude Suppose wee a Prince should proclaime a pardon to all Traitors if they would come in and pleade it and after this should send forth his officers to attach imprison examine convince arraigne threaten and condemne them Is hee now contrary to himselfe hath he â—…epented of his mercy No but hee is unwilling to lose his mercie hee is desirous to have the honour of his mercy acknowledged unto him
so that sin being once committed there must be a double act to justification the suffering of the curse and the fulfilling of righteousnesse a new Vnto a double apprehension of Iustice in God there must answere a double act of righteousnesse in man or in his surety for him To Gods punishing Iustice a righteousnesse Passive whereby a man is rectus in curia againe and to Gods commanding Iustice a righteousnesse Active whereby he is reconciled and made acceptable to God againe The one a satisfaction for the injury we have done unto God as our Iudge the other the performance of a service which we owe unto him as our Maker Secondly In Christ as a Mediator there is a merit likewise belonging unto both these acts of obedience in Him by vertue of his infinite person which was the Priest and of his Divine nature which was the Altar that offered up and sanctified all his Obedience By the redundancie of which Merit after satisfaction thereby made unto His Fathers Iustice for our debt there is further a purchase made of Grace and Glory and of all good things in our behalfe He was made of a woman made under the law First toredeeme those that were under the Law which is the satisfaction and payment He hath wrought Secondly That we might receive the Adoption or the inheritance of Sonnes which is the Purchase He hath made for us Thirdly there is the Intercession of Christ as our Advocate which is the presenting of these his Merits unto his Father for us whereby He applyeth and perpetuateth unto us the effects of them namely our deliverance and our Adoption or Inheritance So then the life of righteousnesse consists in two things First The remission of sinne and thereupon deliverance from the Guilt of it and curse of the Law against it which is an effect of the satisfaction of Christs Merit Secondly Adoption or the acceptation of our persons and admittance into so high favour as to be heires of Salvation and Happinesse which is the effect of the Redundancie of Christs Merit there being a greater excesse and proportion of vertue in his obedience then of malignitie or unpleasingnesse in our disobedience To consider both these together wee are delivered First from Sinne and the Guilt or Damnation thereof There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus their sinnes are blotted out and forgotten and cast into the depth of the Sea and done away as a cloud or mist by the heate of the Sunne they are forgiven and covered and not imputed unto us they are finished and made an end of they were all laid upon Christ and Hee hath beene a propitiation for them and his flesh a vaile betweene them and his Fathers wrath and in opposition hereunto His obedience and righteousnesse is made ours Hee is made unto us righteousnesse and wee are the righteousnesse of God in Him we are cloathed with Him and appeare in the sight of God as parts and portions of Christ himselfe for the Church is the fulnesse of Him that filleth all in all Secondly wee are consequently delivered from the Law so farre forth as it is the strength of sinne and are constituted under another and better regiment which the Apostle calls Grace or the Law of Faith First we are delivered from the Law as a Covenant of righteousnesse and expect Iustification and Salvation onely by faith in Him who is The Lord our Righteousnesse Christ is the End of the Law for Righteousnes We are righteous by the righteousnesse of God without the Law that is not that righteousnesse by which God as God is righteous but by a righteousnesse which we have not by nature or in our selves or from any principles of our creation which Saint Paul calls Mans own righteousnes but from the meer grace gift of God Secondly hereupon consequently wee are delivered from the rigor of the Law which consisteth in two things first it requireth perfect obedience secondly perpetuall obedience Wee must doe all things that are written in the Booke of the Law and we must continue to doe them Now from this we are delivered though not as a Dutie yet as such a necessity as brings death upon the faile in it When a mans conscience doth summon him before Gods tribunall to bee justified or condemned he dares not trust his owne performances because no flesh can be righteous in Gods sight Though the Gospell both command and promise and worke holynesse in us yet when wee goe to finde out that to which we must stand for our last tryall by which wee resolve to expect remission of sinnes and inheritance with the Saints there is so much pollution and fleshly ingredients in our best workes that we dare trust none but Christs owne adequate performance of the Law whereby wee are delivered from the rigor and inexorablenesse thereof That inherent and habituall exactnesse which the Law requireth in our persons in supplied by the merit of Christ that actuall perfection which it requireth in our services is supplyed by the incense and intercession of Christ. And though wee are full of weaknesse all our righteousnesse as a menstruous cloth many ragges and remnants of the old Adam cleave still unto us and we are kept under that captivitie and unavoydable service of sinne which hee sold us under yet this Priviledge and Immunitie we have by Christ that our desires are accepted that God spareth us as Sonnes that Christ taketh away all the iniquitie of our Holy things that when we faint he leads us when we fall he pitties us and heales us when we turne and repent he forgives accepts welcomes and feasts us with his compassions Thirdly we are delivered from the curse of the Law Christ being made a curse for us and the chastisement of our peace being laid on him From punishments eternall He hath delivered us from the wrath to come and from punishments Temporall as formall punishments When we are judged of the Lord we are chastened but wee are not condemned they are for declaration of Gods displeasure but not of his fury or vengeance they are to amend us and not to consume us blowes that polish us for the Temple and conforme us unto our Head and weane us from the world not tastes and forerunners of further wrath They are like Iobs dunghill set up to see a Redeemer upon And besides this as Sons of promise we are blessed with faithfull Abraham have interest in that pretious vertue of the Gospell which makes all things worke together for the best to those that love God Lastly we are hereupon consequently delivered from those effects of the spirit of bondage which come along with the Law And they are principally three First To manifest to the Conscience that a man is in a desperate and damnable condition in stead whereof there comes along with Christ
projects and machinations against his Church but thou onely His heele the vitall parts shall be above thy reach And this Christ did not for himselfe but for us The God of Peace saith the Apostle shall bruize Sathan under your feete Hee shall be under our feete but it is a greater strength then ours which shall keepe him downe The victorie is Gods the benefit and insultation ours If He come as a Serpent with cunning craftinesse to seduce us Christ is a stronger Serpent a Serpent of Brasse and what hurt can a Serpent of flesh doe unto a Serpent of Brasse If as a Lion with rage and fierie assaults Christ is a stronger Lion A Lion of the Tribe of Iudâ—… the victorious Tribe Who shall goe up for us against the Cananites first Iuda shall goe up If hee come as an Angel of light to perswade us to presume and sinne The mercie of Christ begets feare The Love of Christ constraineth us Sathan can but allure to disobedience but Christ can constraine us to live unto him If he come as an Angell of darkenesse to terrifie us with despairing suggestions because wee have sinned If any man sinne wee have an Advocate and who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is Christ that is deade yea rather that is risen againe who also sitteth at the right hand of God to make intercession for us Thirdly but I have an enemie within me which is the most dangerous of all The World may be if not overcome yet endured and by being endured it will at last bee overcome The Divell may bee driven away for a time though he returne againe but the flesh is an Inhabiting sinne and an encompassing sinne If I breake through it yet it is still within me and if I reject it yet it is still about me Saint Paul who triumphed and insulted over all the rest over the World Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ Shall tribulation or distresse or persecution or famine or nakednes or perill or sword nay in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us Over Sathan and Hell O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victorie Even hee cryes out against this enemie his owne flesh O wrethed man that I am who shall deliver mee from this body of Death Yet even against this unremoveable and unvanquishable corruption the Life of Christ is safe in us upon these grounds First we have his Prayer which helpes to subdue it and to sanctifie our nature Sanctifie them by thy Truth Secondly wee have His Vertue and Power to purge it out and to cure it The Sunne of righteousnesse hath healing in his wings Thirdly wee have His office and sidelitie to appeale unto and where to complaine against our owne flesh He undertooke it as a part of his businesse to purge and clense his people Fourthly we have His Spirit to combate and wrestle with it and so by little and little to crucifie it in us and lastly we have his Merits as Sanctuarie to flie unto to forgive them here and hereafter to expell them Fourthly for all this I am full of doubts and restlesse feares which do continually fight within me and make my spirit languish and sinke and that which may decay may likewise expire and vanish away To this I answer that which inwardly decayeth and sinketh at the foundation is perishable but that which in its operations and quoad nos in regard of sense and present complacencie may seeme to decay doth not yet perish in its substance A Cloude may hide the Sunne from the eye but can never blot it out of his orbe Nay Spirituall griefe is to that light which is sowen in the heart but like harrowing to the Earth it macerates for the time but withall it tends to joy and beautie There is difference betweene the paines of a woman in travell and the paines of a goute or some mortall disease for though that be as extreeme in smart and present irkefomenesse as the other yet it containes in it and it proceedes from a Matter of Ioy And all the wrestlings of the Soule with the enemies of Salvation are but as the paines of a woman in travell when Christ is fashioned when the issue iâ—… victorious and with gaine the soule no more remembreth those afflictioâ—…s which were but for a moment Fifthly and lastly I have fallen into many and great sinnes and if all sinne be of a mortall and venemous operation how can my Life in Christ consist with such heavie provocations and apostacies To this in generall I answer If the sight of thy sinnes make thee looke to Christ If â—…hou canst beleeve all things are possible It is possible for thy greatest apostacies to vanish like a Cloud and to be forgotten Though sinne have weakned the Law that we cannot be saved by that yet it hath not weakned Faith or made that unable to save For the strength of sinne is the Law it hath its condemning vertue from thence Now by Faith we are not under the Law but under Grace When once wee are incorporate into Christs body and made partakers of the new Covenant though we are still under the Laws conduct in regard of its obedience which is made sweete and easie by Grace yet we are not under the laws maledâ—…ction So that though sinne in a Beleever bee a transgression of the Law and doth certainely incurre Gods displeasure yet it doth not de fectâ—… though it doe de merito subject him to wrath and vengeance because every justified man is a person priviledg'd though not from the duties yet from the curses of the Law If the King should gratiously exempt any subject from the Lawes penaltie and yet require of him the Lawes obedience if that man offend he bâ—…ch transgreâ—…sed the Law and provoked the displeasure of the Prince who haply will make him some otheâ—… way to 〈◊〉 it yet his offence doth not nullyfie his priviledge nor voyde the Princes grace which gave him an immunitie from the foâ—…feitures though not from the observance of the Law Adultery amongst the Iewes was punished with Death and Theft onely wtth restitution amongstus Adulterie is not punished with Death and Theft is Now then though a Iew and an Englishman be both bound to the obedience of both these Lawes yet a Iew is not to die for Theft nor an Englishman for Adultery because wee are not under the Iudiciall Lawes of that people nor they under our Lawes Even so those sinnes which to a man under the covenant of workes do dâ—… facto bring Death if he continue alwayes under that covenant doe onely create a Merit of Death in those who are under the Covenant of Grace but doe not actually exclude them from Salvation because without infidelitie no sinne doth peremptorily and quoad eventum
consent unto and delight in the Law feele a warre in his members mourne and cry out under the sense of his owne wretchednesse yet for all this he is still an unregenerate man an opinion tending directly to the honour of Pelagianisme and advancement of nature which made Saint Austen in that ingenuous and noble worke of hiâ—… retractations to recant it and in all his writings against the Pelagians in which as in other polemicall workes where the vigilancy of an enemy and feare of advantages makes him more circumspect how he speaks his expositions of Scripture are usually more literall and solid then where he allowes himselfe the scope of his owne conceits He still understandes those passages of the complaints of a regenerate man against his inherent concupiscence We are therefore to resolve that the opposition stands thus Once in my state of unregeneration I was without the law that is without the spirituall sense of the Law but when the Lord began to reveale his mercy to me in my conversion then he gave me eye to understand it in its native and proper compasse The Apostle was never quite without the Law being an Hebrew and bred up at thefeet of Gamaliâ—…l therefore the difference betweene being without the Law and the comming of the Law must be onely in modo exhibendi before he had it in the letter but after it came in its owne spirituall shape And there is some emphasis in the word caâ—…e denoting a vital moving penetrative power which the Law had by the spirit of life and which before it had not as it was a Dead letter Secondly wee must note the opposition betweene the two estates of Saint Paul In the first he was Alive and that in two respects A live in his performances able as he conceiv'd to performe the righteousnesse of the law without blaâ—…e Phil. 3. 6. A live in his Presumptions mispersuasions selfe-justifications conceits of righteousnesse and salvation Act. 26. 9. Phil. 3. 7. In the second estate Sinne revived I found that that was but a sopor a benumdnesse which was in my apprehension a death of sinne and I died had experience of the falsenesse and miseries of my presumptions The life of sinne and the life of a sinner are like the ballances of a paire of scoles when one goes up the other must fall downe when sinne lives the man must dye man and sinne are like Mâ—…entius his couples they are never both alive together Many excellent points and of great consequence to the spirits of men would rise out of these words thus unfolded as First that a man may have the Law in the Church wherein he lives in the letter of it and yet bee without the Law in the power and spirit of it by ignorance misconstructions false glosses and perverse wrestings of it as a covetous man may have the possession of monie and yet be without the vse and comforts of it 2. Cor. 3. 6. 2. Pâ—…t 3. 16. Matth. 5. 21. 22. 27. 28. 31. 32. 33. 38. Which should teach us to beware of Ignorance It makes the things which wee have unusefull to us If any man have the Law indeed hee will labour First to have more acquaintance with it and with God by it The more the Saints know of God and his will the neereâ—… communion doe they desire to have with him Wee see this heavenly affection in Iacob Gen. 32. 26. 29. Gen. 49. 18. in Moses Exod. 33. 12. 18. in David Psal 119. 18. 125. in the Spouse Cant. 1. 2. in Manoah Iud. 13. 17. in Paul 2. Cor. 5. 2. Phil. 3. 13. 14. As the Queene of She ba when shee had heard of the glory of Salomon was not content till she came to see it or as Absolom being restor'd from banishment and tasting some of his Fathers love was impatient till he might see his face so the Saints having something of Gods will and mercy revealed to them are very importunate to enjoy more Secondly to be more conformable unto it to Iudge and measure himselfe the oftner by it Psal. 119. 11. The law is utterly in vaine no dignity no benefit nor priviledge to a people by it if it be not obeyed Thirdly to love and praise God for his goodnesse in it Ioh. 14. 21. Secondly ignorance of the true meaning of the Law and resting upon false grounds doth naturally beget these two things First blinde zeale much active and in appearance unblameable devotion As it did here and elsewhere in Saint Paul Phil. 3. 6. Act. 22. 3. in the honourable women Act. 13. 50. in the Pharises Matth. 23. 15. in false brethren Col. 2. 23. in the Iewes that submitted not themselves to the righteousnesse of God Rom. 10. 2. 3. In the papists in their contentions for trash rigorous observation of their owne traditions out-sides and superinducements upon the pretious foundation Secondly strong mis-perswasions and selfe-justifications dependant upon our workes and rigid endeavors for salvation at the last Hos. 12. 8. Esai 48. 1. 2. 58. 2. 7. Amos 5. 18. 21. 25. Mic. 3. 11. 12. Zech. 7. 3. 4. 5. 6. Hos. 8. 2. 3. Luk. 18. 11. 12. unregenerat men are often secure men making principles and premises of their owne to build the conclusions of their Salvation upon But beware of it It is a desperate hazard to put eternity upon an adventure to trust in God upon other termes then himselfe hath proposed to be trusted in to lay claime to mercy without any writings or seales or witnesses or patents or acquittance from sinne to have the evidences of hell and yet the presumptions of heaven to be weary of one sabbath here and yet presume upon the expectation of an eternity which shall be nothing else but sabbath In the Civill Law Testes domestici Houshold witnesses who might in reason be presum'd parties are invalid and uneffectuall Surely in matters of Salvation if a man have no witnesse but his owne spirit misinform'd by wrong rules seduc'd by the subtilties of Satan and the deceite of his owne wicked heart carried away with the course of the world and the common prejudices and presumptions of foolish men they will all faile him when it shall be too late God will measure men by his owne line and righteousnesse by his owne plummet and then shall the Haile sweepe away the refuge of lies and waters over-flow the hiding place of those men that made a covenant with death Secondly beware of proud resolutions selfe love reservations wit distinctions evasions to escape the word these are but the weapons of lust but the exaltations of a fleshly minde but submit to the word receive it with meekenesse be willing to count that sense of scripture truest which most restraineth thy corrupt humors and crosseth the imaginations of thy fleshly reason Our owne weapons must be render'd up before the sword of the spirit which is the word of God will be on our
entred by Moses that sin might abound that is That that concupiscence which reigned without conviction before during the ignorance of the originall implanted Law might by the new edition and publication of that Law be knowne to be sinfull and thereby become more exceeding sinful to those who should be thus convinced of it that so the exceeding sinfulnesse of sinne might serve both the sooner to compell men to come to Christ and the Grace of Christ might thereby appeare to be more exceeding gratious for the Law was reviv'd and promulgated anew meerely with relation to Christ and the Gospell and therefore the Apostle saith It was added and ordained by Angels in the Hand of a Mediator or by the ministery of a Mediator Where there are three reasons to shew Gods Evangelicall purpose in the publication of the Law anew First it was not published alone but as an Additament with relation to the Evangelicall promise which was before made Secondly the service of Angels or Messengers which shewes that in the Law God did send from Heaven anew to instruct men and therein to take care of them and prepare them for salvation for Angels minister for this purpose that men might be heires of salvation Thirdly the ministry of a Mediator namely Moses who was Mediator in the Law with reference whereunto Christ is cald Mediator of a better Covenant and was faithfull as Moses Now where there is a Mediator appointed therein God declares his purpose to enter anew into a treaty with men and to bring them to termes of agreement and reconciliation with him Men were rebels against God held under the sentence of death and vengeance they are in darkenesse know not whither they goe are well pleasde with their owne estate give no heed to any that would call them out For this reason because God is willing to pull mē out of the fire he sends first Moses armed with thunder and brightnesse which can not be endur'd for the shining of Moses his face which the people could not abide denotes the exceeding purity and brightnesse of the Law which no sinner is able with peace to looke on and he shews them whither they are hastning namely to eternall death and like the Angell that met Balaam in a narrow roome shuts them in that either they must turne backe againe or else bee destroyed and in this fright and anguish Christ the mediator of a better covenant presents himselfe as a Sanctuary and refuge from the condemnation of the Law Secondly there is universalitie of men and in men universality of parts All men and every part of man shut up under the guilt and power of this sinne Both these the Apostle proves at large Iewes Gentiles all under sinne none righteous no not one all gone out of the way altogether become unprofitable none that doth good no not one Every mouth must be stopped all the world must be guilty before God all have sinned and come short or are destitute of his glory God hath concluded all in unbeliefe the Scripture hath shut up all under sinne this shewes the universality of persons The Apostle adds Their throate is an open sep◅lcher with their tongues they have used deceit the poyson of aspes is under their lips their mouth full of cursing and bitternesse their feete swift to shed bloud destruction and unhappinesse are in their wayes and the way of peace they have not knowne there is no feare of God before their eyes these particulars are enough to make up an Induction and so to inferre a universalitie of Parts Every purpose desire Imagination incomplete and inchoate notion every figment so the word properly signifies with reference whereunto the Apostle as I conceive cals sinne The creature of the Heart and our Saviour the Issue of the Heart is evill onely evill continually evill Originall sinne is an entire body an old man which word noteth not the impotencie or defects but the maturity wisedome cunning covetousnesse full growth of that sinne in us and in this man every member is earthly sensuall and divelish As there is chaffe about every corne in a field saltnesse in every drop of the sea bitternesse in every branch of wormewood so is ehere sinne in every faculty of man First looke into the minde you shall finde it full of vanitie wasting and wearying it selfe in childish impertinent unprofitable notions Full of ignorance and darknesse no man knoweth nay no man hath so much knowledge as to enquire or seeke after God in that way where he will bee found nay more when God breakes in upon the minde by some notable testimonie from his Creatures Iudgements or providence yet they like it not they hold it downe they reduce themselves backe againe to foolish hearts to reprobate and undiscerning mindes as naturally as hot water returnes to its former coldnesse Full of Curiositie Rash unprofitable enquiries foolish and unlearned questions profane bablings strife of words perverse disputes all the fruits of corrupt and rotten mindes Full of Pride and contradiction against the Truth oppositions of science that is setting up of philosophy and vaine deceit Imaginations thoughts fleshly reasonings against the spirit and truth which is in Iesus Full of domesticall Principles fleshlie wisedome humane Inventions contrivances super-inducements upon the pretious foundation of rules and methods of its owne to serve God and come to happinesse Full of Inconsistency and roving swarmes of empty and foolish thoughts slipperinesse and unstablenesse in all good motions Secondly looke into the Conscience you shall finde it full of Insensiblenesse the Apostle saith of the Gentiles That they were past feeling and of the Apostates in the latter times that they had their consciences seared with a hot iron which things though they be spoken of an Habituall and acqui◅'d hardnesse which growes upon men by a custome of sinne yet wee are to note that it is originally in the Conscience at first and doth not so much come unto it as grow out of it As that branch which at first shooting out is flexible and tender growes at last even by it owne disposition into a hard and stubbo◅e bow as those parts of the naile next the flesh which are at first softer then the rest yet doe of themselves grow to that hardnesse which is in the rest so the consciences of children have the seedes of that insensibility in them which makes them at last dea◅e to every charme and secure against all the thunder that is threatned against them Full of Impurity and disobedience dead rotten unsavorie workes Full of false and absurd excusations and accusations fearing where there is no cause of feare and acquitting where there is great cause of feare as Saint Pauls here did Looke into the Heart and you shall finde a very He◅ of uncleannesse Full of deepe and unsearchable deceit and wickednesse Full of hardnesse no sinnes no judgements no mercies no
Law for Lawes are made to binde and hold men fast and therefore the Apostle cals lust a Law because it commands and holds under all our members to the obedience of it Therefore wicked men are call'd the Servants of sinne and the best of us are Captives that is unwilling servants Which notes such a strength of sinne as cannot ex toto be altogether withstood So much flesh and uncircumcisednesse as a man hath in him so much disabilitie likewise hath he to withstand sinne In the wicked it hath an absolutenesse an universall and uncontroled power First they cannot but sinne they can doe nothing but sinne Without faith it is impossible to please God and to the impure and uncleane every thing is uncleane His mercies cruell his prayers abomination his offerings the sacrifice of fooles Secondly if they seeme to forsake any sinne 't is not of hatred to that as a sinne for he that said Thou shalt not commit adultery said also Thou shalt not kill but it is because they preferre others before it A man that hath many concubines may so dote upon some particulars as that the rest haply may goe untouch'd or but cursorily saluted and yet that is no argument of hatred to them but of preferring the others So a mans hart may be so takē up with the pursuit of some Herodias some darling lust as that others may seeme utterly neglected and scorn'd when the truth is The hart that playes the adulterer with any sin doth indeed hate none Thirdly if by the power of the Word they be frighted from the sinne they most love yet lust will carry them to it againe as a Sow returneth to the mire or a man to his wife Fourthly if they should be so fir'd and terrified away that they durst never actually returne againe yet even then lust will make them wallow in speculatiue uncleannesse their thoughts their delights their sighs their byas would still hanker the other way As lust may dog and pester and overtake a holy man that hates it and yet hee hates it still so the Word may frightand drive a wicked man from the sinne hee loves and yet still hee loves it Fifthly this sinne as it keepes men in love with all sinne so it keepes men off from all good duties It is as a chaine upon all our faculties an iron gate that keepes out any good thought or poysons it when it comes in In the faithfull themselves likewise it is exceeding strong by antiperistasis from the Law to deceive captivate sell as a slave to make him doe that which he hated and allowed not and not doe that which he would and lov'd It may seeme a paradoxe at the first but it is a certaine truth Originall sinne is stronger in the faithfull then those very Graces which they have received Vnderstand it thus A man giveth to a prodigall sonne a great portion into his owne hands and then gives over the care of him and leaves him to himselfe iin this Case though the money of it selfe were sufficient to keepe him in good quality yet his owne folly and the Crowes that haunt the carkasse those sharking companions that cleave to him will suddenly exhaust a great estate So if the Lord should give a man a stocke of Grace as much as David or Paul had and there stop and furnish him with no further supplyes but give over the care and protection of him his lusts are so strong and cunning as they would suddenly exhaust it all and reduce him to nothing For this is certaine that to be preserved from the strength of our owne lusts we have not onely use of the good graces which God hath given us already per modum principij inhaerentis but of a continued support and under propping per modum principij adsistentis of those daily succours and supplies of the Spirit of Grace which may goe before us and leade into all truth and teach us the way which we are to walk in which may stil say to our lusts in our bosome as he did to Satan at the right hand of Iehoiada The Lord rebuke thee that may still whisper in our eares that blessed direction This is the way walke in it Though a man were able to devoure as much at one meale as was spent upon Bel the Idoll yet he would quickly perish without further supplyes so though a man should have a great portion of Grace and then be given over to himselfe that would not preserve him from falling againe Grace in us is but like the putting of hot water into cold it may warme it for the time but the water will reduce it selfe to its wonted temper cold is predominant even when the water scalds with heate but that which keepes water hot is the preserving of fire still about it so it is not the Graces which the best of us receive if God should there stop and leave us to them and our selves together that would overcome sinne in us but that which preserves us is his promise of never failing us of putting under his hand of renewing his mercies daily to us of healing our back slidings of following us with his goodnes mercy all the dayes of our life of keeping us by his power unto saluation through faith that same which Fulgentius excellently calls Iuge Auxilium the daily ayde and supply of Grace For Grace doth not onely prevent a wicked man to make him righteous but followes him least hee become wicked againe not onely preuent him that is fallen to rayse him but follow him after he is risen that he fall not againe Consider further what a multitude and swarme of lusts and members this body of sinne hath and how they concurre in the unitie of one body too For this is worth the nothing that sometimes they are cald in the singular number sinne to note their unitie and conspiration and sometimes in the plurail number lusts and members to note their multitudes and serviceablenesse for severall purposes And what can bee stronger then an Army consisting of multitudes of men and weapons reduc'd all to a wonderfull unitie of mindes ends and order So then both in regard of its regall authoritie of its edicts and lawes of government of its multitude of members and unitie of body originall sinne must needs be very strong Ninthly consider the madnesse of this sinne The heart of man saith Salomon is full of evill and madnesse is in his heart while he lives Insania is a generall word and hath two kinds or species of madnesse in it madnesse or unsoundnesse in passions which is furor rage and fiercenes and madnesse or unsoundnesse in the Intellectuals which is Amentia folly or being out of ones right mind And both these are in originall sinne First it is full of fiercenesse rage precipitancy when ever it sets it selfe on worke the driving thereof is like the driving of Iehu very furious This disposition
and you shall finde more madnesse and tempest in him then in the Sea into which he was throwne Angry exceeding angry at Gods mercy to Ninivie and with a strange uniformitie of passion in a contrary occasion as angry at Gods severity to the Gourd That which made Iob though before full of impaciency in some particular fits to lay his hand on his mouth and reply no more which was Gods debatement and expostulation with him Ionah regarded not but reproves and replyes with much madnesse of heart upon God himselfe I doe well to be angry even unto death So belluine and contumacious are the mindes of men set upon their owne end that though God himselfe undertake the cause they will out-face his arguments and stand on their owne defence Asa was a holy King his heart was perfect with the Lord all his dayes yet when the Prophet sent from God told him of his folly in entertaining leagve with the Syrians and depending upon their confederacies It is said that he imprisoned the Prophet and was in a rage or in a tempestuousnesse against him Theodosius was a holy and excellent Prince and amongst all other graces for none more eminent then for lenitie and compassion yet so farre did his furie kindle upon occasion of an uproare at Thessalonica where one of his servants had been slaine that he commanded an universall massacre without distinction to passe upon the City where in a very short space of three houres there were seven thousand men butchered by the Emperours Edict and the City fill'd with the blood of Innocents And this should teach us to keepe the stricter watch over our owne hearts since such excellent men as these have fallen since so many occasions may throw us into the like distemper since the sinne of our nature is but like a sleeping Lyon or at best but like a wounded Lion any thing that awakens and vexeth it begets rage and furie to be the more circumspect over our selves and the more jealous of our owne passions in those particular cases especially wherein this fiâ—…e is most apt to kindle First when thou art in disputation engag'd upon a just quarrell to vindicate the truth of God from heresie and distorsion looke unto thy heart set a watch over thy tongue be ware of wild-fiâ—…e in thy zeale take heed of this madnesse of thiâ—…e evill nature Much advantage the Divell may get euen by disputations for the truth When mâ—…n dispute against those that oppose themselves as the Disciples against the Samaritans with thunder and fire from heaven with railing and reviling speeches such as the Angell durst not give unto Satan himselfe when men shall forget the Apostles rule to instruct those that oppose themselves with meeknes and to restore those that are fallen with the spirit of meeknes When tongve shal be sharpned against tongue and pen poisoned against pen when pamphlets shall come forth with more teeth to bite then arguments to convince when men shall follow an adversarie as an undisciplin'd Dog his game with barking and bawling more then with skill or cunning this is a way to betray the truth and to doe the Divell service under Gods colours It is a grave observation which Sulpitius Severus makes of the councel at Ariminum consisting of foure hundred Bishops whereof eighty were Arians and the rest Orthodox when after much treaty and agitation nothing was concluded but either party kept immoveable to his owne tenent It was at last resolv'd that the sides should severally dispatch an embassage to the emperour of ten men apiece who should make relation of their faith and opinions And here now grew the disadvantage for saith hee the Arians sent Aged men cunning and able to manage their employment to the best but on our part there were young men sent of little learning and of strong passions who being vex'd and provok'd by the adverse partie spoild their owne businesse though farre the better with imprudent and intemperate handling Secondly when thou art upon any civill controversie or debate for matter of right looke unto thy heart take heed of that seed of madnesse which lies lurking in it lest upon occasion of lawfull controversie there breake out rage and revenge upon the persons of one another It is not for nothing that the Apostle saith There is utterly a fault amongst you because you goe to Law with one another 1. Cor. 6. 7. Why The Apostle doth plainely allow Iudicature vers 1. A man may go to law before the Saints they may iudge small matters and things that pertaine to this life vers 2. 3. 4. And for any man from such a place to inferre the unlawfulnesse of sueing to publick justice for his right is a piece of Anabaptisme and folly justly punished with the losse of his right What then is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Impotency and defect which the Apostle blameth in them It consisteth in two things first their going to law before Heathen Iudges thereby exposing the profession of Christianity to imputations of scisme divisions and worldlinesse amongst the enemies of it In which case rather then put a rub unto the progresse of the Gospell by giving unreasonable men occasion to censure the truth thereof by their altercations and making the ministery evill spoken oâ—… by their scandals they were to suffer and to beare wrong For those words Why doe you not rather take wrong and suffer your selves to bee defrauded are not a Positive precept as Iulian the Apostate objected scornefully to the Christians unlesse it be in smaller injuries which may with more wisedome be borne by patience then by contention repaid or overcome but onely a Comparative precept that a man should rather choose to leave his name life estate goods interests utterly unvindicated then by defending them unavoydably to bring a scandall upon the Crosse of Christ. Secondly which is to my present purpose Their going to law though in itselfe Iust when before competent and fit judges had yet an accidentall vitiousnesse that by their inadvertencie did breake out of their evill hearts and cleave unto it and that was their litigations ranne from the businesses unto the persons It brake forth into violence and wrong against one another much perturbation of minde revengefull and circumventing projects shew themselves under the colour of legall debatements Nay saith the Apostle you doe wrong and defraud and that your brethren Such a notable frowardnesse and rage lyes in the natures of men that without much caution and watchfulnesse it will bee blowne up into a flame even by honest and just contentions Thirdly In Differences upon private conversation looke to your hearts give not the raines too much to anger or displeasure to suspicions or misconstructions of your neighbours person or courses give not the water passage no not a little Be Angry saith the Apostle but sinne not let not the sunne goe downe upon your wrath It is not a
more love then strength therefore if it did not of us require strength to love but onely suppose it it could require no love neither for the Apostle tels us that by nature we are without strength So that if the meaning of the Law be onely this Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all the strength which thou hast and not this Thou shalt love him with all the strength that I require thee 〈◊〉 have and that I at first gave thee so that the strength and faculty as well as the love and duty may câ—…dere sub prâ—…cepto fall under the command the meaning of the Law would amount but to this Thou shalt not or needest not to love the Lord thy God at all because thou hast no strength so to doe and art not to be blamed for having none Thirdly it is not the being voluntary or involuntâ—… that doth make a thing sinfull or not sinfull but being opposite to the Rule which requires complete strength to serve God withall Now all a mans strength is not in his will the understanding affections and bodie have their strength which failing though the will bee never so prompt yet the worke is not done with that perfection which the Law requires yet withall wee are to note in this point two things First That originall sinne is â—…do voluntarie too because brought in by that will which was originally ours for this is a true rule in divinity Voluntas capitis totius naturae voluntas reputatur that Adams will was the will of all mankind and therfore this sinne being voluntarie in him and hereditarie unto us is esteemed in some sort voluntary unto us too Secondly that a thing may be voluntarie two wayes First efficienter when the will doth positively concurre to the thing which is done Secondly Deficienter when the will is in fault for the thing which is done though it were not done by it selfe For wee must note that all other faculties were at first appointed to be subject to the will were not to move but upon her allowance and conduct and therefore when lust doth prevent the consent and command of the will it is then manifest that the will is wanting to her office for to her it belongs to suppresse all contumacie and to forbid the doing of any illegall thing And in this sense I understand that frequent speech of Saint Austen That sinne is not sin except it be voluntarie that is sinne might altogether be prevented if the will it selfe had its primitive strength and were able to exercise uprightly that office of government and moderation over the whole man which at first it was appointed unto Which thing the same Father divinely hath expressed in his confessions What a monstrous thing is this saith he that the minde should command the body and be obeyed and that it should command it selfe and bee resisted His answer is The will is not a totall will and therefore the command is not a totall command for if the will were so throughlie an enemie to lust as it ought to be it would not be quiet till it had dis-throned it These things being premised wee conclude That as our nature is universally vitiated and defil'd by Adam so that pollution which from him wee derive is not onely the languor of nature the condition and calamitie of mankinde the wombe seed fomenter formative vertue of other sins but is it self truly and properly sin or to speak in the phrase of the Church of England hath of it selfe the nature of sin First where there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transgression there is sin in this sin there is more for there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rebellion and antipathie against the whole Law therefore concupiscence is sin Secondly That which inferres death and makes men naturally children of wrath is sinne but lust and fleshly concupiscence reviving bringeth death and wrath therefore it is sinne Thirdly where there is an excesse of sinne that thing must needs be sinfull but concupiscence by the commandement is exceeding sinfull ergo Fourthly that which is hatefull is evill and sinfull for God made all things beautifull and good and therefore very lovely but concupiscence is hatefull what I hate that I do Fifthly that which quickneth to all mischiefe and indisposeth to all good must needs be sinfull as shee that tempteth and solliciteth to adulterie may justly be esteem'd a harlot but concupiscence tempteth draweth enticeth begetteth conceiveth indisposeth to good and provoketh to evill therefore it is sinne Sixthly that which is hellish and divelish must needs be sinnefull for that is an argument in the Scripture to prove a thing to be exceeding evil but concupiscence is even the Hell of our nature and lusts are divelish Therefore they are sinfull too Nemo se palpet saith Saint Austen desus Satanas est de Deo beatus Let no man sooth or flatter himselfe his happinesse is from God for of himselfe he is altogether diuelish Seventhly that which was with Christ crucified is sinne for hee bore our sinne is his body upon the tree but our flesh and concupiscence was with Christ crucified They that are Christs have crucified the flâ—…sh with the affections and lusts Therefore it is sin Lastly that which is washed away in Baptisme is sinne for Baptisme is for remission of sinnes but concupiscence and the body of sinne is done away in Baptisme Therefore it is sinne And this is the frequent argument of the ancient Doctors against the Pelagians to prove that infants had sinne in their nature because they were baptized unto the remission of sinnes To give some answer then to those pretended reasons To the first wee confesse that nothing can bee toto genere Necessarie and yet sinfull neither is originall sinne in that sort necessary to the nature in it selfe though to the nature in persons proceeding from Adam it be necessarie For Adam had free will and wee in him to have kept that originall righteousnesse in which wee were created and what was to him sinfull was to us likewise because wee all were one in him Wee are then to distingvish of naturall and necessarie for it is either primitive and created or consequent and contracted necessity the former would indeed void sin because God doth never first make things impossible and then command them but the latter growing out of mans owne will originally must not therefore nullifie the Law of God because it disableth the power of man for that were to make man the Lord of the Law To the second three things are to be answer'd First The sinfulnesse of a thing is grounded on its disproportion to the Law of God not to the will of man Now Gods Law sets bounds and moderates the operations of all other powers and parts as well as of the wil. And therfore the Apostle complaines of his sinfull concupiscence even when his wil was in a readines to desire
men change their glory for that which doth not profit forsake the Fountaine and hâ—…w outbroken Cisternes which will hold no water â—…owe nothing but winde and reape nothing but shame and reproach Our Saviour assures us that it is no valuable price to get the whole World by sione and Saint Austen hath assur'd us that the salvation of the World if possible oughtâ—…ot to be procurd by but an officious lie But now how many times doe we sinne even for base and dishonourable endâ—… lie for a farthing sweare for a complement swagger for a fashion flatter for a preferment murder for a revâ—…ge pawne our soules which are more worth then the whole frame of nature for a very trifle Seventhly all this evill hitherto staies at home but the great scandall that comes of sinne addes much to the life of it the perniciousnesse and offence of the example to others Scandall to the weake and that twofold an active scandall to mis-guide them Gal. 2. 14. 1. Cor. 8. 10. or a passive scandall to grieve them Rom. 14. 15. and beget in them jealousies and suspitions against our persons and professions Scandall to the wicked and that twofold also the one giving them occasion to blaspheme that holy Name and profession which we beare 2. Sam. 12. 14. 2. Cor. 6. 3. 4. 1. Pet. 2. 13. The other hardning and encouraging comforting and justifying them by our evill example Ezek. 16. 51 54. Eighthly the evill doth not reach to men onely but the scandall and indignity over-spreads the Gospell a great part of the life of sinne is drawne from the severall respects it hath to Gods will acknowledged When we sâ—…e not onely against the Law of Nature in our hearts but against the written Law nor onely against the truth but against the mercy and Spirit of God too this must be a heavy aggravation O what a hell must it bee to a soule in hell to recount so many Sabbaths God reached fâ—…rth his Word unto me so many Sermons he knock'd at my doore and beseeched me to be reconciled he woâ—…d me in his Word allured me by his promises expected me in much patience enriched me with the liberty of his owne pâ—…etious Oracles reached forth his blood to wash me poured forth his teares over me but against all this I have stopped the â—…are and pulled away the shoulder and hardned the heart and received all this grace in â—…ine and not withstanding all the raine which fell upon me continued barren still God might have cut me off in the wombe and made me there a brand of hell as I was by nature a Childe of wrath he might have brought me forth into the world out of the pale of his visible Church 〈◊〉 into a corrupted Synagogue or into a place full of ignorance atheisme and profanenesse but he hath cast my lot in a beautifull place and given me a goodly heritage and now hee requires nothing of me but to doe justly and worke righteousnesse and walke humbly before God and I requite evill for good to the hurt of mine owne soule Ninthly the manner of committing these sinnesis is full of life too Peradventure they are Kings have a court and regiment in my heart at best they will be Tyrants in mee they have been committed with much strength power service attendance with obstinacy frowardnesse perseverance without such sense sorrow or apprehension as things of so great a guiltinesse did require Lastly in good duties whereas grace should bee ever quick and operative make us conformable to our head walke worthy of our high calling and as becommeth godlinesse as men that have learned and received Christ how much unprofitablenesse unspiritualnesse distractions formality want of rellish failings intermissions deadnesse uncomfortablenesse do shew themselves How much flesh with spirit how much wantonnesse with grace how much of the world with the word how much of the weeke in the Sabbath how much of the bag or barne in the Temple how much superstition with the worship how wuch security with the feare how much vaine-glory in the honour of God in one word How much of my selfe and therefore how much of my sinne in all my services and duties which I performe These and a world the like aggravations serve to lay open the life of actuall sinnes Thus have I at large opened the first of the three things proposed namely that the spirit by opening the Rule doth convince men that they are in the state of sin both originall and actuall The next thing proposed was to shew what kinde of condition or estate the state of sinne is And here are two things principally remarkeable first it is an estate of most extreme impotency and disability unto any good Secondly of most extreme enmity against the holinesse and wayes of God First it is an estate of impotency and Disability to any good Paul in his pharisaicall condition thought himselfe able to live without blame Phil. 3. 6. But when the commandement came he found all his former moralities to have been but dung Our naturall estate is without any strength Rom. 5. 6. so weake that it makes the Law it selfe weake Rom. 8. 3. as unable to doe the workes of a spirituall as a dead man of a naturall life for wee are by nature Dead in sinne Eph. 2. 1. and held under by it Rom. 7. 6. And this is a wofull aggravation of the state of sinne that a man lies in mischiefe 1. Ioh. 5. 19. as a carkasse in rottennesse and dishonour without any power to deliver himselfe He that raised up Lazarus out of his grave must by his owne voyce raise up us from sinne The dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of man and they that heare shall live Ioh. 5. 25. All men are by nature strangers to the life of God Eph. 4. 18. and sorreiners from his household Eph. 2. 19. Able without him to doe Nothing no more then a branch is to beare any fruit when it is cut of from the fellowship of the roote which should quicken it Ioh. 15. 4. 5. In me saith the Apostle that is in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. 18. a man is as unable to breake through the debt of the Law or his subjection to death and bondage as a beast to shake of his yoke Act. 15. 10. or a dead man his funerall clothes Ioh. 11. 44. In one word so great is this impotencie which is in us by sinne that we are not sufficient to thinke a good thing 2. Cor. 3. 5. not able to understand a good thing nor to comprehend the light when it shines upon us 1. Cor. 2. 14. Ioh. 1. 5. Our tongues unable to speake a good word How can yee being evill speake good things Matth. 12. 34. Our eares unable to heare a good word To whom shall I speake and give warning that they may heare behold their eare is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken Ier. 6. 10. our whole man
would not be beholden to an infamous branded person And surely Almighty God can as little endure to be honored by wicked men or to have his Name and Truth by them usurped in a false profession When the Divell who useth to bee the father of lies would needes confesse the Truth of Christ I know who thou art even Iesus the Sonne of the Living God we finde our Saviour as well rebuking him for his confession as at other times for his Temptations Because when the Divell speakes a lie he speakes De suo he doth that which becomes him but when he speakes the Truth and Glorifies God hee doth that which is improper for his place and station for who shall praise thee in the pit Hee speakes then De alieno of that which is none of his owne and then he is not a lyer onely by professing that which he hates but a theefe too And surely when men take upon them the Name of Christ and a shew of religion and yet deny the power thereof they are not only liers in professing a false love but theeves too in usurping an interest in Christ which indeede they have not and are like to have no happier successe with God who cannot be mocked then false pretenders have with men who under assumed titles of princes deceased have laid claime to kingdomes God will deale with such men as we teade that Tiberius dealt with a base pretender to a Crowne when after long examination hee could not catch the impostor tripping in his tale at last he consulted with the habite and shape of his body and finding there not the delicacie and softnesse of a Prince but the brawinnesse and servile fashion of a Mechanick he startled the man with so unexpected a triall and so wrung from him a confession of the Truth And surely just so will God deale with such men as usurpe a claime unto his Kingdome and prevaricate with his Name he will not take them on their owne words or empty professions but examine their hands If hee finde them hardned in the service of sinne hee will then stop their mouth with their owne hand and make themselves the argument of their owne conviction Thirdly the Power of pious and vertuous education for many men have their manners as the Colliar had his faith meerely by tradition and upon credit from their forefathers So saint Paul before his Conversion liv'd as touching the Law unblameably in his owne esteeme because he had beene a Pharisce of the Pharisees Many times we may observe amongst men that contrarietiâ—… of affections proceede from causes homogeneall and uniforme and that the same temper and disposition of minde will serve to produce effects in apparance contrary When two men contend with much violence to maintaine two different opinions it may easily bee discerned by a judicious stander by that it is the same love of victory the same contentious constitution of Spirit which did foster those extreme discourses and many times men would not be at such distance in tenents if they did not too much concurre in the pride and vaine glory of an opinionative minde And surely so is it in matters of religion and practise many times courses extremely opposite are embrac'd out of the selfe same uniforme frame and temper of spirit a humor pertinaciously to adhere to the wayes which a man hath beene bred in may upon contrary educations produce contrary effects and yet the principall reason bee the same as it is the same vigor and vertue of the earth which from different seedes put into it produceth different fruites So then a man may abstaine from many evils and doe many good things meerely out of respect to their breeding out of a native ingenuitie and faire opinion of their fathers pietie without any such experimentall and convincing evidence of the truth or Spirituall and Holy love of the goodnesse by which the true members of Christ are moved unto the same observances Fourthly the Legall and Affrighting Power which is in the Word when it is set on by a skilfull master of the assemblies For though nothing but the Evangelicall vertue of the Word begets true and spirituall obedience yet outward conformitie may be fashioned by the terror of it As nothing but vitall seminall and fleshly principles can organize a living and true man yet the strokes and violence of hammers and other instruments being moderated by the hand of a cunning worker can fashion the shape of a man in a dead stone As Ahab was humbled by the Word in some degree when yet he was not converted by it Fifthly the power of a naturall illightned Conscience either a wakened by some heavie affliction or affrighted with the feare of Iudgement or at best assisted with a temper of generousnesse and ingenuitie a certaine noblenesse of disposition which can by no meanes endure to be condemned by its owne witnesse nor to adventure on courses which doe directly the wart the practicall principles to which they subscribe For as I observed before many men who will not do good Obedientially with faith in the Power with submission to the Will with aime at the Glory of him that commands it will yet doe it Rationally out of the conviction and evidence of their owne principles And this the Apostle cals a doing by Nature the things contained in the Law and a being a Law to a mans selfe Now though this may carry a man farre yet it cannot pull downe the kingdome of sinne in him for these reasons First it doth not subdue All sinne All filthinesse of the flesh and spirit and so perfect â—…olynesse in the feare of God Drive a swine out of one dirty way and he will presently into another because it was not his disposition but his feare which turned him aside Where there are many of a royall race though hundreds be destroyed yet if any one that can prove his descent do remaine alive the title and soveraigntie runnes into him as wee see in the slaughter which Athaliah made so in sinne if any one bee left to exercise power over the Conscience without controle the kingdome over a mans soule belongs unto that sinne Secondly though it were possible which yet cannot be supposed for a Naturall conscience to restraine and kill all the children of sinne yet it cannot rippe up nor make barren the wombe of sinne that is Lust and Concupiscence in which the raigne of sinne is sounded Nature cannot discover much lesse can it bewaile or subdue it As long as there is a Divell to cast in the seedes of temptations and lusts to cherish forme quicken ripen them impossible it is but sinne must have an of-spring to raigne over the soule of man Thirdly all the Proficiencies of Nature cannot make a mans indeavours good before God though they may serve to excuse a man to himselfe yet not unto God If one beare holy flesh in the skirt of his garment and
our selves I will take away saith the Lord the stoâ—…ie heart out of their flesh and I will give them an heart of flesh that they may walke in my statutes c. So then God commands us to cleanse our selves when yet it is his owne worke First to teach us that what he doth is not out of dutie or debt but of Grace and Favour for when he doth that which he commands it is manifest that ours was the duty and therefore his the greatâ—…r mercy to give us mony wherewith to pay him the debt we owed Thou workest allour workes for us saith the Prophet The worke as it is a dutie is ours but as it is a performance it is thine Secondly He doth it to shew that though hee be the Author and finisher of our Faith though he who beginneth our good workes doth also performe them untill the day of Christ yet he will not have us abide alwayes under his hand as dead stones but being quickned and healed by his Spirit and having our impotencies remooved we likewise must cooperate and move to the same end with him for he doth not so worke for us but hee withall gives us a will and a deede to concurre with him to the same actions As wee have received Christ so wee must walke in him Thirdly to shew us where wee must fetch our cure to teach us that hee will bee sought unto by us and that wee must rely upon his Power and Promises Therefore Hee commandeth us the things which we cannot doe that we might know of whom to begge them for it is Faith alone which obtaineth by Prayer that which the Law requireth onely but cannot effect by reason of the weaknesse of it In one place the Lord commandeth cast away from you all your transgressions and make you a new heart and a new spirit In another place he promiseth I will sprinkle cleane water upon you and you shall be cleane from all your filthinesse and from all your idols will I cleanse you A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stonie heart out of your flesh and will give you an heart of flesh How can these things consist together He commands us to doe that which hee promiseth to doe himselfe but onely to shew that God gives what he requires The things which he bids us doe as if they were to bee the workes of our owne will and being indeede the duties which we owe yet he promiseth to doe in us to shew that they are the workes of his grace and that his promises are the foundation of all our performances For wee by working doe not cause him to fulfill his promises but hee by promising doth enable us to performe our workes So then wee cleanse our selves by the strength of his promises they are the principles of our Purification This the Apostle expresseth in the text Having therefore these promises dearely beloved Let us cleanse our selves This then is the next thing wee must inquire into wherein the strength of this argument lies and how a man ought to make use of the promises to inferre and presse upon his conscience this dutie of clansing himselfe Here then first we must note that promises doe containe the matter of rewards and are for the most part so proposed unto us Abating onely the first promise of caâ—…ing unto the obedience of Faith which I conceive is rather made unto Christ in our behalfe Aske of me and I will give thee the heathâ—…n for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession then unto us formally because the seede of Abraham are the subject of the promises I say excepting onely that I conceive all other promises to beare in them the nature of a reward and so to carry relation to presupposed Services For benefits have usually burdens and engagements with them so that promises being the representation of rewards and rewards the consequents of service and all services being generally comprehended in this of cleansing our selves from all â—…ilthinesse and of finishing holinesse in Gods feare manifest it is that the promises are in this regard fit arguments to induce our dutie The Gospell which is the Word of Promise hath an obedience annexed unto it which the Apostle cals the Obedience of the Gospell And Faith being the hand to receive the promises hath an obedience annexed vnto it likewise which the same Apostle cals the obedience of Faith for it is not only a hand to receive but a hand to worke To live to our selves and yet lay claime to the promisâ—…s is to make God a lyer not to beleeve the record which hee gives of himselfe that he will not cast away pretious things upon swine His promises are free in fierâ—… made onely out of Grace but conditionall in facto esse performed and accomplished with dependance upon duties in us God is Faithfull saith the Apostle who shall stablish you and keep you from evill there is the promise and we are confident that you will doe the things which we command you there is the duty which that promise cales for When we pray Give us our dayly bread by saying Give us we acknowledge that it is from God but when wee call iâ—… ours wee shew how God gives it namely in the use of meanes For Bread is Ours not onely in the right of the promise I will not faile thee nor forsake thee but by service and quiet working in an orderly calling Secondly Promises are apt to purifie not onely as arguments to induce it but likewise as efficiens causes and principles being by Faith apprehended of our Holynesse And so the force of the reason is the fame as if a rich man having given a great estate unto his sonne should adde this exhortation having received such gifts as these and having now where withall to live in qualitie and worth keepe your selfe in fashion like the Sonne of such a father Efficients they are First as tokens and expressions of Gods Love for all Gods promises are grounded in his Love His Iustice Truth ahd Fidelity are the reasons of fulfilling promises because in them hee maketh himselfe our debtor Therefore saith the Apostle There is laid up for mee a Crowne of righteousnesse which God the righteous Iudge shall give unto meâ—… and againe God is faithfull who will not suffer you to bee tempted and faithfull is hee that hath promised who also will doe it and Saint Iohn If we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and lust to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse One would thinke a man should rather feare the revenge then expect the forgivenesse of sinnes by Gods â—…ustice but God is as Iust in performing the mercy which Hee promiseth as in executing the vengeance which he threatneth So then Iustice and Fidelity are the reasons of fulfilling promises
knew that God was able to raise him even froÌ„ the dead from whence he had before in a figure received him namely from a dead and barren wombe Heb. 11. 29. Thâ—…s was Iobs onely comfort upon the dunghill That that God who would after wormes had consumed his flesh raise him up at the last day and make him with those very eyes to see his 〈◊〉 had power enough in his due time to deliver from that wofull 〈◊〉 into which hee had â—…st him and to revive his strength and estate againe Iob. 19. 25. 26. 27. A man haply is haunted and pursued with such or such an uncleane affection is wearied in wrestling with it and cannot prevaile as indeede there is nothing that cleaves more pertinaciously or is more inexpugnable then a strong and importunate lust What must hee now doe sinke under the weight is there no remedy nor way of escape God forbid When his owne strength and wisedome failes him let him looke off from himselfe unto the power and promises of that God who is Al-sufficient to save to the uttermost those that come unto him by Christ. He is a Refiner a Sunne of Righteousnesse that can cure the barrennesse of our hearts by the healing vertue of his wings and purgeaway our drosse and corruptions from us That Promise which God made to Paul in the stirrings and conflicts of his concupiscence is made unto all of his temper My Grace is sufficient for thee and there are two things in that promise Grace to make it and Sufficiencie to fulfill it Lay aside saith the Apostle every weight and the sinne which doth so easily beset you Alas may the Soule answere if it be a weight how shall I moove it If it bee a beâ—…ieging and encompassing sinne that doth so easily occupate and invade all my faculties how shall I repell or drive it of well saith the Apostle if you cannot quit your selves of your clog and burthen yet runne with patience the race which is set before you bee content to draw your chaine and to lugge your lusts after you But how can the soule be patient under such heavie and such close corruptions under the motions importunities and immodest solicitations of so many and so adulterous lusts Looke faith he unto Iesus the Author and finisher of your faith consider him lest yee bee wearied and faint in your mindes He doth not any of his workes by halfes he is a Perfect Saviour He finisheth all the workes which are given him to doe If he have begunne a good worke in you hee is able to perfect it if hee be now the Author he will in due time be the Accomplisher of your Faith Wee must note All the promises are made in Christ being purchased by his merits and they are all perform'd in Christ being administred by his power and office And in Christ wee must note there is first a will that wee should be holy expressed in his prayer to his father sanctifie them by thy truth Ioh 17. 17. Secondly a power to execute that will he is able to save those that come unto God by him and he quickneth whom he will Thirdly both his will and power are back'd and strengthned with authority and an office so to doe for he was sanctified and sealed by his father unto this purpose Fourthly he is furnish'd with Aboundance of wisdome to contrive and of fidelity to employ both his will power and office for fulfilling all Gods promises of grace and mercie In him there were treasures of wisedome and he is a mercifull and faithful high priest Fifthly to all this he is further engag'd by his consanguinitie with us he is our brother by his sympathie and compassion towards us he hath felt the weight of sinne in the punishment therof and the Contradiction of sinners and lastly by his propriety unto us he should defraud himselfe if he should not fulfill all his promises to the church for the church is His owne house All the promises are made to Him in aggregato with his Church To the seed of Abraham that is To Christ namely to the head and members together As when any euill befals the church he is Afflicted so in all the Advancements of the church he is honored and in a sort further filled for the church is His fulnes Though as God as man as mediator he be full by himselfe yet as Head he accounteth himselfe maimed and incomplete without his members So that when Christ pleads and prayes for the Church he is an Advocate and Intercessor in his owne businesse for the Affaires of the Church are His. Thirdly promises are many times subordinate to one another and are perform'd in an order succession and depeudencie Therefore we must not anticipate nor perturbe the order which God hath put in his Promises but waite upon him in his owne way Grace and Glory will he give but first Grace before Glory no man must snatch at this promise till hee have interest in that Godlinesse hath the promises of this life and of that to come but wee must note the order which our Saviour puts first seeke the Kingdome and Righteousnesse of Goa and then all these things shall be added unto you The Lord Promiseth to call men unto Christ Nations that knew thee not shall runne unto thee The Apostle telsus whereunto hee calls God hath not called us unto uncleannesse but unto Holynesse Therefore in the next place he promiseth to sanctifie and cleanse his Church I will put my Law in their hearts and in their inward parts The qualification of this Holynesse is that it be whole and constant The very God of Peace Sanctifie you and preserve you blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ Is the Apostles prayer for the Thessalonians Therefore in the next place God promiseth Perseverance I will not turne away from them to doe them good but I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from me But this Perseverance is not so certaine but that it admits of fals slippes and miscarriages therefore in that case He promiseth healing and restoring I will heale their backesâ—…idings I will love them freely I will binde up that which is broken and will strengthen that which was sicke And after all this comes the promise of Glory and Salvation Now then wee must waite upon the promises in their owne order When God hath called us to the knowledge of Christ wee must not skip over all the intermediate linkes and looke presently for the accomplishment of Gods promise of Salvation or perseverance by Gods sole Power and in the meane time omit all care of Holynesse in our conversation When we are sanctified wee must not resolue then to sit still as if all our worke were at an end and expect salvation to droppe into our lappes But we must make it our care and esteeme it our owne duty to continue faithfull unto the
malefactors suffering his justice to condemne and his mercy to spare just so many as might preserve his Attributes iâ—…aequilibrio that the one might not over-weigh the other Certainely in this case there would be more mercy in saving tenne out of favour then in punishing and condemning all the rest for their Iust demerit Fifthly and lastly let me problematically and by way of 〈◊〉 onely propose this question Why may it not be justly said that there shall bee in Heaven as much Glorie distributed amongst those few which shall be saved as wrath in Hell amongst those many which perish I dare not speake where the Scripture is silent yet this by way of argument may bee said The proportion of wrath is measured by the finite sinnes of men the proportion of Glory from the infinite merits of Christ. There is more excellencie and vertue in the merit of Christ to procure life for his few then vilenesse or demerit in sinne to procure death for many As there may bee as much liquor in tenne great vessels as in a thousand smaller so there may bee as much Glory by the merit of Christ in a few that are saved as wrath from the merit of sinne in multitudes that perish But to returne to that from whence I have digressed Manifest it is that God will doe more for the magnifying of his mercie then â—…or the multiplying of his wrath because to be mercifull he will new publish the Law which for enlarging his judgements hee would not have done but would have left men unto that raigne of sin death which was in the world betweene Adam and Moses Notablâ—… to this purpose is that place which I have before 〈◊〉 touched and shall now 〈◊〉 againe more particularly to unfold with submission of my judgement therein unto the better learned It iâ—… Gal. 3. beginning at the 15. vers Brethren I speak-after the mannâ—…r of men though it be but a mans covenant yet if it bâ—… câ—…firmed no man disâ—…ulleth or addeth thereto The Apostle before mentioned the covenant of Promise and Grace made to Abraham and in him as well to the Gentilâ—…s as to the â—…ewes unto which the consideration of the Lawes insufficiencie to justifie and by consequence to Blesse had led him In these words hee doth by an Allusion unto humane contracts prove the fixednesse and stability of the Covenant of mercy even from the courses of mutable men If one man make a grant and covenant to another doe â—…grosse signe seale take witnesses and deliver it to the oâ—…her for his benefit and behoofâ—… it becomes altogether irreversible and uncancellable by the man which did it If a man make a Testament and then die even amongst weake and mutable men it is counted sacred and impiety it is for any man to adde diminish or alter it But now saith the Apostle God is infinite in wisedome to foresee all inconveniences and evill consequences which would follow upon any covenant of his and so if neede be to prevent the making of it Things future in their execution and issuing out of second causes are yet all present to the intuition of God and so any thing which might after happen to disaâ—…ull or voyde the covenant was pâ—…esent and evident to his Omniscience before and therefore would then have prevented the making of it If then men whose wills are mutable whose wisedomes may miscarry who may repent and be willing to revoke their owne covenants againe doe by their hand seale and delivery disable themselves to disanull their owne act when it is once past much more God who is not like man that hee should repent when hee makes a covenant doth make it sure and stable constant and irreversible especially since it is a Covenant established by an oath as the Apostle elsewhere shewes aâ—…d when God sweares he cannot repent Thus the Apostle prooveth the Covenant of mercy and grace to be Perpetuall from the Immutability and wisedome of him that made iâ—… and if it be perpetuall then all other subsequent acts of God doe referre some way or other unto it It followeth vers 16. Now to Abraham and his seede were the Promises made he saith not and to seedes as of many but as of one and to thy seede which is Christ. Where by One we understand one mystically and in aggregato not personally or individually and by Christ the whole Church consisting of the Head and Members as he is elsewhere taken 1 Cor. 12 12. Now these words doe further ratifie the stabilitie of the Covenant for though a Covenant bee in it selfe never so constant and irreversible yet if all the parties which have interest in or by it should cease the Covenant would of it selfe by consequence expire and grow voyde but here as the covenant is most constant in regard of the wisedome and unvariablenesse of him that made it so it can never expire for want of a â—…eede to whom it is made for as long as Christ hath a Church and Members upon earth so long shall the Promise be of force Vers. 17. And this I say that the Covenant which was confirmed before of God in Christ the Law which was foure hundred and thirty yeeres after cannot disanull that it should make the Promise of none effect These words are a Prolepsis or prevention of an objection which might be made A man might thus argue when two lawes are made whereof the one is expresly contradictory to the other the later doth in common presumption abrogate and disanull the former else men should be bound to contraries and so punishments would bee unavoydable But here wee finde that foure hundred and thirty yeeres after the promise to Abraham there was a Law published extremely contrary unto the promise A law without mercy or compassion a law both impossible and inexorable which can neither be obeyed nor endured therefore it should seeme that some cause or other had hapned to make God repent and revoke his former covenant The Apostle retorts this Objection And his meaning I thus apprehend If there bee a covenant made by a Lawgiver in wisedome infinite to foresee before hand and to prevent any inconveniences which might follow upon it any reasons which might fall out to abrogate it A Lawgiver in all his wayes constant and immutable as being by no improvidence disappointments or unexpected emergencies ever put to repent and this covenant made to a man and his seede for ever and that without dependance upon any condition being all of Grace and Promise save onely that Abraham have a seede and Christ a Body Then if it happen that another law be after made which primâ facie and in strict construction doth implie a contradiction to the termes and nature of the former Law for Abrogation notwithstanding whereof there have no other reasons at all de novo intercurr'd then only such as were actually in being when it was made namely the sinnes of the world and yet were not then valid
in you which was in Christ that is have the same judgement opinions affections compassions as Christ had As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation Secondly in his passive obedience though not in the end or purposes yet in the manner of it Runne with patience saith the Apostle the race which is set before you looking vnto Iesus who for the joy that was set before him endured the crosse despised the shame c. If the head be gotten through a strait place all the members will venture after Therefore since Christ hath gone through shame contradiction death to his glory let us not be wearied nor faint or despaire in our mindes The head doth not thinke all its worke ended when it is gotten through it selfe but taketh care and is mindefull of the members that follow Therefore the Apostle cals our sufferings A fulfilling or making up of the sufferings of Christ. The Resolution of all is briefely this We must follow Christ in those things which hee both did and commanded not in those things which he did but not commanded But heere it may be objected Christ was Himselfe voluntarily poore Hee became poore for our sakes and he commanded poverty to the young man goe sell all that thou hast and give it to the poore Is every man to be herein a follower of Christ To this I answere in generall that poverty was not in Christ any act of Morall Obedience noâ—… to the yong man any command of Morall Obedience First for Christs poverty we may conceive that it was a requisite preparatorie act to the worke of redemption and to the magnifying of his spirituall power in the subduing of his enemies and saving of his people when it appeared that thereunto no externall accessions nor contribution of temporall greatnesse did concurre And secondly for the command to the yong man it was meerely personall and indeede not so much intending obedience to the letter of the precept as triall of the sinceritie of the mans former profession and conviction of him touching those misperswasions and selfe-deceits which made him trust in himselfe for righteousnesse like that of God to Abraham to offer up his Sonne which was not intended for death to Isaake but for tryall to Abraham and for manifestation of his faith It may be further objected How can wee bee Holy as Christ is Holy First the thing is impossible and secondly if we could there would be no neede of Christ if we were bound to bee so Holy righteousnesse would come by a Law of workes To this I answere the Law is not nullyfied nor curtall'd by the mercy of Christ we are as fully bound to the obedience of it as Adam was though not upon such bad termes and evill consequences as he under danger of contracting sinne though not under danger of incurring death So much as any justified person comes short of complete and universall obedience to the Law so much hee sinneth as Adam did though God be pleased to pardon that sinne by the merit of Christ. Christ came to deliver from sinne but not to priviledge any man to commit it though hee came to be a curse for sinne yet Hee came not to be a Cloake for sinne Secondly Christ is needefull in two respects First because we cannot come to full and perfect obedience and so His Grace is requisite to pardon and cover our failings Secondly because that which wee doe attaine unto is not of or from our selves and so his spirit is requisite to strengthen us unto his service Thirdly when the Scripture requires us to be Holy and perfect as Christ and God by as we understand not equalitie in the compasse but qualitie in the Truth of our Holynesse As when the Apostle saith That we must love our neighbour as our selves the meaning is not that our love to our neighbour should be mathematically equall to the love of our selves for the Law doth allow of degrees in Love according to the degrees of relation and neerenesse in the thing loved Doe good unto all men specially to those of the houshold of Faith Love to a friend may safely bee greater then to a stranger and to a wife or childe then to a friend yet in all our love to others must be of the selfe same nature as true reall cordiall sincere solid as that to our selves Wee must love our neighbour as wee doe our selves that is unfainedly and without dissimulation Let vs further consider the Grounds of this point touching the Conformitie which is betweene the nature and spirituall life of Christians and of Christ because it is a Doctrine of principall consequence First this was one of the Ends of Christs comming Two purposes He came for A restitution of us to our interest in Salvation and a restoring our originall qualities of Holynesse unto vs. Hee came to sanctifie and cleanse the Church that it should be Holy and without blemish unblameable and unreproveable in his sight To Redeeme and to purifie his people The one is the worke of his Merit which goeth upward to the Satisfaction of his Father the other the worke of his Spirit and Grace which goeth downeward to the Sanctification of his Church In the one He bestoweth his righteousnesse upon us by imputation in the other He fashioneth his â—…mage in us by renovation That man then hath no claime to the payment Christ hath made nor to the inheritance Hee hath purchased who hath not the Life of Christ fashioned in his nature and conversation But if Christ be not onely a Saviour to Redeeme but a Rule to Sanctifie what use or service is left unto the Law I answere that the Law is still a Rule but not a comfortable effectuall delightfull rule without Christ applying and sweetning it unto us The Law onely comes with commands but Christ with strength love willingnesse and life to obey them The Law alone comes like a Schoolemaster with a scourge a curse along with it but when Christ comes with the Law He comes as a Father with precepts to teach and with compassions to spare The Law is a Lion and Christ our Sampson that slew the Lion as long as the Law is alone so long it is alive and comes with terrour and fury upon every Soule it meetes but when Christ hath slaine the Law taken away that which was the strength of it namely the guilt of sinne then there is honie in the Lion sweetnesse in the duties required by the Law It is then an easie yoke and a Law of libertie the Commandements are not then grievous but the heart delighteth in them and loveth them even as the honie and the honie combe Of it selfe it is the cord of a Iudge which bindeth hand and foote and shackleth unto condemnation but by Christ it is made the cord of a man and the band of Love by which He teacheth us to goâ—…
he must come And now when we have Christ how carefull should we be to keepe Him how tender and watchfull over all our behaviours towards Him lest Hee be grieved and depart againe The Spirit of the Lord is a delicate spirit most sensible of those injuries which his friends doe him Let us therefore take heede of violating afflicting discouraging grieving this Spirit which is the bond of all our union and interest with Christ in any of those his sacred breathings and operations upon the Soule But when He teacheth let us submit and obey receive the beleefe and the love of His Truth when He promiseth let us neither distrust nor despise but embrace as true and admire as pretious all the offers which He makes to us when Hee contends with our lusts in His Word and secret suggestions let him not alwayes strive but let us give up our fleshly affections to bee crucified by Him when Hee woes and invites us when Hee offers to lead and to draw us let us not stop the eare or pull away the shoulder or draw backward like froward children or cast cold water in the face of Grace by thwarting the motions and rebelling against the dictates thereof but let us yeeld our selves unto Him captivate all our lusts and consecrate all our powers and submit all our desires to His rule and government and then when Hee hath beene a Spirit of union to incorporate us into Christs Body and a Spirit of unction to sanctifie us with His Grace Hee will undoubtedly bee a Spirit of comfort and assurance to seale us unto the day of our full redemption THE LIFE OF CHRIST PHILIP 3. 10. That I may know Him and the Power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings THe purpose of the Apostle in this place is to arme the church of the Philippians against those false Iudaizing Teachers that Confounded Christ and Moses Circumcision and the Gospell together This he doth by Arguments Personall from men and by arguments reall from the matter it selfe Arguments Personall are first from the disposition quality End of those false teachers whom he describes ver 3. They are evill trees and therefore no great heed to be given to the fruits they beare to the doctrines they obtrude They are Dogs uncleane beasts that barke onely for their bellies and doe not onely barke but watch their times to bite too They are Euill workers though they come like fellow workers with Christ pretending much strictnes in the edification of the Church yet indeed their businesse is only to pull downe and to pervert They are the Concision where the Apostle by an Iâ—…onicall paranomasia shewes the end of their doctrines They preach indeed Circumcision but their businesse is schisme and Concision In the Law it was Circumcision Gods ordinance but now being by Christ abolished it is nothing at all but a bare Concision or cutting of the flesh and will in the Event prove a rent and schisme in the Church The Second personall Argument is taken from the Apostles owne condition who neither by nature nor Education was an enemie to legall Ceremonies who in all points had as great reason to vindicate the Law and to boast in fleshly priuiledges as any of those False Teachers ver 4. He was by nature an Israelite of the whole bloud as well as they by Education of the strictest sect of all a pharise by custome and practice a persecutor of the Church under that very name because the law he had been bred under was engdanger'd by that new way and in his course of life altogether unblameable in regard of legall Obedience and observations and lastly in his opinions touching them he counted them gainfull things and rested upon them for his salvation till the Lord opened his eyes to see the light of the Glorious Gospell of God in the face of Iesus Christ. The arguments from the matter are first from the Substance of which Circumcision was the shadow Wee are the Circumcision who worship God in the spirit and reioyce in Christ Iesus c. Vers. 3. They boast in the flesh they have a Concision but we are the Circumcision because we have the fruite and Truth of Circumcision the spirituall worship of God which is opposite to externall Ceremonies Ioh. 4. 23. Secondly from the plenitude and all sufficiencie of Christ which stands not in neede of any legall accession to peece it out and this the Apostle shewes by his owne practise and experience What things were 〈◊〉 to me those I counted losse for Christ because they were things that kept him from Christ before and he repeats the same words Confidently againe that he might not to be thought to have spoken them unaduisedly or in a heate yea doubtles and I count all things but losse for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Iesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things As a merchant in a tempest is contented to Suffer the losse of all his goods to redeeme his life or rather as a man will be content to part with all his owne beggerly furniture for a Iewell of greate value Math. 13. 44. Onely here wee are to note that the Apostle did not suffer the losse of them quoad Substantiam in regard of the Substance of the duties but quoad qualitatem et officium Iustificandi in regard of that dependance and Expectation of happines which he had from them before Neither did he onely Suffer the losse of them as a man may doe of things which are excellent in themselves and use as a merchant throwes his wares out of the ship when yet he dearly loves the and delights in theÌ„ but he shews what estimation he had of them I count them dung that I may win Christ I Count them then filthy carrion so the word signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 garbage and filth that is thrown out to dogs things which dogs such as he describes these false teachers to be may delight in but the spirit of God in a sincere hart cannot relish nor sauor in comparison of Christ. And may be found in him when I shall appeare before the face of God or may finde in him All that I loose for him that is a most plentifull recompence for any legall commodities which I part from for his sake not Having mine owne righteousnesse c. Here the Apostle distinguisheth of a twofold Righteousnesse Legall which is a mans owne because a man must come by it by working himselfe Rom. 10. 5. And Evangelicall which is not a mans owne but the righteousnes of God Rom. 3. 21. 22. Freely given to us by grace through Christ. That I may know Him c. That I may have the Experience of his Grace and mercy in Iustifying me frely by faith through the vertue of his suffrings and resurrection Here then we have these two things set down first the Pretiousnesse secondly the nature of