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A61624 A sermon preached before the Queen at White-Hall, March the 13th, 1691/2 by the Right Reverend Father in God, Edward, Lord Bishop of Worcester. Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699. 1692 (1692) Wing S5664; ESTC R8160 16,936 42

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A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL March the 13 th 1691 2. By the Right Reverend Father in GOD EDWARD Lord Bishop of Worcester Published by Her Majesty's Special Command LONDON Printed by J. H. for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. Romans VIII 6. For to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace IN these Words is imply'd a Distribution of Mankind into those who are carnally and spiritually minded which Distinction is so Large and Comprehensive as to take in all sorts and conditions of Men and of so great Moment and Importance that their Life or Death Happiness or Misery depend upon it But considering the Mixture of Good and Evil in Mankind it is not an easie matter to set the Bounds of the carnal and spiritual Mind and considering the frequent Impunity and Security of bad Men and the Fears and Troubles which the best are not exempted from it seems next to impossible to make out at least as to this Life that to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace Yet our Apostle doth not seem to confine the Consequences here mention'd to another World although the full Accomplishment of them be only there to be expected but if we attend to his Scope and Design in the end of the foregoing Chapter and the Beginning of this we shall find that even in this Life the Result of a carnal Mind is a sort of Spiritual Death and of a Spiritual Mind is Life and Peace For when S. Paul in the 7th Chapter had Represented himself as Carnal and sold under Sin although there were great Strugglings between the Convictions of his Conscience and the Strength of Carnal Inclinations yet as long as the latter prevailed so that he could not do the things that his Mind and Reason told him he ought to do but did those things which he was convinced he ought not to have done The more he Reflected upon himself the more Sad and Miserable he found his Condition to be as appears by that Emphatical Expression which follow'd upon it O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death But he no sooner finds hopes of Delivery and Escape out of that Estate but he breaks forth into a Transport of Joy and inward Satisfaction Thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Not meerly a Victory over Death but over Sin too And so he begins this Chapter after a triumphant manner There is therefore no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit For the Lord of the Spirit of Life which was in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death He that groaned under his Captivity before to the Law of Sin doth now rejoyce in his Deliverance from it by the Grace of the Gospel For what could not be done by Natural Freedom by the Power of the Law and the Force of Reason is brought to pass by the Assistance of Divine Grace given to the Souls of Men by Jesus Christ. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh What was that which the Law could not do It could Awaken Convince Terrifie and Confound the Consciences of Sinners under the Sense and Apprehension of their Sins but it could neither Satisfie the Justice of God nor the Minds of Men it could not Remove the Guilt nor take away the Force and Power of Sin But God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinfull Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh i. e. Jesus Christ becoming an Expiatory Sacrifice for Sin took off the damning Power of Sin and by the prevailing Efficacy of his Grace subdued the Strength and Force of it to such a degree That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit How could this be if S. Paul still considered himself in the same Condition he did in the foregoing Chapter For if he were still in Captivity to the Law of Sin in his Members how was it possible that the Righteousness of the Law should be fulfilled in him How could he walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit if the Good which he would he did not and the Evil which he would not that he did For these things are so repugnant to each other that when they are spoken of the same Person it must be under different Considerations the one of him as meerly under the Power of the Law the other as under the Grace and Influence of the Gospel The one was like Rough and a Churlish sort of Physick which searches into every Part and puts all the ill Humours of the Body into Motion and makes a general Disturbance and Uneasiness within but yet lets them remain where they were the other is like a gentle but more Effectual Remedy which carries off the Strength and Power of inward Corruptions and alters the Habit and Temper and puts quite another Disposition into us which produces very different Effects upon us For instead of Horrour and Despair and inward Anguish and Confusion there will follow a New Life of Joy and Peace here and Eternal Happiness hereafter And this is what the Apostle means in the Words of the Text To be carnally minded c. Wherein are two things which very much deserve our Consideration I. The different Tempers of Mens Minds some are Carnally and others Spiritually minded II. The different Consequences which follow them To be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace I. The different Tempers of Mens Minds The different Denominations are taken from the Flesh and the Spirit which are here represented as two Principles so different from each other that the same Person cannot be supposed to be acted by both of them For as the Apostle saith in the foregoing Words They that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Where the Flesh in a Moral Sense takes in all our Sensual Inclinations which are Sinfull either in their Nature or Degree The Spirit is that Divine Principle which possesses the Mind with the Love and Esteem of Spiritual things and keeps our Natural Inclinations within the Compass of God's Law To be carnally minded is to be under the Influence of Carnal things so as to make the Pursuit of them our Chief Design To be spiritually minded is to have so deep and just a Sense of God and his Law upon our Minds as to make it our business to Please him and therefore to Subdue all such Inclinations which are repugnant to his Will But here lies the main Difficulty how to Judge concerning this matter so as to be able to