〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unfruitful works Of Elements none so fruitful as water stinking puddles bring forth most troops of vermine Some grounds yield two crops every year some trees bear fruit twice this all the year some creatures breed every moneth this every moment and these brats are even conceived and born at once How many kinds are there of sins and how many millions of each kind Gal. 5.21 There is some of the progeny it is progenies viperarum all those irregular thoughts affections words and actions that passe from a man come from hence Now this body hath its activenesse from the parents the father is the devil a compasser the soul the mother in perpetual motion and agitation Now his own will enticeth him to these deeds and he that is wilfully bent upon a thing who can stay him The Devil continually spurs him on and he must needs go whom the Devil drives he is further provoked by the world by the men of the world their perswasion as Solomon their threats as Nebuchadnezzar their promises as Balaam their example as Jeroboam by the things of the world there is at least a seeming lustre in the object that doth allure Bathsheba's beauty the rich wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment When the Vessel sailes with the tide and the sailes blown with such a gale it must needs go apace There are deeds of the body which are natural to eat drink sleep voluntary to walk c. but these are motus opera carnis peccatricis these are they that must be mortified that is the second thing in the duty Mortifie The body of death must be slain that we may live What it is to mortifie Thus if we will become wise we must first be fooles if rich and have a Kingdome poor in spirit if free put our necks under Christs yoke if save our life first lose it if have a true being old men must be born again if have the life of grace here and glory hereafter first kill our sinful selves To mortifie is a Metaphor taken from Chirurgeons that use to mortifie that part they mean to cut off so we must mortifie sin that it may not live or if it live such a life as is left in the limbs when the head is struck off or as in those that have an Epilepsie Rom. 4.19 or as in old Abrahams body which was as good as dead unfit for generation The efficacy and power of these lusts must be slain that they produce not new Monsters and so bring forth fruit unto death that is as Cajetan tells us insur gentes compescendo ne insurgant domando so mortifie them that they make no rebellion or if they do make insurrection beat them down that they domineer not So much for the second thing the act I come now to the causes The efficient cause principal the Spirit The principal is the Spirit By the Spirit here to omit other acceptations we understand either the grace of the Spirit or the Spirit of grace If the former then so far forth as it is enlivened and actuated by the latter The Spirit dwells in all creatures by a general influence in Christ by hypostatical union in some men by creating in them extraordinary gifts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the elect by effectual operation And if the essence of the Spirit be in us it is in us not as an essential part that were to deify man nor united personally unto us for then should the third person be incarnate as well as the second but dwelling in Christ as the head in an unspeakable manner diffused unto us Thus the devil dwells in the children of disobedience not by communicating his essence to them for then they should be incarnate devills but taking possession of them as his vassals blinding their minds hardening their hearts infusing malice into their wills leading them captive till at the last he bring them to the pit of destruction But hath man the command of the Spirit But the Spirit and Gods Ordinances are not separated unlesse for our fault But is the Spirit our instrument No but we the Spirits for God infuseth into us this supernatural principle whereby we are inabled to work and then quickeneth it up by moral perswasion But how doth the Spirit mortifie It 's that light that doth detect those deeds of the body it 's contrary to them and stirs up hatred against them it 's the Spirit of grace which makes us pray against them it 's our remembrance that brings to our mind the Scripture that declares the odiousnesse and danger of them it 's the mighty power of God that crusheth these brats in pieces it 's that which doth co-operate with the Word and prayer and tears and affliction and fasting whereby the flesh is beaten down That the Spirit worketh we evidently feel but how we cannot certainly define for if the operation of the wind the framing of the body in the womb be so strange much more that of the Spirit The lesse-principal cause We. The lesse-principal We. The Spirit quickens us being dead and being quickened we must act by the Spirit In the receiving the first grace man is a meer passive habet se ut materia in the second partly active partly passive active we must mortify passive for it must be by the Spirit and as St. Aug. Gratia non credit non resipiscit non sperat non obtemperat Deo sed homo per gratiam Grace believes not repents not hopes not obeys not God but man by grace So we say Spiritus non mortificat sed homo per Spiritum The Spirit mortifies not but man by the Spirit that we might not be proud or self confident not we but the Spirit that we might not be slothful or negligent we must do it by the Spirit that we might avoid all straines of Popery and Pelagianism it is the Spirit which quickens us at the first and doth continually send us fresh supplies against the flesh that we might not be taken with the idle fancies or doting dreames and crotchets of the Familists we must mortifie by the Spirit As we cannot mortifie without the Spirit so the Spirit will not without us Ye shall live Having now done with the duty What life here meant we come to the reward and what is better then life God is pleased to be stiled a living God This is that which every eye looks at every heart breaths after in which the vastest desire is satisfied beyond which the mind knowes nothing nor the will desires any thing that might make it happy By life here we do not understand the uncreated life of God but the created life of man which is twofold corporal the union of the soul with the body spiritual the union of God with the soul Indeed there is a natural life of the soul like that of Angels in which sense damned spirits may be said to live this was the eternity the
former and latter rain and now judge thou who art a party whether there hath any thing been wanting on Gods part to make thee happy but thou wilt needs dye not because thou lovest death but sin which is the cause of it And let us all remember that our worst enemy is within us Bern. Ipsi gestamus laqueum nobiscum circumferimus inimicum We carry a snare about with us our own enemy is within us We are beaten like Judah with our own staffe and manacled with our own bracelets yea with Saul we slay our selves with our own sword It 's a Serpent in our own bosome that stings us Inimici hominis sunt ejus domestici A mans foes are those of his own house He that dips with us in the dish is it that betrayes us Blame not Satan or his instruments these could not kill us but that this Traytour opens the doors their temptations else would fall like a spark of fire in the Sea much lesse let us murmur against God though he be the inflicting cause yet sin is the meritorious Take heed of this enemy so much the rather for it 's a potent and politick enemy being an old man that receives influence from the Devil it 's worse then the Devil who hath some natural goodnesse wisdome and power which in themselves are good though by him abused But in the flesh dwells no good thing it fills the whole man full of impiety as the mind with wicked thoughts making it like a dark filthy Dungeon full of Snakes and Adders destitute of heavenly light and heat the imaginations of it onely evil continually and if the best part be so what is the worst It 's a store-house or a common sewer of abominations fills the eye full of Adultery the countenance of wrath makes the throat an open sepulchre the tongue a world of wickednesse if a world in that little member how many worlds in this little world of ours fills the hand with extortion makes the feet swift to shed blood in a word all the Devils brats are warmed conceived and bred in that wombe it 's an enemy to all Spiritual undertakings what is wisdome to the Spirit is foolishnesse to the flesh what the one willeth the other nilleth what the one endeavours the other crosseth it breakes all Lawes both of God and man and makes unreasonable Lawes of its own of sin and death Rom. 7.23.8.2 Of sinne therefore dishonourable to live after them for it gives unreasonable command He that obeyeth hath Chams curse to be a servant of servants But the service is dangerous in that rewarded with such wages for the wages of sin is death worse then for a man to serve at the Gallies all day and be hanged at night Therefore of all enemies let us take most heed of our selves these lusts within us fight agaist us 1 Pet. 2.11 they hunt for the precious life and if we yeeld to them we dye He that soweth the wind shall reape the whirlwind If we sowe to the flesh we shall of the flesh reape corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reape life everlasting For if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye by the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live But if ye by the Spirit The Conolation c. Now I am fallen on the second Proposition the Consolation Hitherto I have tyred your patience with a discourse of the works of darknesse and a sad narration of death the reward of such works give me leave now to entertain your ears with a more pleasing discourse of life and of the narrow way that leads thither If ye by the Spirit c. The flesh like a potent King domineers in a natural man and makes him yeeld obedience to it in the lusts thereof yea in a regenerate man it remains though weakned and wounded like the Canaanites if it cannot dwell in the City it will lodge in the subburbs though it raign not like a King it will rebel like a Traytor sometimes assaulting by open violence sometimes by secret ambushments and hidden stratagems undermining so that while he dwells in this tabernacle of flesh the flesh will continue in him his labour shall not end so long as his life doth continue while we live then we shall find work enough to keep under this rebel and to encourage us herein God hath given us such an help as will effect it his Spirit and propounded such a motive as may spur on the dullest Laodicean Ye shall live Here the Apostle doth these two things Divided 1. Proponit officium If ye c. 2. Promittit mercedem First the work then the wages first we must do the will of God then receive the promise first God must be glorified by us and then he will glorifie us the hardest that is first and that we must look to to mortifie the sweetest comes last and that God will care for Ye shall live In the first we note these particulars Subdivided 1. Octjectum deeds of the body 2. Actionem circa objectum Ye must mortifie the deeds of the body 3. Causas hujus acticnis principalem the Spirit minus principalem we First The deeds of the body what for the object about which mortification is conversant the deeds of the body Here we must explicate both the fountain and streams Some understand a metonymie in this word body so by it understand the natural body because sin is acted by the body Others understand it metaphorically of that old man and masse of corruption that is in every man called the body of sin Rom. 6.6 7.24 Col. 2.11 for as the body is a totum integrum consisting of many members so is sin Col. 3.4 the head of sin vain imaginations the heart of sin corrupt affections the tongue of sin rotten communication the forehead of sin impudent avouching the hands and feet of sinne wicked executions Again as the body hath its dimensions so hath sin it reacheth to heaven and burneth to the lowest hell is's of as great a latitude as Gods Commandments which are exceeding broad 3. As the body is knit together by joynts and ligaments so is sin If the foot of sin do but stirre the whole body moves as we see in the sin of Adam He that offends in one is guilty of all he sins against the general equity of the Law and righteousnesse of the Law-giver As the body compasseth us about so doth sin it 's peccatum circumstans that for the first by the body we mean the body of sin Secondly For the deeds of the body This old man though old yet is very stirring and operative When men grow old their apprehension is weak their memory dull the strong men bow the whole man is feeble but it is not so in the body of sin the older it is the more vigorous and lusty Nothing in the world so fruitful though these are but 〈◊〉
Philosophers knew of So Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. de an c. 5. this being concreated with the soul cannot be taken away but by annihilating of it The soul considered spiritually may be dead while it thus lives if it be separated from God in regard of holinesse and happinesse We will briefly see what this includes Ye shall live that is ye shall not dye and how happy would the damned spirits think themselves if they might not dye though they might not live that indeed they might not be at all rather then so miserable Ye shall live That is a happy life here Natural a natural life full of joy and comfort Godlinesse which includes mortification hath the promise of this life our cloathes shall warm us our food nonrish us Though men out of Covenant have a right to these if they come by them lawfully yet a sanctified use they have not but by vertue of the Covenant as our cloaths receive heat from us and then warm us You shall live when you die and death shall be as the port after all the tossings and tumults of this life the Physician that cures all diseases the point that puts a period to all our labours it 's the reward of piety at the least an entrance into that reward and the birth-day of eternity the end of our sorrow the way to our Countrey the beginning of glory a general antidote for all aggrievances God is their God while they live in the grave and hath engaged his Word to restore them at the last day Joh. 11. He that believeth in me shall live though he dye and he that liveth and believeth in me shall never dye Vitam non eripit sed intermittit But the spiritual life of a Christian is that which is most excellent Spiritual of grace and that flowes from the union of God with the soul distinguished into degrees the first from conversion to the time of death when God by his Spirit breathes on the dead lump of sin and clay and makes it a glorious creature after his own Image Joh. 5.24 This is called the life of God Eph. 4.18 because it comes from God as the fountain insomuch that he doth live in them and if God be at all the life and soul of the world as the Platonists say it is meant of Christians principally The entrance into this life is through the gate of regeneration this parallells that vitam plantae and that first degree of natural life in the womb Ye shall live That is the life of grace Secondly Ye shall live Of glory the life of glory in the first degree from the death of the body to the resurrection of it When the body sleepeth in the grave sweetned by Christs burial the soul shall be carried by the ministery of Angels into Abrahams bosome Luk. 16.22 Though there be not in this estate a plenary consummation of happinesse 1 Tim. 4.8 Apcc. 6.9 yet the Spirit returnes to God Eccles 12.7 to Christ Phil. 1.23 it rests from labour is in comfort so it was said of Lazarus Luk. 16.25 to Paradise so to the thief Matth. 24.32 Luk. 23.43 Without doubt with great solemnity and joy do the holy Saints and Angels receive the soul into heaven into this degree we enter by the gate of death and it parallels the life of an animal and the second degree of natural life in men from the birth till they come to the use of reason In the second degree you shall live the life of glory in regard of the consummation of it from the day of the resurrection to all eternity enjoying the full vision and fruition of God where you shall see God sitting on his throne in inaccessible light and Jesus Christ sitting on his right hand with an innumerable company of Saints and Angels attending on him all shining as the Sun in the Firmament where all sorrow ceaseth for ever and a confluence of all desirable happinesse It may be some will enquire what our conversation shall be there for your meat and drinke there is Angels food a tree of life for your apparel long white robes of righteousnesse for your musicke a quire of Angels riches and glory are in this place the house is made of gold and the pavements of precious stones As for honour every man shall be a king and reigne in blisse and for delight at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore for knowledge we shall see face to face and for liberty the body shall be made spiritual Siquidem ubi volet spiritus ibi erit corpus In a word they shall enjoy God in whom is eminently contained all persection and glory If a little earthly glory amaze as it did Herod what will that above do If there be such glory in Gods footstoole what is there in his throne Si tanta nobis tribuis in carcere quid dabis in patria Si tanta tribuis inimicis quid amicis If O Lord thou givest us so much in the land of our pilgrimage what wilt thou give us in our own countrey if so much to thine enemies what wilt thou give to thy friends The Hebrews report how truely I know not that when Joseph had gathered much corne in Aegypt he threw the chaffe into the river Nilus that so floating to the neighbour-Cities and Nations they might know what abundance was laid up not for themselves alone but for their neighbours also so God to make us know what glory is in heaven hath thrown some huskes to us here that so tasting the sweetnesse of these things we might asspire to his bounty above And surely if the outward pavement of the base Court doth so glitter with stars what is there within Though we cannot measure the content of the soule by the outside of the house no more then you can measure the comforts of a Christian by the gay outside of a Church If I should undertake a full relation of this my muddy expressions would cloud it from you more then declare it therefore I leave it to your apprehension as a thing beyond expression yea beyond conceit while we dwell in these houses of clay If Moses his face did shine with conversing with God if the Disciples were so ravished in the transfiguratiou if S. Paul that saw not all saw more then he could utter and if the soules of Gods people are filled with unspeakable joy and satisfied as with marrow and fatnesse that see and enjoy God but in part here obscurely there is somthing transcendent in the perfect vision and fruition of God These little baites serve to stay our stomacks till we come to that glorious repast Aug. l. 4. de civil Dâ—â— Aug. Quod Deus praepara vit diligentibus fide non accipitur spe non attingitur charitate non comprehenditur acquiri potest aestimari non potest Faith cannot comprehend hope cannot reach charity cannot fathome what God hath prepared for those that love
flame Dolet etiam anima non in corpore constituta nam utique dolebat dives ille apud inferos quando dicebat Crucior in hac flamma And not onely with present torment but with fear and expectation of future his case is like to a condemned malefactors who is adjudged to live two or three years under the place of execution the gallowes and all those instruments of death continually in his eye in the mean time he is bound with chains whipped with Scorpions fed with the bread of affliction Thus he is most exquisitely tormented with pain of the present and horrour of that future vengeance that is likely to fall upon him So the divels cry out Torment us not before the time But this is not all The dregs of this cup of vengeance are yet behind You shall dye that is your bodies at that dreadful day with the sound of the Trumpet shall be awaked like a Traytor to be brought before the Judge and shall hear that doleful doom Ite maledicti c. Go ye cursed Now the losse here shall be unspeakable In regard of losse He shall lose God and that losse is infinite because he is an infinite good not in regard of his power for that will be ever present to torment him but in regard of the light of his countenance that shall never more comfort him Mat. 25.41 here is a total desertion and a final exclusion from his presence Chrys Should any one suppose 1000 hells it will not be so much as to be driven from the happinesse of this beatifical glory Si mille aliquis ponat gehennas nihil tale dicturus est quale est à beatae illius gloriae honore repelli Oh what Tophet is not a Paradise what flames are not a bed of down to this that that God who is the comfort of our soules that wisheth and intreateth us now to be reconciled shall then shut up his tender mercies in eternal displeasure Ite maledicti c. Go ye cursed Again there shall be a total privation of all the gifts of the Spirit charity peace wisdome piety mercy and all the meanes that tend thereunto Word Sacraments c. But it may be they will like the losse of these In the next place there shall be a losse of the world and all the pleasure of that therefore St. Aug. notes that Abraham speaks to the rich man of good things past Omnia dicit de praeterito Dives erat epulabatur recepisti No meat nor drink cloathing company houses not so much as a drop of water to cool thy tongue Nay which is strange their very sins they shall lose some of them those sins which delighted them they cannot commit no adultery or lasciviousnesse no drunkennesse gluttony and revellings no Play-houses or brothel-houses there but those sins which shall torment them they shall be suffered to commit if God withdraw the light of his countenance Wicked men can comfort themselves with the creature now or if the creature deny them solace Gods people can encourage themselves in God but when both God and the creature are lost what comfort can there be You shall dye In regard of sense in hell In regard of sense a total and eternal bondage of the whole man when soul and body being re-united both shall be cast into that Lake of fire and brimstone where the body shall be terrified in all the senses in all the parts outer darknesse to the eye for there are flames but no light heat but no comfort to the ear howling of tormented spirits weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth to the smell a stench of brimstone the very dregs of Gods wrath to the feeling exquisite pain by fire There shall be teares in the eyes for there is weeping and wailing horrour in the eares cursing and complaining brimstone to torment the tongue hands and feet bound with chains fire to torment the whole body but Oh forlorn wretch hear more terror yet But the most exquisite pain shall be in the soul because that is the fountain of sin which being infinitely abhorred by God in his wisdome he will find out and by his power execute some grievous punishment on it and this is termed fire a fire proportionable to a Spiritual essence if not in the nature of it yet by the supernatural power of the revenging Judge exalted to a height of transcendent efficacy and the soul though in the nature of it immaterial yet made passible by the power of a revenging Judge that noble celestial substance for subjecting it self willingly to brutish sensuality shall be unwillingly subjected to a sensual pain this pain is the more exquisite being principally in the soul that disease tormenteth most which seaseth upon the spirits Cain that felt but one spark of this fire was a perpetual vagabond Judas so tortured as to hang himself when he did but taste of this cup. Oh what will their torment be that drink the very dregs of this cup and live in the midst of these flames Now the intellect shall be perplexed with the continual meditation of this mourning that happinesse is lost through her own default and gnashing the teeth that others have it and the soul shall not chuse but reflect upon it self and behold her deformity and torment and shall have nothing to drive away this meditation The intellect shall represent this unto the will which shall hate it self and curse God that doth cause it to be captivated in those chaines of darknesse so that the soul shall for ever be a burthen to it self desire that it were annihilated and hate God that supports her in being the memory which is the souls storehouse shall continually reflect unto the conscience the cause of all this misery with a Fili recordare which shall be as a worm continually gnawing so that the soul shall hate God who cast it into that place and the Devil that torments it in that place and all the infernal spirits which add unto its torment and the blessed Saints and Angels which are in a better place as an unthrift lookes out at prison-grate upon men at liberty and the body as a companion of sin and wo and it self who through her own default is brought unto that place and by all shall be brought to those exigences which no tongue of man or Angel is able to relate But that which makes all compleat this shall be eternal heaven and all comfort are irrecoverably lost and the worme dieth not though this punishment cannot be infinite intensively for then it would annihilate the creature being finite yet in regard of duration it 's infinite that so satisfaction may be made to an infinite justice If the lives of all creatures were added together and spun out into one and at the expiration of that there might be an end of their torment it were some comfort Were they to expiate their sins with an Ocean of tears and yet but every thousand
yet he may set up his sailes and turn them into the wind When we have received the Spirir we are the instruments of the Spirit yet not passive ones but as servants that work by the direction of their Masters as the body works being enabled by the soul We are not saved altogether as we were created He made us not we our selves so he saveth us not we our selves that is as of our selves but being enabled by his Spirit and thus though it be true that he works in us both the will and the deed yet it is as true that we must work out our own salvation A silly Countrey-fellow once bought Orpheus his harp and thought it would make melody of it self without the touch of a skilful hand so do these men think of the Spirit that it will work in them though they be idle resist or quench the Spirit and turn the grace of God into wantonnesse thus making God the cause of their sins if not an efficient at least a deficient and they think they have done as much good and omitted as much evil as God by his grace enabled them I must tell our superstitious Baalites that this mortification Non fit per disciplinam Monasticam aut Baaliticam lanienam corporis sed per Spiritum resistentem operibus carnis is not done by Monastical discipline or by Baalitical cutting of the body but by the Spirit opposing and resisting the deeds of the body Though a man fast till he faint and dye cover himself with sackcloth day and night though he beat himself black and blue endure heat and cold as much as the body will bear not suffer their eyes to sleep or eye-lids to slumber it 's not their solitary caves or tedious pilgrimages many that do so nourish pride vain-glory self-confidence but it 's the Spirit of God and yet the Spirit useth other instruments The Word of God as a two edged-sword cuts the throat of our corruptions in prayer we lay them open to God presse him with his promise and get grace and assistance from him in voluntary chastning our selves ordinarily by sobriety in meat drink apparel recreation extraordinarily by prayer fasting weeping we do as it were with Gods plough soften our hard hearts and so extinguish this fire by withholding combustible matter or by those that are imposed by God In the former we take up our crosse in this it 's laid upon us In the one we turn without in this with a bridle in our jawes But the Spirit must diffuse it self through all these to make them effectual and without it these bodily exercises profit little the flesh will still recalcitrare therefore Monasticks and Anchorites have found corruption as strong in the Cloyster as in the Court in the Cell as in the City He that will not humble his body cannot will not humble his soul but he that humbleth his body without the soul loseth his labour Yea For Exhortation with your good leave I must tell the best man here that it is not enough that he hath begun well but he must go on So the Apostle writes to converted Romans so we speak to converted Christians you have done it Sacramentally make good your vow you have done it in profession let your practice be answerable you have done it really but it 's but in part continue in well-doing A good progresse and conclusion is necessary to life as a good beginning Take heed of beginning in the Spirit and ending in the flesh They that think they are mortified enough must mortifie that proud conceit or perhaps they will come short of life And for Catharists that boast of absolute perfection their reward shall be they lead themselves into a fools Paradise By all this which hath been said we may verifie that of our Saviour Matth. 6.14 Heaven it spued out the Angels that sinned and will not lick up the Devils vomit again But though it be difficult yet not impossible therefore I would not discourage any It 's easie to a spiritual man and me thinks the benefit should take away the difficulty Look unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith But alas these joyes are farre off and serve but little or else the taste of the world spoiles our relish Our teeth are so set on edge with these apples of Sodom that we cannot taste the fruit of the tree of life See what there is in the Text to encourage us 1. It 's but the deeds of the body to be mortified those which we may well spare God commands us not to destroy any faculty of the soul either to hurt the understanding or dull the apprehension or overload the memory or clog the conscience not to kill the body or consume the spirits by a dull austere melancholy not to destroy the forme or feature of it Religion it depriveth us of nothing that brings true pleasure or profit Adam in innocency glorified Saints and Angels God himself hath transcendent happinesse to which nothing can be added yet it 's the unhappinesse of some to think they cannot be merry unlesse they are mad nor happy except sinful that mortification abridgeth them of true delight Again these must but be mortified not utterly abolished We cannot abolish them to have no being but onely mortifie them that they do not reign so that while sin doth not prevail but thou groanest under the reliques of corruption God will accept thee and that thou mayest do this he gives thee his own Spirit to enable thee to the work offers thee a Crown of glory at the end of thy labour Surely if he had commanded thee a greater matter upon such termes wouldst thou not have done it What remaineth then but that we set about the work chearfully I exhort you all to be happy The fulnesse of glory will answer all the difficulties I can say no more Mortifie and you shall live If you will not kill you must be killed God hath proclaimed these deeds Traytors they have shed the blood of Christ done all the mischief in the world and in a word will undo our soules How can we but with indignation see strumpets more carefull to adorne their bodies then we our soules St. Augustine mournes to see Arius take more paines to go to hell then he could do to go to heaven How can we endure to see a Papist take more paines to scourge his body an earth-worme macerate himselfe to get wealth an adulterer dance attendance to fulfil his lust and yet in the mean time we do nothing to get to heaven Go home then with shame in thy countenance fasting weeping and mourning with anger indignation and holy revenge looke on that heart of thine that hath offered such indignity to heaven by an holy Anathema deliver that flesh of thine to Satan smite on thy thigh with Ephraim on thy breast with the Publican weep with David rivers of tears because others keep not Gods Law and weep bitterly with Peter
some say that either know not what they speak or will not know But howsoever it is in the Theory unlesse I much mistake both sides meet in the Practice If any man should aske me concerning the decree of election and reprobation Predestination here is a counterpane of it in my text I will not say this is Gods whole decree I dare say no secret decree contradicts it We need not climbe up into heaven then to see whether God smile or frowne nor wrest open his Cabinet to see what secrets are there Things revealed belong to us if our names be written here then infallibly are they there If we finde them not here certainely they are not there I say then leave disputing about election and labour to make your calling and election sure Begin at the bottome of the ladder and adde to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance c. Thus our Saviour stifles such a controversie Master shall many be saved Strive to enter in at the strait gate But what shall this man do Follow thou me Let no man comfort himselfe with any illusion or affright himselfe with any fatall destiny If ye live after c. This is Gods Word and by this we must be judged at the last day For the second Controversie Whether Redemption be universal I say to that man Though Christ died for all men as one side affirm yet if thou live after the flesh thou shalt dye notwithstanding the purchase of so precious a redemption sufficient in it self though not effectual unto thee through thine own perversenesse or if but for some few as the other side affirm if thou mortify the deeds of the body thou art one that shall surely live For the third and fourth The manner of receiving grace the manner of receiving grace One side say it doth infallibly and necessarily work at such a time and not before the other that through our perversenesse we may turn the grace of God into wantonnesse Both agree in this that a man may be saved grace must be received and improved The Spirit is the principal cause but we must co-operate We are not able of our selves to think a good thought our sufficiency is from him Hence St. Paul I live yet that he might not seem to usurp any of the honour checks himself yet not I. So we say We must mortify yet not we but the Spirit not we as the principal cause but the Spirit not the Spirit as the solitary cause but we by the Spirit let us look to it that the work be done and then we shall not miscarry For the last which is perseverance one side saith we shall infalliblly stand Perseverance and as possible for Christ to fall out of heaven as a Saint from Christ the other side that God will not forsake us unlesse we forsake him and gives us grace sufficient that we may not fall but doth not so infallibly hold us up but we may fall Both sides affirm perseverance to be necessary unto life and the conscionable use of means to perseverance Take heed then that there be not in any of you at any time an evil heart of unbelief to depart from the living God and that this may never befal thee put on the whole armour of God that thou mayest stand in the evil day Thus the Prophet Ezek. 18. justifies God in his proceedings and makes the people wary So the Apostle writing here to Saints and if any of you whom in charity I judge to be converted would hear any thing from me concerning perseverance I will answer you in the words of my text If ye live after c. Thus if a man in a modest humility receive the known truth in the love of it and so love it as to practise it his end shall certainly be blessed And now behold Deut. 30.15 The Conclusion this day I have set before you life and death good and evil blessing and cursing There are but two estates in this life and two after proportionably Some here walk after the flesh but they shall dye the delight is present but momentany the pain is future but eternal some here by the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body and they shall live hereaftes The task here is sharp and present but momentany the reward future but glorious and eternal Were it not for that which followes Ye shall dye it were a brave thing to live after the flesh were it not for that which followes Ye shall live nothing more tedious then to mortify the deeds of the body Wisdome now will soon deride the controversie and pitch upon her choice and inheritance so glorious so durable though it be future and the entrance so difficult is to be preferred to a life of sinne though it had in it never so much pleasure or profit being momentany and seconded with eternal wo. It 's the fools voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Give me to day take to morrow to thy self But if notwithstanding what hath been said he shall still walk in the waies of his own heart all the curses in Gods book shall fall on him God will blot out his name from under heaven and in heaven out of the book of life so that in no place he shall be found but in hell But every man here seems to choose life in that he comes to hear that Gospel which is the Word of life Oh they make it not the savor of death to death Labour then by the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the body so shall you live many Halcion daies here upon earth and when you dye the Angels shall carry your soules into Paradise while your bodies repose themselves in their graves as a bed of down till the Lord of Glory shall return to judg both quick and dead where the body being raised and reunited to the soul both soul and body shall live in the perpetual vision and fruition of God To which glory he for his mercy bring us who hath so dearly bought us even Jesus Christ the Author and finisher of our faith To whom with the Father and the blessed Spirit be ascribed all honour glory praise thanksgiving and obedience from this time forth and for evermore FINIS