knew the death of Christ but to know the power of that death keep close to the simplicity of the Gospel 4. Another thing is this you that have known a little of the Spirit of God and have inlarged hearts and enlightned eyes Let not God rest till thou find the comfort and power of what thou knowest O we know that the righteousness of the law by Christ is fulfilled in us and the like but we have not the full comfort of such a truth and many others We know Christ hath paid our debt and that we are one with him as he is one with the Father but we have not the power and the comfort of these things Beloved for thy comfort know that Paul in a sort was in thy condition Phil. 3. Not as though I had attained or apprehended but I would apprehend him of whom I am apprehended and I would know the vertue of his death and the power of his Resurrection Paul saw something that he did not fully apprehend but he would feele more of the power of the Gospel spirituall truths and if he saw that he wanted much more we Oh do not content your selves to have an old frozen knowledge of Gospell truthes whereby you are able to prove that men are legallists and that men are under Mount Sinai and yet have cold and frozen hearts cold truths without life therefore thinke of minding God of this 5. Then lastly labour to take heed that you be not by any means bewitched so as to fall back from that little light in the Gospell that you have received it is an easie thing so to doe I doe believe and it is my comfort and will be when I am farr from this place that the Lord hath enlightened divers of you to know the Gospel to know Jesus Christ a little clearer Now I know not what the Lord may doe for you but I say it is wonderous easie you may under one quarter of a years fleshly preaching lose that that you have been under two or three yeares Preaching a getting I have knowne after a quarter of a years building up of my soule in the knowledg of Christ and the setling of my faith and assurance I have heard one Sermon that hath routed and dasht all that work in my soule Therefore I beseech you beware faith is a tender thing especially the light we have that is but very weak and very tender therefore saith Paul Who hath bewitched you you foolish Galatians before whom Jesus Christ hath been lively painted as the word signifies Christ was drawn lively before the Galatians and yet they did fall If Paul that was an Apostle and had the spirit of God in such a measure laying open the spirit of Christ and yet his people did go back to Moses and to Sinai the Lord help and uphold us Therefore stand fast in your liberty in Jesus Christ This is all in short I have to say to you for that I hope you will lay up these words Vse 5. Now I have a few words of Advice and Counsel to those poor souls that do yet in a great measure walk according to the flesh in one fashion or other Their Religion is a fleshly Religion from Old Adam and according to the law in a great measure Now the Question is What shall they do that they may be spiritual Christians that they may walk according to the Spirit I will onely name a few things 1. The first is this I would desire you to endeavour to study much the difference between the two Testaments the New and the Old I mean not the two Books but the two Testaments that we reade of Heb. 8. and Heb. 9. whereof the one is faulty and the other is excellent the one is done away the other remains Study the difference between them for thereby you say the foundation of your Gospel-happiness for there is the misery of many Professors and will be their misery if they should live a thousand years they jumble both Testaments without knowledge and distinction and so they will never be better 2. Another thing that I would exhort you to is this to prize the Spirit of Christ more then you do There is nothing in the Gospel but it is a Mysterie you cannot know it but by the Spirit and there is no duty in the Gospel to be done that can be done but by the power of the Spirit We may do many things in the law by the strength of Old Adam in the Gospel we can do nothing but the Spirit is all And that is the reason I think for I speak according to the grace given me why people now are left so bare and poor and confused and know not which way to go or what to do they do not prize the Spirit of God Many men extoll Learning mightily and it is accounted almost Heresie to commend the Spirit of God There are many men I and many Professors that do not love to hear a man in a few modest words to commend the Spirit of God but all must be by study and reading and learning and for the Spirit of God it is a plain meer Cypher and there is an end But my life on it if I had a hundred I would say so they shall be beholden to the Spirit of God and extoll him before they be taught spiritually they shall be willing to lay down all their Learning as I have seen a learned godly man of late even with the Plow-boy I do not say but that Learning is good for some uses and God may bless it to help a man to express what he knows the better but as I told you Adam must die he cannot by it come to know one jot of the spiritual meaning of God in the Gospel or one jot of power or assurance to be happy or to do any thing for God towards this all Learning is not worth a straw therefore labour to extol the Spirit And if any of you have a minde to learning go on I discourage you not from it Learning is a thing in another element take pains and diligence to be learned it is good to do so But if thou wilt be a Gospel Christian thou must thank the Spirit of God for all Saith Paul for all his learning I am not sufficient to speak a good word and he was a learned man that Festus said Much learning had made him mad Beza in his Comment upon 2 Cor. 11. where the Apostle saith Are they Hebrews so am I Are they Jews so am I. Saith he I never read in any Latine on Greek Author so much eloquence and elegancy of speech as Paul hath there and yet he professeth he could not think a good thought for all he was learned so much much less do a good work As long as thou keepest the Spirit an underling as a cypher as many of the Clergie and learned men they extol Learning to the Heavens and many of them upon purpose to despight
God Now the natural man is not able to judge of things above the principles of Nature The Apostle tells us No man knows the things of a man but the spirit of man which is in him 1 Cor. 2. 11. The things of man are all created things man is therefore said to be as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little world or an Epitome or Compendium wherein all created things are described as in a Map or short Abridgement Now the principle of reason in mans heart is able to search out the hidden things of nature But this large principle of man is too narrow to search into the things of the Spirit so saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 11 12 14 15. The things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God The Spirit searcheth the deep things of God And again he saith The wisdome of the Spirit is but foolishness to the naturall man And why so because saith he Spiritual things are spiritually discerned that is they are to be understood in a spiritual sense to which mans carnal reason cannot reach But now saith he the spirituall man discerneth all things so that divine things are onely known by the Spirit 't is the Spirit of all Truth that leads into all Truth Then 't is not all Maximes and Rules 't is not Sy 〈…〉 gistical Reasonings and Disputes 't is not Books an◠Treatises 't is not all Systems and Bodies of Divinity that can reveal the secret mysteries of Truth but it is the work of the Spirit for the mystery of Christ is not meerly letter and form without but a quickning Spirit within us Yet 6. We are taught that there is a most profound spiritual reasoning in godliness and that it is the highest act of the minde which is the highest faculty of the soul The minde of a Saint is Gods Throne and the motions of the minde or the reasonings thereof is nothing but Christ swaying the soul according to his good pleasure It 's true that reason as 't is in man is a most imperfect and weak light and falls short of the light of God being depraved and mixt with much darkness and so is unsuitable to judge divine things but reason considered in its height and excellency is no other then Jesus Christ and the Spirit then so much as reason hath of the light of God so much it hath of Jesus Christ Then the most excellent the most supreme and the sublimest reason is in godliness because in it is the greatest clearness certainty and light The Apostle calls it Demonstration now divine reason is demonstration which is an evidencing of things by the clearest surest and most irresistible light that can be Now Christ is this spiritual reason for saith the Apostle that which manifests is light Eph. 5. 13. And what is that light but Christ and his Spirit Thus I have given thee a taste of things to set an edge to thy appetite that thou mayest make a fuller meal of Divine Dainties by reading the ensuing Treatise where thou hast a Table richly spread Now if thou art one of Christs Friends then come and eat of this honey and drink of this wine yea eat and drink abundantly O beloved Here thou mayest eat and not 〈…〉 et here thou mayest drink and not be drunken the more thou earest the stronger will thy appetite be and the more thou drinkest the more wilt thou thirst and yet with the greatest saturation and content To conclude Thou mayest finde much of Christ in this Book but see whether thou canst finde much of him also in thine own heart Now that these things which are here written with Paper and Ink may be written upon the Table of thy soul by the finger of the Spirit is the prayer of him who is Thine in the Service of Christ John Robotham Octob. 24. 1650. SERMON I. Rom. 8. 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit THe main drift of the Apostle in this Epistle is to hold forth Justification by Faith or by Free-grace without the works of the Law And in Chap. 7. the Apostle doth answer an Objection for they might say What then shall we do with the Law if it cannot justifie us There the Apostle tells us that though the Law cannot justifie us yet there are many blessed uses both for Sinners and Saints to make of the Law of which I shall not now speak Now in this eighth Chapter the Apostle draws this conclusion from what he had said before There is therefore from what I have said it is evident that there is no condemnation there is no damnation there is no danger of Hell to them which are in Christ Jesus Now he opens who those are he saith they are those who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit And he gives a reason of it in ver 2. why there is no damnation to those people For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of sin and of death Now he amplifies that in ver 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 As if he should have said Thus it comes about that we are now free from the law and that there is no damnation to us because saith he that God hath sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh like one of us and he hath fulfilled the law of God and condemned sin therefore there is no sin to condemn us nor no jot of the law that is not fulfilled therefore we are just and righteous and clear There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus for God hath sent his Son to condemn sin c. Now in the fourth Verse it is more particularly expressed That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit I shall not orderly go over to shew the Coherence distinctly as I might but briefly as I can come to those Lessons that the Lord is to teach us That the Righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us c. There are in the words two things Here is a great Priviledge as any can be to have the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us And here are secondly the parties that have the benefit of this Priviledge Those that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Concerning the Priviledge to understand the words a little That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us That the law might be fully satisfied in point of righteousness that the law might have such a righteousness which indeed the law requires that it might have a full and compleat righteousness in us So that briefly these are the Lessons which I shall open from hence which I desire
or in the way of the Gospel or in the way of Christ There be divers expressions in Scripture that help us to understand it as Rom. 4. 14. it is called They that are of the law that is those that walk according to the law In Gal. 3. there are two or three phrases Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith The walking according to the Spirit is the hearing of faith and it is twice there they that are of faith they that are of faith To be of faith and to walk according to the Spirit is the same to be of the law or of circumcision is to walk according to the flesh In Rom. 10. 5. The righteousness which is of the law saith on this wise The righteousness of the law that is the way of the law that Scripture sets out the way of those that walk according to the Covenant of Works now the way of the law is the same as walking after the flesh and faith he The righteousness of faith saith on this wise that is the grace of the Gospel or the way of faith So the meaning is this we hear of a glorious priviledge that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us and there is no man in the world can get it by his own works or in reference to the Covenant of works no not Abraham himself but it is meerly by Jesus Christ Therefore if any of you think to have this righteousness fulfilled in him and go in the old way to Mount Sinai to the Covenant of Works he is deceived he shall never have it but by walking according to the Spirit no man can enjoy this priviledge by a Covenant of works by their own doing by seeking to fulfil the law of God by their own righteousness but they that walk after the Spirit as if he had said Do not mistake me it is a great priviledge to have the law fulfilled for you but it is not by your own strictness and zeal and though some of you go further then others yet none of you can attain the fulfilling of the law that way for all are come short Rom. 3. But it is those that walk after the Spirit that is those that seek it in a way of faith in another not in themselves those that seek it according to the principles and directions of the Gospel Now because I know this Expositions is harsh to many of you though I exclude not the other therefore I shall endeavour to shew you three things First I will prove clearly out of the Scriptures that this is the meaning Secondly I will give you a Reason why that is the chief meaning Thirdly I shall give you a few Reasons why the Apostle saith that they that walk according to the Covenant of works walk according to the flesh and they that go according to the way of faith walk according to the Spirit Concerning the first that flesh is often taken clearly in this sense I will give you some places of Scripture Gal. 3. 3. This I would learn of you Received you the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith Are ye so foolish that having begun in the Spirit are you now made perfect in the Flesh We see in Chap. 1. they are called to the grace of Christ through the Gospel Gospel principles were rightly and savingly practised among them and after there came some among them that perverted them and saith he Are ye so foolish that having begun in the Spirit and have had Christ crucified among you that now you will be made perfect by the flesh that now you will go and seek justification by your own works and go about to keep the law c. Another place is in Phil. 3. 4. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh and then he speaks of the priviledges of an Israelite and if you look further ver 7. I count all these loss that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that which is of the faith of Christ So by the flesh he means the righteousness of the law which he throws away for the righteousness which is of faith Take another place Rom. 10. 5. compared with Rom. 6. 14. saith the Apostle Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace When you were under the law and walked after the flesh sin had dominion over you and you obeyed it Here is a parallel place for saith the Apostle When you were in the flesh the motions of sin by the law did work in your members When you were in the flesh that is when you were under the law then the motions of sin did work but now sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under the law you are not in the flesh you do not walk according to the flesh And that I suppose is the meaning of that Scripture 2 Pet. 2. 10. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly and to reserve the wicked to be punished but chiefly those that walk after the flesh in the lusts of uncleanness Now if you take walking after the flesh for sinful wayes it would be the same as if he had said There are divers people that walk wickedly but chiefly they that walk after the flesh for all people naturally walk after the flesh but these were a peculiar people that the Lord would bring judgements on and they walked according to the flesh Who were they They were most of them Jews they were Adams sons that walked in the old Covevenant chiefly they that walk according to the flesh that is the meaning of it or else he would not have said according to the flesh for every man naturally walks according to the flesh So in this Text Who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit and in ver 8. of this Chapter They that are in the flesh cannot please God Now I shall open that by another Scripture Heb. 11. 5. where it said that Enoch pleased God We reade of Enoch Gen. 5. 24. that he walked with God he walked not according to the flesh now saith the Apostle Without faith it is impossible to please God now he that walks in the flesh cannot please God Why so He that goes not in the way of faith by Jesus Christ he cannot please God By believing I please God by walking in the obedience of faith to God I and my works please God Now to please implies one was offended before all my doing cannot please God but my believing presenting to God a perfect righteousness by faith pleaseth God and then all my works are accepted There are two words for it in the Original one signifies to please one that hath been offended another is pleasingness with one that hath not offended as my childe pleaseth me though he have not offended me but the
the Spirit of God as long as they do so they shall never know the will of God We are not debtors to the flesh but we must be debtors to the Spirit if we will have one true thought of Jesus Christ O praise the Spirit and prize the Spirit If you have any thought of Christ thank the Spirit if you have any glimpse of him in your souls worth any thing praise the Spirit That is the reason that the Saints in the Book of God speak not of the Spirit of God without some special Epithite of Commendation Guide me by thy HOLY Spirit and saith another thy BLESSED Spirit and thy GRACIOVS Spirit and the Spirit of GRACE faith another They never speak of it without some word that shewed their love to it and high esteem of it When the Lord shall come and his Spirit shall be advanced in the hearts of men we shall have glorious times and never before that and those times will come I remember Calvin on those Prophesies in Isaiah and Joel The SVN shall be darkened and the MOON shall be turned into blood in that day Saith he the meaning is all the excellency that a man naturally hath his Learning and Endowments in the dayes of the Gospel when the Spirit shall come with his light when God shall exalt the Spirit The Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon into blood Men shall not so much esteem Learning from Books but learned and great men and Scholars shall come to one Classis and one Rank and Form with simple people all waiting on God by his Word through the Spirit A man can take his Boy from School that hath his Latine and Greek and send him to the University and he assures himself that he shall be as good a Minister as his other Son that it may be hath served the Spirit seven years this is our way and a hundred more whereby we basely slight and disdain the Spirit of God and do not honour him and therefore he will not honour us 3. If ever you will be true Gospel-Saints you must suffer your selves to be led by the Spirit of God That phrase you finde oft in Rom. 8. Gal. 5. If you live in the Spirit Walk in the Spirit Be led by the Spirit We are not complementary to commend the Spirit of God c. but give it scope to lead us You must heed more what the Spirit of God saith to you and what he works on you If there come a place of Scripture in your minde hear and consider whether the Spirit of God hath not put it in thy minde and would have thee study it and would have thee compare Scriptures And when thou comest to do any action whatsoever not so much to advise with this man or that man but what saith the Spirit I mean according to the light of the Scriptures hearken to that more then what all the world saith Therefore I have known some men that in their whole lives have often mâ—st the will of God in circumstantial things usually it may be for a year or two or three and they have mist it again in another thing and in another thing and when they have examined how this comes about they can say If they had hearkned to the Spirit they had not done so but they hearkned to men and so went against the dictates of the Spirit in their Conscience they would hear what this man said and what the other man did But now the Spirit will say to them You see I would have shewed you the right way but you would not give me scope but made a cypher of me And for my one particular I do not yet see how I should ever have mist the will of God since I knew him if I had hearkned to the Spirit of God if I had but observed so much light as the Spirit had put into my heart Now we ballance the Spirit with this mans example and with the other mans opinion and so come home by Weeping Cross Therefore give scope to the Spirit I mean not against the Word or above the Word but still I mean the Spirit of God working according to the Scriptures and no otherwise 4. Another thing and a special one is I wish you for the Mysteries of the Gospel to study the Scriptures in the simplicity of them without the glosses of men for a man in extremity must do that that a man that is not in extremity would not do We have brought our selves in such slavery to men that we must take that course that another sober man should not I mean thus when ever we go to look for any truth of God for the will of God we have notions in our mindes beforehand according to the times and places we live in As concerning Baptism what need I go to the Scriptures saith one we have it in such and such mens Writings and so we forestall the will of God that we are blinded and cannot see it Therefore if you will see the will of God I wish you for a while to look on the naked Scriptures And for my part I know but three uses to be made of other Books 1. As first there is this use of Books you have Books that will read the Scriptures in divers languages and shew the Originall and open the tongues now when I see a word in English and doubt of the meaning of it then I will go to the Greek or Hebrew as God hath endowed me with knowledge 2. Then there is another use of Books when I reade one single Scripture it may be I have a Book that will point out halfe a dozen Scriptures to open one Scripture by 3. And it may be I have some Books that take some Scripture and presse it upon my soule as Doctor Prestons and other godly Books But to take Books and say Jerome thinks this and Austin that and fill our heads with notions they blind us that we cannot see the will of God Therefore in reading of the Scriptures there should be this difference from our reading of other Books I mean in respect of age When we are Children and young we use not Spectacles it may be at twenty or thirty or fourty yeares old we can reade without Spectacles but when we come tofifty or sixty then we can see nothing but through Spectacles It should be just contrary with us when we are Christians When we are young we usually never read the word of God but through the Spectacles of mens glosses but when we are older Christians and stronger Saints we should learne to read better without Spectacles we should daily make lesse use of Mens Books and more of Gods Book That whereas before a man turned over twenty Authors upon a point Now he can go humbly to God with his Bible and without Spectacles he can see what the will of God is Therefore lay aside Spectacles sometimes and only take the spirit of God and compare Scripture
Mount Sion OR The Priviledge and Practice OF THE SAINTS Opened and Applied By that faithful Dispenser of the Mysteries of Christ WALTER CRADOCK late Preacher at Alhaâ—â—ws the Great in London Heb. 12. 22. But ye are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God c. Gal. 4. 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all CAMBRIDGE Printed by M. J. 1673. To the Reader THese Sermons being exactly penned from the Authors own mouth are now brought to publick view though when he preached them had not the least thought to suffer them to be Printed but since they were thus prepared to come abroad into the world the pious Author finding so much of the sweetness of Christ in viewing of them could not turn his back upon them As for this godly Author his worth and excellency is so eminently known it would be vanity in me to speak any thing in relation to his praise let this and other of his own works praise him Yet thus much I shall say That I do verily believe that he preached these choyce Lectures from the bosome of Jesus Christ that these things were the very experiments of his own soul and the lively actings of the Spirit of God within him What he hath seen and heard he hath declared that we might have fellowship with him whose fellowship is with the Eather and the Son 1 Joh. 1. 3. and therein shall our joy be full These Sermons are not clothed with humane Art quaint expressions eloquent Speculations but choose rather to come forth in the nakedness of truth not with the enticing words of mans wisdome but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power Here is nothing to fill thy head with barren notions fruitless opinions or meer speculations but here is that to fill thy heart with the glory of God the life of Christ and light of his Spirit I shall in a few words hint out what thou shalt finde in these ensuing Discourses 1. Mans fleshly righteousness is the great Idol of the world every one is ready to fall down unto it and call it blessed This is Antichrist coming forth in the habit of Christ being arrayed and decked with gold precious stones and pearls whereby the Nations are deceived but when we know the righteousness of the Lord we shall cast away our own righteousness and as the Prophet speaks say unto iâ— Get ye hence Isa 30. 22. 2. Formality is in no less esteem among us then the former What is the Religion of most people but a meer form without any life or power at all Astronomers tell us that the upper Planets have their Stations and Retrogradations as well as their direct Motions So 't is with most in their Religion sometimes they move forwards sometimes backward sometimes stand at a stay and thus they tread alwayes in one circle or round turning like a door upon the hinges but never from off the place where they were As for most mens hearing praying fasting what is it but as a task performed so coldly that there is no principle of divine life in it and thus they go on but are never at their journeys end Men commonly use what they should enjoy and enjoy that they should use they will use the Lord whom they should enjoy and they will enjoy their duties and performances that they should onely use thus they starve their souls by formality in Religion 3. The third thing we may take notice of is the righteousness of Christ commended to us before the righteousness of Adam Most of the worlds righteousness proceeds from the principles of the old Adam which is corrupt and fleshly what is this but to be born of Ishmael the son of the bond-woman to come unto Mount Sinai in Arabia viz. the Covenant of Works but Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of all the first-born of God viz. the Covenant of Grace Vain man thinks to climb to heaven by his own righteousness when alas it is but of the first Adam natural weak and fleshly All the wisdome knowledge in 〈…〉 tion of man as Tongues Arts and Sciences as Philosophy Logick Rhetorick c. all these are but to repair those reliques of the first Adams corrupted principles of reason and understanding therefore if we go to patch up a righteousness of these we do but build what the Lord will have destroyed But that which is able to restore us is an establishment of the righteousness of Christ upon our hearts by the participation of the divine Nature Christ performs all righteousness for his Saints and then works all righteousness in them The divine Will of God is righteousness now Christ is that divine Will brought forth in a Saint working after the Lords own pleasure The Civil Law doth account Elephants and Camels to have the nature of wilde Beasts though they do the work of tame beasts So Adams righteousness commends not to God we are onely accepted in the beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or ingratiated through that beloved The divine treasures of righteousness are first in Christ and by our union with him we come to enjoy them by way of participation 4. Substantial and reall Holiness set out to be farre more excellent then all empty Forms or meer Professions Holiness is God stamped and printed upon the soul 't is Christ formed in the heart 't is the very image frame and disposition of the holy Spirit within us The Philosopher could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God was but an empty name without vertue so are all our professions of Christ without holiness that being the very marrow and quintessence of all Religion Holiness is something of God in us it proceeds from him it lives in him God can no more be separated from it then the beams from the Sun Holiness is happiness and the more of it we have the more we have of the life and image of God upon us Holiness is nothing but our conformity to God and our being like him to be as he is Holiness is the new frame the new creation the wormanship of the Lord in our hearts it is the Lord building and setting up his own Temple Tabernacle and new Jerusalem within us filling of us with his own glory writing his name in our foreheads by imprinting his own divine image upon us Oh what happiness what sweet delight and harmony of heart what Soul-musick and spiritual joy is there in having our soul wrapt up in the divine life light and beauty of the Lords holiness 5. Thou hast a discovery of the inability of mans carnal principles or reason to judge of spiritual things or the things of God every truth is discovered by principles of light suitable to it self Hence it is that the Apostle tells us of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an animate sensuall or naturall man and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual man one enlightned by the Spirit of
London there is never a childe of God that hath walked more barrenly then I have done and yet through Christ I am as just in Gods sight as any man in London I am Gods childe but I am an unhappy graceless childe then a man can call himself fool and be angry with himself and weep bitterly Now usually when you mourn for sin you think there is a crack in your justification and so many sins as you have committed there are so many flaws in your justification and so many faintings of faith in the favour of God and therefore when you pray to God and are humbled for sin it is your manner and it was mine most of my dayes onely to dawb up the flaws of justification and you pray the Lord to pardon such a sin and now you see God is wrath with you and you are like to be cast off and your hearts begin to be hard and you have sad thoughts of God arising in you and unquiet and horrour in your souls and you are far enough from true sorrow all this while It is impossible there should be true sorrow when you keep a coile and confess your sins and wrangle it out with God and you will confess your sins to day and think to make God amends to morrow and so as a man stops chinks in a wall we think to dawb up the flaws and cracks of justification this way Whereas we should look on justification as a thing intire in the hands of Christ that we have nothing to do in but it is in Christ altogether founded on his death and resurrection and all the title that we have in it is onely by faith as Rom. 10. sheweth The righteousness of faith saith on this wise c. The word is nigh thee There is our title and tenure I have nothing to do for my justification but Christ hath fulfilled the law and he did die and rise and sitteth at the right hand of God and I endeavour to believe it that is to consent that it is so and praise his name and live to him all the dayes of my life O here is the life of Christianity I have seen people quarrel with themselves and complain O I have a hard heart and I desire the Preachers to pray for me and when you have fallen into weakness you will go and confess your sins and strive to break your hearts and mourn for your worldliness and your pride and frowardness and yet it will not do but your hearts grow harder then they were before and whereas when you have committed a sin to day you think to go and reform to morrow and to turn over a new leaf to morrow you will be worse then to day because you think to make God amends he leaves you to your selves and you grow worse The reason is this because in some sort even to this day you mix sanctification with justification Now I know it I speak what I know could you leave your justification alone in the hands of Jesus Christ and look on it as I said as Cash in the cupboard not to be touched and as long as Christ is righteous say I am righteous behold your selves alway as just men and women that in Jesus Christ have fulfilled the law of God and then you will finde your hearts inclined to any good thing then would your hearts break and shatter to pieces when you have done the least evil against God then you would know what true sorrow and what true repentance is and not before then you would know those things that now you know not nor cannot know Therefore labour to learn that lesson it is one of the greatest Mysteries in the world and that is the reason that carnal people carp at these things What greater Mystery then for me being a just and righteous man through Christ yet to be so sinful that I can say there is none more sinful and yet I am as righteous as Abraham or Paul in respect of the righteousness of Christ I have as large a share as Abraham or Paul and yet I am full of sin A Christian knows this and he knows how it is so Well that is one lesson consider of it that you may know where to plant your justification upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ The Lord teach it to you and me Secondly if the righteousness of the law be fulfilled in all that are believers through Jesus Christ Then all you that are Saints all you that believe in Jesus Christ labour to see the glorious condition that you are in that you may be able to reflect upon your selves not according to what you are out of Christ but what you are considered to be as Members of Jesus Christ as united to Jesus Christ Therefore you shall have Paul and it doth me good to see his spirit he never reckons himself as in himself but as in Jesus Christ I can do all things I can want and I can abound I can do this and that and all in Christ So I must never conceive of God out of Christ nor of my self out of Christ I must never conceive of my self and Christ as two but I should endeavour clearly and constantly that whatsoever good there is in Christ it is mine as if it were in mine own person And so we should have our spirits raised above the temptations of the world and above the afflictions of the world and above corruptions It is a pitiful thing to see poor Professors there is not one of many but they are ordinarily below temptations and they lye under burdens and are below their sins nay there are many Professors that are more sad and drooping then carnal people Surely this was not the way of those Saints that we reade of in the New Testament they had glorious spirits how do you think else they could go to the Stocks and to Prisons and from one Compter to another and have their spirits so raised and yet sometimes were to die the next morning for ought they knew Your spirits will never be heightned and raised to live the life of Paul by beholding any thing that is in you personally in your possession but what you are by relation and marriage to Christ Reckon your selves dead with Christ and so conceive I am a just man I was bound once to the law of God a terrible law and there are thousands in Hell paying the debt and cannot pay it and yet I have paid every farthing and the law cannot ask me more I have offered a perfect righteousness and I am now sitting at Gods right hand in Heaven by my union with Jesus Christ This is the life of faith that we may be able to triumph over all these things below from our justification as Paul doth Rom. 8. It is God that justifieth and who shall condemn Who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus shall tribulation or distress or famine or nakedness or peril
is nothing but a transforming them from one lust another Saith Peter you must not do so but as obedient children if God have justified you if Christ have fulfilled the law perfectly for you that you dare Sin and Hell and Satan and tread all under feet doth it become you to fashion your hearts and lives to your lusts Is that a good rule no you must not do so 2. Another Rule is this world Rom. 12. 2. Be not conformed to this world It is the Copy of many men the Looking-glass that they dress themselves by every day how to square it in the world how to keep their port with their Neighbours and Gentlemen they converse with and with great men that have command of them and with their fellow-Officers c. And so women how they may go brave as their Neighbours do and get credit in their eyes So most people their main Rule is they care not whether it please God and conform them to his Son at all so they can keep correspondency with the world now you must not do so for they are yet in their sins poor wretches therefore let them conform to their lusts and they that are of the world let them conform to it but 3. Since God hath redeemed you from the wicked world by the blood of his Son and hath brought you to this condition and bestowed glorious and unspeakable Priviledges on you you should conform your selves to the Image and Example of Jesus Christ and to the Rules of Jesus Christ in the New Testament in all your actions and wayes You cannot write without looking on your Copie the best Saint cannot write one line without viewing and looking on his Copy for every letter For all your actions you are to have two things in your eye that you may do the action right and carry your selves right 1. Either eye Jesus Christ and his Example how would Christ have done if he had been here what did Christ do in the like case in the Gospel So by eying that there will be a power as in Jacobs sheep by beholding the rods the Spirit of God will convey a power looking upon the picture that is before us that is Jesus Christ to transform us into his likeness Or 2. Think of the Rules of Jesus Christ the Rules of the New Testament this blessed Word Have frequent recourse to the Spiritual Rules of the New Testament that should be your Copy When any case comes follow not your lusts and act not according to the wisdome of the flesh to say this or that I will do but consider what is your Rule you walk by another Rule What have I to do what such a man and such a man doth but what is my Rule how must I carry my self As for instance when you come among people that rejoice for any mercy what is the Rule Rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them that weep It may be a man hath received great unkindness and is wrong'd by him that he hath been most kinde to of all the men of the world and yet he proves most ungrateful if a man should go to flesh and blood he would hate and abhor him and not indure him man in his best naturals would not bear it he would not bear ungratefulness and wrong but labour to requite it But what is the Rule The Lord is good to the wicked and unthankeful therefore Lend freely looking for nothing again Presently God will bring a Spiritual Rule to your minde and God will give you power to do it And so suppose a man should charge and challenge you with a debt and would you pay such a debt you perhaps know no such thing and are perswaded of the contrary What now You know what most men think I will never pay him I were a fool if I should give away my estate and be a beggar when I have done but what is the rule If thine enemy sue thee at the law and take away thy cloke give him thy coat also A Christian comes to this law he consults not with flesh and blood when a case comes but he thinks what is the rule in this case But all the misery is you will be fingering with justification which you should leave alone upon Christs death and refurrection you should be working out your holiness every day that should be your way God will bring it in So when a woman is putting on her clothes and making her fine clothes and thinks to be as fine as her neighbours she should think but what is my Rule Not to conform my self to others in embroidered hair and fine apparel and gold but with the ornament of a meek spirit So you have the New Testament full for every case there is something that will direct and lead you that thereby you may conform to Jesus Christ I give you but general instances if God open your eyes to see your glorious condition in the New Testament you must resolve on this to walk according to the copy and the rules of it that in any case you may ask What is my rule as I am a Christian as I am a free man one with God that I may walk by it Now I exhort you to this because if a thousand Devils should preach in stead of men and tell you what the Torments of Hell are all would not be so great a motive by half to walk holily as to tell you that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled by Christ that you are righteous and just and all your sins are done away by Christ Therefore O love him and live to him comform to your copy Let your Neighbours conform to their copy to the World and others conform to their lusts as too many do but do you conform to Jesus Christ Think what would Christ do if he had my opportunity what would he have taken in hand And whatever occasion you have with God or man ask What is my rule in the New Testament and conform to that Blessed is the man or woman to whom God gives a heart so to do There remains one word more of this and the third Lesson which is the principal thing the description of those persons that have this Priviledge They walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit But because the time is gone and my strength also I shall leave that till God give another opportunity SERMON III. Rom. 8. 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit THere were three Lessons that we may learn from these words The first is implied namely That the righteousness of the law must be fulfilled by every man Or Every man is bound to fulfill the law of God And Secondly That the Law of God is perfectly fulfilled in all true Believers And Thirdly That true Believers are they who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit We were the last time
can do a little from the Spirit of Jesus Christ and if God will frame my heart from the Lord Christ and his Spirit to speak a few words to my Father this is all I care for And so for other things Therefore I beseech you let this sink into you That makes you proud that you cannot rule your hearts but you are lifted up with pride when you have done duties it is because every fine thing you do from old Adam makes you proud you take all in the bulk and consider not whence you do things you consider not how much of the old Adam or of the new there is in your Prayers and duties Therefore let this be an universal eternal rule to know the worth of all your services and actions by whatsoever is of the flesh is flesh and whatsoever of my Preaching and of your praying and lending and giving and of your publick actions if it be not from a Spiritual Principle from Jesus Christ according to the Gospel planted in you it is of old Adam and it is condemned labour to leave that Vse 4. I shall conclude with one word more and that is this That this being so that this is to walk according to the Spirit Then we should long very much for the fulfilling of those Prophesies and Promises that God hath made unto us concerning the latter times There is no Saint almost now that I know but expects glorious times onely one Saint thinks that the glory of the Saints shall be in this thing and another in that thing but every Saint expects continually the fulfilling of those Prophesies and Promises set down in the latter end of the Revelations and they are glorious ones whatsoever the meaning of them is and I think the chief thing there promised which shall be the height of our happiness that the New Jerusalem shall come down from heaven mistake me not though it be a consequent yet it is not chiefly and properly such a way of Government this or that or the other way though it be true that Government will follow upon it yet if the meaning of it were onely to Reform our Churches though that were a blessing or that Christ should come and reign here temporally and give us Inheritances and Riches and the like truly a Saint would not long much for these things But the New Jerusalem shall come down from heaven and abundance of blessings that shall go along with it What is that The meaning of it is we shall have the light of the Gospel clearly revealed unto us and we shall have Gospel-principles fully put into our souls which by Antichrist by Babylon we have been sednced of these thirteen or fourteen hundred years For that was the mischief of Antichrist he hath kept us all his reign under the Old Testament with Altars and Sacrifices and Priests and I know not what every thing just as they used under Moses and we are not wholly gone out of Antichrist yet But the Lord will send a light into our hearts to know the truth in the power and to square our hearts to it For that is New Jerusalem if you compare it with Heb. 12. where the holy Jerusalem the heavenly Jerusalem is clearly opposite to Mount Sinai So compare it with Gal. 4. he tells us that Jerusalem which is above is the mother of us all that is the Covenant of grace and the principles thereof in the souls of men Therefore I wish that the Lord would set your hearts and mine longing after that that we may have more of the spirit of the Gospel and of the Principles of the New Testament in us and then for matter of Government of Churches those things would follow For to set up Government and Discipline before this comes into the soule truely it is to build Castles in the ayre for let a man take us and frame us in the Independent or Presbyterian way in what way he will unlesse the Principles of Jesus Christ in the Gospel be spiritually planted it will be a fleshly Independent and a fleshly Presbyterian service Therefore labour chiefly for that and pray the Lord to fulfil that and then your Government whatsoever it shall be God will reveale it more fully People are now generally going to build and order Churches and I know not what unlesse the spirit of the New Testament govern in the New Testament it is a vain thing for if we have our former fleshly hearts that walke according to the law and according to the flesh all the Government in the World will never doe us good because God hath cursed flesh and it will never be regulated and brought to good And this also should move us exceedingly to long for the comming of Jesus Christ to glory for his comming to us or our comming to him and the reason of that you shall have in 1 Cor. 15. 49. a glorious word that hath dwelt much in my thoughts I told you the reason why every man must dye a naturall death because of that absolute grand curse that Adam did fall in as a publick person and we being from him we must dye Now here is the comfort of it a blessed word it is As we have born the image of the earthly so we shall bear also the image of the heavenly that is when the redemption of our bodies comes at the day of Christ then as we have borne the Image of the earthly so we shall bear the Image of the heavenly We have born hitherto and do beare the Image of naturall Adam we are all his Sons and his Daughters just like him in our wisdom and understandings and bodies and soules poore earthly creatures naturall frail creatures we are and by that curse that was layd upon him we must all dye and lay downe these earthly Tabernacles these earthly creatures must be dissolved As we have born the Image of the earthly not only as we have born the Image of old Adam sin and wickednesse and pride and frowardnesse so now we shall bear the Image of the new not only in respect of grace and holinesse and righteousnesse that if I be in him all those corruptions of nature shall out and I shall have a new nature That is true but that is not all but as I wholly beare the Image and shape of old Adam his body and soule and senses and all those must dye so when these bodies shall be raised we shall as absolutely and largely beare the Image of the new Adam the Lord Jesus in our body senses and all our whole man soule and body in respect of substance as well as quality we shall bear the Image of the second Adam as lively and in as large an extent as ever wee bore the Image of the earthly Adam Therefore that is a great comfort I will tell you why because it is not onely the sinfulnesse of a Christian that troubles him but his earthinesse so many distempers and troubles that it is a
some it seems I am sure there are some now that all the liberty and freedome they hear of from the Gospel or by getting off from the law it is nothing in the world but that they may go on more in sin and enjoy their lusts more freely this is to pervert the Gospel And what the end of these people shall be you may see in 2 Pet. 1. and in the Epistle of Jude they are appointed to damnation and their damnation slumbereth and sleepeth not that is they are going on amain they are going faster towards Hell then any Drunkard or Whoremonger A Malefactor never goeth so fast to death as these do to destruction when all the knowledge of liberty that they have is onely to give occasion to provide more for their lusts then before Let us consider and take heed of that 2. Another thing is seeing you have liberty by walking according to the Spirit for where the Spirit is there is freedome that is certain use it not for the offence of your Brethren As some there are that when they hear they are free are ready to say I care not what all the world say I know this is not a sin and therefore I will do it Beloved that is far from walking worthy according to the Gospel I became all things saith Paul to all men that I might win sâ—me I am under the law to them that are under the law and without law to them that are without law I became all things to all men that I might gain some so we must not please our selves but one another for edification Rom. 15. and condescend to men of low sort Rom 12. Who is weak saith the Apostle and I am not weak If thou see a man under the law fumbling and wallowing upon Mount Sinai without the knowledge of the Gospel despise him not and say He is a Legallist and what have we to do with him but endeavour to frame thy heart and thy language and carriage so suitable to him that thou mayest win upon him and so with others This is the language of the Gospel and the true way of the Spirit of God when a man knows his freedome and yet he becomes all things to all men that he may do them good There is one word that I think is the word and will of God and I desire that thou mayest take it so and carry it with thee 2. A second thing that I advise you to that are Spiritual that the Lord hath revealed a little of the Gospel to it is this that you would endeavour to walk humbly O walk humbly Why so I will tell you why because a man when he is under the law he shall be twenty years striving for a little knowledge or grace and shall hardly get them but as soon as ever a man comes rightly to Christ and to know him then there is such a flood of grace and such abundance of revelations it is the Scriptures word there is such abundance of manifestations of God and of the Image of God when they begin to come in that it is a hard thing then to keep the soul down for Spiritual things when they come in rightly when the flood-gates are open they come in as waves one upon the neck of another For Spiritual Gospel-truths multiply in the Soul a thousand-fold one lesson from another and one Scripture opens another and then there is no end and then it is hard to keep the soul humble Therefore in 2 Cor. 12. when Paul was wrapt into the third Heavens because of the abundance of revelations that he had seen for he had seen and heard things that he could not utter and speak to others he was ready to be proud to be lifted up and lest he should be so God sent a messenger of Satan to buffet him It implies it was a hard thing for Paul the Apostle when abundance of revelations came into his soul not to be lifted up And this spoils some honest hearts I hope they are so and that God will bring them home that having been kept bare of food as some Souldiers that went to relieve Glocester when they came home to the City they killed themselves with eating full and good food so when poor souls have gone upon the bare Mountains of Sinai and then have come to the Pastures of righteousness they go so greedily and are so taken that if God be not wonderful merciful they will be undone by being lifted up Therefore beware of this learn from Paul's example to seek to the Lord to keep your hearts humble 3. A third thing is this Endeavour to walk simply I mean to keep to the simplicity of the Gospel The Gospel though there be glorious Mysteries in it to feed the soul yet notwithstanding it is a plain simple thing Now here the Devil endeavours to undo souls as it is ordinary in this City when men come once to understand a little of the Gospel and to taste the sweetness of it the Devil screws them up to sublimare all Religion into Notions to cleave a hair and Religion will be all in Idea's and conceits of the Nature of God and of the Creature whereas the Gospel is a plain thing Paul desired to know the death of Christ and the power of his resurrection and Paul teacheth Servants how to obey their Masters and Masters how to carry themselves to their Servants and Wives to their Husbands and such simple plain things Now these are accounted nothing and that is the reason that many among us they do more and more lose the Word of God unless it be about some sublime Notions If a Minister be upon such Points some high Idea's for they feed upon such that is worth the while but if a Minister speak of things that concern their Calling or their Sex and Condition that is plain it hath no taste in it no more then the white of an Egge It is a hard thing to keep to the simplicity of the Gospel As the Devil tempted our first Parents God gave Adam and Eve sufficient knowledge to do his will and they had sufficient Natural knowledge for they named all the Creatures yet notwithstanding she must needs go from the simplicity of Gods will and be curious and she must know good and evil there was the distinction good and evil thought she what kinde of good and evil she goes to this sublime conceit and so was lost Now saith Paul I am afraid of you lest the Devil should beguile you so I am loth to offend you for I had rather win you or else I could instance in twenty or forty conceits and distinctions of things Idea's that are above the simplicity of the Gospel and that is enough to make us leave them because they are above the simplicity of the Gospel and the excellency of the Gospel is not in those Idea's but in knowing the power of plain things as the death of Jesus Christ Every man in Jerusalem
with Scripture that you may come to know the mind of Christ Shall I name one thing more If you would come to be spirituall Gospel-Saints you must be born again you must be born from above A Gospell profession is Jerusalem from above and there are none that can come into Jerusalem that is from above but those that are borne from above Therefore marke our Saviours reasoning Jehn 3. Nicodemus asks Christ which was the way to Heaven And he tells him Verily thou must be born again or thou must be born from above or else thou canst not see it Nicodemus wonders why he must be born from above saith he Shall I go into my Mothers belly c. Saith Christ marvell not wonder not why should he not wonder at such a strange speech Here is the reason That which is born of flesh is flesh therefore think it not strange that I say thou must be born again So I say whatsoever you do by the power of nature by your own wisedome by your own righteousness or your own strength all comes but to this but to flesh and whatsoever comes of flesh is flesh flesh cannot bring out the spirit no more then a thorn can bring out grapes as Christ speaks Therefore wonder not that thou must be born from above that is thou must have the Lord from above to beget thee again You have every one been born once you must be born once more you must have a new creation in you the Lord must create new strange properties and dispositions that no flesh and blood is able to comprehend Lastly take the counsell of the Holy Ghost and that is in Ephes 1. 16. As Paul prayed for them so do thou pray for thy self and there is all the reason in the world that thou shouldest I cease not saith he to give thanks for you making mention of you in my Prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory would give to you the spirit of wisdome and revelation in the knowledge of him Pray for the spirit of wisedome and revelation in the knowledge of Christ Slight not these words because some wicked men abuse them and others reproach them but because Paul saith so pray that the Lord would give the spirit of wisdome and revelation So much concerning the Directions I had to give you Vse 6. There is one word of Information and with that I will conclude From what I have said before concerning the flesh and the Spirit learn this Instruction more hence to see what is the true ground of all Persecutions nay even of all the Divisions that are among us men may pretend what they will and deceive themselves but all the strife and persecution in the world is meerly between the Flesh and the Spirit between the Old and the New Adam There are two Princes in this World and these are contrary the one to the other The flesh lusteth against the Spirit Old Adam seeks to get up the New Adam will have him down Therefore you shall have these two in every Town in one Church in one Family in one Soul and wheresoever they are the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these two are contrary Are contrary what is that that is there is no true contrariety between any things in the world but between the Old Adam and the New between the flesh and the Spirit Now by Flesh I mean not onely corruption but whole flesh fleshly wisdome The wisdome of the Old Adam is enmity against the New the righteousness of Old Adam is quite contrary to the righteousness of the New this is the cause of persecution Let people pretend what they will you shall see godly men persecuted you may see Christ in their Souls as clearly as the Sun and people keep a coyle about Independency and Presbytery but the truth is it is Old Adam in those that persecute and the New Adam in the other a man with one eye may see it There are many pretences but all the strife is between the Old Adam and the New For to give a little illustration take Gospel godly Saints that have the Spirit of God in them they agree well enough they will not strive sometimes they may differ a little but for the generality they live well enough together nay take some Gospel Saints that are filled with the Spirit of God and the knowledge of Jesus Christ in these times and in this City which is the Centre of all Division and they cannot attest divisions they cannot make a Party and give railing for railing and strife for strife they cannot but love their enemies and bless them that blaspheme them As James saith Whence come all wars You think they come from your zeal for your Way and yours for your Way but it is from your lusts The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh it is from Old Adam And I was going to say but I will but name it This is the cause also of the weakness generally that is among you It is not wickedness that troubles a Saint but weakness it is not positive ills but weakness And whence is this weakness because he walks after the flesh the Spirit is powerful but the flesh is weak As the Scripture faith Their horses are flesh and not spirit so I may say Your Prayers are flesh and not spirit and it may be my Preaching and it may be our endeavours to resist sin But as far as they are flesh they are weak enough but where the Spirit is there is power I can do all things saith Paul I can preach the Gospel from Jerusalem to Illyricum and I shall come to you in the fulness of Christ A man would think he had been mad but it was the strength of his spirit A poor weak Christian he doth nothing but wish and would and confesseth his sins to day and falls into it again to morrow and then confesseth again and When will it once be O Jerusalem but the Gospel is the power of God to salvation and all the principles of it are powerful and all the precepts of it have a power through the spirit for a man to keep and observe them Men talk that the learning of Christ and the knowledge of the Gospel is to make men loose and licentious It is true carnal vain hearts the better any thing is the worse they be but assure your selves concerning true Saints it is false for the onely way to be lively and lusty and fruitful in good is to know Christ more according to the Gospel Let men please themselves and say so as long as they will they shall be but poor old barren creatures you will be wishing but you shall never overcome your sins I have known some Saints that by the knowledge of Jesus Christ have had power to subdue those sins and to bring them under that before they never so much as hoped to bring under
in this world yet the power of Christ hath brought them under when all their Fastings and Humiliations would never do it when they were in that way without the clear knowledge of Christ but when they have come to Christ they have found it done In 2 Pet. 3. you shall finde there men that were carnal men that were as dogs that returned to their vomit yet the common knowledge of Jesus Christ did make them clean from the pollutions of the world and did give them power against their sins what then will the spiritual effectual knowledge of Christ do Therefore never entertain any prejudice against Christ or against his Gospel or against his Spirit and his Wayes for if there be any power in this world it is there all the rest is but a flourish but a shew of mortification when the heart is as full of lusts as a Toad is of poyson There is no true mortification or holiness but what comes from Christ and his holy Spirit SERMON VI. Rom. 8. 5. For they that are after the flesh do minde the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit IN the former Verse you remember how I shewed you that there was a great priviledge to all true Beleevers which indeed is the chiefe of all Priviledge for it is the inlet of all mercies and the principall deliverance from all evills It is contained in the beginning of Verse 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us In the latter end of the Verse I shewed the person more largely described to whom this priviledge doth belong that is Not those that walk after the flesh but those that walk after the spirit And I have as God enabled me opened the meaning of that to you what it was to walk after the Flesh and what to walk after the spirit Now the Apostle in this fifth Verse goes forward a little more particularly to discover those that have a right to this priviledge by drawing one thing from another The main was They walk not after the flesh but after the spirit I but that is a generall word and how shall we know that Saith he you shall know that also by this They that are after the flesh do mind fleshly things and they that are after the spirit do minde spirituall things You shall know whether you have the righteousness of the law fulfilled in you if you walk not after the flesh but after the spirit And you shall know that also by your minding by the frame of your mindes if you walk after the flesh you will mind fleshly things if you walk after the spirit you will mind spirituall things And then he goes on to prove that also as we see oft in Scripture as in 1 John 5. where one thing is made the mark of another by a gradation there are five or six things and one thing proves another we know that we are the children of God if we keep his Commandements and we know we keep his Commandements by another thing and we know that by another thing So that I say the Scope of the Apostle is to cleare unto the Saints their right title to this great priviledge and also withall to convince those that are carnal that they are without it and to shew them their great miserie in being so for you shall see after how as he discovers them so also he shews their misery he saith they are enmity to God and they that walk after the flesh must dye c. Now that we may go on breifly to handle this a little to you you may take the Doctrine as it lyes here in the words for I will not nor need not frame it otherwise Doct. That those that are after the flesh do minde the things of the flesh Only remember what I said before for it is of great concernment for that great priviledge depends upon this if you have the righteousness of the law fulfilled in you you must be those that walk according to the spirit and not according to the flesh And then would you know that saith the Apostle Those that are after the flesh do minde the things of the flesh and those that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit so let that be the Doctrine or Lesson I will give you but two short words to prove this to you and then to open it as God shall help us Reas 1. The first thing to prove it is this that it must be so because every thing in the world in all the Creation of God doth act according to the nature of its principle from whence it flows As James saith Jam. 3. 11 12. Doth a fountain send forth from the same place sweet water and bitter Can a figtree my Brethren bear olive-berries or can a Vine bear figs You know that a Fig-tree bears Figs and a Vine-tree bears Grapes and an Apple-tree bears Apples and a Pear-tree Pears and every Tree and every thing will work according to its principle Make the tree good saith Christ and then the fruit will be good such as the tree is such will be the fruit such as the fountain is such will be the stream and when a mans principles the frame of his heart is nothing but flesh then of necessity his actions must be fleshly his affections must be fleshly If he have a fleshly minde he must have a fleshly will a fleshly love fleshly hatred a fleshly life fleshly prayers fleshly Sacraments fleshly every thing for every thing must be according to its principle So on the other side where the principle is spiritual there a man will minde spiritual things he will love spiritual things he will do spiritual things he will delight in spirituall things That is one Reason of it Reas 2. And the second is this for I will give you but these two because the chief thing that I intend at this time is the opening of it fleshly carnal men that are after the flesh they must minde fleshly things because they know not spiritual things they understand not spiritual things Or if you will and it may be that word hath something more in it 1 Cor. 2. they perceive not spiritual things they do not ken and perceive them Now you know that a man mindes not I mean look upon it as the acting of the understanding a man cannot minde but what he knows a man cannot think of things he knows not That is the reason to prove that poor ignorant people speak an untruth and deceive themselves when they say we remember God we minde God wheresoever we are and yet they know not God for God is not minded but when he is known As in that place of the Corinthians A natural man cannot perceive the things of the spirit he doth not know Jesus Christ therefore he cannot minde him he doth not know the things of the spirit of God therefore he cannot set his heart upon them Without
heard or understood any thing of them that God hath prepared for them that love him They are as we see there afterwards clearly the things of the Spirit of God They are called the deep things of God ver 10. they are deep because no carnal man can reach them and in ver 11. they are called the things of God and in ver 12. The things that are freely given to us of God And in ver 14. they are called the the things of the Spirit of God The things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to him In 2 Cor. 4. ult there you shall have both these things described for in that we shall have a little light from that description of it the things of the flesh are called there the things that are seen and the things of the Spirit are called the things that are not seen the one are said to be temporal and the other eternal The things of the flesh are temporal things that may be seen that is not so much seen with the eyes of the body but he means that a man every carnal man may perceive and understand them All the things of Old Adam a meer natural man is able to comprehend them but the other things are things that are not seen that is that eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor hath entred into the heart of man Therefore Christ in Mat. 11. 25. saith I thank thee O heavenly Father that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to babes What were these things the things of the spirit of God they are the things that are hid from the wise and prudent of the world they are not possible to be seen of them but God reveals them to the least babe of his own kingdome In Coloss 3. 1 2. you have another description for you may put these together and so the better understand them In ver 2. the things of the flesh are called things on earth and the things of the Spirit are called the things that are above The things of the flesh are the things that are beneath as it were things on the earth that is though in Old Adam there be many excellent things you must not conceive Earth here in a gross sense there is fine refined wisdome and understanding and prudence which the spirit of God usually slights and despiseth Where is the wise and the disputer c. notwithstanding all Old Adam is but earthly all the spirituality as it were of Old Adam are but things on the earth It is no wonder they are called things of the Earth when the Doctrine and Preaching of John Baptist he himself calls it Earthly I am from the earth I speak earthly He is from above he speaks heavenly and spiritually It was earthly in comparison of Christ though there was some Gospel in it Much more earthly is all the devotion and Religion and what is best in fleshly man that hath nothing in him but Old Adam In Phil. 3. 7. there is another large description of these things The things of the flesh there they are those things that Paul once accounted gaine to him and those things that Paul now accounted losse to him see there what those things are those excellent fine things the things of the flesh a man while he is in the flesh accounts them gaine a great gaine to him he lives by his wit and his wisedome and it is a mighty gaine to him to increase and build up old Adam in him But when a man comes to spirituall things he accounts all these things loss I account them loss saith Paul Now the things of the spirit were those things that Paul desired to win and to gain in the verses following That I may gain Christ and his righteousness and a little further you shall see Paul calls the things of the flesh the things behinde and the things of the Spirit the things before And in ver 19. the things of the flesh he calls them earthly things They minde earthly things and so by contraries the other things are heavenly I cannot open every particular expression onely I would point out the descriptions to you as the Holy Ghost layes them down In 2 Cor. 5. there the things of the flesh are called old things and the things of the Spirit are called new things for saith the Apostle We know no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet know we him so no more therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away all the things of the Flesh are old things the things of the Spirit of God are new things Therefore in the Acts the Athenians desired to know the new strange doctrine that Paul brought What was this new doctrine Onely the things concerning the Spirit of God the other things are old things Gal. 2. 18. there the things of the flesh are described to be the things that Paul destroyed and the things of the Spirit the things that Paul sought to build up 1 Cor. 7. 32 33. the things of the flesh are called the things of the world but the things of the Spirit are called there the things of the Lord The married cares for the things of the world but the unmarried for the things of the Lord. Phil. 2. 23. the things of the flesh are called our own things and the things of the Spirit are called the things of Jesus Christ Saith the Apostle I have no man like minded who will naturally care for your state Mark that expression it is well worth observing in these self-seeking times We may well say so now if Paul said so then I have no man like minded who will naturally care for your estate A man can hardly finde a Professor in a multitude that will naturally and freely care for the state of others of the Saints for saith he All seek their own and not the things that are Jesus Christs all seek their own things the things that make for old Adam that make for the Flesh and for mans self Joh. 6. 27. the things of the Flesh are called meat that perisheth and the things of the Spirit meat that endureth to everlasting life Luke 10. 41. they are called many things and the things of the Spirit are called one thing Martha Martha thou art cumbred about many things for indeed there are many distracting businesses in the things of the world therefore in Mat. 13. when the seed was sown among thorns it is said the deceitfulness of riches and pleasures and the lusts of other things who knows how many it may be a thousand two thousand other things the things of the Flesh are endless but the things of the Spirit are called one thing the ruinous building of old Adam is going into a thousand pieces but there is but one Jesus Christ and in the things of Jesus Christ there is a greater union then in the things of the
conceive that the Gospel works like a Charm that it works upon men like mad-men but hence it comes to pass that though there be no natural reason in it nor the wisdome of men yet they speak in demonstration of the Spirit they speak the wisdome of God to them that are perfect There is spiritual reason in every piece of that Doctrine that is able to satisfie a man and were there not stronger reason then any is in the world men would never yield to it Thus I have given you a few hints to shew you that there is abundance of profound reason in godliness Besides when we see that godly men are so meek so gentle so easie to be intreated Whence is this From the strength of spiritual reason that is in them As it is in natural things you know women are the weaker vessels the Scripture saith so and they are more apt to be froward then men Why so because there is not such strength of reason in them Now men that are at full age and have strength of reason they will bear unkindnesses it is the glory of a man to pass by an offence it is the wisdome of a man to pass by an injury Now as it is in natural things between a man at full age and a childe such a difference there is between godly spiritual men and natural men most natural men are froward and peevish and very ungentle and hardly to be intreated but the godly as far as they are godly as far as they have the wisdome that is from above they are made gentle and easie to be intreated because they have spiritual reason As for instance suppose a man offer another a great deal of unkindness and speak very ill of him natural reason would say Why should he do this or why should I bear it But spiritual reason comes in and saith When they curse do you bless and the Scripture teacheth me that Christ loved me when I was an enemy and so should I do to others There is nothing that may provoke a godly man but if he hath the use of spiritual reason he may keep his heart meek and calm as may be Now you must not think that the Saints are flocks or stones for a Saint hath as much apprehension as a natural man hath but he hath spiritual reason that he can shape the wrong done him in a spiritual Mould and so carry himself meekly and quietly Moreover there is reason in godliness and hence it is that the godly in times of Confusion they can see their way in the middest of the mist when all others are at a loss and know not which way to go a godly man can by spiritual reason seek out his way as there is a full instance in these Times all carnal men are at a loss and think that all Religion is gone into confusion and one Governour is gone and another come and one man is of this opinion and another of another the whole World even those that are meer Spectators they know not which way to go yet now the Saints that are spiritual they can serve God as fully and as sweetly as ever Why so because though the others are at a loss yet they have their eyes in their heads and can see their way And hence it is by this spiritual reasoning that the view and contemplation of their lives past is so sweet to them and afforde them so much comfort as far as it was Religious whereas they remember their sinful actions with shame and natural actions with sorrow when we come to be men we cannot endure to think of our carriage when we were Children as making little Houses of straws and of clay c. When a man comes to be a man he rejoiceth more that he hath gotten such a House and purchased such Land and he rejoiceth in his Wife and Children There is more pleasure in the remembrance of a rational act then of a fantastical though when we were Children there was more pleasure in a fantastical act then in a rational as a Childe hath more pleasure and will to make Pyes of Clay then a man hath to purchase a House and Land So look to your lives past you shall see abundance of corrupt acts that you are ashamed of What profit had you saith the Apostle in those things whereof you are now ashamed you are ashamed to think of your drunkenness and cozening c. and you look upon natural acts with sorrow but look upon any spiritual godly act what you have done for Christ or the Saints the comfort of them is as much at the present as when you first did them and that is a sign that they were spiritual otherwise the comfort of them would vanish away Those things that we do out of reason have a more lasting sweetness and comfort then those that we do out of lust that is the reason that if a man did a thing for God though it were forty years ago yet the sweetness of it is fresh now it is not so in natural or corrupt actions you befool your selves in the one and blame your selves in the other but spiritual actions you rejoyce in them Again from this it appears that there is reason in godliness because godly men are not caught with chaff they are not caught with lusts as natural men are you know little Children how you may catch them with a Baby or a Top and a Scourge all the year about you may feed their fancy by bringing them some new Toy home but a man of forty years old you cannot please him with a Baby or with a Horse of wood c. Such is the difference between a natural man and a spiritual man you may please a natural man and catch him with a good Office or some such thing but take a through full grown spiritual man as we have blessed be God some instances in the Army and in the Parliament and City you offer him chaff when you offer him these things when you would tempt him to leave God and to embrace the World That German Beast as it is said of Luther will not be caught with Gold such a man will not be catched with a Bribe a Saint can out-reason all such lusts he sees they are but the pleasures of sin for a season Thus it appears to you that in godliness there is a great deal of reason Now let me adde this before I go further there is the profoundest and most excellent reason and reasoning that can be in godliness and I will demonstrate it to you in three things That there is Reason you have heard Now I shall shew you that there is the profoundest and the best Reason and that there is no reason to be compared to it First Because that in godliness there is a light put into the Soul whence a man may reason for man cannot reason without light put into the minde That is the reason why a Horse cannot reason because
Adam but not this as for instance there are divers things we finde among Professors that in the last day will be found to be nothing but the old Adam but Ishmaels that are humbled to the height and ye shall see in them a great deal of diligence in Gods service but where will you finde a Professor one of 500. and I speak with the least that you may clearly reade Gospel-goodness in him that you may say yonder is a man that if you curse him he will love you and if you do him hurt and that despitefully he will pray for you It is an easie thing to kindle a brand that hath been once lighted to do that which Adam did but to do this is a higher matter As man was created after the Image of God so the Creatures in a sort were created after the image of man now as in Creatures in a Dog there is love and the like But where is there a creature that if you do him mischief will not endeavour to do you the like again or at least wise run away But where is a piece in the old Creation that doth love his Enemies And whereas it is said Adam was created after the Image of God and God loves his Enemies I answer God then in that Covenant was not in a disposition to love his Enemies but to hate his Enemies and sinners and curse them and damn them but now in Jesus Christ he loves his Enemies and therefore according to his minde he revealed to Adam it was not so and many other reasons I had but this I present to you with submission I do not speak curiosities but I finde and see very little of this scarcely any there was a candid goodness in the Primitive Church which is not now to be which is not now to be found now nothing but biting and tearing and devouring one another well there is one word he doth it by a spirittal Creation Then Secondly he brings the soul to this way of spiritual reasoning by spiritual illumination he created faculties before and now he casteth in Light as he did in the old Creation you know he made Heaven and Earth in the lump and then said Let there be Light Now that is the reason when the Gospel is preached and there is the spirit of God going with the Word and thou art dark and canst not receive this light the new Creature is not framed in thee if thou hast no eyes thou canst not see and if a man have eyes he cannot see in a dark room Now when the new man is made then the Lord sends in light and it is not every light for there are many Lights a blinde man as it were an Hypocrite hath them but it is a powerful Light that God puts in for we do finde that there is a kinde of Light in Hypocrites but yet there is no power in them there is not Light to bring them to such kinde of reasoning as will bring them to any good or from any evil they will talk of Drunkenness and Whoredome and the like but have not power to bring them off from any of these things indeed a Saint may be overcome of his Lusts that war in his members but there is a Law in his minde that is there is a Light that is like unto a Law that hath power in it that he seeth Christ doing them away I am sorry I have not time to open this unto you further but remember it Thirdly the Lord will do it by suggestion that is the spirit of God puts light into the soul he puts a measure of light to dwell in every new creature and that powerfully But because the way of the saints are so dark in this World and thorow so much difficulty the spirit of God prompts a Saint alwayes when he is at a loss As among Schollars we shall see sometimes a man is almost born down and then another giveth him an Argument or Distinction to help him and then he carries it and so the flesh hath reason and arguments as we are going along and now though there be a measure of light a stock of light dwelling in us yet we are nonplussed by the flesh and then the spirit of God suggesteth somewhat to us and we are carried thorow as you have it in Mat. 20. When you are brought before Governours it is not you that speak but the spirit of God that prompteth you Fourthly the spirit doth it by conviction that is another way we have it Joh. 16. saith Christ when I go I will send my spirit and my spirit shall convince the World of sin reprove you have it he shall convince the World of sin of righteousness and Judgement The word signifies when he saith the spirit will convince that is by way of Argument the meaning is that in every carnal mans heart there are arguments against faith and for his own destruction and strong ones too And when we preach to you ye bring reason against reason and so go away unconvinced unconverted but the spirit will convince you that is he will bring such strong arguments as Doctor PRESTON saith from Heaven that will convince you As when a stronger man cometh he disarmeth the other as before we thought godliness nothing but Heresie and Puritanism and the like but now the Spirit convinceth you you see this is the onely way and out of this way I shall never see God and the like 5. Another way I find the spirit doth it by is commemoration by minding us of what we have heard of somthing we have known before it it is our remembrancer Therefore saith Christ I will send my Spirit and he shall bring to your remembrance what you have heard not that you shall remember a whole Sermon and Repeat it every word but thus it is he will either suggest thoughts we never had before or bring to our remembrance a word we have heard of such a preacher in such a place or read in such a place or thought in such a walke or the like and so setteth on and carrieth on the worke 6. And he doth it by consolation he is the Comforter the consolation of the spirit Beloved this is certaine that ye know trouble of minde exceedingly hinders the acts of reason That is the reason men are mad because some fumes rise up in the braine and trouble the minde that they cannot reason but are mad Beloved our troubles of minde and soule they are like fumes that come up into the braine and distract us A spirituall man is many times as it were a distracted man there are so many sumes such horrour and guilt that he is almost stark mad he can talke of naturall things but in spirituall things he is as it were mad the Chaine of spirituall reason is broken and now the spirit is the Comforter and he quiets the the spirits and when a man is in a quiet temper the disease is gone and the reason
there is in all godliness in every part of it excellent reasons there is the purest sublimest excellentest reason in godliness Beloved I may say and say truly of godliness in a spirituall sence whatever you may say of Logick in a naturall way Logick is the art of rersoning that is the definition of it it is the right of reasoning so godliness is the right art of spirituall reasoning There is not one dram of right spirituall reasoning but in a godly people and there is not one act in godly people but it is carried on upon the purest and sublimest and excellentest reasoning that is it is such a kind of reason that the Apostle calls it demonstration that is the surest reasoning in naturall Logick Now in that you have other kind of reasoning as conjectures and probabilities and other topicks but godly reasoning is demonstration as the Apostle saith And therefore in 2 Thess 3. 2. Wicked men that have not faith they are said to be unreasonable men he is a wicked man that hath not faith let him be never so honest or civill yet in Gods language if he have not faith he is a wicked man Paul prayes that he may be delivered from unreasonable men from absurd men as you have it the margin Now what is it to be absurd you say when a man carries himself illfavouredly that is absurd properly then when a man reasons not rightly it is absurd as to draw wrong conclusions from premises as to say such a Towne is garrisoned by the King therefore London hath the plague this is absurd Now all the actions and doings of wicked men they are absurd there is no more hold of them then of a rope of sand A wicked man may have naturall reason and corrupt reason enough but he is an unreasonable man he hath no spirituall reason And hence it is that godly men spirituall men are so constant in their Spirits and in their wayes indeed they are not absolutely constant because they are godly but in part As you may see in natural things the difference between a man that is at full age and hath reason and a Child that is not come up to reason as the Scripture saith Be not as little children tossed to and fro Now what is the reason that a Child is so inconstant he will love a thing to day and have it to bed with him and to morrow he will cast it in the dirt it is because his actions are carryed by fancie and he hath not reason to rule and sway him Now you know a man doth not do and undo things like a Child See what difference there is in a naturall way between a man at full age and a Child at three or foure yeares old so much and more difference there is between a godly spirituall man and a naturall man and that is the reason that when a godly man hears a natural man discourse say he will do this and that he will go to the Wars and he will take this and that Garrison he smiles at it because he knowes he will not be constant Take men all along in these Wars for some yeares past whether they were Commanders or others you shall see how many brave resolute men both went forth and were here in the Parliament at home and where are they now But now take a godly man either in the Army or elswhere and you cannot say of him he was so because he is so because he hath some reason to carry him along that the other hath not he went for the glory of God and the respect of that continues with him the other went out for a shew for a blast and so are turned about with every wind like a Weather-cock and all this for want of spiritual reason Moreover it appears by this why the Saints that are godly and spiritual are so comfortable even in the worst condition and why other men are so apt to be dejected Take a Saint and put him into any condition and he knows how to rejoyce in the Lord. Take a Paul or a Silas and put them in Prison and let them be to be hanged to morrow and yet they can rejoice and sing they can rejoice in tribulation as well as in prosperity but now men that have not faith that are not spiritual though they laugh loud sometimes when they are in prosperity yet when affliction comes they are down again and this comes from hence not because godly men are mad-men that they can rejoice in Chains as men in Bedlam do but it is from spiritual reasoning When they are in affliction they can reason I am now in much shame and poverty but I know that they are in Christ all shall turn to their good they are Christs and all is for their salvation And thus they will draw from the Scriptures by the help of the Spirit of God such kind of Arguments as will draw them up and fill them with joy even in the worst condition which because the others have not they are up and down though their laughter be louder as Solomon saith yet it is but as the crackling of thorns that end in smoke and smother and ashes Oh the godly are endued with a great deal of spiritual reasoning And hence it was because there is so much reason in godliness that the Doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by a few Fisher-men and contemptible men without any force of Arms without any Sword drawn they have been able to break the great Emperour of the World and to plant Religion over a great part of the world It is true there is no natural reason in it in the world that a hundred or half a hundred should go forth and tell a story of a man that was a Garpenters Son a poor man that was at last hanged upon a Tree by the Jews and buried in a Grave and for a company of poor men that had no Oratory in the world to go and tell people that by this man is salvation and that they must believe in him and that they had no power in themselves to do it and that if they did believe in him they must deny themselves and father and mother and lands and life and then they should have a Reward they knew not where nor whence hereafter in Heaven but nothing in this world which there was no natural Reason to perswade them to and there was no Sword to command them for their Commission was onely to tell men that if they believed they should be saved and if they did not believe they must be damned and yet we see the Gospel hath prevailed in many Kingdoms of the world more or less Now when Mahomet came he comes as a great man and when he was asked How will you prove your Religion to be true He takes a Sword and saith By this Such is the Doctrine of the Turks and Persians but the Doctrine of the Gospel came not so Now you must not