by the sent and betweene Gall and Hony by the taste so it 's easie to discerne a spirituall man from a carnall by their sauour Dost thou most mind affect sauour earthly and carnall things This shewes thy dung-hill disposition for Spirituall men seeke and mind things aboue Euery thing liues according to his kind the Horse in the Pasture the Fish in the Water A Fish cannot liue out of the Water so talke of good things to a carnall man he presently fals asleepe or railes for hee 's out of his Element but to a Spirituall man such things are a delight As in dyet that which is one mans meat is another mans bane because of the difference of their temperature and constitution So is it here Examine thy selfe in particular The hearing of the Word Prayer c. are Spirituall Is the Word as sweet to thee as the Hony and the Honie-combe as it was to Dauid And is thy Soule neuer at rest till thou canst find opportunity to powre out thy heart to GOD in Prayer Thou art spirituall these things are most tedious to a carnall man Drunkennesse Idlenesse Vanity c. are things carnall Doest thou account that day as lost wherein thou meetest not with thy Consorts to haue fellowship in such things Flatter not thy selfe thou art surely carnall For a spirituall man hates these things and all his delight is in the Saints and in them which excell in Vertue Vse 3. Hee that would sauour spirituall things must be renued by the Spirit of God As he that is Aguish thinks sweet things bitter but being in health tasts euery thing aright So if thou wouldest sauour good things purge out that same choller and ranknesse of corruption which hath infected thee Many think that the priuiledges of Regenerate men belong to them because now and then they goe to a Sermon though they find no more sauour in it then in a dry Chippe No no Thou mayst heare many Sermons and yet haue a carnall heart of thine owne which if occasion serue will shew it selfe As Water-fowles hatcht vnder a Land-fowle a while remain with their damme but anon runne into the Water according to their kind So if the nature and disposition of the heart be not changed wee cannot sauour and take pleasure in good things As a Hare when she is hotly pursued and hunted plies her to some beaten-path not for any loue she hath to it but that there by the feet of passengers shee may lose her sent so many will be in the Church paths not for any Deuotion but that the filthy sent of their carnality might not be discouered Plutarke laughed at such who would be accounted as wise as Plato and yet in the company of Alexander would bee drunken Desirest thou the reputation of one godly and religious Professor Though thou commest to Church and ioynest in Prayer c. thou shalt neuer attaine it so long as thou wilt sweare lye be drunken or any thing for company It s another manner of thing to bee spirituall Wee cannot bee a Lyon in the Forrest and a little Dogge in a Ladies lap There must be a change of nature seeke this VERSE 6. For to be Carnally minded is Death but to be Spiritually minded is life and peace AS Adam hauing sinned the Angell kept the way of the Tree of Life so our Apostle keepeth vnrepentant sinners from the Consolation before propounded Such consolations belong not to wicked men The Argument to proue it was Those which are contrary obtaine not like condition But the wicked and godly are contrary This Minor was partly shewed Verse 5. from their contrary dispositions and is more declared in this Verse from their contrary Ends. Death and life are immediately contrary But these are the Ends of the Wicked and Godly Therefore the Ends of Wicked and Godly men are contrary To be Carnally minded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Figmentum cordis The word signifies the act of a Carnall minde comprehending thoughts desire discourse Moses calleth it that which the heart fashioneth Gen. 6.5 8.21 Is death By a figure Meton Effecti bringeth causeth or endeth in death For death is the end of sinne though not the end of a Sinner A wicked man sinnes not purposely that hee might be damned but damnation followes his wicked doings As a man many times seeking for one thing findes another so wicked men in their sinning seeke another thing The Adulterer his pleasure the Couetous Riches c. but they find another thing that is Death To be spiritually minded That is the Cogitations deuices desires actions proceeding from the spirituall part Is life and Peace that is bringeth happinesse and peace with God and our owne Consciences doctrine The sense and Doctrine Whatsoeuer the flesh or corruption doth mind sauour desire endeuour seeke act bringeth death and so on the contrarie for the Spirit that is the Regenerate part Gal. 5.21,23 The fruits of the flesh exclude vs out of Heauen the fruits of the Spirit exclude the Curse of the Law The more flesh the neerer Hell the more Spirit the surer and neerer Heauen Gal. 6.7,8 As hee that soweth Wheat reapeth Wheat not Barley so if we sow to the flesh we reape Corruption if to the Spirit life euerlasting Vse 1. True wisedome is that which hath the fauour of God and life following it We say many times of a wild gracelesse yong man He hath a good wit a Naughty wit wee should say because being vnsanctified it bringeth death We say also of a Couetous man O a very wise fellow wee should say a very foole For what wisedome can it be for a man to damne his soule by his courses If a man would iudge of wise men without the Word hee might imagine that our wittie Politicks and Carnall men had all the wit and that Spirituall minded men who neglect the present good things were little better then Fooles Indeede Carnall men thinke Spirituall men to bee Fooles but Spirituall men know Carnall men to be so For true wisedome is to feare God which while Carnal men want they cannot be truly wise The Word sometime calls wicked men wise but with a restriction in their generation to doe-euill according to the flesh c. Luke 16.8 Ier. 4.22 2. Sam. 17.23 Thus was Achitophel a deepe Politician but dyed like a Foole in a pettish humour hanging himselfe Therefore Salomon almost alwayes calls a wicked man The Foole. Some thinke it a point of wisedome to beleeue nothing which they cannot fathom with their owne Reason as the Corinthians doubted of the Resurrection but Paul saith to such a one Thou Foole or O Foole. 1. Cor. 15.36 Some thinke it a glory to differ from other in opinion and to contrary them as the Galathians in the point of Justification Gal. 3.1 but Paul cals them fooles for their labour Pharao seeing the children of Israel to increase Exod. 1.10 said he would deale
of God and goldlinesse as they came into the world Olde age will steale vpon thee Before it comes learne to liue well when it is come learne to dye well nay alwaies meditate thou of death it will cut the combe of thy pride and make thee neither to glut thy selfe with pleasure nor to be greedy of the world For thou must Dye And I counsell thee to dye quickly vnto Sinne that thou mayst liue euer in righteousnes and euerlasting glory But the Spirit is life for righteousnesse sake Now of the Correction Where wee haue 1. The Thing Life 2. The Illustration 1. By the Subiect The Spirit 2. By the Signe For Righteousnesse sake But the Spirit The Regenerate Spirit say some a Chrys The Regenerating Spirit say b Martyr Aretius others but in my opinion it is better taken for the c Beza Soule because so it holds best correspondence with the words of the Concession yet if we so take it both the other must be supposed For hee meanes such a soule as is Regenerate by the Spirit Is life If Spirit be taken for the Regenerate part Then is made to liue If for the Holy Ghost then quickneth and maketh to liue if of the soule then Is life signifieth liueth for euer For Righteousnesse sake of Christ Imputed to vs Inchoated in vs. That the Cause this the Signe of this life doctrine Though the bodies of the Regenerate be subiect to mortalitie and death yet their soules are not but they doe now liue and shall for euer for Righteousnesse sake Gal. 2.20 Stephen dying saith Lord Iesus receiue my Spirit Act. 5.59 This is confirmed also by the desire of all the faithfull Abrahā is said to be gathered to his Fathers Gen. 25.8 not his body for they were buried in Chaldea he in Canaan but his soule Vse 1. This Confutes beastly Epicures and Atheists who hold a death of the Soule Of which number was I thinke that Lymb of the Pope or of the Diuell which you will the Cardinall of Burbon who said he would not giue his part in Paris for his part in Paradise Vse 2. Thou art pressed with the weight of Sinne Bee of good Comfort Though Sinne cling about thee as Iuy yet by the Spirit of God thy Soule shall liue yea then more when thy Body dyes Iohn 3.36 We are not called forth by that Spirit to destruction but to victory Thou hast euen here euerlasting life And truly hee that hath it not here in the inchoation of it shall neuer haue it in Heauen in the perfection of it This is that which enables vs to ouercome the feare of death Wicked men are afrayd to dye yea they would liue here for euer because they haue no assurance that when they dye their soules shall ascend into Heauen But Gods Children though they feare death yet they ouercome that Feare and desire to dye being well assured that by death their soule as a Captiue shall be deliuered out of Prison and as a Bird escape out of the Cage of the Body into the celestiall Paradise as the Soule of Lazarus not so the soule of Diues which went into euerlasting tormenting flames Vse 3 There are Liuing Soules and there are Dead soules That Soule which hath the Spirit of Christ is a Liuing soule that which hath it not is a Dead soule For as the Soule is necessary to the life of the Body so the holy Spirit to the life of the Soule As the body without the Soule is dead from naturall Actions so the Soule without Christs Spirit from spirituall The Body dyes when the Soule leaues it The Soule dyes when God leaues It Bernard There are two Mansions or Roomes of the Soule The lower which it gouernes which is the Body the vpper wherein it resteth which is God She quickneth the Body God quickneth her She is better then the body God is better then she Therefore Paul saith that widowes liuing in pleasure are dead while they liue 1. Tim. 5.6 Dead not concerning the substance of liuing but the Quality not that they should not be but not be blessed Looke now to thy Soule is it dead or aliue Life of the body is discerned by sense and motion so in Proportion that of the Soule What knowledge hast thou of Spiritual things What taste and delight hast thou in the things of God Dost thou heare and feele that which is spoken out of the Word If not thou art Dead He that is onely asleepe by great noyse and blowes may be wakened Thou art not by the trumpet of the Word nor by the scourge or diuers crosses Certainly thou art dead Art thou starke and stiffe not stirring hand or foote in any good duty Alas thou art dead yea hee is not more dead that is put into his graue then thou art Thou feelest it not The more miserable art thou Thou shalt feele it and when thou dyest before thy Executors can carry thy body to the Graue thy soule shall bee carried to hell by the Diuell Hence is it that the Death of the wicked is called a very ill death We lament the bodily death of our Friends here is cause of lamentation when their soules dye also If a house be burnt with the goods all haue compassion but if the Owner also his Wife and Children be consumed with the fire wee cry out Alas So when the soule and all perishes here is matter of griefe For this as many thinke was Dauids mourning for Absalon 2. Sam. 18.33 because as his body hung fearefully on the tree so his soule might hang in hell for ought hee knew O what a sweet Comfort is it ouer our Friends departed if they haue dyed well with tokens of Grace Labour thou for such a death and be carefull for thy soule A dead body is a gastly thing to behold a thousand times more vgly if it could be discerned with bodily eyes is a dead soule such is euen like the Diuell VERSE 11. But if the Spirit of him which raised vp Iesus from the Dead dwell in you he that raised vp Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies e Or because of his Spirit by his Spirit that dwelleth in you THe second Consolation in this Verse As the former shewed the happinesse of the Godly in regard of their soules so this in regard of their bodies and it is inferred by an Occupation from the words of the 10. Verse thus I confesse Paul might some say that the soule liues but the Body is turned to dust and perisheth Nay saith Paul Euen the body shall be raised vp and quickned that the Regenerate may be happy in body and soule These words haue two parts 1. A supposition If the Spirit c. dwell in you 2. A Conclusion Hee that raised vp Christ c. If This Conditionall is not to be taken as if the Apostle doubtingly did suspend his Iudgement or call into
of the Scriptures chuse thee arguments as stones put them into the scrip of thy memory and with thy tongue as with a sling throwe them at thy Aduersary the Diuell who hath no more power to withstand Scripture then Goliah to stand being smitten in the forehead by Dauid Vse 2. So sauage is the cruelty that is vsed toward true Christians by wicked men that he is accounted to haue done a great exploit who can inuent new or adde any thing to old torments The story of the Heathen Emperors of the Turks of the Pope where he and his whelpes set foore shew this to be true The fires in England in Queene Maries dayes The massacre at Paris in the dayes of Charles the ninth proue that the death of a Professor of the Gospell is of no more account with them then the death of a sheepe nay of a dogge But O Papists Psalm 116.15 Right deare in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints You can suffer Iewes Turks enemies to Christ to liue among you yea you pitty Theeues Traytors abet them but the Protestant Christs true seruant is hated to the death Vse 3. Martyrdom Persecution is when not for our own sake but for Christs sake vve suffer patiently There are two principall things required in a Martyr 1. That his doctrine be true 2. That his life be holy The truth of our doctrine must be confirmed by the Scriptures when we suffer for our owne opinions and fancies for Toyes and Quiddities it is not to be called Persecution but rather the Iudgement of God The old saying is good which Cyprian and Augustine haue Not the punishment but the cause makes a Martyr And therefore Augustine obserues that Dauid saith not Iudge my punishment but Iudge my cause O Lord. And againe Blessed are they who suffer persecution not for wicked diuision but for righteousnes sake Psal 41. Non dixit Discerne poenam sed causam meam Aug Epist 50. Non propter iniquitatē et Christianae vnitatis impiam diuisionem sed propter iustitiam August ibid. Many are censured in the Church of England for their singularitie separation and diuision and then they say they are persecuted Shall Agar say she is persecuted because Sara deales with her according to her deserts No let her carrie her selfe more humbly to her Dame Remember then that it must be the weighty Truth for the which thou suffrest and that thou liue holily both these ioyned together make a Martyr Vse 4. Three things comfort in persecution 1. Our Afflictions are but for a day that is a short time All short troubles though great are tolerable 2. We haue the Saints of all times our companions wee are not alone Therefore Christ from hence comforteth Mat. 5.12 For so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you 3. We suffer for Christ who will reward vs a hundred fold in this life and in the world to come euerlasting life who also hath suffered for vs. It is no maruaile if we seruants suffer for so good a Master but this is maruailous that so good a Master hath suffred for such naughty seruants We suffer nothing but our sinnes deserue more and yet our good Master imputeth not our punishments as suffered for our sinnes but for his owne sake Vse 5. All that beare the face of the first Adam are subiect to suffrings but when we beare theface of the second Adam then are we much more subiect If thou be a Christian account of suffrings and that thou hast not suffred inough till thou suffer death The Wheat endureth more then the chaffe but the Wheat is for the Lords boord and the chaffe is for mucke or to be burnt with vnquenchable fire If God will haue his owne which feare and worship him to suffer grieuous things what remaineth for drunkards and profane beasts So Ieremie argues against Edom Ier. 44.12 Behold they whose Iudgement it was not to drinke of the cup haue assuredly drunken and art thou he that shalt escape free Thou shalt not escape So Peter 1. Pet 4.17 If iudgements beginne at Gods house how shall the wicked escape VERSE 37. Nay in all these things wee are more then Conquerors through him that loued vs. HEre is the other Argument to proue that nothing can separate vs which belieue and are regenerate from the loue of Christ It is thus formed Those which in all Tribulation ouercome those no Tribulation can separate from the loue of Christ But belieuers in all tribulations ouercome Therfore All the doubts are in the Minor which is the words of this verse In which are two things First the Victory Secondly the Cause of it The victorie In all these things we are more then Conquerors These things that is Tribulation c. as before We are more then Conquerours How can that be Can a man get more then the victorie The meaning is We are famous and renowned Conquerours both in regard of the facility to conquer and the greatnesse of the Conquest we easily conquer onely preparing the minde to be constant We haue a great Conquest because wee conquer by those things which are vsed to conquer vs wee beare our enemies with their owne swords as Iulian sometime said Egregie vincimus being confuted by heathen learning Therfore Martyr and Piscator expound We doe more then ouercome that is we obtaine a noble a famous victory The meaning is Satan in all the suffrings of Gods children driues at this to bring them from Christ to make them murmure blaspheme despaire and so to make a breach betweene God and them Ab ipso ducunt opes animumque ferro Hor. But Satan is defeated and God inspires his children with such a generous and noble spirit that troubles abate not their fortitude and patience but rather increase it As one Glouer Fox Acts and Mon. p. 1555. beeing to suffer at the stake vvas wonderfully afraid and the remembrance of the fire was so terrible that hee was exceedingly perplexed but when hee came within the view of the stake at the very sight of it a heauenly courage was put into him with much boldnes holy assurance and ioy in which he most constantly suffered doctrine In all afflictions Gods children obtaine a noble victory 1. Cor. 10.13 Iames 1.12 and 5.11 2. Tim. 2.11 1. Ioh. 5.4 Vse 1. Gods children suffer great things die in their sufferings Doe they then ouercome who beare away the blowes are killed by their enemies Indeed this is a Paradox to flesh and blood to conceiue but the truth is they famously conquer that fiue waies 1. In regard of their torments For neither the bigge and sterne lookes of their Tormentors doe affright them nor the sharpnes of their paines make them lament complaine but in the midst of their bitter sufferings they reioyce and glorifie God as appeares in the examples of the Apostles in the