shall not Christians much more Vse But to come to the Vse of the point is it so that a Christian may and ought to desire to be dissolued this meets with them therfore which are at home in this world which if they might haue their choice would make themselues euerlasting Tabernacles here and would neuer remoue being content rather to liue in sinne and to endure much hardship then to change their habitation I confesse life is sweete and wee ought not wilfully to imperill it Homer brings in the most valiant men armed and weaponed ready to defend their liues and so it may stand with a magnan imous spirit to seeke to preserue life by all lawfull meanes but to dote vpon this momentany life and to preferre it before eternity must needs be a great sinne honey is sweete and yet we must not surfeit vpon it so life is pleasant but we must not ouerualue it Now that we may attaine this resolution of Saint Paul to desire to be dissolued wee must obserue these rules following First wee must pull out the sting of death which is sinne death is a Serpent but if you take away its sting you may safely put it in your bosome Aristot lib. 3. ethic ad nic hom c 6 The Heathen Philosopher could say that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 death is the most fearefull thing in the world and why not because after death there is neither good nor euill as he atheistically speakes but because the conscience is terrified with sinne vnrepented of O that I could inlarge my selfe now to speake to euery particular sinner Thou that art a common swearer a Sabbath-breaker a secret adulterer a common drunkard a fraudulent dealer a malitious person a persecutor and a slanderer of Gods faithfull Ministers an idle droane a lyar a tale-bearer a belly-god a proud person an vsurer a base worldling c. dost thou desire euer to looke death in the face with comfort without hellish feare break off thy sinne else death will sting thee like an Addar thou shalt neuer be able to look God in the face Secondly if we would attaine to a willingnesse to die wee must get faith wee must make our calling and election sure wee must with Simeon get Christ in our armes and then we shall easily say Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace a man cannot choose but feare to die when he knowes not what shall become of his poore soule in the world to come We haue many encouragements to beleeue First because we are commanded so to doe 1 Ioh. 3.23 Secondly because Gods mercies and Christs merits are greater then our sinnes be our sinnes neuer so great Isa 1.18 Thirdly because great sinners haue bin saued Manasse Mary Magdalen Dauid The prodigall Sonne with diuers others Fourthly because the tender of mercy is made to euery Creature Mar. 16.15 Fifthly we haue many excellent helpes to beleeue to wit the preaching of the Gospell the vse of the blessed Sacraments experience of former feelings and tokens of Gods loue c. O therefore let vs stirre vp our selues to beleeue and let vs labour for such a Faith as may purifie our hearts Acts 15.9 as may worke by loue Gal. 5.6 as may fill our hearts with sound ioy 1 Pet. 1.8 as may bee ioyned with good fruits Iames 2.26 If wee can but beleeue by such a faith as this is nothing shal be able to hinder our Saluation yea if all the tyles vpon the house where we shall die were so many diuels we should not feare It is recorded of one Epaminondas a famous captaine Diadorus Siculus lib. 15. who being wounded in Warre asked first if his shield were safe as though he had not cared what had become of his life so his buckler were preserued euen so we need not care what becomes of our liues so our Faith be safe Thirdly If we will die willingly and with comfort we must expell out of our hearts the immoderate loue of the world Ambro. lib. de fide resur Tom 3. Mors nec amara egētibus nec gratiosa diuttibus It is a true saying of one of the antient Fathers Death is neither bitter to men that liue in want neither is it welcome to rich men a rich man that hath made Mamō pleasure his God will be as loath to part with these at his death as euer Labā was to part with his Idols which Rahel had stolne yea if God would offer him heauen vpon condition to part with these he would refuse the offer Mat. 19.21.22 O therefore my beloued let vs take the counsell of the holy Ghost in Psal 62.10 If riches increase let vs not set our hearts thereon let them not clog the wings of our affections but let vs in the mids of aboundance reserue in our selues a willingnesse to bee dissolued and to be with Christ knowing that with him is induring substance and fullnesse of ioy for euer and euer Dost thou willingly dye and leaue thy deare freinds behold thou shalt enioy the company of the blessed Trinity of the elect Angels and of the soules of men made perfect dost thou willingly part with great riches on earth behold thou shalt haue great treasure in heauen dost thou cheerefully leaue thy earthly habitation behold a better mansion aboue ready to receiue thee Fourthly if we will die willingly wee must bee fruitfull in good workes this is to lay vp for our selues a good foundation against the time to come howbeit not of merit but of assurance 1 Tim. 6.19 it is no maruell if any man be vnwilling to be sent out to liue in some strange Countrey vnto the which hee hath sent no prouision before hand for his owne entertainement and so it is no strange thing if any be vnwilling to die who hath not had any care to lay vp treasure for himselfe in heauen let me vse therefore that effectuall exhortation of our blessed Sauiour Luke 16.9 Make you friends of the Mammon of vnrighteousnesse that when ye shall fayle they may receiue you into euerlasting Tabernacles Good workes done in a right manner and with a sound intention will make thy life sweet thy death comfortable and thy end happie What a man giues to kindred friends out of meere naturall respects he giues it meerely to them and they onely haue the benefit of it but whatsoeuer any shall giue for Christ and for pious vses he giues it to himselfe he rewards his owne soule hee alone receiues the maine benefit according to that August in serm de divite Quicquid pauperibus dederimus ipsum integre posside bimus Whatsoeuer wee shall giue to the poore wee shall enioy it all our owne selues Fifthly if we would die willingly we must with Christ finish the worke the Lord hath giuen vs to do Ioh. 17.4 no seruant is willing his Master should returne vntill hee hath done his appointed taske no steward is willing his Lord should call
any true comfort sin and comfort doe mutually expell one another Fourthly sin wounds the conscience kindles Gods wrath keepes good things from vs depriues of heauen exposeth to hel-torments brings a curse vpon al a man hath makes the very remembrance of death terrible and therefore sinne alone makes miserable Good Anselmus had that apprehension of the miserie of sin as that if hee had been put to his choice he would haue chosen rather to haue been in hell without sinne then in heauen with sinne Supposing sin to be able to make him more miserable then hell fire it selfe Vse And this may serue first to discouer the deceitfulnes of sin it promises to make a man happie the Adulterer would thinke himselfe a happy man if he might obtaine his filthy desires the Couetous person would think himself made for euer if by vsury false weights cosenage swearing lying and the like hee may attaine riches and greatnesse in the world the malicious person would thinke himselfe happy to worke reuenge against his enemy in word or deed The like wee might say of other habituall sinners which account sin their summum bonum or chiefest good but alas they are far deceiued accounting that their happinesse which is their miserie In this they are like such as haue the greene-sicknesse which take delight to eate loame and other baggage taking pleasure in that which others see to bee their misery or like one infected with the itch pardon the plainnesse of my comparison who takes delight and pleasure in rubbing of himselfe when as alas this hee takes pleasure in increaseth his miserie Thus I say wee see the deceitfulnesse of sinne it promiseth happinesse but it performeth nothing but woefull miserie Vse Secondly this shewes vs what we may esteeme of them which wee see goe on and take their chiefe delight in sinne be they neuer so rich neuer so great neuer so highly aduanced in the world they are but wretched persons if the sense of naturall corruption abated made the Apostle in his own feeling miserable what shall sinne reigning and nothing abated make these persons Possibly they are not sensible of their misery as Paul was but this their senselesnesse addes rather to their misery then in any sort extenuats it a man somtimes is neuer more deadly sicke then when hee hath least feeling of his sicknesse euen so a sinner is then in the most miserable case when he can goe on in sinne with greedinesse without any remorse and with great contentment What should wee speake of IOB sitting on the dung hill or of LAZARVS full of sores dying at the Rich-mans gate or of any other in great affliction the sinner the sinner is the onely miserable person Shew methe greatest sinner in the world and I will quickly shew thee the most wretched miserable catiffe that the earth beares or euer the Sun lookt vpon Many other good vses might be made of this point both for the deepe humiliation of vs which are sinners and for our preseruation against sinne for the time to come but for breuity sake I leaue them to euery mans priuate meditation beseeching euery man and woman in the name of the Lord Iesus to shunne that with all diligence which they see by this doctrine will make them wretched and miserable And thus for the first part of my Text to wit the exclamation Come we now to the second namely the exoptation in these words Who shall deliuer mee from the body of this death These words may be read two waies either thus Who shall deliuer me from the body of this death or thus Who shall deliuer me from this body of death The Reason of the diuersity of reading is because the pronoune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may bee indifferently referred as it stands in construction either to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Syrian translation reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who shall deliuer me from this body of death referring the pronoune This rather to body then to death the which reading I doe the rather imbrace because the Apostle at this time doth not seeme to point at this or that particular kinde of death but rather at his present body But in the next place for the better vnderstanding of these words it may bee demanded what is meant heere by the body of death a Bucer Some hold that by the body of death is meant nothing else but sinne inhabiting in the body b Hier. in apolog aduersus Ruffin others by the body of death vnderstand the naturall body lyable to death but Origen vnderstands it of both b Theoph. ad loc I thinke it safest to receiue the last acception For surely the Apostle desires so earnestly to bee freed from sinne as that withall he desires to bee freed from the very body as it is infected with sinne Wo shall deliuer non dubitantis sed anhelantis saith reueuerend Caluin these are not words of one that doubteth who shall deliuer him but of one that greatly desireth to be deliuered and indeed it is the manner of the Hebrewes to expresse an earnest wish by way of question as wee haue an example in Psal 53.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who will giue deliuerance vnto Israel out of Zion that is O that the Lord would giue deliuerance and so in this place who shall deliuer mee out of this body of death that is O that the Lord would deliuer me Thus for the meaning To handle the words First as they haue relation to the body and then as they haue reference to sinne in the body from this body of death the body is called the body of death because it is liable to death so that the first instruction hence to bee obserued is that the body of man is subiect to death or mortality in this respect it is called dust Eccles 12.7 a karkeise Heb. 3.17 a Tent or Tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.13 a mortall body Rom. 6.12 and here a body of death Quest But how came man to be liable to death did GOD create him at the first so Surely no the Lord created him non moriturum such an one as should neuer haue seene death if he had persisted in his integrity In lib. hypognost contra Pelag. Celestianos contra primum articulum Tom. 7. Dicite ergo si deus mortem fecit cur Christus Deus mortuū fleuit Lazarum secundum carnem non enim quod ipse fecerat dolere debuit sed dolens eum plorans ostendit quos Deus vitales fecerat diabolum per culpam fecisse mortales it was sinne it was sinne that brought death into the world In sinnes wombe it was hatched God is not properly the Author or Father of it Rom. 5.12 Saint Augustine saith notably rather say yee if God created death why then did Christ being God bewaile the death of Lazarus according to the flesh for what hee himselfe had made he should not haue
confusion of the diuel if the diuell had onely to deale with perfect men it were the lesse confusion to him if he could not either totally or finally preuaile against them by his hellish temptations But hauing to deale with weake men such as are more flesh then spirit and yet not being able with all his gates and armoury to preuaile against them in this he must needs goe away with great confusion in this the Lord deales with his children as once hee did with the Caldeans Ier. 37.10 though they remaine but as wounded men yet by his power they arise and preuaile against principalities and powers Fourthly hereby the Lord doth try the courage and magnanimity of his children leauing in their bosomes dangerous enemies against whom they must combate all their life time God had bin able if it had pleased him to haue brought Israel his people into Canaan without Warre but hee would not that hee might trie them euen so God is able to bring his children to heauen without any opposition but hee will not he that will obtaine the heauenly Canaan must fight for it Fifthly Sinne still remaineth in the children of God after conuersion that they might the more sensibly feele what need they haue of Christ and of Gods mercy if wee were perfectly whole wee should not need the physitian but being sickly and crasie as indeed we be in our best estate here we haue infinite need of the onely Doctor who by the physick of his owne precious bloud healeth all our infirmities Sixthly hereby the Lord doth weane his children from the loue of this world and makes them willing and desirous to bee dissolued and to be with Christ not so much that they might bee freed from afflictions and distresses as from sinne and corruption there is nothing in the world makes the true children of God so weary of their liues as sinne doth Quest Quest Yea but if there be sinne still remaining in the children of God after conuersion then what difference is there betwixt the state of the conuerted and vnconuerted Answ Answ Yes great difference for though sinne bee in both yet it is not in the like manner in both Sinne in the vnconuerted or wicked man is as the Master of the house bearing the whole sway ruling and domineering at its pleasure but in the conuerted it is but as a drudge being indeed vnruly and malitious but wanting power Secondly Sinne in the vnregenerate is as a welcome guest entertained with all alacrity and cheerefulnesse nothing is so sweet to a carnall man as sinne nothing so louingly embraced nothing so ioyfully possessed but in the regenerate it is as an vnwelcome guest which intrudeth himselfe without any inuitation and remaineth without any approbation his roome being desired rather then his company Thirdly Sinne in the vnregenerate is committed and followed with greedinesse without any reluctation in the will the hart doth not more bray after the riuers of water then a wicked man doth lust after sinne but in the regenerate sinne is resisted prayed against feared shunned with the occasions thereof c. Fourthly Sinne in the vnregenerate is continued in excused maintained and sometimes boasted of but in the regenerate it is broken of by speedy repentance confessed aggrauated and blushed at But to come to the Application Vse is it so that sinne remaineth still in the children of God after conuersion to wit originall corruption then this makes against the doctrine of Papists maintained by one of their chiefe a Bellar. lib. 5. de stat paccat c. 7. Champions which teacheth that originall sinne is so washed away by Baptisme as that it remaineth no longer sinne of its owne nature a vaine conceit for doth not Paul after he was baptized by Ananias complaine in this Chapter of sin still dwelling in him and will any Papist be so impudent as to thinke himselfe cleaner washed by Baptisme then Paul himselfe but to let them goe The Familists are the generation of the Manichaeans Catharists Donatists Iouinians and Pelagians which in former ages of the Church held the same opinion concerning purity as they doe This in the second place makes against Familists which dreame of attaining of perfection of degrees in this present world terming themselues eagles angels Archangels commers vp to God c. concerning whom I may iustly say with Salomon There is a generation pure in their owne eyes and yet are not washed from their filthinesse Pro. 30.12 the diuel may so farre preuaile with them by their inbred pride as to make them beleeue they are pure but alasse if we consider them well we shall finde them most erronious in their iudgemēts distempered in their passions disordered in their liues vnreformed in their families yea sometimes deliuered vp to some base lust either of idlenes or vncleannes or couetousnes or fraud and deceit or the like but to leaue these and to come to our selues In the third place let it teach vs not to despaire though we finde corruption in our selues after conuersion especially if we looke vpon it with the same eye that God lookes vpon it withall to wit to hate and abhorre it it is not sinne but the loue of sinne that baines the soule and yet let vs take heed lest wee deceiue our selues thinking vnder a colour that all are sinners that therefore there is no difference betweene sinne as it is in the regenerate and as it is in the vnregenerate For though there is sinne in both yet there is great difference as we noted before Fourthly let it teach vs not to iudge rashly concerning our Brethren as though they were Hypocrites because we decerne in them some frailties yea although wee should discouer in them some acts of grosser sin and some recidiuations or back-slidings as in Dauid Peter and Loth yet wee are not to passe finall sentence vpon them but rather consider our selues lest we also be tempted Doct 3 Wretched man that I am hence obeserue in the second place what it is that makes a man miserable and that is not afflictions as pouerty imprisonment disgrace in the world sicknesse banishment no not death it selfe in the mids of these we may haue some ioy as the Martyrs haue had but sin sinne alone is that which makes miserable and why so because it defaceth Gods Image in a man and conformes him to the Image of Satan no childe doth so aptly resemble the parents as sin makes a man resemble the diuell which is no small misery Secondly it depriues a man of Gods fauour a man may vndergoe many crosses and afflictions and yet remaine in Gods loue but he cannot continue wallowing in sinne and retaine his fauour Thirdly it robs a man of al solid comfort a man may be afflicted and yet filled with the ioyes in the holy Ghost he may walke with ioy work with ioy eate with ioy lie down with ioy rise vp with ioy but he cannot sell himselfe to worke wickednes and retaine
grieued for but in that he doth lament and bewaile him he sheweth that whom God had made vitall the diuell by sinne hath made mortall We shall not need further to insist vpon the proofe of this point viz. that the body of man is mortall we see it prooued euery day when we see by experience good men wise men great men eminent men in Church or Common-Wealth Learned men and men of singular parts to be taken away by death as well as others this point needs not proofe but Vse Vse And this much aggrauateth the sinne of such as make it their especiall care to paint pranck and to pamper their bodies how many vaine women haue you in this City and else-where which spend a great part of the forenoone in trimming of their bodies hardly afford to spend one quarter of an houre in a whole day in prayer or reading of Gods Word or in repenting of their sinnes for the eternall good of their soules yea how many Epicures haue you both men and women whose care is to fare deliciously euery day to ride vp and downe from place to place to seeke delights for their flesh which will hardly goe to the dore to heare a Sermon doe these persons consider that their bodies are bodies of death their practise shews they doe not but let them remember that those bodies which they are so curious to prank vp in apparell farre aboue their callings must they know not how soone be clothed with dust and those karkeises which they doe so pamper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 poena autem huic mors malorum minimum plat lib. 9. de legibus shall ere it bee long be very wormes-meate yea it were happie for them if no greater danger did hang ouer their heads then bodily death but alas after death comes iudgemeÌ„t Heb. 9.27 when they must answer for this misexpence of time and the rest of their sensuall and gracelesse courses I might make diuers other vses of this point for it should teach vs to liue in a continuall expectation of death and preparation for it it should teach vs to lay vp treasures for our selues in heauen by good workes to bee mortified to the world to beware of sinne and the like because we liue in bodies of death which may quickly faile vs but I studie breuitie Doct. 5 This body there is an Emphasis in these words and they are spoken Diacriticks by way of distinction for indeed the childe of God hath a this and a that body his this body is that which he possesseth in this life his that body is that which he shall enioy at the Resurrection indeed for substance it is one and the same body Iob 19.26 27. but for qualities and excellencies farre discrepant the former body is sowne in corruption the latter is raised in incorruption the former is sowne in dishonor the latter is raised in honor the former is sowne in weakenesse the latter is raised in power the former is sowne a naturall body the latter is raised a spirituall body as the former hath borne the image of the earthy so the latter shall beare the image of the heauenly 1 Cor. 15.42.43.44.49 Chrysost hom 41 in 1. Epist ad Corinth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vse Hence it is that one of the Fathers saith the bodies of the Saints are like corne sowne and growing vp that which riseth is the same that was sowen and not the same the same because it is the same substance not the same because that which groweth vp is better the same substance remaining but the goodlines or beauty made far greater And this may comfort vs concerning the Saints deceased they haue laid downe these infirme and corruptible bodies but they shall receiue bodies farre more glorious their vile body shall be made like vnto the glorious body of Christ himselfe howsoeuer not in Maiesty yet in some similitude of happinesse Philip. 3.2 yea they shall shine as the Sunne in the Kingdome of their Father Mat. 13.43 And as * Saint Chrysostome saith God would neuer take downe the house of the bodies of his Saints by death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that hee meanes againe to build it vp far more glorious by the Resurrection then euer it was before let vs not therfore mourne immoderately for the Saints departed but let vs remember there will come a day wherein they shall lift vp their heads out of the graue in shining brightnesse Doct. 6 Who shall deliuer me that is O that the Lord would deliuer me hence note that its lawfull for a Christian to desire to bee dissolued Paul desires it ernestly in this place and certainely his desire was no rash desire yea the whole Church desires it in 2 Cor. 5.8 we are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body And there is iust cause wherefore wee may doe this First because whiles we are in the body wee are subiect to many temptations to much sinne and to much vexation both inwardly and outwardly Cyprian serm 4. de immortalitate LucruÌ„ maximum computanâ—ium seculi laqueis non teneri iam nullis peccatis vitijs carnis obnoxium fieri exemptuÌ„ pressuria angentibus venenatis diaboli fau cibus liberatum ad laetitiam salutis aeternae Christo vocante proficisci Note Secondly wee are absent from those vnspeakeable ioyes which God hath layd vp for vs in a better world To this purpose one of the Ancients speakes notably expounding that of Saint Paul in Philip. 1. Death to me is aduantage Paul saith hee esteemed it very great gaine now by vertue of death to be freed from many snares from all sinnes from all sorrowes from the venimous iawes of Sathan and to bee brought to the ioy of eternall saluation Christ calling him thereunto Indeede it is not lawfull for a Christian to lay violent hands vpon himselfe vpon any pretence whatsoeuer Apud Aug. lib. 1. de ciuit dei cap. 22. One CleoÌ„brotus reading Platoes booke de immortal animae Cast himselfe downe from a wall and so ended his daies onely because thereby hee hoped to come to that blessed estate which is prepared for good men after this life but this was preposterous haste and not to be imitated of vs wee may desire happines but we must stay Gods leasure for it the like may be said of Lucretia who is said to haue taken away her owne life to preuent rauishment all murther is to bee abhorred but there is no murther so vnnaturall as hemicide or selfe-murther which is the very reason why the diuel doth so violently tempt men thereunto The Heathen were so carefull to preuent this kinde of vnnaturall death Val. â— max. lib. 8. c. 9. that one Hegesias an eloquent Philosopher was forbidden by Ptolemeus the King to reason or speake much concerning mans infelicity lest his Auditors should bee moued by his speech to make away themselues shall the heathen be thus carefull to shunne this sinne and
him to an account before hee hath made all things streight But heere it may bee demanded what is the worke which the Lord hath giuen vs to doe Or what is the maine taske of a Christian Answer His first taske is to repent euery Christian should thinke himselfe borne for repentance his second taske is to beleeue in the Lord Iesus and so to make streight his account by setting his debts vpon Christ his score his third taske is to glorifie God in his generall and particular calling labouring therein faithfully in loue to his Master and in thankfulnesse for the great worke of Redemption his fourth taske is to worke vp his owne saluation with feare and trembling and to giue all diligence to make his calling and election sure hee that hath a conscionable care to dispatch this taske need neither bee ashamed to liue nor afraid to die Thus for the tractation of these words Who shall deliuer mee from this body of death as they haue relation to the body Doct. 7 Come we now to handle them as they haue reference to sinne in the body And so we obserue in the first place that sinne is a bondage else why should the Apostle speake heere of deliuerance from it Cyrulus Alexan. in euang Ioan. lib. 6. c. 2. Haec seruitus eo deterior est quā corporalis subiectio yea as one of the Fathers saith truly The seruitude of sinne is so much the worse then bodily subiection For these causes First because al men detest and shunne corporall subiection as hard and bitter and that out of knowledge of the bitternesse of it but the seruitude of sinne is neither sufficiently knowne neither doth it displease yea we applaud it and play with it take pleasure in it and account it rather a freedome then a bondage Secondly because by running away a man may deliuer himselfe from bodily bondage Seruus autem peccati non habet quo fugiat but a slaue to sin cannot doe so his euill inclinations and guilty conscience will still follow him Thirdly in bodily bondage a man may be blamelesse for what blame was there in Ioseph when hee was sold as a slaue by his brethren into Aegypt but in the slauerie to sinne a man cannot bee innocent because he is not sold against his will but with his will to worke wickednesse Fourthly from bodily slauerie there is freedome and deliuerance at death though during life it bee neuer so hard and painefull but spirituall slauerie hath no end no not in death hee that hath serued sinne all his life remaines a very Captiue after death without any hope at all of any freedome Fifthly in corporall seruitude a mans minde may be made free but in spirituall Hilar. in Psal 125. At vero animae captiuitas quā infelix est At vero cui libido domina est in quo caeno dedecoris volutatur both soule and body in all the faculties and parts thereof are in bondage another of the Fathers saith the bondage of the soule O how miserabe is it And againe he that is ouerpowred by lust how shamefully doth hee wallow in the mire as a very swine Theoph in 8. Ioannis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beda in eundem locum O miserabilis seruitus seruire peccato seruire diabolo qui peccati est author a third saith the bondage of sinne is of all other the most grieuous a fourth saith O miserable seruitude to serue sinne and to serue the diuell who is the author of sinne But what doe we speake of Fathers what saith the Scripture Christ himselfe saith Iohn 8.34 he that worketh sinne is the seruant of sinne and seducers in whom corruption raigneth are said to be the bondslaues of corruption in 2 Pet. 2.19 I might also vrge that place in Gal. 4.25 Hierusalem that now is is in bondage with her children but I hasten to a conclusion Vse Let this teach vs to esteeme aright of sinne let vs not account it liberty to bee entangled with this or that lust but rather hellish bondage what praise is it to Alexander to conquer the whole world being conquered himselfe of his owne lusts and passions yea let it moue vs to labour after liberty let the adulterer forsake his vncleannesse the drunkard his drunkennesse the worldling his worldly mindednesse and all other sinners their deareling lusts that they may bee free in other respects we all loue freedome and no man by his wil would remaine in bondage O why should we be in loue with the basest bondage of all other to wit of sinne Tertullian reports Lib. de cultu faeminarū that amongst the Heathen some of them made the fetters wherewith their prisoners were bound of gold but alas what dram of comfort could this afford to the condemned prisoner who daily expected death did not fetters of gold keepe as fast as fetters of yron may not a silken halter strangle a man as wel as one of hemp may not a costly dagger stab as well to the heart as a meane one euen so though some may be clothed with rich aray and fare deliciously daily and liue in pleasure yet if in the midst of his prosperity he be a slaue to his own lusts a Captiue to Sathan in danger of eternall imprisonment yea of eternall death what will his prosperity auaile him in the end It is farre better to be a free man in ragges then a condemned prisoner in rich robes Doct. 8 Who shall deliuer me hence obserue in the next place that it is not enough to grieue for sinne or to account it the greatest miserie but euery true Christian ought earnestly to desire to bee freed from it thus Paul heere and certainely that griefe for sinne is not true but hypocriticall which is not ioyned with an earnest desire to be freed from the dominion of euery sinne there is infinite reason why any man should desire to bee freed from sinne as First because it is the greatest misery and Secondly because it is the most woefull bondage Thirdly because it offends God and Fourthly because the wages of it is death but I will not insist vpon this let vs rather consider with what kinde of desire wee ought to desire to bee freed Surely we must desire it with Pauls desire but what kinde of desire was Pauls desire First it was an importunate not a slight desire that appeares by the forme of it in that it is propounded by way of question Secondly it was no sluggish desire separated from the vse of meanes but it was ioyned with prayer and fasting 2 Cor. 12.8 1 Cor. 9.27 and with the improuement of the whole Armour of God 2 Tim 4.7 and indeed in vaine doth any man desire to bee freed from sin that doth not withall diligently vse the meanes whereby he might be freed Vse And this discouers an hypocriticall mourner he can weepe after he hath committed sin as the Crocadile after shee hath slaine a man