with at the Hands of his Enemies The like we may say of Peter who (p) Mat. 26.33.70 till he fell was so well conceited of himself that he thought himself able to live and die with Christ (q) John 21.15 though all his fellows should deny him But after that soul Miscarriage when Christ came to question him about his love to him you shall hear no such proud Boastings come from him but he speaks with a great deal of Jealousy and godly Trembling which made Augustin conclude it was much better with Peter (r) Salubriùs enim Petrus sibi displicuit quando flevit quam sibi placuit quando praesumpsit Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 14. cap. 13. weeping over his denial of Christ than when pleasing himself with a Presumption that he would not deny him Above all most pregnant to this purpose is the Instance of that Holy Apostle St. Paul who denyeth not but ingenuously confesseth (r) Salubriùs enim Petrus sibi displicuit quando flevit quam sibi placuit quando praesumpsit Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 14. cap. 13. that after he had been wrap't up into Paradise and heard unwordable words such things as it was not possible for a Man to utter there was given him a Thorn in the Flesh to this very end that he might not be exalted above measure nor lifted up higher in Conceit than he was in his Extasy 'T is reckoned I confess amongst the first-born of Absurdities by one Dr. Gell a grand Patron of sinless Perfection that the Lord should suffer Sin to remain in his own People for to keep them humble as if saith he God would have us proud that we might not be proud and Sinful that we might not Sin against him But he that hath learned to drive out one peg with another that hath seen the Diamond Cut with the Diamond or felt the searching of a Wound (s) Sectio dolorem operatur ut dolor dolore tollatur Aug. de nat grat cap. 28. causing Pain that thereby a greater pain might be removed will not much be transported with the Dr's Novel Speculations nor yet easily be perswaded to count it any Absurdity at all that the grand Physician of Souls should extract a sovereign Treacle out of Sins rankest Poyson and use the Blood of this deadly Scorpion to the Cure the stinging of the Scorpion For though Sin be not in itself medium per se nor the cause of any good any more than Venom or Poyson of Health Yet by the Wisdom of the great God it is made conducible to the humbling of his People who might easily if Perfectly cleansed therefrom be exalted to think of themselves above what they ought to think The Truth is it 's not Sin but the Sense of Sin remaining which is a means to humble us And as Grace accidentally causeth the Sin of Pride So our Sins accidently may cause the Grace of Humility Though then the Relicks of indwelling Corruption be evil and to be striven with all earnestness against Yet the due Sense of indwelling Corruption is good and with all diligence to be laboured for as that which if any thing can will be sure to hide Pride from our Eyes and keep us low Nor doth it any thing at all incommodate the point in Hand what is so commonly objected against it by our Adversaries With whom to the Grief of my Spirit I find a reverend Brother too rashly symbolyzing that if we were perfectly sanctified we should be perfectly humble and then there would be no room for Pride For whilst cloathed with Mortality the best of God's People are but in the way not come to their Journeys end not arrived at the secure Harbour of their Eternal Rest where only and not else where they shall so be confirmed in Grace as not to stand in need of those many peculiar helps which now they do 'T is true were we wholly freed from all the Remainders of Sin made perfectly holy and withal confirmed in a state of Grace then there would be no more danger of Pride than now there is amongst glorious Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect But were we only perfectly made Holy and not confirmed as the Angels are in such a state there would still be as much danger of Pride and of losing all again by Self-admiration as there was in Adam and the Apostate Angels so easily might we surfeit upon and have our Hearts over-charged with proud over-weaning Thoughts Perfection in Holiness then and a full discharge from all the relicks of Sin would not be sufficient security against Pride and Self-admiration unless the Lord should superadd thereto confirming Grace But this were to destroy order to jumble Heaven and Earth Grace and Glory together this were indeed to confound the State militant of Vicatores with the state triumphant of Comprehensores which this Wisdom of the God of order permitteth not So that Christians in this Life a Sinless perfection is a Nonenity you may as well expect a Garden without any Weeds a Sun-shine without any Cloud a Body without any peccant Humour as a Soul without all reliques of Sin and indwelling Corruption (a) Matth. 6.12 Quam necessariè quam providenter salubriter admonemur quod peccatores sumus qui pro peccatis rogare compellimur ut dum indulgentia de Deo petitur conscientiae suae animus recordetur Nequis sibi quasi innocens placeat cum innocens nemo sit se extollendo plus pereat instruitur docetur peccare se quotidie dum quotidie pro peccatis jubetur orare Cypr. de Orat. Dom. Lib. p. 314. Why else doth Christ direct us to pray daily for Pardon of Sin We renew Sin daily and therefore stand in need of Daily forgiveness So much doth that Petition imply unless we could imagin ourselves bound to mock God imploring what we have no need of If any Man dare be so hardy as to go before God with the Proud Pharisee telling the Lord (b) Nostra justitia potiùs peccatorum remissione constat quam perfectione virtutum Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 19. c. 27. p. 530. Luke 18.10 14. he is so pure so Holy so perfectly free from Sin that he needeth no longer his pardoning Mercy let him go to and see what will come of it But as for me and all the Lord's People I desire we may still be found in the poor (c) In conspectu judicis misericordis justi non est accepta superba jactatio bonorum operum sed humilis confessio peccatorâ—m â—ulgent Epist 3. ad Prob. pag. 510. Publican's posture smiting upon our Breast and praying in the due sense of our own vileness Lord be merciful to us Sinners (d) 2 Cor. 7.1 2 Pet. 3.18 Profectò qui deâ—die in diem renovatur nondum totus est renovatus Aug. Justitia quamdiu augeri potest profectò illud quod minus est quam debet ex
no Thunder nor Storms To be sure all our Thunder-claps do proceed from our own malignant Vapours nor should we be troubled with any Storm of affliction were it not for these Sins and Corruptions that abide in us (l) Cum à nobis amota fuerit omnis iniquitas nulla remanebit infirmitas Fulgent ad Trasimund lib. 3. pag. 370. For when once we are perfectly freed from all the Reliques of indwelling Corruption we shall hear no more of any Affliction But shall quite be past and out of the reach of all suffering so soon as ever we are past a possibility of sinning Rejoice then and lift up your Heads all you that have found Sin an heavy Burden like a Gravel in your Bowels like Fire in your Bones and like Poyson drinking up your Spirits the reward of Eternal Life will infallibly Prove the death of all your Sins There is a fourfol◠state of Man which respecting the point in Hand is vastly different A state of innocency before the Fall a state of Nature in the Fall a state of Grace after the Fall a state of Glory above the Fall In the State of Innocency Man might but would not abstain from Sin in the State of Nature Man neither can nor will forbear sinning in the state of Grace Man would but cannot be wholly free from Sin but in the state of Glory Man neither will nor can have any the least Sin abiding in him And if any thing I am sure this is welcome news to you that know the bitterness of Sin that find whenever you would be good Evil is present with you that groan continually under that Body of Death which you carry about you that complain every Day of Sin as that which hinders your Communion with a precious Christ disturbs the quiet of your minds makes Duty a weariness to you cools the heat damps the vigour and blasteth the Comfort of all your Devotions turning your poor distressed Hearts into a very Dunghil of all unclean and noysom Lusts Sin in the Heart is like the Leprosy in the House that would not out till the House was pulled down Thus though Sin may cleave to you for the whole time of this Life when once your earthly Tabernacles are dissolved now Christ comes to reward you to set the Crown upon your Heads to receive you into Eternal Mansions of Glory so that Sin and your Souls shall be parted never to meet again to all Eternity (m) Jam. 3.2 Here in many things we offend all But in Heaven we shall none of us offend in any thing at all (n) 1 John 1.8 10. Here if we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves if with any Sin we enter into Heaven we must deceive the infinitely wise God who never admits of us there till perfectly cleansed from all our Sins (o) 1 King 8.46 On Earth there is no Man that sinneth not (p) Eccles 7.20 in Heaven there is no Man that either doth or can sin (q) 1 Chron. 6.36 That Sin which is now only so far mortified that it cannot reign over you Shall then be totally abolished that it may not remain in you God's People are now like the Moon-light in the Lord but yet as the Moon so they have their spots and blemishes But then they shall be as the Sun in its Noon-day brightness (r) Ephes 5.27 wholly light and unchangeably Glorious not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing Grace indeed doth weaken Sin in the Soul enabling it to resist the Temptations of Satan But the recompence of Eternal Glory will wholly abolish the former and deliver from the latter (a) Joshua 10.24.25 As Joshua took the five Kings and shut them up in the Cave at Makkedah till the Battel was over (b) Absorptâ ergo morte in victoriâ nulla erit animae carnisve corruptio Fulgent de pass pag. 370. So God restrains and shuts up Sin in the Cave of our Body till our Warfare be finished but then he will utterly destroy them all That Crown of Righteousness which shall now be set upon your Heads it will perfectly ease you of every weight and the Sin that doth so easily beset you dividing like Moses's Rod the Waters of indwelling Corruption and so making a free passage for you into the heavenly Canaan So that having got this Crown upon thy Head now thou shalt never more Christian have cause to complain oh my Pride oh my Hypocrisy oh my outsidedness oh my vile affections oh my carnal earthly deceitful Heart but standing upon the Shore of Blessed Eternity thou shalt see all these Egyptians lie dead on the red Sea of Christ's Blood never any more to perplex thee nor any more to trouble thee nor any more to grieve thy Heart and wound thy Spirit to all Eternity Oh this is the blessed time wherein the Garden of thy Soul shall no more be incumbred with any such noysom Weeds (c) Genus illud peccati quod toties conturbat nos concupiscentias loquor desideria mala reprimi quidem debet potest per gratiam Dei ut non regnet in nobis sed non ejicitur nisi in morte Bern. ser 6. de advent Dom. This is the Funeral of all thy Sins and therefore must needs be to thy Soul the Birth-day of Joy unspeakable and full of Glory What is it Christian that is now thy greatest Sorrow thy daily Burden thy continual Trouble but only the remainders of Sin and indwelling Corruption Well rejoyce Christian and be exceeding glad the time is at hand when all these Achans that trouble thy Peace shall be stoned to death all these Jonah's which cause so many Storms in thy Soul shall be thrown over-board And all those Egyptian Lusts that daily pursue thee as unwilling to let thee go free they shall all of them be drowned and everlastingly overwhelmed as Pharaoh and his Host in the Red-sea One touch of this glorious Reward it will quite dry up every bloody Issue of Sin in thy Soul and as perfectly cleanse thee from all Filthiness and Pollution as thy Heart can desire to be 3 THE Reward whereunto God allows his People a respect in all their Obedience it 's a suitable Reward This Reward doth so punctually hit the Condition of an immortal Soul the Miseries the Wants the Desires of it as nothing in the World besides can do Be your present Troubles never so many your Necessities never so urgent your Desires never so enlarged Yet the Recompence of eternal Glory it affords a proper supply to them all answering every Trouble with a suitable Comfort every Necessity with a suitable Mercy every Desire with a suitable Good to fill up and satisfie it Here is Bread of Life to feed the hungry and sincere Milk to nourish the Weak (a) Isa 55.1 and the Wine of divine Consolation to comfort the Disconsolate and white Robes to adorn the naked and Rivers of living
Riches and secular accommodations which cannot profit Grant Sirs that you do not see the vanity of these things in a Calm yet what will you do in a Storm when distress and anguish takes hold upon you In the day Sirs that Satan shall accuse you that Conscience shall torment you that Heaven shall frown upon you and that Hell beneath shall enlarge itself to devour you what then will your Houses and Lands your Riches and your Honours avail you What though Man thy Barns be full and thy Cup overflows What though thou hast Mines of Gold and Rivers of Oyl What though thou number thy Oxen by thousands and thy Sheep by ten thousands What though thou be arrayed in Royal Apparel with Solomon and farest deliciously every day like the Rich Glutton Yet what will all this abundance profit thee in a day of wrath Will these things quiet the estuations of an accusing Conscience in the day that God shall awaken it and amaze thee with the sight of thy own iniquities Will they profit and afford thee comforts when breathing out thy poor Soul into Eternity thou must now be convented before the righteous Judge of all the World Oh let not your Eyes commit Adultery with the fair-faced nothings of this World whilest you live that through the vanity of them can afford you no profit when you come to die and to make your appearance before God's dreadful Tribunal 2 CONSIDER all Crâ—â—ture-enjoyments they are disquieting and vexatious There is not only * Eccles 1.14 vanity in all worldly accommodations rendring them unprofitable but there is also vexation of spirit in them which makes them a second Achan to such as enjoy them so disturbing their Rest that they live continually upon the Rack of discontent The love of this preseâ—â— World is a passion but yet it is very active upon us at once eating up and torâ—â—nting our Spirits within us Many Men think if they had but such an accession to their livelyhood if they could but compass such an estate if they might but attain to such preferment they should then be at ease in their minds and sit down satisfyed But alas when these desires are fully accomplished and they have possibly gone beyond the very modesty of their former wishes in their worldly acquirements how often do they find their ease and comfort going out by the same door at which their Riches Honours and secular emoluments entred in (e) Aurum ampliùs cruciat apud quem largius fuerit amanti nihil de possessione suâ permittit Such is the vexation of all Earthly accommodations that whoever enjoys most of them is most sadly afflicted by them Neither will they suffer him to enjoy any thing with a quiet mind of his possessions who pursues them with an inordinate love and affection Our Creature-comforts they are not only vanity in regard of their uselesness as being unable to profit us in the day of adversity but they are likewise vexation in their enjoyment not forbearing to molest and disquiet our Hearts even in the day of Prosperity Men think in getting Riches to crown themselves as with Rose-buds and to find them sweet to their Tast But are not all their Riches when procured like a Crown (f) 1 Tim. 6.9 10. of Thorns upon their Heads piercing them through with many cares and do they not find them to be mingled with gall and bitterness Oh how happy doth many a Man think he should be and live in the World could he but enlarge his Barns and accumulate Riches as others do But doth he not find them as the wise Man sâ—eaks making all his dayes (g) Eccles 2.22 23 Sorrow and his travail grief not so much as suffering his Heart to take rest in the night False joy â—ike the crackling of thorns a Man may possibly find now and then in the abundance of worldly accommodations But still there is some Flie in the oyntment some Death in the pot somâ—â—hief in the Candle which utterly marreth all leaving such an one under nothing but sadness and vexation of Spirit You know how it was with Ahab King of (h) 1 Kings 21.4 Israel upon whom the want of one poor vineyard of Naboth brought such heaviness of Heart and sadness of spirit that amidst all the happiness which either Riches or Honours or extremity of luxury could afford him the Man lays himself down upon his Bed turns away his Face refusing to take his necessary Food as one resolved to die of the Sullens out of Hand The like vexation of Spirit do we find that wicked Haman the Son of Amedatha the Agagite amidst all his court-preferments fretting under (i) Esther 3.5 Never Subject was more highly advanced and honoured by his Sovereign than this wicked Haman and yet the denyal of one poor Mordecai's Knee how doth it make him hang down the Head vexing all his mirth and carnal jollity into self-tormenting envy and discontent We do never pursue with eagerness the riches honours and emoluments of this life but we find a sting in them to vex and torment us And as Fire under Water the hotter it burns the sooner it is extinguished by the over-running of the Water So earthly things when too eagerly pursued they raise up such tumultuary perplexing thoughts in the minds of Men as do at last quite extinguish all the heat and comfort which was expected from them Oh then that every Worldling would consider what an enemy he is to his own Happiness whilst thy Heart is inoâ—dinately carried out after and transported with idolatrous love to any Creature-enjoyments no quiet can be in thy mind no rest in thy Soul And why will you thus be the authours of your 〈◊〉 misery in seeking for rest where is nothing but trouble for comfort where is nothing but disquietment and for pleasure where 〈◊〉 â—othing but vanity and vexation of Spirit What are all your Riches and Honours and worldly accommodations when eagerly pursued after but like the Whoredom of painted Jezabel to trouble your peace and to fill you with Heart perplexing thoughts The Sun and Stars in the lower regions by reason of their nearness to the Earth they frequently * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Homil. 45. pag. mihi 496. exhale those Fogs and Meteors that do often break forth into Storms and impetuous Tempests Thus likewise in earthly minds the sun-shine of Creature-enjoyments why it raiseth up those Cares and Heart-dividing thoughts that a Man can have no rest but is full of unquiet agitations burning like Aetna with an embowel'd sulphurious Fire which doth often break forth into a sullen Tempest of discontent Labour we therefore to be content (h) Heb. 13.5 with such things as we have not neglecting Heaven and Glory where is fulness of joy for the comforts and emoluments of this World which are not only vain and unable to profit us but also vexation to molest and disquiet us (i) Deus
in Sin he hath made himself a vessel of Wrath fitted for destruction So neither will he crown any Man before through patient continuance in well-doing he hath made himself meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of Saints in light We must first conquer before we can triumph first win the Garland before we can wear it first seek by Patient continuance in Well-doing Glory Honour and Immortality before ever God will crown us with Life Eternal How injurious then are all such to their own Souls that like Orpah take their leave of Christ to decline afflictions forsaking the favour of God for the love of this present World exchanging the Ark for Dagon the Doctrin of Christ for the Traditions of Antichrist the Worship of God in its native Beauty for the pomp and varnish of sordid superstition thus miserably ending in the Flesh though sometimes they seemed to have begun in the Spirit Are there not some amongst us (k) Gal. 5.7 with whom it is thus and of whom we may say as sometime Paul to the Galatians ye did run well who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth At your first setting out in the ways of God you did run to purpose then you were very resolved and sensible and seemed very serious But wo and alass such fatal effascination hath now bewitched you that like Sampson having lost your strength you move not at all in the Zodiack of true Godliness unless with Hezekiah's Sun by way of retrogradation Time was that Jehu-like you seemed to drive on with an holy fury for God in the work of reformation But now alas the Chariot-wheels of your Zeal are taken off and if you build not up Calves with Jeroboam at Dan and Bethel yet you can well sit down in a luke-warm indifferency under them Time was that you could not let a Day pass you without the performance of some Duty nor any duty without some experience of Gods Grace and Love and Goodness to you But now alass you can spend whole Days and Weeks if not some Months and yet never give the Lord a visit at least in such a formal manner that as God hath no Glory so your Souls have no comfort no incomes of Grace from Heaven no spiritual advantage thereby Time was that you spent much time in clearing up your evidences for Eternal Life giving all diligence to make your calling and election sure But now alass you can put Eternity it self to venture you have left off working for Heaven a sad sign that your motion was artificial not natural proceeding from a principle of Life within Time was that you counted it your delight to consecrate the Sabbath as holy unto God waited with joy for the rising of the Sun of Righteousness on that Day and were filled with many vehement pantings anhelations and breathings after God in his Ordinances But now alass there is such an unsavouriness upon your Spirits that you count it a weariness to serve the Lord and are so far from esteeming one Day in God's Courts better than a thousand elsewhere that you think that to be the longest Day in all the week crying when will the Sabbath be over In one word time was that you seemed to have escaped the pollutions that are in the World through Lust to be convinced of the evil of Sin to resolve against all Unrighteousness to bewail bitterly your Drunkeness your Pride your Uncleaness your improvident mispence of Time your horrid Oaths and bloody execrations together with all your Ungodly Practises But wo and alass do you not now turn from the holy Commandment delivered to you and instead of going on to reform your lives do you not return to your former vomit breaking forth into more obscene prodigious and abominable impieties than ever Oh let me my dear Friends out of that tender Love which I bear to your immortal Souls bespeak you in the language of God to his own People (l) Jer. 2.5 What iniquity have your Fathers found in me that they are gone far from me So what iniquity did you ever find in God and the ways of God that you are thus gone away from them and so soon grown weary of them What iniquity have you ever found in the invocation of holy fervent prayer that the wings thereof are now clipt your devotion grown cold and you come like slothful Suitors to God (m) Qui frigidè rogat docet negare as if you would teach the Lord to give you the repulse What Iniquity have you found in God's holy Sabbaths that you are grown weary to bear them and count it no great priviledge thereon to wait upon God and have sweet communion with him in the Beauties of Holiness What Iniquity have you found in Heavenly meditation that you cannot now soar aloft as formerly but like Sisera whose Head was nailed to the Earth have your hearts nailed and fast riveted to Earthly projects In short what iniquity did you ever find in the reformation of your lives abstaining from the many gross infamous and horrid pollutions that are in the World through lust Is there not as much evil in your Drunkeness swearing and the like abominable impieties now as ever Are they not as highly displeasing to the holy Spirit of God as greatly prejudicial to the welfare of your precious Souls as truly meritorious of Eternal Burnings in Hell as ever and is not that God who cut off Herod in his Robes Belshazzar in his Cups Babylon in its Pride Jezabel in her paint and whoredoms as able now to cut off you sinning after the same ensample and to punish you with everlasting destruction from his Presence and from the Glory of his Power Oh then if you love your Immortal Souls beware of recidivation take heed of relapsing again into any of those sinful courses which you formerly had escaped and be sure that you walk perseveringly endeavouring that you may never turn aside from the holy Commandment delivered to you Remember Lot's Wife nay remember Judas that Son of Perdition and take heed that you never look back in your Christian course If having set your hand to the Plough of an holy Profession you should afterward look back if having begun in the Spirit you should afterward end in the Flesh if having escaped the Pollutions that are in the World through lust you should again be intangled therein and overcome thereby your latter end will be worse more dreadful and damnable than your first beginning Your hopes have been raised high by your Christian Profession and therefore should you now miscarry you must needs sink the deeper in Hell and eternal Damnation And oh what Millions of Worlds would you not now give to change places in Hell with a Turk or an Infidel and to have no greater punishment there than an ordinary Damnation * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every evil after the expectation of its opposite good becomes the greater evil What then will