and our Hope the one freeing us from all jealousies of a deceit the other from all dread of a disappointment How can we distrust or fear Gods failing us that is every way qualified to save First the Covenant He makes is fram'd by his Love then Truth writes it down afterwards Power comes in to seal up the Assurance so that no room is left for any doubt or scruple since all his Promises are sure nor will Mans expectation ever shame him if Sin does not the onely blot of our hopes as well as the stain of our pleasures Nothing but Sin can possibly defeat us it is Sin which undermines all our Blessings alters our claim and property in Bliss and gives the Threatnings in Scripture Authority to succeed In him the Promises are Yea and Amen that is firm and stedfast and when we fall off by a wilfull Apostacy their stedfastness still remains in their own nature only the benefit of Application is lost to Us. But if we once turn to our God by a true Repentance if we approve our worship of him by the sincerity of our hearts and the holiness of our lives lo they are firm and stedfast to us also God cannot in that case exclude us from Heaven for we bring him the condition of happiness he requires from us we produce the Grace that leads thither and know it is impossible He should either deny his own terms or refuse the likeness of his Perfections The last thing to be considered in Gods Promises is That He has provided against all Temptations from other offers by dispersing a Vacuum in things and leaving nothing here below fit to stir or move us except you 'l say defect of Substance and want of Certainty are charms Were any Good upon Earth adequate to our souls had it worth and certainty to attract our desires then I grant we might justifie the byas of our inclinations that way because the vifibleness of what is offer'd us is a farther motive to turn them thither but when vanity nay vanity of vanities is superscrib'd upon all the Creation here is not the least colour for our adherence What is there I pray in this World can be exhibited to us but some Scenes of Good and Images of an Inheritance Thus Christ by the Great Tempter was entertained with Landskips and Shows and Kingdoms that were drawn in Airy Figures where the Delight could not recompence the Emptiness of the Prospect The like emptiness is spread through every thing here and for any one to reckon upon a setled Possession it is like casting anchor upon a wave or binding the wheels of Times motion In a word such a Task that has an impossibility in the Act to baffle the Design But where the Promises are of God there is weight and stedfastness to perswade us weight that can fix all the extravagancy of desire and stedfastness strengthen our patience of expecting Thus you see the force of the Motive to confirm that Inference he makes from it I proceed now to handle in the second place 2. The Duty which contains in it the best Preparations for receiving those Promises Let us cleanse our selves from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit Where we may take notice 1. Of the Act Cleanse 2. Of the Subject about which it is employ'd Flesh and Spirit that is Body and Soul so that a thorough Baptism of the whole man is required and such a washing in the Fountain of Repentance that purges away inward and outward defilements 1. The Act is remarkable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us cleanse a word mentioned in the Heathen Schools by way of Speculation but prescribed to the Jewish and Christian Church as a rule of Practice The Heathens were not altogether ignorant of it when they styled Vertue it self to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Cleansing which the Platonists give us this account of namely That it is a retirement of the Soul within and a separating from the Body in its motions when Reason acts freely and undisturbedly nor has any tincture from the Passions to defile it such a state say they of the Soul is pure and divine This I confess may in some sort be call'd a Purgation but it is very defective in another sense where they suppose no guilt to be washed off which both Soul and Body have contracted They regard onely a refining of the Intellectual Powers but seek no purifying of any sinfull uncleanness And this must be chiefly imputed to that natural pride they all had that they would not allow of a corrupt spring as we must owe it wholly to their ambition that they studied to advance Reason in its actings therefore the Fountain of sin being unsearch'd we cannot admit them for Judges here but ought to consult the Jewish and Christian Church for the true notion of Cleansing In the Jewish Church the outward Ceremony was enjoyn'd but withal Typical of the inward whence we read in Exodus of an express Command before the delivery of the Law That they should sanctifie themselves and wash their cloaths from which Precept their Doctors gather that Tenet and Custome they had for Baptizing all whom they admitted to their Church and Covenant Now that they should thus be wash'd in order to receive the Law that was published it argued both a greatness of guilt in the parties and an absolute necessity of repenting when not so much as a spotted Garment was allowed to be near that Mount that quaked and trembled lest the Lightnings of the place should break forth to consume and the Trumpet there heard proclaim nothing but Execution If such a preparation were requisite for hearing Gods Will much more was it for obeying whence those Sacrifices of old He commanded were first to derive their cleanness from the Offerer and so had their force of Legal Attonement Were the Offerer not sanctified beforehand all his Worship was spoil'd by reason of the spots and blemishes that overspread it The foulness of his hand laid a Curse upon the Expiation and by slaying the Beast he destroy'd the Sacrifice Therefore a strict way of Cleansing was observ'd in the outward man whereby God led them to the Spiritual Duty as he taught them by Temporary Promises to have a taste and rellish of the Heavenly And lest they should at any time forget what was signified their Purifyings were frequently repeated on them representing to them in the same washing New Guilt and a New Obligation But the Christian Purifying is of a higher nature as being outwardly but once to shew We are buried with Christ by Baptism into Death that like-as He was rais'd from the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of Life Here is no need of sprinkling Garments and Vessels nor of separating from the Camp upon an Uncleanness when the whole work of Holiness is fully exhibited and one solemn Rite introduces the performance The work divides it self into two parts
the face of it being spoil'd in the Storm On the other side the calm and lustre of outward good this is generally the wicked mans share we may call it Punishment thus to flourish but it is a Punishment desired Now to break up the Pit and shew those Treasures of vengeance shut up there to search into a wicked mans Fate and discover the Miseries that follow it to represent him naked in his Grave and awak'd afterwards in that nakedness for scourging this is properly to reveal Wrath and to the Gospel we must owe such a Discovery Thus much for my Second Particular There remains the Third to discuss which is this III. How justly it is exercised upon those who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness In discussing this Head I shall first open the Charge and then it will be easie to prove the justness of the Sentence The Charge laid against the Sinner is not error of mind nor weakness of passion nor decay of nature which are Guilt attended with an Apology but the tyranny of a corrupt heart That hating the Empire of Truth takes it prisoner to be freed from its Government for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies namely forcibly to withhold or detain Truth that is to obstruct the power of Religion What a high piece of injustice this is will be evidenc'd if you regard 1. The Act in it self 2. The Motives that lead men to it 3. The Effects that flow from it 1. As to the Act it is no less than the seizure of a Soveraign Prince for such Truth is and therefore justly demands to have Jurisdiction in the soul and like Light to spread in its full liberty What have Subjects to do with fettering Princes whom they are bound to obey or keeping them in the dark when they ought to be visible in the Throne Kings are only at Babylon led captive There they have their eyes put out and their feet bound that they can neither see nor walk abroad So the Christian Law that ought to rule in the World is at Rome barbarously used a place eminent for kindling of Lamps and for smothering of Light for adorning of Altars and for corrupting the Sacrifice What I beseech you is all their Worship but blind and lame Truth being so ill rack'd with their handling that they can only acquaint us with the deformities of its body The Prison it suffers in is that of One Language hardly revealed to the Priests themselves the Eyes it has are those Figur'd ones of an Idoll that need the gildings of Art to be own'd the Feet are the supports of a Tradition which requires an Implicit Faith that is Faith of the same lameness Who that sees Truth in this shape will not say it is vilify'd by its professors when the bare withholding it from others is a high Act of Injustice For that Act is a withholding of the Birth-right and Inheritance of Men and a frustrating of Gods purpose in the gift of it who as he has design'd the Elements of Nature to be commonly enjoyed for our Bodily sustentation so he has also design'd the Elements of Truth to be with a like commonness imparted for preserving the Soul Yet these kind of men that lead Scripture captive dare plead the Infallibility of their own Church a word wherein the Mystery of Iniquity is sum'd up and from whence they have fetcht all their Artillery to beat down every thing that opposed them which puts me in mind of that famous Engine Demetrius contriv'd and is mentioned by Plutarch in his Life that had several Rooms and Partitions in it to hold Souldiers and the men that lodg'd there did fight with all sorts of weapons Such is their Engine of an Infallible Guide but certainly of it self it would little prevail were it not for its many Cells and the Forces that fill them For behold what Bands of Friers what Companies of Priests lie there arm'd and prepar'd to defend their Cause This word Infallible has strength enough with them to solve all Arguments for Truth to remove all objections against Error and withall it so blinds their whole party that they can neither discern any compounded mixtures in Faith nor notorious scandals in practice though the one proceeds from all the grossness of Humane Invention and the other from all the licentiousness of Corrupt Nature But the falseness of that Title they pretend to is sufficiently laid open in the world and they themselves too might be convinc'd of the arrogance of their claim since what-ever promise they may plead for such an assistance concerns only the leading of the Universal Church and is limited too in its sense to points necessary for its salvation whereas they being only a part of that Body and a part wretchedly fallen in Christian Principles cannot truly be said to be upheld by the Spirit but rather Judicially forsaken by reason of their banishing the Word of Truth which can only secure the Spirits Conduct But I pass from hence to the Second Aggravation of this sin wherein I shall consider 2. The Motives that lead men to it Could men urge some powerful Temptation for the reason they had to hinder the Authority of Religion over them they might fetch an excuse from it but when a base lust a sordid appetite shall get strength to prevail this heightens the Crime because of the shamefulness of that Conquest In all Irreligion we are poorly master'd or rather betray'd The Will quits its allegiance to the Understanding which by nature it is a servant to for a mean narrow shrunken object that cannot so much as bribe it by a Reward Atheism is built upon gross dictates of Sense and Lust forms to its self principles to resist Conscience wherein Man pretending to live free is left miserably bound by his Slave Consult the whole Method of an Atheistical discourse In Flesh it begins and ends with it but take once out of Mans mind carnal Hopes and sensual Imaginations then the Soul comes to do it self right by being filled with proper Ideas of God and Eternity Devotion is the genuine birth of our Thoughts while the streams of them are pure but Impiety is a Monster that out of mud and stime is formed We may know its Original by its Fruits and the debauchery of an Atheist's reason by his practice whose love of Drink Whoredom Gluttony and other foul Uncleannesses furnishes him with Arguments to defend them Upon the same score the Heathens maintain'd their Idol-Temples because their inclinations led them to vice and the Gods of those Temples showed them the way The like Reason may be given for that exact care and diligence in the Roman-Church to suppress Truth which is Lust and Interest These are the Two commanding Principles they are sway'd by and Unrighteousness is serv'd by them for low wages They hide the true doctrine of a present Repentance that their followers may sin all their life-time without fear and at last
are to Seed which they seem to lock up and bury in the ground but indeed improve it for multiplying If this be a cleansing from all filthiness of the flesh then let them that study an increase of their lust be styl'd the only Champions to overcome it But wouldst thou have the true glory of it then deny thy self constantly in a Temptation and hold out to the last in the discipline of Repentance So this Body of Sin will appear utterly defeated when thou bringest Time as a witness of thy Victory But there remains in the second place another sort of cleansing 2. From all filthiness of the Spirit This is not so much considered in the world but surely there is in some respects more of sin and consequently more of defilement than in Carnal corruption Such are those inward spots of Pride Malice Envy Hypocrisie Distrust of God to conclude all those sinful motions which it is proper for Spirits to be guilty of The Enormity of them will appear upon Three accounts 1. In that they are the spring of all outward filthiness For from the Heart it is or the spiritual part in man that Fornication Drunkenness and Blasphemy flow whence if these and the like sins have all the foulness of tincture on them the Sink whence they issue must be much more defil'd Were evil Thoughts effectually restrain'd in us all the stream of carnal wickedness would be cut off which made Solomon call for our greatest care over the Heart where sinful Imaginations are cherished Keep thy heart says he with all diligence for out of it are the Issues of Life ay and of Death too when it is not rightly govern'd in its motions An evil Heart makes an adulterous Eye a deceitful Tongue a violent Hand All outward crimes are the Offspring of the Thoughts therefore these being the Parent-sins are the more aggravated in their guilt as the cause of others 2. In that they are purely the Souls work and that in its strength without the dregs of matter or the weakness of flesh to interpose What Jacob said to Reuben Thou art my First-born my might and the beginning of my strength the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power the same may be applied to those actions which primarily issue from the Soul And so when they prove sinful they derive from the Dignity of those noble faculties the greater shame It is the Devils way thus to offend and howsoever he may tempt us to deeds of Flesh yet he is as to himself only an Agent in such sins that pollute the mind and defile the conscience so that he is a Rebel in all the height and excellency of Being and knowing no Body to defile him as an Unclean Spirit he dishonours his nature and against the God of Spirits does immediately make war So then when our hearts are alike stain'd when our Filthiness becomes spiritual we then bear his Image in the true Character Now what can be greater disgrace to our Natures than this is For the highest Perfection we can ever arrive to is to be like God and that is to resemble him in Holiness which chiefly consists in the purity of our minds On the other side the greatest Fall we can be ever condemn'd to is to be like Satan and that is to resemble him in Uncleanness which chiefly consists in the foulness of our Souls whence these Souls of ours must needs contract a great guilt when bad thoughts do defile them wherein we carry the very picture of the Father and bear his stamp in the crime 3. As they are the work so they are the full delight of the Inward man Here the Soul centers within it self and uncontrollably embraces its own actings and the secretness of those stains renders them difficult to be cleansed whereas these fleshly motions cannot breed any fulness of pleasure and their pollutions being evident do often check the committer with those Three restraints to a Rational Being which are Law Conscience and Fame And therefore changes are many times wrought in the greatest Sinners but when Sin once retires to Invisible Garrisons it is seldom destroy'd because neither Law nor Fame have here place and Conscience is too weak to overcome Upon this account the labour of cleansing is here necessary and the Soul must be brought to encounter it self in all the subtilty of a reforming that we may present to our God in Pure Flesh a mortified Spirit Now should Uncleanness be inwardly cherished what-ever the outward acts of sanctity be they are to be reckoned no better than Pilate's purifying before the Multitude when he washt his hands but suffered the guilt of the most innocent Blood to pass uncleansed Yet how many are there that rest in a Shape and Outside of Piety a Privilege if they will call it one which the Old Serpent can challenge who in the midst of his Curse does yet gild his Spots with fair Light and in a form of Blessedness lays his Sting But a Bodily purging take it at the best is only the Preface to a new Life an introductory part to true Holiness It is a Dedication of the Court to prepare the Offering upon the Altar and 't is the Altar you know sanctifies the Gift so 't is the Heart that qualifies the performance If we go no higher than bare Flesh we are but like the Bullocks that were cleansed but if besides that Purifying we are spiritually Holy we become like the Priest that sacrificed Now to attain such a state as that is a watchful jealousie is requisite over our Souls and here as we must doubtfully suspect so we ought immediately to suppress any springing Temptation It is easie to cast out the Adversary while he is weak such are all Filthy Thoughts in their Infancy but let them once spread and grow in the mind then it is difficult for any one to check and subdue them Who knows not what easiness there is in quenching a spark or turning as one pleases a little current But if the Spark gets fewel to feed on and enlarges it self into a great Flame how often does it mock mens labour and pains to hinder the mischief of its progress So likewise a little current if it be supplyed from Floods and allowed to swell with fresh streams how ungovernable is its course After the same manner do Spiritual Lustings prove furious and wild when they get their fewel and supply from the will and affections flowing in It is very needful then for thee to guard thy Heart which is so apt to breed sin and so ready to strengthen an evil purpose But for the better securing of it oh labour stedfastly to apprehend thy God not only as the accurate Beholder but as the severe Judge and Punisher of the Inner man Indeed God does not exercise such a Visible Judgment upon any spiritual filthiness in this World because He is mainly concern'd here as a Governour to prevent the mischiefs of outward actions