soon as Isaac had given it to Iacob Answ. When he had sold his birth-right it was too late to recall it for the right was made over to his Brother It seemeth to be Isaac's Repentance which â—â—aw found no place â—â—â—â— But â—â— it be spoken oâ— the unacceptableness of his own Repentance when it was too late it signifieth not that any mans is too late in this life as to 〈…〉 and it was not Repentance and cryes and tears that could recal the right he had sold nor recal the words that Isaac had spoken But this doth not prove that our day of grace doth not continue till death or that any man Repenting before his death shall be rejected as Esau's repentance was The Apostle neither saith nor meaneth any such thing The sense of his words are only this much Take heed lest there be any so prophane among you as to set so light by the blessings of the Gospel even Christ and life eternall as to part with them for a base lust or transitory thing as Esau that set more by a morsel of meat than by his birth-right For let them be sure that the time will come even the time mentioned by Christ Matth. 25. 10 11. when the door is shut and the Lord is come when they will dearly repent it and then as it was with Esau when the blessing was gone so it will be with them when their blessing is gone Repentance and cries and tears will be too late For the Gospel hath its justice and terrors as well as the Law This is all in the Text but there is no intimation that our day of Grace is as short as Esau's hope of the blessing was § 15. Obj. 4. Saul had but his time which when he lost he was forsaken of God Obj. 4. Answ. Saul's sin provoked God to reject him from being King of Israel and to appoint another in Answ. his stead But if Saul had Repented he had been saved after that though not restored to the Crown And its true that as God withdrew from him the spirit of Government so many before death by the greatness of their sins cause God to forsake them so far as to withhold those motions and convictions and fears and disquietments in sin which sometime they had and to give them over to a reprobate mind Rom. 1. 28. to commit all uncleanness with greediness and glory in it as being past feeling Eph. 4. 18 19. If it be thus with you you would be no better you would not be recovered you think sin is best for you and hate all that would reform you § 16. Obj. 5. It is said 2 Cor. 6. 2. Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvavation Obj. 5. And Heb. 3. 7 12 13. To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin Answ. This saith no more than that the present time is the hest yea the only certain time and we Answ. are not sure that the day of salvation will continue any longer because death may cut us off But if it do not yet sin is a hardening thing and the longer we sin the more it hardeneth yea God may withhold the motions of his spirit and leave us to our selves to the hardness of our hearts and thus he doth by thousands of wicked persons who are left in impenitency and hatred of the truth But most certainly if those men Repented they might be saved and the very reason why they have not Christ and life is still because they will not consent § 17. Direct 6. Understand by what help and strength it is that the Obedience to the Gospel must be Direct 6. performed not meerly by your own strength but by the help of grace and strength of Christ If he have but made you willing he will help you to perform the rest You are not by this Covenant to be a Saviour and sanctifier to your selves but to Consent that Christ be your Saviour and the Holy Spirit your Sanctifier You might else despair indeed if you were left to that which you are utterly unable to do Though you must work out your own salvation with fear and trembling it is he that worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. § 18. Direct 7. Understand well the difference between mortal sins and Infirmities that you may not Direct 7. think that every sin is a sign of death or gracelesness but may know the difference between those sins which should make you think your selves unjustified and those sins which only call for particular humiliation being such as the justified themselves commit Though in the Popish sense we take no sin to be venial that is which in it self is properly no sin nor deserveth death according to the Law of works yet the distinction between Mortal and Venial sin is of very great necessity that is between sins which prove a man De quâ vide Tract Râ—b Baâ—oâ—â—â—â— Of Mortal and Venial sin in a state of death or unjustified and sins which consist with a state of Grace and justification between sins which the Gospel pardoneth not and those which it pardoneth that is all that stand with true Repentance There are some sins which every one that Repenteth of them doth so forsake as to cease committing them And there are some lesser sins which they that Repent of them do hate indeed but yet frequently renew as our defective degrees in the exercise of Repentance it self faith love trust fear obedience our vain thoughts and words some sinful passions omissions of many duties of thought affection word or deed towards God or man some minutes of time over-slip us prayer and other duties have a sinful coldness or remissness in them and such like Many such sins are fitly called Infirmities and Venial because they consist with Life and are forgiven It is of great use to the peace of our Consciences to discern the difference between these two for one sort require a Conversion to another state and the other require but a particular repentance and where they are unknown are forgiven without particular repentance because our general repentance is virtually though not actually particular as to them One sort are cause of judging our selves ungodly and the other sort are only cause of filial humiliation Any one may see the great need of discerning the difference but yet it is a matter of very great judgement doctrinally to distinguish them much more actually to discern them in every instance in your selves The way is to know first what is the condition of the New-Covenant and of absolute necessity to salvation or justification and then every sin that is inconsistent with that condition is mortal and the rest that are consistent and do consist with it are venial or but infirmities As Venial signifieth only that sort of sin which is
as Simon Magus or Iulian or Porphiry of the gifts of the Holy Ghost These Honourable miserable men will bear no contradiction or reproof Who dare be so unmannerly disobedient or bold as to tell them that they are out of the way to Heaven and strangers to it that I say not Enemies and to presume to stop them in the way to Hell or to hinder them from damning themselves and as many others as they can They think this talk of Christ and grace and life eternal if it be but serious and not like their own in form or levity or scorn is but the troublesome preciseness of hypocritical humorous crackt-brained fellows And say of the godly as the Pharisees John 7. 47 48 49. Are ye also deceived Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him but this people who knoweth not the Law are cursed § 4. Well Gentlemen or poor men whoever you be that savour not the things of the Spirit Rom. 8. 5 6 7. 13. but live in ignorance of the mysteries of salvation be it known to you that Heavenly Truth and Holiness are works of Light and never prosper in the dark And that your best understanding should be used for God and your salvation if for any thing at all It is the Devil and his deceits that fear the light Do but Understand well what you do and then be wicked if you can and then set light by Christ and holiness if you dare O come but out of darkness into the light and you will see that which will make you tremble to live ungodly and unconverted another day And you will see that which will make you with penitent remorse lament your so long neglect of Heaven and wonder that you could live so far and so long besides your wits as to choose a course of vanity and beasâ—iality in the chains of Satan before the joyful liberty of the Saints And though we must not be so uncivil as to tell you where you are and what you are doing you will then more uncivilly call your selves exceedingly mad and foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures as one did that thought himself before as wise and good as any of you Acts 26. 11. Tit. 3. 3. Live not in a sleepy state of ignorance if ever you would have saving grace Direction 2. ESpecially labour first to understand the true nature of a state of sin and a state Direct 2. of Grace § 1. It 's like you will say that All are sinners and that Christ dyed for sinners and that you were Pâ—â—itâ—nti optimus est tortus mâ—tatio consâ—â—i Cic. Phil. 12. Regenerate in your Baptism and that for the sins that since then you have committed you have Repented of them and therefore you hope they are forgiven But stay a little man and understand the matter well as you go for it is your salvation that lyeth at the stake It 's very true that All are sinners But it is as true that some are in a state of sin and some in a state of grace some are converted sinners and some unconverted sinners some live in sins inconsistent with Holiness which therefore may be called Mortal others have none but infirmities which consist with spiritual life which in this sense may be called Venial some hate their sin and long to be perfectly delivered from it and others so love it as they are lothe to leave it And is there no difference think you between these § 2. It is as true also that Christ dyed for sinners Or else where were our hope But it is true also that he dyed to save his people from their sins Matth. 1. 21. and to bring them from darkness â—â—â—â—â— Gratiâ—â—nius hominis majus est quam bonum naturae totius universi Aquin. 12. q. 113. art 9. unto light and from the power of Satan unto God Acts 26. 18. and to redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2. 14. and that except a man be born again and converted and become as a little child in humility and beginning the world anew he cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven John 3. 3 5. Matth. 18. 3. and that even he that dyed for sinners will at last condemn the workers of iniquity and say Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire Matth. 25. I never knew you Matth. 7. 23. § 3. It is very true that you were sacramentally regenerate in Baptism and that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and all that are the children of promise and have that promise sealed to them by Baptism are regenerate The Ancients taught that Baptism puts men into a state of grace that is that all that sincerely renounce the world the Devil and the flesh and are sincerely given up to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost according to the Covenant of Grace and profess and seal this by their Baptism shall be pardoned and made the heirs of life But as it is true that Baptism thus Qâ—icquid Deo gratum dignumque offertur de bono tâ—esâ—â— o cordis desertuâ— Intrâ— nos quippe est quod Deo offâ—rimus omnâ— viz. acâ—â—ptabile â—unus Ibi timoâ— Dei ibi confâ—ssio ibi largitas ibi sobrietas ibi paupâ—rtas spiritus ibi compassio c. Potho Prumiens de Domo Dei li. 2. De regno Dei quod intra nos est meditamur vanitatâ—s iâ—saâ—iaâ— falsas dum interioâ—ibus ani nâ—â— viâ—tutibus in quibus regnum Dei consistit privati ad exteriora quaedam studia ducimur circa corporalâ—s exâ—rcitationâ—s quae ad modicum utiles esse videntur occupamur fructus spiritus qui sunt charitas pax gaudium c. intus minime possidemus exterius qâ—arundam coâ—suâ—â—udinum observantias sectamur in exercitiis tantum corporalibus quae sunt jejunia vigisiae asperitas seu vilitas vâ—â—tis c. regulam nobis vivendi quasi perfectam statuentes Idem ibid. saveth so is it as true that it is not the outward washing only the filth of the flesh that will suffice but the answer of a good conscience towards God 1 Pet. 2. 21. And that no man can enter into the Kingdom of God that is not born of the Spirit as well as of water Iohn 3. 5. And that Simon Magus and many another have had the water of Baptism that never had the Spirit but still remain in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity and had no part nor lot in that business their hearts being not right in the sight of God Acts 8. 13. 21 23. And nothing is more sure than that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ for all his Baptism he is none of his Rom. 8. 9. And that if you have his Spirit you walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit and are not carnally but spiritually minded and are alive to God and as dead to
your selves For God can open the eyes of that enemy whom you think to blind by a lie and cause him to know all the truth and so take away that Life which you thought thus to have saved 5. And there are lawful means enough to save your lives when it is best for you to save them That is Obey God and trust him with your lives and he can save them without a lie if it be best And if it be not it should not be desired 6. And if men did not erroniously over-value Life they would not think that a Lie were necessary for it When it is not necessary to Live it is not necessary to Lie for Life But thus one sin brings on another when carnal men over-value Life it self and set more by it than by the fruition of God in the Glory of Heaven they must needs then over-value any means which seemeth necessary to preserve it See Iob 13. 7 8 9. 10. Prov. 13. 17. Rom. 6. 15. 3. 7 8 9. Psal. 5. 7. Hos. 4. 2. Ioh. 8. 44. Rev. 21. 27. 22. 15. Col. 3. 9. 1 Ioh. 2. 21. 7. Yet as to the degree of evil in the sin I easily grant with Augustine Enchirid. that Multum interest quo animo de quibus quisque mentiâ—tur Non enim ita peccat qui consulendi quomodo ille qui nocendi voluntate mentitur nec tantum nocet qui viatorem mentiendo in adversum iter mittit quantum is qui viam vitae mendacio fallente depravat Object Are not the Midwives rewarded by God for saving the Israelitish children by a lie Object Answ. I need not say with Austin The fact was rewarded and the Lie pardoned For there is no such Answ. thing as a lie found in them Who can doubt but that God could strengthen the Israelitish women to be delivered without the Midwives And who can doubt but when the Midwives had made known the Kings murderous command that the women would delay to send for the Midwives till by the help of each other the children were secured Which yet is imputed to the Midwives because they confederated with them and delaid to that end So that here is a dissembling and concealing part of the truth but here is no lie that can be proved Object But Heb. 11. 31. Jam 2. Rahab is said to be justified by faith and works when she saved Object the Spies by a lie Answ. 1. It is uncertain whether it was a lie or only an equivocation and whether her words Answ. were not true of some other men that had been her guests But suppose them a lie as is most like the Scripture no more justifieth her lie than her having been an harlot It is her believing in the God of Israel whose works she mentioned that she is commended for together with the saving of the Spies with the hazard of her own life And it is no wonder if such a woman in Iericho had not yet learned the sinfulness of such a lie as that Object But at least it could be no mortal sin because Heb. 11. 31. Jam. 2. say she was Object justified Answ. It was no mortal sin in her that is a sin which proveth one in a state of death because it Answ. had not those evils that make sin mortal But a lie in one that doth it knowingly for want of such a predominancie of the authority and Love of God in the soul as should prevail against the contrary motives habitually is a mortal sin of an ungodly person It is pernicious falshood and soul delusion in those Teachers that make poor sinners think that it is the smallness of the outward act or hurt of sin alone that will prove it to be as they call it Venial or mortified and not mortal Quest. 3. Is deceit by Action Lawful which seemeth a Practical lie And how shall we interpret Quest. 3. Christs making as if he would have gone farther Luk. 24. 28. and Davids feigning himself mad and common stratagems in war and doing things purposely to deceive another Answ. 1. I have before proved that all Deceiving another is not a sin but some may be a duty As Answ. a Physicion may deceive a Patient to get down a medicine to save his life so he do it not by a lie 2. Christs seeming to go farther was no other than a lawful concealment or dissimulation of his purpose to occasion their importunity For all dissimulation is not evil though lying be And the same may be said of lawful stratagems as such 3. Davids case was not sinful as it was meer dissimulation to deceive others for his escape But whether it was not a sinful distrust of God and a dissimulation by too unmanly a way I am not able to say unless I had known more of the circumstances Quest. 4. Is it lawful to tempt a child or servant to lie meerly to try them Quest. 4. Answ. It is not lawful to do it without sufficient cause nor at any time to do that which inviteth Answ. them to lie or giveth any countenance to the sin as Satan and bad men use to tempt men to sin by commending it or extenuating it But to lay an occasion before them barely to try them as to lay money or wine or other things in their way to know whether they are thieves or addicted to drink that we may the better know how to cure them and so to try their veracity is not unlawful For 1. The sin is virtually committed when there is a Will to commit it though there should be no temptation or opportunity 2. We do nothing which is either a commendation of the sin or a perswading to it nor any true cause either Physical or Moral but only an occasion 3. God himself who is more contrary to sin than any creature doth thus by tryal administer such occasions of sin to men that are vitiously disposed as he knoweth they will take And his common mercys are such occasions 4. God hath no where forbidden this to us We may not do evil that good may come by it but we may do good when we know evil will come of it by mens vice 5. It may be a needful means to the cure of that sin which we cannot know till it be thus detected Quest. 5. Is all equivocation unlawful Quest. 5. Answ. There is an equivocating which is really Lying As when we forsake the usual or just sense of Answ. a word and use it in an alien unusual sense which we know will not be understood and this to deceive such as we are bound not to deceive But there is a use of equivocal words which is lawful and necessary For humane language hath few words which are not of divers significations As 1. When our equivocal sense is well understood by the hearers and is not used to deceive them but because use hath made those words to be fit
state and condition of Christians And where the Reasons and Case is the same the Obligations will be the same In a word the Text it self will one way or other shew us when a Command or Example is universally and durably obligatory and when not Quest. 137. How much of the Scripture is necessary to Salvation to be believed and understood Answ. THis question is the more worthy consideration that we may withal understand the use of Catechisms Confessions and Creeds of which after and the great and tender mercies of God to the weak and may be able to answer the Cavils of the Papists against the Scriptures as insufficient to be the Rule of Faith and Life because much of it is hard to be understood 1. He that believeth God to be true and the Scripture to be his Word must needs believe all to be true which he believeth to be his Word 2. All the Scripture is profitable to our knowledge love and practice and none of it to be neglected but all to be loved reverenced and studied in due time and order by them that have time and capacity to do it 3. All the Holy Scriptures either as to matter or words are not so necessary as that no man can be saved who doth not either believe or understand them But some parts of it are more necessary than others 4. It is not of necessity to salvation to believe every Book or Verse in Scripture to be Canonical or written by the Spirit of God For as the Papists Canon is larger than that which the Protestants own so if our Canon should prove defective of any one Book it would not follow that we could not be saved for want of a sufficient faith The Churches immediately after the Apostles time had not each one all their Writings but they were brought together in time and received by degrees as they had proof of their being written by authorized inspired persons The second of Peter Iames Iude Hebrews and Revelations were received in many Churches since the rest And if some Book be lost as Henocks Prophecy or Pauls Epistle to the Laodiceans or any other of his Epistles not named in the rest or if any hereafter should be lost or doubted of as the Canticles or the second or third Epistles of Iohn the Epistle of Iude c. it would not follow that all true faith and hope of salvation were lost with it It is a Controversie whether 1 Iohn 5. 7. and some other particular Verses be Canonical or not because some Greek Copies have them and some are without them But who ever erreth in that only may be saved 5. There are many hundred or thousand Texts of Scripture which a man may possibly be ignorant of the meaning of and yet have a saving faith and be in a state of salvation For no man living understandeth it all 6. The holy Scripture is an entire comely body which containeth not only the essential parts of the true Religion but also the Integral parts and the ornaments and many accidents which must be Rom. 14. 17 18. Rom. 13. 8 9 10. 1 Cor. 15. 2 3 4 5 6. Mar. 16. 16. distinguished and not all taken to be equal 7. So much as containeth the Essentials of true Religion must be understood and believed of necessity to salvation And so much as containeth the Integrals of Religion doth greatly conduce to our salvation both that we may be the surer and the better Christians as having greater helps to both 8. The very adjuncts also have their use to make us the more adorned Christians and to promote our knowledge of greater things Quest. 138. How may we know the Fundamentals Essentials or what parts are necessary to Salvation And is the Papists way allowable that some of them deny that distinction and make the difference to be only in the degrees of mens opportunities of knowledge Answ. 1. THâ—se Papists perverseness can mean no better than that Christianity it self is not necessary to salvation to those that have not opportunity to know it As Iohnsons Rejoynd to me and Sancta Clara and many others plainly intimate And were that never so true and certain it were nothing to the question between them and us which is What are the Essentials of Christianity And what is necessary to salvation where Christianity is necessary or where the Christian Religion is made known and men may come to the knowledge of it if they will do their best This is the true state of our Controversie with them And whereas they would make all the parts of Christian faith and practice equally necessary where men have a capacity and ability to know believe and practise them It is a gross deceit unworthy of men pretending to a mediocrity of knowledge in the nature of Religion And thereby they make all sins and errors as equal as all duties and James 3. 2. 1 John 1. ult truths Whereas 1. There is no man that hath not some error and some sin 2. There is no man that doth all that ever he was able to do to understand all the truth 3. Therefore there is no man whose errors themselves are not many of them at least culpable or sinful 4. And they that distinguish between Mortal and Venial sins and yet will not distinguish between Mortal and Venial Errors are either blind or would keep others blind As it is not so damning a sin for a man to think a vain thought or to speak a vain word as not to Love God or Holiness no though he was more able to have forborn that idle word than to have Loved God So it is not so mortal a sin that is inconsistent with a justified state to mistake in a small matter as who was the Father of Arpâ—â—xad or what year the world was drowned in c. as to blaspheme the Holy Ghost or deny Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the world or to deny that there is a God or everlasting life or a difference between Good and Evil. All sins are not equal in magnitude or danger Therefore all errors are not equal in magnitude sinfulness or danger 2. And what Priest is able to know whom to take for a Christian and baptizable upon such terms as these Who knoweth just what opportunities of knowledge other men have had and what impediments And will they indeed baptize a man that is a Heathen because he had not opportunity to come to the knowledge of Christianity I think they will not Or will they deny Baptism to one that knoweth and believeth only all the Articles of the Creed and the chief points of Religion because he knoweth not as much more as he had opportunity to know I think not Do not these men perceive how they condemn themselves For do they not say themselves that Baptism to the due receiver washeth away sin and puts the person in a state of life O when will God deliver his poor Church from factious deceivers
are Christians but it is with a Mock-Christianity while their souls are strange to the true esteem and use of Christ. They are Believers but with a mock belief described Iames 2. They believe God should be loved above all but they love him not They believe that Holiness is better than all the pleasures of sin yet they choose it not but hate it They are Religious with a seeming vain Religion which will not so much as humble them nor bâ—idle their tongues Iam. 1. 26 They are wise with a mock-wisdom They are wise enough to prove their sins to be all lawfull or but venial sins And wise enough to cast away the Medicine that would â—eal them and to confuâ—e the Physicion and to answer the learnedst Preacher of them all and to scapâ— salvation and to secure themselves a place in Hell and keep themselves ignorant of it till they are there They are converted but with a mock-conversion which leaveth them as carnal and proud and worldly as before being born of Water but not of the Spirit and being sensual still Iohn 3. 5 6. Iude 19. They Repent but with a mock-repentance They Repent but they will not leave their sin nor confess and bewail it but hate reproof and excuse their sin They are Honest but with a mock honesty Though they swear and curse and rail and slander and backbite and scorn at piety it self yet they mean well and have honest hearts Though they receive not the Word with deep roâ—â—ing in their hearts but are abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate they are honest for all that â—uâ—e 8. 15. Tit. 1. 16. They Love God above all though they love not to think or speak of him seriously but hate his Holiness and Justice his Word and holy wayes and servants and are such as the Scripture calleth hâ—ters of God and keep nor his Commandments nor live not to his glory 〈…〉 â—5 4 6 â— 8 20 â— 3. Matâ—h 10 37. They Love the servants of God but they care not if the world were rid of them all and take them to be but a company of self conceited troublesome fellows and as very hypocrites as themselves And the poor Christians that are cruelly used by them think they are neither in good sadness nor in â—east when they profess to love the worshippers of God They love not their money nor lands noâ— lusts with such a kind of love I am sure They have also alwayes good desires but they are such mock-desires as those in Iames 2. 15. that wished the poor were sed and clothed and warmed but gave them nothing towards it And such good desires as the sluggard hath that lyeth in bed and wisheth that all his work were done Prov. 21. 25. The desire of the sluggard killeth him because his hands refuse to labour They pray but with mock-prayers you would little think that they are speaking to the most holy God for no less than the saving of their souls when they are more serious in their very games and sports They pray for grace but they cannot abide it They pray for Holiness but they are resolved they 'll have none of it They pray against their sin but no entreaty can perswade them from it They would have a Mock-ministry a Mock-discipline a Mock-Church a Mock-Sacrament as they make a Mock-profession and give God but a Mock-obedience as I might shew you through all the particulars but for being tedious And all is because they have but a Mock-faith They believe not that God is in good earnest with them in his commands and threatnings and fore-telling of his judgements As Lâ—t to his Sons-in-law Gen. 19. 14. He seemeâ—â— to them as one that mocked and therefore they serve him as those that would mock him O wretched hypocrites Is this agreeable to your holy profession You call your selves Christians and profess to believe the doctrine of Christ Is this agreeable to Christianity to your Creed to the ten Commandments to the Lords Prayer and to the rest of the Word of God Had you none but The similitude of â—uperstition to Religion maketh â—t the more dâ—â—ormed And as who som meat corrupteth into little Worms so good forms and orders corrupt into a number of pâ—tty observances Lord Bacon Essay of Supeâ—st the holy Jealous God to make a mock of Had you nothing less than Religion and matters of salvation and damnation to play with Do you serve God as if he were a child or an Idol or a man of straw that either knoweth not your hearts or is pleased with toyes and complements and shews and saying over certain words or acting a part before him as on a stage Do you know what you offer and to whom His Power is Omnipotency his Glory is ten thousand fold above that of the Sun his Wisdom is infinite Millions of Angels adore him continually He is thy King and Judge he abhorreth hypocrites If thou didst but see one glimpse of his glory or the meanest of his Angels the sight would awake thee from thy dreaming and dallying and frighten thee from thy canting and trifling into a serious regard of God and thy everlasting sâ—ate Mal. 1. 8. Offer this now to thy Governour Will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person saith the Lord of Hâ—sts If your servants set before you upon your Table the Feathers instead of the Fowl and the Hair and Wooll instead of the Flesh and the Scales instead of the Fish would you not think they rather mockt than served you How dear have some paid even in this life for mocking God Let the case of Aarons Sons Lev. 10. 1 2 3. and of Ananias and Saphira Acts 5. inform you If with the big-tree Matth. 21. 19. you offer God Leaves only instead of fruit you are nigh unto cursing and your end is to be burnt Do you not read what he saith to the Church of Laodicea Rev. 3. 15 16. I would thou were cold or hot Because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of my mouth that is either be an open Infidel or a holy downright zealous Christian But because thou callest thy self a Christian and hast not the life or zeal of a Christian but coverest thy wickedness and carnality with that holy name I will cast thee away as an abominable vomit It would make the heart of a believer ake to think of the Hypocrisie of most that usurp the name of Christians and how cruelly they mock themselves What a glory is offered them and they lose it by their dallying What a price is in their hands What mercy is offered them and they lose it by their dallying What danger is before them and they will fall into it by their dallying Doth not the weight of your salvation forbid this trifling You might better set the Town on fire and make a jeast of it than jeast your souls into the fire of Hell Then you
pardonable and may consist with true grace so a Venial sin may be in an unsanctified person materially where it is not pardoned that is e. g. his wandering thought or passion is a sin of that sort that in the Godly is consistent with true grace But as Venial signifieth a sin that is pardoned or pardonable without a regeneration or conversion into astate of life from astate of death so Venial sin is in no unregenerate unjustified person but is only the Infirmities of the Saints and thus I here speak of it In a word that sin which actually consisteth with habitual repentance and with the hatred of it so far that you had rather he free from it than commit or keep it and which consisteth with an unfeigned consent to the Covenant that God be your Father Saviour and Sanctifier and with the Love of God above all is but an infirmity or venial sin But to know from the nature of the sin which those are requireth a Volume by it self to direct you only § 19. Direct 8. Understand how necessary a faithful Minister of Christ is in such cases of danger and Direct 8. difficulty to be a guide to your Consciences and open your case truly to them and place so much confidence in their judgement of your state as their office and abilities and faithfulness do require and set not up your timerous darkened perplexed judgements above theirs in cases where they are fitter to judge Such a Guide is necessary both as appointed by Christ who is the Author of his office and in regard of the greatness and danger and difficulty of your case Do you not feel that you are insufficient for your selves and that you have need of help sure a soul that 's tempted to Despair may easily feel it You are very proud or blindly self conceited if you do not And you may easily know that Christ that appointed them their office requireth that they be both used and trusted in their office as far as Reason will allow And where there is no office yet Ability and faithfulness deserve and require credit of themselves Why else do you trust Physicions and Lawyers and all artificers in their several professions and arts as far as they are reputed able and faithful I know no man is to be believed as infallible as God is but man is to be believed as man And if you will use and trust your spiritual guide but so far as you use and trust your Physicion or Lawyer you will find the great benefit if you choose aright § 20. Direct 9. Remember when you have sinned how sure and sufficient and ready a remedy you have Direct 9. before you in Iesus Christ and the Covenant of grace and that it is Gods design in the way of Redemption not to save any man as innocent that none may glory but to save men that were first in sin and misery and fetch them as from the gates of hell that Love and mercy may be magnified on every one that is saved and grace may abound more by the occasion of sins abounding Rom. 5. 15 20. Not that any should continue in sin because Grace hath abounded God forbid Rom. 6. 1. But that we may magnifie that grace and mercy which hath abounded above our sins and turn the remembrance of our greatest sins to the admiration of that great and wonderful mercy To magnifie mercy when we see the greatness of our sin and to Love much because much is forgiven this is to please God and answer the very design and end of our Redemption But to magnific sin and extenuate mercy and to say My sin is greater than can Luk. 7. 47. be forgiven this is to please the Dâ—vil and to cross Gods design in the work of our Redemption Is your disease so great that no other can cure it It is the fitter for Christ to honour his office upon and God to honour his Love and mercy on Do but come to him that you may have life and you shall find that no greatness of sin past will cause him to refuse you nor no infirmities which you are Joh. 5. 40. Luk. 15. 20 22 23. willing to be rid of shall cause him to disown you or cast you out The Prodigal is not so much as upbraided with his sins but finds himself before he is aware in his Fathers arms cloathed with the best Robes the Ring and Shooes and joyfully entertained with a Feast Remember that there is enough in Christ and the promise to pardon and heal all sins which thou art willing to forsake § 21. Direct 10. Take heed of being so blind or proud in thy humility as to think that thou Direct 10. canst be more willing to be a servant of Christ than he is to be thy Saviour or more willing to have grace than God is to give it thee or more willing to come home to Christ than he is to receive and wellcome thee Either thou art willing or unwilling to have Christ and grace to be sanctified and freed from sin If thou be willing Christ and his grace shall certainly be thine Indeed if thou wouldst have pardon without Holiness this cannot be nor is there any promise of it But if thou wouldst have Christ to be thy Saviour and King and his spirit to be thy sanctifier and hadst rather be perfect in Love and Holiness than to have all the Riches of the World then art thou in sincerity that which thou wouldst be in perfection Understand that God accounteth thee to be what thou truly desirest to be The great work of Grace lyeth in the renewing of the will If the will be sound the Man is sound I mean not the conquered uneffectual Velleity of the wicked that wish they could be free from Pride sensuality gluttony drunkenness lust and covetousness without losing any of their beloved honour wealth or pleasure that is when they think on it as the way to Hell they like not their sin but wish they were rid of it but when they think of it as pleasing their fleshly minds they love it more and will not leave it because this is the prevailing thought and will So Iudas was unwilling to sell his Lord as it was the betraying of the innocent and the way to Hell but he was more willing as it was the way to get his hire So Herod was unwilling to kill Iohn Baptist as it was the murder of a Prophet but his willingness was the greater as it was the pleasing of his Damosel and the freeing himself from a troublesome reprover But if thy willingness to have Christ and perfect Holiness be more than thy unwillingness and more than thy willingness to keep thy sin and enjoy the honour wealth and pleasures of the world than thou hast an undoubted sign of uprightness and that Love to Grace and desire after it which nothing but Grace it self doth give And if thou art thus willing it is
Fornication and all Uncleanness § 1. THough as it is a sin against another Adultery and Fornication is forbidden in the seventh Commandment and should there be handled yet as it is a sin against our own bodies which should be members of Christ and Temples of the Holy Ghost as 1 Cor. 6. 15 18 19. So it is here to be handled among the rest of the sins of the senses And I the rather choose to take it up here because what I have said in the two last Titles against Gluttony and Drunkenness serve also for this The same arguments and convincing questions and directions will almost all serve if you do but change the name of the sin And as the Reader loveth not needless tediousness so I am glad of this means to avoid the too often naming of such an odious filthy sin yet something most proper to it must be spoken And 1. I shall shew the Greatness of the sin and 2. give Directions for the cure § 2 1. There is no sin so odious but Love to it and frequent using it will do much to reconcile the very judgement to it either to think it lawful or tolerable and venial to think it no sin or but a little sin and easily forgiven And so with some brutish persons it doth in this But 1. It is Reason enough against any sin that it is forbidden by the most wise infallible universal King of all the world Thy Makers will is enough to condemn it and shall be enough to condemn those that are the servants of it He hath said Thou shalt not commit adultery 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor esseminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind shall inherit the Kingdom of God V. 15 16 17 18 19. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot God forbid What Know ye not that he which is joyned to an harlot is one body for two saith he shall be one flesh But he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit Flee fornication every sin that a man doth is without the body but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body What! know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you Mark that he speaketh not this to fornicators for their bodies are not Temples of the Holy Ghost but to them that by filthy Hereticks in those times were tempted to think fornication no great sin So Ephes. 5. 3 4 5 6. But fornication and all uncleanness and covetousness let it not be once named among you as becometh Deut. 23 Prov. 25. 2â— Prov. 5. 3 5. Prov. 7. 5 6 7 Prov. 9. â—â— 14 15 Prov. 2â— 14 Eccles. 7. 27 Gen. 38. 24. Saints Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting For this ye know that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of God Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience be not ye therefore partakers with them Gal. 5. 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Thess. 4. 3. For this is the will of God even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour not in the lust of concupiscence as the Gentiles which know not God See also Col. 3. 5 6. Heb. 13. 4. Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge Rev. 21. 8. The abominable and whoremongers shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 22. 15. For without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers Jude 7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire I shall add no more lest I be tedious § 3. 2. Besides Scripture God hath planted in nature a special pudor and modesty to restrain this sin Saith Boniface alias Wiâ—frid of the English Mercian King Ethilbald a fornicator Opprobrium generis nostri paâ—imur sive à Christianis sive Paganis dicentibus quod gens Anglorum spâ—eâ—o more caeterarum gentium c. â—inâ—â—entium equorum consuâ—tudâ—ne vel rudentum asinorum more luxuriando adulterando omnia turpitâ—r foedet coâ—fundâ—t Epist. Bonif. 10. ad Peâ—â—â—â—rid Salvagus Sarzanensis Episcopus Pauli 5. justu Visitationem Ecclesiarum Stiriae Carinthiae Carniolae instituerat Qua peracta sex omnino Sacerdotes qui non essent concubinaâ—iâ— in tribus illis Provinciis inveniâ— cum tamen magna pars ex Jesuitaâ—um disciplina prodiâ—sset c. Girald Apolog. pro Senatâ— Venet. p. â—65 Maechum in adulterio deprehensum necato was a Roman Law 12. tâ—â— and they that commit it do violate the Law of Nature and sin against a witness and condemner that is within them And scarce any one of them ever committeth it boldly quietly and fearlesly till first they have hardned their hearts and seared their consciences and overcome the light of nature by frequent wilful sinning Nature hideth the obscene parts and teacheth man to blush at the mention of any thing that is beyond the bounds of modesty Say not that it is meer custom for the vitiated nature of man is not so over precise nor the villany of the world so rare and modest but before this day it had quite banished all restraints of this sin above most others if they could have done it and if God had not written the Law which condemneth it very deep in nature with almost indelible Characters So that in despight of the horrid wickedness of the earth though mankind be almost universally inclined to lust yet there be universally Laws and Customs restraining it so that except a very few Savages and Cannibals like beasts there is no Nation on the earth where filthiness is not a shame and modesty layeth not some rebukes upon uncleanness Ask no further then for a Law when thy Nature it self is a Law against it And the better any man is the more doth he abhor the lusts of uncleanness So that among Saints saith the Apostle it is not to be named that is not without need and detestation Ephes. 5. 3. v. 12. For it is a shame even to speak of those things that are done of them in secret And when drunkenness had uncovered the shame of Noah his Son Cham is cursed for beholding it and the other Sons blest for their modest and reverent
those places where I have opened the difference between Mortal reigning sins and Infirmities At present take this brief solution 1. It is a thing of too great difficulty to determine just how many acts of a great sin may consist with a present state of grace that is of right by Covenant to Heaven 2. All sin which consisteth with an habitual predominant Love of God and Holiness consisteth with a state of Life and no other 3. He that seldom or never committeth such external crimes and yet Loveth not God and Heaven and Holiness above all the pleasures and interests of the flesh is in a state of death 4. It is certain that his Love to God and Holiness is not predominant whose carnal Interest and Iust hath ordinarily in the drift and tenor Rom 6. 16. of his life more power to draw him to the wilfull committing of known sin than the said Love of God and Heaven and Holiness have to keep him from it For his servants men are whom they obey whether it be sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness 5. Therefore the way to know whether sin be mortified or mortal is 1. By feeling the true bent of the will whether we Love or hate it 2. By observing the true bent and tenor of our lives whether Gods Interest in us or the contrary be predominant when we are our selves and are tempted to such sins 6 He that will sin thus as oft as will stand with saving grâ—ce shall never have the assurance of his sincerity or the peace or comfort of a sound believer till he repent and lead a better life 7. He that in his sin retaineth the spirit of Adoption or the Image of God or habitual divine Love hath also Habitual and Virtual Repentance for that very sin before he actually Repenteth Because he hath that Habitual Hatred of it which will cause actual Repentance when he is composed to act according to his predominant habits 8. In the mean time the state of such a sinner is neither to be unregenerate Carnal unholy as he was before Conversion and so to lose all his Right to Life nor yet to have so full a Right as if he had not sinned But a bar is put in against his claim which must be removed before his Right be full and such as is ripe for present possession 9. There are some sins which all men continue in while they live As defect in the degrees of faith hope love c. vain thoughts words disorder passions c. And these sins are not totally involuntary Otherwise they were no sins Yea the Evil is prevalent in the will against the Good so far as to commit those sins though not so far as to vitiate the bent of heart or life 10. There are some sins which none on earth do actually Repent of viz. Those that they know not to be sins and those that they utterly forget and those faults which they are guilty of just at the time of dying 11. In these cases Virtual or Implicite or Habitual Rom 7. 20 21 22 23. Repentance doth suffice to the preventing of damnation As also a Will to have lived perfectly sufficeth in the case of continued imperfections 12. Things work not on the Will as they are in themselves but as they are apprehended by the understanding And that which is apprehended to be either of doubtful evil or but a little sin and of little danger will be much less resisted and ofter committed than sins that are clearly apprehended to be great Therefore where any sort of Lye is apprehended thus as of small or doubtful evil it will be the oftner committed 13. If this apprehension be wrong and come from the predominancy of a carnal or ungodly heart which will not suffer the understanding to do its office nor to take that to be evil which he would not leave then both the Iudgement and the Lye are mortal and not mortified pardoned sins 14. But if this misapprehension of the understanding do come from natural impotency or unavoidable want of better information or only from the fault of a vicious inclination which yet is not predominant but is the remnant of a vice which is mortified in the main then neither the errour nor the often lying is a mortal but a mortified sin As for instance If false Teachers as the Jesuits should perswade a justified person that a lye that hurteth no man but is officious is but a venial or no sin it is possible for such a person often to commit it though he err not altogether innocently 15. Though it is true that all good Christians should not indulge the smallest sin and that true Grace will make a man willing to forsake the least yet certain experience telleth us that some constant sinning aforenamed doth consist with grace in all that have it upon earth And therefore that Lesser sins as thoughts passions are not resisted so much as greater be and therefore that they are more indulged and favoured or else they would not be committed No good men rise up with so great and constant watchfulness against an idle thought or word or a disorder in prayer c. as they do against a heynous sin He that would have this and and all such Cases resolved in a word and not be put on trying the Case by all these distinctions must take another Casuist or rather a Deceiver instead of a Resolver For I cannot otherwise resolve him Quest. 2. Is it not contrary to the light of Nature to suffer e. g. a Parent a King my Self my Quest. 2. Country rather to be destroyed than to save them by a harmless lie Answ. No Because 1. Particular good must give place to common And if once a Lie may pass Answ. for Lawful in cases where it seemeth to be good it will overthrow humane converse and debauch mans nature and the world 2. And if one evil may be made a means for good it will infer that other may be so too and so will confound good and evil and leave vitious man to take all for good which he thinks will do good That is not to be called a harmless Lie which is simply evil being against the Law of God against the order of nature the use of humane faculties and the interest and converse of the sociable world 3. The error of the objectors chiefly consisteth in thinking that nothing is further hurtful and morally evil than as it doth hurt to some men in corporal respects Whereas that is evil which is against the universal Rule of Rectitude against the will of God and against the nature and perfection of the agent much more if it also tend to the hurt of other mens souls by giving them an example of sinning 4. And though there may sometimes be some humane probability of such a thing yet there is no certainty that ever it will so fall out that a Lie shall save the Life of â—ing Parent or