THE COMBATE BETWEEN THE FLESH and SPIRIT AS ALSO The wofull with-drawing of the Spirit of God with the Causes thereof And walking in and after the Spirit together with the blessednesse thereof Being the summe and substance of XXVII SERMONS Preached a little before his death by that faithfull servant of CHRIST Mr. CHRISTOPHER LOVE Late Minister of the Gospel at Lawrence Jury LONDON To which is added The CHRISTIANS DIRECTORY Tending to direct him in the various conditions that God may cast him into In XV. Sermons Ephes 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Res delicatula est Spiritu Dei ità nos tractat sicut tractatur Tertull. London Printed by T R. E. M. for John Rothwell at the Fountain and Bear in Goldsmiths-row in Cheapside 1654. To the RIGHT WORSHIPFUL My Worthy Friends Mr. EDWARD BRADSHAW Major of the City of CHESTER AND Mrs. MARY BRADSHAW his wife Right Worshipful and Honoured Friends I Shall crave your favour to give you a short account why I put this Treatise into your hands in this publick way It is not that the works of this worthy Authour need any Patrociny the gratefull acceptation which many of his books already published have found with sober and experienced Christians bears abundant testimony to the profitablenesse and usefulnesse of his labours and that his precious name shall be had in everlasting remembrance and is still unto those that feare the Lord a sweet and precious oyntment But indeed the reason of this Dedication besides the publick expression of my respects to you both is the consideration of that special interest you both have to any thing of Master Loves Your interest Sir is undoubted to this Treatise as having married his widow whereby God hath made the solitary to dwell and rest in the house of her husband and hath caused a mournful widow to forget her sorrows And your right deare Mistresse Bradshaw is very great to the works of this worthy man as having had the honour for several yeeres to be the wife of this eminent servant and Ambassadour of Iesus Christ And my hope is that as your coming together in this dear relation was the answer of many prayers so you will in the strength of prayers still comfortably live together 1 Pet. 3.7 as heirs of the grace of life To help you forward in the wayes and practices of real godlinesse I commend unto your most serious perusal this and other useful and practical Treatises of this reverend Authour which though it cannot be expected that they should come forth with that exactness and accomplishment as they would have done had the Authour lived to publish them himself yet I do assure you that these Sermons have been diligently compared with his own papers and notes taken from his own mouth by the pen of a ready and intelligent writer The world â— confesse is now filled even to satiety and surfet with unprofitable Pamphlets 2 Tim. 2.13 whereby many foolish questions and disputes have arisen which do ingender strifes 2 Tim. 2.16 many opinions have been vented which do increase unto more ungodlinesse but this book now presented unto you is plaine practical and spiritual and will I hope be of great use unto Christians to help them to a right understanding of their spiritual estate These Sermons as the date of them will shew were preached by Mr. LOVE but a few moneths before his imprisonment and death his gracious heart it seemes being to the last much upon that great work of advancing the power of Godlinesse in the souls of his hearers and therefore I hope will be the more acceptable as being some of the last and ripest fruit of his growing and improving Ministery These are the Sermons which he gave his consent should be published and besides all these considerations they are the rather printed because so long expected and earnestly desired by many whose souls have cause to blesse God for Mr. LOVE'S faithful Ministery to all eternity Here you will meet with antidotes against that cursed opinion which under pretence of advancing the Spirit undervalueth both the Scripture and Ordinances of Christ fathering their most blasphemous and Atheistical Tenets upon the holy Spirit of truth God blessed for ever Here you will finde what a woful thing it is when Gods Spirit withdrawes his presence and influence from the Ordinances Oh that Professors may be hereby warned not to grieve the Spirit nor quench the Spirit lest he withdraw from the soul and so leave it without life grace and comfort Here you may also learne how precious and powerfull the influence of the holy Ghost is when he is pleased by his presence to make Ordinances effectual Cant. 4.16 let this therefore be your prayer Awake O north-winde and come thou south blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits Here you will finde comfortable directions to walk in the Spirit â—nd how to follow the guidance of the holy Ghost who is able to lead you into all truth Lastly here you will see notably described that contrariety which is between Flesh and Spirit Every Christians heart like Rebecca's womb having two contrary parties strugling in it but our comfort is The elder shall serve the younger corruption like the house of Saul shall by degrees grow weaker and grace like that of David's stronger and stronger I will conclude with hearty prayers to God for you both that by the consciencious reading of this book you may gain much soul-advantage and be built up in your most holy faith and live many happy dayes together walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the holy Ghost Act. 9.31 This is the unfeigned desire of Your affectionate Friend and servant in the Lord William Taylor London Jan. 25. 1653. To THE Reader THe Reverend Author of this ensuing Treatise our worthy good friend committed unto us the care of such his Works as might be judged fit for publick use And although our occasions have not allowed us leasure to peruse the several pieces which have been already published upon the perusal of some of our Brethren yet with humble thankfulnesse unto God we heartily rejoyce in that acceptance with successe which they have found in the hearts of sober savoury Christians This Treatise which was the matter of some of his last Sermons had more of the Authors heart and approbation as he testified unto two of us not many days before his death then any other of his Works And truly the effects of this discourse the happie issue of his spiritual combate were admirably evident upon his own heart in the sparkling influences of Gods holy Spirit whereby he was extraordinarily elevated above all sublunary comforts or crosses loves or sorrows hopes or feares when his known death drew very nigh for though he was a man
thus it was with Paul There was given to him a thorne in the flesh a messenger of Satan to buffet him lest he should be exalted above measure And so Peter when he fell in denying Christ his desertion was cautional Matth. 26.70 that he might not depend upon his own strength as he had most foolishly done for after-time 2. There may be a desertion which is probational that is to try some grace which God would have exercised and thus Job he was not afflicted for sinne but God did thereby prove him and try him in his faith and patience 3. There is a desertion which is penal and that is for sinne when God leaves a man to himself and thus it was with the Spouse Cant. 5.3,4,5,6 because she hearkened not and opened not to Christ therefore he withdrew himself Art thou therefore deserted by the Spirit of God why remember that desertions are not alwayes penal though I confesse they are most often so and it is most suitable to that humble and penitent frame of heart that should be in a deserted soul to judge himself smitten and forsaken of God for his sin but sometimes they are cautional and sometimes probational Posit 6 Be rather industrious how to procure the Spirits returne when he is withdrawn then to pore upon thy misery in the Spirits absence It is the fault of many Christians they rest contented in fruitlesse and doleful complaints of their losse but do not put forth industrious indeavours to recover what they have lost It was not enough for Joshua to lie upon his face at the defeat at Ai Joshua 7.10.11 but he must stand upon his feet and finde out the cause and endeavour to make up the breach There are some professors who by whining and complaining think to excuse their idlenesse and spiritual sloth Thou hast lost the Spirit do not so much pore upon thy losse as to think what thou must do to recover the Spirit again Which that thou mayest do follow these directions 1. Cleanse thy conscience from the allowance of any known sinne make thy heart clean and so fit for Christ and his Spirit will come unto thee let thy heart be like that roome Christ came to eat the Passeover in Luke 22.12 an upper roome a furnished roome and a swept roome let thy heart be prepared and swept with the besome of sanctified grace from the allowance of sinne and this will be a means for thee to recover the Spirit again 2. Go unto God by prayer which is the universal remedy for all spiritual distempers Is any among you afflicted let him pray saith the Apostle James James 5.13 Let the affliction be what it will prayer will be a means to deliver thee Prayer is injoyned by God as a means to receive the Spirit of God Luke 11.13 And it will speed because it is Gods ordinance 3. Do not only pray but bewaile thy condition in prayer Spread thy complaints before the Lord and say Lord how is my heart a cage of uncleane birds a receptacle for sinne and the devil This is the best that my heart is now fit for I who once had my graces fresh and floâ—…ishing how are they now like the withered grasse on the house-toppe that once had the imbraces of an everlasting arme but now am I forsaken of the Spirit I was once like a field whom God had blessed and like unto the Cedars of Lebanon casting forth my roots and pleasant branches But now I am as a tree of the forrest which brings forth nothing I once was as a fruitful vine in the vineyard of Christ but now am like unto the mountains of Gilboa upon whom neither the rain nor the dew falls thus bewaile thy self in the presence of the Lord and it may be when he sees thee with tears in thy eyes and thy petitions in thy hand he may returne unto thee Though he hath forsaken thee yet he will not forget thee though he hath cast thee down yet he will not cast thee off for ever He will not cast away his people if thou forsakest not him labour therefore by prayers and tears to recover thy fall Position 7 Look upon it as a more grievous judgement to have the sanctified and sanctifying motions of the Spirit withdrawn then to have the comforts of the Spirit withheld This is a fault among many Christians especially among those who are troubled in conscience all their complaints are for want of assurance and comfort and I do not know whether Christ be mine or no into this channel all their sorrow and grief runnes And therefore it is much to be feared that rather self-love then love to Christ is the ground of many such complaints as many make when they say they are deserted whereas it is a more sad judgement if thou wantest the quickening and exciting motions of the Spirit then if thou wantest the witnesse and comforts of the Spirit it 's more sad to have the Spirits gracious motions with-held then to have the Spirits comforts withdrawn Position 8 Another position is this that the common gifts of the Spirit may be imparted when the saving gifts of the Spirit may be with-held It was thus with many in the Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 1.7 The Apostle tells them They came behinde in no gifts 1. Cor. 3.1 and yet as to grace he tells you they were carnal and walked as men Position 9 Consider that the Spirit in its motions and workings may be really withdrawn from a man when he in his own apprehensions thinks he fully enjoys them It may be with a man in this case as with Sampson it was told him that the Philistines were upon him Judges 16.20 and he aworke out of sleep and said I will go out as at other times before and shake my self and he wist not that the Lord was departed from him He knew not that his strength was gone Thus you may be left of the Spirit and you may not know it and the reason is partly because the departures of the Spirit are gradual You cannot discerne a mans growth because he grows by little and little As it is with our natural growth so is it also with our spiritual decayes and partly because the heart is very deceitfull and carelesse and negligent to search and try how it is with the soul And therefore let this lie upon your thoughts you may have the Spirit in its motions withdrawn from you when yet in your apprehensions you may be perswaded that you possesse them Application of the Doctrine by way of consolation I shall conclude this point with a few words of comfort lest peradventure there may be some which may be troubled and perplexed about what I have delivered concerning the withdrawings of Gods Spirit Vse 1 Thou Oh Christian who complainest that the Spirit is withdrawn from thee remember this though the Spirit be withdrawn yet it is but a gradual not a total
delusion of wicked Saul Or else the devil may know future events by that great knowledge which he hath in Scripture-Prophecies those Prophecies which are dark to us the devil may know them and therefore we read in History that the devil hath told the events of Wars Thus the devil in the Delphick oracle told Alexander that both the Caldean and Grecian Monarchies should be under his government the devil told him so So that if men shall take upon them peremptorily to tell future contingent events I may confidently say it comes from the devil not from God Direct 5 Another direction about the Spirits motions is this Bring your selves under all advantages whereby you may gain the Spirits motions There are three advantages which I would commend to you 1. Be much in holy discourse with good company conversing with those who have the Spirit about spiritual things is a likely advantage for thee to gain the Spirits motions What Christ did whilest he was upon earth that will he yet do by his holy Spirit You read when the two Disciples were going to Emmaus Luke 24.15 communing and reasoning together that Jesus drew neere and went with them Christ will draw neere to those by the motions of his â—pirit who are discoursing about holy things 2. Give due attendance to the ordinances of God they are that poole which the Angel at certain times will move It is a Text worthy of observation which you read of in the Prophet Isaiah where the Lord sayes Isa 30.20,21 That thy Teachers shall not be removed into a corner any more but thine eyes shall see thy Teachers and thine ears shall hear a voice behinde thee saying This is the way walk ye in it Mark the connexion you shall see your Teachers and in seeing them shall heare a voyce that is of the Spirit The ordinances are they which convey the Spirit in its motions to us and to this purpose I may accomodate that of the Prophet Zachariah Zech. 4.12 where it is said that the two Olive-branches did empty themselves of the golden oile by the two golden pipes and so it ranne into the Candlestick This Candlestick is the Church the oile is the motions of Gods Spirit and these motions they runne through ordinances they are those golden pipes which convey the Spirits motions into your hearts It is with the motions of the Spirit and holy ordinances as it is with the blood and Spirit and the veines and Arteries for as these convey the blood and spirit to each part so also ordinances convey the graces and comforts of the Spirit to each believing member of Christ Waite upon the Preaching of the Word and then waite also upon prayer that will be a means whereby you shall obtaine the Spirit Christ he makes this an incouragement to prayer Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to you children how much more sayes he shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that aske him Go therefore to God in prayer and that will be a means to bring the Spirit into thy heart 3. Be much alone in holy meditation Christ could tell you that he was alone and yet sayes he I am not alone because the Father is with me So you if you are alone in meditation yet you will not be alone because the Spirit will be with you in its holy motions That as Isaac when he went forth to meditate Gen. 24.63,64 it is said that then he saw Rebeccah that mercy he so long prayed for so may I say to thee be much in meditation and the Spirit which thou hast prayed for shall be given in unto thee 1 Kings 19.12 As Eliah when he was in the mountaine he perceived that the Lord was in the still voice so will the soul at last perceive that though the holy Spirit is not in the strong winde of boisterous passions yet he will be in the still voice of holy meditation Direct 6 Look more after the holy motions of the Spirit then after the ravishing comforts of the Spirit and the reason is this because you more need the Spirits motions then the Spirits comforts you may go to heaven without comfort but you cannot go to heaven without grace though it be the ravishing work of the Spirit which makes my life comfortable yet it is the holy work of the Spirit which makes my soul saveable The sealing work of the Spirit whereby I cry Abba Father gives comfort but the Sanctifying work of the Spirit whereby I mortifie the deeds of the flesh Romans 8.13,14,15 is the ground of that comfort Direct 7 And lastly take heed that you do not mistake moral perswasions for the Spirits motions This is a very useful rule Men are apt if they have a good motion to intitle it unto the Spirit whereas there may be a thousand good motions in thy minde which may meerly come from moral perswasion Meere nature may make a Reprobate go farre how do you read of flashes of joy in Herod he heard John Baptist gladly of pangs of fear and horrour in Felix and fits of sorrow and grief in Judas yet all these came from the force of moral perswasion and were not saving workings of the Spirit That you may not be mistaken about moral perswasion I shall give you four differences between it and the Spirits working 1. Moral perswasion it may move a man to do good but it never changes the affections And therefore you read of those 2 Thes 2.10 That did not receive the truth in the love of it Which intimates that men may receive the truth in the motion of it and yet not in the love of it Eph. 4.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And hence are those expressions Of speaking the truth in love or doing the truth in love whatsoever you do you must do it in love Now moral perswasion may move you to do a good act but it never draws out your affections in love to the things you do 2. Moral perswasion presses men to do good but it gives them no power to do the thing it perswades to Moral perswasion may give a man an eye to see what is to be done but the Spirit it gives not only an eye Rom. 3.26 but a hand also and helps us in the doing of that good whereunto it perswades 3. Moral perswasion moves men to do good more out of hope of reward or fear of punishment then of love to grace or holinesse it looks more at what God gives then what he requires and hath more respect to the reward of grace then to grace it self 4. Moral perswasions they are partial perswasions they move a man to some kindes of good but not to all good to good that may be easily done but not to difficult duties to outward but not to inward good but the Spirits motions they are universal there is no good act but the Spirit it moves a man
intentions and these the Law of God will judge 5. Judge not thy self to be righteous and gracious by bare restraints from sin in particular actions but if you would judge your selves judge by the ordinary course of your lives It is possible that in a particular act a good man may not be kept from that sin from which a wicked man may and it is possible that a wicked man may do that good which a godly man may not be able to do Now you are not to judge of your selves by particular acts but by the constant course of your lives for if you should do otherwise you would condemn the generation of the just I shall give an example by comparing together good King David and wicked King Abimelech they were both tempted to the same sin and should you have guessed at these two men by their particular restraints you would have taken Abimelech for the good King and David for the bad King Abimelech in his restraint was far better then David it is said of Abimelech that he took Sarah he did not know that she was Abrahams wife but David did know that Bathsheba was the wife of Vriah and then further Abimelech the Heathen King though he had Sarah in the house yet the Scripture tells you he did not defile her but David took Bathsheba into his house and was actually unclean with her Now should you look upon these two men in this particular case you would judge Abimelech to be the gracious King and David the Heathen King But now if you look upon David in the ordinary course of his life he was far better then Abimelech you are not therefore to passe a verdict upon any man that he is good or bad by any particular act that as it is a rule in Philosophy that one act doth not denominate so when you go to judge of men you must not look upon a particular act but upon the general scope and current of their lives Prov. 16.17 The high way of the righteous is to depart from evil Vse 2 The second Use is of Instruction and first to regenerate men who have the renewing work of the Spirit There are these three Instructions I would have you to learne 1. Blesse God that ever you have been crossed in the doing of those sins which you would have committed How near the brink of many a sin hath many a godly man been at when an occasion and an inclination hath met together but God hath put in a restraint O blesse God it is the greatest mercy next converting grace It was the prayer of Jabez O that thou wouldest blesse me indeed and O that thou wouldest keep me from evil let it be thy prayer also Sometimes men are angry when they are kept from an intended sin and this is just as if a man going to execution should be angry with a man for stopping him in his way Alas poor man thou art going to the execution of thy sin if any stop thee 't is the saving of thy soul at least the saving of thy peace therefore blesse God How did David blesse God when he intended to have cut off Nabal and all his family when Abigail came with smooth words and prevented him O then sayes he Blessed be God and blessed be thou and blessed be the Counsel thou hast given me 1 â—am 25.32 so it may be thou hast determined the Commission of a sin with all circumstances which may further thee in the execution of it and hath God stopped thee in thy way what great cause hast thou to magnifie him 2. From hence gathet what cause the people of God have to suspect their own hearts lest they should carry them to such evils which they think they should never have committed Suppose the Spirit should be suspended that it should not restrain thee what evil wouldest thou not commit There are Scripture-instances of godly men who have fallen into those sins that themselves never thought they should commit and such sins which were repugnant to those graces wherein they were most excellent Abraham he was the eminentest man alive in his age for faith Gal. 3.9 Abrahamus paâ—er fidelium non efficienter sed exemplariter and therefore was called the father of the faithful now would any man think that Abraham should fall into unbelief why yes he did for being distrustful of Gods Providence he told two lies one to Pharaoh King of Egypt Gen. 12.13 and the other to Abimelech King of Gerar. Likewise Moses the Scripture tell of him that he was the meekest man upon earth Psal 106.33 and yet he spake unadvisedly with his lips he fell into passion which was that sin which was contrary to that grace wherein he was most excellent And so also Iob Jam. 5.11 whom the Scripture tells you was the most patient man on earth and of all sins Iob was most hurried to impatiency Job 3. insomuch that he bitterly curseth the day of his birth and the night in which it is said A man-childe is conceived I name these examples to you to let you see what cause you have to blesse God for the sin you have been prevented from and what cause you have to suspect your hearts if the Spirit of God withdraw from you And so Moses he was noted to be the meekest man on earth Numb 12.3 And yet even this meek Moses is transported with passion and he speaks unadvisedly with his mouth 3. Pray unto God for the Spirit to do its office in thy soul Psal 106.33 that the Spirit may keep thee from doing the evil thou wouldest We read of David Psal 19.13 that he made this prayer Lord keep thy servant also from presumptuous sins Thou hast need to pray that the Spirit may check and curb thy corruptions when thou art tempted to sin because there is no man though never so good that can stand by his own strength though never so great and thereby avoid an evil when he is tempted to it though never so foule O therefore pray for preventing grace that God would keep thee by his Spirit that so thou mightest not do the works of the flesh And therefore Christ hath taught us to pray Lord deliver us from evil Mat. 6.13 viz. from that evil which we cannot of our selves avoid Secondly as this point refers to the unregenerate who have only restraining grace to hinder them from sin Let even such consider what cause they have to blesse God for this mercy though they shall go to hell yet they have cause to blesse God for restraining grace on earth for though it will not make you good yet it will and doth make you lesse evil and though it cannot make you spiritual yet it will make you good moral men By restraining grace a man may have this good 1. He may not commit so many and great sins 2. He may not incur so great punishment 3. He will bring the lesse scandal
in this particular I shall handle this case of conscience concerning it wherein appeares the difference between a man that hath only a naturall sensiblenesse of Gods hand upon him and one that mournes and grieves immoderately and excessively betwixt a kindly grieving and a passionate venation of spirit and this I shall doe in these six following particulars Answ 1. Where there is only a naturall sensiblenesse a kindely grieving for worldly crosses it will rather animate and quicken the soule to religious duties then any way indispose and interrupt them and therefore it is that you so often finde weeping joyned with prayer and supplication in Scripture thus it is said Iacob wept and made supplication and in Jer. 3.21 Hos 12.4 A voyce was heard upon the high places weeping and supplications of the children of Israel so in Ier. 31.9 They shall come with weeping and with supplication will I lead them So in Judg. 2.5,6 it is said the children of Israel at Bochim lift up their voyce and wept and sacrificed to the Lord. All which places shew that that sorrow which is onely a naturall sensiblenesse of Gods hand will quicken and encourage the soule to duty rather then indispose him but now on the other side excessive sorrow renders a man unfit for prayer reading hearing the word or any other holy duty As in Psal 77.4 Asaph was so overwhelmed with sorrow that he could not speak And Exod. 6.9 then is thy sorrow immoderate when it interrupts thee in the performance of holy duties 2. Where there is onely a kindly grieving and a naturall sensiblenesse of worldly crosses there is kindled in that mans heart a sympathizing and fellow-feeling of other mens troubles that man will carry compassionate bowels towards other men that are in trouble as well as themselves Job 30.25 saies Job did not I weep for him that was in trouble was not my soule grieved for the poor but now where sorrow is immoderate you will so think upon your own troubles that you will not pity any that are in the like condition with you 3. Where there is only a naturall sensiblenesse of worldly crosses there is retained in that soule a fence of those many mercies you doe enjoy as well as of the afflictions and sufferings you doe endure naturall sensiblenesse of afflictions does not take away the comfort and enjoyment of present mercies there is a sense of mercies enjoyed as well as of afflictions endured But now in immoderate sorrow the very sense of your trouble and crosses doth take away and imbitter all your former or present mercies As in Numb 16.12,13 Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us out of a Land that floweth with milk and honey to kill us in the wildernesse Pray marke for there is much of Gods mind in this place the Land that these men speak of here is the land of Aegypt where they were under bondage and slavery and yet when they met with afflictions in the wildernesse they forgot the bondage they were delivered from in Egypt but said it was a Land flowing with milke and honey immoderate sorrow for afflictions doth quite take away all sense of the mercies you doe enjoy 4. Where there is onely a naturall sensiblenesse of worldly crosses there prayer to God or a promise from God will quiet the heart This you may see verified in Hannah in 1 Sam. 1.18,19 she was grieved for a child but what then She prayed and said Let thine handmaid finde grace in thy sight so the woman went away and did eate and her countenance was no more sad After she had poured forth her heart in prayer to God she was comforted she went her way and was no more sad Then is your sorrow right when going to God upon your knees will quiet your heart Or 2. When a promise from God will comfort you thus it was with David in Psal 119.50 saies he This is my comfort in affliction for thy word hath quickned me that is the word of a promise So in Vers 92. Vnlesse thy law had been my delight I should then have perished in my affliction And in Verse 107. I am afflicted very much quicken me O Lord according to thy word Then is your sorrow moderate when either a prayer to God or a promise from God will quiet your hearts and then are your sorrows immoderate when under any affliction all the promises in the Bible cannot quiet you nor any prayer to God comfort you And thus it was with Job in Job 9.16 saies he If I had called and he had answered me yet would I not believe that he had hearkned unto my voyce And therefore beloved look to it you that have met with many worldly crosses and troubles and never a prayer could comfort you nor promise quiet you it is an argument that your sorrows were immoderate 5. Where there is only a naturall sensibleness of worldly crosses there that soule does notwithstanding all his afflictions justifie God and condemn himself acknowledging his own sin to be the cause of all crosses This you have an instance of in Lamen 1.18 In all the evill that is come upon us the Lord is righteous and in Dan. 9.14 the Lord is righteous in all that is come upon us for we have rebelled and done evill in his sight So David Psal 51.3 I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me then is your sorrow right when you can justifie God and take shame to your selves But now where sorrow is vexatious and excessive there a sinner flies out against God and rather justifies himself there the finner accounts God very severe and cruel in his dispensations and murmures against him thinks ill of him and of his wayes and in this condition was Job once Job 16.17 He breaketh me with a tempest and multiplieth my wounds without a cause he blamed God and justified himself which declared his sorrow to be immoderate and excessive You have a notable passage for this in Esay 8.21 it is said that when God shall bring afflictions and trouble upon the Land then they shall curse their King and their God and look upward they shall be so overcome with sorrow as that they shall curse God and justifie themselves so in Prov. 19.3 saies Solomon the foolishness of man perverteth his way and his heart fretieth against the Lord. 6. Where there is only a naturall sensibleness under the hand of God there will be an aptness to hearken to comfortable counsel from the word of God to bear up the heart under afflictions and therefore it is said Job 33. when God laid afflictions upon him he opened his ears to counsel when you are so tamed by afflictions that you will hear the voice of the rod and the voice of the word and hearken to any counsel that is tendered to you to bear up and support your spirits then is your sorrow regular and such as God allows of but now where sorrow
very full of affections and of singular tendernesse towards his dearly-beloved wife and children yet he had not onely conquered such sinful distempers as too frequently prevaile wofully amongst common Professors of Religion but had also in such measure got above natural exorbitances that having by Faith and Prayer put his nearest Relations into the bosome of his God and father he went to the Block without any expression of perplexity Oh that his experience might encourage both the endeavours and hopes of other Christians to attaine the like gracious frame of heart which would tend much to the credit of the Gospel for this end we commend thee in the use of this Book and all other holy helps unto the blessing of the Almighty desiring thy prayers Thy Friends and Servants in Christ EDM. CALAMY SIM ASHE JER WHITAKER January 26. 1653. ERRATA In the Christian Directory in p. 56. l. 28. â—â—ot out one grace hindered and interrupted another in p. 57 l. 12. after sinfull read one grace doeh not justle out another therefore SERMON I. At Lawrence Jury London October 27. 1650. GEN. 6. verse 3. And the Lord said My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man for that he also is flesh yet his dayes shall be an hundred and twenty yeers THis chapter containes in it two parts 1. Gods determination to destroy the world by a deluge 2. Gods provision that he made in this general judgement to save Noah and his family by preparing an Arke The text is under the first head Gods determination to destroy the world by a flood Touching which judgement the procuring cause is here laid down When men begun to increase in number by reason of Polygamy first practised by Lamech they increased in sinne and therefore God will decrease the number of the world that he may decrease the sinnes of the world The particular sinne here specified why God would destroy the world is laid down in the second vers where it is said that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were faire and they took them wives of all which they chose By the sonnes of God here spoken of Job 1.7 Job 38.7 cannot be meant the Angels as Tertullian and some other of the Ancients thought though it is true elsewhere they are called by this name Christ speaking of Angels saies of them Matth. 25.30 the Angels of God neither marry nor are given in marriage Quest 1 Quest But whom shall we understand by the Sonnes of God in this place Answ Answ Good interpreters conceive that hereby was meant the posterity of godly Seth who because they had the true worship of God amongst them are called the sonnes of God and these sonnes of God saw the daughters of men that is the posterity of godly Seth did joyne in marriage with the posterity of wicked Cain and so by these marriages and mixtures between the wicked Cainites and those that professed to worship the true God Religion began to decay and wickednesse to abound in the world for which God is resolved to destroy the world In the whole verse you have three parts 1. A general judgement and grievous punishment threatned And the Lord said My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man 2. The reason of this assigned For he also is flesh 3. A mitigation and respiting of this punishment Yet his dayes shall be an hundred and twenty yeers There are these difficulties in the text to be explain'd as 1. What is meant by this My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man 2. What is meant by the reason assigned for he also is flesh one would think it should be a reason on the contrary to this asserted that therfore God should indulge man yet here it is a reason of the punishment though in other places it is a reason of a mercy 3. What is meant by this yet his dayes shall be an hundred and twenty yeares Quest 1 1. Qu. What is meant by this My Spirit shall not c. Answ Answ That by Spirit some understand the soul of man and so the vulgar Latine renders this phrase understanding it of mans soul and it is called my Spirit say they because God did infuse the soul into man and they would have the sense to be my Spirit i.e. the soul of man shall not alwayes abide in man but he shall die But our best interpreters do reject this interpretation Not to trouble you with other opinions about this text the current of the best interpreters as Mercer Musculus Rivet c. go this way My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man By Spirit is not meant mans spirit but Gods Spirit the third person in the blessed Trinity and when he saies his Spirit shall not strive with man it is to be meant in its operations and workings that it shal not attend the Ministery of Noah who was a preacher of righteousnesse and the Patriarchs as if he should say I will now take away my Spirit from my Ordinances it shall not alwayes strive with man As if God should have more at large expressed himselfe I see that though my servant Noah protest and preach against the increasing wickednesse of the world yet all is but in vaine I am now weary of their rebellious obstinacy and therefore I am now come to a final resolution for their utter destruction I will bear and forbear them no longer 1 Pet. 3.19,20 My Spirit shall no longer strive c. Quest 2. Quest. 2. What force is there in this reason for he also is flesh one would think this should not be a reason of so grievous a judgement God remembers we are but flesh and why should he be so severe Answ Answ For answer to this we must know that by flesh here spoken of is not to be understood the natural substance of mans body but corrupt nature I will withdraw my Spirit why because you are wholly given up to the lusts and dictates of the flesh you are fleshly and carnal and given up to the concupiscence of the flesh and therefore my Spirit shall not strive with you Quest. 3. 3. Quest What is the meaning of these words yet his dayes shall be an hundred and twenty years what is to be understood by this Answ Answ 1. For answer hereto it cannot be meant as Tostatus and others of the age of mans life as if man should now because of their wickednesse have shorter lives because after the flood men did live longer then the terme of an hundred and twenty yeares Sem lived 600 yeares Arphaxad 425 yeares and Serug 230. Abraham 175. Isaac 180. The meaning then is this although I will remove my Spirit from my Ordinances yet his dayes shall be an hundred and twenty years that is it shall be an hundred and twenty yeares before the flood come upon them But now there is an objection lies in this how it should be an hundred and twenty years before the flood
smoak perfumed with myrrhe and frankincense By him who came out of the wildernesse is not meant Christ but the spouse of Christ Now here observe two things she comes out of the wildernesse That the Church may be an afflicted Church though a Religious Church It alludes to the great trials by which God exercised his people with when he led them through the wildernesse of Canaan And then she is said to come out of the Wildernesse like a Pillar of smoak Now what is meant by that A Divine gives this sense of it Gods people they may have smoky duties blackt with many foul infirmities they may be Pillars of smoak thy duties may be much sooted but now what is thy comfort though it be said the Spouse came out like a Pillar of smoak yet she was perfumed with myrrh and frankincense that is she had the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ to perfume her duties he perfumes my duties with the myrrh of his own righteousnesse And when the prayers of the Saints which are compared to incense Psal 142.2 are offered by Christ they go up to heaven as a most sweet and acceptable sacrifice far more acceptable and welcome then the costly evaporations of the most pretious Arabian gummes Oh then let this bear up thy heart thou art black by reason of thy infirmities yet there is a perfume which can sweeten all thy duties Hence it is said That the Angel came and stood at the Altar having a golden censer and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the throne Rev. 8.3,4 This doth not make for the Popish opinion as if we should use the Mediation of Angels but by the Angel here is not meant a created Angel of the Lord but the Angel of the Covenant who is the Lord and what was his office he had much incense and this much incense he offered with the prayers of the Saints all the people of God they share in the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ to cover their imperfect duties And then it is said that the smoak of the inoense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand that is the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ is sented with the prayers of the Saints unto the Lord whereby they are accepted 4. And lastly this may be your comfort though thou canst not performe duty without infirmity yet thou doest performe duty without known hypocrisie though thou doest offend in the manner of performance yet thou wouldest not be false in the end or principle of thy doing the sincerity of thy heart herein may be thy comfort and from such though the Spirit may withdraw for a while yet 't will not be long before it return again who though to humble thee he may for a while withdraw in anger yet he will returne again In a little moment have I hid my face and forsaken thee but I will gather thee with everlasting mercy Isa 54 7. SERMON VII At Lawrence Jury London Novemb. 24. 1650. GEN. 6. verse 3. And the Lord said My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man c. I Proceed Now to some farther use and Application of this point which I shall do by laying down some particular inferences directions or positions concerning the withdrawings of Gods Spirit Posit 1 Be convinced of the great need you stand in of having the motions of the Spirit vouchsafed and continued to you and that upon a fourfold ground 1. If you consider the weaknesse and disability of our natures to holy motions as well as to holy actions Phil. 2.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vt acti agentes ut moti moventes 2 Cor. 3.5 A man is not only weak to act good but is weak to any holy motion therefore sayes the Apostle It is the Lord which works in us both to Will and to do the very desire of the soul after good it is a thing above nature it comes from God and therefore the same Apostle sayes he We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God The inferior orbes move as they are acted and moved by the superior A Mole can as easily move the earth from its centre or a sparrow drink up the waters of the Ocean out of their channels as thou of thy self have any good motion or ability to act good all your assistance comes from the Spirit of God and therefore sayes Saint Paul If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the flesh Rom. 8.13 Thou art weak in thy self therefore that should make thee see thy need of the Spirit 2. Consider not only the weaknesse but the backwardnesse that is in us unto that which is good And therefore the Scripture mentions not onely a grieving and quenching but also a resisting of the Spirit Acts 7.51 And therefore those phrases of Scripture John 6.44 Draw me and I will runne after thee And None can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him they denote not only a weaknesse but an unwillingnesse in us to come and a backwardnesse also in our hearts to yield subjection to a law of holinesse Psal 110.3 Till God by his Spirit make us a willing people in the day of his power 3. Be convinced of the great need you stand in of the Spirit from those strong resistances that are in your natures to holy motions Though grace be of an active nature yet because there is an indisposition in the subject therefore grace must be put on by the Spirit Fire you know it is of an active nature apt to burne but let fire be put to green or wet wood the greenesse of the wood resists the prevalency of the flame thus it is with grace in our natures it is like fire in green wood there must be much blowing before it will burne therefore the Apostle uses these words to Timothy 2 Tim. 1.6 sayes he Stirre up the gift of God which is in thee Blow up the coales There is much resistance in our hearts against the Spirit of God 4. You have great need of the Spirits motions if you consider the abundance of evil motions which will break in upon thy heart if the Spirit in its motions be withdrawn What a receptacle for the devil and lusts will thy heart be if the Spirit absent himself As smoak comes out of a chimney so will corruption come out of thy heart As sparks out of a blown fire so will evil motions come into thy heart when corruption is blown with temptation Thou art unwilling and backward to good it must be the Spirit wich must stirre thee up To this purpose you have a passage in the Prophet Isaiah He wakeneth me morning by morning Isa 50.4 sayes he thou hast need to be awakened and excited by the Spirit of God day
watchfulnesse hereby he kept under the sinful workings of corrupt nature and a little care will not serve the turn but we must be as vigilant as wrestlers or fencers who are very ready to beat down their adversaries before them 6. And lastly be skilful in the Word of righteousnesse and this will be a great means to keep the flesh from prevailing over the Spirit As Christ did to the devil so must thou do to the devil of thy flesh It is written sayes he do thou come with a written Word against the devil and thy own heart be so skilful in the Word of God that there may no temptation offer it selfe to thee but thou mayest draw arguments out of the Word against it we ought to be very careful to use the sword of the Spirit the Word of God and sheath it in the bowels of sinful flesh And if this course were taken in this particular you would be lesse pester'd with a tempting devil and corrupt heart then you are Vse Vse he use which I shall make from what you have heard shall be of comfort to dejected consciences me thinks I hear many a godly man say Wo is me I have a sensible experience in my own soul that my evil heart hath all those evil properties you named and my soul bears me witnesse I use those means you prescribed I do keep off from occasions of sin I watch and pray against sin and yet God knowes I cannot keep under a naughty heart To any man that in the sincerity of his heart and sense of his sinnes doth make this complaint I have four words of comfort 1. Thou must never expect a total extirpation of the corruption of thy nature whilest thou livest here only a partial suppression Corrupt nature will be in thee That as those beasts mentioned by Daniel their dominion was taken aâ—cay yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time Dan. 7.12 so the dominion of sin is taken away sin shall not reign over you but yet the life of sin remaines the body of death will live in us as long as we live in the body Corrupt nature it will live in thee though it shall not reign like unto that tree mentioned by Daniel whose branches were cut off Dan. 4.15 yet the stump remained in the earth thou mayest lop off actual evils yet remember the root will remain that as it is with Ivie which growes on a wall it cannot be rooted up untill the wall be pulled down so untill thy body be pulled down sin in thy nature which is as Ivie gotten into the wall cannot be gotten out We have a promise made to Gods children that sin shall not have dominion in them but no where it is said that sin shall have no being in them while they are in being here 2. There is great difference between yeelding to the corrupt motions of thy nature to sin and between fulfiling the lusts of the flesh I know there is none of us all but do in some things yeeld to the motions of the flesh but yet all do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh thou mayest imbrace the motion thy sinful heart stirres thee up unto yet thou mayest not fulfill the motions of sin the Scripture gives you this difference Rom. 13.14 Make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof godly men may commit the lusts of the flesh but they do not make provision for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou doest not provide for sin as a man for his family because he would have them live thou art not a Caterer for sin therefore bear up thy heart with comfort though sin be in thee yet thou shalt not perish for it Thou who hast used all means and yet findest the flesh prevailing against the Spirit consider that strong and potent motions to sin do not alwayes argue sinnes strength but sins weaknesse rather that sin is decaying then in its full strength It is observed that dying things they strive and struggle with most strength a bird a weak creature yet if you pull off its head with what strength will it flutter this doth not argue that the bird is gathering strength but that its strength is departing it may be thus with thee thou hast strong motions to sin and thou discernest it it may be sinne is now playing its last game Lusts in the Scriptures are said to be crucified now it is with sin crucified as it was with the wicked and impenitent thief he was bound and nailed hand and foot and yet he raved and raged so it is when lust is dying yet it may be raging and as we see in the taking of Physick when it is first taken it will make a man more sick then the disease made him not that a man is indeed worse but only from the Physick searching his body thus it may be with thee sins struglings is Gods giving of thee Physick and though it be strong yet in the end God will make it tend to the purging out of evil humours out of thy soule 4. If corrupt motions be strong in thy soule then bend the strength of thy heart in prayer to God for the subduing of these corruptions If a Virgin that was ravished did not cry out by the law she was accounted guilty and consenting the more the devil and thy corruptions do attempt thee the more earnestly must thou pray and cry to God for help Complain upon those frequent incursions which corrupt nature and the devil makes upon thee and flying unto God for help and succour thy soul shall never perish for thy iniquity Sermon XV. At Lawrence Jury London Decemb. 29. 1650. GAL. 5. verse 17. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would I Proceed now to the last Question and that is How you may know when motions to sin do arise from the flesh or when they come meerly from the devil and so are purely diabolical Before I answer the Question I shall first shew of what use it is Secondly premise some positions about it and then give you the resolution to this Question There is a threefold use of this Question 1. It is needful to know it because unregenerate men when they are tempted to sin they lay all the fault upon the devil and none upon their own hearts These men when they put all their sins upon the score of Satan they do not give the devil his due Thus Eve she laid all the fault upon the Serpent Gen. 3.13 The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat Though David was of another mind for he when he was tempted and stirred up to sin in his numbering of the people and that by Satan yet he doth acknowledge 2 Sam. 24.17 I have sinned and I have done wickedly It is natural to men when they are tempted to
but Judaisme and what is it to be of a tender conscience but to have a needlesse scrupulosity By this meanes men allowing their corrupt hearts to argue thus carnally they are hindred from much good and therefore if thou wouldest be taken off from this deceit thou must labour to see the native lustre and beauty that is in holinesse and the filthinesse of sin 5. Another way whereby the heart of man deceives him is by pretence to do some lesser good and thereby neglect the doing of a greater and thus the devil and a mans own heart diverts him many a time It is an observation of Mr. Greenham that in many families every trisling businesse shall hinder prayer and this is the nature of a mans heart to make every slight businesse to divert him from duty and the exercises of religion Thus it was with the Pharisees Matth. 23. They would tithe Mint Annise and Cummin and so neglect righteousnesse and the more serious and weighty things of the Law Many men will content themselves to read a Chapter at home and neglect the Ministery of the Word and prayer in publick this is meerly the sly deceit of a mans own heart even as the ancient hereticks called Euchitae they were so intent on prayer as that they neglected all other service of God To this I would only say that those who make one duty to justle out another let such remember that duties are not contrary but subordinate and subservient one to another I may say of the duties of religion as the Scripture speaks of the Lamps of the Sanctuary they were so seated that one lamp should kindle another so duties they are so ordered by God that one duty shall help another and fit for another prayer fits for hearing hearing fits a man for meditation and meditation fits for prayer and so of all other duties and therefore they which make one duty to hinder another they make those things contrariant which the Lord hath made concordant 6. Another stratagem which the flesh useth is this that if it cannot perswade men wholly to neglect duty yet it will endeavour to make them abate in duty It may be thy corrupt heart cannot prevaile with thee to cast off prayer and hearing the Word so as never to perform these duties yet will it labour to gain thus much upon thee that thou shalt pray more seldome then thou hast done and hear not so often as formerly thou hast done As it is a deceit of the heart to bring us from small sins to great sins so also is it the policy of the flesh from the doing of duty seldom at last to bring us not to do it at all And to antidote you against this infection of nature I shall lay down these following considerations 1. It is the policy of thy heart not to make thee cast off duty wholly and at once but to make thee abate gradually Revel 2.4 The Church at Ephesus did gradually decay first left off her first love and afterwards her first works and the reason is because hereby thy heart and the devil knowes that abatements when they are gradual they are lesse sensible but neglects when they are total they fall under the cognizance of a natural conscience You must pray sometimes and hear sometimes else conscience will check a man but gradual decayes they are not so sensibly perceived and therefore the devill and thy own heart will let thee pray and will let thee hear but not so much as formerly thou hast done this is a snar which many of Gods people have been taken in 2. Consider that the soule is in as much danger by gradual decayes and abatements as by total omissions A leake in a ship though but small will at last as certainly and more dangerously because more insensibly and unperceivingly cause the ship to miscarry as a violent storme Lingring consumptions do kill men as surely as violent burning fevers it is true a fever or the plague may kill a man in three dayes but a consumption will as certainly bring a man to his end and to his grave 7. Corrupt nature will suggest to thee that thou shouldest leave off duty because of the unalterable decree of God Corrupt nature will tell thee that if thou art ordained to damnation all thy praying and all thy hearing will never save thee and if thou art ordained to salvation though thou doest not hear so much and pray so much it shall not procure thy eternal damnation this deceit is rooted in the hearts of all the sonnes of men and in answer thereto I have onely these three things to lay before you 1. As to duty you are not to consult with Gods secret decrees but with his revealed Word Secret things belong to the Lord our God but revealed things to us and our children for ever that we may do all the words of this law Deut. 29.29 We are not to look to the decrees of God and upon them either do or not do our duty but we are to look to his revealed will which bids us be conversant in holy duties of religion and godlinesse we are not to search the secret records of heaven but the Scriptures It was a good saying of holy Mr. Bradford A man should not go to the University of Predestination untill he be well grounded in the Grammar-School of obedience and repentance 2. Consider that the same decree which determines the end of a man Qui destinat ad finem destinat ad media determines also the means to bring about that end If thou art decreed to be damned the same God decrees that thou shalt be left to walk in such wayes which lead to damnation and if thou art decreed to be saved God hath also decreed that thou shouldest walke in those wayes which lead to everlasting life and this the Apostle tells you Ephes 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them not onely our happinesse but our holinesse is decreed by God 3. You which yield to this plea of nature you will not yield to this plea in other things you will not reason thus in matters of the world should a man reason thus God hath decreed from all eternity how long I shall live in the world and therefore because the decree is irrevocable I will neither eat meat nor wear clothes you would accompt this man rather a mad man then one in his wits He that refuseth meat Gods Ordinance to continue life is a self-murderer and he that omitteth duties of Religion out of any pretence of Gods decree is a soul-murderer as it is thus in nature so also is it in grace as God hath decreed the end so also hath he decreed the means conducing thereunto 8. You will say through the suggestion of a selfe-deceiving heart you are unable to perform any good this is the plea of many they will say
of God but what doth he blame Rom. 7.25 not the devill or the world but it is sin which dwelleth in me And in the 25. verse he sayes With my minde I serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin It is the flesh which carries the force of a law whereby we sin in the service of God and therefore oh man do not blame the devill or the world but thy own heart 3. Another Position is this that the corruption of the flesh interrupting of us in duty it is manifest and violent both in secret as also in publick duties thy heart will be violent against thee when thou art alone between God and thy own soul as also when thou art in publick your own experience will contribute to the truth of this What roving mindes and what distracted thoughts are you haunted with in your secret retirements Yea also in publick duties how hard is it to bound the thoughts and to compose the minde to lay a restraint upon devotion 4. That a mans heart and corrupt nature is more apt to interrupt him in extraordinary duties then in common and ordinary duties A man therefore shall be more haunted with evill thoughts upon a solemn fast-day then upon an ordinary day did you ever set your selves upon the solemn duties of examination and meditation if you did you have found your hearts have more troubled you in those duties then in reading hearing and praying and the reason is this because those duties that are more solemn are most conducible to a Christians growth in grace and therefore in those duties nature will be most indefatigable to disturbe and interrupt you and the devill will not fail to set thy heart at work to disturb thee in those duties whereby his Kingdome is battered and assaulted 5. That the lesse men do prepare their hearts for duty the more they shall be disturbed by corrupt nature in duty Greonham in his observations takes notice of this What is the reason that Christians can never pray without distractions nor hear without wandring thoughts Oh man sayes he take my experience didst thou prepare more for duty thou wouldest be lesse distracted in duty Physick doth the body little good if it be taken on a full stomack and if the body be not prepared so it is with duties and Ordinances they will do thee little good unlesse thou doest first prepare thy selfe for them Posit 6 6. That the flesh interrupts us more in those duties which others perform then in those which we perform our selves A Preacher when he is preaching a Sermon he hath lesse wandring thoughts in preaching then he himself would have if he were a hearer and why but because at such a time his minde is busied in thinking of the matter he hath to deliver to his Auditors And so for any of you suppose you were praying in a company you would be lesse apt to be distracted in that duty because popular applause a respect to the company among whom you pray they binde your thoughts that they runne not astray lest you should be confused in the duty whereas if you did joyn in duty then you would be more carelesse and distracted and therefore you whose lot it is never to preach or pray in publick do you look to your own hearts for the flesh is more apt to interrupt you in those duties wherein you joyn with others thâ—n in those which you your selfe perform Posit 7 7. That in the corruption of the flesh in duties it may be more violent after a long standing in Religion then it did appear to be upon your first conversion At a mans first conversion happily he could pray and not be distracted but have his love his joy and his delight and all his soul taken up with the service but in processe of time and after some continuance in the wayes of Religion he may begin to grow flat and formal perfunctory accustomary in all his performances and this was that which Augustine observed Many at first conversion they will pray with much feeling and fervency but afterwards with coldnesse and deadnesse losing that vigour and warmth of affection which they found in themselves at first conversion Posit 8 8. That there is not a duty in all your life-time which you perform unto God but there is some evill tincture of the flesh cleaves to it though the duty is good in it self yet there is some evill in it as it comes from thee Prayer is good and hearing is good but these duties as they passe through the vessel of thy defiled soul they become defiled inso much that God might justly charge even upon regenerate men the sins of their holy duties When I would do good Rom. 7.15 sayes Paul evill is present with me It is true the natural motions of the flesh may be pared off but still there is a sinful tincture which cleaves to thy duties It is observable that the ceremonial law which you read of in the 28. of Exod. v. 38. Exod. 28.38 where you read that Aaron was to have a plate of pure gold upon his fore-head when he went into the holy of holiest that he mighe bear the iniquity of the holy things of the children of Israel And this notes sayes a Divine that Jesus Christ our fore-runner he is gone into the holy of holiest and he by his intercession and sitting at the right hand of his Father weares that plate of pure gold upon his fore-head and there beares not onely the iniquity of our lives but the inquity of our holy things and if this were not so and did there not a viciousnesse cleave unto all our holy duties then we might commend some duties to God without the mediation of Jesus Christ but because there is no duty can be done without a tincture of evill cleaving to it therefore you cannot stand before God in the best prayer that ever you made nor in the best service that ever you performed We have need of a Christ a Mediatour not only for our sins but also for our duties Posit 9 9. That it is the most difficult thing in the world to keep the minde so close to duty that the flesh shall not interrupt you in its performance As Eliphaz reasoned with Job Job 15.12,13 so may every man with his own heart Why doth thine heart carry thee away and what doth thine eyes winke at that thou turnest thy spirit against God and lettest such words go out of thy mouth Thus may every man reason with his own soule and say Why doth my heart carry me away when my spirit would keep close to God Augustine hath an excellent note upon 2 Sam. 7.27 2 Sam. 7.27 Dixit se invenisse cor suum quasi soleret fugere ille sequi quasi fugitivum August Nihil est corde meo fugacius Bernard Posit 10. upon Davids words I have found in my heart to make a prayer unto thee as if David
would intimate that he often lost his heart in prayer as if David did many times come to pray but could not finde his heart It is the hardest thing in the world when you come to pray to finde your hearts and when you have found your hearts to keep them 10. That the blood of Jesus Christ wipes off that guilt and filth that cleaves to your holy duties God knowes that when you come to worship him you are men and not Angels you are the spirits of good men imperfect and therefore God doth not expect from you that your service should be perfect because your state is imperfect therefore here is your comfort that your defects in duty shall never damne you who are regenerate soules thou mayest be often hindred in duty but that interruption shall never damne thee Jesus Christ wipe off the stain of all thy duties In the ceremonial law you read that the Altar for the burnt-offering Exod. 27.4,5 it had a grate made for it of net-work of brasse that the dust and the ashes might fall out and so be carried away This is a type of the intercession of Jesus Christ that though in your services and sacrifices to God though you have much affection and zeal yet also there is much ashes of corruption and as that grate was made to carry away the ashes so Jesus Christ he is the Mediatour which will carry away all your defects in the service of God And this should incourage the people of God though you are weak in duty yet neglect not duty though you are forgetful in hearing yet leave not to heare and though distracted in praying yet neglect not prayer because it is the office of Jesus Christ to bear the iniquity of your holy things These are those Positions or Conclusions that I desired to premise before I came to handle the Queries The point that I am to handle is this That such is the prevalency of corrupt nature even in regenerate men that it doth oftentimes interrupt them in holy performances Doct. In the handling of this point there are many particulars which I shall go through 1. I shall prove the point that it is so 2. I shall shew you how the flesh doth hinder in duty 3. Wherein the interruption of the flesh doth most appear 1. For the proof of the point Rom. 7.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you have not only Pauls testimoy but his own experience how to perform the good I would I finde not how to work it out that is to carry on a duty from the beginning to the end it is the same word in the original as that in Philip. 2.12 where we are commanded to work out our salvation with feare and trembling As he complain of himselfe and as he gives you his experience so we may conferre all our experiences with his and say that how to do that which is good we finde not As rust cleaves to the iron so cleaves the flesh to our holy duties In general do not our own hearts tell us that there is much of the world in them and are there not many vain and impertinent thoughts in the duties we perform to God and that not only in general but in particular duties in prayer how doth the flesh interrupt us by vain and impertinent thoughts and wrong ends how doth it dead our affections damp our zeal and straiten our hearts in hearing how doth the flesh cast in prejudices and misconstructions infidelity and forgetfulnesse In meditation how doth it make the minde roving and wandring up and down so that thou canst not bring thy meditations to a perfect issue In discourse how doth the flesh mingle censures and vain glory when thou comest to the Lords Supper how doth the flesh hinder thee that thou canst not exercise godly sorrow that thy love is not inflamed and that thy joy in Christ is not elevated Therefore what cause have to complain as Augustine when he saw a shepherd tie a stone to the legge of a bird and the bird assaying to fly upwards was still pulled down again by the stone Just thus sayes he is it with my soule fain would I so are aloft by holy meditation but there is a stone tied to my legge a corrupt nature whereby I am coutinually pulled down Quest The next Question is how doth the flesh hinder us in holy performances I shall confine my answer to these two particulars there are these two wayes how the flesh doth hinder us in holy duties 1. By soliciting men to abate and lessen their duties 2. By injecting and casting in vain and impertinent thoughts Answ 1. By soliciting men to abate in their duty if so be nature can prevaile with you to omit duty or not to be so much in duty as thou hast been heretofore to pray lesse and hear lesse herein is a great policy of thy corrupt heart to perswade the heart that thou needest not be so zealous because remisse acts do weaken habits to pray remissely and coldly will in time bring thee not to pray at all Now to those who are thus intangled by the flesh that they decay in duty to such I have three things to say 1. You have not lesse need to pray nor perform duty then in former time and therefore why should you lessen your duties you have not less temptations from Satan no lesse corruptions in thy soule nor fewer spiritual wants no lesse troubles on the Church and therefore let not nature prevaile with you to decay in duty 2. As it is a deceit of the heart in sinne to bring you from little sinnes to great sinnes so in grace it is the deceit of nature to bring you from doing little in duty at last to do nothing at all 3. Gradual abatements and decayes in duty may be as dangerous to thy soule as total omissions and thou mayest go to hell as well for the one as for the other not but that total neglects do more provoke God Though a man is in more danger of present death that is sick of a fever then he that is sick of a lingring consumption yet the one will kill as surely as the other Men that cast off Religion they die by a burning fever but thou which decayest in Religion thou mayest die of a lingring consumption thou mayest consume and consume untill thou comest to a meer skeleton in Religion and to have no verdure nor vigour in thy spirit in the exercises of holinesse Answ 2. And chiefly the flesh interrupts in duty by injecting and casting in vain thoughts and impertinent when thou art about duty Now those thoughts which the flesh casts in they are of two sorts either such which for the matter of them are lawful or else which are for their matter unlawful 1. Levit. 28.12 compared with Prov. 26.1 Though it be not cogitatio mali yet it is cogitatio mala The flesh will cast in thoughts
by way of comfort and there are eight consolations I shall give in to those that fear God and are sensible of the interruption of the flesh in duty of Gods worship 1. Know to your comfort that as you have the flesh to hinder so you have the Spirit to help you in duty The Spirit will help thy infirmities with sighes and groans which cannot be untered Rom 8.26 thou hast the flesh to harden thy heart and deaden thy spirit but thou hast the Spirit of God also to soften thy heart and quicken thy spirit to make thee pray with sighes 1 Joh. 4.4 and groans And though the devil be busie to tempt thee yet Stronger is he that is in you saith St. John then he that is in the world 2. Consider that a desire to do those duties you cannot do is in divine account a doing of them It is worth your noting what you finde recorded touching Nehemiah if you compare two Scripturts together The first is Nehem. Neh. 1.11 1.11 where he prayes Lord let thy eare be attentive unto the prayer of thy servant who desires to fear thy Name Compared with Neh. 5.15 And Nehem. 5.15 saith Nehemiah I did not oppresse the people as former Governours did because of the fear of the Lord. So that Nehemiahs desire to fear the Lord is accounted by God the fear of God a desire after any grace is in divine account the having of that grace The Lord he will accept the will for the deed If there be a willing minde it is accepted according to what a man hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8.12 See Mat. 5.5 Joh. 7.37 Psal 10.17 Psal 145.19 Exod. 14.15 1 King 8.17,18 Therefore see what a good God you serve who will accept of purposes for performances and intentions for executions as may appeare by many testimonies of Scripture 3. Feeling the want of any grace or ability to discharge any duty and being grieved for that want is in the account of God as if that want were supplied Thou sayest thou canst not mourne but wouldst thou mourne for thy sinnes why a sense of the want of any grace is in divine acceptance the having of it and this some make to be the meaning of that place in Rom. 8.26 Rom. 8.26 We know not what to pray for as we ought but the Spirit it selfe maketh intercession for us with sighes and groans that is the Spirit helps us to grieve that we cannot pray nor repent nor do duty no better and herein is the assistance of Gods Spirit seen And this God will accept 4. Remember this that God accepts of sincerity of heart where there is not perfection of grace You live under a Covenant of grace wherein God accepts of sincerity instead of perfection and God had rather see truth of grace then strength of parts Thou complainest thou canst not pray it may be thou wantest the gift of prayer thou hast not a voluble tongue but thou doest not want truth of desire neither the ornament of a meek spirit a pure heart God had rather have truth of grace then strength of parts you may consider it in the case of Moses and Aaron in Exod. 4.4 I know saith God to Moses Exod. 4.4 that Aaron thy brother can speak well Now Moses he was a man of a stammering tongue but yet when Moses and Aaron was to be imployed in that great work of prayer when Joshua fought against Amaleck God makes choice not of elegant Aaron Exod. 17.11.12 but of stammering Moses to make the prayer Moses could pray better then Aaron though Aaron had better parts 5. Consider it may be thou complainest that it is the interruption of the flesh which hinders thee in duty when only it is the disability of thy natural body Thus godly men do many times charge their unfitnesse to duty upon their own hearts when it is only from an indisposed and disabled body You must know that sometimes the body doth disable a man to do duty and that disability is not sinful it is thy misery but not thy sinne Thus it was with Paul Gal 4.13,14 he speakes thus to the Galatians Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gospel to you at the first and my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not nor rejected but received me as an Angel of God even as Christ Jesus Jerome understands these words of a bodily weaknesse disabling Paul to preach and yet it is said the Galatians bore with him and rejected him not under this bodily infirmity Thus Paul tells the Thessalonians that he would have come unto them once and again but Satan hindred him 1 Thes 2.18 Some think this hindrance was persecution others that it was a tempest at Sea but most think that it was some bodily disease whereby the devil hindred him So that if thou hast a sick pained diseased body and thereby art disabled to duty this though it be thy misery yet it is not thy sinne and therefore in such a case do not lay the blame upon thy own heart Mat. 26.41 for it is with a man in this case as with a strong healthful man that rides upon a poore tired horse thus the soul though active and vigorous is sometimes forced to keep pace with a weak sick and tired body 6. Remember this that God accepts what is his own in duty and covers what is thine That water which is salt in the Sea is fresh in the river that duty which comes from thee is salt and brackish but coming through the river of Christs blood it loseth its unsavoury taste and what a great indulgence is this in God to cover what is ours and to accept what is his own It is a rule in Philosophy Denominatio sequitar majorent partem that the denomination is alwayes taken from the greater part God denominates a man from his better part be sinnes in prayer and he acts grace in prayer that as wine though it be mingled with water and that mixture doth in part debase the wine yet because the wine gives a relish and still retaines the colour of wine therefore the whole cup is called wine So though in thy heart there may be a mixture of sinne with thy grace in thy duty yet the whole shall be called gracious act 7. Though the flesh hinders you in the doing of duty yet there is a vast difference between a godly and a wicked man in this very case though the interruption be both in the one and the other as 1. The wicked they are interrupted by the flesh but they have not the Spirit to assist them against corruption as the godly have 2. The wicked have not renewed principles of grace in their hearts to withstand the corruptions of the flesh as the godly have Regenerate men they cannot sinne that is 1 Joh. 3.9 so sinne as the wicked because they
mariage though it be intensive also to all sorts and conditions of people in the world yet he thinks it carries a nearer relation to men in a conjugall condition A man in a maried estate must look to meet with cares and crosses and troubles as the Apostle intimates in the next verse but one to my Text Vers 3. and therefore he gives this advice you that are in a maried estate and do meet with troubles and afflictions in the same why you must weep as if you wept not you must mourn regularly and moderately suppose you meet with troubles and afflictions as a froward wife or if you have a good wife yet no Children by her or if you have they are bad Children or if they be good they die God takes them away from you or if they live they take pernitious courses and are a grief and sorrow and vexation to you why in all these or the like conditions you should so moderate your sorrows as to weep as if you wept not And truly beloved the scope of the Chapter caries the sence this way and from hence I might note to you Doct. 1 1. That a maried life exposeth a man to a great many crosses and troubles either unsutableness of temper and constitution between man and wife the having of bad Children or no Children or Children or wife die these and many more afflictions do sometimes happen in a maried estate 2. From hence I note that people ought to take heed what ever troubles they meet with in this condition that they be not cast down with over much sorrow and grief but I only hint these things by the way And though I believe this Text caries a great reference to people in a conjugall estate yet because the Scripture is large and speaks in generall terms that he that weeps should be as if he wept not c. therefore I shall rather chuse to handle it in this sence that whatsoever crosses troubles losses or afflictions befalls any men here below they should mourn and wâ—ep as if they wept not that is so regulate and moderate their sorrows that they should not be inordinate or excessive in the same and the Doctrine I shall observe from hence is this Doct. That Christians should take a great deal of heed that they be not immoderate or excessive in worldly sorrows either for the meeting with any crosses undergoing any troubles or the losing of any comforts here in the world Whatsoever afflictions you meet with or whatsoever comforts you part with you should take care your sorrows be not immoderate and inordinate In the handling of this it may be I may come near the bosoms of many of you some of you it may be are troubled for want of trading that you are not able to buy bread to put in your mouths others troubled for losses some for crosses and afflictions some for outward others for inward troubles why in all these conditions you must weep as if you wept not you must have a care of immoderateness and excessiveness in all your sorrows Before I shall discuss those quaeries I intend about this Doctrine I shall first lay down three conclusions concerning it Con. 1 That this Doctrine doth not deny a naturall sensibleness of any crosses or afflictions you meet with Beloved God would not have you stupid and insensible under his hand this Doctrine of weeping as if you wept not doth allow of naturall sensibleness of any crosse or affliction that befalls us God would have none to be stoically insensible of heart Con. 2 2. Take this Conclusion that the people of God are more able to bear afflictions and crosses at one time then they are at another It was the case of David at one time when Absalom was dead he cryed out with great impatiency in the 2 Sam. 18.33 Oh Absalom my Son my Son oh Absalom would to God I had died for thee my Son my Son And yet at another time when his Child was dead in the 2 Sam. 12.20 He riseth up and anoints his face and eats bread and takes patiently the hand of God upon him the people of God are more able to bear afflictions at one time then at another Con. 3 3. Inordinate and immoderate sorrow for any affliction doth many times provoke God to lay on greater and heavier afflictions upon a people it is the way to provoke the Lord to double his stroaks upon you to make your burdens heavier and your bondage greater God deals with us as a Father deals with his Child if the Father sees that the Child beares his corrections kindly he will give him the lesse but if he be stubborn and frets and takes on it will not make the Father lessen his stroaks but to give him more and more so if we do patiently bear the indignation of the Lord in these afflictions he layes upon us it is the way to have them alleviated but if we repine and murmure against God and are immoderate in our sorrows this is the way to have them increased Queries I come now to the Queries which I promised to handle and they are these three 1. When peoples sorrows are immoderate and excessive for worldly afflictions 2. Why a Christian should take heed that his sorrows be not so 3. I shall give you some considerations to allay excessiveness and immoderateness in sorrowing what ever befalls you here in this world For the first Quest 1 First When may a Christians sorrow either for the meeting with any crosses or afflictions Signes of immoderate sorrowing for worldly afflictions or the losing of any comforts here in this world be said to be immoderate Answ I shall lay it down to you in these five particulars 1. Then is your sorrow inordinate and excessive when it laies you under great indisposition of heart to the performance of religious duties when it makes you unfit and indisposed to holy duties and especially these two hearing the word and private prayer First When it indisposeth you for hearing the word of God as in Exod. 6.9 Moses spake unto the Children of Israel but they hearkened not unto him for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage The people were so grieved and over-pressed with sorrow that what Moses spake to them from the Lord they did not regard it because of their afflictions and great bondage Now if ever any sorrow or crosse went so near thy heart as to disturb thee and indispose thee to the hearing of Gods word that hath been an immoderate sorrow And therefore it is a great sin and greatly to be reproved in those that when any of their nearest relations are dead they are so dejected with sorrow as not to come to Church in 3. or 4. Sabbath-dayes afterward which is very usuall with a great many In Levit. the 21.1,2,3,4 The Lord commanded there that there should none be defiled for the dead amongst his people There was a custom amongst the Heathen when any of
you there is a clashing between Gods will and yours as if God did not so well know how to deal with you as you do with your selves else you would quietly submit to his will 3. Another evill cause from whence this immoderate sorrow ariseth is ignorance both of the vanity of temporall things and the reality of spirituall things we discover thereby that we think temporall things to have more worth in them then indeed they have and spirituall things lesse But 2dly As it proceeds from evill causes so it produceth evill effects there are these five evill effects that immoderate sorrow produceth as 1. It prejudiceth your naturall health 2 Cor. 7.10 godly sorrow worketh repentance never to be repented of but worldly sorrow causeth death And Solomon tells us a sorrowfull spirit drieth up the bones Prov. 17.22 so saies David in Psal 31.10 my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing my bones are consumed 2. It is a blemish to Religion for a Christian to be excessive in his sorrows for the joy of the Lord should be his strength A godly Christian hath alwayes cause of joy unspeakable and full of glory therefore it is a blemish to Christianity to see a godly man overpressed with worldly sorrow it is an aspersion upon Religion for a godly man to hang down his head for the losse of any outward things as if he had no greater concernments to look after no joy nor comfort nor happiness to look after but here in this life 3. It exceedingly indisposeth the heart to holy and spirituall duties it hinders and interrupts you in hearing the word and prayer Exod. 6.9 They hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and cruel bondage c. Psal 77.4 I am so troubled that I cannot speak 4. Excessive sorrow imbitters those sweet and comfortable mercies you do injoy a thousand mercies are buried under the excessive sorrow for one affliction as in Gen. 37.35 the place before quoted Jacob did so extreamly mourn for Joseph his youngest Sonne which he supposed to be dead that though he had eleven Sonnes and many Daughters and all of them came to comfort him yet he could take no comfort in any of them but resolved that his gray hairs should go down to the grave in mourning for him this one excessive sorrow for Joseph did imbitter many mercies and comforts which he did injoy So Esther 5.13 though Haman was admitted to the greatest intimacy familiarity with the King yet all this availed him nothing so long as he saw Mordecai sitting at the Kings Gate in this regard many men discover a temper much like the Hedg-hog which as naturalists tell us hath this property it will gather a great many apples or such like fruit upon his bristles and then go to a Hedge and eat them but it is so mournfull a Creature that if it chance but to let fall one of his apples by the way it will so vex and trouble him that he will throw down all the rest So many men if they meet but with one cross or affliction it will make them throw away all the other mercies they enjoy and take no comfort in any of them 5. Excessive sorrow for worldly crosses provokes God many times to send heavier and greater afflictions then ever yet you suffered As I told you before a stubborn Child that blubbers and cries and murmurs under the Fathers corrections will fare the worse and have the more blowes for it so the more we repine and immoderately grieve for any worldly afflictions the more crosses and troubles we are like to have And thus I have done with the second question why Christians should take heed of immoderacie and excessiveness in worldly sorrows We come now to lay down some considerations whereby to allay your sorrows but I must leave that till the afternoon I shall onely for the present make a short application of what hath been said and so have done Vse Vse Is it so that Christians should not be excessive in worldly sorrows but weep as if they wept not then this reproves those that can mourn for every crosse that befalls them but yet cannot shed a teare for any sin they commit Many men complain of small inconsiderable troubles and affliction but yet never complain of their sins and corruptions these never trouble them nor come near their hearts they can mourn for that which can but at most prejudice the body and yet never grieve for that which can prejudice and destroy their soules 2. I beseech you beloved take heed of being lavish of your teares for worldly crosses or afflictions it is pitty to wash a foul Room with sweet water I must needs tell you teares are too pretious to shâ—d for every trifle it were a great deal better you would keep this pretious water to wash away your sins for though it is Christs blood alone that can wash away the guilt of sin yet your teares may much conduce to wash away the filth and power of sin When you mourn for worldly crosses then weep as if you wept not but when you mourn for sin mourn as much as you can Be like yee before the Sun that will soon melt and convert into water you that are the Children of God know that you have greater things and of higher concernment to bestow your teares upon then any outward troubles you have daily failings and many sins and corruptions unmortified and unsubdued and the losse of the light of Gods countenance to mourn for your sorrows never run aright but when they run in this Channel when your tears run into the Mill-pond to grind your lusts and corruptions to consume and weaken them then are your sorrows right and regular Lastly Let me intreat and advise you not to mistake in reference to your sorrows to think you do mourn and grieve for sin when it is only for outward afflictions Many men when their Neighbours aske them why they are so sad and mournfull and weep so much will be ready to say it is for their sins and failings and corruptions that are too strong for them or the like when indeed it is only for some crosse or outward trouble they have met with therefore do not mistake that sorrow to be for your sins which is onely or especially for some outward affliction you have met with SERMON 2. WEe come now to the third Question which I shall spend this whole Aftemoon upon and that is this to lay down to you 12 considerations whereby to allay and keep under immoderateness and excessive sorrow for any worldly crosses or afflictions and how to keep our selves in the frame and temper of spirit which the Apostle here enjoyns us namely to weep as if we wept not I told you in the morning God would not have us stupid and insensible of his hand in any affliction but yet as we should not be stoicall so neither must we be excessive in our sorrows I have