Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	adam_n	eat_v	forbid_a	3,497	5	11.6458	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10650	An explication of the hundreth and tenth Psalme wherein the severall heads of Christian religion therein contained; touching the exaltation of Christ, the scepter of his kingdome, the character of his subjects, his priesthood, victories, sufferings, and resurrection, are largely explained and applied. Being the substance of severall sermons preached at Lincolns Inne; by Edward Reynoldes sometimes fellow of Merton Colledge in Oxford, late preacher to the foresaid honorable society, and rector of the church of Braunston in Northhampton-shire.	Reynolds, Edward, 1599-1676.	1632 (1632)	STC 20927; ESTC S115794	405,543	546

is to deny our selves and all we doe to doe no good thing for this end that we may rest in it or rely upon it when we have done but after all to judge our selves unprofitable servants when wee have prayed to see hell betweene heaven and our prayers when wee have preached to see hell betweene heaven and our sermons when we have done any worke of devotion to see hell between heaven and all our services if God should marke what is amisse in them and should enter into judgement with us In one word to see hell betweene heaven and any thing in the world else save onely betweene Christ and heaven Till in this manner men be qualified for mercy they will have no heart to desire it and God hath no purpose to conferre it Christ must be esteemed worthy of all acceptation before God bestowes him and the way so to esteeme of him is to feele our selves the greatest of all sinners And when the soule is thus once humbled with the taste and remembrance of that worme-wood and gall which is in sinne there is then an immediate passage unto hope and mercy Lament 3.19 22. and that hope is this That Christ hath drunken up and dried that torrent of curses which was betweene us and heaven and hath made a passage through them all by himselfe unto his Fathers Kingdome He was made sinne and a curse for us that so hee might swallow up sinne and death and might bee the destruction of hell Hos. 13.14 I will here but touch upon two things First What Christ suffered Secondly why he suffered for understanding of the first we must note first that Christ Humane nature was by the hypostaticall Vnion exalted unto many dignities which to all the Creatures in the world besides are utterly incommunicable as the communication of properties the adoration of Angels the primogenitu●e of the Creatures the cooperation with the Deitie in many mighty workes the satisfaction of an infinite Justice by a finite passion c. Exalted likewise it was by his spirituall unction above all his fellowes with that unmeasurable fulnesse of grace as wonderfully surpasseth the united and cumulated perfections of all the Angels in heaven Secondly wee must note likewise that all these things Christ received for the worke of mans Redemption and therefore he had them in such a maner as was most suteable and convenient for the execution of that worke Now Christ was to fulfill that worke by a way of suffering and obedience by death to destroy him that had the power of death as David by Goliahs sword slew him that was master of the sword As there fell a mighty tempestuous winde upon the red sea whereby the passage was opened for Israel to goe out of Egypt into Canaan so Christ was to be torne and divided by his sufferings that so there might be a passage for us to God through that sea of wrath which was betweene our Egypt and our Canaan our sinne and our Salvation Here then are two generall Rules to be observed concerning the sufferings of Christ. First that the Oeconomie or dispensation of his Mediatorship is the measure of all that he suffered So much as that required he did suffer and more he did not for though he suffered as man yet he suffered not because he was a man but because he was a Mediator Secondly in as much as a Mediatour betweene God and sinners was to be holy and separate from sinners for if he should have beene a sinner he had beene one of the parties and not a Mediator therefore none of those sufferings which are repugnant to his holinesse and by consequence unserviceable to the administration of his office could belong unto him Such things then as did no way prejudice the plenitude of his grace the union of his natures the quality of his mediation such things as were suteable to his person and requisite for our pardon such as were possible for him and such as were necessary for us those things he suffered as the punishments of our sinnes Now punishments are of severall sorts some are sins some onely from sinnes Some things in severall respects are both sinnes and punishments In relation to the Law as Deviations so they are sinne in relation to the order and disposition of Gods providence so they are punishments As hardnesse of heart and a reprobate sense Other punishments are from sinne and in this regard sinne is two wayes considerable either as inherent or as imputed from sinne as inherent or from the consciousnesse of sinne in a mans selfe doth arise remorse or torment and the worme of conscience Againe sinne as imputed may be considered two wayes either it is imputed upon a ground in nature because the persons to whom it is imputed are naturally one with him that originally committed it and so it doth seminally descend and is derived upon them Thus Adams sinne of eating the forbidden fruit is imputed unto us and the punishment thereof on us derived namely the privation of Gods Image and the corruption of our nature Or else it is imputed upon a ground of voluntary contract vadimonie or susception so that the guilt thereupon growing is not a derived but an assumed guilt which did not bring with it any desert or worthinesse to suffer but onely an obligation and obnoxiousnesse thereunto As if a sober and honest person be suretie for a prodigall and luxurious man who spending his estate upon courses of intemperance and excesse hath disabled himselfe to pay any of his debts the one doth for his vitious disability deserve imprisonment unto which the other is as liable as he though without any such personall desert Now then the punishments which Christ suffered are onely such as agree unto sinne thus imputed as all our sinnes were unto Christ. Againe in punishments we are to distinguish betweene punishments inflicted from without and punishments ingenerated and immediately resulting from the condition of the person that suffereth Or betweene the Passions and Actions of the men that are punished Punishments inflicted are those paines and dolorous impressions which God either by his owne immediate hand or by the ministery of such instruments as he is pleased to use doth lay upon the soule or body of a man Punishments ingenerated are those which grow out of the weakenesse and wickednesse of the person lying under the sore and invincible pressure of those paines which are thus inflicted As Blasphemie despaire and the worme of conscience In one word some evils of punishment are vitious either formally in themselves or fundamentally and by way of connotation in regard of the originals thereof in the person suffering them Others are onely dolorous and miserable which presse nature but doe no way defile it nor referre to any either pollution or impotency in the person suffering them and of this sort onely were the punishments of Christ. Now these punishments which Christ thus suffered are either inchoate or consummate

of reconciliation and calling in his patent and shutting up his office of mercy againe How then comes it that this covenant is immutable and Christs Priesthood of everlasting and unchangeable vigor to all ages and generations of men That there shall never be erected in the Church any other forme of Gods worship or any other instruments of Mans salvation than those which we now enjoy The Apostle groundeth it upon two reasons Heb. 6.17 18. The Promise and the Oath of God First The Promise putteth a right in the creature which he had not before and that Promise determineth the Will of God to the being and leave not that indifferent to the being or not being of the Covenant For it is the foundation of a just claime which wee by faith may make upon the Fidelity Iustice and Power of God to make it Good He is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes 1 Iohn 1.9 The righteous God shall give unto mee a Crowne of righteousnesse 2 Tim. 4.8 righteousnesse and justice as well as mercy is the ground of forgivenesse of sinnes and salvation not in relation or respect to merit in us but to promise in God Onely mercy it was which moved him to promise and having promised onely truth and fidelity and righteousnesse bindeth him to performe As impossible it is for God to breake any promise and to lie unto David as it is to bee an unholy God or to deny himselfe Psal. 89.35 2 Tim. 2.13 1 Thes. 5.24 Secondly the Oath of God for that pawnes his owne Being Life Power Truth Holinesse to make good that which he hath so ratified and upon these two doth the immutability of the second Covenant and of Christs Priesthood depend Here then wee see upon what ground all our comfort and assurance subsisteth not upon any strength power libertie or inherent grace already received which wee of our selves are every day apt to waste and be cheated of by Satan and the world but upon Gods unchangeable mercy and covenant This was all Davids salvation and desire all that his heart rested upon that though his house were not so with God that is did faile much of that beautie and puritie which therein God required and therefore did deserve to be cast off yet God had made with him an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure 2 Sam. 23.5 When the conscience is afflicted with the sense of sinne with the feare of its owne slipperinesse and unstedfastnesse in Gods covenant this is all it hath to support it That God is one Galath 3.19 That Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 that he is where he ever was ready to meet those that returne Esay 64.5 Luke 15.20 If I should doe to men as I have done to God they would despise forsake revenge themselves on me I should never receive grace nor favour againe But God is not as man Hos. 11.9 the whole cause of his compassion is in and from himselfe and therefore he doth not take the advantage of our failings and exasperations to alter the course of his dealing towards us Psalm 103 8-14 Though we faile every day yet his compassions faile not and therefore from his immutable mercy it is that wee are not comsumed Lam. 3.22 Mal. 3.6 His blessing of an adopted people is an irreversible thing because he is God and not man and therefore cannot repent nor call in the promise which he hath made for which purpose hee doth not behold iniquitie i● Iacob nor perversenesse in Israel Numb 23.19 20 21. If the Sunne should be alwayes immoveably fixed in one place as it was a little while in Ioshua's time at the destruction of the Kings Iosh. 10.12 13. though I might shut out the light of the Sunne from me yet as soone as I remove the curten the Sunne is still where it was readie to be found and to shine upon me The case were lamentable with us if so often as man provokes Gods justice he should presently revoke his mercy if the issue of our salvation should depend upon the frailty and mutability of our owne nature and our life should be in our owne keeping If the pure Angels of heaven fell from their created condition to be most blacke and hideous adversaries of the God that made them if Adam stood not firme with all that stocke of strength and integrity of will which he had in Paradise how can I who have so many lusts within so many enemies without such armies of feares and temptations round about mee bee able to resist and stand Grace inherent is as mutable in me as it was in Adam Satan as malitious and impetuous against me as against Adam Propensions to sinne and falling away strong in me which were none in Adam snares as many weaknesses more enemies as many temptations more from the grace which is deposited in mine own keeping I cannot but depart daily if the Lord should leave me in the hand of mine owne counsell even as water though it could be made as hot as fire yet being left unto it selfe will quickly reduce and work it selfe to its own originall coldnesse againe We have grace abiding in our hearts as we have light in our houses alwayes by emanation effusion and supportance from the Sunne of righteousnesse which shines upon us Therefore this is all the comfort which a man hath remaining that though I am wanting to my selfe and doe often turne from God yet he is not wanting to mee nor returnes from me for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance Rom. 11.29 The heart of the best man is like the wheeles in Ezekiels vision Ezek. 1.16 As mutable and moveable severall wayes as wheeles as perplexed hindered and distracted in it selfe as crosse wheeles in one another grace swaying one way and flesh another who can expect stabilitie in such a thing Surely of it selfe it hath none but the constancie and uniformitie of motion in the wheeles was this that they were joyned to the living creatures who in their motion returned not when they went vers 17-21 such is the stability of the faithfull in the covenant they have it not from themselves for they are all like wheeles but from him unto whom by the same Spirit of life they are united who cannot repent nor returne from the covenant of mercy which he hath made Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech We now come to speake of the Priesthood of Christ it selfe which is thus sealed and made immutable by the oath of God Every high Priest saith the Apostle is ordained for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sinnes Heb. 5.1 These sacrifices are of two sorts some Eucharisticall as testifications of homage subjection duty and service as the dedication of the first fruits the offerings of Abel and Cain the meat and drinke offerings c. some Ilasticall or expiatory for the washing away

the will and consent of the Iudge to whom the debt is due and to whom it belongeth in the right of his jurisdiction to appoint such a forme of proceeding for the recovery of his right as may stand best with the honour of his person and the satisfaction of his justice who if he would might in rigour have refused any surety and have exacted the whole debt of those very persons by whose onely default it grew And thus it comes to passe that by grace we have fellowship with the second Adam as by nature with the first 1 Cor. 15.45 48. So then betweene Christ and us there must be an unity or else there can be no imputation And therefore it is that we are said to be justified by faith and that faith is imputed for righteousnesse Rom. 4.5 not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere the act of beleeving as if that were in se accounted righteousnesse as it is a worke proceeding from us by grace because it is Vinculum and instrumentum unionis the bond of union betweene us and Christ and by that meanes makes way to the imputation of Christs righteousnesse unto us Therefore we are said to be buried and crucified in and with Christ by the vertue of faith concorporating Christ and a Christian together and communicating the fellowship of his sufferings and resurrection Rom. 6.6 Gal. 6.14 Ephes. 3.17 Phil. 3.10 If I be lifted up saith our Saviour I will draw all men after me crucem conscendit me illuc adduxit when Christ hanged on the crosse we in a sort were there too As in Adam we were all in Paradise by a naturall and seminall vertue so in Christ by a spiritual vertue wherby in due time faith was to be begotten in us and so we to have an actuall being of grace from him as after our reall existence we have an actuall being of nature from Adam Thus wee see that Christ did for us fulfill all righteousnesse by his passive meriting and making satisfaction unto the remission of sinnes By his active covering our inabilities and doing that in perfection for us which we could not doe for our selves First he suffered our punishment he was wounded for our transgression he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed Esay 53.5 If it be here objected that an innocent person ought not to suffer for a nocent for guilt is inseparable from sinne The son shall not beare the iniquitie of his father neither shall the father beare the iniquitie of the sonne the soule that sinneth the same shall die Ezek. 18.20 For the cleering of this objection we must note that there is a two-fold manner of guilt as I before touched either such as growes out of sinne inherent which is the deserving of punishment as it is in us or such as growes out of sinne imputed and that not by reason of union naturall as the guilt of Adams sinne is imputed unto us which manner of imputation is likewise funda●entum demeriti and causeth us to deserve punishment but voluntary by way of vadimony and susception And so guilt is onely a free and willing obnoxiousnesse unto that punishment which another hath deserved Amongst sinfull men it is true that the sonne shall not beare the punishment of the fathers sinne first because he is altogether personally distinct Secondly because he is not appointed so to doe as Christ was Ioh. 10.18 Thirdly because hee is not able to beare them so as to take them off from his father as Christ did ours He was himselfe able to stand under our punishment without sinking and was able by suffering them to take them off from us because his person was answerable in dignitie and therefore by the grace of God and the act of his Divine jurisdiction in ordering the way to his owne satisfaction equivalent in justice unto all ours Fourthly because he hath alreadie too many of his owne to beare But yet if the wil of the son goe along with the father in●sinning it is not strange nor unusuall for him to suffer for his fathers and his owne sin together as for the continuation of the same offence because though hee doe not will the punishment as Christ did ours yet imitating and continuing the sin there is Volitum in causa for the punishment too Now for an answer and resolution of the question whether an innocent person may suffer for a nocent wee must note first that God out of his Dominion over all things may cast paines upon an innocent person as it is manifest he did upon Christ And what ground of complaint could any creature have against God if he should have created it in fire and made the place of its habitation the instrument of its paine Doe not wee our selves without cruelty upon many occasions put creatures that have not offended us unto paine Secondly it is not universally against equity for one to suffer the punishment of anothers sinne we see the infants of Sodome Babylon Aegypt of Corah Dathan and Abiram were involved in the punishment of those sinnes of which themselves were not guilty The Lord reserveth to himselfe the punishment of the fathers on the children hee punished the sinnes of three hundred and ninety yeares all together Ezek. 4.2.5 C ham committed the sinne and yet Canaan was cursed for it Gen. 9.22.25 The sinne was Gehezies alone and yet the leprosie cleaved not to him onely but to his posterity 2 King 5.27 The sinne of crucifying Christ was the Jewes in that age alone and yet wrath is come upon them to the uttermost even unto this day Matth. 27.25 1 Thes. 2.16 Achan trespassed alone but he perished not alone but his sonnes and his daughters and all that he had with him Iosh. 7.24 1 King 21.21 Iudg. 9.56 1 King 2.33 Ierem. 22.30 Thirdly the equity hereof in the case of Christ doth herein plainely appeare when all parties are glorified and all parties are willing and well pleased there is no injury done unto any and in this the case is so first All parties are glorified the Father is glorified in the obedience of his Sonne I have both glorified my name and I will glorifie it againe Ioh. 12.27 28. I have glorified thee on earth I have finished the worke which thou gavest me to doe Ioh. 17.4 The Sonne is glorified Thou madest him a little lower than the Angels and crownedst him with glory and honour Heb. 2.7 Ioh. 17.5 and the sinner is glorified I will that where I am they may be also that they may behold my glory c. Ioh. 17.24 secondly All parties are willing first the Father is willing for by his Ordination he appointed Christ to it Act. 4.27 28. by his love and tender Compassion he bestowed Christ upon us Ioh. 3.16 by his Divine Acceptation hee rested well pleased in it Matth. 17.5 in one word by his wonderfull Wisedome he

due to the Ministers of the Gospell by a Law of Iustice. It is a wrong and foolish Apologie to pretend the punishment for the continuance of the fault The poverty of many men is doubtlesse a just recompence for their neglect of the honor of the Gospell For God hath ever severely punished the contempt and dishonor done to his messengers 2 Chron. 16.10.12 2 Chron. 24 21-25 2 Chron. 26.19 20. 2 Chron. 36.16 17. Wheras on the other side doe thou deale faithfully with God fulfill to thy power his appointment and decree that they which preach the Gospell may live by the Gospell and then hearken unto God Honor the Lord with thy substance and the first fruits of all thine increase so shall thy barnes bee filled with plenty and thy presses burst out with new wine Prov. 3.9 10. Consider now from this day and upward from the day that the foundation of the Lords Temple was laid consider it Is the seed yet in the barne From this day I will blesse you Hag. 2.18 19. Yee are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me even this whole nation Bring yee all the Tithes into the store-house that there may be meat in mine house and prove mee herewith saith the Lord of Hoasts if you will not doe it out of duty yet doe it out of experiment If I will not open you the windowes of heaven and powre you out a blessing that there shall not be roome enough to receive it Mal. 3 9-12 There was never any man lost by paying God his Dues there was never any man thrived by grudging or pittancing the Almighty I will conclude this point with the Apostle It is his Doctrine faithfull Ministers are worthy of double honor And it is his Exhortation Render to all their Dues Tribute to whom Tribute Custome to whom Custome feare to whom feare Honor to whom Honor Rom. 13.3 Note lastly The Priesthood of Christ is an everlasting Priesthood Hee also was without Father and without Mother without beginning of dayes or end of life As man without a Father as God without a Mother The same yesterday and to day and for ever His name was Everlasting Father His Gospell an Everlasting Gospell He was a lamb slaine from the beginning of the world The vertue of his bloud goes backward as high as Adam He was foreordain'd before the foundation of the world 2 Tim. 1.9 The redemption of those that transgressed under the first Testament the remission of sinnes that were past were procured by this Sacrifice Heb. 9.15 Rom. 3.25 It goeth downward to the end of the world he must raigne till all be put under his feete and he must raise up all by the power and vertue of his victory over death Ioh. 5 26-29 And lastly it goeth onward to all immortality for though the Acts and administration of his Priest-hood shall cease when hee shall have delivered the Kingdome to his Father and have brought the whole Church into Gods presence yet the vertue and fruits of those Acts shall bee absolutely eternall for so long as the Saints shall bee in heaven so long they shall enjoy the benefit of that Sacrifice which did purchase not a lease or expiring terme but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an endlesse life an everlasting glory an inheritance incorruptible that fadeth not away reserved in the heaven for them VERSE 5. The Lord at thy Right hand shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath VERSE 6. Hee shall judge amongst the Heathen he shall fill the places with dead Bodies Hee shall wound the heads over many Countries IN the former part of the Psalme we have had the description of Christs offices of King and Priest together with the effect thereof in gathering a willing people unto himselfe Now here the Prophet sheweth another effect of the powerfull administration of these offices containing his victories over all his enemies allegorically expressed in a Hypotiposis or lively allusion unto the manner of humane victories wherein first I shall in a few words labour to cleere the sense and then the observations which are naturall will the more evidently arise The Lord at thy right hand To lay aside their exposition who understand these words of God the Father the words are an Apostrophe of the Prophet to those at whose right hand the Lord Iesus is Some make it an Apostrophe to God the Father a triumphall and thankfull prediction of that power and Iudgement which he hath given to this his Benjamin the Sonne at his right hand Because that thereby the phrase retaineth the same signification and sense which it had in the first verse As if David had said O God the Father of all power and majesty worthy art thou of all praise thanksgiving and honor who hast given such power to thy Sonne in the behalfe of thy Church as to smite through Kings and judge heathen and pull downe the chiefe of his enemies and to subdue all things to himselfe and these read it thus O Lord hee that is at thy right hand shall strike through Kings c. Others make it to be an Apostrophe to the Church and so to bee a phrase not expressing Christs exaltation as verse 1. But his care and protection over his Church his readinesse to assist and defend his owne people against all the injuries and assaults of adverse power Salomon saith A wise mans heart is at his right hand but a fooles heart is at his left Eccl. 10.2 That is his heart is ready and prepared to execute any wife counsels or godly resolutions as the Prophet David saith My heart is prepared ô God my heart is prepared I will sing and give thankes But a fooles heart when hee should doe any thing is like his left hand to seeke of skill unactive and unprepared when hee walketh by the way his heart faileth him vers 3. And this readinesse and present helpe of God to defend and guide his Church is expressed frequently by his being at the right hand thereof Because the Lord is at my right hand I shall not bee moved Psal. 16.8 Hee shall stand at the right hand of the poore to save him Psal. 109.31 I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto thee feare not I will helpe thee Esai 31.13 As if David had said Bee not dismayed nor cast downe ô yee subjects of this King as if being exalted to Gods right hand hee had given over the care and protection of his people for as hee is at the right hand of his Father in glory and majesty so is he at your right hand too standing to execute judgement on your enemies and to reveale the power of his arme towards you in your protection Now the reasons of this phrase and expression as I conceive are these two First to note that Christs power providence and protection doe not exclude but onely strengthen assist and prosper the ordinary and just endeavors of the Church

they burnt the cursed things at the brooke Kidron and cast them thereinto 2 Chron. 15. 16. 2 Chron. 29.16.30.14 2 King 23.6 To note unto us that that brooke was the sinke as it were of the Temple that into which al the purgamenta and uncleannesses of Gods house all the cursed things were to bee cast with relation whereunto it is not improbable that the Prophet David by a propheticall spirit might notifie the sufferings of Christ by drinking of that cursed brooke over which hee was to passe to signifie that on him all the faithfull might lay and powre ut their sins who is therefore said to be made sinne and a curse for us 2 Cor. 5.21 Gal. 3.13 As the people when they laid their hands on the head of the sacrifice did thereby as it were unload all their sinnes upon it Now as waters signifie Afflictions so there are two words with relation thereunto which signifie suffering of afflictions and they are both applied unto Christ Matth. 20.22 Are yee able to drinke of the cup that I shall drinke of or be baptized with that Baptisme that I am baptized with He that drinketh hath the water in him he that is dipped or plunged hath the water about him So it notes the universalitie of the wrath which Christ suffered it was within him My soule is heavie unto death and it was all about him betrayed by Iudas accused by Iewes forsaken by Disciples mocked by Herod condemned by Pilate buffeted by the servants nailed by the souldiers reviled by the theeves and standers by and which was all in all forsaken by his Father So then by drinking of the brooke is meant suffering of the curses and it is frequently so used Ier. 25.27.49.12 Ezek. 23.32.34 Hab. 2.16 Revel 14.9.10 By The way we must understand either the life of Christ on earth his passage betweene his assumed voluntary humility and his exaltation againe or The way between mankind and heaven which by that should of wrath and torrent of curses which were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 2.14 was made utterly unpassable till Christ by his sufferings made a path thorow it for the ransomed of the Lord to passe over Therefore shall be lift up the head It noteth in the Scripture phrase victory electation and breaking thorow those evils which did urge and presse a man before Psal. 27.6 and also boldnesse confidence and securitie to the whole body Luke 21.28 And further it is not He shall be lifted up but He shall doe it himselfe He hath the power of life and the fountaine of life in himselfe Ioh. 5.26 10.18 So that following this sense of the words the meaning is He shall suffer and remove all those curses which were in the way between mankinde and heaven and then he shall lift up his head in the Resurrection and breake thorow all those sufferings into glory againe which sense is most punctually and expresly unfolded in those parallel places Luk. 24.26.46 Phil. 2.8 9. 1 Pet. 1.11 He shall drinke of the brooke in the way From hence we may note First that betweene mankinde and heaven there is a torrent of wrath and curses which doth everlastingly separate betweene us and glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great and fixed gulfe which all the world can neither wade thorow nor remove The Law at first was an easie and smooth way to righteousnesse and from thence to salvation but now every step thereof sinkes as low as hell It is written within and without with curses which way soever a man stirres he findes nothing but death before him one mans way by the civility of his education the ingenuitie of his disposition the engagement of other ends or relations may seeme more smooth and plausible than anothers but by nature they all runne into hell as all rivers though never so different in other circumstances runne into the sea It is as impossible for a naturall man of himselfe to escape damnation as it is to make himselfe no childe of the old Adam or not to have beene begotten by fleshly parents The Gulfe of sin in our nature cannot be cleansed and therefore the Guilt thereof cannot be removed The Image we have lost is by us unrepairable the Law we have violated inoxorable the Iustice we have injured unsatisfiable the concupiscence of our nature insatiable sinne an aversion from an infinite good and a conversion to the creature infinitely and therefore the Guilt thereof infinite and unremoveable too We should learne often to meditate on this point to finde our selves reduced unto these straits and impossibilities that we cannot see which way to turne or to helpe our selves for that is the onely way to draw us unto Christ. Every man naturally loves to be in the first place beholding to himselfe in any extremity if his owne wits purse projects or endevours will helpe him out hee lookes no further but when all his owne succours have forsaken him then hee seekes abroad It is much more true in the matter of salvation no man ever did begin at Christ but went unto him upon meere necessitie when he had experience of the emptinesse of all his other succours and dependencies we all by nature are offended at him and will not have him to reigne over us till thereunto we be forced by the evidence of that infinite and unpreventable misery under which without him we must sinke for ever This is of all other the most urging argument unto men at first to consider that there is a torrent of curses a sea of death a raigne of condemnation a hell of sinne within and a hell of torments without betweene them and their salvation and there is no drop of that sea no scruple of that curse no title of that Law which must not all be either fulfilled or endured Suppose that God should summon thy guilty soule to a sudden apparance before his tribunall of Justice and should there begin to deale with thee even at thy mothers wombe Alas thou wouldest be utterly gone there even there a seed of evill doers the spawne of viperous and serpentine parents a cursed childe a childe of wrath an exact image of the old Adam and of the bloud of Satan But then here is after this produced a catalogue and history of sinnes of forty fiftie or three score yeeres long And in them every inordinate motion of the will every sudden stirring and secret working of inward lust every idle word every uncleane aspect every impertinencie and irregularity of life scored up against thy poore soule and each of them to be produced at the last and either answered or revenged O where shall the ungodly and sinners appeare if they have not right in Christ And how should men labour to be secured in that right Who would suffer so many millions of obligations and indictments to lye betweene him and God uncancelled and not labour to have them taken out of the way Now the onely way to be brought hereunto