action in us are by our fall miserably depraved what therefore can be expected concerning the actions which do proceed from them These principles are the several faculties and powers of the soul of man which are distinctly to be examin'd by us to this purpose First The mind and understanding of man is sadly darken'd If the understanding be bad the will cannot be good as much depending upon the understanding and following the ultimate and punctual dictates of it The sight of the body is the eye says our Blessed Saviour If therefore thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light but if thine eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness And if the light which is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness Matth. 6.22 23. Where from the sight of the body is argued to the sight of the soul Because what the eye is to the body the same is the understanding to the soul Now the understanding of all men by nature is very much corrupted and left in the dark This St. Paul speaks to the Ephesians Ye were sometimes darkness but now ye are light in the Lord Eph. 5.8 Sometime when was that namely in the time of your natural condition and before conversion not only dark but darkness it self And so concerning the Gentiles he says that they were darkned in their understandings through the ignorance that is in them that is which is inherent in their natures Eph. 4.18 The mind of man through corruption does lye under a double ignorance Frist of the true and chiefest end and Secondly of a fit application of the means to this end It is ignorant of the true and chiefest end namely of God himself to whom all humane actions are chiefly and ultimately to be directed And it is ignorant also of the means which tend to this end or if it have at any time some general apprehensions of them whereby it knows them as we say in Thesi yet in hypothesi pro hic nunc upon this particular occasion and in these present and particular circumstances so it knows not the manner of applying those means to the end as it ought to know And this depravedness and corruption of the understanding does the Scripture every-where declare as Rom. 1.21 22. They became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned Professing themselves to be wise they became fools 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 2 Cor. 3.5 We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to find it out by our reason namely in spiritual things but our sufficiency is of God Gen. 6.5 Every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil and that continually Rom. 8.5 6 They which are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Where the very understanding of the flesh is said to be enmity against God and death it self This for the corruption of the understanding But Secondly The will it is no less corrupted or depraved neither but has also a proper and peculiar depravation belonging unto it so that though the understanding should judge of things a-right yet without a peculiar work upon it as it now stands by nature and without a special work of Grace upon it it would not yet follow the dictate of the understanding truly enlighten'd but by a strange perversness would reluctate and hold off from it The will which is the governess of all our actions and the commander of the whole person is as much depraved as to the desire of good as the understanding is to the knowing of it and refuses to do that good which the understanding is sometimes convinced of and shews that it is to be done by it being desperately carried and enclined to all manner of evil From the corruption whereof together with the corruption of the understanding with it this business of free-will it must of necessity fall to the ground As because it is necessary for a man to go on both his legs therefore he must needs limp if he fail but only in one of them but if both his legs fail him he is then downright lame indeed and a perfect cripple Even so is it here the blindness of the understanding were enough to take a man off from the doing of what is good consider'd alone but the perversness of the will joyned with it does perfectly disenable him indeed Now this is here further observable and considerable of us Jer. 17.9 The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Eph. 2.3 We all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind we all that is in the state of corrupt nature and doing the wills of the flesh and of the mind whereto may be referr'd that Gal. 5.16 Walk in the Spirit and do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh And so Rom. 2.24 He gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts Ye see then the force of the argument An evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit as I have shewed before Now an evil tree is an evil man or an evil will as Austin interprets it Now the will by original sin is turn'd from God to the creature and so altogether indisposed and disenabled to any spiritual good Thirdly The higher and superior part of the soul namely the understanding and will which are the principles of humane actions being wholly corrupted and depraved this poyson it does farther spread it self to the inferior faculties Hence is that great strise betwixt the sense the appetite and reason which the Apostle Paul himself complains of Rom. 7.23 I see another law in my members rebelling against the law of my mind and leading me captive to the law of sin which is in my members See here rebelling or fighting against a word of wars And again leading me captive a word of triumph Hence all the affections in man since his fall do not follow the commands of reason but rather prevent reason it self bind it and tye it up and lead it captive whithersoever they are carried Now let us lay all these things together The understanding hath lost its light and is overshadowed with darkness The will hath lost its rectitude and is fill'd with perversness The inferior appetite hath lost its subjection and delights in rebellion And so the whole man in this latitude is spiritually dead How then can he possibly thus dispose himself to any thing which is good or by the power of his own free-will produce any spiritual good action Surely as every natural
Solomon tells us and Peter councels Simon Magus to repent of his wicked thought that it might be forgiven unto him we have cause to take care of our thoughts that they may not be otherwise then such as are agreeable to the rule of God's Law Take heed of spiritual sins and such as are more appropriated to the mind or of Corporal sins made Spiritual by Fancy and Speculation Speculative revenge and Speculative uncleanness and Speculative Theft which consists in Covetous and unlawful Desires We should use our phansies and thoughts purely that so while they are not to us instruments and means of sin they may not be to us neither instruments or means of Affliction that we may not have troublesome and disquieting thoughts it concerns us to have innocent thoughts and thoughts as near as we can free from guilt and that in all the Improvements and Activities of them In matter of Judgement to have sound and sober opinions In matter of reflection to have holy and Sanctified Meditations In matter of Counsel to have honest and faithful Contrivances Every way and in every thing to submit our thoughts to the blessed guidance of the Holy Spirit of God and in a Gracious Captivity and subjection to the Obedience of Christ Thus shall we have less trouble from our thoughts then otherways we should And as this does concern all men whatsoever so more especially does it concern those whose excellency lies in their thoughts Schollers and men of parts and understanding forasmuch as these are most subject to such kind of evils as these are in the greatest Aggravations The finest wits are liable to the greatest Distractions and the more advantages any have of doing Evil the more occasions have they likewise of suffering Evil as the mind is capable of the greater Comfort and Contentment so it is also of the greatest trouble and look as it is in the body that the most exquisite Constitutions are liable to the greatest pains so in the Soul the most sublime and raised parts ar exposed to the most disquieting thoughts Thus God is pleased now and then to afford sad instances and Expressions off that others may take heed but so much for the first particular to wit the grief or evil it self which is here mentioned And that is thoughts The Second is the Amplification of this Evil and that is from the Number Multitude of thoughts Thoughts crowding and thrusting in themselves in a Violent and confused manner one upon another Que catervatim se proruunt as Austin speaks in another case such thoughts as these does he here speak off All Evils do still receive an Intention and Aggavation of themselves from the plurality and multiplicity of them And so likewise here one troublesome and molesting thought it may breed a great deale of Grief and Distraction and such as a man would fain be rid off and shake off from Himself what he could But where there are many this is so much the more Intollerable Now this is that which we have here in this place exhibited to us David had many rugged thoughts which he was perplext and troubled withall and which occasion'd so much grief unto Him It was Multitudo Cogitationum and this is that which many others besides are subject unto There are many devises in the Heart of a man as Solomon speaks Prov. 19.21 And again in Eccl. 7.29 God made man Righteous but they sought out many Inventions Many Devises and many Inventions and many Thoughts are men troubled withall There 's a variety and diversity of them This to give you some account of it from whence it does proceed is founded upon these following Considerations First The nature of the mind of man consider'd simply in it self that lays Ground for this Multiplication Man's Soul it is full of Nimbleness and Activity and Fruitfulness upon all occasions It is that which is still working and beating out somewhat or other without any Intermission And because it is also full of Inconstancy and unsettledness by reason of Sin therefore it is apt to produce a variety and abundance of thoughts It goes from one thing to another like a Bee in the change of Flowers and is never at rest and this is a part of that Vanity which is upon it this Infirmity is seen in nothing more then it is in the performance of good Duties Prayer and hearing of the word and such Religious Exercises as these wherein this multitude of thoughts does in a special manner discover it self How hard and difficult is it without a great deal of carefulness and watchfulness and preparation and circumspection for the mind to keep it self close to that one thing which is necessary and not to be called away to a variety and multiplicity of Distractions at such times as those are The Holiest men that ever have been they have much complained of this weakness in themselves as St. Austin and St. Basil c. Secondly Another Cause and Ground of this multitude of thoughts may be taken from the mutability of Conditions and variety of Objects and occasions which we meet withall in this world Our thoughts are for the most part answerable to the Estate in which we are and the occasions which are presented unto us Now forasmuch as there 's an alteration in them there 's a diversity also in these which are sutable and agreeable thereunto This is our Condition in this World that it is subject to an abundance of change sometimes things go well with us and sometimes they go another way at least we are ready to think so let them go how they will There are occasions from our selves there are occasions from our Relations there are occasions from the Church and publique Estates And this does produce Plurality and variety of thoughts in us Thirdly There is also some cause from this now and then likewise from others according as thoughts are suggested and presented and offered to the mind and this is seen in nothing more then in the Temptations of Satan who being Himself a Spirit has thereby a very great advantage over our Spirits and does sometimes put thoughts into us of his own accord and which otherwise we should never think off Yea there are some whom he does in a manner force and impose thoughts upon them against their will in his violent suggestions Thoughts of Atheism and thoughts of Blasphemy and thoughts against the very Light and dictates of Nature it self these may be said to be our thoughts so far forth as we are the Subjects recipient of them and in a passive sense but otherwise they are none of ours neither shall they be put upon our score or laid to our charge while we do abhor and reverence them no more then the words of any Blasphemer or prophane person which we hear against our minds and which we shut our Ears against yet these they are many times in great multitudes and do make up this present number in the Text. And
which would be apt and ready otherwise to fly in their faces Those who are guilty of great sins they have now and then sad remembrances of them in their own souls Even Natural conscience is so far active and effectual as that it oftentimes very much afflicts such persons as are deep in transgression Now that this may be a little allayed and pacified in them they think it the best way for them to turn into such kind of Duties as these are Men do naturally affect a slight and easie Religion such as will cost them no great pains or labour with their own hearts and if they can but reach to this they are well satisfied and contented in themselves and sit down abundantly pleased They are willing to do any thing which they may do with the keeping of their lusts and the enjoying of their corrupt Affections that so they may have some kind of quietness and tranquillity in their own minds Now thus because it is obtained in some sort in these meer outward performances therefore do they so much the rather apply themselves to them The consideration of these Points both together the consistency and concomitancy of prophaneness and formality with one another is therefore useful to the right apprehension of mens state and condition in Grace that they may not mistake themselves in this particular as to think the case is presently good with them according to their conversation or abundance in such matters as these are Alas if there be nothing else which they can approve themselves for but this they are but in a sad and miserable condition That Religion which is consistent with the indulgence of base lusts and corruptions in the heart is but a poor Religion indeed This is that which is observable in Popery in a special manner where if they can bring themselves off to some outward and corporal services and performances in the Worship of God this is that which serves their turn whiles in the mean time they allow themselves in secret and inward lusts which also break forth into open abominations And every man by nature has somewhat of this rooted in him Men had rather do any thing than once deny themselves and cross and contradict the byas of their base and corrupt inclinations Oh this goes to their very heart and they cannot indure it They may sometimes come to Church and hear the Word and receive the Sacrament in a formal and customary manner and this breaks no bones if ye go no further than so They may do all this and when they come home return to their wonted wickedness and leudness as is here exprest in the Text and therefore they can comply with such things as these are But to give God their hearts and to serve him in Spirit and Truth and to cross themselves in those sins which are nearest and dearest to them this is that which is difficult for them and they cannot indure to hear of it Here they go away sorrowful as it was with that rich man in the Gospel when Christ put him upon a Duty of self-denial and inward obedience And so much may be spoken of these words in their positive and absolute consideration as they have an implicit Assertion in them for so they have and so also some Translators express it Will ye do so and so that is ye will do so at the same time both steal and kill and commit adultery c. And you withall come and stand in my house Propâ—◠〈◊〉 and formality they are consistent and conâ—◠〈◊〉 one another they are 〈◊〉 as may very 〈…〉 in this thing and they are such as do very much concur in the person Now the second and next view of these words is in their sense of expostulation as our last Translation here renders it and most agreeably to the Hebrew Text Will ye steal and murther c. And come and stand before me in this house c where the Lord calls this people to an account for their mixture of these two both together How whiles they allur'd themselves in the one they practised the other whiles they were guilty of so great and so many notorious Miscarriages How together with them they did joyn these semblances and appearances of Devotion And this Question or Expostulation it hath a double Emphasis or respect with it First How can ye do so in regard of your selves as to your own satisfaction And Secondly How can ye do so in regard of Me as to My content First How in regard of your selves How can ye satisfie your own Minds and Consciences with such kind of doings Can ye think but in your own hearts that this is a thing fitting and convenient The Lord here seems to appeal to their own Judgments in this particular as he does also in other places of Scripture This is the great unhappiness of prophane Hypocrites and Formalists that they are in a manner condemned of themselves and their own consciences many times tell them that their actions are otherwise than they should be when they consider seriously of them they cannot but conclude against them and acknowledg them to be very unreasonable And therefore does the Lord himself in such cases upon these terms proceed with them as he does here with this people of the Jews Will ye steal and kill c And come and stand before me c That is can ye satisfie your selves in so doing Their Actions though as I shewed before they were consistent yet they were incongruous though they were such as were done together yet they were not such as did hold together but as the legs of the lame were unequal There was a repugnancy in them as themselves could not deny That 's that which is here signified and accordingly it is that which may be done to any other in the like cases whether in the exercise of the Ministry or in private and Christian Admonition we may herein appeal to mens consciences in this particular who if they will deal indifferently and impartially cannot justifie their own proceedings Hypocrites whiles they hope to please others yet they inwardly displease themselves as doing that which is not warrantable or allowable even in their own Judgments And that 's one Emphasis of this expression How can ye do so in regard of your selves How can ye please and satisfie your own minds in this wretched mixture and conjunction But then Secondly which is chiefly considerable how can ye think to please Me or not rather highly to displease Me and to provoke me by such waies as these are The Lord does here by this expression not only argue with them but reprove them and express his displeasure against them that they should carry it thus towards him And there are two things especially which he seems here to tax and challenge them for To speak distinctly of it First he taxes them for their Formality in that they thought to please him with their bare external performances And
known The knowledge of God by Christ is not onely in Christ himself but from him imported to us for our information There is neither envy in Christ nor neglect nor affectation of reservedness in this particular but free and open dealing with a great deal of alacrity indeed His declaration is not answerable and proportionable to his apprehension we may not imagine so for that is incongruous Christ does not declare so much of the Father as he knows because we are incapable of it but so much as is fitting for us and that we can receive he does discover He declares God himself and all such Truthes as lead us to further fellowship and communion with him Thirdly He hath declared him it is a word of Perspicuity He hath not onely barely and simply propounded him in a dark and obscure manner but he hath explicated him and revealed him unto us This is emphatically signified in the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is an expression of manifestation and does imply a bringing of things to light which before were more hard and difficult to be understood And as the Criticks and Grammarians observe of it it is properly applied to Divine and Excellent matters whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does more properly belong and appertain to things vulgar and obvious This is that which Christ hath done for us as Philip sometime desired of him he hath shewn to us the Father he hath cleared to us the great Mysteries of our Salvation which were unknown unto us or which before were propounded but in a dark and enigmatical manner and with much obscurity This is the great excellency of the New Testament above the Old and of the time of the Gospel above the Law that the Vail is now taken away and we have things more clearly revealed unto us than were to them in former days There is the light of the knowledge of God now shining out unto us Christ hath cleared both the things themselves as also our minds and understandings for the conception of them and exhibited these things in reality which Moses gave an hint of but in Types and Legal adumbrations The consideration of this point makes much for our heed and attention to such things as these are and closing with them See that ye refuse not him that speaketh as it is Heb. 12.23 seeing Christ declares them let not us turn away from them we ought to give the more earnest heed unto them lest at any time we let them slip else we shall not escape if we neglect so great salvation as it is again Heb. 2.3 There is nothing which we can here plead by way of excuse and tergiversation but all the Arguments that may be to engage us Here is the knowledge of our Teacher himself here is his willingness to impart his knowledge to us and also his skill and ability for it that we may be partakers of it And so much may be spoken of this passage in its first notion to wit in its simple Proposition The second is in its Emphatical Appropriation He hath declared him that is upon the matter He alone This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text it is not demonstrative onely but restrictive This declaring of the Father it is restrained and appropriated to the Son as more peculiarly belonging unto him to be done by him He has declared him that is he onely has declared him Therefore it is that he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word not onely upon the account of his Nature or Person but upon the account of his Office he is called so upon the account of the former in regard of His Eternal Generation because as Speech is the birth of the mind so is the Son of the Father And he is called so upon account of the latter in regard of His Ministerial Dispensation because as a man remembers the meaning of his heart by the words of his mouth so God revealeth his Word by his Son He is the Interpreter of the will of his Father and the Prophet and Teacher of his Church And both of the Titles whereby Christ is here in the Text described unto us do seem especially to qualifie him for this purpose Therefore he is fittest to declare God because he is His onely-begotten Son and therefore also he is fittest to declare him because he is in the bosom of the Father Thus Heb. 1.1 2. God c. hath now spoken to us by his Son That which is our business at this time is to consider how far forth this Action is here appropriated to Christ which we may take according to this ensuing explication First it is He Primarily and by His own Authority that does declare him others have been used as Instruments but they have done it by delegation from Him who has instituted them and appointed them hereunto they have done it by his appointment and they have done it by his ennablement who has directed them and assisted them in it The Son of God first made known to his Apostles all those things that he heard of his Father as we have it in Joh. 15.15 All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you And the same Son sent his Spirit to instruct them and to bring all those things to their remembrance which he had formerly taught them as we have it also in Joh. 14.26 And so Acts 1.7 8. Ye shall have power after that the holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me c. So is Christ Primarily though it be others Ministerially that do declare him Christ does it in his own Name but the Apostles and other Ministers in the Name of Christ Secondly It is he Perfectly and Infallibly Others unless such as were immediately inspired by him they were subject to human error and infirmity and they have now and then somewhat of themselves mixt in their declarations but Christ does it without all exception and so as there is no doubt or scruple or question at all to be made of it he does it so exactly Thirdly It is he that declares it effectually and with the best success He declares the Father and perswades our hearts to the receiving of him shews us the Truth and leads us and perswades us into it inlightens our understandings and inclines our wills opens our eyes and over-powers our consciences reveals God not onely to us but reveals him in us As God does likewise his Son according to the phrase which is there used to this purpose in Gal. 2.16 Thus we see how it is He and he alone that declares the Father unto us The sum of all may be drawn up to these Heads First from hence to take notice how much we are beholding to Christ We have heard of late of many singular benefits and advantages which we have by him let us now take in this to the rest in that by him we come to have a further
saving Grace but also a contrary principle of death that is of sin dwelling in him whereby the sinner is both habitually turn'd from God as also habitually turn'd to the creature and carried contrary to the Law of God The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be The Third Proposition All the works which are wrought by any man before the Grace of Christ and the Spirit of God changing his heart they have in them the nature of sin As for example the vertues of many of the Heathen Aristides Socrates Scipio and the rest although they might be called civil vertues and so far forth as they were thereby useful and serviceable to humane society they might deserve to be commended yet forasmuch as they were defective of such conditions as in the Law of God are required to the making of good actions for the subject a sanctified heart for the end the glory of God and for the principle Faith working by love however in regard of the matter they may be accounted good yet for the manner they must be esteem'd vicious as deprivations of good works rather than as performances of them The Fourth is this That forasmuch as man in the state of nature is so miserably depraved and prone to all manner of evil and indisposed to any thing which is truly and spiritually good we conclude that as to the first work of conversion and actions of the like nature with it man is meerly passive and receptive not active or operative that is that he hath no free-will or power working with God but is a meer subject receiving the mighty work of God upon his soul According to that of St. Bernard which is very full and express to this purpose Deus est Author salutis liberum arbitrium tantum capax nec dare eam nisi Deus nec capere eam valet nisi liberum arbitrium God is the Author of Salvation free-will is only the receiver neither can any give it but God neither can any take it but free-will Which yet notwithstanding is not so to be understood by us as if in the workings of Grace the mind and will of man did not at all move themselves but were only moved as inanimate instruments as the hand moving the hatchet or the like this we do not say But thus That God in the work of conversion does by his regenerating Spirit so reform the will of man as that the natural power thereof which before did carry and apply it self to evil it does now carry and apply it self to good Wherein the act of willing is indeed from the will it self as the proper subject of that action but the supernatural goodness of this act is wholly from God who does use to work suitably and agreeably to the nature of the creature The will of man in his regeneration is not as a meer stock or stone or forced to Faith and conversion against the created properties of it but naturae voluntatis congruentes suitable to the nature of the will For besides that passive power which is in the will of man to God which is not in a stock or stone God does moreover in conversion not violently force the will but sweetly drive it with the reserving of those properties to it which were bestowed upon it in its creation The last Proposition is this That for the conversion of man in the state of nature and the performing of any good work by him it is not sufficient to have his will only excited and assisted by extrinsecal and additional Grace but it is also necessary to be healed and quickned by intrinsecal and renewing Grace and to have new qualities and principles and dispositions put into it That life which was not before is to be newly created not that life which was before to be newly excited This Grace of God in conversion it is not only a moral suasion or indifferent influx which it is in the power of men to assent or not assent unto but a strong and effectual motion as whereby he raised Jesus Christ from the dead Eph. 1.19.20 The Grace of God I say in conversion is not a meer moral suasion or indifferent influx which it is in the power of man to assent or not to assent unto As a Guest which stands without doors which a man may either take in or keep out as himself pleases but it is a strong and efficatious motion whereby God according to his mighty power raised Jesus Christ from the dead doth quicken a man which is dead in sin makes him a new creature and works in him not only a power of willing but even to will it self According to that of the Apostle Phil. 2.13 It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Mark he does not only excite but work which hath some efficacy with it And these now are the Propositions which do serve to clear this Ponint unto us From all which thus laid together both the consent and dissent of adversaries together with the explication of the terms the whole matter in hand comes to this result and conclusion viz. That man being fallen in Adam not as recovered and restored by Grace but as still abiding in this his lapst condition hath not free-will not understanding it of the nature of the will but of the power of it And of the power of it not in a passive sense but in an active Not with Grace but without Grace And Grace not only exciting and moving and assisting but also changing and healing and quickening to a good work not which is good only Philosophically but good Theologically And for the doing of this work not only as to the substance of the action but also as to the manner of the performance the end and principle and all requisite circumstances And these circumstances consider'd not only according to the rules of morality and which are to be sound even in Heathen Authors but according to the principles of Religion and which are derived from the holy Scriptures I say A man that is at present out of Christ and so still continuing in this his state of nature hath not any freedom of will thus explained remaining in him to any thing which is good And so this speech of our Blessed Saviour truly fulfilled Without me ye can do nothing This we shall now labour to evince by these following Arguments First From the general and universal corruption of our whole nature where the principles are corrupted the actions which slow from those principles must of necessity be corrupted likewise As the spiring and fountain is so are the streams that issue from it Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean says Job not one in Job 14.4 Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles says our Saviour A corrupt tree must needs bring forth evil fruit Matth. 7.16 17. Now all the principles of
the judgment which on any is past by us We should so far reckon and esteem of any and of our selves as we have of this in us This it suits with the scope of the Text by comparing it with that which went before The Apostle had to deal with some in the Church of Galatia which stood much upon their Jewish Prerogatives and priviledges which they did partake of in that respect which did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made a fair shew in the flesh in ver 12 of this Chapter Gloried in their circumcision and conformity to the Law of Moses In answer to whom he adds the following words God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ c. And in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature And then he adds As many as walk by this rule that is as we may well understand it by this rule as to matter of judgment and estimation of any ones person This is that which we should be mindful of though respect is also to be had to other Considerations yet we should principally value any as they have more of grace and goodness in them walk by this rule in point of Censure Thirdly In matter of practise and the things which are to be done by us consult also with this rule Consider whether that which we do or not do be agreeable hereunto First Be sure to know and to consider what the new creature is and wherein it consists and then examine whether such and such actions do comply with it according to this we should either provoke or restrain our selves where we find our selves slack or remiss to our duty quicken our selves upon this Consideration that our Principles require better from us where forward and carried to evil check our selves also from this argument as being contrary to the new creature in us This is the state and condition of a Christian and of one that is indued with saving-grace that he cannot do those things which others take liberty in nor omit what others discharge themselves from but has a necessity upon them from whence it is that we read o◠such expressions as these in Scripture We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Act. 4.20 And we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth 2 Cor. 13.8 Here 's can and cannot with a Christian in such cases as these are because he is under a law even the law of the spirit Rom. 8.2 That which he cannot do with a good conscience he cannot do at all A Moral impotency is all one with him as a Physical and he is provoked or tyed up according to the Principles which are in him Fourthly As to matter of carriage and behaviour in every condition we must walk by this rule here so deporting our selves as may be suitable to Religion and the work of Grace in us forasmuch as that does very much fit and qualifie us for all estates whatsoever The Apostle Paul speaking of himself in Phil. 4.12 says He knew how to be abased and he knew how to abound everywhere and in all things he was instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need He was taught a suitableness and comeliness of behaviour in a variety of conditions And who and whence was he taught it surely not from flesh and blood but from the work of God's Spirit in him and by Grace wrought in his heart And so must every one else be besides and being so be careful to walk proportionably hereunto with patience and humility and thankfulness and moderation and contentment and compassion and fellow-feeling of the necessities of other men to exercise the grace of that condition in which we are This new creature if we observe it and be indeed acted by it it will lead us and carry us to such a frame and temper of spirit as this is whatever state happens unto us And so now I have done with the first General Part of the Text which is the qualification of the persons here mentioned As many as walk c. The second is the signification of the blessings or priviledges belonging unto them Peace be on them and mercy c. I call it the signification of blessings but indeed there is somewhat more in it This passage for the clearing of it to us seems to carry a threefold Emphasis with it which may be fastened upon it First In the notion of a Promise or Divine Intimation Peace and mercy unto them that is there shall be peace and mercy unto them it is a priviledg which they have interest in Secondly In the notion of a Prayer or Apostolical Benediction Peace and mercy upon them that is let peace and mercy befall them it is the blessing which I do pronounce unto them Thirdly In the notion of a compliance or friendly salutation Peace and mercy upon them that is I am peaceably affected towards them and in charity with them either of these notions or all may be comprized in this expression here before us in these present words We begin with the first As it has the notion of a promise or Divine Intimation There shall be peace c. This is the advantage of all godly men living in the Power of Godliness and walking by the Rules of Christianity that they shall have peace and mercy for their portion which shall be bestowed upon them This is that which the Scripture does signifie in divers other places as Psal 119.165 Great peace have they that keep thy law and nothing shall offend them So Isa 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee c. and Phil. 4.7 The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds c. Peace it is a large word comprehending all kind of happiness and felicity in it whatsoever but we may here in this place confine it more especially to that which is spiritual Peace and mercy that is peace flowing from mercy in the pardon and remission of sin through the blood of Jesus Christ This is the peace here meant with the effects and concomitants of it as belonging to powerful Christians they shall have peace and reconciliation with God as the main ground-work and foundation of all and they shall have also peace in their own consciences as issuing and following hereupon To which also we may add as an overplus Peace with men and all other creatures so as not to be able to do them hurt but rather good even in their greatest oppositions and at last eternal peace and rest in glory to him that ordereth his conversation aright I will shew the salvation of God Psal 50.23 For the further amplifying of this unto us it ma no be amiss for us to take notice of the manner of expression by an Hebraism Peace not to them but upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And