recorded of Craesus when pursued by the Army of the Persians he fill'd a straight Passage between the Mountains with Boughs of Trees and set fire to them and thereby secur'd his Retreat If Men were so wise as to set the Fire of Hell between the Temptations of Sin and their Affections it would be a sure defence from their Spiritual Enemies But the Scene of Torments prepared for unreform'd Sinners is little understood and less believed by Men whilst they are in Prosperity tho the Saviour of the World has in great Mercy revealed them in such Expressions as may terrify even secure Carnalists that only live to Sense Infidelity lies at the bottom and renders the most terrible Truths ineffectual There is such a Riddle in the Tempers of Men they are not sensible of Divine Mercies till deprived of them nor of Divine Judgments till they feel them But if right Reason were attended to they must be convinced of unseen Rewards and Punishment to be dispensed in the next State. For the Light of Nature discovers an essential Difference between Moral Good and Evil From hence proceeds the Reflections of Conscience either approving or condemning our own Actions and making a Judgment upon the Actions of others by that common Rule according to which all acknowledg that Men ought to live This Truth is so engraven in the Humane Nature that even the most wicked Sinners who endeavour if it were possible to make Conscience so blind as not to see and stupid as not to feel yet cannot totally exclude the Application of it to themselves and will acknowledg the Obligation of it in the general and with respect to others Now the Law of God written in Mans Heart necessarily infers a Judgment upon the Transgressors of it and the Judgment includes a Punishment becoming the Majesty of the Lawgiver that ordains it and the extent of his Power that executes it Divine Revelation makes this Truth much more clear and certain The Apostle tells us If we live after the Flesh we shall die and will God cease to be holy and just and true that impenitent Sinners may escape Punishment But there are some poisonous Principles infus'd into the Hearts of Men that encourage them in their Sins notwithstanding their Assent to the Doctrine of a future Judgment Some cannot perswade themselves that God will be so strict and severe that for a single forbidden Pleasure when they respect other Commands of his Law he will condemn them for ever The secret Presumption that one Transgression will not provoke their Judg to extream Wrath hardens them in a sinful course But St. James declares He that offends in one Point is guilty of all One known allowed Sin that a Man habitually commits involves him in the Guilt of Rebellion against the Divine Authority that made the Law. It was observ'd before Herod did somethings according to John's Divine Instructions but he would not part with Herodias and that one Sin denominated him wicked Many are like him they observe some Rules of Religion perform some Duties are zealous against some Sins but there is an Herodias a Sin pleasant to the Taste of their Temper that they will not relinquish and without any Promise nay against the Threatnings of God they believe he will be merciful to them notwithstanding their Wickedness This Presumption is an unnatural abuse of God's Mercy This exasperates that high and tender Attribute For what can be more provoking than to imagine that the Divine Mercy should encourage Sin and protect unceform'd Sinners from the Arrests of Vindictive Justice The Blood that Ahab spar'd in Benhadad induc'd a deadly Guilt as that he spilt of Naboth as God spake by the Prophet to him Because thou hast spared that Man whom I appointed to Destruction thy Life shall go for his Life The Application is easy to spare the Life of Sin will cost the Life of the Sinner One Lust that adhering Custom or the closer Nature or any carnal Interest so endears to Men that they do not sincerely desire and endeavour to mortify and forsake will be fatal to them for ever Some habitual Sinners when terrified with the Apprehension of future Judgment for God sometimes thunders in the Conscience as well as in the Air endeavour to quiet their Fears by presuming that the Death of Christ will reconcile offended Justice and his Blood cleanse them from all Sin. They will lean upon the Cross to save them from falling into the bottomless Pit but not crucify one Lust on it The Vanity of this has been shewed before I shall only add that 't is most opprobrious to the Son of God and most destructive to Sinners for 't is to make him the Minister of Sin as if he came into the World to compose a Church of rotten and corrupt Members and unite it to himself Such a Mystieal Body would be more monstrous than Nebuthadnezzar's Image of which the Head was Gold and Feet were Miry Clay And this will be most destructive to their Souls for by turning the remedy of Sin into an occasion of sinning they derive a woful Guilt from the Death of Christ instead of the precious Benefits purchased by it for true Believers For an unreformed Sinner to oppose the Blood of Christ to the Fears of Damnation renders his Condition desperate The most who continue in a sinful course strive to elude the Warnings of Conscience by resolving that after the Season of sinning is past they will reform and apply themselves to seek the Favour and Grace of God. But how hazardous how incongruous is the delay of serious Repentance How hazardous The Lives of Sinners are forfeited in Law their time is a Reprieve depending meerly upon the Favour of the Judg how can they have a Warrant for a day But they are young and strong and think the day of Death and their last Account to be at a great distance Vain Security as if Death were not in every place and every hour as near Rebellious Sinners as their Sins that deserve it If thou doest Evil says God to Cain Sin is at the Door Damnation is ready to tread upon the Heels of Sinners and if Divine Clemency and Patience did not interpose would immediately seize upon them God sometimes shoots from the Clouds and breaks the strongest Buildings into Ruins it is not the Error of his Hand but his Pity that impenitent Sinners escape his visible Vengeance But who can assure them of future time Besides suppose that Sinners who hate to be reform'd whilst present Temptations are so inviting had a Lease of Time can they command the Grace of God They now suppress the Motions of the Spirit and in effect say to him as Felix to St. Paul awakening his Conscience with a Sermon of Righteousness and Temperance and Judgment to come Go away for the present when it is a convenient season I will call for thee But will the holy Spirit assist them at Death who have always resisted him
GULIELMUS BATESIUS S. S. Theol Prof. Aetat 62 Nov 1687. Sold by N. Ranew I. Robinson 1688. THE SURE TRIAL OF Uprightness Open'd in several SERMONS Upon PSAL. xviii v. 23. I was also upright before him and have kept my self from mine Iniquity By WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1689. The PREFACE 'T IS the blessed Priviledg obtain'd by our Saviour for his People that sincere though imperfect Sanctification is graciously accepted of God the Judg of all This sincere Holiness is strictly and indispensably requir'd by the Law of Faith in the hand of the Mediator Without it we cannot partake of the Treasures of Mercy and of Glory that are reveal'd in the Gospel 'T is therefore a matter that infinitely concerns us both in respect of our present Peace and future Blessedness to make a true discovery of our Uprightness And usually all the Fears and Inquiries about our Spiritual State issue in this whether we are upright or not The assurance of our Uprightness is a Fountain of Relief in all perplexing Jealousies about the Favour of God for notwithstanding our Defects he will spare us as a Father spares his Son that serves him This great Question of our sincerity may be clear'd by a due observing our Hearts and Ways for Conscience is an inseparable Faculty of the Soul and even in the Heathen accus'd or excus'd as their Actions were exorbitant or regular according to the internal Law and consequently gave testimonies of their wickedness or moral Integrity The Scripture indeed tell us The Heart of Man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it But this primarily respects the discerning it by others as the Apostle saith Who knows the things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man which is in him There may be the affectation of the name of Religion joyn'd with a disaffection to the thing there may be solemn Formality without cordial Godliness an acting of Piety and personating Devotion for vile Ends. But though the impure Artist under a Vail of Hypocrisy may be conceal'd from others yet he is not from the conviction of his own Mind I shall add further that many from ignorance or carelesness may presume they are in a State of Salvation when they are in the Gall of Bitterness and Bond of Iniquity There are many carnal Shifts made use of to palliate the evil condition of Mens Souls but their Security proceeds from the neglect of due examining their Hearts and Lives It will be a vain excuse at the last Day to plead the Serpent beguil'd me for 't is not meerly our deceivableness but willingness to be deceiv'd that exposes us to mistake our spiritual Condition by the insinuations of Satan As the wise Philosopher observes A Man is the first and principal Flatterer of himself and therefore apt to be deceived by other Flatterers But if we take the Candle of the Lord and impartially search our selves though the Heart be such a dark Labyrinth that every secret turning cannot be discovered though all the Deflections and Errors of our Ways cannot be exactly known yet we may understand the habitual frame of our Hearts and the course of our Lives 'T is the End of the following Sermons to direct Men in the discussion of Conscience that they may not from an erring Mind and corrupt Heart deceive themselves in a Matter that so nearly concerns them and incur the double Punishment in proportion to their Guilt as our Saviour foretells When the Blind lead the Blind both fall into the Ditch Many useful Rules are laid down by Divines whereby true Grace may be discern'd from Counterfeit but the plainest Trial and Level to the perception of the lowest Christian is Whether there be a sincere respect to all God's Commands without the reservation of any known Sin how pleasant soever to the carnal Appetites or the exception against any known Duty that is displeasing to them If Men would retire from the Vanities and Business of the World into themselves and search their Spirits with that seriousness that is due to so weighty a Matter if with a resolution to know the State of their Souls if Conscience were inquisitive as under God's Eye that has a full prospect into every Breast they might have an inward Testimony of their Sincerity or Deceitfulness The Apostle refers the decision of our State with respect to God to the Testimony of the enlightned Conscience If our Hearts condemn us not of any habitual indulged Sin then we have peace towards God. If our Hearts condemn us God is greater than our Hearts and knows all things From the neglect of trying themselves many live in a Cloud of Delusion and from inward Darkness pass to outer Darkness for ever The sure Trial of UPRIGHTNESS PSAL. xviii 23. I was also upright before him and have kept my self from mine Iniquity THE Title of this Psalm declares the Occasion of it David spake unto the Lord the words of this Song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his Enemies and from the hand of Saul 'T is a clear Evidence of his Heavenly Mind that after his Victories and Triumphs when his Throne was establish'd in Peace he recounts the signal Acts of Divine Providence with holy Extasies of Praise and Thankfulness and leaves an everlasting Memorial of God's excellent Goodness to him Carnal Persons in Extremities may be ardent in Requests for Deliverance but when 't is obtain'd they retain but a cold remembrance of God's preserving Mercy nay they often pervert his Benefits the affluence and ease and security of their Condition occasions the ungrateful forgetfulness of their Benefactor Self-love kindles desires for what we want the Love of God inspires a holy Heat in Praises for what we enjoy In the Psalm the inspir'd Composer displays the Divine Perfections in lofty Figures of Speech suitable to Sacred Poesy and in a relative endearing Way as manifested in his Preservation He attributes such Titles to God as are significant of the Benefits he received Sometimes God discovers the crafty and cruel Designs that are form'd against his People his Eye saves them and he is stil'd their Light Sometimes he breaks the strength of their Enemies his Hand and Power saves them he is stil'd their Defence Here the Psalmist with exuberant Affections multiplies the Divine Titles The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer my Shield and my high Tower and my Refuge and my Salvation A Rock is a Natural a Tower an Artificial Defence both are used to express the safe Protection he found in God. He then sets forth the extremity of his Danger to add a Luster to the Name of his Preserver The Waves of Death compassed me the Floods of ungodly Men made me afraid His ruin was imminent and seem'd to be inevitable But in that distress his servent Prayer his crying to God
pierc'd the Heavens God heard his Voice out of his Temple and speedily in the best Season came for his deliverance He was seen upon the Wings of the Wind he rode upon a Cherub those swifter Spirits and did fly He describes the Terrors of his coming against his Enemies The Lord thundred from the Heavens he sent down his Arrows and scattered them his Lightning discomfited them The Acts of Justice reverst have the Ensign of Mercy on them The drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea was the preserving of the Israelites Briefly He ascribes his deliverance to the Favour of God as the sole Mover and the Power of God as the sole Worker of it He delivered me because he delighted in me His free and compassionate Love was primarily active and drew forth his Power in its most noble Exercise for the Salvation of David Such an ingenuous and grateful Sense the Psalmist had of the Divine Mercy this gave the sweetest relish of his deliverance this was his true triumph after the final conquest of his Enemies Indeed his Enemies were unjust and cruel and God vindicated the justice of his Cause against them therefore he saith The Lord rewarded me according to my Righteousness according to the cleanness of my Hands hath he recompensed me He declares the Holiness of his Conversation I have kept the Ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. And as an eminent Instance of this he saith in the words of the Text I was upright also before him and kept my self from mine Iniquity In the Text there is a solemn Declaration of David's Uprightness by his attesting God the Searcher and Judg of the Heart I was upright before him and by an infallible proof of it I kept my self from mine Iniquity There is one Difficulty to be remov'd before I come to discourse upon the Proposition and that is how this Profession of Uprightness is reconcileable with David's Actions in the Matter of Uriah Whether we consider the Quality of his Sins the crimson Guilt and killing Circumstances that attended them especially the deliberate and cruel Contrivance of Uriah's Death or whether we consider the fearful Interval between his Sin and Repentance for like some fair Rivers that in their Current suddenly sink under Ground and are lost in their secret Passage till at a great distance they rise and flow again thus it was with David he that was so conspicuous in holiness of Life sunk into a Gulf of Sensuality and Cruelty and for a long time was unrelenting and unreformed till by a speciall Message from God by the Prophet Nathan he was renewed to Repentance and restored to the forfeited Favour of God. To this Objection some Learned Interpreters answer That the Declaration of his Innocence and Integrity must be understood with a tacit Exception according to the Testimony of Scripture concerning him That he did that which was right in the Eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his Life save only in the Matter of Uriah That Sin though a dreadful Provocation yet did not blast the Uprightness of the rest of his Life and make it unacceptable to God. 2. This affirmation of David may refer to his afflicted State when his Conscience was tender and vigilant and his Passions so subdued that though Saul his most unrighteous and implacable Adversary was at his Mercy and he could as 〈◊〉 have cut off his Head as the Lap of his Garment though he was provok'd to take his full revenge on him and put an end to his own Fears yet he rejected the Motion with abhorrence God forbid I should lift up my Hand against the Lord 's Anointed He spared Saul and would not by such an irregular Act obtain the Kingdom though elected to it by God himself By this we may take an estimate of his Integrity which God rewarded at last The Proposition that I shall discourse of is this That the preserving a Man's self from his Iniquity is an undeceiving Evidence of Uprightness In the managing the Doctrine three Things are to be considered and unfolded 1. What Sin may be denominated a Man's own 2. What the preserving ones self from that Sin implies 3. How this is an undeceiving Evidence of Uprightness 1. What Sin may be denominated a Man's own In general every Sin that a Man commits may be stiled his own as 't is the issue of his corrupt Nature and the Off-spring of his depraved Will. St. James expresses it Every Man is tempted that is effectually when he is drawn away of his own Lust. The Devil may sollicite and excite but without the consent of the Will he can never fasten Guilt upon us Every actual Sin is in some degree voluntary But some Sins in an eminent propriety and peculiar manner may be called our own such as there is a strong tendency to commit either from the natural Iâ—â—lination or Custom that is an accessary Nature or from special respects that engage the Will and Affections As in the natural Body compos'd of various Members some are more dear and useful as the right Eye and the right Hand So in the Body of the Sins of the Flesh as the corrupt Nature is stil'd by the Apostle from the variety and union of the vicious Affections there are some particular Lusts either for Pleasure or Profit are as the right Eye or right Hand in our Saviour's Language so dear to Men that they will lose Eternal Life rather than be separated from them These reigning Sins that have a compleat dominion in the Unregenerate are of different kinds in several Persons I will proceed in the discovery of them 1. By a direct Light from their Causes 2. By a reflex Light from their Effects The Causes of special Sins are either Natural or Moral The Natural are the different Temperaments of Mens Bodies and the Connexion of the Passions that so strongly draw the Will that we may as certainly understand what vicious Actions are naturally consequent as Astronomers foretel the Eclipses of the Lights of Heaven I will begin with the consideration of the different Temperaments of Mens Bodies which are the secret Springs of their Inclinations and Aversions 'T is requisite to premise that Original Sin the Poison distilled through all the Faculties of Man by propagation is an universal supreme Evil 'T is a Seminary of all corrupt Desires from whence the Issues of actual Sins are derived and that some are less inclin'd to notorious Sins than others is not from naked Nature but from the singular distinguishing Mercy of God. This Depravation so general and deplorable was observed by the wiser Heathens who were ignorant of the Cause of it the rebellious Sin of Adam the common Father and Representative of Mankind This Corruption of Nature doth not extenuate but aggravate our Guilt As the Psalmist with deep sorrow acknowledges his native inherent Pollution In Sin was I
the other so according to the excess of Love will be the excess of Grief Of this we have an eminent Instance in David whose Sorrow for the Death of his rebellious Son was as immoderate as his Love the Cause of it 2. I shall now consider the moral Causes of habitual Sins the various Circumstances of our Lives that are influential to give a Custom to Nature and Viciousness to Custom As the Sea has Rocks and Sands Gulphs and Currents Tempests and Calms so the present Life has symbolically in its different States that endanger us in our Passage to the next World. The different Conditions of Life I will consider under four Heads 1. The several Callings wherein Men are ingag'd 2. The opposite states of Prosperity or Adversity that are attended with suitable Temptations 3. The Society with whom we are conversant 4. The Quality of the Times wherein we live 1. Let us search for the predominant Sin in the Callings wherein we are ingag'd for according to their Quality Temptations surround us and are likely to surprize us The Spider spins his Web where Flies usually pass to entangle and destroy them so the subtile Tempter lays his Snares in our Callings wherein we are conversant John the Baptist therefore when the Publicans addrest to him for Instruction Master What shall we do said to them Exact no more than what is appointed you And to the Souldiers he said Do Violence to no Man neither accuse any falsly and be content with your Wages He warns them against Rapine and Force and injurious Accusing others of which Sins Publicans and Souldiers were usually guilty I will to be the more instructive particularly consider some Callings and the Sins that evidently attend them The Sacred Calling of Ministers does not secure them from Temptations but such is the corruption of their Hearts and of the World that it exposes them to dangerous Temptations The Devil scales us on the Temple-side and often gets possession of our Hearts Ministers are often guilty of a spiritless formality in the managing Holy Things In the composing of Sermons the Mind is exercised about the Matter Order and Expressions without Holy Affections suitable to Divine Truths partly because from Custom the most solemn and concerning Things pass through the Soul without serious Regard and Application and partly because the Ministerial Office obliging us to furnish our selves with the knowledg of the admirable Mysteries of Godliness for the instruction of others we are apt to make that the only End of our Studies like Vintners that buy great quantities of Wine for sale and not for their own use There is not in many Ministers a spark of that Heavenly Fire which the reflexive Meditation on Spiritual and Eternal Truths inspires into the Soul which our Saviour came to kindle Their Knowledg is not lively and operative but like a Winter's Sun that shines without vital Heat If they are inrich'd with rare Talents they are apt to prophane that Holy Ordinance of Preaching by secret Aims and Desires of Vain-glory The Temptation is more dangerous because esteem and praise for Intellectual Excellencies that are peculiar to Man and wherein the Eminence of his Nature consists is very pleasing even to those who are of an unspotted Conversation and free from Carnal Pollutions Chrysostom confesses of himself That when he preach'd to a thin Auditory his words dy'd on his Lips and his Spirit was quench'd but when he was encompass'd with a numerous full Assembly his Spirit was enflam'd and he breath'd Fire The attention and applause of the Hearers the regarding one another with Wonder as if never Man spake better the reigning over the Spirits of Men by powerful Oratory are apt to inspire vain-glorious Conceits into the Preachers And many carried along by the Current of their injudicious Auditors are curious to bespangle their Discourses with light Ornaments to please the Ear and are not studious to preach Christ and him Crucified in a stile distant from all shadow of vanity to save the Soul. Another Temptation attending that Holy Calling is from Humane Passions which Ministers often bring up into the Pulpit with them and with a counterfeit Zeal vent their Animosities against those of whom they are jealous as diminishing their secular Interests God under the Law severely forbids the offering up Sacrifices by common Fire but only by Celestial that was preserved Day and Night upon the Altar by the Priests 't is symbolical that the reprehension of Sinners by the Servants of God should not be exprest with heat of Anger against their Persons but with holy Zeal that Love to their Souls should be the pure Motive of the severest Rebukes Lastly The great danger is lest Ministers have a respect more to the temporal Reward of their Office than the divine End of it Therefore St. Peter with that Solemnity enjoins Evangelical Pastors to feed the Flock of God taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy Lucre but of a ready Mind Neither to act as Lords over God's Heritage but to be Ensamples to the Flock 'T is true the Labourer is worthy of his Reward and if we sow Spiritual Things is it a great Matter as the Apostle saith if we reap your carnal Things But tho 't is natural and regular to eat to live yet to live to eat is prodigiously brutish so 't is a most guilty vile Intention to use the Sacred Ministry for obtaining secular Things This will corrupt the Heart and hinder the discharging the Office with sincerity and constancy For the End is the Rule and Measure of the Means and a worldly Minister will frame his Sermons and order his Affairs to obtain the World. If it be for his Secular Interest he will appear as an Apostle full of Zeal against Errors and Sins but if the preaching the Doctrines of Truth and Holiness be prejudicial to his worldly Designs he will neglect his Duty to preserve the Minds of Men untainted from destructive Errors he will mollify the Threatnings of Scripture rebate their Edg and thereby harden the Hearts of presumptuous Sinners As 't is observed of the Vines if they are supported upon crooked Stakes they will grow so so carnal Preachers will conform themselves according to the Humours of those upon whom they servilely depend In Courts of Judicature the Temptations are intimated in the wise Advice of Jethro to Moses That he should chuse Men fearing God and hating Covetousness Without the over-ruling Fear of God Judges will not do their Duty evenly and couragiously Humane Respects will tempt them to bend the Rule to the obliquity of their Minds and Desires When they are influenc'd by the Fear or Favour of Men they will part with Justice and Conscience and true Honour and their Souls And how often does the weight of Gold turn the Scales in Judgment and preponderate the Reason of the Cause with those who are most solemnly obliged to universal
wretchedly neglect the means that might alleviate their Sorrows and refuse to be comforted as if they were Persons consecrated to Calamity thus Life is linger'd out in continual Languishings or ended with deadly Grief If the Affliction be singular and extraordinary Sorrow often increases to such dismal Degrees that most woful Effects proceed from that Passion The Anguish of Spirit either breaks out in unkindly and unholy Expressions or inwardly festers with Repining vexatious Thoughts at their Condition Stubborn Spirits are impatient of the Evils they suffer and insensible and undervaluing of the Blessings they possess They neither look upward to the Hand of God that disposes all Evils nor inward to their Sins the most righteous procuring Cause of them But serious Reflection would constrain them to acknowledg that God punishes them less than their Sins deserved and that their Dross needed the vehemence of the Fire to purge it away A meek yielding our selves and a complying with the blessed Ends of his afflicting Providence will make us to understand by Experience that all our sharpest Sufferings were most wisely and divinely ordered by our Heavenly Father 3. We must search for our peculiar Sin in the Society with whom we are conversant Our Company that we choose and are frequently engaged with discovers us to others and may to our selves 'T is a true Glass that by reflexion makes visible the Countenance and Complexion of our Minds Love proceeds from Likeness and the Election of Friends from a correspondence in the Tempers of Men. 'T is true there may be Foreign Motives of Friendship and Commerce with others from our Secular Affairs and Interests but Inclination is the internal Cause of Friendship 'T is visible that Carnality in its various kinds cements Friendships the Intemperate the Lascivious the Worldly are endear'd to one another by the resemblance in their Minds and Manners Besides Examples if often in our view and especially of those whom we love have a strange Power to change us into their Likeness 'T is the Observation of the wise Man He that has fellowship with a proud Man will be like him The vicious Affections of the Heart transpire in Words and Actions and insensibly infect others and in familiar Society the Contagious Evil the more strongly infects being immediately conveyed If our intimate Friends are worldly Wise who mind earthly Things sagacious to forecast Advantages and active to accomplish their Designs we may judg of the strain of our Affections for if our Conversations were in Heaven if our frequent and serious Discourses were of Things above how to improve Spiritual Riches our Company would be ungrareful to them without Sympathy there can be no complacence in Society The Garlick and Onions of the Egyptian Earth is more tasteful to their Palats than the Bread of Angels Besides by constant familiarity our Minds are apt to be corrupted to value the World as our substantial Felicity and our Hearts to be corrupted with the love of it which is of the Spring of Mens Sins and Misery Thus if we are Associates with the Voluptuous there will steal into the Heart an allowance of Sensuality and a dislike of Holiness as a sowr Severity If unregenerate Men though of a civil Conversation be our chosen and familiar Friends our Zeal for Religion will decline and lukewarmness be insensibly infus'd into us Briefly as the Wax receives the Figure of the Seal that is applied to it our Minds receive a likeness from the Impressions of Examples Therefore a Prudence discreet and severe is necessary in the choice of our Society In the Humane Life there is no mistake more dangerous than in the choice of Friends with whom we are usually conversant 'T is a comprehensive Rule and most useful for the guiding us safely to Heaven to select the Wise and Holy to be our bosom-Friends As a Ring touch'd by a Loadstone drawsanother by an imprest Virtue so in holy Society there is Divine Grace attractive of the Hearts of others He that walks with the Wise shall be wise but a Companion of Fools shall be afflicted That is the penal Consequence of being corrupted by them The Sensual and Luxurious by their converse pervert good Dispositions in others and heighten evil Inclinations into Habits They are Satan's Instruments to draw Men into his Snares more familiar Devils to tempt and destroy Souls He that chuses evil Company is like one that voluntarily frequents a House infected with the Plague who is either a Fool and disvalues Life or desperate and seeks Death 4. We must consider the Quality of the Times we live in to discover what Sin is predominant in us There are Evil Days in the Apostle's Language with respect to the Temptations and Troubles that are concomitant with them and a wise circumspect walking is requisite to preserve our Innocence and Purity Sometimes those who are dignified with Titles and Powers are leaders in Sin and their publick Practices are so commandingly exemplary that they easily prevail upon many to follow them for that is the way to insinuate into their favour and obtain secular Advantages and Rewards From hence it is that some as if the opposite Forms of Religion were but different fashions of the same stuff will put on a new Livery according to the Master they serve They have a politick Faith you may coin them a Philip and Mary or an Elizabeth as the Mintage of the Times vary But the Example of the High and Noble is no safe Rule A Rule of Gold tho of value for the Matter yet if crooked 't is useless as a Rule In some Ages the Poison sheds it self into the whole Body of a Nation that rarely any are untainted The old World was drown'd in sensuality and Noah only escap'd And in the next Age how did Idolatry like an overspreading Leprosy infect the World and Abraham hardly escap'd In Jeremy's Time the Land mourn'd for Oaths and Curses Men were turn'd breathing Devils and spake the Language of Hell before they came there Sometimes all Degrees are so corrupt that Vices pass for Vertues the rage of Duelling for Heroick Valour Luxury and Sensuality for innocent and amiable Qualities and Holiness tho a Divine Excellency and the very Beauty of the Deity is despised and derided Thus Men glory in their Shame and are ashamed of their Glory Now there is no Tyranny more violent than of a corrupt Custom no Contagion more catching than of National Sins The Apostle reminds the Ephesians that in their Heathen State they walk'd according to the Course of the World. We are therefore strictly commanded not to be conform'd to the World but transform'd by the renewing of our Minds that we may prove what is the Good the acceptable and perfect Will of God. 'T is the eminent effect of Grace to resist the Torrent of the Times and to value the Conscience of our Duty before all Worldly Respects accordingly 't is recorded to the everlasting Honour of Jehoshaphat
which we are most inclinable and that often foil us Constancy is inseparable from Sincerity If we neglect the humbling of our Souls for unavoidable Infirmities the earnest seeking for the Divine Mercy and Grace and a careful watching against them we so far decline from Uprightness 2. It implies the mortifying the inward Affection to that Sin. The Rule of our Duty requires this Cleanse your Hands ye Sinners purify your Hearts ye double-minded The Will is the proper Principle of Sin and from the depravation of the free Faculty actual Sins proceed As the Love of the Subject is the Strength of the Prince so the Love of any Sin preserves its Dominion There may be a concurrence of Circumstances to hinder the actual commission of Sin of which the Heart is guilty An unclean Person when separated from the Object of his impure Desires may languish in his Lusts and by contemplative commission be guilty before God. A malicious Person may keep the Fire of Malice in his Breast without the least discovery by a Spark or Smoak in his Words or Actions waiting for an opportunity that he may take his full Revenge and is a Murderer in his Wishes The rapacious desire of anothers Goods without actual Robbery induces the Guilt of Thest. There may be an invincible Bar between the sinful Affection and the Object Sickness or Age may so waste the vigour of the Body that we cannot perform the gross Acts of Sin But this Abstinence has no moral Value for it only proceeds from the disability of the Instrumental Faculties If one in a Consumption leaves his Revelling and Licentiousness 't is no sign of Divine Grace but of wasted Nature As in a sick Person the Appetite fails the Soul abhors dainty Meat but if he recovers his Appetite revives and is more craving for his Abstinence Thus many who could not enjoy their pleasant Lusts in the time of Diseases being restored to strength their vicious Affections are reincited by new Temptations and with greater excess act over their old Sins as if they would pay Interest for their impatient forbearance An old Sinner may retain and cherish the Fire of Lust in his Heart when Age has snow'd upon his Head As in Mount Aetna the sulphurious Fire and Snow are near together But as the Philosopher observes If a young Eye were put into an old Man's Head he would see as clearly as ever So if natural strength were restor'd in an unconverted Sinner he would be as ardent and active in prosecuting his carnal Desires as before Terrors of Conscience may stop the current of Mens Lusts Fear has Torment and is inconsistent with the Pleasures of Sin the fear of visible Vengeance that sometimes strikes the Wicked or the apprehension of Judgment to come may controul the licentious Appetites from breaking forth into actual commission of Sins But as when the Lions spared Daniel it was not from the change of their wild devouring Nature for they destroyed his Accusers immediately but from the suspending their hurtful Power so when a strong fear lays a restraint upon the active Powers yet inward Lust is the same and would licentiously commit Sin were the Restraint taken away The keeping ones self from Sin that is the sign of Uprightness proceeds from the mortification of the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof The Apostle tells us Carnal Circumcision without the Circumcision of the Heart was of no avail to obtain the Favour of God So the outward forbearance of Sin without inward Purity can never commend us to the Divine Acceptance A Rebel may be driven from the Frontiers but so long as he keeps the Royal City he is unsubdued So if a Lust keeps possession of the Heart tho the executive Powers may be retained or disabled from the outward Acts it still reigns 3. I shall now prove that the keeping a Man's Self from his special Sin is an undeceiving evidence of Sincerity 1. God approves it I was upright before him God has not Eyes of Flesh he doth not see as Man sees The deepest Breast is as clear as Christal in his sight He weighs the Spirits of Men and exactly knows what is true Gold and what is counterfeit He is the Searcher and Judg of our Hearts and his approbation is the strongest Seal of our Uprightness As God said to Abraham Now I know thou fearest me in that thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from me So if we Sacrifice at his Command the Sin that is as dear to us as Isaac was to his Father the Sin of our Love and Delight the Sin that is ours by Choice and Custom then we shall hear the blessed Testimony from Heaven that we love God in sincerity he will own us as his Friends Sincere Christians can appeal to God in the Psalmist's Language and with his Affections Lord search me and try me and see whether there be any way of Wickedness in me they are not conscious of any indulged course of Sin which would make them fearful of his pure and piercing Eye 2. It will appear that the keeping our selves from our peculiar Sins is an infallible proof of Uprightness by considering in what it consists In Scripture Uprightness is equivalent to Perfection and Integrity and opposite to Guilt 1. 'T is equivalent to Perfection Mark the perfect Man and behold the Upright for the End of that Man is Peace The absolute perfection of Holiness is not attainable upon Earth none are refin'd to a height of Purity without Mixtures and Allays But according to the mitigation of the Gospel the Saints whose Aims Desires and Endeavours are to obtain Perfection are accepted in the Blessed Mediator as perfect Now the indulgence of any darling Sin is utterly inconsistent with Perfection in the mild sense of the Gospel and consequently with Uprightness This will be more evident by considering that Uprightness is equivalent with Integrity The Psalmist prays Let Integrity and Uprightness preserve me Integrity implies an uniform equal respect to all the Divine Commands When Conscience of our Duty to God and the reverence of his Authority shining in his Law inclines us to obey all his Will we are upright Partial Obedience that divides the Precepts and complies with those that are agreeing with our Carnal Affections and Interest and neglects the rest is an inconsistent with Sincerity as Death and Life As the Soul in the natural Man is a vital Principle from whence all the Actions of Life and Sense proceed so renewing Grace is a Principle of Universal Obedience Herod did many things gladly upon the preaching of John the Baptist but he would not part with Herodias his charming Lust still had dominion in his Heart The young Man observed other Commands of the Law but when our Saviour tried his Integrity by commanding him to sell all and to give it to the Poor and he should have Treasure in Heaven 't is said he went
will not justify us before God. The Mercy-Seat sprinkled with his Blood affords Protection from the Avenger to all relenting returning Sinners but Justice will tear the presumptuous Sinner from the Horns of the Altar The most rigorous Penance will not avail without mortifying the Affection to Sin the most severe Discipline to the Body is but like a Mountebanck's applying the Salve to the Weapon without dressing the Wound that cannot work a found Cure. The dispensing of the Treasure of Merits to penitent Pay-Masters and giving mercenary Bills of Exchange to receive Righteousness from others is so wretched and transparent a Fallacy that were not the Minds of Men prodigiously stupified it is impossible they should believe it will avail them before the Judgment-Seat of God. Let our Prayers be never so frequent and earnest they are of no prevalency with God whilst the beloved Sin is retain'd The Condition of our favourable Audience is set down by Solomon in his Divine Prayer at the Dedication of the Temple What Prayer or Supplication soever be made by any Man or by all the People of Israel which shall know every Man the Plague of his own Heart and spread forth his hand to Heaven then hear thou in Heaven and hearing forgive If they shall be sensible of the Bosom-Sin of its pestilential Malignity and with repenting Sorrow acknowledg and forsake it they are prepared Objects of Mercy David saith If I regard Iniquity in my Heart the Lord will not hear my Prayer God sees through all the Disguises of Hypocrites and has a bright prospect into the Heart if any insinuating Infirmity be cherish'd there it will make him averse from our Persons and Requests 'T is not the performance of religious and charitable Duties that will purchase Indulgence for a beloved Sin. The most costly Sacrifices the most liberal Charities are neither pleasing to God nor profitable to us without an unfeigned renouncing of our Sins 'T is a carnal Shift that many use to excuse the Practice of a chosen Sin by the doing some good things many strict Observers of the Rituals of Religion are dissolute Epicures as if they might compensate for their voluntary Defects in one Duty by their care in another But if Conscience be not so far stupified that it can neither hear nor see nor speak 't is impossible but the guilty Deceiver must be terrified with the words of St. James That whosoever shall keep the whole Law yet offend in one point he is guilty of all The most strict Observance of one Precept will not excuse Disobedience to another the voluntary continued Transgression of any Command involves a Man under the Guilt of breaking the entire Law the Divine Authority being despised that makes it binding I will instance in one kind of Sins Many that have increas'd their Estates by Craft and Circumvention or by Violence and Rapine will bequeath part to pious uses presuming by a kind of Composition with God to be discharged of their guilty Gains St. Austin observes that some in his time thought it to be Obedience to the Command of our Saviour Make your selves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting Habitations This is to defile and debase the Name of the Righteous and Holy God 't is to make him altogether like to corrupt Men as if he would be brib'd to patronize their Wickedness And in other cases thus monstrously Carnal Men bend the Rule of Rectitude to the Obliquity of their Desires They are willing to deceive themselves and imagine that only Ministers of a preciser strain will terrify them with eternal Judgment for one retained Sin they desire and are apt to believe such a Mercy as will bring them to Heaven with their Sins in their Bosoms But the Apostle warns us Be not deceived God is not mocked as a Man sows so shall he reap There are sure and tender Mercies for the Upright but strict and certain Justice for the Wicked Sincerity is so amiable and pleasing in God's Eyes that he graciously passes by many Infirmities upon that account It is said of Asa that his Heart was perfect all his days and notwithstanding some gross Faults God accepted him But when the Heart is corrupted by the love of some pleasant or profitable Sin it renders a Person with the most specious Services odious in God's sight In short indulged known Sins that Men habitually commit in hopes of an easie Absolution are not the Spots of God's Children 'T is so directly contrary to the Divine Nature to that holy ingenuous Fear of offending our heavenly Father resulting from it that only the Wicked are capable of such a disposition Presumptuous Sins are a contumelious abuse of Divine Mercy and exasperate that high and tender attribute to the confusion of Sinners at the last Do good O Lord unto those that be good and to them that are upright in Heart As for such as turn aside to their crooked Ways the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of Iniquity 2. We may by Divine Grace subdue the strongest Lusts that from our Nature and Temper or from Custom and the Interests of the Carnal State have rule over us The New Covenant assures Believers that Sin shall not have Dominion over them because they are not under the Law but under Grace The Law strictly forbids Sin but the Gospel furnishes with strength to subdue it 'T is true inherent Corruption has so devested Men of spiritual Strength that they cannot free themselves from the Power and Infection of Sin and when any Lust is fomented by Temptations and has been frequently gratified 't is more hard to be subdued The Apostle speaks of some whose Eyes were full of Adultery that could not cease from Sin they were in a state of Carnality and lov'd to be so When Lust is imperious and the Will servile Men cannot wean themselves from the poison'd Breasts This disability consists in the depraved obstinacy of the Will that aggravates their Sin and Judgment Yet so foolish are Sinners as to use this Plea to make them excusable for their habitual Lusts Conscience checks them and some faint Desires they have to avoid their Sins but they cannot change their Natures They colour Licentiousness with the pretence of Necessity they complain of their Chains to let loose the Reins of their exorbitant Desires in a course of Sin. But natural Corruption that involves us under Guilt cannot make us innocent 'T is true if in our original Condition the humane Will had been stamp'd by Fate with an unalterable inclination to Sin we could not have been guilty for if there be no Principles of Liberty all the Names of Good and Evil are cancell'd and all moral Means Instructions Persuasions Threatnings are but lost labour In Brutes there are some natural Resemblances of Vertue and Vice yet not worthy of Reward or Punishment only so far as by Imagination they
from him Of our selves we cannot conceive a good Thought through Christ strengthening us we can do all things Spiritual Blessings he purchas'd for us by his Humiliation and confers in his Exaltation He gave himself for his Church that he might sanctify it and cleanse it by the washing of Water and the Word Being risen and ascended he received of his Father Divine Gifts and gives Grace unto Men. He gives Repentance which principally consists in the mortifying Sin he blesses us in turning us from our Iniquities The Mortification of Sin is peculiarly attributed to his Death 1. With respect to its meritorious Causality that reconcil'd God to us and obtain'd of him the sanctifying Spirit that is the Seal of his Love to communicate the Divine Nature to us by which we escape the Corruption that is in the World through Lust. The Redemption of a Captive may illustrate the Redemption of Sinners for as in restoring a Captive to Liberty there must be the payment of the Ransom and the breaking of his Chains so in redeeming a Sinner there was the price laid down the unvaluable Blood of the Son of God to procure our spiritual Freedom for the ignominious and cruel Bondage under Satan was the penal Effect of the first Transgression and the invisible Chains the Darkness of Mind the Hardness of Heart the Rebellion of Will the Disorder of Affections and all the vicious Habits that kept him in the Bondage of Satan are to be broken and removed For this reason 't is said God sending his Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for Sin condemning Sin in the Flesh that is Christ dying as a Sacrifice for Sin reconciled God and the Fruit of that Reconciliation is the breaking the Tyrannous Empire of Sin under which we were involv'd that we may enjoy the Liberty of the Sons of God. Sin brought our Saviour to the Cross and he brought Sin to the Cross when he dy'd naturally Sin dyed legally that is was condemn'd to lose its Power in the Hearts and Lives of Believers The excellent Ends of our Saviour's Death are express'd by the Apostle He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity abolish the guilt of Sin and purify unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works 2. By way of Representation As Christ died for Sin we must die to Sin He expiated the guilt of all Sin for penitent Believers and a universal crucifixion of Sin is the imitation of his Death The Apostle insists on this as a Truth of the clearest Evidence to Christians Know ye not that so many as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his Death Therefore we are buried with him in Baptism that as Christ was raised up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of Life For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection Knowing this that our Old Man is crucified with him that the Body of Sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve Sin. The sum of which Reasoning is that our crucifying the corrupt Nature with all its various Affections and Lusts is a lively resemblance of the Death of Christ which was design'd both to be operative in us of the Death of Sin and to be significative of it From whence it follows 't is the indispensable Duty of all Christians to transcribe the Copy of his Death in their Hearts and Lives 3. The Death of Christ mortifies Sin by moral Influence as 't is an Expression of God's transcendent Love to us and his Righteous and Holy severity against Sin both which are such powerful Motives to destroy Sin that whoever does not feel their Efficacy is dead as the Grave without the least vital Spark of grateful Love to Christ. Now the unfeigned belief of the meritorious and efficacious Sufferings of Christ is the means by which the Value of his Death is applied and the Vertue of it derived to us for the killing of our Sins 'T is by Faith we are united to him as our Head the Fountain of Spiritual Sense and Active Power He dwells in our Hearts by Faith and by the eminent Operations of his Spirit strengthens the inner Man. Faith excites us to mortify the inhabiting Corruption by arguing from the Love of Christ in dying for us He left Heaven for us shall not we leave Earth for him He denied his natural innocent Wills to submit to the Death of the Cross for our Salvation Shall not we deny our depraved rebellious Wills for his Glory And unless desperate Sinners who are fallen as low as Hell who can resist such melting Perswasions The Apostle speaks with the most feeling Expressions The Love of Christ constrains us has an absolute invincible Empire over us because we thus judg that if one died for all then were all dead that henceforth we should live to him who died for us And 't is the noble and sensible Effect of quickning Grace to mortify Sin. Faith as it obliges so it encourages to subdue our Sins by reflecting upon the End of Christ's Death which shall certainly be accomplish'd St. Paul in his conflict with an uncessant Enemy was fortified by an Assurance from God My Grace is sufficient for thee The Temptation was not presently removed but strength conveyed by which he was superior to it Our special Sins so easily encompass us that considering our imminent danger we may fear the Issue of the Fight but the believing remembrance of our Saviour's Death inspires new Life and Heat into us knowing that he hath not died in vain Faith raises the drooping Spirit by reflecting upon the compassionate willingness of Christ to relieve and strengthen us in the Holy War. When he was upon Earth he prayed his Father to keep us from the Evil of the World. This was the Copy of his continual Intercession for us in Heaven from whence we are infallibly assur'd that he is most tenderly inclin'd to assist us and preserve us from the malignant influence of the World. For these Reasons Faith in Christ has a cleansing Vertue a victorious Efficacy attributed to it Faith purifies the Heart and overcomes the World. A sincere Believer that makes use of the Divine Ordinances Prayer hearing the Word the confirming Sacrament and other holy Means for the subduing his Corruptions shall certainly obtain a final Victory and the reward of it a triumphant Felicity FINIS Some Divinity Books printed for and fold by Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard MR. Pool's Annotations on the whole Bible in which the whole Sacred Text is inserted in two Volumes in Folio Useful for Families and Closets Dr. Goodwin's Works In two Volumes in Folio Viz. on the Ephesians Revelations The Kowledg of God the Father Election c. His Treatise of the Punishment of Sin in Hell In 8o. Dr. Manton's