Devil and Apostate spirits are perpetually active and busie in promoting the Concernments of the Kingdome of Darkness And therefore doubtless He whom God hath made the Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls can never be so regardless of his Office nor so careless of his Flock and tender Lambs committed to his charge as to suffer those cruel Wolves to prey upon them at pleasure and to have no pity at all for them nor to extend his watchful Providence over them whom once he vouchsafed to redeem with his own precious bloud No certainly he that waded through so many difficulties and agonies for us in the daies of his Flesh he that bore our griefs and carried our sorrows he that was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities that sweat drops of bloud in the Garden and was nailed to the Cross for us in Golgotha He cannot so easily forget those whom he hath so dearly bought nor suffer all that power which God hath invested him with for the good of his Church to lie by him idle and unimployed But to the end that there might not be the least ground of Suspicion or Distrust left in the minds of men concerning this particular Christ after his Ascension into Heaven thought good to give us a sensible demonstration both of his Kingly Power and of his watchful Care and Providence over his Church that he would not leave them orphans and destitute of all assistence by sending down his Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in a visible and miraculous manner upon his Disciples Acts 2. 32. This Jesus hath God raised up of which we are all Witnesses Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear And verily if there had been no news heard of our Lord and Saviour Christ after he ascended above the Clouds out of his Disciples sight no real and visible Demonstration of his Existence Power and Providence over his Church the distrustful hearts of men would have been too prone to suspect that the pretence of an invisible Kingdome at God's right hand above had been no better then a mere Dream an aiery and phantastick Notion and they would have been too ready to have called in question the truth of all his other Miracles his Resurrection and Ascension witnessed onely by his own Disciples and to have surmised those several Apparitions of his that we reade of after his Death had been nothing else but Spectres or Phantasms like the vulgarly-believed Apparitions of the Ghosts of men in Aiery bodies But the sensible and miraculous Pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples after his Ascension into Heaven was a palpable Confirmation of all Christ's other Miracles of the Validity of his Meritorious Death and Passion of the Truth of his Resurrection and Ascension and gives most comfortable assurance to all Believers to the World's end that though his Bodily presence be withdrawn from them yet he hath not left his Church utterly forlorn and destitute of all assistence but that his Spirit the Holy Comforter continueth to be present amongst them as his Vicegerent and to assist them for all the holy purposes of the Gospel to the World's end Now the principal Effects of Christ's holy Spirit which are to be hoped for and expected by every true Believer and private Christian are comprised by the Apostle under Three Heads here in the Text as consisting in a Threefold Victory over a Threefold Enemy The sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law But thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1. A Victory over Sin as that which is the Cause of Death 2. A Victory over the Law as that which aggravates the Guilt and exasperates the Power of Sin 3. Lastly A Victory over Death the Fruit and Consequent of Sin FIRST therefore There is a Victory over Sin to be obtained in and through Christ. Some there are that will acknowledge no other Victory over Sin but an External one that whereby it was conquered for us by Christ upon the Cross sixteen hundred years since where he spoiled Principalities and Powers and made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it Col. 2. 15. and where he redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Gal. 3. 13. And doubtless this was one great end of Christ's coming into the world to make a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of mankind Not onely that he might thereby put a period to those continually-repeated and ineffectual Sacrifices of brute Beasts and the Offering of the bloud of Bulls and Goats that could not take away Sin nor propitiate the Divine Majesty but also that he might at once give a sensible Demonstration both of God's high Displeasure against Sin and of his Placableness and Reconcilableness to Sinners returning to Obedience and therefore to that end that the Despair of Pardon might not hinder any from Repentance and Amendment of Life promulgate free Pardon and Remission of Sins through his Bloud to all that should repent and believe the Gospel But it is a very unsound and unwholsome Interpretation of this Salutary Undertaking of Christ's in the Gospel as if the ultimate End and Design of it were to procure Remission of Sin and Exemption from Punishment onely to some particular persons still continuing under the Power of Sin and to save them at last in their Sins also that is with a mere outward and carnal Salvation it being a thing utterly impossible that those Undefiled Rewards of the Heavenly Kingdome should be received and enjoyed by men in their Unregenerate and unrenewed Nature For what is this else but to make Christ the grand Patron of the Kingdome of Darkness and to suppose God to be such a Being as may be bribed and corrupted by Sacrifice and Intercession to a partial Connivence and fond Indulgence of men in their Sins to all Eternity Or else to insinuate that there is no other Evil at all in Sin but onely in respect of that outward Punishment consequent upon it which is to destroy the Nature and Reality of Sin and to make it nothing but a mere Name or Phancy as if Good and Evil Just and Unjust as some Philosophers dreamed were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely had no Reality in Nature but depended onely upon Arbitrary Laws enforced by Outward Punishments or mere Opinion and so were onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Democritus expressed it mere Factitious things or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fictitious and Imaginary Either of which opinions if they were true then indeed Remission of Sin and Exemption from Punishment would quite take away all the Evil of Sin But if Sin be not a mere Name or Phancy but that which hath a Real and
otherwise altogether unwarrantable in themselves may notwithstanding be justified by Zeal for God and good Ends. But God needs no mans Zeal to promote an Imaginary Interest of his in the World by doing unjust things for him Will you speak wickedly for God or talk deceitfully for him will you accept his Person 'T was the generous Expostulation of Job with his Friends and he tells them in the following words that this was nothing else but to mock God as one man mocketh another True Divine Zeal is no Corybantick Fury but a calm and regular Heat guided and managed by Light and Prudence and carried out principally neither for nor against Indifferent Rites and unnecessary Opinions but those things that are immutably Good and Fundamental to Christianity alwaies acknowledging a due Subordination to that Authority Civil and Ecclesiastical that is over us Lastly Some there are whose pretence to Religion and the Spirit is founded in nothing else but a Faculty of Rhetoricating and extemporizing with Zeal and Fervency which they take to be nothing less then Divine Inspiration and that which the Scripture calls Praying in the Holy Ghost an undoubted Character of a person truly Regenerated Which being a great delusion whereby many are hindred from seeking after the real effects of the Divine Spirit by idolizing instead thereof that which is merely Natural if not Artificial I think it not impertinent here to speak a little of it And certainly that which is frequently attained to in the very height by persons grosly hypocritical and debauched can never be concluded to be Divine Inspiration or to proceed from any higher Principle then mere Natural Enthusiasm For there is not onely a Poetical Enthusiasm of which Plato discourseth in his Ion but though Oratory be a more sober thing a Rhetorical Enthusiasm also that makes men very eloquent affectionate and bewitching in their language beyond what the power of any bare Art and Precepts could inable them unto insomuch that both these Poets and Orators have oftentimes conceited themselves to be indeed divinely inspired as those known Verses testify Est Deus in nobis agitante calescimus illo and Sedibus aethereis Spiritus ille venit And concerning Orators the like might be proved if the time would here permit by sundry Testimonies But I shall here instance onely in Aristides a famous Orator who not onely speaks positively of himself as inspired in his Oratiòns but affirms the same also concerning Rhetorick in general when it is extraordinary that it comes by immediate Inspiration as Oracles and Prophecies doe and not from Art or Nature Wherefore it is not at all to be wondred at if when men are employed in Religious and Devotional Exercises the same Natural Enthusiasm especially having the advantage of Religious Melancholy which makes men still more Enthusiastical should so wing and inspire the Phancies of these Religious Orators as to make them wonderfully fluent eloquent and rapturous so that they beget strange Passions in their Auditors and conclude themselves to be Divinely inspired Whereas notwithstanding they may have no more of Divine Inspiration in all this then those Poets and Orators before mentioned had that is to say be no otherwise inspired then by a Rhetorical Hypochondriacal Enthusiasm that is merely Natural But it is farre from my Intention here to disparage the sincere and ardent Affections of devout Souls naturally and freely breathing out their earnest Desires unto God in private although perhaps this be not without some kind of Enthusiasm also For Enthusiasm as well as Zeal and other Natural things may be well used and being rightly circumstantiated and subservient to a better principle become irreprehensible Some have observed that no great work of the Brain that begot much admiration in the World was ever atchieved without some kind of Enthusiasm and the same may be affirmed of the most transcendently Vertuous and Heroical Actions But then the Goodness of these Actions is never to be estimated merely by the Degree of Enthusiastick Heat and Ardor that is in them but by such other Laws and Circumstances as Moralize humane Actions Wherefore my meaning as I said before is onely this To caution against that Vulgar and Popular Error of mistaking the Natural and Enthusiastick Fervour of mens spirits and the Ebulliency of their Phancy when it is tinctur'd with Religion and idolizing of it instead of the supernatural Grace of God's Holy Spirit and of looking for the Effect of Religion and Demonstration of God's Spirit principally in Words and Talk or thinking that God is chiefly glorified with a loud Noise and long Speeches For the true Demonstration of God's Holy Spirit is no-where to be look'd for but in Life and Action or such earnest and affectionate breathings after a farther participation of the Divine Image as are accompanied with real and unfeigned endeavours after the same which is the true Praying in the Holy Ghost though there be no extemporaneous effusion of words And therefore when some Corinthians were puffed up by reason of a Faculty which they had of Rhetoricating Religiously S. Paul like an Apostle tells them that he would come amongst them and know not the Speech of them that were puffed up but the Power For the Kingdome of God saith he consisteth not in Word but in Power and Life Wherefore laying aside these and such like childish mistakes and things that are little to the purpose let us seriously apply our selves to the main Work of our Religion that is to mortify and vanquish our Sinful Lusts by the Assistence of God's Holy Spirit through Faith in Christ that so being Dead to Sin here we may live with God eternally hereafter The End Verse 17. Rom. 4. In Iggereth Teman Psal. 106. Luke 24. 1 Cor. 15. 27. Verse 24. Verse 28. 2 Cor. 3. Revel 3. 19. 1 Pet. 4. 1. Prov. 17. 15. Phll. 3. 12. 1 Joh. 3. 9. Ezck. 20. 25. * See Gemara in Chetuboth cap. 13. Ein Is-rael num 50. * In Nachalath Avoth cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the very same with the opinion of the Christians that hold that after the Resurrection men shall not eat drink marry or be given in marriage or die again but continue eternally in those Bodies resembling the Heavenly Bodies and these they vulgarly call Glorified Bodies 1 Cor. 4. 19.
them to be without us being nothing but the Vital Energies of our own Spirits In a word God would have Man to be a Living Temple for himself to dwell in and his Faculties Instruments to be used and employed by him which need not be thought impossible if that be true that Philosophy tells us that there is Cognatio quaedam a certain near Kindred and Alliance between the Soul and God Lastly we must observe though this inward Victory over Sin be no otherwise to be effected then by the Spirit of Christ through Faith and by a Divine Operation in us so that in a certain sense we may be said to be Passive thereunto yet notwithstanding we must not dream any such thing as if our Active Cooperation and Concurrence were not also necessarily required thereunto For as there is a Spirit of God in Nature which produceth Vegetables and Minerals which humane Art and Industry could never be able to effect namely that Spiritus intus alens which the Poet speaks of which yet notwithstanding doth not work Absolutely Unconditionately and Omnipotently but requireth certain Preparations Conditions and Dispositions in the Matter which it works upon For unless the Husbandman plow the Ground and sow the Seed the Spirit of God in Nature will not give any increase In like manner the Scripture tells us that the Divine Spirit of Grace doth not work Absolutely Unconditionately and Irresistibly in the Souls of men but requireth certain Preparations Conditions and Cooperations in us forasmuch as it may both be quenched and stirred up or excited in us And indeed unless we plow up the Fallow-ground of our hearts and sow to our selves in Righteousness as the Prophet speaks by our earnest endeavours we cannot expect that the Divine Spirit of Grace will showr down that Heavenly increase upon us Wherefore if we would attain to a Victory over Sin by the Spirit of Christ we must endeavour to fight a good Fight and run a good Race and to enter in at the streight gate that so overcoming we may receive the Crown of Life And thus much shall suffice to have spoken at this time concerning the First Particular The Victory over Sin I Shall now proceed to speak something briefly to the Two other Victories that remain which are attainable also by Christ over the Law and Death And the Law may be considered two manner of waies First as an outward Covenant of Works that pronounceth Death and Condemnation to all that do not yield absolute and entire Obedience to whatever is therein commanded and which imposed also with the same Severity a multitude of outward Ceremonial Observations which had no intrinsecal Goodness at all in them but kept men in a state of Bondage and Servility Now the Law in this sense as it is an outward Letter and Covenant of Works is already conquered externally for us by Christ's Death upon the Cross Galat. 3. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree That the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through Faith And he hath thereby freed us also from our Obligation to those Commandments that were not Good having broken down the Middle-wall of Partition that was betwixt Jew and Gentile abolishing in his Flesh the Enmity even the Law of Commandments Ephes. 2. 14 15. And blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and taking it out of the way nailing it to his Cross Coloss. 2. 14. Secondly The Law is sometimes also considered in Scripture as an inward state of Minde wrought by the Law and Truth of God whether written outwardly in the Letter of the Scripture or inwardly in the Conscience prevailing onely so farre as to beget a Conviction of mens Duty and of the Wrath of God against Sin but not inabling them with inward strength and power to doe what is commanded willingly out of a Love of it It is such a State when men are onely Passive to God's Law and unwillingly subject to it as an Enemy for fear of Wrath and Vengeance And this must needs be a state of miserable Bondage and Servility Distraction and Perplexity of minde when men are at once strongly convinced of the Wrath of God against Sin and yet under the power of their Lusts haling and dragging of them to the commission of it It is that state as I conceive which S. Paul describes Rom. 7. after this manner The Law is Spiritual but I am Carnal sold under Sin for that which I doe I allow not for what I would that doe I not but what I hate that doe I. And again I see another Law in my Members warring against my Minde and bringing me into Captivity under the Law of Sin O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Now from the Law in this sense that is from the Bondage and Servility of the Legal state we are not delivered nor made Conquerors by what Christ did outwardly upon the Cross as some imagine as if he had there purchas'd for us an Indulgence to sin without controll but by the inward working of his Holy Spirit freeing us from the Power and Bondage of Sin and unbewitching us from the Love of it Wherefore there is a double Freedome from this Legal state to be taken notice of a True a False Freedome which I cannot better explain then by using the Apostle's own Similitude in the beginning of the 7. Chap. Know ye not Brethren that the Law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth or rather as long as It that is the Law liveth For the Woman which hath an Husband is bound by the Law to her Husband so long as he liveth but if her Husband be dead she is loosed from the Law of the Husband So then if while her Husband liveth she be married to another man she shall be called an adulteress but if her Husband be dead she is free from that Law so that she is no adulteress though she be married to another man Where the Law is compared to an Husband and one that is under the Law or in a Legal state to a Woman that hath an Husband And as there are two waies by which a Woman may be freed from her Husband The one if she break loose from him whilst he yet liveth contrary to the Laws of Wedlock and marry to another man which is an undue and unlawful Freedome for then she is justly styled an Adulteress Another if she stay till her Husband be dead and then being free from the Law of her Husband does lawfully marry to another man In like manner there are two waies by which men may be freed from the Law as it is an inward state of Bondage and Servility The first is when