first But wee must giue our heart freely and with a willing minde our whole heart must we giue and that continually Deut 6.5 Vae duplici cordi saith Saint Austen They dissemble with a double heart saith the Psalmist Psal 12. But this I say Cor diuisum moritur A diuided heart is a dead heart Et qui diuidunt partem diabolo partem Deo iratus Deus à sua parte discedit diabolus totum possidet and therefore giue God all or thou giuest him nothing at all yea and do it continually non Deo in iuuentute diabolo in senectute like the foolish Galathians which began in the spirit Gal. 3. but would end in the flesh In a word we may giue our knowledge to the ignorant our goods to the poore our taxes to Ceesar but our hearts only to God freely and wholy Because that as one flie corrupteth the whole boxe of ointment Reason so one sinne makes vs liable to condemnation The Apostle therefore speakes of sinne in singular Rom. 6.23 Stipendium peccati The wages of sinne not of many but of any sin is death And if we should suffer so many deaths as we haue committed sinnes yet were Gods iudgements iust and right A ship is endangered by one leake in the side and a citie surprised by one breach in the wall and a fowler catcheth the bird as well by one part as the whole bodie So sinne is like leauen and a little leauen leaueneth the whole lumpe Gal. 5.9 2. King 2. one Coloquintida brought death into the pot and one dead worke of darknesse destroyeth the soule Vse It serueth to condemne the halting profession of our dissembling age wherein many will be content to leaue some sinnes 1. Sam. 1 5.9 but keepe others as Saul spared Agag and the fatlings and as Herod spared his lust and vnlawfull marriage Mat. 6.12 Ananias and Saphira were willing to bring a part to the Apostles but they were loth to bring all The yong man in the Gospel would follow Christ but he was loth to sell all so that this word all marres all Euery man would go to heauen with his darling The couetous would go with his gold the vicious with his harlots the ambitious with his braue attire c. But touch the world in these their profitable pleasant darling and bosome sinnes and you shall heare men speake as in the house of Rimmon like Naaman the Assyrian God be mercifull to me in this 2. King 5. Preach to the vsurer or oppressour That he which doth not prouide for his owne familie is worse then an infidel or against prodigality or suretiship and your word shall be as the first and latter raine and sinke deepe into his romembrance but turne him to Psal 15. where no vsurer shall rest in Gods holy hill or 1. Cor 6. where no extortioner shall enter into the kingdome of heauen or to Saint Matthew concerning workes of mercie or to Saint Luke against couetousnesse and you shall finde him eared like the deafe adder and his heart harder then the nether milstone But it is written If thy right eye offend thee that is Math. 5. if thy sinne be as deare vnto thee as the apple of thine eye yet pull it out and let not thine eye spare it or if thy right hand offend thee that is if thy sinne be as profitable and commodious as thy hand whereby thou gettest thy liuing yet cut it off and cast it from thee or if thy foote offend thee to cause thee to sin that is if thy sinne be so necessary as thy foote wherewith thou bearest thy selfe yet spare it not For it is better to enter into the kingdome of God blinde and lame and maimed then otherwise to be cast into hellfire For one sinne in the soule is like a serpent in the bosome cast it from you or it will sting you to death and as Dalila neuer left fawning and flattering Sampson till she made him a mill horse to the Philistimes so your sinne if you trust it will betray you to the diuel and he will send you with such a grist to grinde that you shall pay your soule for the tole As therefore it is said of Iob. 1. that he was integer rectus and so must we be integri sound and not hollow and recti straight and not crooked and so are all good men and euery good worke both within and without And to this purpose ought we to set God alwaies before our eies 1. 2. 3. 4. Eph. 6.6 and to think vpon iudgement and our account and to consider that eye seruice is nothing pleasing to God and to remember that as Christ gaue his heart bloud for vs so as Saint Bernard saith Iustè cor nostrum vendicat quisuum pro nobis dedit He I say hath redeemed vs and therefore ought we to cleanse our hearts from all sinne and giue all to his seruice This is the point which I aime at viz. the triall of out integrity when a man can say with good conscience as Psal 139. Try me O God and know my heart proue me and knew my thoughts and consider if there be any way of wickednesse in me or at the least as it is Psal 7.3 if there be any wickednesse in my hands Surely brethren I say to you that are the elect of God Let vs thus examine our owne hearts vpon our beds Psal 4. and in our chambers secretly and cleanse our selues from all filthinesse All filthinesse I say both of the flesh and spirit which is the last passage of this point viz. The speciality of the parts and powers infected 5. 5. The speciality of the parts and powers infected Of the flesh and spirit There was a law in Rome De purgandis fontibus and it holds good in Scripture where we must purge our hearts which is fons vitoa tam naturalis quà m spiritualis and in purging of our heart we must cleanse our bodies yea and our soules also from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit whence note Doct. We must mortifie our bodies and mortifie our soules and so giue the whole to Gods seruice Rom. 12.1 I beseech you brethren by the mercies God that you giue vp your bodies and soules a liuing sacrifice c. In stead of the bodies of dead beasts we must giue our bodies a liuing sacrifice and in stead of the bloud of beasts which was a shadow and pleased not God of it selfe we must giue vp the acceptable sacrifice of the soule and this is iuge sacrificium viz. a perpetuall mortifying of the will reason affections and members Atque haec obedientia non potest plus dare dedit enim se And therefore must we mortifie both that we may sanctifie him both in body and soule not onely saying in the outward organe of speech My soule praise thou the Lord Psal 103.1 but body and soule flesh and spirit must
neuer so entire affection and laboured our callings with neuer so great diligence we are altogether vnprofitable hauing left more vndone then those we haue performed yea and whatsoeuer we haue done is in such great weaknesse Psal 143. 2. that Lord if thoushouldest marke what is done amisse who shall be able to abide it In conclusion therefore let him haue the glory in all things who giueth seede vnto the sower and bread to him that needeth 1. Cor. 9.10 who worketh in vs both to will and to do and we let vs cleanse our selues for when we haue done all we are still vnprofitable seruants Luk. 17.10 And of the Subiectum thus farre now to the praedicate wherein is set downe Remotio mali Remotio mali in 5. viz. Let vs cleanse our selues from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit Wherin obserue the fiue forenamed passages 1. The property of the worke Cleanse 2. The propriety of the persons our selues 3. The matter to be wrought on filthinesse 4. The generality of the taske all filthinesse 5. The speciality of the parts and powers infected flesh and spirit For the first c. Cleanse which is a metaphoricall speech taken from outward washing for as filth is done away by water so by the helpe of Gods Spirit must we cleanse our selues from sinne You shall reade to this purpose diuers lawes and statutes in Israel of cleansing the Altar Exod 29. of cleansing the Leaper Leuit. 13. of cleansing the house of the Lord 2. Chron. 29. of cleansing Iudah and Ierusalem 2. Chron. 34. of cleansing the people with the gates and entrances of their cities and houses Nehem. 11. And these lawes we know were typicall hauing resemblance of things to come and the same God being our God requireth the same of vs in substance which was prefigured in these ceremonies and shadowes For the Altar is our heart Cor mundum Psal 51. a cleane heart the leprosie is our sinne which stings like a scorpion and infects like a leprosie the house of the Lord are our bodies and soules which are the temples of the holy Ghost Iudah and Ierusalem are the Israel of God which must be holy euen as he is holy and the people and their gates are we here assembled whom of no people he hath made a people that we should sanctifie our gates viz. our affections and actions through which the Spirit of grace shall go in and out Lift vp your heads O ye gates and be ye lift vp ye euer lasting doores purge the altar of your hearts Psal 24.7 cleanse the leprosie of your sinne sanctifie your bodies and soules and though Israel play the harlot yet let not Iudah sinne but make cleane and prepare the doores of your tabernacles Psal 118.19 that the King of glorie may come in Againe I finde by obseruation generally that we are said two wayes to be cleansed which I may call the former and the after labour viz. the inchoation and progression of repentance Man in the former is meerly a patient dead vnto sinne Rom. 7.18 2. Cor. 3.5 in whom dwels no good thing hauing no power to raise himselfe but euen the disposition of the will which is otherwise blindly led and captiue vnto sin it doth proceed of him which workes all good in all 1. Cor. 12.6 But in the other we are in some sort agents cooperary Dei liuely instruments to worke out our owne saluation For the former it is no more possible for a man to cleanse himselfe then to change the spots of a Leopard or to wash white the skin of a Morian The heart of naturall man is so hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sinne that except a more powerfull spirit doth incline and soften and dispose it inwardly to good a man with as good successe may plow on the rocke or sow on the shoare as by words thinke to winne a man to repentance for this cleansing it is the gift of God Ephes 2.4 and the first act thereof is his immediate hand such as all the naturall eloquence and force of man cannot effect For as the wise man speaketh Who can say I haue made my owne heart cleane Prou. 20 19. And as that cripple which eight and thirtie yeares waited at the poole of Bethesda if he had not bene helped by our Sauiour had liued and died a cripple because he was not able to moue himselfe into the waters Ioh. 5.5 so except a more powerfully spirit doth moue yea and compell vs into the maine of Maries weeping water of life we should liue and die and be damned for want of penitencie Dauid therefore for the example of all others thus teacheth vs to turne to the God of our saluation Haue mercie vpon me O God according to c. Psal 51.1 And againe ver 1. Wash thou me throughly from mine iniquitie And againe ver 7. Purge thou me with bysope c. And againe ver 10. Create in me a clane heart O God And so the Prophet Ieremie teacheth See Ez. 36.25 Conuert thou me and I shall be conuerted for thou art the Lord my God Ier. 31.18 And yet not this but the after labour of renouation is the proper and most genuine interpretation of my text Wherein through the grace of God we are become instrumentall agents to cleanse our selues And to this purpose runne all the precepts and commandements which call for our obedience and amendments Ezech. 18.30 Rom. 12.2 Isa 1.16 Turne you turne you c. Wash you make you cleane c. Fashion not your selues like vnto this world but be yerenewed c. And the like These precepts we call Euangelicall which do alwayes presuppose Gods mercifull hand to helpe whose grace is prest and readie to all that call vpon him more willing to giue then we to aske and giueth more then we can desire yea and is not wanting to any except they be wanting to themselues And to what end doth God lend vs eyes and eares and hands and feete but to see and heare and worke and walke So his grace which is giuen vnto vs must not be idle but operatiue to all good workes to adde to our faith vertue to vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance c. 2. Pet. 1.5.6 A man therefore in his renouation is not ficulnus inutile lignum like the image of Baal or the stumpe of Dagon 1. Kin. 18.17 1. Sam. 5.4 Psal 13 5.15 or the idols of the Gentiles which haue eyes and see not eares and heare not mouthes and speake not hands c. But as the sicke which was healed must take vp his bed and walke Mar. 2.11 as the dumbe the blinde the lame and the dead which were restored to speech and sight and strength and life they spake and saw and leaped and gaue glorie to God and as Paul after his conuersion Act. 9.20 must presently preach the Gospell so must we not suffer the grace of
luxuria cuius materia gula c. Hier. Where he compareth whoredome to the infernall fire whose matter or nourishment are gluttony and drunkennesse the flame is feruor cōcupiscentiae Hos 7.4 as an ouen heated by the baker so is an adulterer the sparkes are corrupt speeches and filthy communication the smoke infamy and disgrace the acts adulterie fornication vncleannesse and the end hell torments Drunkennesse and whoredome with other the odious sinnes of these latter and dangerous times these are they which haue kissed each other which go hand in hand and haue made a couenanc with destruction and sworne a league with hell for the subuersion both of Church and Commonwealth O that I had the voice of men and angels to crie against them if my tongue were dipped in gal yet could I not sufficiently not bitterly enough inuey against them If there be any thing in death or hell more miserable their tongues shall taste thereof and their bowels shall be filled with the dregs thereof woe vpon woe shall light vpon them and though the Sunne and Moone haue an end yet their plagues and torments shall neuer haue end hearken and stand in awe and tremble before the Lord your God yemen of Israel how long and how loud haue we cried against these foule offences and yet who hath beleeued our report or to whom is the arme of the Lord reuealed Surely if our words take no deeper impression it resteth that you second our words with the sword of iustice And to the Honorable and Worshipfull of this assembly be it spoken to whom God hath imparted his own Name for ye are called Gods that you ioyne your helping hands to pull downe these shops of iniquitie and to stop and dam vp these stinking wels of filthinesse for if you spare and beare the sword in vaine the people shall die in their sinnes but God shall require their bloud at your hands Neither may I forget to giue some of the worthiest and most honorable in this assembly their due for the good and godly zeale they haue shewed for the lord our God on this behalfe the fame whereof hath spread it selfe into all corners of the land and it doth make glad the Citie of God I meane in punishing and purging these two forenamed vices to wit drunkennesse and whoredome together with the profanation of the Sab both may you go on like good Nehemiahs to do worthily in Ephrata and be famous in Bethlem and the Lord strengthen your hearts and as you labour the peace of Ierusalem so let your dayes be multiplied in peace and bind vp their soules O Lord in the bundle of life All that I haue further to say to you the Magistracie of this honorable Assembly touching this point is the charge of God himselfe to his seruant Ioshua Onely be strong and of a valiant courage to fight the Lords battels to cut downe sinne to roote it out and as you haue begun in the Lord so let your zeale abound and be not faint hearted in so good a cause and behold God shall neither leaue you nor forsake you till you haue in some measure purged and cleansed this Citie from filthinesse And for you my brethren let my conclusion of this point turne to you all here present and you to turne to the Lord your God o turne you turne you for why will you die ye men of Israeli consider your sinnes are great and grieuous they are the prouocation of heauen and strike at the maiestie of God say therefore with S. Peter It is enough for me that I haue spent the times past in surfetting and drunkennesse in couetousnes and idlenesse other things nay better things are now required of me namely that I liue not after the Iusts of the flesh but after the will of God Thus cleanse yea and your selues yea and cleanse your selues from filthinesse yea and that from all filthinesse and that is the fourth part and passage of my text viz. the generalitie and difficultie of the taske The generalitie or difficultie of the taske All filthinesse The Apostle dehorring from sinne dehorteth from all sinne not onely from filthinesse indefinite lest sinne should haue a starting hole but all filthinesse vniuersaliter that no sinne should escape whence note None must content themselues with the beginnings of mortification For as Moses once spake in the case of their departure out of Aegypt With our yong and with our olde will we go we will not leaue one hoofe behind Exod. 10 9. so is it euer most true in our departure out of the captiuitie of sin we must not leaue one sinne vnsearched not an euill thought must be spared for whosoeuer shall faile in one point of the law is guiltie of all Iam. 2. 10. And againe Whosoeuer breaketh the least of these commandements the same shall be called the least in the kingdome of heauen Act. 26.28 King Agrippa therefore in religion was like a meteor in the aire betwixt heauen and earth and so are all that haue a deuided heart like the picture of Ianus which looked forward and backward euen so are they halfe and almost and halting Christians But as no defectiue person was to serue at Gods altar no more shall any halting professor come in his presence The point is All filthinesse must be cleansed Which was mystically signified in the law where Moses was commanded to cut the haire of the Leaper supercilia cilia not an haire of sinne must be left The Holocausts whether they were boues oues or aues were wholy consumed to teach vs that whatsoeuer we do in Gods seruice must be done wholy So Saint Paul bids vs Put on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole armour of God for we must leaue no part vnarmed Ephes 6. And Christ faith Take my yoke vpon you Mat. 12.29 one would thinke that the yoke was onely for the necke but his yoke must we take on euery part God would haue vs powre out our hearts like water now water leaueth no sauour nor colour nor drosse behind as other licours do so must we cleanse our selues euen from all appearance of finne If we cleanse the Temple let vs not leaue the Altar behind kill both Amalek and all his cattell spare not one corrupt affection not the least sinne no not in the egge The Prophet speakes of a cake baked on the harth Hos 7. panis subcineritius baked on the one side but dough on the other luke-warme Christians which halt twixt God and Belial a little warme that they may serue God and a little warme to serue the world But the Wise man sets downe the wish of God Fili mi c. My sonne giue me thy heart non per commutationem nec per venditionem sed per donationem Prou. 23. Some lend their heart to God vntil they see a greater aduantage some sell their heart to God for a reward and God must serue them
ioyne their forces as well tuned Cymbals Praise thou the Lord ô my soule al that is within me praise his holy name Reason Because God created both He hath made vs and not we our selues Psal 100. And therefore are we due vnto his seruice Totum fecit saith Augustine totum exigit August He made all and therefore will he haue all not a peece of thy heart nor a roome in the heart but thy whole heart not a member of thy body or some parts of thy body but the whole man Redde Caesari qua Caesaris sunt Math. 22 21. giue him I say the whole for it is due vnto him The whole body mortified from sinne and thy whole heart purged by faith bathed in the bloud of the Lambe and cleansed by the fire of the spirit Not an old heart nor a corrupt heart but a new heart and a new spirit for which the Prophet Dauid begged Create in me a new heart O Lord and renew a right spirit within me Psal 51.10 Vse 1 1. This teacheth vs that sinne is there to be rooted our where it had beginning which is from the heart For out of the heart proceede thefts adulteries murders c. Out of the abundance of the heart the tongue speaketh Math. 15 19. Math. 12.34 the hand workâ—th the foote walketh and therefore saith Ieremy 4. Wash thine heart ô Ierusalem from all wickednesse The Prophet findeth not fault so much that euill thoughts came in but that they stayed there A foolish heart therefore is compared to the axle tree in the wheele which continually turneth and yet staieth in the wheele so the thoughts of an euill heart are not expelled but turned ouer therefore the onely meanes to cleanse our bodies is to cleanse our hearts and the onely meanes to cleanse our hearts is to let the feare of God keepe the doore of our hearts Let vs therefore consider Quid amisimus viz. our owne freedome Cui offendimus God our maker Et quò tendimus to hell and damnation Let vs cleanse therefore our flesh and spirit frequentieiectione of euill thoughts receiued diligenti euitatione of all enticements sedula repressione of all carnall concupiscence And we must do it speedily for if a garment be stained it will easily be cleansed if it be washed presently a coale will not burne if thou hold it not too long therefore we should learne wisedome of the worldly who in their generation are wiser then the children of light who if any flouds or inundations are likely to endanger their lands or houses they vse all meanes to turne the current of the streames another way and so should we turne the current of our flesh and spirit moouing vs to euill orando meditando laborando semper aliquid bone operando it a vt diabolus cum veniat iuuentat nos semper occupatos Either by thinking vpon the passion of Christ or of the ioyes of heauen or of the paines of hell or in the performance of the duties of our callings or in powring out our prayers vnto God alwaies labouring good and these will turne the current of our hearts another way 2. If we must cleanse our bodies and soules and giue both to Gods seruice what shall I say them of the Papists who will serue the Lord onely in their bodily exercises their beade-prayers worship in an vnknown tong their knocking kneeling crossing creeping crouching turnings lifting vp and letting downe their blockish Roode and kissing their painted Paxe their holy water sprinkling their going on pilgrimage bare footed and bare legged their whipping themselues on Saints eues and such their superstitious fooleries are meerely outward exercises which as concerning the flesh haue a shew of holinesse in voluntary religion and not sparing of the flesh but haue no such power Colos 2.23 For bodily exercise profiteth nothing 1. Tim. 4.8 3 3. Esa 29.13 With these may I ranke the hypocrits of our times which serue the Lord in shew and not in truth which draw neare to God with their mouthes but their hearts are farre from him such are the knee-praiers and lip-labours of our time-seruing hearers which outwardly professe Christ but inwardly Belial Christians onely in name Saints onely in shew of which Saint Bernard speakes Multi sunt oues habitu vulpes actu crudelitate lupi Bernard Sheepe in shew foxes in deede and wolues in cruelty for an hypocrite hath vulpem in cerebro miluum in manu lupum in corde a foxe in his braine a kite in his hand and a wolfe in his heart A foxe in his braine subtill and crafty to insnare and then he hath miluum in manu a kite in his fist to hold fast and when he hath caught hold he hath lupum in corde a wolfe in his heart to deuoure And therefore our Sauiour Christ saith Beware of false Prophets which come to you in sheepes cloathing but inwardly are rauening wolues Math. 7.16.17 which in painted boxes hide deadly poysons in beautifull Sepulchers rotten bones and vnder Iezabels painted face a whores behauiour and therefore our Sauiour calleth them serpents and viperous serpents O ye viperous serpents ye generation of vipers how shall you escape the damnation to come Math. 23.33 And to shew the certaintie of their damnation beside the manifold woes which Christ denounceth against them it is said that wicked men shall haue their portion with hypocrites Math. 24.51 to shew that the condemnation of hypocrites is most surely sealed Let me therefore vse that counsell of Chrysostome Hypocrita aut esto quod appares aut appare quodes Either be as thou seemest or appeare as thou art for simulata sanctitas est duplex iniquitas Counterfet pietie is double impietie first because it is impietie and then because it is counterfet making truth falshood and God a liar But as it is said Rom. 2. Non auditores sed factores legis not the hearers of the law but the doers of the law shall be iustified So of religion Non eandem profitentes sed eidem obedientes not professors but performers shall be glorified Let vs not therefore be like the fig tree which our Sauiour cursed that had leaues in abundance Math. 21. but no fruite at all for it is not the lifting vp of our eyes nor the knocking of our breasts nor the holding vp of our hands which shall stand vs in stead in the latter day but the wounded soule the sinceritie of the heart Psal 5 1.17 the contrite spirit ioyned with our outward obseruance and obedience which shal administer true ioy in the latter end And therefore let vs as the elect of God holy and beloued let vs I say professe with our mouthes and practise with our liues let vs sing in voice and with the spirit also let vs repent in life and sow in teares let vs cleanse the flesh that we may be mortified and cleanse our spirit so shall we be glorified