the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but they that sow to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Now it concerneth us to consider what or who it is that employeth us Our Bodies are worn out and the vigour of Nature is daily spent but in what in pleasing the flesh in that which it craveth or in serving pleasing and glorifying God The Prophet saith Isa. 55.2 Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Every man is at the cost and expence of his time and labour and bestoweth it on something or other but in what Do not think of compounding the matter for as every man serveth one of these Masters so no man serveth both Mat. 6.24 No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other ye cannot serve God and Mammon They both require our full strength and both command contrary things therefore as a man cannot go two contrary ways at once so he cannot obey these two Masters if sin reign in our Souls it draweth all things into obedience the consent of your minds is not enough to satisfie it but it will employ the body to fulfil its cravings and especially those two Adjuncts of the bodily Life Time and Strength And Grace doth the like the Faculties and Powers of the Soul and Body must be employed one way or another they cannot lie idle in such an active restless Creature as man is 2. Both these Services are entred into by consent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Some men pronely yield up themselves to do what sin would have to be done therefore they are said to give themselves to work wickedness and where sin is vehement and obstinate they are said to sell themselves to work wickedness and in other Phrases Eccles. 8.11 The heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Eph. 4.19 They have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness when they have cast off all remorse of Conscience and fear of Gods Judgments with full consent they abandon themselves to their brutish lusts and filthy desires there is no check nor restraint can hold them But this is when sin is grown an height 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jude 11 They have ran greedily c. as water is poured out of a Bucket But generally in all sin there is a voluntariness if not a wilfulness in it as a stone runneth down hill because it is its own proper motion 2. To God we consecrate our selves with a thorow consent of will Rom. 12.1 I beseech you by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service And 2 Cor. 8.5 And this they did not as we hoped but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word either alludeth to Servants who stand before or in the presence of their Lord and Master to shew their readiness to be commanded or employed by him so present your selves to shew your readiness to obey all the commands of God or in allusion to the Sacrifice which was presented before the Altar in token that the party did design it and with it himself to God so do we yield up our selves to God Bodies and Souls all that we are and have we resign it to him There is this difference in both these resignations the Devils Servants do not what they do in love to him but to their own flesh but Christs Servants do what they do in love to him as well as to themselves they know him and love him he is not a Master to be ashamed of The giving up our selves to sin is a concealed act we would not be seen in it for there is somewhat in their own hearts to check it and condemn it some Conscience of good and evil as also a fear of blame from God and the World and so men do it covertly but do we give up our selves solemnly and professedly 3. The service of sin should not be allowed by us 1. Partly because Sin is an Usurper whereas God hath a full and clear right both to our Bodies and our Souls for he made them both Sinners so far as they owne a God and their obligations to him cannot but look upon sin as a disorder for it alienateth our subjection from him to whom it is due All sinners are not Atheists and therefore can never get off this Conviction that God is their Owner for he is their Maker and framed them for such an use and end namely to keep his Laws therefore to lend or give their bodies to sin is disloyalty and rebellion against the great and just Soveraign of the World 1 Joh. 3.4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the Law for sin is the transgression of the Law Men do not only say but notionally know that God is their Owner but if they did practically improve it the reformation of the World would not be so desperate a Cure as it is but alas professing to know God in their works they deny him Tit. 1.16 their lives are quite contrary to their notional acknowledgement of God what could they do more or worse if there were no God Reason will tell us that it is impossible for us to be our own for we neither made our selves nor can we subsist of our selves for one moment All wicked men are God's whether they will or no yea the Devils themselves not expected they are his against their wills and therefore do not live as his 2. Sin is Gods enemy and ours too it destroyeth us while it seemeth to gratifie us The end of these things is death Rom. 6.21 Now he is a Traitor to his Country that supplieth the Enemy with Arms you wrong God and wrong your own Bodies and Souls Therefore yield not your members us weapons of unrighteousness unto sin It is a miserable thing to be Traitors to God and our selves Thy dâ—struction iâ— of thy self Hos. 13.9 our misery is of our own procuring God is not to be blamed but our own perverse choice we cherish a Serpent in our bosoms that will sting us to death 4. Since sin cannot challenge any just Title to us it is unquestionably our Duty to yield up our selves to the Lord. Let us see in what manner it is to be done 1. It must be done with hearty and full consent of Will In the Covenant of Grace God demandeth his Right to be given him by your Consent it is indeed a due Debt but it is called a Gift My son give me thy heart Prov. 23.20 because you become his People not by constraint but by consent Psal. 110.3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power and therefore it is resembled to Marriage than which
pardon of God with promises of greater diligence for the future 3. to implore the special aid and assistance of Gods Spirit for the better performance of what we promise 4. we are to obtain it by the means of Christs Sacrifice and Intercession Who by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 9.14 there needeth no other Sacrifice If we thus humbly apply our selves to God and desire again to bind our Bond the Duty will be comfortable to us Secondly Our second general work is to revive afresh the hopes of eternal Life and to get our taste and relishes of that blessed Estate renewed and confirmed upon our hearts that we may be fortified against the troubles of the World and inconveniencies of our Pilgrimage that we may not only be encouraged to do well but to suffer evil with patience That this Duty is a Pledge of Heaven appeareth by Christs words Mat. 26.29 I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers kingdom It is an Antepast of that blessed and eternal Feast When we shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven Mat. 8.11 And the end of both Sacraments is to prepare us for sufferings Mat. 20.22 23. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with They say unto him We are able And he saith unto them Ye shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with These terms shew that the Sacraments imply a preparation for sufferings for there seemeth to be a plain allusion to both Sacraments drinking of his Cup and being baptized with his Baptism Now counterballasting our Troubles with our Hopes begets the true Spirit of Christian Courage and Fortitude Rom. 8.18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us 2 Cor. 4.17 For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Therefore here is your work mind it and God will bless you SERMON XXIV ROM VI. 23 For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Iesus Christ our Lord. THESE words are the Conclusion confirming all that the Apostle had said before in this Argument and more especially explaining those two Clauses That the end of sin is death and the end of holiness is eternal life it is so but with this difference the one as Wages deserved the other as a meer free Gift Death follows sin by Justice but eternal Life follows Holiness by free favour Both branches deserve to be considered by us conjunctly and apart 1. Conjunctly and there we shall see wherein they agree and wherein they disagree 1. Wherein they agree 1. They agree in respect of their Duration and Continuance the Death and the Life are both endless Mat. 25.46 These shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal 2. As they are the final issue of â—ens several ways the one as well as the other is the fruit of mens foregoing course here upon Earth Sin is punished by Death and Holiness rewarded by eternal Life Gal. 6.8 For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting 3. They agree in this that both are equally certain for they depend upon Gods unalterable Truth he will punish the disobedient as surely as he doth reward the godly We must not fancy a God all mercy and sweetness he is a God of Salvation but he will wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses Psal. 68.21 The same Truth and Veracity of God that confirmeth his Promises doth also infer the certainty of his Threatnings Psal. 11.6 7. Vpon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous God loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright God is a perfect Judge and will take order in due time with the wicked who break his Laws and will not make use of his Mercy their destruction shall be terrible irresistible and remediless but his upright Servants shall certainly reap the fruits of his Love and their own Obedience 2. Wherein they disagree The Text telleth you the one is Wages and the other a Gift God doth not punish men beyond their deserts that is Justice but he doth reward men above their deserts that is Grace therefore he varieth the word concerning sin it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wages which alludeth either to the hire due to the Labourer or the Pay due to the Souldier both are a just debt the Labourer is worthy of his hire when his work is ended he receives his wages and Souldiers at the end of their service get their Pay But of the other he faith it is the gift of God Sin deserveth Hell and therefore Death is called Wages but if eternal Life might in any fort be deserved or merited the Apostle would not have changed his word as he expresly doth he doth not say Eternal Life is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wages nay he doth not say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Reward which sometimes expresseth the Recompence of the Faithful as Heb. 11.26 Having respect to the recompence of reward but because reward doth not always signifie a reward of free bounty he doth not use that word neither yea neither doth he use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies a Gift because one kindness doth deserve another but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a gracious Gift the Vulgar renders it Gratia Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace signifieth the free favour of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the impression or effect of it upon us this is a word inconsistent with all conceit of merit But what is the reason of this difference that the one should be Wages the other a gracious Gift First Our evil works are our own wholly evil therefore merit death as work doth wages but the good we do is neither ours nor is it perfect and is done by them that have a demerit upon them that have deserved the contrary by reason of sin and might look for punishment rather than reward Secondly There is this difference between sin and obedience that the hainousness of sin is always aggravated and heightened by the proportion of its object as to strike an Officer is more than to strike a private person a Judge more than an ordinary Officer a King most of all Thence it comes to pass that a sin committed against God deserveth an infinite punishment because the Majesty of God is despised but on
they speak evil of them 1 Pet. 4.4 and despitefully use them 1 John 3.12 as Cain hated Abel 4. As they are under different assisting powers so they are under a distinct covenant the carnal are under the covenant of Works the Duty of which is to them impossible and the Penalty intollerable They are under the condemning power of the Law Rom. 8.6 to be carnally minded is death It maketh them liable to the Death threatned in the first Covenant But on the contrary they that are under the blessed conduct of God's holy Spirit and obey the Dictates of the New Nature begun in them are under a Covenant of Grace where their sincere obedience shall be accepted and their failings pardoned Gal. 5.18 If ye be led by the spirit ye are not under the law They are still under the Law as a Rule of obedience but they are not under the Curse and Rigor of the Law The Law in its rigor pronounceth Death on every failing so they are not under the Law but being in some measure enabled to do what the Law requires they are pardoned in what they fall short 5. These two Covenants issue themselves into two places or eternal states Heaven and Hell To the carnal the Scripture denounceth God's eternal wrath to the spiritual God's favour and life eternal The Scripture is plain and positive with us Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting All Mankind after they have acted their parts in this World and God cometh to shift the Stage go into one of these two places Well then here is our first step That the whole World is comprised in one of these two ranks there is no neutral or middle state either they are guided by the flesh as all men are in their unregeneracy and if they continue so in a constant slavery to their Lusts their end shall be everlasting perdition or else they are guided by the spirit and obey the motions of Grace and make it their business and main imployment to please God and enjoy communion with God and their end shall be eternal life It is a question you should often and seriously put to your souls Shall I be saved or shall I be damned If you have any sense and spark of Conscience left you when you are sick and dying you will then put it with great trembling and anxiousness of heart Poor Soul whither am I now a going It is better put it now when you have opportunity to correct your error if hitherto you have gone wrong Every man would know his own destiny what shall become of him or what is in the Womb of Futurity concerning the state of his affairs as the King of Babylon stood in the heads of the way to make Divination Now no Destiny deserves so much to be known as this If the question were Shall I be rich or poor happy or miserable in the World it were not of such great moment for these distinctions do not out-live time but cease at the Grave's mouth But this question is of greater moment than so whether I shall be eternally miserable or eternally happy it is foolish curiosity to enquire into other things They are not of such importance that we should know them before hand but it concerneth us much to know whether we be in a damnable or salvable condition if we be in a damnable condition to know it whilst we have time to remedy it if we are heirs of salvation the assurance of our interest will preoccupate our blessedness and will be a great encouragement to us in the way of holiness for the present Now nothing will sooner decide this great question than the business we have in hand whether we be after the flesh or after the spirit for between these two Heaven and Hell is divided These two divide both the present World and the World to come I thought good to premise this that you may consider the weight of the case in hand II. Doct. That these two sorts of men have two different Objects the things of the spirit and the things of the flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one suit with the one and the other with the other 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things of the flesh Let us first know what is meant by flesh and then we shall better understand what are the things of the flesh By the flesh is not meant the mass and substance of our fleshly bodies or the outward part in which our soul is seated and by which it performeth its Functions and Operations but the vitiosity and corruption of humane Nature inclining and addicting it self to the interests of the bodily life There are the inclinations of the flesh and the interests of the flesh the inclinations of the flesh are the evil lustings of corrupt Nature and the interests of the flesh are the things that feed this corruption or gratifie these evil inclinations the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text. Now these are of Two sorts 1. Things apparently evil as all vices and sins Gal. 5.19 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders drunkenness revellings and such like Tho the inward root from whence these things flow be hidden yet these effects are apparent rank Weeds that smell strong in Nature's Nostrils These are not all but he concludeth it with a such like but instanceth in these as the most known and most commonly practised as the Commandments forbid the grosser sin in the kind Some serve the flesh in a more cleanly manner and mark in the things enumerated some belong to the blind and corrupt Will as Idolatry and Heresie some to the depraved Will as Witchcraft and Hatred some to the Affections both of the irascible Faculty as Emulation Wrath Strife some to the concupiscible as Vncleanness Revellings some to the sensual Appetite as Adultery and Drunkenness He instanceth not only in the grosser evils as Adultery but Wantonness or any unseemly behaviour that tendeth to excite the Lust of filthiness in our selves or others not only in Witchcraft but Hatred or Malice which is a temptation to it not only in Murder but Wrath and Strife not only in Drunkenness but Revelling riotous Feasts and Meetings There is a difference between sins but the least is to be avoided if we would shun the greater 2. Things good in their own Nature but immoderately affected as all the comforts and appurtenances of the bodily life which are used as baits of corruption as worldly profits honours and pleasures some that immediately tend to the pleasing of the flesh as bodily pleasures
will content and satisfie you as to your gracious state is such an high estimation of God and Christ and Grace as weaneth you and draweth off the heart from other things A dull approbation of that which is good will make no evidence nor a few good wishes nothing but such a strong bent as deadneth your affections to the World Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified to me and I unto the world 3. This will be your Wisdom There is a false Wisdom and a true Wisdom James 3.15 This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devillish Ver. 17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable c. This is the true Wisdom to be wise for the Spirit I do the rather insist upon this because there is a Notion of Wisdom in the Word of the Text. Carnal men judg their own way wisest and the way of the godly to be meer folly 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he receive them because they are spiritually discerned The godly imploy themselves to get things spiritual and such as God's Honour is mainly concerned in and are not attended with an Income of worldly advantage but rather of loss and detriment But yet the end shall prove that they that thought themselves the only wise men and gainers have been meer fools and the greatest losers those others whom they looked upon as mad men are the wisest adventurers and the greatest gainers The issue will shew it Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting Rom. 8.6 To be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace 4. The Flesh is really our enemy yea our greatest enemy Therefore we should not indulge the Flesh but give up our selves to be ruled by the Spirit 1 Pet. 2.10 11. Take heed of fleshly lusts which war against the spirit That it is one of our enemies is clear by that Eph. 2.2 3. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now ruleth in the children of disobedience among whom also we had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the chiâ—dren of wrath even as others There is the course of this World and the Prince of the power of the Air and our own Flesh. Corrupt Nature within us would make us vile enough without external incitements and suggestions tho there were never a Devil to tempt or evil Example to follow If the Devil should stand by and say nothing there is enough within us to put us upon all manner of evil tho there were no other irritation than God's Law Rom. 7.9 When the commandment came sin revived and I died Other enemies could do us no harm without our own Flesh. We are tempted to sin by Satan encouraged to sin by the example and custom of others inticed to sin by the baits and allurements of the World but inclined to sin by our own Flesh It is the Flesh that holdeth correspondence with Satan the Flesh that openeth the door to Temptations the Flesh that maketh our abode in the World so dangerous the Flesh that choaketh the good Seed that hindereth all our heavenly thoughts and maketh the Service of God so burdensome The Flesh is within us and maketh a part of our selves There is more imminent danger from a Plague in the body than from an enemy that waiteth in the streets to kill us If we would but keep our selves from our selves we should do well enough It is the Flesh that lulleth us asleep in carnal security that tainteth all our Actions and is so ready to betray us The Devil dealeth with us as Baalam by the Israelites all his Curses and Charms prevailed nothing till he found a means to destroy them by themselves to corrupt them by Whoredom and by Whoredom to draw them to Idolatry It is the Flesh that is the Domestical Enemy that dwelleth with us and in us and so maketh us a ready prey to Satan We carry it about with us wherever we go and so it is ready to do us mischief upon all occasions When we are about holy Duties it distracteth us with vain thoughts and taketh off our edg and makes us drowzy and dead-hearted and weary of God's Service When we are about our Gallings it is the Flesh that maketh us lazy and negligent and diverteth us by the proposals of sensual Objects or else to be so earnest in them that we have no time nor heart for God and Soul-Necessities When we are eating and drinking it is the Flesh that turneth our Table into a Snare and tempts us to glut our selves with carnal delights and to oppress our bodies when we should refresh them and strengthen them for God's Service In our Recreations it is the Flesh that maketh us inordinate in them and to forget our great Work and last End and so we are the more intangled in sin when we should be more fit to glorifie God It is the Flesh that being beaten out at one Door entreth by another and still assaults us afresh to our great spiritual prejudice And will you study how to please the Flesh that is so great an Enemy to your Souls That Flesh that resists all the motions of God's Spirit that cloggeth you in every Duty and draweth you off from the pursuit of everlasting Happiness 5. Consider how ill Christ will take it and what just cause you give him to withdraw when you prize the things of the Flesh before him and the comforts of the Spirit Must not the Lord Jesus take it exceeding unkindly that after all his love and the discoveries of his grace you should study to please his Competitor and your own Enemy Is his Grace and Glory worth no more than so and hath he deserved no better at your hands God spared not his own Son but gave him up to the death for us Rom. 8.32 Christ pleased not himself Rom. 15.3 There is nothing so answerable as some self-denial on our part The most genuine and natural influence from this Grace is That we should spare nothing please not our selves Titus 2.11 The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts Teaching us c. How By way of Precept no by way of Argument It perswadeth us to deny Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts. 6. Consider the more you indulge the Flesh the more it is an enemy and the more is your slavery and bondage increased and still you grow the more brutish forgetful of God and unapt for
have as the constitution is so is the Gust and Tast Tell a carnal Person of the joys of the Life to come the comforts of the Spirit the Peace of a good Conscienee the sweetness that is in the Word and Ordinances they find no more savour in these things than in the white of an egg or a dry chip but Banquets merry meetings and idle sports they have a complacency for these things and soon find a delight free and stirring at the mention of them their hearts are in the house of mirth Eccles. 7.4 To be well clad and well fed maintained in Pomp and State these are the Things which are most sweet and pleasing to them and which they most desire and seek after for they mind these things and so bestow their care and delight upon them and can spend Days and Hours without weariness in them carnal men relish no sweetness in Religion 1 Cor. 2.14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned As they do not perceive them so not receive them these are not the Things which are likely to make an Impression upon their souls But on the contrary the spiritual minding is discovered by this because 't is best pleased with spiritual things spiritual minds find a marvellous sweetness and comfort in the Word of God and the means of Grace and Salvation Psal. 119.103 How sweet are thy words to my tast yea sweeter than honey to my mouth and Psal. 63.5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and Job 23.12 I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food What gladness doth Communion with God put into their hearts One day with him is better than all those flesh-pleasing Vanities wherewith others are deluded and inticed from God 3. It reacheth also to practise and implieth earnest prosecution and so to be carnally minded is to make the things of the flesh our work and scope to be spiritually minded is to make that our work and trade to seek after the things of the spirit therefore the course of mens actions and the trade of their lives is to be considered Our business sheweth our bent and what we constantly frequently and easily practice discovereth the over-ruling principle Wicked men have their good moods and godly men have their carnal fits the constant practice sheweth the prevailing inclination to mind the things of the flesh or spirit is to seek after them in the first place when men are seriously constantly readily willingly carried to those things which please the flesh without any respect to God and eternal life Effects shew their causes if the drift and bent of our lives be not for God and salvation and our great business in the world be not the pleasing of God and the saving of our own souls and this be not chiefly minded and attended more than all the pleasures honours and profits of the World God hath not the precedency but the flesh Walking after the flesh or the spirit is the great discriminating note in this place propounded ver 1. amplified afterwards by minding the things of the flesh and then living after the flesh ver 13. so Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting We must see whether our lives be a sowing to the flesh or the spirit The mind leaveth a stamp upon the actions as a godly man sheweth spirit in all things so a carnal man sheweth flesh in all things Zach. 14.21 On every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts As God sheweth his Divine power in every creature in a Gnat or Pile of grass as well as the Sun so a Christian sheweth grace in all things on the contrary carnal men shew their mind in all things not only in eating and drinking and trading but in preaching praying and coâ—fâ—rence about holy things The one goeth about his worldly business with an heavenly mind casts all into the mould of Religion the other goeth about his heavenly business with a carnal and worldly mind the flesh doth not only influence his common actions but his duties either to feed or hide a lust to serve his Worldly mind and vain glory or else that he may more plausibly carry it on without blame before men or check of conscience and so maketh one duty excuse another 'T is the flesh maketh him pray preach confer about holy things give alms and seemingly forgive enemies or do that which is outwardly and materially just Thus you see what is the carnal minding only I must tell you that because the Apostle saith it is death or the high way to everlasting destruction we must more acurately state the matter 1. The minding of the flesh must be interpreted not barely of the acts but the state Who is there among Gods children that doth not mind the flesh and too much indulge the flesh but yet he doth not make it his business to please the flesh but rather mortifieth and subdueth it Gal. 5.24 and they that are Christs have crucified the flesh and they are still labouring that they may subdue it more and more 1 Cor. 9.27 but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection 2. This minding of the flesh or spirit must be understood as to the prevalency of each principle that is to say when we mind the flesh so as to exclude the minding of the spirit and the things that belong to the spirit 1 Joh. 2.15 If any man love the world and the things of the world the love of the Father is not in him And so on the other side when we so mind the spirit as that it deadneth our affections to the world and baits of the flesh Gal. 6.14 the conversation in heaven is that which is opposite to minding earthly things Phil. 3.19 20. Therefore if the flesh can do more constantly and ordinarily to draw us to sin than the spirit to keep us from it we are under the power of the fleshly mind 3. This minding of the flesh must be interpreted with respect to continuance not with respect to our former state For alas all of us in time past pleased the flesh and walked according to the course of this World in the lusts of the flesh Tit. 3.3 We were sometimes foolish and disobedient serving divers lusts and pleasures and if we yet please the flâ—sh we are not the servants of Christ. But if we break off this servitude and do at length become servants of righteousness God will not judg us according to what we have been but what we are therefore it is our duty to consider what principle liveth in us and groweth and encreaseth whether the interest of the flesh decreaseth or the interest of the spirit if we grow more brutish
so you are raised by the same power of the Holy Ghost Christ is as tender of his Mystical Body as of his natural body therefore will not lose one Member or Joint of it Joh. 6.39 I must lose nothing and the Spirit doth his office in you as in him for you are to be raised up with him and as he was raised we feel the power of our Resurrection in our Regeneration and we feel the comfort of it in our being raised to glory Head and Members do not rise by a different power how then you will say are the wicked raised by Christ They are raised ex officio judicis but not beneficio Mediatoris by him as a Judg not by him as a Redeemer There will be a Resurrection both of the wicked and the godly the one by the power of Christ as Judg the other by the power of his Spirit as Redeemer the one are forced to appear the other go joyfully to meet the Bridegroom the one by Christs power as Judg shall have the sentence of condemnation executed upon them the other by vertue of Christs Life and Resurrection shall enter into the possession of the blessed a state of bliss and eternal life wherein they shall enjoy God and Christ and the company of Saints and Angels and sing Hallelujahs for ever 3. Because the Spirit of Sanctification worketh in us that Grace which giveth us a right and title to this glorious estate For by Regeneration we are made children of God and so children of the Resurrection Luk 20.35 36. But they which shall be counted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they die any more for they are equal to the Angels and are the children of God being the children of the resurrection Being admitted into his family here we we may expect to be admitted into his presence hereafter And the actual holiness if we live to years of discretion is necessarily required to a blessed and glorious resurrection Gal. 6.8 If we sow to the flesh we shall of our own flesh reap corruption but if we sow to the spirit we shall of the spirit reap life everlasting There is no Harvest without sowing and as the Seed is so will the Harvest be They that lavish out their time and care and estates in feeding their own carnal desires must expect a crop accordingly which is death and destruction but they that obey the spirit and sow to righteousness shall obtain eternal life for till the cause of death be taken away which is sin we may fear a Resurrection but cannot expect a resurrection to our comfort 4. The spirit doth not only regenerate and convert us which giveth us a right but abideth in us as an earnest Eph. 1.14 We were sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession Where observe Three Things First How the heirs of promise are distinguished from others Secondly The use of this mark and distinction Thirdly The time how long this abideth with us and all this will fully prove the point in hand 1. The mark of all those whom God admitteth into the Gospel State They are sealed with that holy Spirit of promise that is secured set apart as those that have interest in the new Covenant by that spirit of holiness which is promised to believers for the spirit is called the promise of the Father the renewing and sanctifying work of the spirit or the image of Christ impressed upon the soul is this seal and the comfort and joy that floweth thence is an appendage to it as the work of Sanctification is more and more carried on and is fruiâ—ful in holiness of life so we are more and more distinguished as a people set apart to serve and please and injoy the holy and blessed God Now you that are exercised with so many doubts and scruples about your interest in the promise would it not be exceeding comfortable to you if you had your seal and warrant for a sincere claim to the priviledges of the Gospel by the saving graces of the spirit or the impression of the image of Christ upon your hearrs You may be abundantly satisfied for where these saving graces and fruits of holiness are found your right and interest in the promise of eternal life is clear and manifest for this is the mark of the holy spirit and the seed of life eternal 2. The use for which the holy Spirit and saving graces bestowed on them serveth is to be the earnest of the inheritance An earnest is a pledg or first part of a payment which is an assurance or security that the rest of the whole price shall not fail to follow So the Spirit and his Graces is the earnest given by God to confirm and assure the bargain that at last he will bestow upon us our full portion or salvation and eternal life its self The presence and working of the spirit in our hearts is this earnest assoon as you give up your selves to God in covenant you have a right but the Possession is delayed for a season therefore he giveth us part in hand to assure us he will bestow the whole in due time for we need to be satisfied not only as to our present right but our future possession The spirit and his work of grace received here is glory begun a part it is tho but a small part in regard of what is to ensue 3. The time how long the use of this earnest is to continue until the Redemption of the purchased possession The words are somewhat obscure What is the purchased possession It 's taken for the persons acquitted and purchased that is to say the Church and People of God holy and sincere Christians for they are Christs possession whom he hath dearly bought 1 Cor. 6.10 and recovered out of the hands of Satan their old possessor and master Col. 1.13 The Redemption of them is still their full and final deliverance Eph. 4.30 Whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption Their deliverance is but begun now and their bonds but in part loosed but they are fully freed from the effects of sin at the last day when death its self is abolished and their bodies raised up in glory The earnest is given the holy spirit with his graces to abide with us till then at that time there is no farther use of an earnest for there is no place left for doubts and fears Till this day comes Gods earnest abideth with us that is in our souls till our bodies be reunited to them and this fully proveth the matter in hand 5. His respect to his old dwelling place he once dwelled in our bodies as well as in our souls 1 Cor. 6.19 Know you not that your bodies are Temples of the Holy Ghost Our bodies was his Temple and honoured by his presence he sanctified our bodies as
comparing their estate with damned reprobates but he hath done better for them having after a short time of tryal and service here appointed endless joys and pleasures for them at his right hand for evermore Now he taketh them into his family then into his bosom 2. USE Is to press us to put our selves under the conduct and government of the Holy Spirit 't is implied in our Baptism Matth. 28.19 Go therefore teach and baptise all nations in the name of the Father Son and Holyghost By our express consent we take God for our Lord and portion and Christ for our Redeemer and Saviour and the Spirit for our guide sanctifier and comforter There is all the reason to press us to it First From his excellency he cannot deceive us because he is the spirit of truth He cannot ingage us in evil because he is the spirit of Holiness from his readiness to do good Psa. 25.9 Good and upright is the Lord therefore he will teach sinners in the way the poor sinner that is weary of his wandring that is truly humble for his failings and wandrings and comes to him for pardon and grace Secondly From our necessity Our heedless headlong spirit will soon transport us to some inconveniency Pro. 3.5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledg him and he shall direct thy path 't is the greatest judgment to be given up to our own hearts counsels Thirdly From the effects the peace and comfort which followeth his guidance Jer. 6.16 Stand ye on the ways and see and ask for the good old paths where is the good way and walk there in and you shall find rest to your souls and Psa. 143.10 Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God thy spirit is good lead me into the land of uprightness But what must we do Answer 1. Continually desire his assistance and powerful conduct Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him 'T is pleasing to God 1 Kings 3.9.10 Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judg thy people that I may discern between good and bad and the speech pleased the Lord. 2. Let us co-operate with his motions mortifying the wisdom and the desires of the flesh avoiding all those things he disswadeth us from you grieve him when you disturb his comforting work or disobey his sanctifying motions Eph. 4.30 And grieve not the holy spirit whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption Do not break through when he would restrain you or refuse or draw back when he would impel and invite you to good The spirit of God will not forsake you unless you forsake him first he is grieved when the wisdom of the flesh is obeyed before his counsel and his holy inclinations smothered and we yeild easily to the requests of sin but are deaf to his motions 3. let us humble our selves when we sin through frailty and leave the directions of the Holy Ghost let us ever be more wary afterwards Psa. 51.6 In the inward parts shalt thou make me to know wisdom We catch many a fall when we leave our guide as the child when without his Nurse he will take to his own feet 3. USE is tryal For 't is propounded as a mark of the children of God Now by whose counsel are you guided Some follow their own spirit not the spirit of God are guided by the wisdom of the flesh and their own carnal affections led away from God by the lusts of their own heart and the temptations of the Devil taken captive by him at his will and pleasure 2 Tim. 2.26 Our conversations will declare that which is prevalent Principiata respondent suis principiis the constant effects declare the prevailing principle 1. The effects of the spirits leading are an Heavenly life 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit of God that we might know the things that are freely given us of God and Eph. 1.17 18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledg of him The eyes of your understandings being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints The spirit leadeth us to those things that are above The flesh leadeth us to those things here below to flesh-pleasing vanities vain perishing delights only grateful to sense 2. The spirit leadeth to an Holy life and obedience to God Eph. 4.24 And that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness 3. To spiritual things Rom. 8.5 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 and Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting to excel in these things though with the loss of carnal pleasurâ—s 4. To all duties to our neighbour Eph. 5.9 For the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth Gal. 5.22 23. But the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace longsuffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law SERMON XXII ROM VIII 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father THE Words contain a Reason why those who are led by the Spirit are the children of God The Reason is because they have received the Covenant of Grace and the Spirit which accompanieth the New Covenant is not the Spirit of Bondage but Adoption 'T is propounded 1. Negatively 2. Affirmatively 1. Negatively They were freed from the servile fear of condemnation which the legal Covenant wrought in them 2. Affirmatively They were endowed with the Spirit of Adoption or a perswasion of their Father's Love or of God's admitting them into his Family and the right of inheritance and so were drawn to obedience by noble motives suitable to the Covenant they were under For the First Clause in the Text Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear In which words observe 1. The State of men under the Law-Covenant 'T is a State of Bondage 2. The operation of the Spirit during that Dispensation it made men sensible of their Bondage Ye have not received the spirit of bondage There is the Spirit mentioned and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 again implying That during that Dispensation they had it 3. The impression left upon the heart of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fear There is a Twofold Fear filial and servile child-like and slavish The one is
Remunerative Justice There is a threefold Justice in God his General Justice his Strict Justice his Justice of Benignity or Fidelity according to his Gospel Law 1. His General Justice requireth that there should be a different proceeding among them that differ among themselves that every man should reap according to what he hath sown whether he hath been sowing to the Flesh or to the Spirit that the fruit of his doings should be given into his Bosom And therefore though this be not evident in this life where good and evil is promiscuously dispensed because now is the time of Gods patience and our tryal yet in the life to come when God will Judge the World in Righteousness Acts 17.31 it is necessary that it should go well with the good and ill with the bad And as the Apostle saith 2 Thes. 1.6 7. It is a Righteous thing with God to recompense Tribulation to them that trouble you and to you that are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels There is generalis ratio justi in the difference of the recompenses And therefore the different actions of the persons to be judged must come into the discussion whether good or evil 2dly There is Gods strict Justice declared in the Covenant of works whereby he rewardeth man according to his perfect obedience or else punisheth him for his failings and coming short This also is in part to be declared at the day of Judgment on the wicked at least for the Apostle declareth that there will be a different proceeding with men according to the divers Covenants which they are under some shall be judged by the Law of liberty according to which God will accept their sincere though imperfect obedience Others shall have Judgment without any temperament of mercy Jam. 2.12 13. And justly because they never changed Copy and tenure When God made man he gave him a Law suitable to that perfection and innocency wherein he made him Our Fact did not make void his right to require the obedience due by that Law Nor our obligation to perform it but yet because man was uncapable of performing this Law or obtaining Righteousness by it Having once broken it he was pleased to cast out a plank to us after shipwrack to offer us the remedy of a new Law of grace wherein he required of us repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20 21. That we should return to our duty to our Creator depending upon the merit Satisfaction and Power of the Mediator Now we are all sinners and have deserved death according to the Law of Nature and wo and wrath an hundred times over and if through our impenitency and unbelief we will not accept of Gods remedy we are justly left to the old Covenant under which we were born and so undergo Judgment without mercy 3dly There is his justice of bounty and free beneficence as judging according to his Gospel Law which accepteth of sincere obedience and so God is just when he rewardeth a man capable of reward upon terms of Grace So 't is said Heb. 6.10 God is not unrighteous to forget your work of Faith and labour of love which ye have shewed to his name His promises take notice of works and the fruits of Faith and Love as one part of our Qualification which make us capable of the blessings promised 3. His veracity and faithfulness God hath promised Life and Glory to the penitent and obedient and the faithful And God will make good his promises and reward all the labours and patience and faithfulness of his Servants according to his promises to them To whom hath he promised Salvation To the obedient to the patient to the pure in heart to the diligent and studious every where in the Word of God John 12.26 There shall my Servant be Jam. 1.12 And Rom. 2.6 7. He will render to every one according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory Honour Immortality Eternal Life On the contrary he hath interminated and threatned verses 8 9. To them that are contentious and obey not the truth who wrangle and dispute away duty See promises mixed with threatnings to the carnal and the mortified Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do Mortifie the deeds of the Body ye shall live And Gal. 6.8 If ye sow to the flesh of the flesh ye shall reap corruption but if ye sow to the Spirit ye shall reap Life Everlasting Now that Gods truth may fully appear mens works must be brought into the tryal 4. His free grace The business of that day is not only to glorifie his Justice but to glorify his free Love and Mercy 1 Pet. 1.13 Hope unto the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the Revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this grace is no way infringed but the rather exalted when what we have done in the Body whether it be good or evil is brought into the Judgment 1. The evil works of the faithful shew that every one is worthy of death for sinning though we do not die and perish everlastingly for it as others do Gods best Saints have need to deprecate his strict Judgment Psa. 143.2 Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant he doth not say with thine enemy but thy Servant They that can continue with most patience in well doing have nothing to look for at last but mercy Jude 21 'T is their best plea Revel 2.10 Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of Life When we have done and suffered never so much for God we must at length take Eternal Life as a gift out of the hands of our Redeemer but for the grace of the new Covenant we might have perished as others do In some measure we see grace here but never so fully and perfectly as then Partly because now we have not so full a view of our unworthiness as when our actions are scanned and all brought to light And partly because there is not so full and large Manifestation of Gods favour now as there is in our full and final reward 'T is grace now that he is pleased to pass by our offences and to take us into his family and give us some tast of his Love and a right to the Heavenly Kingdom but then 't is another manner of grace and favour then our pardon shall be pronounced by our Judges own mouth and he shall not only take us into his family but into his immediate presence and Heavenly Palace not only give us right but possession Come ye Blessed of my Father Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you And shall have not only some remote service and Ministration but be everlastingly imployed in loving and delighting in and praising of God this is grace indeed The grace of God or his free favour to
the most secret discovery of wrath and discontent and suiteth his Temptations to all the postures of spirit we are in Secondly There is besides this Hostis domesticus the bosom Enemy the Flesh or the inbred Corruption of our Nature that is ready to betray us to the basest Temptations and to open the Gates to the Enemy without Man needeth no Devil to tempt him we have enough in our own bosoms to prompt and urge us to sin Jam. 1.5 The Spirit in us lusteth to envy Gen. 6.5 The thoughts and imaginations of our hearts are evil continually 'T is easie to set Tinder Gunpowder or Flax on fire and therefore they had need to be kept asunder We cannot be too careful the best of us have a good self and a bad self the one must watch over the other or all will come to ruine and Grace will be ready to die Rev. 2.2 Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain that are ready to die From whence cometh the vanity of our Minds our proneness to break the bounds of due liberty in all our Comforts our readiness to erre in Speech our frequent Miscarriages in Conversation our frequent unfitness for holy Duties our unfruitfulness in our Conversing with others our unsettledness in our Consciences our immoderate cares and fears whence I say cometh all this but from our want of Watching against this inward Enemy our Flesh Especially when temptations are near importunate and constant We proceed every step to Heaven by Conflict and Contest because Sin is alwayes at hand ready to assault us and taint us So that a serious Christian cannot but take himself to be still in danger Thirdly The World We walk in the midst of Snares and Temptations saith Austin and Bernard saith That our Life is a continual Temptation We are in the midst of tempting Objects that are comfortable to our Senses necessary to our Uses and present to our Embraces that we can hardly distinguish between what Necessity craveth and Lust desireth and so we are strangely gained upon 1 Joh. 2.16 For all that is in the VVorld is the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eye and pride of Life He doth not say Whatsoever is in our corrupt Hearts but he describeth the Objects by the Lusts because they are readily excited by them All that is in the World there are Baits for every Temper Honour for the ambitious Wealth for the covetous Pleasure for the sensual Now every distemper loveth the Diet that feedeth it Lust in the Soul or unmortified corruption maketh our abode in the World dangerous 2 Pet. 1.4 That having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust Here one plungeth himself over head and ears in the World another is intemperate in the delights of the Flesh and the Entertainments of Sense another is aspiring after Honour great Places and Pomp of living or Esteem in the World or at least we give our selves too great a liberty and freedom in these things Therefore you see what need there is of watching when alluring Objects lay such close siege to the Appetite and Senses 2. There is a VVatching unto Good or for the Performance of our Duties that we go about them in an holy serious conscionable Manner observing the best Opportunities and taking heed there be no secret Leaven of Hypocrisie in them Of all holy Duties the Scripture applieth it to Prayer which of all other holy Services is the commonest and the chiefest and Watching therein is a great help though by Analogy it holdeth good in other duties as we shall see in a few places Col. 4.2 Continue in Prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving So 1 Pet. 4.7 Be sober and watch unto Prayer So Eph. 6.18 watching therein with all perseverance Sathan is a great Enemy to this duty and our Hearts are averse and hardly brought and kept to it Unless it be well performed our Communion with God is interrupted and at a stand Out of all these places we may well collect That there is First A watching unto Prayer or before Prayer Secondly A watching in Prayer or in the Duty Thirdly A watching after Prayer or when the Duty is over 1. The VVatching unto Prayer or before the Duty is mainly to keep up a Praying frame that we may be ready upon all occasions to call upon God The praying frame lyeth partly in Brokenness of heart or a due sense of our Necessities and partly in an earnest Bent of heart towards God and holy and heavenly things and partly in an holy Liberty and Child-like confidence If either of these be lost how slack and backward shall we be in Gods Worship or slight in the performance of it whether in Closet or Family or publick Assemblies and slubber it over in any fashion But when this frame of spirit is kept up the Soul is mightily actuated and enlarged in the Duty As when there is brokenness of heart or a due sense of our Necessities which is the occasion of Prayer or an earnest desire of Grace which is the Soul of Prayer or our Liberty and Confidence is not broken which is the great Encouragement of Prayer then we are like light and airy Bodies whose natural motion is upwards so are we carried out towards God and Prayer is our Element in which we live and breathe Indeed the whole spiritual Life is but a watching unto Prayer that we may have alwayes a readiness for Communion with God 1 Pet. 3.7 2. There is a VVatching in Prayer that the Duty be performed with that seriousness attention and affection that the Nature of it doth require This Watching is necessary because of the slipperiness of our Hearts which easily go off from the work in hand We often mingle Sulphur with our Incense interline our Prayers with carnal distractions suffer our Hearts to be stollen away from under Christs own arm therefore we had need to watch Eccl. 5.1 2 3. There is a Watching after Prayer Partly that we may observe Gods dealing with us whether our Souls have been streightened or whether he hath given liberty hidden his face or shewed himself gracious Here we may gather some matter of Comfort to our selves and Thanksgiving to God Col. 6.2 We must not throw away our Prayers as Children shoot away their Arrows and never look after them Hab. 2.1 I will pray and look up to spy the Blessing a coming We should have many an Argument against Atheism great helps to Faith and encouragements to love God and many a sure ground of comfort in our selves if we did look after the answer of our Prayers And partly that we lose not that affection which we have professed and expressed before God We seemed to express a great desire of glorifying his Name and doing his Will and being sanctified pardoned and strengthened against Temptations Now 't is but the personating and acting a part before God if we be not such in some measure as we professed our selves
not only as death to sin implieth Corruption but Condemnation or the righteous Sentence of the Law dooming it to Death Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh there is dying to sin but after the Spirit there is living to God 2. These are adopted into Gods Family and have the Priviledges and Right of Children For Adoption followeth Regeneration Joh. 1 12 13. But as many a◠received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his Name Which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God 3. These have Communion with the Father by the Son through the Spirit 1 Joh. 1.7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another For Gods Children have the Spirit of Adoption Gal. 4.6 Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father 4. That Spirit dwelling in us worketh us to further Holiness and Joy for he is both a Sanctifier and a Comforter as a Sanctifier he doth further enable us to die to sin and Mortifie the deeds of the body Rom. 8.13 and to live to God Gal. 5.25 If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit and so the Duty is a reward in it self As a Comforter he doth assure us of our interest in Gods Love Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and it causeth us to live in the foresight of everlasting happiness 2 Cor. 5.5 Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit 5. Entrance and actual admission into Glory Joh. 3.3 Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God compared with vers 5. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Heb. 12.12 Without holiness no man shall see God 2. Owne the Grace of Christ without whom we can do nothing acceptable to God Lapsed man is unable not only to redeem himself but unable to live unto God without the Grace of the Redeemer he doth sanctifie us by his Spirit and change our hearts and is a Saviour to us not only by Merit but Efficacy To be a Sanctifier is his Office which he hath undertaken and it is his Glory to perform it we only work under him Which teacheth us 1. Humility whatever good things Believers have which concern spiritual and heavenly Life they are beholden only to Christ for it we can never die to Sin nor live to God but only through Christ and Christ not only inlightning but sanctifying A speculative Errour vanisheth assoon as Truth appeareth but Lust is a brutish inclination bare Reason cannot master it 2. Thankfulness and Love to Christ by whom we have all our Grace and look for all our Glory 3. Dependence he is ready to give us Grace Phil. 4.19 But my God shall supply all our need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus SERMON X. ROM VI. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof THE Apostle having undeniably proved that the justified are dead to sin he now beginneth his Exhortation that we should not obey sin by indulging bodily lusts The Exhortation is short but of great weight Let not sin therefore reign c. In the words take notice 1. Of the illative Particle therefore which leadeth us to the Principles from whence the Duty is inferred namely the Tenor of Christianity which is considered 1. as professed by them for they have submitted to Baptism and so are obliged to die unto sin and to live unto God 2. as having obtained its effect in them as in charity he presumeth them to be regenerated or real Believers and therefore chargeth them with this Duty for Christs Grace must not lie idle in the Soul 2. The Duty to which they are exhorted is to take care to prevent the reign of sin which is described and represented 1. By the Seat of it In your mortal body 2. The Nature of it That you should obey it in the lusts thereof To obey bodily lusts is the Reign of Sin Doctrine That Christians are strictly obliged to take care that Sin get not Dominion over them by the Desires and Interests of the mortal Body 1. Let me explain this Point 2. Give you the Reasons of it I. In explaining this Doctrine I shall handle three Questions 1. Why is Sin said to reign in our Bodies rather than our Souls 2. Why doth the Apostle call it our mortal body the use of this Term and 3. When is Sin said to reign First Why is Sin said to reign in our Bodies rather than in our Souls And again lusts thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as agreeing to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as relating to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Negatively it is not to be understood that sinful lusts are only in the body or have their Original only from the body and not from the Soul for that is repugnant to what Christ saith Mat. 15.18 19. Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies 2. But positively he saith In your body 1. Because these lusts mostly manifest themselves in the body and belong to the body and the flesh Therefore the Apostle saith Mortifie your members which are upon the earth Col. 3.5 and Rom. 7.23 I see a law in my members warring against the law of my mind Jam. 4.1 Lusts that war in your body When the Devil would set up a Kingdom in the hearts of men he doth it by the body for what is nearer and dearer to us than our bodies and things present and grateful to the bodily senses promote his designs these blind our minds and corrupt our hearts and entice our affections so that we follow after them earnestly with the neglect of God and our precious immortal Souls There are various desires according to the variety of objects which tend to please and gratifie the flesh by occasion of which sin doth insinuate it self into us 2. Because they are acted and executed by the Body or Outward man and therefore are called the deeds of the body Rom. 8.13 Now though some sins are seated in the mind as Heresies yet they are works of the flesh Gal. 5.19 20. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies because usually they begin
at â—alseness of the heart and are bred in us by some corrupt affections such as Pride Vain-glory Self-seeking c. Gal. 2.18 Puffed up with his fleshly mind and for sins of Omission they arise in us from some inordinate sensual affection to the Creature which causeth us to omit our Duty to God But generally most sins are acted by the body Therefore as in Grace or in the Dedication of our selves to God the Soul is included when the Body only is mentioned Rom. 12.1 Present your body as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable service all the service we perform to God is acted by the body so in the destruction of sin let it not reign in your body 3. Because the disorder of the sensual Appetite which inclineth us to the interests and conveniencies of the bodily life is the great cause of all sin and therefore man corrupted and fallen is represented as wholly governed by his sensual inclinations Gen. 6.3 For that man also is flesh and Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh as if he had nothing in him but what is earthly and carnal Our Souls do so cleave to the earth and are addicted to the body that they have lost their primitive excellency our Understandings Will and Affections are distempered by our Senses and enslaved to serve the Flesh which is a matter well to be regarded that we may understand why the Scripture so often calleth sin by the name of Flesh and sometimes a Body or it is said to dwell in the body not as if the Understanding and Will were not corrupted and tainted but to shew how they are tainted and corrupted that this corruption which hath invaded humane Nature cometh chiefly though not only from the inordinacy of our sensual Appetite I will prove it by two Considerations First One is a Supposition Suppose that Original sin so far as it concerneth the Understanding and Will consisted in a bare privation of that rectitude that should be in these Faculties I do not say it is so but suppose it were so yet as long as our Senses and Appetites are disordered which wholly incline us to terrene and earthly things this were enough to cause us to sin as a Chariot must needs miscarry where the Driver is weak sleepy negligent and the Horses unruly and disorderly So here we have not so much light and love to higher things as will restrain the sensual Appetite the Understanding hath no light 2 Pet. 1.9 But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off Eph. 1.18 The eyes of your understandings being inlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling c. The Will hath no love 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned and therefore man that obeyeth his bodily lusts and desires must needs be corrupt and sinful Secondly The other is an Assertion that there are habitual positive inordinate inclinations to sensual things both in the Understanding and Will For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 The mind doth not only befriend the lusts of the flesh and seek to palliate and excuse them but opposeth whatever would reduce us from the love of them And the Will is biassed by such sensual inclinations 1 Tim. 6.10 For the love of money is the root of all evil Our Reason doth often contrive and approve sin and the Will embraceth it So that you see the reason why sin is said to reign in our bodies because of the strong inclination of our Souls to present things or things conducing to the contenting of the flesh or gratifying the bodily life Secondly Why doth the Apostle say In your mortal bodies I answer For sundry reasons 1. To put us in mind of the first rise of sin for sin brought in death Rom. 5.12 As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned And so while we live this mortal bodily life we are subject to these desires swarms of sinful motions and inclinations to evil remain within us we are prone to them and give way to them and are too slack in the resistance of them and through the ignorance and unattentiveness of our minds cannot discern or distinguish between what regular Nature desireth and Lust craveth There are lawful desires of the body and prohibited desires of the body through the crafty conveyance between the Understanding and the false Heart we easily give way to what is inordinate under the pretence of what is lawful and convenient and so insensibly slide into compliance with the plain prohibited desires of the body Lust is head-strong and the Empire and Government of the Will feeble and so we are led on to obey them that is we become servants and slaves to sin And though the Regenerate be delivered from the power of sin yet much of this corruption remaineth in them for their exercise and humiliation and if they be not watchful and obey not the motions of the Spirit it will soon recover its power and men will be brought into their old slavery and captivity Gal. 5.16 17. Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit lusteth against the flesh So that this mortal body giveth sin many advantages 2. This term mortal Body puts us in mind of its punishment it tendeth to death and destruction We considered it before as it pointed at the rise now at the fruit it self The Apostle telleth us Rom. 8.10 The body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness He speaketh there of Believers or those who have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them who being once sinners the punishment of sin death befalleth them and so their bodies must die and return to dust yet they shall live a happy and blessed Life both in Body and Soul If they labour to mortifie and suppress sin and return sincerely to newness of life though they are still mortal and subject to corporal death because of sin yet it shall not be eternal death The renewed Soul is a partaker of eternal Life and shall always live with God in Glory and though the body be put off for a time yet in time it shall be partaker of this life also 3. To shew us the transitoriness of these delights You gratifie a mortal body with the neglect of a precious and immortal Soul now the mortal body should not be pampered with so great a loss and inconvenience to our Souls All the good things which the flesh aimeth at they perish with the mortal body but the guilt and punishment of this disorderly life remaineth for ever All fleshly pleasure ceaseth at the
The Lord shew me favour in the sight of this man for I have been the kings cupbearer 3. Pray God to bless you and ever keep in remembrance the former debt 1 Cor. 6.15 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 SERMON XVI ROM VIII 13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die HERE is another Reason rendred why Christians should not live after the flesh before a debito now a damno or if you will take the whole Verse you have the danger of the carnal life and the benefit of the spiritual both Propositions are hypothetical or conditional both include perseverance in either course The Apostle saith not If you have lived after the flesh ye shall die All have lived after the flesh before they lived after the spirit and in the other part if ye go on to mortifie in the one branch the doom is heavy death not only temporal but eternal in the other the boon or benefit is as much as we can desire and far more than we can ever deserve or requite both have their use for man is apt to be moved by hope or fear if honesty and duty will not perswade us yet danger and benefit may have an influence upon us Let us now consider the first clause where death is propounded as the necessary consequent of carnal living we need not only milk but salt as milk to nourish the new creature so salt to fret out the corruption of the old man A sore penalty is threatned to them that fulfil the desires and inclinations of the flesh we buy carnal delights at too dear a rate when we must die eternally to enjoy them Doct. That God threatneth those that live after the flesh with eternal death and destructiion I shall speak to this Point 1. By way of Explication 2. By way of Confirmation In the Explication I shall shew you 1. What is meant by flesh 2. What by living after the flesh 3. What is the death threatned 2. By way of Confirmation 1. That this threatning is every way consistent with the Wisdom and Goodness of God Secondly The certainty of its being accomplished and fulfilled First by way of Explication 1. What is meant by flesh 1. The flesh is sometimes taken for the natural bodily substance that corporeal mass we carry about us so 't is said No man ever hated his own flesh but nourisheth it and cherisheth it Eph. 5.29 The body is a part of us and deserveth due care that it might be an holy Temple for the Spirit to dwell in and sanctifie and make use of it for God 2. For corruption of nature which inclineth us wholly to things grateful to the body and bodily life with the neglect of God and our precious immortal souls John 3.6 That which is born of flesh is flesh Now flesh in this latter sense is taken 1. Largely 2. Strictly First Largely For the whole dunghil of Corruption in whatever faculty it is seated in the Understanding Will or rational Appetite so Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the spirit that is corrupt nature 2. Strictly Or in a limited sense for the corruption of the sensual Appetite 1 John 2.16 All that is in the world is either the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye or pride of life Sensuality is expressed by the lust of the flesh and Eph. 2.3 Fulfilling the wills of the flesh and of the mind As 't is taken more generally for natural corruption both in Will Mind and Affections so more particularly for the disorder of the sensual Appetite which carrieth us to Meats Drinks Riches Pleasures Honours therefore there are two Branches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Flesh must not be confined to this latter sense but taken in the latitude of the former we read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wisdom of the flesh Rom. 8.7 and of a fleshly mind Col. 2.18 Man is a corrupt carnal creature in all his faculties of the soul even those which are more noble the Understanding and Will and when the Apostle reckoneth up the works of the flesh Gal. 5.19 He doth not only reckon up Fornication and Adultery Uncleanness Wantonness which belong to the sensual Appetite but Idolatry and Heresie which are the fruits of blind and corrupt Reason and Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Sedition Envyings Murther which belong to the depraved Will we must take flesh then in the largest sense Secondly What it is to live after the flesh Living doth not note one single action but the trade course and strain of our conversations they are said to live after the flesh where the flesh is their principle their work and their scope 1. Where it is the governing principle or that spring which sets all the Wheels a going Once it was thus with us all we were wholly acted by the inclinations and desires of the flesh and did nothing but what the flesh moved us unto and therefore natural men are said to be in the esh Rom. 8.8 and after the flesh v. 5. and to serve divers lusts and pleasures Tit. 3.3 But when our cure is wrought we are acted by another principle the spirit or new nature Rom. 8.1 and Gal. 5.16 Not that the old principle is quite abolished 't is in us still Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit lusteth against the flesh And 't is in us not as dead but as working and operative and there is a mixture of the respective influence and efficacy of these two principles in every action yea in some actions a prevalency of the one above the other The worser part in a particular conflict may get the upper hand yet there is a sensible difference between the people of God and others the better principle is habitual and constant and in predominancy and doth not only check and thwart the other but overcome it and the interest of the flesh decreaseth and that of the spirit prevaileth and keepeth the carnal part in subjection but when the flesh is the chiefest principle that beareth rule in our hearts and we are acted and guided by it in our course of life we live after the flesh 2. Their work and trade or the business of their lives men are said to live after the flesh that wholly mind the things of the flesh Rom. 8.5 That take no other care but to spend their time wit and estate upon the service of their own fleshly lusts their whole life study and labour is to please the flesh and satisfie the flesh If God gets any thing from them 't is but for fashion sake and 't is only the flesh's leavings so Gal. 5.8 To sow to the flesh there is their business To make provision for the flesh Rom. 13.14 Neglecting God and the eternal welfare of their precious and immortal souls be it in the way of sensuality or be it
getting into the Pool see Jam. 1.23 If a man be a hearer of the word and not a doer he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass c. If so there is a season lost there is some duty pressed some sin discovered some want laid open mortification is much promoted by observing and improving these seasons 1 Pet. 1.22 seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit and Psa. 119.104 Through thy precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way By attending on the word we get new degrees of light and hatred against sin sometimes God weakneth this lust sometimes that according as he is pleased to direct it to your consciences 3. After some notable fall or sin against God See the coar of the destemper pulled out to get a pardon is not enough but mortification must be looked after the longer sin defileth the Heart the deeper it is rooted therefore speedily recover your selves at such a time a green Wound is more easily cured than an old rankled Sore and David complaineth his wounds did stink through his foolishness Psa. 38.5 The longer these Wounds be neglected the worse if a Member is sprained or out of joynt if you delay to set it it never groweth strong or straight Peter did not lie in the sin but went out immediately and wept bitterly Matth. 26.75 The longer corruption is spared it acquireth the more strength secureth its interest more firmly and is more deeply rooted in the Soul and bringeth a custom on the body also 2. Why justifyed persons must mortifie the deeds of the body 1. With respect to Christ. 2. With respect to sin 3. With respect to grace received 1. With respect to Christ and there 1. What he did and is to us 2. Our relation to him 1. What he did and is to us For what end he suffered for us and for what end he is offered to us He suffered for us to take away sin or to purchase grace whereby sin may be mortified he paid the price to provoked justice 1 Pet. 2.24 He bore our sins in his body upon the tree that we being dead unto sin should live to righteousness Naturally we are dead to Righteousness and alive to sin but Christ intention in dying for sinners was to remedy this that sin might die and grace live and therefore our old man is said to be Crucified with Christ Rom. 6.6 Then the Price was paid and grace purchased He came not only to free us from punishment but cut also the power of sin The guilt of sin is contrary to our happiness the power of sin to Gods Glory 2. The end for which he is offered to us God propoundeth Christ not only as a foundation of Comfort but as a Fountain of grace and Holiness 1 Cor. 1.30 Who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption to be our Sanctification as well as our Righteousness where he is the one he is the other one principal blessing is to turn us from our sins Acts 3.36 and that is mortification or weakning the power and love of sin in our hearts now that we may receive him as God offereth him and not rend and divide him by a broken and imperfect Faith as we look for Comfort in Christ in the sense of our justification and pardon so an experience of his power in mortifying sin otherwise we have but half of Christ. 2. Our relation to him both by external profession and Real implantation both bind us to mortifie sin 1. External profession obligeth us to die unto sin 't was a part of our baptismal vow and we quite nullifie and frustrate the intent of that Ordinance unless we Mortifie the deeds of the body The Flesh was renounced in our answer to Gods Covenant-Questions 1 Pet. 3.21 Baptism is called the answer of a good conscience towards God 'T is an Answer to the Lords offers propounded in the Gospel when we were first consecrated to this warfare and that dedication must never be forgotten 2 Pet. 1.19 And hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins To neglect is to forget as to distribute and communicate forget not that is neglect not So here hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins while they please the flesh they neglect their Baptismal vow and so make that Ordinance of none effect to them we are said Col. 2.13 To put of the body of the sins of the flesh That is in vow and obligation being buried with him in baptism Now if we do not stand to our vow our solemn admission into Christs family was in vain 2. By real implantation surely they that are united to Christ cannot live in the servitude and slavery of sin for by this union with him they are assimulated and conformed to him Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ and 't was not his priviledg alone but all the justifyed Gal. 5.24 And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof This conformity is called by the Apostle a being planted into the likeness of his death Rom. 6.5 Christ was crucified in his human nature and we in our corrupt nature We crucified him by our sins and we are crucified with him by his spirit Christ dyed for sin and a Christian unto sin 2. With respect to sin which remaineth in us after we are justified Here are three considerations demonstrating why we should mortify sin 1. That sin still abideth in us after we are taken into the justifyed estate while we dwell in flesh this woful and sad companion dwelleth with us we cannot get rid of this cursed inmate till the house its self be pulled down we die struggling with it and when one of our feet is within the borders of eternity yet it departeth not as hair groweth after shaving as long as the roots remain so is corruption sprouting therefore must be always mortifying always cleansing 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit Always purifying 1 John 3.3 He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as Christ is pure Always laying aside the weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us Heb. 12.1 Since sin is not nullified it therefore must be mortified the war must last as long as the enemy liveth and hath any strength and force 2. It still worketh in us is very active and restless not as other things which as they grow in age grow more quiet and tame James 4.5 The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy The flesh is not a sleepy habit but a working stirring principle Rom. 7.8 Sin wrought in me all manner of concupiscence That is sinning nature 't is always inclining us to evil hindring that which is good 1. Inclining us to that which is evil It doth not only make us flexible and yielding to temptations but doth urge us and impel us
covenant of nature which concerned both Jew and Gentile or the first administration of the covenant of Grace made with the Jews only First the covenant of nature which we are all under naturally breedeth Bondage and shyness of God we are sensible that we are his creatures and so owe him duty and subjection that we have fail'd in our duty to him and therefore lye obnoxious to his wrath and punishment Heathens that had but some obscure notions of God felt somewhat of this Bondage Rom. 1.32 They knew the judgment of God and that they which commit such things are worthy of death They stood in dread of angry justice and not only they but all mankind are under it Rom. 2.15 according to that natural sense which men have of religion so is their Bondage more or less still under fear of death and the consequents thereof This sense or conscience of sin and wrath which the breach of Gods law hath made our due is so ingrained in the nature of man that he cannot disposess himself of it The Apostle compareth it to the bond of marriage which is indissoluble till one of the parties die Rom. 7.1 2 3. The conscience of man is either married to the law as its husband or Christ as its husband not to the latter till it be dead to the former v. 4. Ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye might be marrid to another even to him that was raised from the dead Well then this Bondage is the effect of the law or covenant of Nature impressed upon the heart of man and ariseth from a consciousness of guilt and obnoxiousness to Gods wrath and displeasure because of Gods broken covenant Secondly The first administration of the covenant of grace That bred a spirit of Bondage witness that allegory Gal. 4.22 to 26. Abrahams two Wives did represent the two Covenants the first and second administration of the Covenant of grace The first gendred to Bondage men of a servile spirit doing what they did not out of love but slavish fear 2 Cor. 3.9 But if the ministration of death written and ingraven in stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance which glory was to be done away for if the ministration of condemnation be glory much more doth the ministration of righteousness excel in glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Gospel was dark and had little efficacy to change the heart of man it did little allay and vanquish this shyness of God rather increased it as it conduced to revive the knowledg of God in their minds and held forth the ransom and way of appeasing Gods angry justice obscurely and darkly rather shewed our distance from God Israel was Gods first-born and so his heir but an heir in non-age Gal. 4.1 2. Their ordinances was a Bond ours an Aquittance but what is this to us Answer Much every way 1. That we may bless God for the greater advantages that we have to breed a Child-like spirit in us by the new Covenant where the Lord who is offended by sin is propitiated by the death of Christ and willing to admit man into his presence and bless him that God as a Judge driveth us by the spirit of Bondage to Christ as Mediator that Christ as Mediator by the spirit of adoption may bring us back again to God as a Father and then having God for our Father we may have Christ for our Advocate and the Spirit for our Comforter and Sanctifier to inable us to observe the Gospel precepts of repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and so be made capable of the promises of pardon and life one covenant maketh us sensible of the grace of the other Christ dealeth with us as children of the family requiring duty from us upon reasonable and comfortable terms 2. Because those that live under the Gospel-dispensation and have not received the power of it may be yet under a spirit of bondage and cherish a legal way of religion In every one that entertaineth thoughts of Religion Law and Gospel are at conflict in his heart as well as flesh and corruption this is clear by Gal. 5.17 18. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would but if ye be led by the spirit ye are not under the law as spirit and flesh do lust against and constantly oppose one another and labour to suppress and diminish each other so do Law and Grace those that are slaves to their sinful lusts and are not inabled by the spirit of the new Testament to do in some measure what the rule injoyneth have their comforts obstructed and while sin reigneth the law reigneth Rom. 6.14 For sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but grace Partly by its iritating power and Partly by its condemning power leaving them under a fear of condemnation and urging them to do what they cannot do 3. The Children of God by regeneration and adoption while sin remaineth may have somewhat of bondage remaining in them Look as under the Old Testment when the ingenuous and noble motives of the Gospel were in a great measure unknown there was somewhat of a free spirit in the Eminent Saints Psal. 51.12 though but sparingly dispenced so under the Gospel dispensation there are many sad and drooping Christians who do not improve the comforts provided for them and when they are called upon to rejoyce in the Lord always Phil. 4.4 rather go mourning all the day long but 't is their fault The people under the law dispensation were either the Godly or the wicked or the middle sort the eminently Godly then had a free spirit the wicked were either terrified or stupified the middle sort who were touching the righteousness of the law blameless Phil. 3.6 had a zeal for outward observances but not according to knowledg Rom. 10.2 were meerly acted by a legal spirit so under the Gospel there are the eminently Godly who evermore rejoyce 1 Thes. 5.16 or at least are swayed more with love than fear the weak Godly who have much of their ancient fears and the love of God in them is yet too weak to produce its effect though this love to God do prevail over sin yet not ordinarily over fear of punishment but much of that influences their duties more than their love to God There is too great aversness in their hearts from God and Holiness and they seek to break it by the terrors of the Lord. Not sin but fear is predominant Thirdly Is this spirit of Bondage good or bad I answer 1. We must distinguish of the three Agents in it This Bondage cometh partly from a good cause the spirit of God breeding in us a knowledg of our Duty and a
some special way of operation Rom. 5.5 And 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have not received the spirit of the World but the Spirit of God that we may know the things that are freely given us of God And Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you A believers Body and Soul is the Spirits Mansion-house and those that have the Spirit to dwell in them not to come upon them at times are in an abiding state of Grace The Spirit came upon Balaam at times Num. 24.34 but in his People he makes his abode He doth act in others as a Spirit assisting but not as a Spirit inhabiting He dwelleth in his people The Spirit is often promised to dwell in our Hearts not only for a season but for ever John 4.14 The water that I shall give him shall be a Well of water springing up to everlasting Life Mark the Spirit doth not give a Draught but the Spring not a Dash of rain that is soon dryed up but a Well not a Pond that may be dryed up at length but a Fountain that ever keepeth flowing so that we shall never thirst more it shall quench his thirst after worldly Vanities and Delights These things grow tastless the more of the Spirit we have The Spirit of Christ as the Fountain doth make this Grace enduring in its self and in its effects a Well of inexhaustable fulness and refreshment So John 7.38 He that believeth in me out of his belly shall flow Rivers of living water Not a petty refreshment for a season but his Spirit to dwell in us as a full Fountain to flow forth for the refreshment of himself and others Though the Ocean be in God yet there is a River in the Saints in Christ there is plentitudo fontis in us plentitudo vasis if we find any remission of the Comforts of this Spring it 's through our own Pride and Unbelief and Idleness John 14.16 17. I will give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever The Spirit will not change his dwelling place This is such a degree of Grace as the unregenerate World cannot receive 4. This inward Principle is expressed with respect to the Instrument which is the Word of God so 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 1.21 the ingrafted Word The root of the matter is within 't is not the word heard only or the word obeyed only will save us but it must be an ingrafted Word 't is not bound on but ingrafted 't is not enough to yield some present Obedience to it but it must be rooted in us So in that notable Promise Heb. 8.10 I will put my Laws in their minds and write them upon their hearts The Writing is the Law of God the Tables are the Minds and Hearts of men that is the understanding and will and rational Apetite and this is written by the Finger of God there where is the Source and Original of all moral operations of all thoughts and affections and inward motions there is the Law of God written in those parts of the Soul where the directive Councel and the imperial commanding power of all humane actions resideth there will God write his Laws in lively and legible Characters and what is the effect A man becometh a Law to himself he carryeth his Rule about with him and hath a ready and willing mind to obey it Psa. 37.31 The Law of God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide The truth is rooted in him and his heart is suited and inclined to it he unfeignedly loveth what is commanded of God and hateth what is forbidden by him 5. The work its self is sometimes generally expressed by these Notions 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the New Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 when a man is thoroughly framed anew in all his Faculties And 1 Joh. 3.9 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the abiding Seed not a vanishing affection but a remaining seed and 't is called a good Treasure Math. 12.35 There is a stock that supplyeth holy Thoughts Words and Actions As a man that hath a bad Treasure of Corruption the more he spends the more 't is encreased so a man that hath a good stock he bringeth forth holy Thoughts Words and Actions And 't is called a new Heart and a right Spirit Psal. 51.10 Ezek. 36.26 27. and 't is called a sound heart Psa. 119.80 There is a slight heart and a sound heart which is not only opposed to the shows of Hypocrites but to the suddain pangs and half dispositions of Temporaries when Grace beareth an universal soveraignty over us inclining the heart to love and please and serve God 6. Sometimes the work is particularly expressed by the several Graces of the Spirit all which are comprized in Faith and Repentance Acts 20.21 Teaching them Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ Repentance towards God because by it we return to the Duty we owe to our Creator and Faith in the Gospel notion doth principally respect our Redeemer and his mediation for us By Repentance we return to the Duty injoyned by the Law from whence we are fallen and by Faith we apprehend the Love of Christ and what he hath done for us By Repentance we are set in joynt again as to our Obedience to the Law-giver and by Faith we close with and are united to our Redeemer without which we cannot be accepted with God Both are the Principles of all sincere Obedience and subjection to the Gospel-law or Covenant If you ask me What is this Oyl in the Vessel that we must have to qualifie us to meet the Bridegroom at his coming Answ. 'T is Repentance mortifying our inward Lusts and Faith working by Love 1. Repentance mortifying our inward Lusts that in newness of Life we may glorifie God therefore called Repentance from dead works Heb. 6.1 By common Grace men may cast off all outward evils escape the pollutions of the World but are never really and inwardly changed in their natures 'till the Spirit of Christ worketh this Grace in the Heart they are but as a Sow washed 2 Pet. 2.22 there is an inclination to wallow in the Mire of carnal delights again 'T is possible a man may see such an excellency in Christ and be so affected at the hopes of his Mercy and melted at the thoughts of his Love as to cast off outward gross evils which the World liveth in but this is but the Sow washed the heart is not changed Lust for a while may be benummed seem quenched but 't is not deadned 't is not weakned If ye through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the Body Rom. 8.13 as appeareth by its breaking out again with the more violence 2. Faith working by Love that is the great principle of Gospel-obedience True Grace doth not lye hid in the Soul in lazy habits but sets the Soul awork for God upon the apprehension of
us to all holy endeavours of Obedience this is sometimes called the activity or working of Grace Faith worketh by love Gal. 5.6 Sometimes Zeal or an earnest burning of affection towards God or that holy Ardor whereby we repress those affections unruly motions and desires which are contrary to his Will and do excite and stir up our selves more and more to honour him and please him Titus 2.14 Zealous of good works Sometimes Alacrity and Chearfulness as we prevail in striving against sin and our Love to God increaseth 1 John 5.3 4. All these are as so many degrees First We make Conscience of doing our Duty but that 's not enough a Convinced man may have his Conscience stirring and pleading for God but a Converted man or a renewed Heart hath an inclination and not only an inclination but some fitness and not only some fitness but there is an impulsion which discovereth its self either by stirring or exciting to that which is good though with difficulty which is the lowest degree All Grace is stirring and would fain break out into action for 't is not a dead and sleepy habit but seeketh to break forth and is called by the Apostle The Lustings of the Spirit Gal. 5.17 Another Degree is Zeal and Love to the glory of God whom they honour and desire to exalt continually which maketh them complain of Corruption and to strive against it and to shake off sloathfulness and the weights of sin that hang upon us when the Spirit gets the upper hand but the flesh is not easily subdued Then we are more at liberty to serve God and so Alacrity followeth when a man hath Pleasure in good actions and the Flesh is so overcome and subdued that it can make little or no opposition and so we perform our Duty with more ease and delight which is the highest degree SERMON III. MATTH XXV v. 3 4. They that were foolish took their Lamps and took no Oyl with them But the wise took Oyl in their Vessels with their Lamps I Come now to the Second Effect Secondly An habitual Aversation to that which is evil Psal. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil 'T is as natural to Grace to hate evil as to love good As Love was made for God and the things which he hath Commanded and tends to the enjoyment of him so Hatred was made for sin and what is contrary to God Man hath an eschewing faculty as well as an embracing and choosing faculty and Grace falleth upon both and sanctifyeth the one as well as the other Amos 5.15 Hate the evil and love the good Love was given us for good and Hatred for evil Love was made for the chiefest good and all things that tend to it and Hatred for that which is truely and properly evil Now concerning this Effect of Grace I shall observe these things 1. Grace produceth an Hatred of sin not a bare abstinence from it Sin may be restrained by forreign reasons not proper to Grace as a Dogg that hath a mind to the Bait may abstain for fear of the Cudgel So Men may abstain because of the Penalty of Laws Infamy shame in the World or other reasons as Haman refrained himself that he might the better take Revenge upon the whole race of the Jews Men may refrain from sin when there is not a rooted Enmity against it whereas in the Saints there is a constant Principle of resistance against it 1 John 3.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Seed of God abideth in him The Grace of Sanctification doth change the nature of a man and his Heart is set against that he loved before Look as the Lord will not respect mens external practice of Good when it may be their Hearts abhor and loath it and are bent on other courses he requireth chiefly that they be rooted in the Love of good and delight in it so he will not accept a simple not-doing or forbearing evil while it may be their Hearts are going a Whoring after it but will have them really hate and detest it that there should be an abiding Enmity in their Hearts against it and where 't is so that there is an habitual Love of good and hatred of evil Christ will pass by many failings in practice as you may see Rom. 7.22 23 24 25. that is the Case there The evil that I hate that do I and I delight in the Law of God in the inward man Clear these two once and the remainders of sin will not be your ruine 2. Grace produceth an hatred of sin as sin out of a principle of Love to God and as it is contrary to his Law and the new nature planted in us Ye that love the Lord hate evil and he that is born of God sinneth not that is the principle because the Seed of God abideth in you The School-men distinguish of two sorts and kinds of Hatred Odium abominationis and Odium inimicitiae the first is defined by Aquinas to be Dissonantia quaedam appetitus ad id quod apprehenditur ut repugnans noxium an aversation of the Appetite to what is apprehended repugnant and contrary to us Such an hatred there is in the regenerate for they apprehend sin as repugnant and contrary to their renewed Will to the unregenerate 't is agreeable and suitable as Draffe to the appetite of a Swine or Grass and Hay to a Bullock and Horse The other is an Hatred of Enmity so called both for the ground of it and the effect of it the ground as an evil that which is an Enemy and hurtful to us as sin is to our Peace and Happiness Temporal Spiritual and Eternal but chiefly as to the effect of it Hatred is a willing of evil and mischief to the thing or person hated Both these Hatreds are in the Children of God They hate sin not only as it may bring Loss and Detriment horrour of Conscience and Damnation but out of the pure Love of God as 't is contrary to his Image and Will and they hate it with an hostile Hatred so as to seek the destruction of it Non cessat in laesione Peccati sed in exterminio it doth not scratch at the Face of sin but is seeking to mortifie and subdue it and therefore are alwayes Mourning Praying Watching Striving Famishing it by cutting off its Provisions and denying its Satisfactions and still following the work close 'till we get the Mastery of it 3. I Observe That renewing Grace doth so far obtain and produce this effect in the Hearts of those that are under it that their Hatred to sin is greater than their Love to it and sin is thereby more and more weakened and subdued in the Soul We flatter our selves with notions of Love and Hatred unless there be some answerable Success and Prevalency It cannot be Imagined that sin should Live in its full strength where there is a fixed settled frame of Heart against it that there should be in the Soul
13. Watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh HEre is the Conclusion of the whole Parable as the illative Particle Therefore sheweth Every passage in it will inferr this Conclusion First The Suddenness and unexpectedness of his Coming Watch therefore Secondly Only those that are ready shall enter into the Marriage-Chamber Watch therefore that ye may be alwayes ready Thirdly The Shutting the Door and Exclusion of the Unprepared Watch therefore Fourthly The Door is shut as never to be opened again When they beg Entrance they are refused and disowned by Christ as having not his mark upon them Watch therefore for ye know not the day neither the hour c. In the Words we have 1. A Duty 2. The Reason of it The one will explain the other 1. For the Duty What is meant by Watching Because we are pressed to it upon the account of the uncertain time of Christs Coming here it meaneth a care to get and keep our selves alwayes ready and in a posture to receive him for our Lord as himself explaineth it Mat. 24.42 Watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come 2. The Reason For ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh Mat. 24.42 For in such an hour you think not of the Son of Man cometh Doct. The great Duty that lyeth upon them that believe and look for Christs comeing is Watching My business will be to shew you what Watching is in the general notion of it As 't is taken Spiritually and Metaphorically it implyeth a diligent care and heed to the great affairs of our Souls For 't is a mixt thing made up of Prudence and Diligence It â—mplyeth a prudent foresight of the Souls danger with a diligent care to avoid it It is pressed in Scripture to a double end Partly that we may maintain the present state and partly that we may prepare for the future The one quickeneth the other And though the latter be of chief consideration in this place yet it will not be amiss to consider both For there is no hope to stand before Christ at his Coming unless we be careful to get and keep Grace for the present And on the other side the Argument to quicken us to present care and diligence is the blessedness we shall have at Christs Coming and the danger of being disallowed at last 1. Watching with respect to our present Preservation is pressed Mat. 26.41 VVatch and pray that ye enter not into temptation And 1 Cor. 16.13 VVatch ye stand fast in the faith 2 Watching with respect to future Acceptation That is pressed in other places Mat. 24.42 VVatch ye for ye know not in what hour the Lord cometh The particular time of Christs coming is kept secret that we may be moved at all times to prepare for it The Lord foresaw that we would be prone to negligence and carnal security and that the knowledge of the express time of his coming would be hurtful to us therefore 't is inter Arcana Imperii among the Secrets kept in the Fathers bosom that we might be alwayes ready So Luk. 21.36 VVatch ye therefore and pray alwayes that ye may be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of Man The meaning is that we may escape the Judgments then to be poured out upon the wicked and the careless that we may not causa cadere that we may have a Sentence of Approbation pass'd in our favour These are the two sorts of Watching pressed upon us in Scripture the one to avoid the Snares of the Devil the other that we may be ready for the coming of the Lord. First Watching with respect to our present State and Safety This again is twofold A watching to avoid evil and a watching for the careful performance of that which is good The Scripture speaketh of both and both are enforced by their own proper Reasons 1. For the avoiding of Evil There is in us all a sinfull proneness to evil which we must seek to cure and prevent Prov. 4.23 Keep thy Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life The Heart is terminus actionum ad intra fons actionum ad extra 't is the Heart that God aimeth at in all that he doth upon us and 't is the Heart that is the Ground of all our Actions The Fountain must be kept pure from pollutions that the streams may be the more limpid and clear Every man hath a little Garrison to keep and he himself is the Watchman of it his Conscience is to sit Porter at the Door and to examine whatever cometh out and entreth in as a Watchman doth at the Gates of a City All the thoughts affections words actions are to be examined what they are whither they go whence they come whither they tend lest a Temptation be let in or a Corruption be let out otherwise the Heart cannot be kept pure and loyal to God Solomon telleth us Prov. 25.28 He that hath no Rule over his own Spirit is like a City that is without walls A Town without walls lieth open to every comer Sin and danger and all kind of evil motions go to and fro without any kind of check and controul Things will past out which should be suppressed and kept in and Temptations will enter which should be kept out Now this Caution is no more than needeth if we consider the Enemies of our Salvation the Devil the World and the Flesh. First The Malice of Sathan Our Adversary is very watchfull and getteth advantage by nothing so much as our security Vigilat hostis dormis 'T was an old word The Devil is neither dead nor asleep and shall not we stand upon our guard 1 Pet. 5.8 Be sober and watchful for your adversary the Devil goeth about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour Sathan is a restless Adversary full of Malice and Craft his end is to destroy and devour Souls and his diligence is answerable to his malice Night and day we are in danger every one of us There were but two Adams and they were both tempted though the one was made after Gods Image and the other had the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily Adam in Innocency and Christ in humane nature were tempted and can we hope to escape Neglect your Watch and you become a ready prey to the Devil When the Servants slept the Enemy sowed Tares Math. 13.25 He observeth all our drowsie fits and is waiting for some Advantage or at least some Occasion Sometimes we give him an Advantage by our folly and indiscretion 2 Cor. 2.11 lest Sathan should get an advantage against us Or if not he taketh Occasion as he tempted Christ when he was an hungry Matth. 4.2 and 2 Cor. 7.5 that Sathan tempt you not He can interpret the silent language of a blush a smile a frown a look the glance of a lustfull eye
there Salvation in any other for there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved it only excludeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that are called Gods 1 Cor. 8.5 There is no God but one Many are called Gods but to us there is but one God the Father As also it is the scope of Christ he would lay down the Summary of Christian Doctrine the one Member being opposed to the vanity of the Gentiles the other to the blindness of the Jews 2. To note the Order and Oeconomy of Salvation in which the Father is represented as Supream in whom the Sovereign Majesty of the Deity resideth and the Son sustaineth the Office of Mediator and Servant Joh. 14.28 My Father is greater then I not in respect of Nature or essential Glory for therein they are both equal Phil. 2.6 Who being in the Form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God but in order of Redemption in which the Father is the principal Party representing the whole Deity because he is the Original and Fountain of it So 1 Cor. 8.6 But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him God the Father is to be conceived as the Supream Person or ultimate Object of Worship and the Son as Lord and Mediator And Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent That is Jesus Christ not as the Second Person in the Trinity but as Mediator Sent implieth 1. Christ's Divine Original he came forth from God he is Legatus à latere John 16.30 By this we know that thou camest forth from God He was a Person truly existing before he was sent into the World and a distinct Person from the Father for he that sendeth and he that is sent are distinguished 2. His Incarnation Gal. 4.4 When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman 3. It implieth his whole Office of Mediator and Redeemer wherefore he is called the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession Heb. 3.1 Apostle implieth one that was sent Christ was the chief Apostle and Messenger of Heaven the High Priest and Apostle The High Priesthood was the highest Calling in the Jewish Church and the Apostleship the highest Calling in the Christian Church to note that the whole Office of saving all the Church the Elect of all Ages is originally in Christ. He is the great Ambassador to treat with us from God and the High Priest to treat with God and appease his Wrath for us The Names of Christ also are of some use Such Scriptures are like Gold that may be beaten into thin Leaves In Summaries and Breviats every Mark and Letter is of use Jesus signifieth a Saviour at it is explained Mat. 1.21 Thou shalt call his Name Jesus for he shall save his People from their Sins This is a part of our Belief to acknowledg Christ a Saviour Then Christ signifieth anointed We shall draw out the sum of all in a few Points 1. Observe The Beginning Increase and Perfection of Eternal Life lieth in Knowledge 1. The Beginning of it is in Knowledg Knowledg is the first step to Eternal Life In Paradise Adam's two Symbols were the Tree of Knowledg and the Tree of Life As Light was the first Creature that God made so it is in the New Creation Col. 3.10 Put on the New Man who is renewed in Knowledg after the Image of him that created him By the inlightning of the Holy Ghost the Work of Grace is begun and the Seed of Glory is laid in the Heart The Holy Ghost representeth the Patern and then conformeth us to 〈◊〉 Regeneration is nothing but a transforming Light or such an Illumination as châ—â—ges the Heart 2 Cor. 3.18 We all with open Face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of our God Ephes. 4.23 Be renewed in the Spirit of your Minds It maketh our Notions of God and Christ to be active and effectual The Force of the new Nature is first upon the Mind it taketh Sin out of the Throne God in the order of Grace followeth the Order which he hath established in Nature Reason and Judgment is to go before the Will 2. The Increase of it is by Knowledg 2 Pet. 3.18 But grow in Grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The more thou growest in Knowledg the more thou growest in Life All the gradual Progress and Increase of the Spiritual Life is by the increase of Light 2 Pet. 1.2 Grace be multiplied unto you by the knowledg of God and Jesus Christ our Lord. Heat doth increase by Light as a Room is warmer at high Noon than in a chill Morning I confess through corruption and literal airy Knowledg Men grow more carnal and careless as new Light quencheth old Heat but by the Light of the Spirit the Heart is more quickned and enlivened and as the Judgment is made solid so the Heart is more gracious 3. The Perfection of it is by Knowledg Psal. 17.15 When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy Likeness The Heaven of Heavens is to satisfy the Understanding with the knowledg of God One great end of our going to Heaven is to better our Notions and Apprehensions While the Soul is Prisoner in the Body we have but low and dark Thoughts but there we are illuminated on a sudden One glympse of God in Glory will inform us more than the study of a thousand Years Vse 1. Is to shew us the sad estate 1. Of Men without knowledge Prov. 19.2 Also that the Soul be without Knowledg it is not good Fruit that hath but little Sun can never be ripe Men will say we are ignorant but we hope we have a good Heart You can as well be without the Sun in the World as without Knowledg and Light in the Heart In all the Communications of Grace God beginneth with the Understanding as strength to bear Afflictions Jer. 31.19 After I was instructed I smote on my Thigh and was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my Youth James 1.5 If any of you lack Wisdom let him ask it of God It is the Perfection of the present Life and the Foundation of the next It is the Perfection of the present Life the excellency of a Man above the Beasts The more Knowledg the more a Man and the more Ignorant the more Brutish Psal. 49.20 Man that is in Honour and understandeth not is like the Beasts that perish Job 35.11 Who teacheth us more than the Beasts of the Earth and maketh us wiser than the Fowls of Heaven If a Man would glory in any thing it should be in the Knowledg of God Jer. 9.24 Let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me 2. Of
good Work it is not of your selves but of God Every Act every Degree of Holiness is from God III. For whom he prayeth the Apostles I. That were already holy John 13.10 Ye are clean and in the Verse immediately preceding They are not of the World yet now Sanctify them let their Hearts be more heavenly and their Lives more pure every day Observe Those that are sanctified need to be sanctified more and more Rev. 22 1â— He that is righteous let him be righteous still he that is holy let him be holy still 1. Our inward Sanctification must increase because of the weakness of present Grace and the relicts of Corruption 2 Cor. 4.16 Tho our outward Man perish yet the inward Man is renewed day by day It is not a Work to be done at once 1 Thess. 5.23 And the very God of Peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is perfect in parts at first the New Creature doth not come out maimed but not in degrees there is need of more Sanctification in Spirit in Soul in Body the Kingdom of Heaven increaseth by degrees 2. Our outward Man must be cleansed day by day because of new defilements John 13.10 He that is washed needeth not but to wash his Feet but is clean every whit It is an Allusion to a Man coming from the Bath his Feet contract Soil in the Passage Your Persons are sanctified by the Spirit but when you are never so holy there are new Defilements Vse 1. Be not satisfied with any present degrees of Grace There is an holy Covetousness I count not my self to have attained Phil. 3.14 Christ is so full that we cannot receive all at once 2. It is a strange Conceit in any to think they may be too good When we begin to be unwilling to grow better we begin to wax worse it is a good degree of Grace to know our Defects 3. Therefore let us use Means to persist in Holiness to increase in Holiness especially Prayer which is the Breath which God hath appointed to keep in the Flame II. For the Persons once more They were to preach the Word as a Preparative he prayeth for Sanctification Observe Holiness is a good Preparative to the Ministry and they are inwardly consecrated by the Spirit sanctifying them 1. That they may have experience of the Truth of the Doctrine upon their own Hearts The Apostles were to preach the Truth to others now saith he Sanctify them through thy Truth I believed and therefore have I spoken Psal. 116.10 We speak best when we speak by experience This is the right way of getting Sermons by Heart We are God's Witnesses now we should have sound Experience 1 John 1.1 That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our Hands have handled of the Word of Life That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you Ezekiel was first to eat the Roll Ezek. 3. 1 2 3. not only to see it and to hear it but to eat it Ministers must first eat themselves then feed others We are not to speak by hear-say to deliver God's Message as a meer Narration but out of a deep Impression on the Heart What cometh from the Heart and from Experience is quick and lively 2. For the Honour of God Carnal Ministers bring a Reproach upon the Ordinances 1 Sam. 2.17 The Sin of the young Men was very great before the Lord for Men abhorred the Offering of the Lord. Who will take Meat out of a Leprous Hand 3. To answer the Types of the Law Aaron and his Sons were sanctified for the Levitical Priesthood Exod. 29.4 To be washed with Blood and Oil to be washed in the great Laver sprinkled with Blood anointed with Oil which denotes Remission of Sins Regeneration the Gifts of the Spirit 1 John 5.8 There are three that bear Witness in Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood Every Office should have a solemn Consecration Vse 1. Ministers should look to their inward Call They that are designed to serve God in a special manner must look after special Purity It breedeth Atheism when we do not live up to our Doctrine People will say they must say something for their Living 2. Let People look to their choice of Ministers There is a great deal of difference between an Eloquent and an Experienced Pastor Secondly We now come to the Means or Manner how Christ's Request is to be accomplished by thy Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it may be rendred in thy Truth or by thy Truth oâ— through thy Truth as Vers. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without an Article that they may be sanctified through the Truth or as in the Margeâ—t truly sanctified but we better render it by the Truth there is an Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not in Truth but in the Truth and it is presently added thy Word is Truth So that it noteth not the kind of their Sanctification but the Instrument and Means Now these words by thy Truth may be understood either of God's Faithfulness or his revealed Will both which are called his Truth Of God's Faithfulness as Vers. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as keep them by thy Power so sanctify them by or according to thy Truth and Faithfulness But this Exposition tho plausible yet is not so proper because it is presently added thy Word is Truth By Truth then is meant not his Faithfulness but his revealed Will. Now God hath revealed his Will by the Light of Nature or by the Light of his Word That Will of God which is revealed by the Light of Nature is called Truth so the Gentiles are charged Rom. 1.8 With-holding the Truth in Vnrighteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which may be known of God Vers. 19. is called Truth How came the Gentiles by the Truth who are strangers to the Covenant of Promise The Apostle answereth much of God was known to them But this Truth that is here spoken of is the Will of God made known in his Word or the Knowledg of things necessary to Salvation concerning God and his Worship first delivered by the Prophets afterwards explained by Christ himself to the Apostles and by them consigned to the Church Now the Truths delivered in the Word may be referred to two Heads Law and Gospel The distinction in Christ's Time was Law and Prophets In this place Christ chiefly intendeth the Gospel the Truth which they were sent to preach to others Christ would have them to have an experience of it themselves And it is notable that in many places of Scripture the Gospel is called Truth not only in opposition to humane Writings but also with respect to the Law and other parts of Scripture because it is the Truth by way of eminency as we call the Plague
â—ingring Body be dead and numb we rub it and chafe it to bring heat and spirits into it again So do you feel any Grace any Spiritual Love Gal. 2.20 I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the Life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me As we know there is Life by the beating of the Pulses So there is Spiritual Life when there is a striving against Corruption complaining of it sighing groaning under it seconded with a constant endeavour to grow better These Sighs and Groans are in the greatest desertion 2. Conformity Where the Spirit of Christ is it fashioneth us into the likeness of Christ 2 Cor. 3.18 We all beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. It maketh us to represent Christ to be such as he was in the World meek holy humble useful as if Christ were come again to converse with Men. If you are acted with an unclean proud carnal wrathful Spirit who is it that dwelleth in you whose Image do you bear There is a changing transforming Power that ariseth from this Union that we delight to do the Will of our Father wherein the Conformity lieth chiefly We shall be humble meek gentle Mat. 11.29 Learn of me for I am meek and lowly of Heart thinking humbly of our selves not aspiring after Greatness This Spirit is a Spirit of Obedience enabling us to look to our Father's Glory and Commandment in all things We shall have compassionate melting Hearts to the miseries of others as he had Bowels yearning to see Sheep without a Shepherd SERMON XXXVI JOHN XVII 21 That they all may be One as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the World may believe that thou hast sent me I Am now to handle the second Branch the Patern of this Unity As thou Father art in me and I in thee It is elsewhere compared three times in this Chapter v. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they may be One as we are Ver. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they may be One as we are One and here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as thou Father art in me and I in thee They are not only One but in one another It is that which Divines call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the intimate Inhabitation or Indwelling of the Persons in one another without any confusion of the several Subsistencies Such is the Unity of the Divine Essence that the Father dwelleth in the Son the Son subsisteth in the Father and the Holy Spirit in both without any confusion of the Personalities Now this is propounded as the Patern and Original Exemplar of the Mystical Union The Arrians conclude out of this place that there is not an Unity of Essence among the Divine Persons but only an Unity of Love and Concord such as is between us and Christ and among Believers one with another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As doth not imply as exact Equality but only a Similitude or answerable Likeness In the Mystical Union there is a kind of Shadow and Adumbration of that Unity which is between the Persons of the Godhead So when Man is said to be made after the Similitude and Likeness of God it doth not imply an universal and exact Equality but only some Conformity and Similitude of Men to God So Be ye Holy as I am Holy Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect It is good to note that in the Letter of the Text Christ separateth his own Unity with the Father from that of the Creatures He doth not say Let us be all One but let them be all one Again he doth not say As thou art in us and we in thee but As thou Father art in me and I in thee Hic suam potentiam Patris à nobis secerneret Again in the next Clause he doth not say One with us but in us There is no common Union wherein he and we agree The Note is Doct. That the Mystical Vnion carrieth some resemblance with the Vnion that is between the Father and the Son Here I shall shew I. The Unity between God and Christ. II. Wherein the Resemblance standeth I. The Unity between God and Christ. There is a two-fold Union between God and Christ. God is in him and one with him as the Second Person of the Trinity and one in him as Mediator 1. As he is the Second Person of the Trinity there is an Unity of Essence intimated by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or mutual Inhabitation Christ is not the Father but in the Father to confound the Persons is Sabellianism to divide the Natures is Arrianism He doth not only say the Father is in him but he is in the Father to note a Consubstantial Unity that they both communicate in the same Essence At once he sheweth the distinction that is between the Father and the Son and the Unity of Essence that is between them And as they are one in Essence so one in Power John 10.28 29 30. I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any Man pluck them out of my Hand My Father which gave them me is greater than all and no Man is able to pluck them out of my Father's Hand I and my Father are One They work by the same Power They are One in Will and Operation their Actions are undivided what the Father doth the Son doth tho by an Operation proper to each Person John 5.19 What things soever the Father doth these also doth the Son likewise They are one in Love the Son lay in the Bosom of the Father John 1.18 No Man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the Bosom of the Father he hath declared him It is a Phrase that expresseth Intimacy There is a mutual complacency and delight in one another They are equal in Dignity and Power and must not be severed in Worship John 5.23 That all Men should honour the Son as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him Thus God and Christ are One as Christ is the Second Person This is the great Mystery Three and One and One and Three Men and Angels were made for this spectacle we cannot comprehend it and therefore must admire it O luminosissimae Tenebrae Light Darkness God dwelleth in both in Light to shew the Excellency of his Nature and in Darkness to shew the Weakness of our Apprehension The Son is begotten by the Father yet is in the Father and the Father in him the Spirit proceedeth from them both and yet is in both all in each and each in all They were the more Three because One and the more One
on things above and not on things on earth Ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ Col. 3.2 3. It is the Divine and heavenly life which they seek to live Well then here is a brief and plain description of those who are dead with Christ in four things 1. They make Conscience of their solemn Vow in Baptism wherein they promised to put off their former lusts of their ignorance and the corrupt conversation that flowed from them 2. They are busily at work in it and it is their daily endeavour 3. They prevail so far that sin is a dying and Grace groweth in strength and power 4 They continue faithful in that purpose and their savour of earthly things is deadned and their hearts are still working towards God and Heaven 2. It is a Condition absolutely necessary to obtain subsequent Grace For 1. The Graces of the Spirit cannot thrive in an unmortified Soul therefore then we set about our duty in the right order when we begin with Mortification in the first place and thence proceed to the positive duties of the new Life Faith will not thrive in a proud unhumbled impenitent heart Joh. 5.44 How can ye believe which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only Nor will the love of God ever bear sway where sensual and worldly love is in such strength and prevalency 1 Joh. 2.15 If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Vain pleasures divert us from our great Hopes or the Pleasures that are at Gods right hand for evermore 1 Pet. 1.13 Be sober and hope to the end Sobriety is an holy moderation or sparing use of worldly delights they behave themselves as in their journey Well then we must dye before we can live in purity and holiness and seek that Glory which Christ now enjoyeth with God in Heaven We must put off our old rags before we can put on the garments of Righteousness 2. The longer corruption is spared it groweth the worse for the more it venteth it self by inordinate and sinful desires the more it acquireth strength and secures its interest more firmly in the Soul Every Act strengtheneth the Habit and then it groweth into an inveterate Custom Jer. 9.3 They bend their tongues for lyes but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth for they proceed from evil to evil and they know not me saith the Lord. Therefore the Apostle 1 Pet. 4.2 3. That he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in licentiousness lusts excess of wine revellings banquettings and abominable idolatries Alas sin is too deeply rooted and ingrained in our Natures already and that hindreth the coming on of the Divine Life either we never receive the Grace of Regeneration being so stiffned and hardned in our sins or else it hath more corruption to grapple with so that all our days there is more to do to keep it alive in our Souls 3. Till sin be mortified the good we pretend to is but a covering and hiding of our loathsom lusts Jam. 4.8 Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double minded Many being taxed for their evil and inordinate life will say they hope their hearts are good if the heart were good the life would be better the sinner must cleanse his hands Others are plausible in their carriage but their fleshly and worldly lusts were never soundly mortified therefore Hypocrites must cleanse their hearts Here the operation of the Spirit beginneth Our Lord saith Mat. 23.25 26. Cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter that the outside may be clean also Many external Acts may be counterfeited or over-ruled and influenced by bye ends the purity of the outside is loathsom to God without the purity of the heart Pharisees are compared to whited sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead mens bones and all uncleanness so ye outwardly appear righteous unto men but within are full of hypocrisie and iniquity Mat. 23.27 28. So Luke 11.44 Ye are â—s graves which appear not and the men that walk over them are not aware of them not as a grave when new but a grave when over-grown with grass The Jews buried out of the City in the fields they thought themselves defiled by coming too near the dead Men may be fair in outward guise and shew but in heart the most noisom and polluted that can be So that no Mortification is necessarily requisite to Vivification we must dye before we can live II. Let me open the Benefit We shall also live with him Here 1. Observe how Grace is followed with Grace one part with another God loveth to crown his own gifts and we are indeared to him by his own mercies So it is in the general Zech. 3.2 Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire But some mercies draw on other mercies and are given in order to them as Mortification in order to Vivification Grace in order to Glory God giveth the one that he may give the other he maketh one degree of Grace a step to the other 2. Observe how Grace is followed with Glory We shall also live with him One and the same word expresseth both Life spiritual and eternal is but one Life It is good to observe how many ways the Scripture sets forth the connexion between the Life of Grace and the Life of Glory sometimes by that of the Seed and Crop Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting No seed no crop now is our seed-time sometimes the first-fruits and the harvest for the offering of the first-fruits dedicated to the whole harvest Rom. 8.23 We our selves who have the first-fruits of the Spirit c. sometimes to the Fountain and the Stream or the River losing it self in the Ocean Joh. 4.14 He that shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life sometimes of the Pledge and Earnest with respect to full and actual Possession 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts Sometimes to the beginning and accomplishment or the degree with the top and height life is begun by the Spirit and perfected in Heaven There is a mighty suitableness between Life spiritual and eternal Joh. 17.3 This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent The Life of Grace consisteth in knowing and loving God and the Life of Glory is the everlasting Vision and perfect Love of God now we are changed by the sight of Faith 2 Cor. 3.18
the Light of Nature in this point we may see clearly how great a disorder it is to obey or fulfil these bodily lusts to the wrong of God and the Soul and that the true Honour and Dignity of a Man consists in the Victory which he hath over himself and that to pamper the flesh is not our honour but our disgrace and that these irregular desires should not be gratified but mortified 2. Christian Piety or the Tenor of our Religion requireth it of us The drift of this Religion is to recover men out of their Apostasie and to promote true genuine Holiness in the World to dispossess us of the Beast and that Man being restored to Man might be also brought back again to God or in short to draw us off from the animal life to life spiritual and eternal As appeareth 1. By the Precepts of it which mainly tend to inforce Self-denial Mortification Recess from the World that we may not miscarry in our Obedience to God by our bodily lusts Mat. 16.24 If any will come after me let him deny himself Col. 3.5 Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry The whole drift and business of this Religion is to drive out the Spirit of the World and to introduce a Divine and heavenly Spirit 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God That part of the World which is mad and brutish is enslaved to lower things but the other part which hath submitted to the healing Institution of Christ should be wise and heavenly The Cure which Christ intended was of the great Disease of Mankind which was that the immortal Soul being deprest and tainted by the Objects of Sense doth wholly crook and writhe it self to carnal things and instead of Likness to God the Image of a Beast was impressed upon mans Nature and the Divine part enslaved and embondaged to the brutish 2. By its Promises 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Cor. 4.18 That man may seek his happiness in some higher and more transcending good than the beasts are capable of something that suits with his immortal Spirit In short to draw us off from things we see and inordinately love to a Glory and Blessedness wholly unseen and future 3. By the Grace provided for us namely the Spirit of Christ whose great design is to free man from a state of subjection to the flesh and by overcoming the lusts thereof to make him ready for all the Graces and Duties of the spiritual Life Rom. 8.5 They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh and they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit He is first renewed by this Spirit Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit and then acted and assisted by him Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Gal. 5.25 If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit 4. By being baptized into this Religion we are bound to this strict care for in our Baptism we did solemnly renounce the Devil the World and the Flesh as the Usurpers must be thrust out before the rightful Lord can take Possession Joshua 24.23 Put away the strange Gods which are among you and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel and we are dedicated to Father Son and Holy Ghost as our Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier as before We are to count our selves to be dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God vers 11. Now it is the greatest Hypocrisie that can be to be under this solemn Obligation to God and let sin reign in us Baptism is a Sign and Seal of Grace on Gods part and on ours a Bond of Duty on Gods part that he will cleanse and wash away sin Acts 22.16 Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins On our part it obligeth us to do what in us lieth to destroy sin a Bond never to be forgotten by us 2 Pet. 1.9 He hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Vse 1. To humble us that we have so much forgotten our solemn Covenant so much cared for the Body and so little cared for the Soul that time and heart hath been so much taken up about those things which belong to the present life The mortal Body is minded at every turn and how much may the immortal but neglected Soul complain of hard usage We profess subjection to the Gospel and therefore should seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added to us Mat. 6.33 but we walk too much according to the course of the carnal careless World Eph. 2.2 3. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air the Spirit that ruleth in the children of disobedience Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind 2. Strengthen the Bonds and anew devote your selves to Obedience vers 13. Neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God Bind your selves for time to come to make it your work not to indulge the flesh but save your Souls Heb. 10.39 For we are not of them that draw back to perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. 3. Take great heed that sin reign not by bodily lusts 1. The Necessity of this These Lusts are represented as deceitful Eph. 4.22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts And as violent and imperious Rom. 7.20 Now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me both together Jam. 1.14 Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and inticed We are by subtilty blinded by the delusions of the Flesh and it is always endeavouring to get the Throne and hurry us to destruction and seeking to divert us from the Love of God the more we indulge them the more imperious they are the more caution and resolution therefore is necessary 2. The danger of not doing it 1. They do not only unfit us for God but for humane Society Jam. 4.1 From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members They make you disquiet all others
near you as Dogs snarling at one another for a bone or piece of Carrion 2. They destroy the welfare of our Bodies the part gratified is depressed by them Prov. 14.30 A sound heart is the life of the flesh but envy is the rottenness of the bones Prov. 5.11 Thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed 3. These Lusts war against the Soul The perfection of the Soul consists in the Image of God which is defaced by these Lusts yea against the Graces and Motions of the Spirit Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the Spirit against the comfort of the Soul which dependeth on the holy sanctifying Spirit he is grieved when his work is hindered in us 4. These Lusts oppose our everlasting Felicity and Happiness when to gratifie the Flesh we run the hazard of losing Soul and Body for ever 1. By Efficiency they steal away our hearts from God take up our time turn our thoughts from the one thing necessary The great end of Faith is the saving of the Soul they make it the great end of their living to pamper the Body They put Heaven away from them sell it for a trifle in effect bid God keep his Heaven to himself Heb. 12.16 Prophane Esau for one morsel of bread sold his birtâ—right 2. By Desert Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption Rom. 6.13 Neither yield ye your bodies as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin God is provoked and so our Damnation is sure they spend their strength time estates on the service of fleshly Lusts surely these can look for nothing but everlasting perdition SERMON XI ROM VI. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God HERE is the second Branch of the Exhortation which concerneth Vivification for expresly the Apostle speaketh to them as those that are alive from the dead This part of the Exhortation is propounded negatively Yield not c. positively but yield c. 1. The Negative is necessary For further declaring the sense of which he had said before Let not sin reign in your mortal body The body is mentioned as the seat of sin for two Reasons First Because these Lusts gratifie the Body and bodily Life and so pervert the Soul that is spoken to there Secondly Because they are executed by the Body this is spoken to here if they gain the consent of your minds yet yield not your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin let them not be acted by your bodies 2. Positively it is expressed But yield your selves unto God There observe the order set down first yield your selves unto God then your members as instruments of righteousness unto God The general Dedication is the ground of the Particular first I am Gods then I bestow my time and strength for God first we give our selves to him nor in part but in whole to serve him with all our heart and all our might and strength then sometimes the outward or inward Man as the nature of the business calleth for 3. In both take notice 1. Of the two opposite Masters Sin and God 2. The opposite Imployments are Righteousness and Vnrighteousness 3. The Instrument used by both and that is the Body or the members of the Body 1. The two Masters Sin and God the one is an Usurper the other is our rightful and most gracious Lord. God is our proper Lord for he is our Creator and therefore our Owner and Governour and he is our most gracious Lord jure beneficiario he hath obliged us to him by many benefits so that a Christian should say as Paul did Acts 27.23 His I am and him I serve 2. The two Imployments Vnrighteousness and Righteousness Unrighteousness is put for all evil works and actions for all sin is unrighteousness whether committed against God or man By sin we deal unrighteously with God whom we disobey and dishonour Mal. 1.6 If I be a Father where is mine honour if I be a Master where is my fear we deny God his due We deal unrighteously with our selves whom we defile and destroy 1 Cor. 6.18 He that committed fornication sinneth against his own body and Prov. 8.36 He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. And also in many sins we hurt our Neighbour either in Soul Body Goods or good Name as is evident On the other side Holiness is Righteousness or giving God his due Righteousness is sometimes taken strictly for that Grace which inclineth us to perform our duty to man as 1 Tim. 6.11 Follow after righteousness godliness c. Rom. 1.18 The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Sometimes largely for newness of Life for all those holy actions which are required of a Christian 1 Joh. 2.29 If ye know that he is righteous ye know that every one that doth righteousness is born of him 3. The Instrument used in both is the Body or the members of the Body For our Body is of a middle Nature which may be used well or ill and the members of the Body are weapons with which the Soul is armed to do well or ill and it is notable that the word used by the Apostle is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instrumenta as we render it in the Text but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weapons or arms as we translate it in the Margine The work on both sides is a kind of Warfare 1. They that serve sin or indulge bodily lusts sight for Sin and the Devil against God and their own Salvation 1 Pet. 2.11 Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Rom. 7.23 I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind While ye suffer the body to be thus employed ye wage war against God whether ye know it or owne it yea or no. 2. The other work is also a Warfare our Graces are called Armour of light Rom. 13.12 though you fight for your Duty you must perform it Doctrine That sincere Christians should not suffer themselves to be employed by Sin but offer up and present themselves to God to do his Will 1. Let us explain the Duty 2. Shew you the Necessity of it 1. In explaining the Duty here enforced let me observe to you 1. That there are two Masters which divide the World between them Sin and God every man doth serve one of these but no man can serve both Every man serveth one of these Sin or Righteousness God or Satan for there is no neutral or middle state either their time and strength is spent in the service of the Flesh or in the service of God Rom. 8.5 They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh and they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Gal. 6.8 They that sow to
denounceth Judgment it terrifieth by its Threatnings and raiseth a tempest in the Conscience but it doth not afford us any help and relief and so rather irritateth and provoketh the power of sin than suppresseth it Rom. 7.8 Sin taking occasion wrought in me all manner of concupiscence for without the Law sin was dead as a River swelleth the more it is restrained by any lett or damm so is corruption stirred and then a man is discouraged giveth over all endeavour of repressing it So 2 Cor. 3.6 The letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life The first Covenant did only denounce and aggravate our condemnation and put us in despair 2. Affirmatively and Positively expressed But under Grace under the new Covenant or under the Grace of Jesus Christ who hath not only redeemed us from the guilt of sin but also from the power of sin The Grace of Remission is our encouragement and the Grace of Sanctification our help and relief First The Grace of Remission is a great encouragement freeth us from the bondage of despairing thoughts which weaken our endeavours Therefore the Apostle opposeth the Spirit of Power to the Spirit of Fear Christ offering a Pardon upon Repentance doth strengthen our hands in our work Secondly The Grace of Sanctification is our help God by his Spirit giveth life and strength to do what he requires of us and power to resist sin that we may overcome it Rom. 8.2 The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death 1 Joh. 5.4 Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory whereby we overcome the world even our faith Lex jubet Gratia juvat The Law commandeth but Grace helpeth Doctrine That sin should not and shall not reign over those who are under the sacred Power and Influence of Iesus Christ. 1. De Jure it should not reign over them it hath no right to rule it is an Usurper They who are redeemed by Christ should bind this Duty upon their hearts charge themselves with it to take heed that sin doth not reign it was once our Lord and Master but we have changed Masters and profess our selves now to be dead to sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord therefore we should strive against it lest it recover its old dominion over us 2. De Facto it is not fully obeyed it doth not absolutely get the Victory and bear rule in our hearts but is weakened more and more in them who have given up themselves to the Regiment and Government of Grace Here 1. What is the Dominion of Sin 2. What need the Children of God to take heed it be not set up in their hearts 3. What hopes and incouragements they have by the Gospel or Grace of Jesus Christ whilst they are striving against it 1. What is the Dominion of Sin That will be best known by some Distinctions and Propositions 1. We must distinguish between the Being and Reign of Sin The Apostle doth not say Ye shall not sin any more because ye are not under the Law but under Grace but sin shall not have dominion over you it shall not get the better Sin doth remain and dwell in the Saints though not reign over them as the Beasts in Dan. 7.12 Their dominion was taken away yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time It is cast down in regard of Regency but not cast out in regard of Inherency Grace doth not wholly extinguish it but only repel the motions of it Sin will rebel but it shall not reign they do not give way to it nor actually obey and embrace the commands of it they do not do all that sin would have them to do If the Apostle had said Let not sin be in your mortal bodies as long as we carry flesh about us he would not have expected the Exhortation to have been fully answered but he saith Let it not reign which as well can as it ought to be complied with 2. Sin doth reign when either it is not opposed or when it is opposed weakly and with a faint resistance Where it is not opposed there it remaineth in its full strength and where it is opposed weakly and without any victory and success it argueth only a sense of Duty but no effect of Grace 1. Sin reigneth when it is not opposed when a man doth yield up himself to execute all the commands thereof and doth fulfil and obey its lusts as the Ambitious the Worldly and the Voluptuous do whatsoever their lusts command them with a miserable bondage yea they willingly walk after it Prov. 7.22 He goeth after her straightway as an ox to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks Sin is as a Guest to evil men but as a Thief and Robber to the godly welcome to the one but the other would not have it come into their hearts It is one thing to wear a Chain as an Ornament another as a Bond and Fetter to give way to sin or to have it break in upon us to put it on willingly or to have it put and forced upon us It may be they may be sensible of it they may purpose not to do it or may complain of it but this is a constant Truth That we oftner complain of sin than we do resist it and oftner resist it than prevail against it It is not enough for men to see their sins or blame them in themselves or to purpose to amend them and forsake them but they must strive to overcome them and in striving prevail But we speak now of the first complaining of sin There is a double deceit of heart whereby men harden themselves in complaining of sin without resistance of it 1. Either men complain of other sins and not the main as if a man should complain of an aking tooth when the disease hath seized upon the Vitals or of a cut finger when at the same time he is wounded at the heart of wandring thoughts in Prayer when at the same time the heart is habitually averse or estranged from God through some Idols which are set up there Ezek â—4 3 5. Son of man these men have set up their Idols in their heart and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face should I be inquired of at all by them And vers 5. That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart because they are all estranged from me through their Idols They complain of want of quickening Grace when it may be they want converting Grace as if we would have the Spirit of God to blow to a dead coal So when we pray for strengthening Grace when we should ask renewing Grace and confess only the infirmities of the Saints when we should bewail the misery of an unregenerate carnal estate And we cry out of some incident weaknesses when we should first see that our habitual aversion from
mercy and find grace to help in time of need 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adam had habitual Grace but he gave out at the first assault When a City is besieged the Prince who would defend it doth not leave it to its ordinary strength and the standing Provisions which it had before but sendeth in fresh Supplies of Soulders Victuals and Ammunition and such things as their present exigence calleth for So doth God deal with his people his Spirit cometh in with a new Supply that they may the better avoid sin and stand out in an hour of Tryal So from the World which is continually obtruding it self upon our embraces and it is hard to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 The new Nature was given us for that end and also the Spirit of God is necessary 1 Joh. 4.4 Ye are of God and have overcome the world for greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world The Spirit is necessary as against the Terrors so the Delights of it 1 Cor. 2.12 We have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God that so the World may not corrupt us nor intice us to affect its Riches Honours and Pleasures above God and the Conscience of our Duty to him 2. There is great incouragement to us to set upon the work of Mortification because it is carried on by the help and power of the Spirit if we were to grapple with sin in our own strength then we might sit down and despair and dye but the Spirit is appointed for this end and purchased for us by Jesus Christ for all that come to him with broken hearts and do not by their carelesness negligence or other sin provoke the Lord to withdraw his exciting Grace if you do humbly implore his assistance wait for his approaches attend and obey his motions you shall find what the Spirit is able and willing to do for you He is able surely though you are ready to say I shall never get rid of this naughty heart renounce these bewitching lusts there are none so carnal but he can change them and bend and incline their hearts to God and heavenly things 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God He can turn Swine into Saints a Dunghil into a Bed of Spices none should give way to sottish despair God never made a Creature too hard for himself And when he hath begun an interest for God in our Souls he can maintain it notwithstanding oppositions and temptations Phil. 1.6 He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. God is willing to give the Spirit to them that ask it as a Father is to give a Child what is necessary for him Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him Be careful you do not grieve the Spirit and make your selves uncapable of his help Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption The Spirit of God will not forsake us unless we forsake him first The Spirit is grieved when Lust is obeyed before him when his Counsels and holy Inspirations are smothered and we yield easily to the requests of sin but are wholly deaf to his motions if so indeed he ceaseth to give us warning and to renew and continue the excitations of his Grace water once heated congealeth the sooner so they are most hardened who have been notably touched with his sacred Inspirations but go a quite contrary way But the Renewed need not doubt of his help for God hath promised the Spirit to them to cause them to walk in his ways Joh. 14.16 17. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforâ—er that he may abide with you for ever Even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Well then do not complain but up and be doing against sin Laziness pretendeth want of power but is any thing too hard for the Spirit of the Lord It is a lamentable thing to see what a cowardly Spirit there is in most Christians how soon they are captivated and discouraged with every slender assault or petty temptation and their resolutions are shaken with the appearance of every difficulty This is affected weakness not so much want of strength as sluggishness and cowardize and want of care men spare their pains and then cry they are impotent like lazy Beggars who personate and act a Disease because they would not work Surely where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 Many are not able to stand before the slightest motion of sin because they do not stir up themselves and awaken that strength which they have or improve that which God continually vouchsafeth to them by the motions of his Spirit It would be more for your comfort to try what you can do in the resistance of sin than idlely to complain for want of strength The two Extremes are Pride and Sloth Pride is seen in self confidence or depending upon our endeavours and resolutions and Sloth in a neglect of the Grace given or help afforded to you Christians should improve present strength against sin and still labour to get more Every Conquest will increase your strength against the next assault and one limb of the body of death mortified is a means to cause the rest to languish by consent 4. The next incouragement is the Promises of the Gospel which secure this benefit to us and surely the watching and the striving Person may take comfort in them There are two sorts of Promises some that do assure of necessary assistance some that speak of arbitrary assistance as Ezek. 36.26 27. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flâ—sh And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them Now such Promises must be improved for the Covenant of God is the ground of our stability Adam had a seed of Grace but it was not secured by Promise and therefore he sinned it away the Victory is assured to us by Promise Rom. 16.20 The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly In ordinary Conflicts it is a good Rule Non aequè glorietur accinctus ac discinctus but a Christian may triumph before the
Victory for all those who are really and earnestly striving against sin are sure to conquer these Promises may be pleaded to God as his own words by which he hath invited our hope and to our selves in case of fainting and discouragement that we may not coldly set upon the practice of Christianity Let us depend upon Gods Promise as Paul 2 Tim. 4.18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen 5. There are certain Ordinances whereby this Grace is conveyed to us The Spirit joyneth his power and efficacy with the proper instituted means for the subduing of sin The Word is a powerful instrument which the Holy Ghost useth for the cleansing of the Soul from sin Joh. 15.3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you yea for the killing of sin therefore it is called The Sword of the Spirit When we come to hear some new consideration is still given out for the further sanctifying of the heart Joh. 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth In Prayer we come to act Faith and Repentance looking up to God for help and with brokenness of heart mourning over our corruptions Zech. 12.10 I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplications and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one 〈◊〉 for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born By every Prayer offered in the brokenness of our hearts sin receiveth a new wound So the Sacraments as in the Old Testament Circumcision signified a sanctifying of the heart Deut. 30.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul that that thou mayest live and the Paschal Lamb was a Type of Christ Who taketh away the sins of the world Joh. 1.29 So Baptism and the Lord Supper Baptism signifieth the washing away of sin Acts 22.16 Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins and he that liveth in sin forgetteth that is neglecteth his Baptism 2 Pet. 1.9 He hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins as forgetting the Law is neglecting the Duty of it Psal. 119.153 I do not forget thy Law he carrieth himself as if he were never baptized for Baptism is a vowed death to sin So for the Lords Supper Every serious remembrance or meditation of Christs Death should quicken us anew to crucifie sin and to make it hateful to our Souls 1. As it representeth the great Act of Christs condescending Love which is a moving forcible Argument to perswade us to deny our inordinate self-love 2 Cor. 5.14 15. For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead and that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose again 2. It is a viewing the heinousness and odiousness of sin there represented to us in the Agonies and Sufferings of Christ the more we consider of them the greater apprehensions should we have of the evil of sin the exactness of Gods Justice the terrour of his Wrath Rom. 8.3 For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh Christ was made sin for us and then endured these things 2 Cor. 5.21 He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him When we look upon sin through Satans Spectacles or the cloud of our own Passions or carnal Affections we make nothing of it but it is a terrible spectacle to see the fruit of sin in the Agonies and Sufferings of Jesus Christ which are there represented to us as if he were crucified before our eyes Gal. 3.1 O never have slight thoughts of sin more 3. As it implieth a solemn mutual Surrendry between Christ and us Cant. 2.16 I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine Christ giveth himself and his Grace to us as our Redeemer and Saviour we accept Christ and his Benefits upon his own Terms and surrender our selves to him as his redeemed ones with thankfulness for so great a favour and benefit Rom. 12.1 I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service Now all this must needs be a great weakening of sin both the remembrance of Christs Love the representation of his great Sufferings necessary for the Expiation of it and our solemn renewed Dedication of our selves to God and his service and doing this in an holy Duty instituted by God for this end and purpose for the Spirit of God works by the appointed means and the use of instituted Duties is no fruitless labour for God would not set us a work in a Duty that should yield no profit and benefit to us 6. Providences are sanctified to this use as helps and occasions of subduing sin as Afflictions which do remove the occasions and substract the fuel of sin and awaken seriousness for the future Isa. 27.9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin 2 Cor. 12.7 Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me left I should be exalted above measure The thorn in the flesh was given to mortifie his pride By these kind of Dispensations the Spirit worketh serious Humiliation and brokenness of hear◠maketh sin odious to us These are ordered with exact wisdom and faithfulness Psal. 119.75 O Lord I know that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me and they are accompanied by the Spirit therefore God is said to teach us out of his Law when he chastiseth us Psal. 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law Job 36.10 He openeth also their ear to discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity the Rod is made effectual by the Spirits motion Object Some have frequently resolved to forsake their sins but their resolutions have come to nothing they have striven against it but as a great stone that is rolled up hill it hath returned upon them with the more violence or as a man rowing against the stream the Tide hath been strong against them and they have been forced the more back yea they have prayed against sin yet found no success and therefore think it is in vain to try any
of the Lord therefore one of them you are a servant of sin or a servant of the Lord. I shall prove it by these Considerations 1. That all men are either good or bad carnal or regenerate there is no middle state All that can make us demur upon this must be either this Objection That all Sinners are not alike vicious but they are all Sinners Isa. 53.6 All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one into his own way As the chanel is cut so doth corrupt Nature vent and issue forth some serve one sin some another but if you give up your selves to any sin to serve that you are slaves to sin Psal. 119.133 Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me It may be you are no Adulterer no Drunkard yet you have your way of sinning or some great drain into which all your corruption emptieth it self Or this Objection That some are inter regenerandum upon Regeneration as being under some common work of the Spirit which if God bless may be the beginning of a new Estate As for instance take that Scripture Mat. 13.45 46. The kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant man seeking goodly pearls and when he had found one of great price he went and sold all that he had and bought it The seeking of goodly Pearls is the inclination of Nature to Happiness the finding one of great price is common Grace which implieth Knowledge some kind of Faith and Esteem of Christ but his going and selling all to buy it is special and saving Grace All men would be happy none can be happy but by Christ when we count all things dung and dross that we may gain Christ then we are really converted Now before this here is some knowledge some assent some value for Christ. Do not these things make a middle Estate Answ. No though they have some thoughts bubbling up in their minds concerning the Goodness of God the necessity of a Saviour the Love of Christ and the Joys of Heaven yet they are not so rooted in the heart as to become a new Nature in them or the Habit and Principle of their daily course of Life they do not gain the Heart to Christ and ingage us resolvedly to do his Will and therefore they are to be reckoned among the carnal and unsanctified though not among the prophane So the young Man had a great deal of good in him for which Christ loved him but he went away grieved for he had great possessions Mark 10.21 22. And we read of another to whom Christ said Thou art not far from the kingdom of God Mark 12.34 that is from being a Christian but really was not so for he put the Question to Christ temptingly Many that come near never enter and though they be almost Christians yet if not altogether they are not converted and so to be reckoned among the obedient Servants of God So that this needeth not stop our way though they have some Convictions of the good of Holiness and evil of Sin and some mind to part with it yet there is no saving Change till their hearts be subdued to a resolute obedience 2. That no man can serve both This is asserted by our Lord in so many words Mâ—t. 6.24 No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other ye cannot serve God and Mammon Where the Masters are opposite and differ in their imployments and designs it is impossible that a man can comply with both Indeed if two men or more do consent to imploy one and the same man in the self same business and service then as we say many stones make but one load and many things of several weights but one burden thus two or three men or more concurring in the same designs make but one Master But to execute the will of men that differ in their designs is as impossible as to go hither and thither at once If their commands were subordinate one to another they might both have their answerable obedience God in the first place Sin in the next but their commands are contrary and both require our full strength of mind heart and life therefore it is impossible that he that serveth sin should be a servant of God for God will have the heart and mind and whole man to do what he requireth whatever the consequence be and sin will have the whole mind heart and endeavour whatever come of it So that a man must needs be divided between his obedience to God and his obedience to Sin and forsake the one and cleave to the other if he will in good earnest serve either Master So much as he giveth to Sin so much his mind and heart must be drawn away from God and obedience to him and he must offend God when his Lust craveth it of him Or else on the other side he must always be alienating his heart from sin and devoting it to God if he be a true Servant of the Lord. Many would compound these things that are so irreconcileable they hope to please the Flesh and God too it may be they have something that is good in them but much more that is bad the bent of their hearts is more for sin than against it the good is controuled by the evil which hath the chief power in the Soul for certainly it hath so when we wittingly or willingly continue in any sin and take on a little Religiousness either to hide it or feed it as in many their Religion maintaineth their Lusts and they take the more liberty to live in sin because they have some kind of love to God and do some good thing that he hath required of them to excuse the bad 3. All of us by Nature were servants of Sin it is Grace that maketh us servants of God So it followeth vers 17. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you God created us and therefore was our rightful Lord but Sin hath invaded Mankind and reigned over them and by a right of Recovery God seeketh to recover the Creature to himself and to possess his own again Therefore in the consultation about the choice of a Master we must not take it as if the heart of man were a meer Waste occupied by none but left to the next Comer to seize upon No there is an Usurper there already sin commandeth and imployeth our time and strength and we must be made free from sin before we can become servants to God The business is whether we have changed Masters and are willing that God should be restored to his Right out of which he hath been so long kept They have a Notion in the Civil Law which they call Jus postliminii a Right of entring upon their own again
his Offices John 15.26 But when the comforter is come whom I will send to you from the father even the spirit of truth that proceedeth from the father he shall testifie of me And John 16.14 He shall take of mine and glorify me He revealeth the tenor of Christs Doctrine and attests the truth of it by his gifts and graces bestowed upon the Church and to every one of us in particular by his powerful effects in our hearts Therefore 't is said We are witnesses of these things and so is the holy ghost which he hath given to them that obey Acts 5.32 Christ that taught us the Christian Religion doth work it in us by his Spirit and so doth confirm it to us and partly Because by this means all the Divine persons have their distinct work and share in our recovery to God 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the fore-knowledg of God the Father through the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ. The Father concurs by Electing the Son as Purchasing the Spirit as Sanctifying and inclining us to God As the Father must not be without the Glory of his free grace nor the Son of his infinite merit so neither the Holy Ghost of his powerful and effectual application and partly also because this is agreeable to the Oeconomy or Dispensation that is observed among the Divine persons The Spirit is the effective power of God therefore he it is that causeth our life or by regeneration infuseth a new Life into us Ezek. 36.27 I will put my spirit into you and cause you to walk in my ways I prove it by three Arguments The first is taken from the nature of the thing it self certainly we cannot live independently without the influence of God for all Life is originally in him and from him conveyed to us and that by his Spirit In life natural 't is clear all that God did in Creation was done by his Spirit Job 26.13 By his spirit he hath garnished the Heavens his hands hath formed the crooked serpent The Spirit is the immediate worker in the Creation of the World by his concurrent operation with the Father and the Son all things were produced he speaketh there of the Heavenly Bodies and Constellations And again in Psal. 114.30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit and they were created And when the Creation of man is spoken of Mal. 2.15 Did he not make one yet had he the residue of the Spirit 'T is true also of Spiritual life which is called a new Birth and no man can enter into the kingdom of God but he that is born of water and the spirit John 3.5 and 't is called a new Creature All Creation is of God 2 Cor. 5.17 18. A resurrection to life or a quickning dead Souls Eph. 2.1 5. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins Even when we were dead in sins hath he quickened uâ— together with Christ. And therefore the Spirit of Life is from God Now if God effecteth all these things by his Spirit to whom but him alone is our Salvation to be ascribed as the Scripture doth frequently mention My second Argument is taken from our incapacity to help our selves and recover our selves from the Devil the World and the Flesh to God so blind are our minds so depraved are our hearts so strong are our Lusts and so many are our Temptations and so inveterate are our evil Customs that nothing will serve the turn but the Spirit of God who doth open the eyes of our mind Eph. 1.18 Change our hearts Titus 3.5 reconcile our alienated and estranged affections to God that we may return to his Love and live in Obedience to him and finally be presented before him as fit to live for ever in his Presence 1 Cor. 21.22 And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight All this doth the powerful and All conquering Spirit of God by vertue of the meritorious purchase of Christ. In short he findeth in us such addictedness to Sin such a love to the present World such indulgence to the Flesh as beareth down both reason and the authority of God that no less Agent can do the work My third reason is taken from the subsequent effects If this life be strengthned by the spirit 't is much more wrought and infused by the spirit at first when all is against it Now the Scripture is copious in asserting the supply of the Spirit of Christ as necessary to do and suffer the Will of God Eph. 3.16 Strengthned with all might in the inner man from the spirit 1 Pet. 4.14 The spirit of God and of glory resteth upon you Surely he that must help us when we are living musâ— quicken us when we are dead and he that is necessary to break the force of our carnal affections still after they have received their Deaths Wound was absolutely necessary to overcome them at first when in full strength the necessity of strengthning grace doth much more shew the necessity of renewing grace for there needs much more power to overcome the corruptions of nature than to heal or prevent the infirmities of the Saints 2. The new nature is the product of the Holy Ghost John 3.6 That which is born of the spirit is spirit Men become spiritual in their dispositions inclinations actions and aims from the effects of the spirit of Regeneration which may be considered with respect to God or to man First How the converted Person or new Creature standeth affected to God seemeth to be set forth by the Apostle in that place 2 Tim. 1.7 For we have not received the spirit of fear but of love and power and a sound mind I shall explain it Observe in the negative description but one part only of Mortification is mentioned deadness to the fears of the World but that defect may be supplied from another Scripture The spirit lusteth against the flesh Gal. 5.17 he deadneth us to the delights and hopes of the world as well as the fears and sorrows but the one is understood in the other for this spirit causeth us to prepare for sufferings in the world and to look for no great matters here but to expect crosses losses wants persecutions injuries painful sicknesses and death and doth fortifie us against all bodily distresses that we are not greatly moved by them considering our relation to God and Interest in blessedness to come which doth weigh down all so 't is not a spirit of fear But then you must enlarge it by considering the main work of the spirit which is to subdue the lusts of the flesh that the government of God may be set up in our Hearts for the flesh is the great rebel against God and sanctified reason Therefore we must obey the spirit and take
for their evidences are not clear by which they should be tryed Mortification Gal. 5.24 They that are Chrisâ—s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof Courage 1 Pet. 4.14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye 3 d Use is of Direction to all sorts of Christians 1. Do all your duties as those that are under the law of the spirit of life Not in the oldness of the letter but the newness of the spirit not customarily formally but seriously with a life and a power believe in the Spirit 1 Cor. 2.5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God Love in the spirit Col. 1.8 Who also declared to us your love in the spirit Hope in the spirit Gal. 5.5 For we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith Hear in the spirit pray in the spirit and obey in the spirit 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit Let there be a Spirit and Life in all that you do 2. Beg of your Redeemer to pour out a fuller measure of his Spirit in your Souls he hath promised it Zech. 12.10 I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication Isa. 44.3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground and I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring The Saints have begg'd it earnestly Psal. 143.10 Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God thy spirit is good lead me into the land of uprightness And Luke 11.13 They that ask shall have None lack this grace but those that forfeit it by neglect and contempt and resistance of the motions of his holy Spirit 3. Vse Ordinances to this end All these are helps and means to obtain it the Gospel worketh morally and powerfully 'T is the Divine power giveth us all things to life and godliness therefore in the use of means you must wait for it 2 Pet. 1.3 According to his divine power he hath given us all things 4. Let us examine often and see if we are partakers of his Spirit Two Evidences there be of it and they are both in the Text life and liberty First life for this spirit is called the spirit of life in Christ Jesus by it we are enabled to live the life of faith and holiness Gal. 2.20 I live by the faith of the son of God Doth it rule the main course of your lives denying the pleasures and profits and honours of the World we must live in Christ and to Christ we must not only seek truth in the Gospel but life in the Gospel Secondly liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty There is more alacrity readiness and chearfulness in obedience Psal. 119.32 I will run the ways of thy commandments when thou shalt inlarge my heart 'T is a liberty not to do what we list but what we ought and that upon gracious and free motives with a large heart that can deny God nothing but is sweetly and strongly inclined to him SERMON III. ROM VIII 2 Hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death WE now come to the second point 2 Doct. That the new Covenant giveth liberty to all that are under it from the slavery of sin and the condemning power of the law Let me explain this point and here I shall shew you 1. That liberty supposeth precedent bondage 2. That our liberty must answer the bondage 3. I shall shew you the manner of getting our liberty First Liberty supposeth preceding bondage for when Christ spake of liberty or making them free the Jews quarrelled at it John 8.33 We were never in bondage to any man how sayest thou then that ye shall be made free So much we gather from their cavil That it is the first thought or the ready sentiment and opinion of mankind That to be made free implieth a foregoing bondage now our Bondage consisteth in a slavery to Sin and Satan and being under the condemning power of the law or obligation to the curse and eternal damnation 1. That man is under the slavery of sin which the Law convinceth him of that it is so with us the Scripture sheweth Titus 3.3 We were sometimes foolish and disobedient serving divers lusts and pleasures 1. There is the condition of natural men they serve 2. The baseness of the Master lusts and divers lusts 3. The bait or motive by which they are drawn into this service intimated in the word pleasures for a little bruitish satisfaction a man selleth his Liberty his Soul his Religion his Good and All. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is most proper to our purpose for that noteth his slavery carnal affections so govern us that we know not how to escape and come out of this thraldome we suffer the Beast to ride the Man it were monstrous in the body for the feet to be where the head should be or to have the limbs distorted to have the arms hang backward yet such a de-ordination there is in the Soul when Reason and Conscience is put in vassalage to sense and appetite The natural order is this Reason and Conscience directs the Will the Will moveth the affections the affections move the bodily Spirits and they the senses and members of the body but natural corruption inverts all pleasures affect the senses the senses corrupt the phantasy the phantasy moveth the bodily spirits the affections by their violence and inclination inslave the Will and blind the Mind and so man is carried head-long to his own Destruction This Slavery implieth three things 1. A willing subjection Rom. 6.16 Know ye not â—hat to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness Servants were made so eitheâ— by consent or conquest The Apostle speaketh there not of servants by conquest but of servants by consent and covenant When a man yeildeth up himself to be at the disposal of another he is a servant to him so in moral matters by whatever a man is imployed and to which he giveth up his time and strength life and love to that he is a servant be it to the flesh or to the spirit as we make it our business to accomplish or gratifie the desires of the one or the other A godly man hath sin in him but he doth not serve it yield up himself to obey it he doth not walk after his lusts 2. Customary practise and observance John 8.34 Whosoever eommitteth sin is the servant of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that liveth in an habit and course of sin these are brought under the power of it inslaved by such pleasures as they affect 3. Inability to come out of this condition The Law is
passed upon us by the law and acquitted and discharged from the guilt of sin and being justified by faith are made heirs according to the hope of eternal life Tit. 3.7 That I will not speak of now because before in the first Verse I now proceed to open unto you the last Thing at first propounded which was 3. The manner of getting our liberty There are three words in the Text Law Spirit and Christ Jesus Let us begin with the last Christ procureth this liberty for us by the merit of his death and intercession The Law or Gospel offereth this liberty to us and the Spirit first applieth it and sealeth it to the Conscience 1. Christ procureth and purchaseth this liberty for us both from the damning power of the Law and the slavery of corruption We were Captives shut up under Sin and Death and he paid our ransom and so obtained for us remission of sins and the sanctification of the spirit remission of Sins Eph. 1.7 In whom we have redemption by his blood the remission of sins That 's one part of our recovery highly necessary for guilty Creatures how else can we stand before the Tribunal of God or look him in the face with any confidence but his redemption did not only reach this but the sanctification of the spirit also Therefore 't is said 1 Pet. 1.18 Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Thus Christ doth what belongeth to him and none can share with him in this honour 't is his merit that is at the bottom of the Covenant and procured for us both the favour and image of God that we might love him and be beloved by him 2. There is a Law or New Covenant which offereth this grace to us The law of nature concludeth men under Sin and pronounceth Death upon them Christ hath set up a new remedial Law of Grace by which we are called to submit to Christ and thankfully to accept of his merciful preparations even the great benefits of pardon and life The Gospel or New Covenant doth its part First There is Grace published or offered to us Luke 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he hath anointed me to preach deliverance to the captives 'T is not enough that our ransom be paid but the offer must be made or else how shall it be laid hold upon by faith and received with thankfulness and with a due sense of the benefit Now the Gospel sheweth liberty may be had upon sweet and commodious and easie terms 2. The terms are stated in the Covenant That we give up our selves to the Lord by Christ and be governed and ruled by the conduct of his Word and Spirit Gal. 3.2 Received ye the spirit by the works of the law or the hearing of faith And 2 Tim. 2.25 26. In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will The Covenant is not left to our humours and fancies to model and bring it down to our liking no nor are only the benefits offered but terms stated Isa. 56.4 That chuse the things that please me and take hold of my covenant When he hath stated his terms 't is too late for man to interpose his Vote or to imagine to bring down Christianity to a lower rate for we must not new model it but take hold of it as God hath left it Be in Christ and walk after his Spirit 3. This liberty is assured and established by the Covenant the Conscience of sin and the fears of condemnation are not easily done away and we are so wedded to our lusts that the power of reigning sin is not easily broken therefore we had need of a sure firm Covenant to ratifie these Priviledges to us because our fears are justified by a former Law made by God himself therefore God would not deal with us by naked Promise but put his Grace into a Covenant-form that we may have as good to shew for our Salvation as we had for our Condemnation yea and more And God hath added his Oath That the consolation of the heirs of promise might be more strong Heb. 6.18 And it being a latter grant former transactions cannot disannul it so that the Covenant doth its part also to free beâ—ievers from the power of Sin and the fears of Condemnation 4. The Spirit applieth this grace both as to the effects and the sense as to the effects he applieth it in effectual calling as this quickning spirit doth regenerate us and convert us to God and break the power and tyranny of Sin the wages whereof is Death the Gospel is the means but the blessing is from the Spirit John 8.32 Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free that is ye shall know it savingly so as to feel the power and efficacy of it To be set free to know love serve and delight in God is that liberty that we have by the free Spirit Psal. 51.12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit 2. The spirit sealeth it as to the sense when we come to discern our freedom by the effects of it in our own souls Eph. 1.13 After ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise And in the fruit of Christs purchase Gal. 4.4 5 6. But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father The Spirits seal is Gods impress upon our Souls left there not to make us known to God for he knoweth who are his from all eternity but for the increase of our joy and comfort not by guess but some kind of certainty 1 John 4.13 Hereby we know that we dwell in God and God dwelleth in us by his spirit that he hath given us by the Spirit dwelling and working in us we know our interest this is not so absolutely necessary as the former to our safety but very comfortable There is a Spirit that attendeth the Law reviving fears in men and a sense of Gods Wrath and there is a Spirit attending the Gospel inclining us to come to God as a Father Rom. 8.15 The one is called the spirit of bondage the other the spirit of Adoption Now because the law is so natural to us we the more need this liberty Vse 1. Since there is a Liberty by Christ and that wrought in us by the Spirit but dispensed by the Gospel let us seek it in this way Therefore consider 1. Your need since every man is under the power of Sin naturally and so under a sentence
obtaining pardon till regeneration and conversion for God doth not pardon while we are in our sins and Life and Heaven we cannot have till sin be quite done away for we are not introduced into the presence of God till we be compleat in holiness Eph. 5.27 That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Col. 1.22 to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight Jude 24. and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory During life obedience is but imperfectly begun but when 't is compleated and finished we do not stay out of Heaven one moment then are we fully made free from sin VSE 4. Is to put us upon tryal and self-reflection Is the righteousness of the Law fulfilled in us 1. We begin to fulfil it when we set our selves to obey the will of God taking his Law for our Rule and his promises for our encouragement This resolution is the fruit of regenerating Grace if it be sincere and it argueth a renewed heart and conscience Heb. 13.18 Pray for us for we trust we have a good conscience and hath in it perfection of parts tho not of degrees 2. This must be seconded with answerable endeavours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth a continued act to have the righteousness of the Law fulfilled in us is not the work of one day but implieth a constant walk and obedience to motions after the Spirit 3. We must endeavour to be more compleat every day Luke 1.6 They were righteous before God walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless And Col. 4.12 Labouring for you that you may stand compleat in all the will of God So we read of some that were full of all goodness Rom. 15.14 and full of good works Acts 9.36 as we find in Dorcas It is the fault of most Christians that they beat down the price of Religion as low as they can and so make an hard shift to go to Heaven 4. Our begun-sanctification shall be perfected before Christ hath done with us Col. 1.28 that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus Here we are very imperfect but it shall be perfectly fulfilled SERMON VI. ROM VIII 5 They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh and they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit THIS Scripture containeth a notable character of those that are interested in the Priviledges of the Gospel and will help you in your assuring-work or making out your claim and title In the words you have 1. An intimation of two sorts of persons they that are after the flesh and they that are after the spirit 2. Their different Disposition and Practice is compared and set forth 1. By the Act They both mind their several Affairs 2. By the Object things of the flesh and things of the spirit Different Persons different Objects and different Affections Thus you may in one View and Prospect discern the scope and intent of the place I shall lay it before you in several Propositions and then apply all together 1. There are two sorts of men in the World some after the flesh and some after the spirit 2. That these two sorts of men have two different objects the things of the spirit and the things of the flesh 3. That men discover their temper and constitution of soul by their savour or affection to either of these objects I. Doct. There are two sorts of men in the world some after the flesh and some after the spirit So it must be There is a twofold Original which produceth a twofold Principle which is acted by a twofold assisting power and this bringeth them under a twofold covenant which maketh way for a twofold final estate into which all the World issueth it self 1. There is a twofold Original some are only born others new born the renewed and the unrenewed John 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit Some remain under the power of corrupt Nature others are regenerate and renewed by the spirit 2. This twofold Original produceth a twofold Principle that men are led by flesh and spirit which are always contrary one to another Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit lusteth against the flesh and these two are contrary one to the other Men if they be merely such as Nature hath left them are governed by the flesh or their own carnal inclinations Others are led by the spirit walk after it as ver 1. They that are born again have a new Principle set up in their Natures to incline them to God 3. These Two Principles are supported and assisted with contrary powers They that are governed by the flesh are also acted by Satan he rules and works in them Eph. 2.23 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now ruleth in the children of disobedience among whom also we had our conversation in times past in the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind There are all the enemies of our salvation They that follow inbred corruption as their guide fall to the Devil's share who hurrieth them on in a way of sin more vehemently than otherways they would do But now those that are led by Grace or a new Principle or the new Nature as their guide they are assisted and acted by the Spirit of God Rom. 8.14 as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God The Spirit is their Guardian and Keeper he exciteth and worketh up the Habit of Grace into greater power and activity Now being under such contrary powers no wonder that they are so different in their courses and so contrary one to another It is said Prov. 29.27 The wicked is an abomination to the just and he that is upright in his way is an abomination to the wicked Their Birth is different the inward Principle by which they are guided is different Nature and Grace and they are under different assisting powers either under the power of Satan or under the power and conduct of God's holy Spirit and therefore no wonder that their course is different and that there is enmity between both the Seeds A godly man cannot delight in a wicked man and a wicked man cannot abide the godly The ground of Friendship is eadem velle nolle Similitude and likeness of mind and disposition only the enmity and contrariety is carried on with some difference The godly pity the wicked but the wicked hate the godly because they are against that course of life that they chuse They think strange they do not run with them to the same neglect of God and carelesness of heavenly things and therefore
dust keepeth their bones Well then if the spirit of Christ hath freed them from the snares of sin he hath freed you also from the bands of death or as 't is said in the Revelations if you have part in the first resurection the second death hath no power over you Rev. 10.6 That is you shall not be cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone The good spirit hath prevailed over the evil spirit and therefore your resurrection will be joyful VSE Let us give up our selves to the Holy Spirit as our sanctifyer set open your hearts that he may come into them as his habitation do not receive him guestwise in a pang or for a turn or in some solemn duty but see that he dwelleth in you as an inhabitant in his house A man is not said to dwell in an Inn where as a stranger or wayfaring man he goeth aside to tarry for a night or in the house of a friend where he resorteth no use all Christs Holy means that he may fix his abode in your hearts that he may dwell there as at home in his own house that he may be reverenced there as a God in his Temple Motives 1. He richly requiteth us he keepeth up the house and temple where he dwelleth The spirit is our seal and earnest The spirit of God and of glory resteth upon you 1 Pet. 4.14 2. The heart of man is not a waste you will have a worse guest there if not the Holy Spirit Satan dwelleth and worketh in the Children of disobedience 1 Sam. 16. â— But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him and Eph. 2.2 The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience and Eph. 4.27 Neither give place to the Devil That cursed inmate will enter if we give place to him and hearken to his motions So that then he will make the body a sink of sin and a dunghil of corruption tempts you to scandalous sins which do not only waste the body for the present but is a pledg of eternal damnation 3 Consider how many deceive themselves with the hopes of a Glorious Resurrection Alas they are strangers to the Spirit it may be not to his transcient motions they resist the Holy Ghost which will be their greater condemnation but to his constant residence for where he dwelleth he maketh them more Heavenly acquainting them with God Col. 1.6 more Holy that is his office to sanctifie 1 Pet. 1.22 To love God more for he is the operative love of God Rom. 5.5 1 John 4.15 To hate sin more that bringeth death and his business is to come as a pledg of life Alas in most the spirit that dwelleth in them lusteth to envy are ruled by an unclean spirit by the spirit of the world 1 Cor. 2.12 have no love to God no real hatred of sin 2. VSE Live in obedience to his sanctifying motions Rom. 8.14 As many as are led by the spirit are the sons of God The spirit of God by which you are guided and led is that divine and potent spirit that raised up Christs dead body out of the grave and if you be led and governed by him you shall be raised by the power of the same spirit that raised Christs Body his power is the cause but your right is by his sanctification 3. VSE Vse your bodies well possess your vessel in sanctification and honour 1 Thes. 4.4 1. Offer up your selves to God For every Temple must be dedicated Rom. 12.1 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a liveing sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service Rom. 6.13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yeild your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead 2. When devoted to God take heed you do not use them to sensuality and filthiness which wrong the body both here and hereafter the pleasures of the body cannot recompence the pains of your surfeit or intemperance much less eternal torments for what will be the issue if you live after the flesh Rom. 8.13 you must die therefore you should daily keep the flesh in a subordination to the spirit 1 Pet. 2.11 I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims that ye abstain from fleshly lusts To please and gratifie the flesh is to wrong the Soul 3. We should deny our selves even lawful pleasures when they begin to exercise a dominion over us 1 Cor. 6.12 All things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the power of any 'T is a miserable servitude to be brought under the power of any pleasure either in meat drink or recreations inchanted with the witchery of gaming tho it grieve the spirit wrong the soul defraud God of his time rob the poor of what should feed charity yet they are inslaved SERMON XV. ROM VIII 12 Therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh IN the Words we have 1. A note of Inference 2. The truth inferred In this latter we find 1. A Compellation Brethren 2. An Assertion That we ars debtors 3. An instance or exemplification to whom we are debtors The negative is expressed not to the flesh to live after the flesh and the affirmative is implied and must be supplied out of the Context To the spirit to live in obedience to the holy spirit 1. The Inference therefore he reasoneth from their priviledges the priviledg is asserted v. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit 'T is applied to the Christian Romans v. 9. But ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit These reasonings are pertinent and insinuative from the priviledg asserted Exhortation must follow Doctrine for then it pierceth deeper and sticketh longer On the other side Doctrine becometh more lively when there is an edg set upon it by Exhortation from the priviledg implied certainly priviledges infer duty and therefore having comforted them with the remembrance of their condition he doth also mind them of their obligation Ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit therefore we are are not debtors to the flesh to walk after the flesh but to walk after the spirit 2. The truth inferred Where first observe the compellation Brethren a word of love and equality of love to sweeten the exhortation for men are unwilling to displease the flesh of equality for he taketh the same obligation upon himself this debt bindeth all high and low learned or unlearned ministers or people greatness doth not exempt from this bond nor meanness exclude it 2. The assertion that we are debtors Man would fain be sui juris at his own dispose affecteth a supremacy and dominion over his own actions Psal. 12.4 Our tongues are our own who is Lord over us But this can never be we were made by
and Goodness of God 2. Since 't is threatned the certainty of its accomplishment 1. It s consistency with the Justice Wisdom and Goodness of God 1. His Justice First Because those that live in the flesh continue in the defection and apostacy of mankind And so the old sentence is in force against them In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die Gen. 2.17 To shew you this let me tell you That by the Creation Man was to be subject to God and by his own make and constitution was composed of a body and a soul which two parts were to be regarded according to the worth and dignity of each the body was subordinated to the soul and both body and soul to God The flesh was a servant to the spirit and both flesh and spirit unto the Lord but sin entring defaced the beauty and disturbed the order and harmony of the Creation for man withdrew his Subordination and Obedience unto God his Maker and set up himself instead of God and the flesh is preferred before the soul reason and conscience are inslaved to sense and appetite and the beast doth ride the man the flesh becoming our Principle Rule and End now 't is horrible wickedness if you consider either of these disorders our contempt of God for it is great depreciation and disesteem of his holy and blessed Majesty which is neglected and slighted for a little carnal satisfaction and every perishing vanity is preferred before his favour the hainousness of the sin is to be measured by the greatness of him who is offended by it 1 Sam. 2.25 If one man sin against another the Judg shall judg him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him Now for creatures to seek their happiness without God and apart from God in such base things deserveth the greater punishment The other disorder is we love the happiness of the body above that of the soul man carrieth it as if he had not an Immortal Spirit in him Psal. 49.12 is as the beast that perisheth And is altogether flesh his Wisdom and Spirit is sunk into flesh and sin hath transformed him into a brutish nature Well now if men will continue in this apostacy what then more just than that God should stand to his old sentence and deprive him of that happiness which he despiseth that those who dishonour their own souls should never be acquainted with a blessed Immortality and those that contemn their God and banish him out of their thoughts and do in effect say to the Almighty Job 21.14 Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways That they may spend their days in mirth that God should banish them out of his presence with a curse never to be reversed they do in effect bid God be gone the very thoughts of him are an interruption to that sort of life they have chosen that he should bid them depart ye cursed who bid him depart first In short that the carnal life which is but a spiritual death should be punished with eternal death 1 Tim. 3.6 She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth A kind of carcase or rather a living creature dead estranged from the life of God and then deprived of eternal life 2. They refuse the remedy The great business of the Christian Religion is to dispossess us of the brutish Nature which is gotten into us I say this is the drift and tenure of Christianity to recover us from the flesh to God To turn man into man again that was become a beast to draw him off from the Animal life to life Spiritual and Eternal To drive out the Spirit of the World and introduce a Divine and Heavenly Spirit purchased by Jesus Christ and offered to us in the promises of the Gospel The World is mad and brutish enslaved to lower things but this healing institution of Christ is to make us Wise and Heavenly to recover the immortal Soul that was Imbondaged to earthly things and depressed and tainted by the objects of sence into its former liberty and perfection that the Spirit might command the flesh and man may seek his happiness and blessedness in some higher and transcending good than the beasts are capable of In short as sin was the transforming of a man into a beast so Christianity is the transforming of beasts into man again To restore humanity and elivate it from the state of subjection to the flesh Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given us great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we may know the things that are freely given us of God Now after this is done with such cost and care if men will love their bondage despise their remedy surely they are worthy of the severest punishment Joh. 3.19 And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil If they refuse this Spirit that is offered to change our natures and lift us up from earth to Heaven and we will not be changed and healed but wallow in this filth and puddle still we are doubly culpable for not doing our duty and refusing our remedy But you will say The punishment is Eternal how will that stand with the justice of God to inflict it for temporal offences 1. Answer 'Till the carnal life ceaseth the full punishment doth not begin or take place as when men have done their work they receive their wages 'T is not inflicted till after death and in the other world there is no change of state our tryal is over our sentence is past the gulph is fixed between Hell and Heaven that the inhabitants of the one cannot come into the other place Luke 16.26 2. There was Eternal life in the offer Now if men will part with this for one morsel of meat this is prophaness indeed Heb. 12.15 16. The things propounded to their choice are Eternal happiness and Eternal misery if they refuse the one they in justice deserve the other 3. If they be Christians they do not pay their great debt or fulfil their Covenant-Vow and so make the forfeiture The Apostle here inferreth the great danger out of the debt Ye are debtors that if we live after the flesh we shall die they are entered into the bond of the holy oath So elsewhere Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof How are we Christs as dedicated to him in Baptism they have renounced the Devil the World and the flesh they are Christs not only de jure they ought to do so but de facto they have
upon us first to observe the touches of Gods punishing and chastising hand reclaiming us from our wanderings Psal. 119.59 Before I was afflicted I went astray Secondly To reflect upon the motions of his spirit to draw us out of this estate that we may not resist the Holy Ghost Acts 5.31 Thirdly To examine every day what advantage the spirit hath gotten against the flesh how the interests of it is weakned its lusts checked its acts restrained Gal. 5.16 Every one that doth seriously mind the business of his salvation cannot but see these things of great advantage to his spiritual estate and there is no great difficulty in them to the serious soul that hath a mind to be saved 2. To those that seem to be recovered and to have a care of the spiritual life that they may not revert to this bondage and that the work may be more thoroughly wrought in them 1. Look to the mind take heed there be not flesh there for the fleshly mind is a great enemy to godliness Ro. 8.7 The carnal mind is enmity to God and 't is a low poor mind blinded with the love of present things Jam. 3.15 The wisdom that descendeth not from above is earthly sensual devillish it hindereth us from discerning the reallity of our hopes and from having a true sense of our duty impressed upon our hearts 1 Cor. 2. 14. but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned And also from applying our Rule to particular cases either in judging of our estate or in guiding of our actions 't is strange to see how the world or the delusion of the flesh do blind very knowing men and how unacquainted they are with their own hearts or unable to discern their duty in plain cases when the performance of it is likely to be displeasing to the Flesh. What strange disguises it puts upon a Temptation and how they wriggle and distinguish themselves out of their duty when either God must be disobeyed or the Flesh displeased the Flesh is always partial for its self therefore get a sound mind and this spiritual discerning 2. Look to the heart that there be no Flesh there Sinful inclinations must be observed and mortified Satan doth observe them and shall not we He seeth which way the Tree leaneth and what kind of diet their soul-distempers crave and suiteth his temptations accordingly As the skilful Angler suiteth his Bait as the fishes will take it every month 1 Cor. 7.5 lest Satan tempt you for your incontinency He hath a bait of Preferment for Absolom for he is ambitious a bait of Pleasure for Sampson for he is voluptuous a bait of Money for Judas for he is covetous Thus will he furnish them with Temptations answerable to their inclinations A man by Temper Voluptuous esteems not Profit much nor an Earth-worm Pleasure nor an Ambitious man much either of them but Honour and Reputation and great Place Now 't is sad that our Enemy should know our Temper better than our selves Your uprightness and faithfulness to God is seen in weakning your particular inclinations to sin Psal. 18.23 I was also upright before him and kept my self from mine iniquity Observe the decay of your Master-sin and other things will come on the more easily fight not against small or great but the King-lust the domineering sin Satan is the more discouraged when we can deny our domineering lusts As Sampson's strength lay in his locks so doth the strength of sin in one lust more than another Every man knoweth his darling commonly but that which is our great care is to wean our hearts from it Herod raged when John Baptist touched his Herodias Felix trembled when Paul touched his bribâ—ry and intemperance and the young man goeth away sad when Christ discovereth his worldliness Mark 10.22 We have all our tender parts which we cannot endure should be touched But now when you are willing to part with this sin pray strive and watch against it grow in the contrary grace it sheweth your self-denial and sincerity you will not spare your Isaac Well then see that no worldly thing be too near and dear to you and that God hath a greater interest in your heart than the flesh or any thing that belongeth to it 3. Let not the senses cast off the government of reason and be the ruling power in your souls They were not made to govern but to be governed and to be subjected to God and Reason Man by the fall is inverted Tit. 3.3 hateful and hating one another Man in his right constitution should be thus govern'd The Understanding and Conscience prescribe to the Will the Will according to right Reason and Conscience moveth the Affections the Affections move the bodily spirits and the members of the body but by corruption all is inverted and changed Pleasure affects the Senses the Senses corrupt the Phantasy the Phantasy the Bodily spirits they the Affections and the Affections by their violence and impetuous inclination to forbidden things move the Will and the Will yeilding blindeth the Mind and so man is carried headlong to his own destruction the feet are where the head should be e contra Well then you must guide the senses as Job made a covenant with his eyes Job 31.1 and David prayeth Psal. 119.37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity They let in Objects and Objects stir up Thoughts and Thoughts Affections Mat. 5.28 Now take heed they do not grow masterly if they transmit Temptations and stir up evil motions crush the Scorpion on the wound 4. Keep up a readiness for your work which is to obey the will of God It argueth some prevalency of the Flesh when our duty beginneth to grow troublesome and uneasie Therefore the Spirit or the better part cannot so readily produce its operation the soul in the right Temper doth willingly and cheerfully obey God 1 Joh. 5.3 this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous Psal. 40.8 I delight to do thy will O my God thy law is in my heart And Psal. 112.1 Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his commandments Therefore 't is time for you to check the Flesh and overcome it lest farther mischief increase upon you 5. Refer all things to your ultimate End And consider whether what you do doth hinder or further you therein for all things are to be regarded and valued as they conduce to Gods service and your salvation Eccles. 2.2 What doth it 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever you do let all be done to the glory of God Be true to your scope 6. Take heed of the servitude and bondage which the flesh is wont to bring upon the soul where it reigneth It maketh men very flaves the heart groweth weak and lust strong Ezek. 16.30 They are
think that Grace will drop to us out of the Clouds he was an evil and a sloathful servant that did not improve his Talent To neglect duty is to resist Grace and to run away from our strength God hath promised to be with us while we are doing therefore we are to wait for this power in the use of all holy means that our corruption may be subdued and mortified USE is to exhort with all diligence to set about the mortifying the deeds of the body by the Spirit Two Things I shall press you to 1. Improve the death of Christ. 2. A right carriage towaâ—ds the spirit 1. Improve the death of Christ For the term Mortifie or Crucifie often used in this matter respects Christs death and every where the Scripture sheweth that the death of Christ is of excellent use for the mortifying of sin I shall single out a few places Gal. 2.20 I a am crucified with Christ. Three Propositions included 1. Christ crucified 2. Paul crucified 3. With Christ. It doth not imply any fellowship with him in the acts of his Mediation there Christ was alone only that the effects of his death were accomplished in him a participation of the benefits of his Mediation so Rom 6.6 knowing this that our old man is crucified with Christ that the body of sin may be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin Then was there a foundation laid for the destruction of sin when Christ died then was the merit interposed or price paid and the obligation laid upon us to mortifie it Something there was to be done on Gods part the body of sin was to be destroyed which intimateth the communicating of his spirit of grace to weaken the power and life of sin and something done on our part that henceforth we should not serve sin There was a time when we served sin but being converted we must change masters and betake our selves to another service which will be more comfortable and profitable to us One place more 1 Pet. 4.1 For as much as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin That is since Christ hath suffered for you you must follow and imitate him in suffering also or dying with him namely in dying to sin as he dyed for sin or mortifying our lusts and passions For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that hath suffered in the flesh or is crucified in his carnal nature it hath not respect to suffering afflictions but mortifying sins for 't is presently added He hath ceased from sin given over that course of life so that he should no longer live the rest of his life in the flesh to the lusts of men but the will of God He inferreth the obligation of this correspondence and conformity from Christs dying From all these places we collect 1. 'T is an obligation This was Christs end and we must not put our Redeemer to shame 1 John 3.8 For this purpose the son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil That the interest of the Devil might be destroyed in us and the interest of God set up with glory and triumph shall I go about to frustrate his intention or make void the end of his death cherish that which Christ came to destroy tye those cords the faster which he came to unloose By professing his name we bind our selves to die to sin Rom. 6.2 How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein not ab impossibili but ab incongruo 2. That the death of Christ was a lively and effectual pattern of our dying to sin For the Glory of God and our Salvation Christ dyed a painful shameful accursed death now we must crucifie sin Gal. 5.24 Be crucified to the world Gal. 6.14 That is to say Christ denied himself for us and we must deny our selves for him he suffered pain for us that we should willingly digest the trouble of Mortification and suffer in the flesh in our carnal nature as he did in the human nature 1. The death of Christ was an act of self-denyal he pleased not himself Rom. 15.3 Minded not the interest of that nature he had assumed parted with his Life in the Flower of his Age when most cause to love it And will you part with nothing make it your business to please the flesh and gratify the flesh he loved you and gave himself for you and will not you give up your lusts 2. The death of Christ was an act of pain and sorrow of all deaths crucifixion is the most painful and shameful Sinful nature is not extinguished in us without trouble as sin is rooted in self-love self-denyal is a check to it as this self-love is mainly a love of pleasure or the delight we take in sin so the pains of Christs death check it shall we wallow in fleshly delights when Christ was a man of sorrows Christs sufferings are the best glass wherein to view sin will you take pleasure in that which cost him so dear he was mocked spit upon buffetted he bare the shame due to our vain conversations A Malefactor was preferred before him Therefore when you remember Christs death you learn how to deal with sin the Jews would not hear of Christs being King Away with him we have no King but Cesar such an Holy indignation should there be a in a renewed soul Rom. 6.12 Let not sin reign therefore in your mortal bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof Let it not King it we have no King but Christ. 3. 'T was a price paid that we might have grace Every true Christian is a partaker of the fruits of Christs death and one fruit is that we might die unto sin 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead unto sin should live unto righteousness This is communicated to us by the spirit he bought sanctification as well as other priviledges Eph. 5.25 26. As Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word And Titus 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works 1 Pet. 1.18 Redeemed us from our vain conversations We are ready to say I shall never get rid of this naughty heart renounce these sensual and worldly affections our hearts are so wedded to the interests of the flesh but Matth. 19.26 With God all things are possible 2. Carry it well to the spirit 1. Believe that the Holy Ghost is your sanctifyer and resign up your selves to him as such that he may recover your souls to God This is but fulfilling our baptismal vow Mat. 28.19 Go baptize all nations in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost To God the Father as
your Lord and happiness to Chrâ—st as your Redemer and Saviour to the Holy-Ghost as your guide comforter and sanctifier We renew this consent in the Lords Supper that we may bind our selves the faster to him to submit to his spiritual Discipline that our cure my be wrought in us 2. You must obey his sanctifying motions for otherwise this resignation was in vain therefore we must faithfully endeavour by the power and help which he giveth us to mortifie sin we must strive against sin and we must strive with them to strive and resist him argueth great prophaness Gen. 6.3 Acts 7.51 Not to strive with him much neglect and laziness you must strive with your hearts when the spirit is striving with you and take the season of his special help 'T is not at our command for the wind bloweth as it listeth take it when you have it 'T is an offence to the spirit when the flesh is obeyed before him men are easily intreated by sin but deaf to his motions 3. Use the appointed means by which the spirit worketh There are means of obtaining the spirit at first by the Word and Prayer The spirit is conveyed by some Doctrine for Gods operative Power is applyed to man as a reasonable creature not for necessity For the Word Gal. 3.2 Received ye the the spirit by the works of the law or the hearing of faith So for Prayer If not for friendships sake c. Luke 11.8 13. yet because of his importunity If ye being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask it Beg it of God upon the account of Christ Titus 3.5.6 But we speak now of another thing not the gift of the spirit at first but the supply of the spirit 'T is gotten the same way the spirit joyneth his power and efficacy with the proper instituted means the Word which is the sword of the spirit Eph. 6.17 This sword was made by the spirit Holy men spake as moved by the Holy Ghost Used by the spirit to vanquish Satan 1 John 2.14 And the word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one â—Tis used for the defence of the better part the sword of the flesh is the excessive love of pleasures some carnal bait And by it the power of the holy ghost came upon us Acts 10.44 While Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word A spirit of sobriety godliness meekness and the fear of the Lord. We cannot make use of this sword without the spirit 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit So Sacraments 1 Cor. 12.13 And have been all made to drink into one spirit Prayer looking up to God who helpeth us in our conflicts openeth their ears to discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity Job 36. And breaketh the yokeless disposition and opposition in our hearts 4. To forbear those wilful sins which grieve the spirit Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the spirit 1 Thes. 5.19 Quench not the spirit do not provoke him to withdraw his assistance from us as David was sensible of his misery Psa. 51.10 11 12. Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me by thy free spirit SERMON XX. ROM VIII 13 ye shall live WE come now to the Promise ye shall live Doct. That life is promised to those that seriously improve the assistances of the spirit for the mortifying of sin 1. What is the life here promised the life of Grace or the life of Glory I shall give my Answer in Three Considerations 1. The more we die unto sin the more fit we are to live that new life which becometh Christians or new creatures For Mortification and Vivification do mutually help one another So much sin as remaineth in us so far is the spiritual life clogged and obstructed therefore it is called a weight that hangeth upon us and retardeth and hindreth us in all our heavenly flights and motion Heb. 12.1 That weight is there explained to be sin that doth easily befet us 't is the great impediment to the heavenly life and maketh our progress therein slow and troublesom Well then the more these inordinate inclinations are broken and mortifyed the more we are alive unto Righteousness as the Scripture every where witnesseth and the more we tame and subdue the flesh the more doth the spirit or better part thrive and prosper therefore it may be truly said If ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live That is spiritually 2. The spiritual life is the pledg and beginning of the life of glory Here 't is begun by the spirit and there perfected the spirit of holiness is the surest pledg of a Resurrection to eternal life as I proved v. 10 11. The reasonable nature inferreth Immortality and the new nature a blessed Immortality every where the new birth 't is made the seed of Eternity called therefore the immortal seed 1 Pet. 1.23 And he that is born of God is said to have eternal life abiding in him he hath the pledg and earnest and first fruits of it the spiritual life consists in the knowledg love and contemplation of God and perfect love and subjection to him so that if it were meant of the Life of Grace the Life of Glory cannot be excluded 3. As it cannot be excluded so 't is principally intended as is evident partly because 't is put in opposition to death which is the fruit of the carnal life if ye live after the flesh ye shall die Such a life is intended as is directly opposite to that death and partly because 't is propounded by way of motive and motives are seldom taken from things co-ordinate such as are vivification and mortification a dying to sin but from things of a superior rank and order as the glorious reward is to duty and partly because this suiteth with the Apostles scope That justified Persons shall not be condemned but glorified because of the life of the spirit in them 2. To confirm the point First by Scripture The offer of eternal life is every where propounded in Scripture as the great encouragement of all our endeavours either in subduing sin or perfecting holiness as Prov. 12.28 The way of righteousness is life and in the path thereof is no death There is the hope of life asserted and the fear of death removed death elsewhere is propounded as the reward of sin and life as the great motive to keep us in the true love and obedience of God Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting so Ezek. 18.18 Because he considereth and turneth away from all his
and them But there the contentments are high and noble and our faculties are more inlarged Then if ever 't is our meat and drink to do our Fathers will Secondly The life is Eternal we are never weary of it and never deprived of it The present life 't is a kind of death like a stream it floweth from us as fast as it cometh to us 'T is called a vapour Jam. 4.14 that appeareth and disappeareth a flying shadow Job 14.2 We die as fast as we live 't is no permanent thing but there our years shall have no end the pain and trouble of duty is short but the reward is Eternal 2. Compare it with life spiritual This is like it but differeth from it 'T is a blessed and perfect life First 't is a blessed life free from all miseries all tears are wiped from our eyes and sorrow and pain shall be no more we shall always be before the Throne of God and behold the Glory of Christ and live in the company of Saints and Angels but the spiritual life doth not exempt us from miseries rather it exposeth us to them To outward troubles it doth 2 Tim 3.12 Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution And as to inward troubles we are not freed from all doubts of Gods love tho the wounds are cured the scars remain Absolom when pardoned was not to see the Kings face Secondly 't is a perfect life There is a perfect freedom not only from misery but from sin There is no spot or wrinkle on the face of the glorified Saints Eph. 5.27 Here the spiritual life is clogged with so many infirmities and corruptions that the comfort of it is little perceived as a Child in infancy for all his reason knoweth little of the delights of a man here we only get so much grace as will keep us alive in the midst of defects and failings and have much a do to mortifie and master corruption but then it is nullified and quite abolished that we shall never be in danger of sinning again Oh think then of this blessed estate believe it for God hath revealed it hope for it because Christ hath promised it and if you submit to the discipline of the spirit you shall be sure to find it Christ when he went to Heaven sent the spirit to lead us thither where he is and the great preparation he worketh in us to make us capable of this blessed estate is by mortifying the deeds of the Body the sooner that is done the more meet and ready you are USE Let all this that hath been spoken quicken you to mortification Many things are required of us but the blessing of all cometh from the spirit The two great means we have already handled but now some more 1. The heart must thoroughly be possessed of the evil of sin we think it no great matter and so give way to it and pass it over as a matter of nought Oh let it not seem a light thing to you do not dandle it nor indulge it nor stroke it with a gentle censure 't is the creatures disobedience and rebellion against the absolute and universal Sovereign 1 John 3.4 He that commiteth sin also transgresseth the law for sin is a transgression of the law 'T is a depreciation and contempt of Gods Authority 2 Sam. 12.9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight The deformity of the noblest creature upon earth Rom. 3.24 We have sinned and are come short of the Glory of God A stain so deep that nothing could wash it away but the Blood of Christ Heb. 9.14 A flood that drowned a World of sinners but did not wash away their sin 2 Pet. 2.5 Bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly Hell its self can never end and purge it out Therefore it hath no end God loathed the creature for sin and nothing else but sin His own people Deut. 32 1â— He abhored them because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters God doth not make little reckoning of sin he doth not overlook it why should we 2. Watchfulness not only against less acts but lusts not only lusts but tendencies especially an ill habit of soul pride worldliness or sensuality Mark 3.37 What I say unto you I say unto all Watch. 3. With watching must go prayer Matth. 26.41 Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak For God is our preserver we watch that we may not be careless and we pray that we may not be self-confident 4. Keep up heart government Pro. 25.28 He that ruleth not his spirit is like a city whose wall is broken down A thoroughfarâ— for temptations open to every comer Unbridled passions and affections will soon betray us to evil if anger envy grief fear be not under restraints as in a Town that is broken down and without walls the inhabitants may go and come at pleasure night and day there is nothing to hinder no gates no bars friend or foe there is nothing to hinder egress or regress so it is with an ungoverned soul. 5. Live always as in the sight of God John 3. Eph. 11. He that doth evil hath not seen God Job 31.3 Doth not he see my ways and count all my steps A serious sight of God is a great check and aw to sin will he force the Queen before my face Shall we sin when God looketh on 6. Serious covenanting with God or devoting our selves to him 1 Pet. 4.12 For as much then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath reased from sin that he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God and Rom. 6.13 Neither yeild ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yeild your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God 7. Humiliation for sin this checketh the pleasure we take in it this is begun in fear continued in shame and carried on further by sorrow and endeth in indignation we fear it as dawning we are ashamed of it as defiling we sorrow for it as 't is an act of unkindness against God and we have indignation against it as unsuitable to our glorious hopes and present interest Isa. 30.22 And thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloath thou shalt say unto it Get ye hence Hos. 14 8. Ephraim shall say What have I any more to do with idols This is the souls expulsive faculty 8. Thankefulness for the grace received 1 Sam. 25.32 Blessed be God that kept me from shedding of innocent blood Gen. 20.6 I withheld thee from sinning against me Disappointments of providence restraints of grace the power of saving grace Rom.
so Psal. 143.10 Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God thy spirit is good lead me in the land of uprightness They that would walk circumspectly and incur no blame from God and hazzard to their souls need ever to seek direction from God according to his Covenant we need such teaching as hath with it leading and such direction as hath with it strengthning unto obedience such as will not only help us to understand the general rule but also how to apply it to particular actions that no part of our duty may be left upon our selves and this only can we have from the Spirit of God who directeth and leadeth us in all our choices and actions Well then whosoever would walk in a regular course of life in an exact obedience to all the commands of God and do nothing but what is all perfectly good and acceptable in Gods sight must thus beg for the leading of his gracious and sanctifying Spirit who is the only Fountain of all Goodness and Holiness to direct him and assist him in every turn and motion of his life 3. The Necessity of it because we are inabled to guide our selves the way of man is not in himself Jer. 10.23 It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps The Metaphor of leading is taken from the blind or the weak the blind who cannot see their way must have one to lead them and the lame who tho they can see yet cannot walk of themselves but must have one to help them the ignorant Traveller needs a guide and the weak Child a Nurse to attend upon him 'T is true the Children of God are light in the Lord besides their natural Reason they have some Understanding of the Way of Godliness but yet to a steady constant course of Obedience all strict and righteous living we need to be directed by the good Spirit to make that light which we have both directive and perswasive 1. Directive Tho we have a general understanding of our duty yet to make use of it in all particular cases needeth new Grace from God the Heathens were wise in generals Rom. 1.20 They became vain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their imaginations and their practical inferences from these general truths their foolish heart was darkned and professing themselves to be wise they became fools And tho the people of God have greater advantages by that knowledg they have from the Scripture whereby they are made wiâ—e unto salvation and get more by Gods putting his Laws into their minds in Regeneration whereby they become light in the Lord yet being not impeccable and having many mixtures of sin yet remaining in every faculty in particular cases are apt to err and turn out of the way being in part ignorant and heedless and too often blinded by their own rebellious lusts and passions Therefore they desire that God would not leave them to themselves but warn them of their snares and dangers that they may still keep the path of life without defection or turning aside Psal. 119.133 Order my steps in thy word and let not any one iniquity have dominion over me They would not only have their path right but their steps ordered as not their general course wrong as those who walk in the way of everlasting perdition so not a step awry they would not miss the way to Heaven either in whole or in part Men that have such a tenderness upon them see a continual need of Gods Counsel which careless and slâ—ght spirits do not they would not be corrupted by their covetousness or sensuallity or ambition these things blind us in particular cases tho they see their way or know their duty in the general Therefore they need the constant assistance of the spirit to rescue them from the power of every known sin and to keep them in exact Obedience for all our general light pride or passion or sensual and worldly inclinations may make us err 2. That our light may be perswasive and overcome temptations and inclinations to sin Alas how weak are our arguings and how easily are our considerations of our duty overborn when a temptation sets our lusts a work and come on upon us with fresh strength We see what we should do but yet we are carried away by our rebellious affections to do the contrary or through sloath and negligence omit to do that which conscience calleth for at our hands Poor truth is taken captive and held prisoner detained in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 It may talk like a man in chains but hath no power can do nothing to break the force of the temptation but now the spirits leading is lively and effectual to be led is to be excited moved stirred forward yea effectually inclined to do those things which please God he leadeth us not only monendo by warning us of our duty or inlightning our minds but movendo by inclining our hearts The Holy Ghost doth inlighten our minds and warm our affections and purge away their impurities we are moved that we may move and we receive the impression of his Grace that we may act and do the things he inclineth us unto this powerful leading the Saints beg Psal. 119.34 35. Give me understanding and I shall keep thy law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart Make me to go in the path of thy commandments for therein do I delight Gods teaching begets Obedience and he sheweth us the path of life and he maketh us to go in it 'T is such direction that giveth strength that exciteth the sluggish will and breaketh the force of corrupt inclinations it removeth the darkness which corruption and sin have brought upon the mind and maketh us pliable and ready to obey yea it giveth not only the will but the deed In short it engageth us in a watchful careful uniform and constant Obedience 4. The nature or manner how the spirit performeth the office of a guide or leader to us He guideth us partly by his word and partly by his inspirations and motions or the light of internal Grace By his Word that containeth the matter of his guidance and direction Psal. 119.105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Mark there is path and feet not only direction for our general choice and course but our particular actions and mark also the notions by which the word is expressed lamp and light We have the light of the Sun by day and we make use of a lamp or candle by night whether it be day or night in all conditions as well as in all actions here is a sure direction therefore the word is called the Sword of the Spirit now this is the light the Spirit maketh use of partly the inward inspirations and motions of his grace that we may have a spiritual discerning 1 Cor. 2.14 Besides the outward letter there must be an inward light that the understanding be opened as well as the Scriptures
Belief of the threatnings of God from whence ariseth a sense of our sinful and miserable condition so far 't is good and useful Partly from an ill cause the Devil who delighteth to vex us with unreasonable terrors 1 Sam. 16.14 The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord vexed him The Devil both tempteth and troubleth as the Huntsman hideth himself till the poor Beast be gotten into the toile then he appeareth with shouts and cryes Partly from the corruption of mans heart which either turneth this work to an utter aversation from God or some perfunctory and unwilling way of serving him some know the right use of the Covenant others not and therefore we must consider not only how 't is wrought by the spirit but how 't is entertained by man through our corruption our conviction of sin and misery by the spirit turneth into Bondage and servitude 2. The spirit of bondage is better than a profane spirit Some cast off all thoughts of God and the World to come and are not so serious and mindful of religion as to be much troubled with any fears about their eternal condition it were happy for them if they were come so far as a spirit of Bondage they that are under it have a conscience of their duty but such as perplexeth them and lasheth and stingeth them with the dread and horror of that God whom they serve Now this is better than the prophane spirit that wholly forgets God Psa. 10.4 God is not in all their thoughts whether he be pleased or displeased honoured or dishonoured this may tend to good the gradus ad rem gradus in re Yea it may in some degree be consistent with sincerity for though to have no love to God is inconsistent with a state of grace or to have less love to God than sin yet to have more fear than love is consistent with some weak degree of grace especially if the case be so that love is less felt in act than fear and therefore though men are conscious to much backwardness yet keep up a seriousness though to their feeling 't is more fear than love which moveth them yet we dare not pronounce them graceless for there may be a love to God and a complacency in his ways though it be oppressed by fear that the spirit of adoption is not so much discovered for the time 3. That 't is an ill frame of spirit to be cherished or rested in For while men are under the sole and predominant influence of it they are never converted to God fear doth begin the work of conversion but love maketh it sincere the spirit by fear doth awaken men to make them see their condition terrifying them by the belief of Gods threatning and the sense of his indignation that they may flee from wrath to come Matth. 3.7 Or cry out What shall I do to be saved Acts 2.37 But yet tho they have a sensible work they have not a saving work Some by these fears are but troubled and restrained a little and so settle again in their sensual course but to their great loss for God may never give them like advantages again Others betake themselves to a kind of religiousness and forsake the practice of those grosser sins which breed their fears and so resting here continue in a state of hypocrisie and self-deceiving religiousness 1. USE is Information and Instruction to teach us how to carry it as to the spirit of Bondage First 't is not to be slighted partly from the matter which breedeth the fear and bondage which is the law of God the supreme rule and reason of our duty by which all debates of conscience are to be decided partly from the Author this sense of sin and misery is stirred up in us and made more active by the Operation of the Spirit of God partly from the faculty wherein 't is seated the conscience of a reasonable creature the most lively and sensible power of mans soul which cannot be pacified but upon solid grounds and reasons partly from the effect the fear of eternal death the greatest misery that can befall us for surely 't is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God Heb. 10.31 To smother and stifle checks of conscience doth increase our misery not remove it and produceth hardness of heart and contempt of God therefore when our souls are at this pass that we see we are in bondage to sin and know not how to help it in bondage to wrath and know not how to quench these fears which are awakened in us by the spirit surely we should look after solid satisfaction and peace of soul setled on us upon Gospel Terms Run to the blood of sprinkling Heb. 10.20 2. Yet 't is not a thing to be chosen prayed for or rested in Partly because 't is a judiciary Impression a spark of Hell kindled in the conscience a tender conscience we may and must pray for but not a stormy conscience when we ask legal terrors we know not what we ask a belief of the threatnings belong to our duty as well as a belief of the promises but we must not so reflect upon terrors as to exclude the comfort and hope of the Gospel when under a spirit of Bondage we are in a most servile condition far from all solid comfort courage and boldness but is it not an help to conversion Answer Let God take his own way we are not to look after the deepness of the wound but the soundness of the cure not terrible representations of sin and wrath but such an anxiousness as will make us serious and solicitous partly because the Law-Covenant is an antiquated dispensation the law of nature bindeth not as a Covenant for the promise of life ceased upon the incapacity of the subjects when under a natural impossibility of keeping it the threatning and penalty lieth upon us indeed till we flee to another court and covenant The Jewish Covenant was abolished when Christ repealed the Law of Moses that Covenant dealt with us as servants the Gospel dealeth with us as sons in a more ingenuous way and inviting us to God upon nobler motives and partly from the nature of that fear that doth accompany it it driveth us from God not to God Gen. 3.5 Adam hid himself among the bushes and he gives us this reason because he was afraid and still we all fly from a condemning God but to a pardoning God we are incouraged to come nigh Psal. 103.4 There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared In the wicked the fear of Gods Wrath once begun it increaseth daily till it come to the desperate fear of the damned and the fault is not in the law or in the spirit but in man who runneth from his own happiness and maketh an ill use of Gods Warnings 2. USE is to put us upon tryal and self-reflection All that attend upon Ordinances receive some spirit
often quench the vigour and obscure the Glory of that life which they have whilest they shew forth too much of Adam and too little of Jesus And so the spiritual life is carried on darkly and in a riddle Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all Certainly if our priviledges be hidden yet our graces should appear in their fruits and effects Little of our happiness will be seen in this world yet our holiness should be apparent and visible 2 Thes. 1.11 12. Wherefore also we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. If your condition be obscured and darkned by afflictions it should not be obscured and darkned by sins a perpetual tenor of happiness we cannot expect in a changeable world yet by a constant course of holiness we should plainly distinguish our selves from those that will perish in the common apostacy and defection of mankind But alas Gods children are not so cautious but that they border too near the world and tho there should be such a broad difference that the children of God may be manifestly distinguished from the children of the Devil 1 John 3.10 Yet too much of the influence of the evil spirit remaineth with us and is bewrayed by us upon all occasions yet there is a generation of men that row against the stream of flesh and blood 1 Pet. 4.4 Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them into the same excess of riot 3. Hidden as to their priviledges and the glory of their estate Many of Gods children being mean and low and indigent oppressed by the world harrassed with sundry calamities and afflictions it doth not appear that we have such a great and glorious Father Now we are stained with sin blackned with sufferings there is no visible appearance of our great dignity and prerogative There must be a distinction between Earth and Heaven our filiation in the world to come is another thing to what it is in this world for then their glory shall be manifest Col. 3.4 When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory For the present our glory is spiritual and future 1. 'T is spiritual and maketh no fair shew in the flesh as the Image of God is an internal thing as the Kings Daughter is glorious within Psal. 45.13 It lyeth not in great Revenues and pomp of living but a plentiful participation of gifts and Graces their comforts are spiritual known by feeling rather than by report Phil. 4.7 The peace of God which passeth all understanding Rev. 2.17 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it Gods children are not utterly abandoned and left to the will of men The protection of Gods Providence is a Mystery and Riddle to the world that must have all things under the view of sense Psal. 31.20 Thou shalt hide them in the seâ—ret of thy presence from the pride of man thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues and Psal. 91.1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty Job 29.4 As I was in the days of my youth when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle God keepeth them and maintaineth them no body knoweth how there is a secret and invisible blessing goes along with them as others are blasted by an invisible â—urse And 2. 'T is future The time of our perfection and blessedness is not yet come and we cannot for the present judg of it nor the world imagine what it shall be they do not consider the end of things but look all to the present for the present they find the Saints miserable and those that are dead the world taketh them for lost 1 Cor. 15 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable They that are worse used by other men have little advantage by Christ now their Sonship entitleth them to a miserable portion in the worlds estimation who know not consider not things to come 2. From whom they are hidden Not from God who knoweth those that are his 2 Tim. 2.19 Not from Christ who died for them and hath their Names graven upon his Breasts and Shoulders and is mindful of them upon every turn John 10.14 I am the good shepherd who know my sheep and am known of mine Christ hath a particular and exact knowledg of all the Elect their individual Persons who they are where they are and what they are that shall be saved He taketh special notice of them that he may suitably apply himself to them they are not altogether unknown to the good Angels for they are their charge Heb. 1.14 Are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation And they shall gather them from the four winds at the last day Matth. 24.31 From whom then are they hidden 1. From the world The world knoweth us not as they knew him not they are hid from the world as colours from a blind man they have no eyes to see they are blinded by the delusions of the flesh and cannot judg of spiritual things because they are to be spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 As a beast cannot judg of the affairs of a man 't is a life above them these things are out of their sphear for they value all things according to the interest of the flesh and being blinded with malice and prejudice they censure this estate perversly and so malign and oppose it 1 Pet. 4.4 5. They think it strange you do not run with them into the same excess of riot speaking evil of you who shall give an account to him who is ready to judg the quick and the dead They are unwilling any should put a disgrace upon their fleshly course of life therefore if they cannot draw others into a fellowship of their sins they labour to blacken them with censures or root them out with furious oppositions and persecutions But their perverse judgment should be no discouragement to us let us rather pity their ignorance than be troubled at their malice it is enough for us that we have the favour of God and our hopes lye elsewhere 2. In a great measure from our selves What with corruptions within and temptations without we have much ado to be perswaded that God is our Father and we his children our condition being so unsuitable and our conversations so much beneath our rights and priviledges so that it needeth to be cleared by the spirit
the Apostle is of immutable equity Rom. 6.11 His servants you are to whom ye yield your selves to obey Now man giving up reason to appetite becometh a very slave as a Country is inthralled when the base prevail above the honourable and Beggars get on horseback but the Princes are on foot such a deordination there is when reason is put out of Dominon and lusts prevail our Bondage is described by the Apostle Tit. 3.3 Serving divers lusts and pleasures Our lusts urge us to an eager pursuit of inferior things reason or the leading-part of the Soul reclaimeth but it hath no force besides our dependance upon God which cannot be shaken off if since our Apostacy from him we have a perfect understanding to guide us the danger would not be so great but in this corrupt estate the mind is blinded by our Passions and Appetites and therefore to be left to the dispose of our bruitish affections is the greatest judgment that can be Psal. 81.12 So I gave them up to their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels This is the greatest thraldom that can befal such a creature as man is it leaveth us no power to dispose of our selves men often see what they should do but cannot do it being drawn away by their own lusts and tho we have some kind of remorse from the remainders of reason especially being assisted by the Holy Spirit as to some common help yet we foully miscarry still till it hath brought us to misery as it did Sampson the strongest Solomon the wisest of men Then therefore is a man at liberty when reason and conscience are again put into dominion and a man is fitted to please God and seek after his true happiness with the contempt of all worldly things 4. It must be such a liberty as bringeth us nearest to the state of innocency which is mans first estate and the state of glory which is his last and most perfect state Now this doth consist in a freedom from the Power of sin the liberty of Innocency was posse non peccare Adam might not have sinned the liberty of Glory will be non posse peccare they cannot sin as not with a moral cannot 't is absurd that may be obtained here 1 John 3.9 He cannot sin because he is born of God but with a natural cannot 't is impossible the Soul doth indeclinably adhere to God as the chiefest good therefore now the nearer we come to this the will of man is best disposed and the more to be accounted as free Divines usually consider man in a fourfold estate In statu instituto in a state of integrity and so man might not have sinned In statu destituto in a state of corruption so he can do nothing else but sin That every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually Gen. 6.5 In statu restituto and so he hath an inclination partly to good by the spirit of grace dwelling in him partly to evil by reason of the relickes of sin and is only so far freed from the bondage of corruption as that it shall not reign in him Rom. 6.14 In statu preestituto in the state to which he is appointed in the state of glory in which he can will nothing but what is good a blessed necessity it is and our highest liberty for liberty is not opposite to necessity but obligation or impulsion we are never more free than when we are passed all possibility of sinning 2. As it relateth to our felicity and so it implyeth two things 1. Our immunities and priviledges 2. Our rights and prerogatives 1. The immunities and priviledges of Gods Children we are delivered from much misery by Christ. First From the slavery of sin Rom. 6.18 Being made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness Tho sin still dwelleth in us yet the guilt is remitted the damning power gone Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. The reigning power broken Rom. 6.14 For sin shall not have dominion over you and so 't is more and more mortified in us by the grace of Regeneration till at length it be abolished by death and so the being is gone and our inthralled spirits are in some measure set free to know serve and love God and delight in him as our Lord and life and end and all Secondly From death as the curse of the law And so from those everlasting torments which the wicked must endure The second death hath no power over such and tho we are obnoxious to the first death yet the venom and sting of it is gone 1 Cor. 15.56 57. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory And of an enemy 't is made a friend 1 Cor. 3.22 Death is yours 'T is made the gate and entrance into eternal rest Thirdly From the Bondage that did arise in us from the fear of eternal death Where sin is entertained it bringeth another inmate along with it and that is the fear and terror of death and damnation which ariseth from the consciousness of sin now to be free from the accusations of a guilty conscience and those self-tormentings which in the wicked are the foretasts of Hell is surely a great mercy and this is the priviledge of Gods People Heb. 2.14 15. To deliver them who through fear of death are all their life-time subject to bondage And sinners are such Bond-men that they dare not call themselves to an account for the expence of their time and course of their imployments which all wise men should do and think seriously of God and the day of judgment and the World to come therefore it is a great mercy to have a quiet well settled conscience Fourthly From the tyranny and power of Satan as a deceiver and enemy and executioner of the wrath of God who thereby taketh wicked men captive at his will and pleasure He cannot totally prevail against the elect Matth. 16.18 Vpon this rock I build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it tho he vex and tempt them continually He hath a kind of right to apostate Souls Eph. 6.12 Rulers of the darkness of this world but his power is much broken as to the elect they are dayly exercised by him but they overcome and stand stedfast in the faith Fiftly They are freed from the law and covenant of works which requireth that which to us is become impossible and also from the burdensome task of useless ceremonies imposed on the Church in the times of imfancy and darkness And the Apostle biddeth us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free Gal. 5.1 The ceremonial law was a Bondage by reason of the great trouble expence and pain to the flesh which did attend the observation of it especially in its use a bond confessing the debt and Christ hath purchased this freedom and liberty to the Church and we should stand to the
None other please God Page 70 Spirit of Renovation what Page 162 Precedes Adoption Page 169 Reprieve forfeited by us Page 3 Religion what Page 36 Of carnal men what Page 107 Every man will have some Page 107 What its end Page 109 Reaping as we sow Page 95 Resignation of our selves to God nature knows not Page 65 Resisting is in part conquering Page 370 Resist not the spirit a Sanctifier Page 150 'T is dangerous Page 150 Rewards and punishments necessary Page 21 143 Lawful to look to them Page 142 143 Radication of Grace Page 82 Reason enslaved in flesh-pleasers Page 117 Rejoycing sensually very unsuitable to our state Page 204 Repentance what Page 34 36 Necessary to begin our interest in New-Covenant Page 36 Reverence and filial fear Page 165 Rigors external and Popish not acceptable Page 121 Restraining Grace Page 122 Resurrection whence Page 92 Effected by the Spirit of holiness now dwelling in Believers Page 93 Is work of the whole blessed Trinity Page 94 Of the spirit and Christ Page 95 Blessed Resurrection to holy ones Page 95 Onely of man Page 201 Resurrection of Christ influenceth our Iustification Page 346 How Page 347 Rights and Prerogatives of children of God Page 206 Right we have is limited of trust and accountable Page 101 196 Lest by the fall yet witked men have a civil Right Page 196 Rule of Believers obedience Page 73 S SAcrament of Lords Supper what Page 32 Spirit of Adoption suits it well Page 167 Hope suits it Page 235 Safety is to keep our selves from our selves Page 49 Is in our Iustification Page 237 Sacrifices for sin and their effects Page 31 Sanctification imperfect matter of wailing Page 1 Is obedience to the better principle in a subject is denial of following the worst principle Page 1 6 How wrought and increased Page 6 Effect intended by the death of Christ Page 34 35 Accompanieth Iustification Page 35 Comfort grows with it Page 150 Satans hand in our afflictions to draw us from God Page 365 Satans design against God and man in his tempting us and how defeated Page 29 He burrieth some into sin Page 40 Is executioner Page 97 Rules where spirit of God doth not dwell Page 98 Satisfaction to God Iudge Page 342 Seal of the spirit what and why given Page 42 96 Sanction of a Law what Page 12 Scripture witness is the spirits witness Page 172 Self-love blindeth us Page 253 Senses must be kept under the government of Reason Page 116 Shame of Believers turned into Glory Page 185 Sincerity for a time in particular things Page 260 Yet man hypocrite Page 286 Sin indwelling breeds fear of condemnation Page 1 Every new sin makes our claim doubtful Page 8 205 Ever hurts us Page 103 Lives tho dying in believers Page 119 124 125 All kinds of Sin in Believers Page 126 127 Each Sin hath several ways of acting Page 127 128 Is Mortal if not mortified Page 128 What Sin consistent with life Page 234 Sin condemned what Page 31 It s double power destroyed Page 32 Sin is a disesteem of God Page 144 108 Seen aright onely by the light of the spirit Page 133 Think of it as 't is greatest evil Page 144 All that came in by Sin shall be destroy'd Page 201 Is enemy to all creatures Page 213 State of man fourfold Page 205 Soul propends to its old friend and mate the body Page 97 Slaves are they who cannot peruse true happiness Page 204 Slavish fear what Page 63 153 Service what Page 154 When prevails Page 158 Far from Conversion Page 160 Sons of God Page 150 How we are Page ib. Subsistences three in the Divine Nature Page 64 Subjection to God inseperable to the creature Page 102 108 Spirit what Page 6 In every Christian Page 74 80 82 Prevalent Page 77 82 And how known Page 7 Its object Page 7 Given by Christ Page 9 17 What Page 14 Somewhat of the Spirit given to Heathens Page 17 18 More to Iews Page ib. Most to us in hearing the Gospel Page 18 All Believers have it but not in equal degrees Page 19 Evidence of having it Page 20 Spirit of Bondage and Adoption Page 25 Acteth grace in Believers Page 40 Things of the Spirit Page 47 To be minded more Page 52 53 To be chosen and valued pursued and sought in Gods way Page 54 Above other things and with Prayer Page 53 Spiritual mindedness what Page 59 Spirit Of Adoption what Page 61 Spirit Not to be resisted but obeyed universally constantly Page 78 79 What to have the Spirit Page 81 Without it we can do nothing Page 83 Is such evidence of true Christians Page 83 84 Its qualities Page 84 Effects Page 85 Never given in anger Page 85 Procure the Spirits presence Page 85 Get more of it and how Page 86 What it is Page 93 Is an eternal principle of happiness Page 90 How he dwells in Christians Page 93 94 Cause of our Resurrection Page 95 96 98 139 Mindeth us of our duty Page 100 Co-operates in Mortification Page 152 153 And how Page 132 133 135 136 Guides the godly Page 146 Sweetly and effectually Page 151 Supports Page 245 T TAste of things shews what men are Page 56 118 Temptations suited by Satan to hearts Page 116 Matter of groaning Page 217 Terrors of conscience restrain from sin Page 122 Foretaste of Hell Page 184 Thoughts discover what we are Page 43 45 56 Are of three kinds Page 55 Good of God to be cherished Page 159 Deep and ponderous about eternal things Page 185 Are known seen by God Page 257 Threats sure Page 111 Verified in Christs death Page 112 Lawfully used now against sinners Page 112 Of use to Adam innocent Page 112 Temporal things bewitch such as compare them not with eternal Page 182 How these should be compared Page 182 183 Trinity engaged distinctly in the work of our Salvation Page 14 Glorified in it Page 35 Unfolded Page 94 Temple of holy Spirit eternally shall glorified Bodies and Souls be Page 184 Tenderness of Spirit least we omit good or commit ill Fruit of love and spirit of Adoption Page 165 Tender hearts of Gods children most sensible of afflictions and sorrows Page 218 More burdened by sin Page 218 Testimony of Scripture is Testimony of the Spirit Page 172 Discovers what is done in us by grace Page ib. 173 With conscience which proceeds with reason Page ib. And both concur to the same Testimony Page 173 What to be done to get it Page 174 Titles tho greatest yet less than this Title Children of God Page 169 Torments for the bad after this life Page 22 Tryals in highest degrees to be respected by us Page 359 These discover our graces and what Page 360 361 Tribulations what Page 351 All conquered by our fervent love of Christ Page 370 And its appendages foreseen and felt to differ Page 371 Troubles of Christians many and great Page 372 And why Page 353 Truths tho small must be
united to Christ partake of his Divine Spirit who doth sanctify the Souls of his people and doth mortify and master the strongest corruptions and raise them to those inclinations and affections to which nature is an utter stranger Th Impressions left upon the Soul by the Spirit may be seen in the three Theological graces which constitute the new Creature mentioned 1 Cor. 13.13 But now abideth Faith Hope and Charity And 1 Thes. 5.8 Putting on the brest-plate of Faith and love and for an helmet the Hope of Salvation And elsewhere Faith Love and Hope Now the operations of all these graces imply a new and strange nature put into us 1. Faith which convinceth us of things unseen and to live in the delightful fore-thought of a World to come 2 Cor. 4.16.17 18. For this cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory While we look not to the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal Now will there not be a manifest difference between a man that is governed by sense and one guided and influenced by Faith Certainly more than there is in a man that delighteth in ordering the affairs of Common-Wealths and a child that delighteth in moulding clay-pies So for Love A Child of God is so affected with the goodness that is in God and the goodness that floweth from God in the wonders of his Love by Christ and the goodness we hope for when all the promises are fulfilled that all their delights desires and endeavours are after God Not to be great in the World but to injoy God Psal. 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee And there is none upon earth I desire besides thee And therefore can easily overcome fleshly and Worldly Lusts and such inclinations as the rest of the World are mastered with Well then a Christian ingrafted into Christ loseth all property in himself and is freed from self-love and that carnal vanity to which it is addicted Then for hope the strong and constant hope of a glorious estate in the other World will make us deny the flesh go through all sufferings and difficulties to attain it Acts 26.6 7. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our Fathers unto which promise our twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come And so by consequence a man acteth like another kind of Creature then the rest of men are or than he himself was before 2. The state of the Gospel calleth for it For it is a change of every thing from what it was before all things are new in the Kingdom of Christ and therefore we should be new Creatures also In the Gospel there is a new Adam which is Jesus Christ a New Covenant a new Paradise not that where Adam injoyed God among the Beasts but where the Blessed injoy God among the Angels a new Ministry new Ordinances and therefore we also should be new creatures and serve God not in the oldness of the letter but the newness of the Spirit Rom. 7.6 We are both obliged and fitted by this new state since we have a new Lord a new Law all is new there must be also a new creation for as the general state of the Church is renewed by Christ so every particular believer ought to participate of this new estate 3. The third Argument shall be taken from the necessity of the new creation 1. In order to our present Communion with God the new creature is necessary to converse with an holy and invisible God earnestly frequently reverently and delightfully For the effects of the new creature are life and likeness Those that do not live the life of God are estranged from him Eph. 4.18 Adam was alone though compassed about with multitude of Creatures Beasts and Plants there was none to converse with him because they did not live his life Trees cannot converse with Beasts nor Beasts with Men nor Men with God till they have some what of the same nature and life sense fits the Plants reason the Beasts so grace fits Men. So for likeness conformity is the ground of Communion Amos 3.3 How can two walk together except they are agreed Our old course made the breach between God and us Isa. 59.2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear And our new life and likeness qualifieth for Communion with him 1 John 1.6 7. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another An holy creature may sweetly come and converse with an holy God 2. In order to our service and obedience to God Man is unfit for Gods use till he be new moulded and framed again Observe two places Eph. 2.10 We are his workmanship in Christ Jesus created unto good works Every creature hath faculties sutable to those operations which belong to that creature So man must be new created and new formed that he may be prepared fitted and made ready for the Lord. You cannot expect new operations till there be a new life The other place is 2 Tim. 2.21 If a man purge himself from these he shall be a Vessel of honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work There is a mass of corruption which remaineth as a clog upon us which maketh us averse and indisposed for the work of God and the Soul must be purged from these lusts and inclinations to the vanities of the World before 't is meet prepared and made ready for the acts of holiness Here must be our first care to get the heart renewed many are troubled about this or that duty or particular branches of the Spiritual life First get life its self for there must be principles before there can be operations and in vain do we expect strengthning grace before we have received renewing grace This is like little Children who attempt to run before they can go Many complain of this and that corruption but they do not groan under the burden of a corrupt nature as suppose wandring thoughts in prayer when at the same time the heart is habitually averse and estranged from God as if a man should complain of an aking tooth when a mortal disease hath seized upon his vitals of a cut finger when at the same time he is wounded at the heart of deadness in duty and want of quickening grace when they want converting grace as if we would have the Spirit blow to a dead coal complain of infirmities and incident