those things that now you know not nor cannot know Therfore labour to learne that lesson it is one of the greatest Mysteries in the World and that is the reason that carnall people carp at these things What greater Mysterie then for me being a just and righteous man through Christ yet to be so sinfull that I can say there is none more sinfull and yet I am as righteous as Abraham or Paul in respect of the righteousnesse of Christ I have as large a share as Abraham or Paul and yet I am full of sin A Christian knowes this and he knowes how it is so Well that is one lesson consider of it that you may know where to plant your justification upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ The Lord teach it to you and me Secondly if the righteousnesse of the law be Vse 2. Saints should see their condition in Christ glorious fulfilled in all that are beleivers through Jesus Christ Then all you that are Saints all you that beleive in Jesus Christ labour to see the glorious condition that you are in that you may be able to reflect upon your selves not according to what you are out of Christ but what you are considered to be as Members of Jesus Christ as unyted to Jesus Christ Therfore you shall have Paul and it doth me good to see his spirit he never reckons himselfe as in himselfe but as in Jesus Christ I can doe all things I can want and I can abound I can doe this and that and all in Christ So I To look on our selves as unyted to Christ must never conceive of God out of Christ nor of my selfe out of Christ I must never conceive of my selfe and Christ as two but I should indeavour clearly and constantly that whatsoever good there is in Christ it is myne as if it were in myne owne person And so we should have our spirits raysed above the temptations of the World and above the afflictions of the World and above corruptions It is a pittifull thing to see poore Professors Why many Christians have such low Spirits there is not one of many but they are ordinarily below temptations and they lie under burdens and are below their sins Nay there are many professors that are more sad and drooping then carnall people Surely this was not the way of those Saints that we read of in the New Testament they had glorious spirits how doe you think else they could goe to the stocks and to Prisons and from one Compter to another and have their spirits so raysed and yet sometimes they were to die the next morning for ought they knew Your spirits will never be heightened and raysed to live the life of Paul by beholding any thing that is in you personally in your posession but what you are by relation and marriage to Christ Reckon your selves dead with Christ and so conceive I am a just man I was bound once to the law of God a terrible law and there are thousands in hell paying the debt and cannot pay it and yet I have paid every farthing and the law cannot ask me more I have offered a perfect righteousnesse to God and I am now sitting at Gods right hand in Heaven by my unyon with Jesus Christ This is the life of faith that we may be able to The life of faith tryumph over all these things below from our Justification as Paul doth Rom. 8. It is God that Justifieth and who shall condemne Who shall seperate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Shall Tribulation or distresse or Famine or nakednesse or perill or Sword Nay in all these things we are more then Conquerors through Christ that loved us Indeed Tribulation and hunger and Famine they are sad things but these are the least troubles of a Christian these outward miseries Over these we are more then Conquerers sayth Paul I can tie my right hand at my back and with my left hand beat all these back I can beat them with a finger Nay I say more Neyther death nor life that is more nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. See there how he dares all the Enemies to come upon the Stage and tramples them under feet As in Malachy it is said that in the time of the Gospell they shall tread their Enemies as ashes under their feet So there is a place also in 1 Cor. 1â— Death is swallowed up in victorie As if he had sayd you that have received Christ Jesus I will tell you news Death is swallowed up in victorie O death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victorie He feares the grave and death and triumphs over them O death where is thy sting thou thoughtest to overcome me but where is thy sting The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be unto God who hath given us Victorie through Jesus Christ our Lord. He doth not say which will give us Victory when we are dead and then we shall be perfect in Heaven It is true then we shall be more perfect but he saith which hath given us Victorie for the present I have already overcome Hell and death and the Devill for all hangs on the law the law is Gods writ and the Devill is Gods Sergeant that executes that writ and Hell is the Prison Therefore if the law be satisfied if the righteousnesse of the law be fulfilled death and Hell and the Devill have nothing to doe with me So in Rom. 4. ult Who was delivered for our offences and was raysed for our justification And then it followes Chap. 5. 1. Beeing Justified by faith we have peace with God See where the Apostle layes justification And we glory in tribulation knowing that it worketh patience c. We rejoyce in tribulation and affliction Why Because we are Justified by Christs death and Resurection O what kind of spirits should we have How full of joy and comfort should we be in the greatest tribulation How should we tread all this World under our feet the evills of this World and the comforts of the World How should we insult and tryumph over the Devill and over death and Hell for all their power as I sayd is from the law and if the righteousnesse of the law be fulfilled then all our Enemies are subdued and all is cleare Heaven is open and God is mine and the favour of God is to me For know this that there is no naturall imbred What hinders the creature from enjoying God hatred in God to his creature there is nothing that keeps the creature from the full injoyment of God but the law not being satisfied God made a law and we made the breach of it and there falls out the distance betweene
not beleive in Judea and that my service for Jerusalem may be accepted of the Saints For Jesus Christs sake pray for me VVhy He was going to Jerusalem to carry money to the poore A man would think that they should be beholding to him that Paul a Preacher would come and bring it himself but I beseech you for Christs sake pray that the Saints may accept of my service O God give Parliament men and great ones that they may be Willing to doe for the Saints and to pray to God for the Saints acceptance It is a great matter for the Saints to accept the service of the Saints The Thirteenth thing to know a humble heart 13. He rejoyceth at the growth of grace in others by in his demeanour to the Saints is this he rejoyceth much that grace grows in others though it doe not in himselfe and he rejoyceth in the good that is done by others though he can doe none himselfe Paul 2 Cor. 4. 13. I rejoyce that ye be honourable though we be beggars A humble heart rejoyceth though he be the least of Saints yet to see such people grow and to have full grace and to thrive accordingly a proud heart will murmur and it is a signe of a cursed heart that doth not rejoyce in the good that is done by another it is a cursed hellish disposition in Numb 11. We read how diverse did Prophesie in the Campe and they come to Moses and desire him to forbid them O say they looke yonder he is turned Preacher now O sayth Moses I would that all Gods people did prophesie Now there are such a generation of men among us that will not indure that any good should be done but by themselves and if a poore man goe out of my Parish to another place for the good of his soul I must envie the man because he would get more good and others that have been trades-men though they be men of parts and breeding in the Army and elsewhere yet if they have not the languages though they teach the people gloriously yet we must crie them downe as Aereticks whereas if God will doe good by using such we should rejoyce if I rejoyce not in the good that is done by another in this Congregation or in the Armie or any where as much as if it were done by my selfe I am a cursed proud man Let us think of that Another thing which I spake of before is that 14. He can love though he be not loved a humble heart he can love though he be not loved As Paul sayth Though the more I love you the lesse â— be loved of you There is none but a humble heart that can love when it is not loved Lastly and so to make an end of this text the 15. He measures not himselfe by himselfe demeanour of a humble heart to the Saints it is seen in this he dares not measure himself by himself nor compare himself with himself You shall find that word 2 Cor 10. 12. VVe dare not make our selves of the number or compare our selves with some that commend themselves but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise Man naturally is the best judge of himselfe only every man hath abundance of self-love whereby every man thinks in every poynt better of himself then he is and they think themselves the wisest people in the World and that other people have no braines and so measure themselves with themselves Or rather thus I have observed in proud hearted professors to their ruyne unlesse God work a myracle that doe not approove their hearts to God nor to the generality of the Saints but measure themselves by themselves they are good because they think they are good or else they will have two or three fawning flatterers by them that shall commend them though all the VVorld condemne them yet if they approove them and commend them they care not Thereupon I have knowne some that have lost all their reputation with all the Saints excepting only two or three that would call black white and white black You shall have a great man when he hath done an action he will goe to his Chaplaine and say is not this well done and it may be he will flatter him in it We are all subject to this it is not peculiar to one alone We should make use of some friends when we have done an action that should be joynt judges in it and if they entertaine it for good we should account it so or else not for a World and if these condemne us we should hold our selves condemned but beware of setting a few creatures like our selves to be judges but to approve our selves before the Lord and before the Generation of Saints And so you have heard the demeanour of the Saints that they are humble in their carriage towards God and towards sinners and towards Saints And so much for this text Mount Sion OR The Priviledge and Practice OF THE SAINTS By WALTER CRADOCK late Preacher at ALHALLOWS Great in LONDON HEB. 12.22 But yee are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living GOD c. GAL. 4.26 But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all LONDON Printed in the Yeare 1649. SERMON I. Rom. 8. 4. That the righteousnesse of the law might be fullfilled in us who walke not after the flesh but after the spirit THE maine drift of the Apostle in this Epistle is to hold forth justification by faith or by free grace without the works of the law And in Chap. 7. The Apostle doth answer an objection For they might say what then shall we doe with the law if it cannot justifie us There the Apostle tells us that though the law cannot justifie us yet there are many blessed uses both for sinners and Saints to make of the law of which I shall not now speake Now in this 8th Chapter the Apostle drawes this conclusion from what he had said before There is therefore from what I have sayd it is evident that there is no condemnation there is no damnation there is no danger of hell to them which are in Christ Jesus Now he opens who those are he sayth they are those Who walke not after the flesh but after the spirit And he gives a reason of it in Vers 2. why there is no damnation to those people For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of sin and of death Now he amplifies that in Vers 3. For what the law could not doe in that it was weake through the flesh God sending his owne son in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh As if he should have sayd thus it comes about that we are now free from the law and that there is no damnation to us because sayth he that God hath sent his son in the
7. Youâ— know how by the comparison of a man and his wife we are said to be dead to the law of God The meaning is not as though the substance and matter of the law were not eternall and a rule for all Saints doubtlesse it is in the New Testament as well as in the Old but the law as it is a contract a bond a bargaine as it is a Covenant of works betweene God and us it is perfectly fullfilled by Christ and we are dead to it we are free from it or delivered from it And that is the reason that in Heb. 12. It is sayd in Mount Sion we are come to the spirits of just men made perfect That is not of just men personally just in their dealings though that follow in a sort but the meaning is that every Saint that is in Jesus Christ is perfectly a just man or a just woman by reason of their morrtage with Jesus Christ who hath obtained a perfect righteousnesse or justice for them So in Rom. 3. You have there also a blessed place where the Apostle sayth we are saved not only by the mercie of God but by his righteousnesse Therfore it is three times repeated we are saved by the righteousnesse of God and againe by the righteousnesse and againe in Vers 2 c. the third time to declare I say at this time his righteousnesse What is the righteousnesse of God That is sayth he that he is just and a justifier of them that beleive in Jesus Christ It is just and righteous with God to save people that beleive in Jesus Christ VVhy so Because Jesus Christ hath fulfilled to a tittle all the law of God for them I shall give you but one word of Use and leave Vse 1. Upon what our Justification is built the reasons and the further inlarging of it till the afternoone And the word that I desire to make knowne to you from the Lord is this to instruct and helpe you a little to understand where your righteousnesse doth lie or upon what your Justification is buylt For this is the misery the generall misery of most Christians that they mislay their justification they doe lay it partly upon faith and partly upon their sanctification and holynesse And that is the reason that when a poore soul it may be is tempted to some sin and hath some strong lust he looseth his faith and his assurance and his peace of conscience because he grounds his Saint-ship and his justification upon his holinesse Now Beloved this is it that I would desire the Lord to bring you and me to to know that I am a just man only by the righteousnesse that is in Christ that the law is perfectly fulfilled for me by Jesus Christ and not partly by him and partly by me but only and perfectly by him and I am called just but only as or because I am unyted to him that hath gotten a perfect righteousnesse for me Then let me buyld my Justification upon that only and not upon what I am not upon my temper or upon my graces or my gifts or the like Take heed of that but let it be buylt wholly upon Jesus Christ his death and resurrection He was delivered for our offences and raysed againe for our Justification Let us buyld upon that that we may come to this temper once to have our justification We are not more or lesse justified by the good or evill we doe in a stock clearely in Jesus Christs hands that when we doe good we may not imagine that we are a jot the more justified or when we fall or faile in good we may not conceive that we are a jot more justified then before that though one day we have our hearts inlarged to doe good and to do more good in one day then it may be we did in a moneth before yet this goes not to the stock of my justification I am not one jot the more justified and sometimes God leaves the flesh and the remnants of sin that foile us I will mourne for it and be humbled for it as a transgression against my father but I am not a jot more unjustified then I was before in the sight of God in regard of the Covenant of works that Christ hath fulfilled So thus I would have you doe as your Merchants and Trades-men in your Cittie you have a certaine stock that you lock it may be in an iron chest and that stock is the quick as you call it and you have besides so many pounds or so many hundreds that you turne and wind about through all the year as you have occasion but from the stock the quick you will not lay any thing out of that you will not touch that but lay out in expences and wind and turne the rest Just so I would have it with you that seeing justification is only buylded on Christ and I have the word of faith to certifie me of it and the spirit of faith to shew it me within I would not have my good or evill to be an ingredient into that but leave that as a stock clearly in the hands of Jesus Christ Or as we see a maid or woman that spins shee holds one hand steddie and turnes about the wheele with the other so our justification we should hold it steddie for it is not buylt at all upon any thing that is in us but let us turne and wind the rest that is sanctification we must strive against sin and mourne for it but leave justification wholly to Christ for it is not buylt on me but is only by the death and resurrection of Christ Therfore as Christ sayth Luke 17. When we have done all the good we can say we are unprofitable servants I have not gotten one farthing to day nor in all my life to helpe to fulfill the law of God or to helpe to my justification that is only in the hands of Christ that is my quick my cash my stock and when thou failest and seest lusts and pride and wantonnesse arise in thee say this hath no influence to hinder my justification it is no ingredient into that that is buylt upon another thing it is wholly in Christ and his righteousnesse he hath fulfilled the law and I am just by marriage and by unyon with him Therefore I will goe and take my sins and mourne for them and desire God to cleanse me from them but I must hold the quick still hold justification untouched and unshaken and unmovable in the hands of Jesus Christ I shall leave the inlargment of this and other things till the afternoone SERMON II. Rom. 8. 4. That the righteousnesse of the law might be fullfilled in us who walke not after the flesh but after the spirit THere are three Lessons that wee should learne from these words The first is implied that The righteousnesse of the Law must be fulfilled Or Every man is bound to fulfill the Law of God That we have already
that his Son hath satisfied the law and therefore we are freed Now he doth acknowledge it three wayes First You shall have it Mat. 17. compared with 1. by Gods own testimonie 2 Pet. 1. For Peter is much in it we follow not devised fables but we come to speake of the voyce in the Mount This is my beloved Son As if he had said This is one maine peice of the Gospel we heard a voyce when we were with our Master in the mount saying This is my beloved Son in whom my soule is well pleased That for his person Then a second thing that did shew that he was 2. Christ is out of prison satisfied was by suffering Jesus Christ after he was arrested and in prison for our debt for Christ was in prison for our debt he was arrested and that according to law he was brought into prison and all our suits were clapped on his back all our executions and outlaries were layd on his shoulders and then the Father let him out of prison being our suretie If he had not payd our debt he had not come out of prison but now the Father lets him out that is the Father suffred him to rise from the dead Therefore we finde that our justification is layd more upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ then upon his death as we see in Rom. 4. 25. Who was delivered for our offences and raised againe for our justification that is he did die for our sins and was raised againe for our justification And in Rom. 8. He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him give us all things Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us That is his dying for us did satisfie the law but that did not justifie us untill we see that he was risen againe and then we see that all the debt was paid because our suretie is gotten out of prison Therefore justification I meane the knowledge of it at least principally ariseth from Christs resurrection Now when I see Christ is risen and is gone abroad he is gone out of the grave and gone to heaven I know that the law is fulfilled and the Father is satisfied and the Sergeant the Devill hath nothing to arrest me for all is satisfied all is cleare Thirdly and lastly I know God the Father is satisfied 3 Christ is gone into heaven for the law it is God the Fathers Writt that he had against us and now we see that all is payd not onely because our suretie is got out of prison for so a man may doe that hath not paid a debt but because when he was out of prison he ascended to his Father and the Father made him sit at the right hand of God in the glory of Majesty on high and he hath given him power and authoritie to rule the world till the day of Judgement Now in that the Father hath given the Son that honour and respect in heaven as to come and sit at his right hand wee may see it was not a breaking of prison but a reall paying of the debt and a fulfilling the law before he could come there This may give a little light how the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us through Jesus Christ Now the use of it I named in the morning I Use 1. To learne the ground of our justification was not able to expresse it neither can I now fully utter it I beseech you consider the more of it The first use we may make of it is this that you should learne from what I have said where your justification doth lie your justification doth not lie or is not built upon any thing that is in you or that is done by you or that you may hope to doe hereafter you are not justified by your own personall good or unjustified by your own personall evills you are not one jote the more just when you have done all the good you can in the world and you are not one jote the lesse just when you have committed all the weaknesses and fallen into all the frailties that a Saint can fall into because your justification is built onely upon Christ and upon what he did and suffered My justification is built upon the death of Christ and his resurrection he hath fulfilled the law and he hath paid the debt and he is out of prison and the Father is satisfied here is my justification and I believing this I am happie Now you shall find that you lay a great part of Men build justification upon something in themselves your justification upon something in your selves therefore when you are enlarged in good you think you are more justified and when you fall into sin you think you are more unjust then you were before and you look strangely upon God Now the Lord hath put it out of our hands Adam should have been justified by that that was in him and that should have been done by him but blessed be God he would not trust us with that good any more but hath put all in the hands of Jesus Christ and there is the whole foundation of our justification Therefore it is not for a Christian to come and say O Sir I feare I am no childe of God I feare I shall prove an hypocrite why so because I finde so much sin and so many lusts in me It is very well that you find and feele sin and that you mourne for and strive against sin but that therefore you should thinke there is a flaw in your justification that you should make any good that is in you a prop to support your justification or any evill in you a thing that might crack your justification this is Popery My justification depends not on this that I am justified the more when I am strong or less justified when I am weak but whether I be weak or strong whether I doe much or little for God whether I give thanks or be humbled seeing Christ is dead and risen againe I am justified that is still intire because it is not built upon me but wholly upon the death and resurrection of Christ In the 4th of the Romans Abraham is laid down Abraham how justified as a patterne of believing Abraham had the word of faith So shall thy seed be and without hope or reason or any thing he believed that is he cast himself on that word so it is said he was justified without works What a strange thing is that for it is impossible that there should be true faith but that all good works should in some measure follow after but if wee speake properly and look to the thing as it is in it self how a man is justified he is justified wholly without works Abraham did many good things he offred his son Isaack
the creatures and God whether men or Devills Now then if I can say though I be a sinfull man yet Jesus Christ hath fullfilled the law the law hath a full righteousnesse to a farthing then I know I am one with God he is wholly for me and I for him and all the enemies of my Salvation are conquered Now if the Lord would open your eyes to understand the hope of your calling the glorious condition you are brought into you would not walke so weakly and poorly and sadly and dejectedly that every thing should cast you downe but you would goe on and trample all the World under your feet we should be above men and Deviils and the World and every thing if we did but understand to what a glorious estate God hath called us in this World through Jesus Christ Therfore a man reflecting upon his justification as he may looke upon himselfe and account himselfe something so he may account death and Hell and all subdued and he may account that the law cannot demand a farthing of him That wheras the breach of the law kept us from communion with God that being taken away we are as righteous as if we had never fallen O glorious condition There Paul Ephesians 1. He prayes that they might know the riches and hope of their calling That is that they might understand what this glorious calling is that God hath called us to That is a second lesson we should learne hence First seeing the righteousnesse of the law is fulfilled in us we should learne how to buyld our Justification aright how to lay the Foundation of it And Secondly we should endeavour to get out spirits raysed like people that are freed from the law Thirdly and there I shall end for this time Vse 3. To conforme our hearts and lives to the will of God being freely and fully justified by the grace of Jesus Christ this should follow to any one that understands it that therfore we should study and learn to conform our selvs in our hearts lives out of love to the will of God There comes in holinesse and there it comes in amayne and never before all before is nothing but bungling but then it comes rightly We should I say conforme our selves to the example and to the rule of Jesus Christ in his Gospel And that you may understand that you must know that every man in this World Three rules to one of which all men are conformd hath a rule to walke by And there are but three great rules and all men doe and must conforme to one of these three For there is no man that doth an action but it is in reference to a rule Now you have one rule in 1 Pet. 1. 14. As 1. Mens lusts obedient Children not fashioning your selves according to the lusts of your former Ignorance Which shews that once they did conforme themselves they did fashion themselves unto their lusts but sayth he now God hath justified you you must not conforme your selves to your lusts Most of man kind make their lusts their rule which the Prophet calls in Scripture to doe that which is right in their owne eyes To doe what is their mind what they like in their owne mind and as that worthy Dr PRESTON sayth they think when they are in their beds what place they shall goe to and where they shall spend their time and when they are up they doe that which is right in their owne eyes what they have a lust to when they have a lust to be drunk they will be drunk when they have a lust to be filthy they will be filthy when they have a lust to be idle or a lust to be malicious against their Neighbours they will be so So that the stirrings of their lusts are their rule and their whole life is nothing but a transforming them from one lust to another Sayth Peter you must not doe so but as Obedient Children if God have justified you if Christ have fulfilled the law perfectly for you that you can dare sin and Hell and Satan and tread all under feet doth it become you to fashion your hearts and lives to your lusts Is that a good rule no you must not doe so Another rule is this World Rom. 12. 2. Be not 2. The World conformed to this World It is the coppy of many men the Looking-glasse that they dresse themselvs by every day how to square it in the World how to keep their port with their Neighbors and Gentlemen they converse with and with great men that have command of them and with their fellow Officers c. And so women how they may goe brave as their Neighbours doe and get credit in their eyes So most people their maine rule is they care not whether it please God and conforme them to his son at all so they can keep correspondensie with the World Now you must not doe so for 3. The example and rules of Christ they are yet in their sins poore wretches therefore let them conforme to their lusts and they that are of the World let them conforme to it But since God hath redeemed you from the wicked World by the blood of his son and hath brought you to this condition and bestowed glorious and unspeakable priviledges on you you should conforme your selves to the Image and example of Jesus Christ and to the rules of Jesus Christ in the New Testament in all your actions and wayes You cannot write without looking on your coppie the best Saint cannot write one line without viewing and looking on his coppie for every letter For all your actions you are to have two things in your eye that you may doe the action right and carrie your selves right Eyther eye Jesus To look on Christs example Christ and his example how would Christ have done if he had beene here What did Christ doe in the like case in the Gospell So by eying that there will be a power as in Jacobs sheep by beholding the rods the spirit of God will convey a power looking upon the picture that is before us that is Iesus Christ to transforme us into his likenesse Or secondly think of the rules of Jesus Christ To look on Christs rules the rules of the new Testament this blessed word have frequent recourse to the spirituall rules of the new Testament that should be your coppy When any case comes follow not your lusts and act not according to the wisdome of the flesh to say this or that I will doe but consider what is your rule you walke by another rule What have I to doe what such a man and such a man doth but what is my rule how must I carry my selfe As for instance when you come among people Severall Gospell rules that rejoyce for any mercie what is the rule Rejoyce with them that rejoyce and weep with them that weep It may be a man hath received great unkindnesse and
had sayd doe not mistake me it is a great priviledg to have the law fulfilled for you but it is not by your owne strictness and zeale and though some of you goe further then others yet none of you can attaine the fulfilling of the law that way for all are come short Rom. 3. But it is those that walk after the spirit that is those that seeke it in a way of faith in another not in themselves those that seeke it according to the principles and directions of the Gospell Now because I know this Exposition is harsh to many of you Though I exclude not the other therfore I shall endeavour to shew you three things First I will proove clearly out of the Scriptures That flesh is so understood that this is the meaning Secondly I will give you a reason why that is the cheife meaning Thirdly I shall give you a few Reasons why the Apostle saith that they that walk according to the Covenant of Works walk according to the flesh and they that goe according to the way of faith walk according to the spirit Concerning the First that flesh is often taken 1. prooved by Scriptures clearly in this sence I will give you some places of Scripture Gal. 3. 3. This I would learn of you received you the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith Are ye so foolish that having begun in the spirit are you now made perfect in the flesh We see in Chap. 1. They are called to the grace of Christ through the Gospell Gospell principles were rightly and savingly practised among them and after there came some among them that perverted them and sayth he are ye so foolish that having begun in the spirit and have had Christ crucyfied among you that now you will be made perfect by the flesh That now you will goe and seeke justification by your owne works and goe about to keep the law c. Another place is in Phillip 3. 4. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh and then he speakes of the priviledges of an Israelite and if you looke further Vers 7. I count all these loss that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine owne righteousness which is of the law but that which is of the faith of Christ So by flesh he meanes the righteousnesse of the law which he throwes away for the righteousnesse which is of faith Take another place Rom. 10. 5. Compared with Rom. 6. 14. Sayth the Apostle sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace When you were under the law and walked after the flesh sin had dominion over you and you obeyed it Here is a paralell place for sayth the Apostle When you were in the flesh the motions of sin by the law did Work in your Members When you were in the flesh that is when you were under the law then the motions of sin did work But now sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under the law you are not in the flesh you doe not walk according to the flesh And that I suppose is the meaning of that Scripture 2 Pet. 2. 10. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly and to reserve the wicked to be punished but cheifly those that walk after toe flesh in the lusts of uncleanness Now if you take walking after the flesh for sinfull wayes it would be the same as if he had said there are diverse people that walk wickedly but cheifly they that walk after the flesh for all people naturolly walk after the flesh but these were a peculiar people that the Lord would bring judgements on and they walked according to the flesh Who were they They were most of them Jewes they were Adams Sons that walked in the old Covenant cheifly they that walk according to the flesh that is the meaning of it or else he would not have said according to the flesh for every man naturally walks according to the flesh So in this text Who walke not according to the flesh but according to the spirit and in the 8 Verse of this Chapter They that are in the flesh cannot please God Now I shall open that by another Scripture Heb. 11. 5. Where it is said that Henoch pleased God We read of Henoch Gen. 5. 24. That he Walked with God he walked not according to the flesh now sayth the Apostle without faith it is impossible to please God now he that walks in the flesh cannot please God Why so He that goes not in the way of faith by Jesus Christ he cannot please God By beleiving I please God by walking in the obedience of faith to God I and my works please God Now to please implies one that was offended before all my doing cannot please God but my beleiving presenting to God a perfect righteousnesse by faith pleaseth God and then all my works are accepted There are two words for it in the Originall One signifies to please one that hath been offended another is pleasingnesse with one that hath not offended as my child pleaseth me though he have not offended me but the other is to be pleased with one that was an Enemy before one that was against me that is now received to favour So I have told you breifly some Scriptures to shew you that flesh is taken in this sence Now the maine reason of it why I beleive this It is the scope of this Epistle to be the cheife meaning of it is because that I see clearly that this is the cheife drift and scope of this Epistle and if I may speake without disparagement there is nothing more methodically layd downe and this is spoken to bring them from the way of works to the way of faith But I hasten Why doth the holy Ghost call walking after the Covenant of Works and after the law walking after the flesh and the other walking after the spirit The reason is because there is so great affinity 3. Why walking after the Law is called walking after the flesh and nearness between walking legally and walking sinfully that they are promiscuously in Scripture taken one for another For let a man walk and endeavour and doe his best according to the law and not by the Gospell he shall be sure to walk 1. They are taken one for another in Scripture sinfully and carnally there is no help for it If he be under the law sin will have dominion over him and if he go after the flesh the motions of the flesh will bring forth fruit unto death Sin and the law are as it were of so near a kin that the law makes sin more sinfull and the more a man strives to keep the law the more he sins The Apostle brought it so neare that people were ready to speake non-sence that the law was sin He prevents the objection Is the law sin O no sayth he sin is
us that it may be are emynent in the eye of the World before men yet when all coms to all their fasting and praying and preaching and repeating c. will be found to be nothing in the World but a walking according to the Flesh that is according to the refined well educated principles of old Adam But I shall goe on a little further Therfore in the next place the Question will be how shall I know whether I walk according Use 2. How to know whether we walk according to the spirit to the flesh or according to the spirit How shall I know whether I be one of those that walk according to the spirit I will only give you a few expressions of it I will not say signes for it may be you could not all beare that word and these expressions are most of them layd downe in this Chapter and hereabout whereby you may have a guess of it whether you be men that walk according to the spirit or no. First you shall find in Rom. 6. that those that 1. Such are dead to sin are under grace or that walk according to the spirit sin is destroyed in them they are dead to sin and alive to righteousnesse And there are many expressions of the same thing in diverse phrases As in Vers 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified that the bodie of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin If thou be a man that walkest according to the spirit thou canst say the body of sin is destroyed and thou doest not serve sin Then it is sayd in Vers 11. That those that are under grace they are dead indeed to sin and alive to God that is another expression And in Vers 12. Sin shall not raigne in their Mortall bodies that they should obey it in the lusts thereof And in Vers 13. Yeild not your members as instruments of unrighteousnesse And in Vers 14. Sin shall not have dominion over them So there are diverse expressions of one and the same thing Now from all for I cannot open them particularly how much is held forth in each of these expressions but to help thee to see a little the State of thy soule I would gather these three things from all these expressions there is I say meant by them these three things The first thing is this that those that walk according 1. Sin is dead in respect of guilt to grace and according to the spirit sin is dead in them That is they are dead in respect of the guilt of sin they doe see and understand in some measure that Jesus Christ by his death hath abolished and destroyed and done away all their sins in respect of the guilt of them they are not under the law in that respect They see that there is a full righteousnesse in Jesus Christ that hath satisfied the law and so their sins are done away that they shall never condemne them This is one thing Now a man that walks according to the flesh he sees not that neyther can see it for these things are spirituall Now take a man that walks according to the flesh that is according to the most refined principles of old Adam and he alway carries guilt upon his Conscience he will alway be as a man that is rouling of a Snow-ball the more he goes on in his Service the more guilt and horrour But a man that walks according to the spirit let him be weake or strong he sees this in some measure and probably for the most part that his sins are done away and that there is no condemnation to him because he is in Christ and beleives in him therfore as it is Rom. 5. 7. He that is dead is freed from sin or justified from sin That is one thing Secondly in all these phrases this is held forth 2. Sin is dead in respect of the power to us as I understand that a beleiver being planted into Christ for so he looks upon himselfe and ingrafted and united to Christ in respect of the power of sin he accounts it as dead that is when he sees any sin stirring in him he considers I am one with Christ I am planted with him in his death and resurrection and this sin was condemned when Christ was condemned and as sure as Christ did die this sin must die therfore he looks upon all his sins and lusts as things that are gasping for life as things that are ready to die and that will surely die as surely as Christ did die Another man that walks according to the law when he sees sin in him and finds lusts to rise in his soul he sayth as David in another case Surely I shall one day fall by the hands of Saul Surely I shall prove an Hypocrite one time or other this sin will break my neck and so he is discouraged and his heart is hardened But a man that is under grace that walks according to the Gospell let sin be never so strong and prevalent he looks on it as a condemned thing he can triumph over it when it is strongest and can say I know thou must be layd in the Grave with Jesus Christ he reckons himselfe dead to sin That is another thing Thirdly and lastly from all these expressions 3. They are more holy then others here in Rom. 6. We gather this that surely all those that are under grace or that walk according to the spirit in some eminent way are more holy and more freed from sin then once they were and then all those are that walk under the law in some eminent way I say they are more holy though I doe not say there is no sin in them for then we should lye as John sayth but certainly there is a power in their soules against sin that is exceedingly transcendent in respect of the best morall men in respect of the exactest men in the World that walk according to the law what else is the meaning of all this Yee are dead to sin and sin shall not reigne and have dominion over you and you shall not yeild your members as instruments to sin Shall we turne all this into speculation No certainly there is some eminent reall holynesse and power against sin that they had not before Therfore saith he VVhat pleasure had you in those things whereof ye are now ashamed those sins that you committed before you are now ashamed of them And let me looke a little upon my owne soule or appeale to you take any man or woman that understands what it is to be under the law what it is to walke according to the Covenant of works and according to the flesh and what covenants and resolutions and promises and fastings he had and let him looke upon himselfe what he is now since he hath knowen a little of Christ and hath knowen that he is a justified Person and that he is dead to the law and the like I appeale
it be rough for me every day to dispute with my carnall heart and not only carry on good but deny my selfe in good upon spirituall reason this is a warrefare but the end is life and it is peace too This is a hard worke you will say and therefore we will take the easiest and smallest worke Beloved I say there is more ease and sweetnesse and contentednesse in going on in the wayes of God spiritually upon spirituall reasons an hundred fold than in the other for the other will be rough and God hath cast it so God hath put a curse upon all Old Adam he curseth it with death and therefore he must dye that walks carnally and that is the reason all your naturall thoughts and actions are so bitter God hath cursed them they must dye and now all the wayes of Holinesse have enough to induce thee to endeavour to walke holily as one saith the gleanings of the Saints are better than the harvest of the wicked men if there were no Hell nor Heaven hereafter but only the wicked to have the pleasures of sinne here and the Saints to have the consolations of the Spirit dwelling in them it is more an hundred fold the one is nothing but crackling of Thornes under a Pot and the end is smoake and stinke and the other is sweet here and in the end blessed eternally if it were not suppose though the way to Heaven be bitter here yet it is sweet in the End and the way of the world sweet here and bitter in the end yet you should choose holinesse as a Philosopher said if a man were to take a bitter and sweet thing which were he best to take first saith he to take the sower or the evill first and the sweet for the hope of the good to come will sweeten the present evill but when a man hath the good first the feare of the evill to come will marre al but therefore seeing there is a reward in the way in Holinesse as well as in the end for holinesse it should move us to labour after holinesse THE TABLE A Abraham ABraham juflified how page 231 Absurd Absurd what 369 Act The cheife act of the mind 358 See Reasoning Action Actions carnall denominate men 323 Adam Two things from Adam 252 The best have somwhat of old Adam 270 All from old Adam condemned 28â— Somthing in Saints that was not in Adam 405 See please Adoption Spirit of adoption 280 Affliction Carriage of a humble heart in affliction 124 Ten Instances of the carriage of a humble heart in afflictions 126 See fire All Christ died not for all 107 Saints willing to know all Gods truthes 110 Amiable Sight of God to Saints amiable 16 Another Saints content with the righteousnesse of another 102 Antinomians Antinomians who Apprehensions Sight of God knowne by our apprehensions 31 Apprehensions of God how to trie them 40 See cleare pretious perpetuall Assurance Assurance in the apprehensions of Saints 32 Assurance wanting to ordinary Professors why 106 B Beleivers Beleiving None satisfie the law but Beleivers 249 Spirituall reasoning in Beleiving 363 See righteousnesse Blind Mind of a Carnall man blind 349 Bondage Spirit of bondage what 280 Books three uses of other books besides the Scriptures 311 Borne againe He that will see God must be borne againe 62 To be borne againe what 69 To labour to be borne againe 312 Bribe God such a Lawgiver as cannot be brided 209 C Change A true sight of God changeth men 54 Carnall Men meerly carnall are called flesh 323 See actions Christ Saving sight of God only in Christ 11 A Saint in the worst condition repents not of taking Christ 137 The law fulfilled by Christ 210 Motive to come to Christ 214 Invitation to come to Christ 381 See example father comming meeke lycenciousnesse rule unyon Cleare Apprehensions of God cleare to Saints 31 Coach-man The mind the coach-man of the soule 347 Coare The coare of a naturall mans heart fleshly 335 Commands A proud heart dissobeys Gods commands 117 A proud heart wearie of Gods commands 118 Who offer violence to Gods commands 119 A Saint in affliction neglects not Gods commands 142 Comfort The godly more carefull of benefite then comfort in afflictions 142 why Saints have comfort in the worst condition 371 Comming Upon what ground to long for Christs comming 292 Communion Communion with sinners wherein forbidden 169 Condemne See Adam Condiscend A humble Saint will condiscend to the weake 186 Conscience Conscience purified what 49 Consolation consolations of the spirit 409 Conversation Vnnecessary conversation with sinners forbidden 171 Constant Sight of God in this World not constant 17 Ground of Saints constancy 369 Conviction Conviction of the spirit 409 Correction Wicked men see not God in corrections 96 Corporeall Corporeall sight of God 4 Corrupt corruption Saints pure notwithstanding their corruptions 52 Corruption how discovered 149 Saints called fleshly because of their corruptions 322 Mind corrupted 360 Reasoning corrupted 361 Covenant Saints stick close to the covenant in afflictions 143 Covenant in man to keepe Gods law 208 Ishmael and Isaac types of the Covenants 266 See workes Creation Sight of God in works of creation 4 New creation by the spirit 403 Creature Creatures resemblances of spirituall things 55 Curse Sin a curse in Hell 288 D Darknesse Satans Kingdome darknesse 64 Naturall principles darke 377 Day See son of man Death die Hypocrites why â—oth to die 38 Why godly men die 287 Carnall reasoning brings death 413 See sin works Deliberation Deliberation wherein excluded 215 Deliverance Saints desire somthing more then deliverance 140 Discretion Sadnesse of Christians in Discretion 74 Devill see God Divinity Divinitie mistaken 289 Doing No man can fulfill the law by doing 212 Spirituall reasoning in doing 365 Draw How God drawes mens hearts 92 Dutie In what duties we may converse with sinners 170 Men proud of duties why 290 E Earthly earthlynesse Wicked men live on earthly things 72 Earthlynesse troubleth Christians 294 Things of the flesh things on earth Enjoy see God Envie Prosperity of the wicked not to be envied 73 Escape No escape from Gods law 209 Eve How the DEVILL tempted Eve 302 Evill Fountaine of evill in the soule 412 Example Christs example to be looked on 242 Excercise Excercise of spirituall reasoning by the spirit 410 Extoll see learning F Face Christ the face of God 11 Saints live by seeing Gods face 72 Faculties Naturall faculties corrupted by sin 378 Faith Faith the life of it 237 Justification known by faith 258 Fall Not to fall from the liberty of the Gospell 304 Father The Father shews Christ 13 Christ shews the Father 14 Fellowship Fellowship of Saints whence 59 Ground of fellowship with others 272 Few Few shall be saved 267 Flesh Flesh what meant by it 252 Walking according to the flesh what 255 Why walking after the law is after the flesh 265 Not to use liberty for the flesh 298 VVho mind the things of the flesh