and obliquity in the body and so is applied to the soul and doth denote perversenesse in him that sinneth and to this may answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to be understood privatively onely but adversatively for a meer want of the Law may not be a sin alwayes but a repugnancy must necessarily be And thus the word is used 2 Thess 2.8 1 Tim. 4.9 The Hebrews also expresse sinne by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as a desection or falling off from God and answerable to this in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a falling away from that integrity and purity we either once had or ought still to have As for the Latine word peccatum some have derived it from pellicare which is to commit adultery as if a sin were so called in the general from one kinde of it and others from pecus because a man in sin wanders like a beast or becomes like a beast yet many conceive the word peccare to be a theme it self and not derived from any other word As for the definition of sin What it is though there have been many disputes about it and Chemnitius wished for one publike definition of it to which all Churches should agree yet certainly that of John is full and comprehensive enough 1 Joh. 3.4 Sin is the transgression of the Law Answerable whereunto is that 2 Sam. 15.24 I have sinned for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord Only you must remember not to limit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a meer want of the Law but as comprehending that which is against it Now this definition agreeth both to habitual and actual sins To habitual whether it be that innate and imbred of original sin or whether it be that habitual voluntarily contracted you have both the actual and habitual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excellently put together Rom. 6.19 As you have yeelded your members servants to iniquity unto iniquity where by the former iniquity is meant original and habitual sin by the later actual sin as the fruit of the former It hath been doubted how habitual especially original sin can be called truly sin because it is not voluntary for that voluntarinesse should be of the nature of sin is so universally acknowledged that neither Doctorum paucitas nor Indoctorum turba do dissentiâ—e neither the few learned men or the many unlearned did ever gain-say said Austin And besides All sin must be forbidden by a Law now how are we forbidden to be born without sinne Would not such a prohibition be ridiculous Again The commands of God seem to be for good actions not for the habits of good actions Now although it might fairly be maintained that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the transgression of a Law and not voluntariness is of the nature of a sin for the Apostle Rom. 7.15 saith He doth that which he would not do and there are many sins of ignorance which must necessarily be without any express act of the will yet we may with Austin call this sin voluntary taking voluntary as it comprehends the will of Adam that universal person and principle in whom we all willed And by this means though Infants are not in themselves capable of any precept much lesse before they were born which they were to accomplish in their own person yet they were bound up in a command even before they had an actual being in Adam in whose will they were to fulfill that command for that command was not given to Adam as a single person but as an universal Hence it is that habituall sin whether remote or proxime is forbidden by the Law of God which requireth not only good things to be done but also that they flow from a clear and pure fountain within even an entire perfection of the nature so that although infused habits of grace come not under a precept in respect of the infusing and ingenerating of them for that is Gods act and we are not bound to do that yet they are commanded both before they are infused and after Before by the Law which requireth of us that inward rectitude which is now lost and after they are infused to be diligent in those pious actions whereby those habits may be preserved and retained So that by this we may see a sin to be whatsoever doth transgresse the Law of God whether habitually or actually whether internally or externally whether by commission or by omission and from hence ariseth the curse which the Law pronounceth against sinners because its broken by them In the next place if we speak of sin as it relates to the person sinning so there is not required first That a man should not intend sin and will it as sin for that is impossible even as the understanding cannot assent to any thing false as false but as the object is either true really or apparently So neither can the will desire any thing that is evil as evil but as it is apparently good As the devil appeared in Samuels clothes so doth sin and evil alwayes under the notion of some good or other Hence the Apostle saith Lusts saves i. do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 entice a man as a Fisherman doth the silly fish by the bait upon the hook which the Apostle elswhere cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a deceiving or putting a false Syllogism upon our selves So that they do not sufficiently vindicate the pure providence of God from sin who say God doth will the act but not the deformity or the evil of it for so neither doth man will expresly the evil of the act although in willing that act to which sin is necessarily annexed it be interpretatively to will the sin Neither secondly is to sin to produce sin as the proper and immediate terminus of our action for sin being a privation or at most a relation it cannot be the immediate effect of any action Sin is not indeed a meer pure privation such as blindenesse is but mixt and compounded such as sicknesse is which hath both the inordinacy and want of a good temperament and also the ill humours in it So that a man sinneth by producing or doing that action to which sin is annexed And herein neither do they sufficiently clear Gods concourse about sin in saying it goeth to the material act of sin but not to the immediate obliquity of it For so neither doth man and indeed sin being a privation or as some a relation it is impossible it should be produced any other way but by that act unto which it is joyned to as theft is committed by doing that material action to which that deformity is inseparably adjoined Therefore to sin is to do a thing deficiently from the Law of God so that God in all those several acts of his about sin whether they be permissive or ordinative is gloriously vindicated because
and gripes he had within because of sin and no wonder he did not confess it and bewail it before God If therefore God keeps thy heart in many doubts and fears giving thee no rest consider whether thou hast cast all that leaven out of thy house whether every Achan within thee be stoned or no. It is in vain to cure the wound as long as any splint of the poisoned arrow lieth within it or if thou finde no sin unrepented of search whether thy formal lazy duties be not the cause of all the blackness that is in thy heart We reade in the Canticles that the Churches laziness and her not opening the doors to Christ when he knockt was the cause of that spiritual desertion she was plunged into seeking up and down for her Beloved but not finding of him The standing pool begets the croaking Frogs not the running stream and it is the dull negligent Christian whose heart is filled with sad fears and doubts whereas the hidden Manna and white stone is promised to him that overcometh 3. Though thy soul walk thus in darkness yet exercise acts of dependency and recumbency upon Christ howsoever As David many times cals upon his soul to trust in God and not to be sinfully dejected How is that woman of Canaan commended for her faith who though our Saviour called her Dog and did in effect tell her she was excluded from pardon did yet earnestly pursue him and gave him no rest till he gave her rest And certainly this is the noblest act of Faith this is indeed to give glory to God when in the midst of all thy fears and guilt thou canst relie upon him for pardon as in wicked men who are filled with Satan as Ananiaâ— was there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a desperate boldness whereby they dare venture upon sin So in the godly there should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a confidence of Faith whereby maugre the devil and our consciences we dare throw our selves into the arms of a Promise Thus by frequent putting forth of strong fiducial applicative acts of Faith we shall at last enjoy obsignative Howsoever hereby thou wilt shew thy heavenly courage in enduring a kinde of spiritual Martyrdom As that Love is the highest Love which is carried out to enemies so those are the strongest acts of Faith which make us depend on God though he seem to kill us yea to damn us LECTURE XXIV MAT. 6.12 And forgive us our Debts ANother Question which is also of great use we are to dispatch at this time viz. Whether a Believer repenting and suing for pardon is to make any difference between a great sin and a lesse For if a man should be perswaded of the negative then would gross and notorious sins which Tertullian cals Devoratoria salutis whirlpools and gulfs wherein the party offended is plunged be no more then those sins which Austin cals Quotidiana levia daily infirmities which continually flow from the most sanctified person Again on the other side A Christian falling into such a gross sin may so far be swallowed up with sorrow as that he shall think the whole bond of friendship is dissolved between him and God that he is cast out of that spiritual Paradise he was in and that God is no more his Father nor he his childe It is therefore necessary to have a pillar of fire to guide us in this wilderness And that the whole truth of this matter may be understood observe these Propositions First Every sin even the least sin doth deserve eternal death As appeareth by those general places Cursed is every one that abideth not in all things the Law commands Gal. 3.10 Now every sin is a transgression of the Law This the Apostle speaks universally of all sin without any exception Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death And indeed this must needs be so if you consider the least sinne is an offence against an infinite God and in this respect because God is not a little but a great God so every sin is not little but a great sin Again if you consider the necessity of Christs bloud to expiate this no sinne can be thought little for if a man had no sin in the world but one of these little ones he could not escape eternall wrath without Christs mediation Therefore we cannot say any sin is venial either from its kinde and nature as Papists distinguish such they make to be officious or jesting lies or from the imperfection of the act such they make those that are committed indeliberately or out of ignorance without full consent or knowledge Or from the smalness of the matter as to steal a farthing or the like None of these sins are so small but that they deserve hell because they are the transgression of the Law of an holy and great God and our Saviour confirmeth this when he saith Of every idle word a man shall give an account Mat. 12.36 and that phrase of giving an account is not a diminutive but aggravative expression Our Saviour doth there argue from the less to the greater Thus If a man must give an account for every idle word much more for blasphemy against the holy Ghost Take we heed therefore how we bring down the weight and guilt of the sinne here also we may see why Paul found such a mountain upon him by sinful motions only arising in his heart There are two places that seem to import such a difference between sins as if some only deserved hell and others not The first is Mat. 5.22 where our Saviour speaking of three degrees of sin doth proportionably assign three degrees of punishment and the last only is guilty of hell fire But the clear Answer is That our Saviour speaks allusively to those three Courts of Judicature among the Jews the least punishment whereof was death so that the first Court punished with death the second death with a more grievous torment The third with a most grievous For that our Saviour doth only allude to these Courts and not speak of what faults the Courts punished is plain for none can think that the Court put any to death for calling his brother fool It was murder and such â—ins that they punished with capital punishments The other place is 1 Joh. 5.15 17. where the Apostle makes a difference between a sin unto death and a sin not unto death but that is clearly to be understood either of the sin against the holy Ghost which in those times when the spirit of discerning was frequent might easily be known or of such sin that did plainly discover obstinacy and impenitency accompanying of it otherwise no man might pray for another man that hath committed a mortal sin if by a sin unto death the Papist will mean every mortal sin Lay therefore this foundation That every sin is mortal in respect of its desert and guilt howsoever to the godly believing and repenting no sin is mortal
we remain still obnoxious and bound in Gods wrath Again It is for comfort to the godly what though Satan thy own heart and the world doth condemn thee yet if God Justifie thou maiest rejoyce you see Rom. 8. what a challenge Paul there makes Who shal lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that Justifieth Who shall charge any thing The devil thy own heart can lay much pride hypocrisie sloth fulnesse to thy charge it is true but God through Christ doth Justifie What a Cordiall and reviver would it be to Gods people to live in the power of this gift bestowed upon them it is God that justifieth thee O my troubled soul who can then condemn who can hinder it or invalidate it Certainly we are therefore in dejections despondencies and perplexities often because we drink not of this water of life Lay and apply this excellent Doctrine to thy fainting dying soul and it will become to it like Elisha applying himself to the dead childe cause spirit and life again to return to him right thoughts here will sweeten all thoughts in other things Eleventhly Although Justification be a Court action and drawn from judicatories yet God is not in this action considered meerly as a Iudge but as paternus Judex a fatherly Iudge having an admirable temperament of justice and mercy so that God pronounceth this sentence from the Throne of Justice and Mercy also of Justice in that he will not absolve till satisfaction be made and he will not pronounce righteous but where there is a perfect righteousnesse Therefore that opinion of making Faith to be accepted of for righteousnesse is a dangerous and false assertion God in this work of Justification is never described as accepting of an imperfect righteousnesse for a perfect No God doth not cease to be just while he is thus gracious Again his Justice and righteousnesse is herein seen that none shall be Justified but such sinners who feel their guilt and desire to be eased of that burden beleeving and rolling their souls upon him It is very hard to give the right order of the benefits of Vocation Justification Adoption and Sanctification but yet this may be made good against the Antinomian that a man is not Justified till repenting and beleeving Here is Justice then but there is also a great deal of Grace and Mercy As in the accepting of a surety for us that he would not keep to the Law of having us in our own persons to pay the utmost farthing This was great love so likewise to finde out a way for our reconciliation that when the devils had no remedy provided for them we have Further that when this price is laid down we have the application of this benefit and so many thousands have not Two in a Bed in a Family in a Parish one Justified and the other condemned What Gracâ— is this Twelfthly This grand mercy is described in Scripture by God his giving something to us not our doing any thing to him It is described by Gods actions not ours to him which may abundantly satisfie the heart against all doubts and fears thus the Scripture cals it forgiving not imputing sin imputing righteousnes making righteous all which are actions from God to us not ours to him so that we are no where said in a good sense to Justifie ourselves or commanded to it as we are to repent or beleeve and to crucifie the lusts of the flesh because it is wholly Gods action by faith indeed we apprehend it but it 's Gods action as the window letteth in the light but it is the Sun that doth inlighten And from this particular we may gather much comfort for when we look into our selves and see no such righteousnesse or holinesse that we dare hold out to God then we may remember this is not by our doing to God but receiving from him and in this sense it is more blessed for us to receive then to give This made the Father say justitia nostra est indulgentia tua our righteousnesse is thy indulgence Therefore let not the troubled heart say where is my perfect repenting where is my perfect obedience but rather ask where is Gods forgiving where is Gods not imputing how hardly is the soul drawn off from resting in it self it is not thy doing but Gods doing thou must not consider what do I but what God doth The Antinomian he indeed wringeth these breasts of Consolation till bloud cometh but the true sweet milk of the word must not therefore be thrown away Do not then as they sought for Christ look for him in the grave when he was risen out thence Do not thou poâ—r in thy self for this treasure when it is to be looked for from heaven duties graces will say this is not in me Lastly The Scripture hath other equivalent phrases to this of Justification which likewise do amplifie the comfort of this gift It is called Blessedness as if this indeed were the true heaven and happines If thou art justified thou carriest heaven about with thee and thy name may be Legion for many are the mercies that do fill thee Nothing can make thee blessed but this it is not Blessed is he to whom the Lord giveth many riches and honors many parts and abilities but to whom the Lord imputeth no sin and howsoever those who wallow in a Laodicean fulnesse judge not this such blessednesse yet ask a Cain ask a Judas demand of the tormented in hell whether it be not a blessed thing to have sin pardoned That thou shouldest be able to look on thy sins as so many serpents without stings as so many Egyptians dead upon the shoar as if they had never been that thou shouldst be able to say Lord where are such lusts such sins of mine I finde them all cancelled Is not this blessednes indeed Another expression is of accepting us in Christ and herein lieth much of Justification that it is an acceptation of us to eternall life Eph. 1.6 This must needs imbolden and incourage the heart when it knoweth that both person and duties are accepted though so much frailty and weakness yet God will receive thee The third phrase is to make Just Rom. 5.9 For God doth not pronounce that man just which is not so Therefore when we are Justified this is not absolutely and simply against a righteousnesse of works but in a certain respect as done by us and as obedience coming from us and this must needs support the soul for when satisfaction is made when God hath as much as he desireth why should not this quiet the heart of a man will nothing content thee unlesse thou thy self art able to pay God the utmost farthing A fourth word is not imputing of sin or imputing righteousnesse and this as you heard before is a very sure and real thing though it be not in us for there are many real benefits do come to us wheh yet the
fit nisi revelante spiritu per fidem aeternum Dei propositum de sua salute Who is a righteous man but he that returneth love to God for Gods loving of him And how can this be but by Gods Spirit revealing his purpose of Election concerning the just mans Salvation Use of Instruction Doth the apprehension of great pardon breed great Humiliation then we may see the necessity of that Ministery and preaching which doth discover the depth length and breadth of sin They take the best way to set up grace and magnifie Christ who do amplifie the pollution of sin in us Now that we may come to be convinced how much God doth forgive us two points are much to be insisted upon 1. The Doctrine of original corruption for thereby we shall see our selves guilty of more sins then ever we thought of a man without this Scripture-light is like one in a dark dungeon which is full of Serpents Toads and all venemous creatures but is not able to see any of them and so thinks himself without any danger at all If therefore thou wouldst see how much is forgiven reckon up all the debts thou owest The mercy and skill of the Physician will then appear when the worst of thy disease is made manifest A second Point much to be pressed is the pure strict and exact obligation of the law which being set as a pure glass before thee all thy deformities will appear In this sense it is good to be a legal Preacher and a legal Hearer often that so knowing the holiness of the Law and our imperfection we may esteem the more of Gods Grace in pardoning so much As God in the outward passages of his providence doth therefore suffer one trouble to follow another like so many waves that so the greater their calamities have been his wisdom power and goodness may be the more conspicuous in delivering of them Thus it is also in his spiritual administrations he will not reveal the riches of Grace but to the poor in spirit nor will he give ease and refreshment but to those that are heavy laden and burdened And this is the reason why a Pharisee a formalist a moral man a self-righteous man doth not love Christ as converted Publicans and sinners do Use second of Admonition to those who have sinned much and so have had much forgiven them let such know their expences of practised grace must be according to the receipts of justifying Grace Let such know the pardon of many sins is a talent to be greatly improved As thou hast abounded in many sins and God in many pardons so do thou in much thankfulness How thankful would we be to a man who hath delivered us often from a temporal death but behold a greater love is manifested here Thou who hast it may be been the chiefest sinner of many thousands be now the chiefest Believer of many thousands If thou hast been a great sinner and art not now a great actour and spiritual merchant negotiating for God fear the truth of thy grace much love should be like much fire that consumes all dross quicken up thy self with such thoughts as these Lord who was more plunged into sin then I whose diseases were greater then mine It may be thousands and thousands for less and fewer sins then I have committed are now taking their portion in hell O Lord this thy overflowing goodness doth overcome me oh that I had the hearts of all men and Angels to praise thee FINIS THE TABLE A FIve absurdities objected by the Antinomians which they say will follow from the Doctrine that God afflicts his people for sin vindicated p. 39 40 41 What kinde of act forgivenesse is and whether it be antecedent to our faith and repentance 166 167 There are no accidents in God ib. How afflictions come upon the godly after pardon of sin 24 God doth not alwayes afflict with reference to sin 28 The afflictions of the godly are not legal but evangelical and why 39 How afflictions on believers agree with the justice of God 101 It is a great aggravation to the sins of Gods people that they have been committed in his sight 53 54 Aggravations and diminutions of sin 206 208 The unsound Answers of the Antinomian about the afflictions of the godly 24 25 The Antinomian contrary to himself 33 34 93 Three Arguments of the Antinomian answered 34 35 36 37 The Antinomians answer to and evasion of certain Scriptures answered 53 How the anger of God is shewed toward the the sins of his people 76 77 78 The Antinomian Arguments answered 176 to 193 Arguments proving that God doth see sin in the justified so as to be offended with it 53 Seven Arguments proving our faith and repentance antecedents of Justification 169 to 172 Three Reasons proving that Assurance of pardon is apt to kindle spiritual affections in us 269 270 B Sins committed after Baptism pardonable 126 127 Christ is the advocate of Believers after Justification 66 67 Bellarmines objection answered 115 How sin is a blot in the soul 136 When sins are blotted out 158 C A three-fold cause of Justification Efficient Meritorious Instrumental 2 The people of God are not cast off for their sins 232 It is one thing to change the will and another to will a change 193 It is no derogation from Christ that sin is in a believer 40 What the bloud of Christ doth meritoriously cleanse the Spirit doth efficaciously 57 Wherein the compleatness of the pardon of sin at the day of Judgement consists 259 260 Six comfortable considerations gathered from certain Scriptures 49 â—0 It is of great consequence to have the Doctrine of Justification kept pure and why 3 A two-fold condition of faith pag. 191 192 Comfort to the children of God 263 Pardon of sin is a continued act 115 What is meant by covering sin 216 217 1 What is 2 What is not implied in that phrase of covering sin 217 218 219 How sin being in the regenerate yet covered will stand with the omnisciency truth and holiness of God 220 221 Whether God doth see sin when he hath covered it 219 220 D Eternal Death deserved by every sin 206 What in sin is a Debt 105 Sins called a Debt in a four-fold respect 105 106 There is a great difference between original and actual sin and wherein they differ 20 There is great difference in the calamities of the godly 28 The afflictions of the godly and the wicked for sin how differ 29 The difference between a godly man troubled in conscience and a man damned in hell 82 A two-fold difference between actions immanent and transient 166 167 168 An elect person and a reprobate how they are alike differ 188 Whether a difference ought to be made between great and little sins Six Propositions clearing the same 206. to 212 A Christian is to make a difference of sins six wayes 208 209 210 Four things wherein a Christian