A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL March the 13 th 1691 2. By the Right Reverend Father in GOD EDWARD Lord Bishop of Worcester Published by Her Majesty's Special Command LONDON Printed by J. H. for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. Romans VIII 6. For to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace IN these Words is imply'd a Distribution of Mankind into those who are carnally and spiritually minded which Distinction is so Large and Comprehensive as to take in all sorts and conditions of Men and of so great Moment and Importance that their Life or Death Happiness or Misery depend upon it But considering the Mixture of Good and Evil in Mankind it is not an easie matter to set the Bounds of the carnal and spiritual Mind and considering the frequent Impunity and Security of bad Men and the Fears and Troubles which the best are not exempted from it seems next to impossible to make out at least as to this Life that to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace Yet our Apostle doth not seem to confine the Consequences here mention'd to another World although the full Accomplishment of them be only there to be expected but if we attend to his Scope and Design in the end of the foregoing Chapter and the Beginning of this we shall find that even in this Life the Result of a carnal Mind is a sort of Spiritual Death and of a Spiritual Mind is Life and Peace For when S. Paul in the 7th Chapter had Represented himself as Carnal and sold under Sin although there were great Strugglings between the Convictions of his Conscience and the Strength of Carnal Inclinations yet as long as the latter prevailed so that he could not do the things that his Mind and Reason told him he ought to do but did those things which he was convinced he ought not to have done The more he Reflected upon himself the more Sad and Miserable he found his Condition to be as appears by that Emphatical Expression which follow'd upon it O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death But he no sooner finds hopes of Delivery and Escape out of that Estate but he breaks forth into a Transport of Joy and inward Satisfaction Thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Not meerly a Victory over Death but over Sin too And so he begins this Chapter after a triumphant manner There is therefore no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit For the Lord of the Spirit of Life which was in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death He that groaned under his Captivity before to the Law of Sin doth now rejoyce in his Deliverance from it by the Grace of the Gospel For what could not be done by Natural Freedom by the Power of the Law and the Force of Reason is brought to pass by the Assistance of Divine Grace given to the Souls of Men by Jesus Christ. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh What was that which the Law could not do It could Awaken Convince Terrifie and Confound the Consciences of Sinners under the Sense and Apprehension of their Sins but it could neither Satisfie the Justice of God nor the Minds of Men it could not Remove the Guilt nor take away the Force and Power of Sin But God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinfull Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh i. e. Jesus Christ becoming an Expiatory Sacrifice for Sin took off the damning Power of Sin and by the prevailing Efficacy of his Grace subdued the Strength and Force of it to such a degree That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit How could this be if S. Paul still considered himself in the same Condition he did in the foregoing Chapter For if he were still in Captivity to the Law of Sin in his Members how was it possible that the Righteousness of the Law should be fulfilled in him How could he walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit if the Good which he would he did not and the Evil which he would not that he did For these things are so repugnant to each other that when they are spoken of the same Person it must be under different Considerations the one of him as meerly under the Power of the Law the other as under the Grace and Influence of the Gospel The one was like Rough and a Churlish sort of Physick which searches into every Part and puts all the ill Humours of the Body into Motion and makes a general Disturbance and Uneasiness within but yet lets them remain where they were the other is like a gentle but more Effectual Remedy which carries off the Strength and Power of inward Corruptions and alters the Habit and Temper and puts quite another Disposition into us which produces very different Effects upon us For instead of Horrour and Despair and inward Anguish and Confusion there will follow a New Life of Joy and Peace here and Eternal Happiness hereafter And this is what the Apostle means in the Words of the Text To be carnally minded c. Wherein are two things which very much deserve our Consideration I. The different Tempers of Mens Minds some are Carnally and others Spiritually minded II. The different Consequences which follow them To be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace I. The different Tempers of Mens Minds The different Denominations are taken from the Flesh and the Spirit which are here represented as two Principles so different from each other that the same Person cannot be supposed to be acted by both of them For as the Apostle saith in the foregoing Words They that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Where the Flesh in a Moral Sense takes in all our Sensual Inclinations which are Sinfull either in their Nature or Degree The Spirit is that Divine Principle which possesses the Mind with the Love and Esteem of Spiritual things and keeps our Natural Inclinations within the Compass of God's Law To be carnally minded is to be under the Influence of Carnal things so as to make the Pursuit of them our Chief Design To be spiritually minded is to have so deep and just a Sense of God and his Law upon our Minds as to make it our business to Please him and therefore to Subdue all such Inclinations which are repugnant to his Will But here lies the main Difficulty how to Judge concerning this matter so as to be able to
Proportions of Good and Evil in Particular Persons so as to be able to judge whether we are Carnally or Spiritually minded For as those who are Carnal while they follow their Carnal Inclinations may have many inward Strugglings by Spiritual Convictions so those who are Spiritually minded may meet with many Combats from the Flesh which may be Troublesome where it cannot prevail But there is a great difference between the Spirit struggling against the Flesh in the Carnally minded and the Flesh struggling against the Spirit in those who are Spiritually minded For where there is no perfect Victory there will be some Opposition and the best have so many Failings to complain of in this World so many Infirmities and Defects in their good Actions so many Passions not brought into their due Order so many Omissions of Personal and Relative Duties such variety of Tempers and Weakness of Resolution such Coldness in Devotion and Unreasonable Dejections of Mind so many unaccountable Fears and such dreadfull Apprehensions of Death and the Consequences of it that these things must make great Abatements as to such as are truly Spiritually minded But by all these things the Difficulty still increaseth and therefore it is time to come to the Resolution of it and that will be by shewing that the Difference between the Carnal and Spiritual Mind lies in these three Things 1. In the Deliberate Judgment and Choice 2. In the Prevailing Interest 3. In the Constant Rule and Measure of Actions 1. In the deliberate Judgment and Choice For the main difference as to the Carnal and Spiritual Mind lies in the different End which is aimed at by them Where the Chief End is the Pleasing our Selves and the enjoying of any thing as our Happiness under the Supream Good whatever Thoughts and Intentions we may at some times have to Repent of our Sins and turn our Souls from the Love of Sin to the Love of God as long as we continue pursuing a wrong End we have too great Reason to conclude our Minds to be yet carnal and sold under sin For while the Apostle represents himself so he tells us he had his Conscience throughly awakened with the Sense of his sins even of those which the World is least apt to be sensible of inward and secret Sins he was not only convinced of the Excellency and Purity of the Law but had some Pleasure and Satisfaction in it he had some hearty desires to be rid of his beloved Sins but yet they were too hard for him he sighed and lamented under his deplorable Condition but 'till the Grace of God came to set him free he was in a miserable and hopeless State But how is it that the Grace of God thus refines and purifies the minds of Men so as of Carnal to make them Spiritual when the same Passions and Inclinations remain A Change there must be and that real and spiritual and therefore in our best Faculties viz. our Understandings and our Wills not by a Revelation of New Objects to the Mind nor by offering any Force upon the Will but by fixing the Judgment of the Mind and the Choice of the Will upon the best and most desirable Object which is God himself as the Supreme Good The Turn of the Soul which makes one Spiritually minded must not be only from gross and sensual Inclinations but from every other kind of Good which stands in Competition with the Supreme A truly Spiritual Mind is one that is possessed with the Love of God above all and that values other things as they tend to the Enjoyment of Him God must be the only Center of his Hopes and Designs for in him alone his true Happiness consists As the Psalmist expresses it Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth I desire besides thee Whatever falls short of this may agree to a carnal Mind but a Carnal Mind can never love God as he ought to be loved not with a Supreme transcendent Degree of Love which is alone proper and suitable to him All other kind of Love is beneath his Infinite Goodness and Perfections and to love him as we do his Creatures is to do him the greatest Dishonour for it levels their Perfections and supposes them to deserve the same Degree of Affection from us But there may be many Spiritual Notions in Mens minds about God and Religion about Mystical Unions and the Participations of Divine Love man seeming Spiritual Raptures and Ecstasies and yet there may not be this Spiritual Mind For the Heats of Enthusiasm may seem to be very Spiritual but are of another kind they are Spiritual as they are the Effects of a great heating of the Spirits by the Force of a vehement Imagination which hath been often accompanied with as vehement an Inclination to Sensual Pleasures which shews the plain Difference between an Exalted Fancy and a Spiritual Mind A Spiritual Mind is such a one as is not only throughly convinced of the Reality of Spiritual things but of their Excellency and Desirableness above any others that can be offer'd to our Choice It sees through all the Glittering Vanities of this World and soars above the most tempting and bewitching Follies of Mankind here It frequently retires from the Noise and Confusion the Hurry and Vexation of Worldly Affairs that it may converse more freely with Invisible Objects not meerly by way of Contemplation but by raising the Affections of the Soul towards them as the things which it hath chosen for its Happiness And this makes a â—onderfull Alteration in the thoughts that these Different Tempers have concerning the same things I do not deny but those who have carnal Minds may have some raised and spiritual Thoughts but they are too cold and speculative they may have noble and refined Speculations about the Invisible World may be fully convinced that the things which are seen could not be what they are were it not for the things which are not seen and that the things which are not seen are of incomparably greater value than those which are so much more admired because they are seen But we must not conclude that because men do really believe Spiritual things therefore they are spiritually minded for that were to suppose all to be Saints who are not Atheists but there must be such a due Preference in our Minds of that Invisible and Eternal State above all that is accounted Great and Desirable here as gives a just Denomination to one that he is Spiritually minded i. e. that his Mind and Soul is fixed upon another World as his proper Happiness and other things are regarded and valued in Subserviency to it 2. A Spiritual Mind is discerned by the Prevailing Interest For as long as we are made up of Flesh and Spirit there will and must be a Combat between them 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 And yet the same Apostle soon after adds They that are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts the Meaning is that in some particular Instances and less remarkable Cases the Flesh may sometimes be too hard for the Spirit but in all Notorious Instances of the Lusts of the Flesh which he reckons up and in the main Issue of all lesser Combats the Spirit will be too hard for the Flesh in those who are spiritually minded as the Flesh will be too hard for the Spirit at last in those who are carnally minded If we look on them in the time of the Combat it will be hard to judge which is most likely to prevail but those may have the better in some particular Skirmishes who may lose very much in the State of the War a Good Man may be foiled by Surprise or under some disadvantage but he will recover himself and it may be gain Ground by his Falls and a bad Man may in some fits of Devotion seem so spiritually minded that one might be apt to think he were quite changed 'till he returns to his former Practices If we had been to judge of Ahab in the time of his Humiliation and of David in the time of his Impenitency after his Sins of Adultery and Murther we should have thought in common Justice and Charity the latter had been the carnal and the former the spiritual-minded man But it was quite otherwise which shews that we are not to judge of Mens Spiritual Condition by sudden and violent Motions whether good or bad but by that Interest which prevails with them in the whole Course of their Lives To give a general Character of a Man from some Violent Passion against the Tenour of his Life would be like drawing the Picture of a Man in a Fit of an Epilepsy or a Convulsive Motion of his Face And to believe a Man to be a Good Man because he hath some good Moods and Passionate Fits of Devotion is as if we should take a piece of rotten Wood for a true Phosphorus because it shines sometimes or suppose Judas to be a Saint because he was so much in our Saviour's Company The inward Habits and Dispositions of Mens minds may be cover'd over and disguised a great While but a Tempting Occasion lays them open as no doubt Judas did not get his habit of Covetousness of a sudden but it was still growing and ripening under a fair appearance and when the proper Season came the Secret Malignity brake forth and the Temptation of Thirty Pieces of Silver discover'd the Baseness and Hypocrisy of his Heart Sometimes the Vein of Hypocrisy lies deep and is cover'd over with such a fair outside that no one can have Reason to mistrust it 'till it discovers it self and then the Corruption is found to loathsome as to render ordinary Sincerity suspicious But this is a common Fault either to be too easily deceived or too unreasonably mistrustfull there is no certainty in a Deduction from particulars but where the Causes are Equal and Necessary It is as absurd an Inference that there is no such thing as a Spiritual Mind because some who have pretended to it have been found Carnal as that there is no such thing as Common Honesty among men because some who have long born the name of Honest men have been found great Cheats and Impostors But when a Predominant Habit doth discover it self the Person must bear that Title and Denomination which it gives him 3. A Spiritual Mind is known by the general Conformity of Actions to a Divine and Spiritual Rule and so a Carnal Mind by following the Bent and Inclinations of the Flesh. And there lies a great Part of the Difference for such who lay no Restraint upon their Natural Inclinations must needs be carnally minded because the Flesh as S. Chrysostom observes is not taken by S. Paul meerly for the Body but for the corrupt Part of our Selves as consisting of Soul and Body It is observed by Cicero 3. de Rep. That Mankind come into the World in a very ill Condition with a Body naked frail and infirm with a Mind subject to Troubles dejected with Fears impatient of Labour prone to Lust but in the midst of all this there is a certain Divine Flame of Wit and Vnderstanding which lies as it were busied and overwhelmed but with great Care and Industry may be so preserved and improved as to Command our Appetites and Govern our Passions But alas How little doth the Reason of Mankind signifie to the greatest Part of them It helps them to see their Folly and like a Sea-Light to a sinking Ship in a dark Night makes those who are aboard to behold their Misery without helping them out of it If the Frame of human Nature be considered in it self and by way of Speculation we have no Cause to complain of it for as God hath given us Inferiour Faculties suitable to the Constitution of our Bodies so he hath likewise Superiour which are capable of Controlling and Governing them But when Habit and Custom is joyned with a Vicious Inclination how little doth human Reason signifie All the Considerations of Natural Order and Decency and Regularity and Good Example are easily over-born by the strong Propensities of a Corrupt Inclination which hurries men on to satisfie first their Brutal Appetites and leaves Consideration 'till afterwards So that Reason seems by such an After-game rather given to Torment than to Reform them Therefore the Wise God hath superadded his own Law to inforce that of Reason by a greater Authority that Men may think themselves more concerned to take Care of their Actions when they must give an Account of them to one Infinitely above them But what can Mankind do in such a Wretched Condition For the Law of it self is but like a Toyle to a wild Beast the more he struggles the more he is Intangled so that he sees his Misery by it but not his Remedy But such is the Goodness and Mercy of God towards Mankind that he hath never refused to accept those who have sincerely endeavour'd to do his Will according to the Measure of that Assistance which he hath given them Thus we find Characters of Men in all Ages who were said to be Righteous before God just and upright and perfect Men and yet some of the most eminent of these had remarkable failings as Noah Abraham and Job yet they had extraordinary Testimonies of God's Approving their Integrity and passing by those Faults which were contrary to the general Design and Tenour of their Lives I confess we meet with two Instances to the contrary in Scripture which deserve our Consideration and those were of Extraordinary Persons too eminent for their long and faithfull Service of God and yet upon single Faults committed by them he was very severe with them Which may seem to take much
off from this Lenity and Goodness of God towards such who have a general Sincerity of Mind towards him But if we more strictly consider these two Cases we shall find there was something very provoking in the Circumstances of them which made God so much more displeased with the Committing them For they were Sins committed by them in their Publick Capacities and about such things wherein the Honour of God was more particularly concerned The First is the Case of Moses who was a great Pattern of Wisdom and Meekness and Faithfulness for forty years together in the Conduct of a very froward People in the Wilderness yet at last he happen'd to fail in some Part of his Duty and God was so angry with him that he would not hear his Prayer for going into Canaan but he cut him off in the Wilderness at last as he did the People for their Unbelief But what was this Sin of Moses which made God so highly displeased with him If we read the passage as it is related in the History of the Fact it is not so easie to find it out The People murmured for want of Water God upon Moses his Prayer commands him to take his Rod and in the Assembly of the People to speak to the Rock and the Water should issue out Moses assembles the People expostulates the matter with them strikes the Rock twice and the Waters came Where is the great Sin of Moses all this while Yet he often repeats it that God was angry with him for something done at that time God himself saith Moses and Aaron rebelled against him and that they did not sanctifie him before the People the Psalmist saith they provoked his Spirit so that he spake unadvisedly with his Lips After all the sin of Moses was a Mixture of Anger and some kind of Infidelity For the Psalmist saith he was highly provoked and God himself saith they believed him not to sanctifie him in the Eye of the Children of Israel The Fault then seems to lie in this that they were more concerned for their own Honour than God's and did not so clearly Attribute the Power of the Miracle to God but that the People might think they Assumed it to themselves as appears by their Words to the People Hear now ye Rebels must we fetch you Water out of the Rock Which Expression doth not give God the Glory he expected from them and he is so tender in Matters of his own Honour that he would suffer none to encroach upon it no not his faithfull Servants but he made them smart for attempting it The other case is that of David's Numbering the People and he was a Man after God's own Heart of great Sincerity and Courage and Constancy in his Service Yet of a sudden he took up a Resolution that he would have all the People number'd without any Apparent Reason for it And although he was discouraged from the Attempt by those about him yet he would be obey'd And what came of it Truly before the thing was compleated he grew very uneasie at what he had done for it is said His heart smote him after that he had numbred the People and David said to the Lord I have sinned greatly in what I have done And yet in the Book of Chronicles it is said that he finished it not because Wrath fell for it against Israel What was the Cause of all this Severity against David Was it such an unpardonable Sin for a King to understand the Number of his People Suppose it a Failing yet why should God be so angry for one such Failing in him that had served God so sincerely as David had done There must be something Extraordinary in this Case for God sometimes supposes the People to be Number'd and in some Cases he requires or allows it why then is he so displeased now at the doing it The best Account I know of it is this It was not a meer piece of Vanity and Ostentation in David altho' that be Displeasing to God but it was a thing as designed by him which was generally look'd on as inconsistent with the Fundamental Promise made to Abraham and so it is mention'd in the Chronicles why the Numbering was not exactly taken because the Lord had said He would increase Israel like the Stars of the Heavens Which seems to imply that there was a general Notion received among the People that since God promised to increase them beyond Number no one ought to go about to take the Exact Number of them For this must seem to savour of Infidelity and a Contempt or Mistrust of God's Fundamental Promise But however upon such Occasions God might use two of his most faithfull Servants thus yet we have no Reason to question his Readiness to pardon these and other their Failings upon a Sincere Repentance and to accept of their general Care and Endeavour to Please him instead of a Perfect Obedience But I have something farther to offer for the clearing these two difficult Cases viz. that there is a Difference to be observed between the Rule of God's Proceedings with particular Persons as to the general Sincerity of their Actings and the Measure of God's Political Justice as to Persons in Publick Capacities The Reason is because in the latter Cases God may justly have a Regard not meerly to the Actions themselves but to the Circumstances of the People they are related to Thus Moses mentions it three several times The Lord was angry with me for your sakes and again the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes and would not hear me and the Lord said unto me Let it suffice thee speak no more to me of this matter It seems he was so much concerned as to pray to God and that earnestly that he would give him leave to conduct the People into Canaan but God would not grant his Request But he tells the People that it was for their sakes that he was denied Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes and sware that I should not go over Jordan c. So that the Blow which was given to the Head was for the sake of the whole Body And it is remarkable in the Case of David that before he fell into the Sin of Numbering the People The Anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he moved David against them to say Go Number Israel and Judah From whence it is evident that the Sins of a People may provoke God to let Princes fall into such Sins which may give just Occasion to God to punish both together But this is a very different Case from the Method of God's dealings with particular Persons with Regard to their Integrity according to the Terms of the Covenant of Grace Which is established on such Foundations that we need not give way to Despondencies for the sake of such particular Acts