that original righteousnes which he at the first put into him and appointing him to bee the head and fountaine of all mankind not only in nature but in foro-too in regard of legall proceeding with-held from him and his seed that Gift which was freely by him in the Creation bestowed and willfully by Adam in the fall reiâ—…cted and adjudg'd this miserie upon him that hee should passe over to all his posterity the immediate fruit of his first prevarication which was originall sinne contracted by his owne default and as it were issuing out of his willfull disobedience upon him because they all were in him interessed as in their head and father in that first transgression Thus have I at large opened those many great evils which this sinne hath in it that life of concupiscence which the Apostle here speaketh of I cannot say of it as the Romane Epitomizer of his Historie Iâ—… brevit abella totanteius imagiâ—…m amplexâ—… suâ—… that in a small compasse I have comprized the whole Image of old Adam but rather cleane contrary In amplatabull non dimidiam eius imaginem amplexus sum The halfe of this sinne hath not all this while beene described unto you Now therefore to conclude this Argument wherein I have been the larger both because of the necessarinesse of it that we may know whither to rise in our humiliations for sinne and because it is the principall sâ—…ope of the Apostle in the place and serves most abundantly to shew our owne everlasting insufficiency for happinesse in our selves we see by these things which have been discovered in this sin at what defiance we ought to stand with the doctrine of those men first who mince and qualifie and extenuate this sinne as the Papists doe making it the smallest of all sinnes not deserving any more of Gods wrath then onely a want of his beatificall presenâ—…e and that too without any paine or sorrow of minde which might be apt to grow from the apprehension of so great a losse nay not onely denying it after Baptisme to bee a sinne but onely the seed of sinne an evill disease langvor tyranny and impotency of nature but that even in the wicked themselves concupiscence is rather imputed for sinne then is really and formally sinne notwithstanding it be forbidden in the Commandement and upon these presumptions reviling the doctrine of the Reformed Divines for exaggerating this sinne as that which overspreadeth in its beeing all our nature and in its working all our lives Secondly of those who heretofore and even now deny any sinfulnesse either in the privation of the Image of God or in the concupiscence and deordination of our nature It was the doctrine of the Pelagians in the primitive times that mans nature was not corrupted by the fall of Adam that his sinne was not any ground to his posterity either of death or of the merit of death that sinne comes from Adam by imitation not by propagation That Baptisme doth not serve in Infants for remission of sinne but onely for adoption and admission into Heaven that as Christs righteousnesse doth not profit those which beleeve not so Adams sinne doth not prejudice nor injure those that actually sinne not That as a righteous man doth not beget a righteous Childe so neither doth a sinner beget a Childe guilty of sinne That all sinne is voluntary and therefore not naturall That Marriage is Gods ordinance and therefore no instrument of transmitting sinne That concupiscence being the punishment of sinne cannot bee a sinne likewise These and the like Antitheses unto Orthodox Doctrine did the Pelagians of old maintaine And as it is the policy of Satan to keepe alive those heresies which may seeme to have most reliefe from proud and corrupted reason and doe principally tend to keepe men from that due humiliation and through-conviction of sinne which should drive them to Christ and magnifie the riches of Christs Grace to them there are not wanting at this day a broode of sinfull men who notwithstanding the evidence of Scripture and the consent of all Antiquitie doe in this Point concurre with those wicked Heretikes and deny the originall corruption of our nature to bee any sinne at all but to be the work of Gods owne hands in Paradise nay deny further the very imputation of Adams sinne to any of his posterity for sinne And now because in this point they doe expressely contradict not onely the Doctrine of holy Scriptures the foundation of Orthodox Faith the consent of Ancient Doctors and the Rule of the Catholike Church but in no lesse then foure or five particulars doe manifestly oppose the doctrine of the Church of England in this Point most evidently delivered in one article for the Article saith Man is Gone from originall righteousnesse they say Man did not goe away from it but God snatched it away from man the Article saith that by Originall sinne Man is enclined unto evill and calleth it by the name of concupiscence and lust they say that Originall sinne is onely the privation of righteousnes and that concupiscence is a concreated and originall condition of nature the Article saith that the flesh lusteth alwayes contrary to the spirit they say in expresse termes that this is false and that the flesh when it lusteth indeed doth lust against nothing but the spirit and that the Apostle in that place meant onely the Galatians and not all spirituall or regenerate men the Article saith that this lust deserveth Gods wrath and condemnation they say that it doth not deserve the hatred of God and lastly the Article saith that the Apostle doth confesse that concupiscence and lust hath of it selfe the nature of sinne they say that it is not properly either a sinne or a punishment of sinne but onely the condition of nature in all these respects it will be needfull to lay downe the truth of this great Point and to vindicate it from the proud disputes of such bold Innovators And first let us see by what steps and gradations the Adversaries of this so fundamentall a doctrine which as Saint Austin saith is none of those in quibus optimi fidei Catholicae defensores salvâ fidei compage inter se aliquando 〈◊〉 consonant wherein Orthodox Doctors may differ and abound in their owne sense doe proceed to denie the sinfulnesse of that which all Ages of the Church have called Sinne. First they say That the Sinne of Adam is not any way the sinne of his posterity that it is against the nature of sinne against the goodnesse wisedome and truth of God against the rule of Equitie and Iustice that Infants who are Innocent in themselves should bee accounted Nocent iu another therein taking away Baptisme for remission of sinnes from Infants who being not borne with guilt of Adams sinne stand yet in no neede of any purgation Secondly they say that though
the evill spirit against Ahab and his Prophets that hee should goe forth with lying perswasions and should bee beleeved and prevaile according to that of the Apostle that God giveth over those that beleeve not the Truth but have pleasure in unrighteousnesse to strong delusions that they may beleeve a lye and that the God of this world doth blinde the eyes of those which beleeve not Lastly the Punishment of sinne is Eternall That wrath which in the day of the Revelation of Gods righteous Iudgement shall bee powred forth upon ungodly men The Saints are redeemed already in this life and are said to have Eternall Life but yet that great day is by an excellency called the day of Redemption because then that life which is here hid shall be then fully discovered So on the other side though the wrath of God be revealed from Heaven already against all unrighteonsnesse and Abideth vpon those that beleeve not yet after an especiall manner is the last day called a day of wrath because then the heapes treasures stormes and tempests blackenesse and darkenesse of Gods displeasure shall in full force seize upon ungodly men And this wrath of God is of all other most unsupportable First In regard of the Author It comes from God Now we know a little stone if it fall from a high place or a smal dart shot out of a strong bow wil do more hurt then a farre greater that is but gently laid on How wefull then must the case of those be who shall have mountaines and milstones throwne with Gods owne arme from Heaven upon them for though God in this life suffer himselfe to bee wrestled with and even pressed downe yet at last he shall come to shew forth the glory of his Power in the just condemnation of wicked men Secondly in its owne nature because it is most heavie and invincible All conquest over an evill must proceede either from Power which is able to expell it or from Faith and Hope that a man shall be delivered from it by those that have more power then himselfe what ever evill it is which doth either keepe downe Nature that it connot rise or hedge it in that it cannot escape is very intollerable Now Gods wrath hath both these in it First it is so great that it exceedes all the power of the Creature to overcome it heavier then mountaines hotter then fire no chaffe nor stubble shall stand before it and it shall be All within a man folded up in his very substance like the worme in the wood on which it feedes And secondly as it is heavie and so excludes the strength of nature to overcome it so is it infinite too and thus it excludes the hope of nature to escape it The ground of which infinitenesse in punishment is the infinite disproportion betweene the Iustice of God which will punish and the nature of man which must suffer Gods Iustice being Infinite the violation thereof in sinne must needes contract an infinite demerit and debt because in sinning we robbe God of his Glory which we must repay him againe Now the satisfaction of an Infinite debt must needes be Infinite either in degrees which is impossible For first nothing can bee Infinite in Being though it may in duration but onely God And secondly if it could yet a finite vessell were not able to hold an infinite wrath or else in some other infinitenesse which is either infinitenesse of worth in the person satisfying or for defect of that infinitenesse of time to suffer that whith cannot bee suffered in an infinite measure And this is the reason why Christ did not suffer infinitely in time because there was in him a more excellent iâ—…finitenesse of person which raised a finite suffering into the value of an infinite satisfaction though Scotus and from him some learned men have rendered another reason hereof because hee suffered onely for those who were to breake off their sinnes by Repentance Now then to conclude all In as much as sinne is by the Law made exceeding sinfull and death exceeding deadly not to legall but evangelicall purposes not to drive men to blaspheme or despaire but to beleeve not to frighten them from God but to drive them unto him in his Sonne for the Law comes not but in the hand of a mediator And in as much as this is the accepted time and the day of Salvation that now he commandeth All Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a Day in the which he will Iudge the World in righteousnesse whom hee doth now invite and beseech in mercy We should therefore be wise for our selves and being thus pursued and cast in the Court of Law flie to that Heavenly Chancery that Office of Mercie and miâ—…gation which is set up in the Gospell and that while it is yet called to Day before the Percullis bee shut downe before the blacke flagge be hung out before the Talent of Lead seale up the measure of our wickednesse and the Irreversible decree of wrath be gone forth for we must know that God will not alwayes bee despised nor suffer his Gospell to waite ever upon obdurate â—…ners or his Sonne to stand ever at our dores as if he stood in need of our admittance But when there is no remedy but that we judge our selves unworthy of Eternall Life and stand in contempt and rebellion against his Court of Mercie he will dismisse us to the Law againe O Consider what wilt thou doe if thou shouldest bee dragg'd naked to the Tribunall of Christ and not bee able with all thy cries to obtaine so much mercie from any Mountaine as to live for ever under the weight and pressure of it When thou shalt peepe out of thy Grave and see Heaven and Earth on fire about thine eares and Christ comming in the flames of that fire to revenge on thee the quarrell of his Covenant Whither then wilt thou fly from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne Let us therefore learne to Iudge our selves that wee may not be condemned of the Lord to fly to his Sanctuary before wee be haled to his tribunall Hee requires no great thing of us but onely to relinquish our selues and in humilitie and sincerity to accept of him and receive that redemption by beleeving in him which hee hath wrought by suffering for us this if in truth and spirit we doe all the rest will undoubtedly follow namely the life of our Faith here in an universall obedience and the end of our faith hereafter even the falvation of our Soules THE RAIGNE OF SINNE ROM 6. 12. Let not sinne therefore Raigne in your mortall bodiâ—…s that you should obay it in the lusts thereof AFter the doctrine of the state and guilt of sinne It will be needefull for the further Conviction thereof that sinne may appeare exceeding sinfull to shew in the next place the Power and the Raigne of sinne from which the Apostle in
end of the world shall be prov'd to have beene nothing else but well-acted vanities when the pride luxurie riot swaggering interlarded and complementall oathes nice and quaint lasciviousnesse new invented courtings and adorations of beauty the so much studied and admited sinnes of the gallantrie of the world shall be pronounc'd out of the mouth of God himselfe to have beene nothing else but glittering abominations when the adulterating of wares the counterfeiting of lights the double waight and false measures the courteous equivocations of men greedy of gaine which are now almost woven into the very arts of trading shall be pronounced nothing else but mysteries of iniquitie and selfe-deceivings when the curious subtilties of more choise wits the knottie questions and vaine strife of words the disputes of reason the variety of reading the very circle of generall and secular learning pursued with so much eagernesse by the more ingenious spirits of the world shall bee all pronounc'd but the thinne cobwebs and vanishing delicacies of a better temper'd prophanenesse and lastly when that poore despised profession of the power of Christianitie a trembling at the Word of God a scrupulous forbearance not of oathes onely but of idle words a tendernesse and aptnesse to bleed at the touch of any sinne a boldnesse to withstand the corruptions of the times a conscience of but the appearances of evill a walking mournfully and humbly before God a heroicall resolution to be strict and circumspect to walke in an exact and geometricall holinesse in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation the so much conclamated and scorned peevishnesse of a few silly unpolitique unregarded hypocrits as the world esteemes them shall in good earnest from the mouth of God himselfe bee declared to have beene the true narrow way which leadeth to salvation and the enemies there of shall when it is too late be driven to that desperate and shamefull confession We fooles counted their life madnesse and their end to have been without honour how are they now reckoned amongst the Saints and have their portion with the Almighty A second Branch of the disproportion between the soule of man and the Creatures arising from the Vanitie thereof is their Deadnesse unprofitablenesse inefficacie by any inward vertue of their owne to convey or preserue life in the Soule Happinesse in the Scripture phrase is called Life consisting in a Communion with God in his Holinesse and glory Nothing then can truely bee a prop to hold up the Soule which cannot either preserue that life which it hath or convey unto it that which it hath not Charge those saith the Apostle that are rich in this world that they bee not high minded neither trust in uncertaine Riches but in the living God 1. Tim. 6. 17 he opposeth the life of God to the vanitie and uncertainety the word is to the Inevidence of Riches whereby a man can never demonstrate to himselfe or others the certainety or happinesse of his life The like opposition we shall finde excellently expressed in the Prophet Ieremie My people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountaine of Living water and have hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water Ier. 2. 13. That is my people are willing to attribute the blessings they enjoy and to sue for more rather unto any cause then unto me the Lord. She did not know saith the Lord else where that I gave her her corne and her wine and multiplied her silver and gold c. but said of them these are my rewards which my lovers have given me But saith the Lord so long as they trusted me they rested upon a sure fountaine that would never faile them with thee saith the Psalmist is the Fountaine of life And so saith the Apostle too Let your conversation be without covetousnesse that is Doe not make an Idoll of the Creature doe not heape vessels full of monie together and then thinke that you are all sure the Creature hath no life in it nay it hath no truth in it neither there is deceit and cozenage in riches but saith he Let your conversation be with contentment consider that what you have is the dimensum the portion which God hath allotted you that foode which he findeth most convenient for you he knowes that more would but cloy you with a surfet of pride or worldlinesse that you have not wisedome humility faith heavenly mindednesse enough to concoct a more plentifull estate and therefore receive your portion from him trust his wisedome and care over you For he hath said I will not faile thee nor forsake thee Well then saith the Lord so long as they rested on me they rested upon a sure supply All his mercies are sure mercies upon a Fountaine which would never faile them But when once they forsake mee and will not trust their lives in my keeping but with the prodigall will have their portion in their owne hands their water in their owne Cisterns their pits prove unto them but like lobs torrent deepe and plentifull though they seeme for a time yet at length they make those ashamed that relied upon them And so I finde the Prophets assuring us that Israel which put so much confidence in the carnall policies of Ieroboam for preserving the kingdome of the ten tribes from any re-union with the house of David was at last constrained to blush at their owne wisedome and to be ashamed of Bethel their confidence Briefly then for that place there are two excellent things intimated in those two words of Cisterns and Broken Cisterns First the wealth and honour which men get not from the Lord but by carnall dependencies are but Cisterns at the best and in that respect they have an evill quality in them they are like dead water apt to putrifie and corrupt being cut of from the influence of God the Fountaine of life they have no favour nor sweetnesse in them Besides they are Broken Cisterns too as they have much mud and rottennesse in them so they are full of chinkes at which whatever is cleere and sweet runnes away and nothing but dregges remaine behinde The worldly pleasures which men enjoy their youthfull vigor that carried them with delight and furie to the pursuite of fleshly lusts the content which they were wont to take in the formalities and complements of courtship and good fellowship with a storme of sickenesse or at farthest a winter of age blowes all away and then when the fruite is gone there remaines nothing but the diseases of it behinde which there surfet had begotten a conscience worme to torment the soule Thus the life which wee fetch from the Cisterne is a vanishing life there is still after the use of it lesse left behinde then there was before but the life which we fetch from the fountaine is a fixed an Abiding life as S. Iohn speakes or as our Saviour cals it a Life that
utterly depriu'd the right of any worldly goods nothing is his ex jure but onely ex largitate and in as much as the sinne of man hath made him though not a sacrilegious intruder yet a prophane abuser of the good things which remaine partly by inditect procuring them partly by despising the author of them by mustering up Gods owne gifts against him in riot luxurie pride uncleanenesse earthly mindednesse hereby it comes to passe that to the uncleane all things are uncleane because their mindes and consciences are defiled Now the whole Creation being thus by the sinne of man uncleane and by consequence unfitted for humane use as Saint Peter intimates I never eate any thing common or uncleane it was therefore requisite that the Creature should have some Purification before it was unto men allowed Which was indeede legally done in the Ceremonie but really in the substance and body of the Ceremonie by Christ who hath now unto us in their use and will at last for themselves in their owne being deliver the Creatures from that vanity and malediction unto which by reason of the sinne of man they were subjected and fashion them unto the glorious liberty of the Children of God make them fit palaces for the saints to inhabit or conferre upon them a glory which shall bee in the proportion of their natures a suteable advancement unto them as the glory of the Children of God shall be unto them The bloud of Christ doth not onely renew and purifie the soule and body of man but washeth away the curse and dirt which adhereth to every Creature that man useth doth not only clense and sanctifie his church but reneweth all the Creatures Behold saith he I make All things New and if any man be in Christ not onely He is a New Creature but saith the Apostle All things are become New Those men then who keepe themselves out of Christ and are by consequence under the Curse as their persons so their possessions are still under the curse as their consciences so their estates are still uncleane they eate their meate like Swine rol'd up in dirt the dirt of their owne sinne and of Gods malediction So then the Creature is then sanctified when the curse thereof is washed away by Christ. Now secondly let us see How the Creature is sanctified by the Word By Word wee are not to understand the Word of Creation wherein God spake and all things were made Good and serviceable to the use of man For sinne came after that Word and defaced as well the goodnesse which God put into the Creature as his Image which he put into man But by Word I understand first in generall Gods Command and Blessing which strengtheneth the Creature unto those operations for which they serue in which sense our Saviour useth it Matth. 4. 4. and elsewhere If ye call those Gods unto whom the Word of God came that is who by Gods Authority and Commission are fitted for subordinate services of Gouernement under him say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified that is to whom the Word of the Father and his Commission or Command came to whom the Father hath given Authoritie by his Power and fitnesse by his Spirit to Iudge and save the world Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Sonne of God Secondly by that Word I understand more particularly the Fountaine of that Blessing which the Apostle cals in generall the Word of Truth and more particularly The Gospell of Salvation and this word is a sanctifying Word Sanctifie them by thy truth thy Word is Truth and as it sanctifies us so it sanctifies the Creatures too it is the Fountaine not onely of Eternall but of Temporall Blessings And therefore we finde Christ did not onely say unto the sicke of the Palsie Thy sinnes are forgiven thee but also Arise and walke intimating that Temporall Blessings come along with the Gospell it hath the Promises as well of this life as that to come I never saw the righteous forsaken saith the Prophet David suteable to that of the Apostle He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee nor their seed begging their bread That is never so wholly by God forsaken if they were the seed of the Righteous inheritors of their fathers hope and profession as to make a constant trade of begging their bread and so to expose the promises of Christ that they which seeke the kingdome of heaven shall have all other things added to them unto reproach and imputation from wicked men Or thus I never saw the righteous forsaken or their seede forsaken by God though they beg'd their bread but even in that extremitie God was present with them to sanctifie to their use and to give them a comfortable enjoyment of that very bread which the exigencie of their present condition had constrained them to begge Thus we see in generall That the Blessing or Command of God and the fountaine of that blessing the Gospell of Salvation doe sanctifie the Creature But yet neither by the Blessing nor the Gospell is the Creature effectually sanctified unto us till it be by us apprehended with the Word and Promise and this is done by Faith for the Word saith the Apostle profited not those that heard it because it was not mingled or temper'd with faith For Faith hath this singular operation to particularize and single out God and his Promises unto a mansselfe So then the Creature is sanctified by the Word and Blessing beleeved and embraced whereby we come to have a neerer right and peculiarity in the Creatures which we enjoy for being by Faith united unto Christ and made one with him which is that noble effect of faith to incorporate Christ and a Christian together we thereby share with him in the inheritance not onely of Eternall life but even of the common Creatures Fellow Heires we are and Copartners with him therefore in as much as God hath appointed him to be Heire of All things as the Apostle speakes we likewise in the vertue of our fellowship with him must in a subordinate sense be Heires of all things too All is yours saith the Apostle and you are Christs and Christ is Gods Fidelibus totus mundus divitiarum est The Saints saith Saint Austin have All the world for their possession And if it be here demanded how this can be true since wee finde the Saints of God often in great want and it would doubtlesse bee sinne in them to usurpe another mans goods upon presumption of that promise that Christ is theirs and with him all things To this I answere first in generall As Christ though he were the Heire of All things yet for our sakes became poore that we by his poverty might be made rich so God oftentimes pleaseth to make the faithfull partake not onely in the priviledges but in the poverty
expose as few of thy affections to the rage of worldly lust as may be beware of being carried where two seas meet as the ship wherein Paul suffer'd shipwracke I meane of plunging thy selfe in a confluence of many boisterous and conflicting businesses least for thine inordinate prosecution of worldly things the Lord either give thy Soule over to suffer shipwracke in them or strip thee of all thy lading and tackling breake thine estate all to pieces and make thee glad to get to Heaven upon a broken planke 3. The fashion of this world passeth over it doth but goe along by thee and salute thee and therefore use it as if thou used'st it not doe to it as thou would'st doe to a stranger whom thou meetest in the way he goes one way and thou another salute him stay so long in his companie till from him thou have received better instructions touching the turnings and difficulties of thine owne way but take heed thou turne not into the way of the Creature least thou lose thine owne home Secondly Get an Eye of Faith to looke Through and Above the Creature A man shall never get to looke of from the world till he can looke beyond it For the Soule will have hold-fast of something and the reason why men cling so much to the earth is because they have no assurance if they let goe that hold of having any subsistence else-where Labour therefore to get an interest in Christ to finde an everlasting footing in the stedfastnesse of Gods Promises in him and that will make thee willing to suffer the losse of all things it will implant a kinde of hatred and disestimation of all the most pretious endearements which thy soule did feede upon before Saint Peter saith of wicked men that they are Purblinde they cannot see a farre off they can see nothing but that which is next them and therefore no marvell if their thoughts cannot reach unto the End of the Creature There is in a dimme eye the same constant and habituall indisposition which sometimes happeneth unto a sound eye by reason of a thicke mist though a man be walking in a very short lane yet he sees no end of it and so a naturall man cannot reach to the period of earthly things death and danger are still a great way out of his sight whereas the eye of faith can looke upon them as already expiring and through them looke upon him who therefore gives the Creatures unto us that in them we might see his power and taste his goodnesse And nature it selfe me thinkes may seeme to have intended some such thing as this in the very order of the Creatures Downeward a mans eye hath something immediately to fixe on All is shut up in darkenesse save the very surface to note that we should have our desires shut up too from these earthly things which are put under our feete and hid from our eyeâ— and buried in their owne deformitie All the beauty and all the fruit of the earth is placed on the very outside of it to shew how short and narrow our affections should be towards it But upward the eye sindes scarce any thing to bound it all is transparant and dâ—…aphanous to note how vast our affections should be towards God how endlesse our thoughts and desires of his kingdome how present to our faith the heavenly things should be even at the greatest distance The Apostle saith That Faith is the Substance of things hoped for that it gives being and present subsistency to things farre distant from us makes those things which in regard of naturall causes are very remote in regard of Gods Promises to seeme hard at hand And therefore though there were many hundred yeeres to come in the Apostles time and for ought we know may yet be to the dissolution of the world yet the Apostle tels us that even then it was the last houre because faith being able distinctly to see the truth and promises of God and the Endlesnesse of that life which is then presently to be revealed the infinite excesse of vastnesse in that made that which was otherwise a great space seeme even as nothing no more in comparison then the length of a Cane or Trunke through which a man lookes on the heavens or some vast countrey And ever the greater magnitude and light there is in a body the smaller will the medium or distance seeme from it the reason why a perspective glasse drawes remote objects close to the eye is because it multiplies the species We then by faith apprehending an infinite and everlasting Glory must needs conceive any thing through which we looke upon it to be but short vanishing And therfore though the promises were a farre off in regard of their owne existence yet the Patriarkes did not onely see but embrace them their faith seem'd to nullifie and swallow up all the distance Abraham saw Christs day and was glad he looked upon those many ages which were betweene him and his promised seed as upon small aâ—…d unconsiderable distances in comparison of that endlesse glory into which they ran they were but as a curten or piece of hangings which divide one roome in a house from another Labour therefore to get a distinct view of the height and length and breadth and depth and the unsearchable love of God in Christ to find in thine own soule the truth of God in his promises that his word abideth forever and that will make all the glory of other things to seeme but as grasse Lastly though the Creature be mortall in it selfe yet in regard of man as it is an Instrument serviceable to his purposes and subordinate to the graces of God in him it may bee made of use even for Immortality To which purpose excellent is that speech of Holy Austin If you have not these earthly Goods saith he take heed how thou get them by evill workes here and if thou have them labour by good workes to hold them even when thou art gone to heaven Make you friends saith our Saviour of the unrighteous 〈◊〉 that when you faile they may receive you into everlasting habitations a religious and mercifull use of earthly things makes way to Immortalitie and Blessednesse Cast thy bread upon the waters and after many dayes thou shalt finde it It is an allusion unto husbandmen They doe not eate up and sell away all their corne for then the world would quickely bee destitute but the way they take to perpetuate the fruits of the earth is to cast some of it backe againe into a fruitfull soile where the waters come and then in due time they receive it with encrease so should we doe with these worldly blessings sow them in the bowels and backes of the poore members of Christ and in the day of harvest we shall finde a great encrease If then draw out thy soule to the righteous and satisfie the afflicted soule then shall
out of dores and pervert iudgement Tempt the covetous heart of a great oppressor to blood and violence and he will lie in waite for the life of his neighbour Tempt the covetous heart of a proud pharisee or secure people to scorne the word out of the mouth of Christ or his prophet and they will easily yeeld to any infidelitie The like may bee said of any other lust in its kinde If the heart bee set on Beautie Tempt the Sonnes of God to forsake their covenant of marrying in the Lord the Israelites to the idolatrie of Baal Peor Sampson to forsake his vow and calling easily will all this bee done if the heart haue the beauty of any creature as a treacher in it to let in the temptations and to let out the lusts How many desperate temptations doth beauty cast many men vpon bribery to lay downe the price of a whore gluttonie and drunkennesse to inflame and ingenerate new lusts contempt of the Word and Iudgements of God to smother the checkes of conscience frequenting of Sathans palaces playes and stewes the chappels of Hell and nurseries of vncleannesse challenges stabbes combats blood to vindicate the credit and comparisons of a strumpets beauty to revenge the competition of uncleane Corrivals Thus will men venture as deepe as Hell to fetch fire to powre into their veines to make their spirits frie and their blood boyle in abhorred lust If the heart bee set on wit and pride of its owne conceits tempt the Libertines and Cyrenians to dispute against the truth the Greekes to despise the Gospell the wise men of the world to esteeme the ordinance of God foolishnes of preaching the false teachers to foist their straw and stubble upon the foundation Achitophell to comply with treason Lucian to reuile Christ and deride religion easily will these and a world the like temptations bee let into the heart if pride of wit stand at the dore and turne the locke Whence is it that men spend their pretious abilities in frothy studies in complements formes and garbes of salute satyrs libels abuses profanation of Gods Word scorne of the simplicitie and power of godlinesse with infinite the like vanities but because theâ—… hearts are taken up with a foolish creature and not with God and his feare If the heart be set on Ambition tempt Corah to desperate rebellion Absolom to unnaturall treason Balaam to curse the church Diotrephes to contemne the Apostles and their doctrine Iulian to apostacie Arius to heresie the Apostles themselues to emulation and strife easily will one lust let in these and a thousand more What else is it that makes men to flatter profanenesse to adore golden beasts to admire glistering abominations to betray the truth of the Gospell to smother and dissemble the strictnesse and purity of the wayes of God to strike at the sins of men with the scabberd and not with the sword to deale with the fancies of men more then with their consciences to palliate vice to dawbe with untempered morter to walke in a neutralitie and adiaphorisme betweene God and Baal to make the soules of men and the glory of God subordinate to their lusts and risings but the vast and unbounded gulfe of ambition and vaine glory The like may be said of seuerall other lusts But I proceede Secondly a Heart set on any lust is unfit to withstand temptation because temptations are commonly edged with Promises or Threatnings Now if a mans heart be set on God there can no promises bee made of any such good as the heart cares for or which might be likely to ouer-poise and sway to the temptation which the heart hath not already spirituall promises the Divell will make few or if he doe such a heart knowes that evill is not the way to good if hee make promises of earthly things such promises the heart hath already from one who can better make them 1 Tim. 4. 8 neither can hee promise any thing which was not more mine before then his for either that which he promiseth is convenient for me and so is Manna foode for my nature or else Inconvenient and then it is Quailes foode for my lust If the former God hath taught mee to call it mine owne already giue us our Bread and not to goe to the Divels shambles to fetch it If the other though God should suffer the Divell to giue it yet he sends a curse into our mouths along with it And as such a heart neglects any promises the Divell can make so is it as heedlesse of any of his threatnings because if God be on our side neither principalities â—…or powers nor things present nor things to come can ever separate from him stronger is hee that is with vs then hee that is with the world it is the businesse of our calling to fight against spirituall wickednesses and to resist the Divell But when the heart is set on any creature and hath not God to rest upon when a man attributes his wine and oyle to his lovers and not to God his credit wealth subsistency to the favours of men and not to â—…he all-sufficiency of God then hath the Divell an easie way to winne a man to any sâ—…ne or withdraw him from any good by pointing his temptations with promises or threatnings fitted to the things which the heart is set on Let the Divell promise Balaam honour and preferment on which his ambitious heart was set and he will rise early runne and ride and change natures with his Asse and be more senslesse of Gods fury then the dumbe creature that he may curse Gods owne people let the Divell promise thirty pieces of silver to Iudas whose heart ranne upon covetousnesse and there is no more scruple the bargaine of treason is presently concluded Let the Divell tempt Michaes Levite with a little better reward then the beggerly stipend which he had before Theft and Idolatry are swallow'd downe both together and the man is easily wonne to be a suare and seminary of spirituall uncleannesse to a whole tribe On the other side Let Sathan threaten Ieroboam with the losse of his kingdome if hee goe up to Ierusalem and serve God in the way of his owne worship and that is argument enough to draw him and all his successors to notorious and Egyptian idolatry and the reason was because their hearts were more set upon their owne Counsels then upon the worship or truth of God Let the Divell by the edicts and ministers of Ieroboam lay snares in Mizpah and spreade nets upon Taber that is use lawes menaces subtilties to keepe the people from the City of God and to confine them to regall and state-Idolatrie presently the people tremble at the iniunction of the king and walke willingly after the Commaundement Let 〈◊〉 erect his prodigious â—…dole and upon on paine of a 〈◊〉 furnace require All to worship it and all people nations and languages are presently upon their faces Let
of us the other from the predominancy of lust which overswayes the heart unto evill Good motions and resolutions in evill hearts are like violent impressions upon a stone though it move upwards for a while yet nature will at last prevaile and make it returne to its owne motion Secondly a Heart set on lusts mooves to 〈◊〉 ends but its owâ—…e and selfe-ends defile an action though otherwise never so specious turnes zeale it selfe and obedience into murder hinders all faith in us and acceptance with God nullifies all other ends swallowes up Gods glory and the good of others as the leane Kine did the fat as a Wenne in the body robs and consumes the part adjoyning so doe selfe-ends the right end Thirdly the Heart is a fountaine and principle and principles are ever one and uniforme out of the same fountaine cannot come bitter water and sweet and therefore the Apostle speakes of some that they are double-minded men that have a heart and a heart yet the truth is that is but with reference to their pretences for the Heart really and totally lookes but one way Every man is spiritually a married person and he can be joyned but to one Christ and an Idoll as every â—…ust is cannot consist he will have a chaste spouse he will have all our desires and affections subject unto him if the Heart cannot count him altogether lovely and all things else but dung in comparison of him he will refuse the match and with-hold his consent Let us see in some few particulars what impotency unto any good the Creatures bring upon the hearts of men To Pray requires a hungry spirit a heart convinc'd of its owne emptinesse a desire of intimate communion with God but now the Creature drawes the heart and all the desires thereof to it selfe as an ill splene doth the nourishment in a body Lust makes men pray amisse fixeth the desires onely on its owne provisions makes a man unwilling to be carried any way towards heaven but his owne The Young Man prayed unto Christ to shew him the way to eternall life but when Christ told him that his riches his covetousnes his bosome lust stood betweene him and salvation his prayer was turned into sorrow repentance and apostacy Meditation requires a sequestration of the thoughts a minde unmixt with other cares a syncere and uncorrupted relish of the Word now when the heart is prepossest with lust and taken up with another treasure it is as impossible to be weaned from it as for an hungry Eagle a Creature of the sharpest sight to fixe upon and of the sharpest appetite to desire its object to forbeare the body on which it would prey as unable to conceive aright of the pretiousnesse and power of the Word as a feaverish palate to taste the proper sweetnesse of the meate it eates In Hearing the Word the heart can never accept Gods Commands till it be first empty a man cannot receive the richest gift that is with a hand that was full before Now thornes which are the cares of the World filling the heart must needs choake the feede of the Word The Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsell of God against themselves because their pride would not let them yeeld to such a baptisme or to such a doctrine as requires emptinesse confession of sinnes justifying of God and condemning of themselves for these were the purposes of Iohus Baptisme and of the preaching of repentance That man comes but to bee rejected who makes love to one who hath fixt her heart and affection already A man must come to Gods Word as to a Physitian a meere patient without reservations or exceptions he must set his corruptions as an open marke for the word to shoot at hee must not come with capitulations and provisoes but lay downe the body of sinne before God to have every earthly member hewed of Till a man come with such a resolution as to be willing to part from all naughtinesse hee will never receive the ingrafted Word with meeknesse and an honest heart a man will never follow Christ in the wayes of his Word till first he have learned to denie himselfe and his owne lusts Nay if a man should binde his devotion to his heart With vâ—…ws yet a Dalila in his bosome a lust in his spirit would easily nullifie the strongest vowes The Iewes made a serious and solemne protestation to Ieremie that they would obey the voyce of the Lord in that which they desired him to enquire of God about whether it were good or evill and yet when they found the message crosse their owne lusts and reservations their resolutions are turned into rebellions their pride quickly breakes asunder their vow and they tell the Prophet to his face that hee dealt falsly between God and them a refuge which they were well acquainted with before Some when then conscience awakens and begins to disquiet them make vowes to bind themselves vnto better obedience and formes of godlinesse but as Sampson was bound in vaine with any cords so long as his haire grew into its length so in vaine doth any man binde himselfe with vowes so long as he nourisheth his lusts within a vow in the hand of a fleshly lust will be but like the chaines and fetters of that fierce â—…unatick very easily broken asunder This is not the right way First labour with thy heart clense out thy corruptions purge thy life as the Prophet did the waters with seasoning and rectifying the fountaine T is one thing to give â—…ase from a present paine another thing to roote out the disease it selfe If the chinkes in a ship bee unstopt 't is in vaine to labour at the pumpe so long as there is a constant in let the water can never be exhausted so is it in these formall resolutions and vowes they may ease the present paine let out a little water restraine from some particular acts but so long as the heart is unpurged lust will returne and predominate In a word whereas in the Service of God there are two maine things required faith to begin and courage or patience to goe through lust hinders both these How can yee beleeve since yee seeke for glory one from another Ioh. 5. 44. when persecution arose because of the word the Temporary was presently offended Matth. 13. 21. Thirdly and lastly in one word A man ought not to set his Heart on the Creature because of the Noblenesse of the heart To set the heart on the creature is to set a diamond in lead None are so mad to keep their Iewels in a cellar and their coales in a closet and yet such is the profannesse of wicked men to keepe God in their lips only and Mammon in their hearts to make the earth their treasure and heaven but as an accessorie and appendix to that And now as Samuel spake unto Saul set not thine
heart upon thine Asses for the desire of Israel is upon thee Why should a Kings heart be set upon Asses so may I say why should Christians hearts be set upon earthly things since they have the desires of all flesh to fix upon I will conclude with one word upon the last particu lar How to use the Creatures as Thornes or as vexing things First Let not the Bramble be King Let not earthly things beare rule over thy affections fire will rise out of them which will consume thy Cedars emasculate all the powers of thy Soule Let Grace sit in the throne and earthly things be subordinate to the wisdome and rule of Gods Spirit in thy heart They are excellent servants but pernicious Masters Secondly Be arm'd when thou touchest or medlest with them Arm'd against the Lusts and against the Temptations that arise from them Get faith to place thy heart upon better promises enter not upon them without prayer unto God that since thou art going amongst snares he would carry thee through with wisedome and faithfulnesse and teach thee how to use them as his blessings and as instruments of his glory Make a covenant with thine heart as Iob with his eyes have a jealousie and suspicion of thine evill heart lest it be surpriz'd and bewitched with finfull affections Thirdly touch them gently doe not hug love dote upon the Creature nor graspe it with adulterous embraces the love of mony is a roote of mischiefe and is enmity against God Fourthly use them for Hedges and fences to relieve the Saints to make friends of unrighteous Mammon to defend the Church of Christ but by no meanes have them In thy field but onely About it mingle it not with thy Corne least it choake and stifle all And lastly vse them as Gedeon for weapons of Iust revenge against the enemies of Gods Church to vindicate his truth and glory and then by being wise and faithfull in a little thou shalt at last be made ruler over much and enter into thy Masters Ioy. FINIS THE SINFVLNES OF SINNE Considered in the State Guilt Power and Pollution thereof By EDWARD REYNOLDS Preacher to the Honourable Societie of Lincolns Inne PAX OPVLENTIAM SAPIENTIA PACEM FK LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostocke 1631. THE SINFVLNESSE OF SINNE ROM 7. 9. For I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandement came Sinne revived and I died WEE have seene in the foriner Treatise that man can finde no Happinesse in the Creature I will in the next place shew That he can find no happinesse in Himselfe It is neither about him nor within him In the Creature nothing but vanitis and vexation in Himselfe nothing but Sinne and Death The Apostle in these words sets forth three things First The state of Sinne Sinne Revived Secondly the Guilt of Sinne I Died or found my selfe to be a condemn'd man in the state of perdition Thirdly the evidence and conviction of both When the Commandement came which words imply a conviction and that from the spirit First a conviction for they inferre a conclusion extremely contradictory to the conclusions in which Saint Paul formerly rested which is the forme of a conviction Saint Pauls former conclusion was I was alive but when the commandement came the conclusion was extremely contrary I Died. Secondly It was a spirituall conviction For Saint Paul was never literally without the Law but the vaâ—…le till this time was before his eyes he is now made to understand the Law in its native sense and compasse the Law is spiritual v. 14. and he is enabled to discerne it spiritually Absurd is the Doctrine of the Socinians some others That unregenerate men by a meere natur all perception without any divine superinâ—…us'd light they are the words of Episcopius and they are wicked wordes may understand the wholâ—… Law even all things requisite unto faith godlines Foolishly confounding and impiously deriding the spirituall and divine sense of holy Scriptures with the grammatical construction Against this we shall need use no other argument then a plaine Syllogisme compounded out of the very words of Scripture Darknesse doth not comprehend light Ioh. 1. 5. 〈◊〉 men are Darkenesse Eph. 5. 8. 4. 17. 18. Act. 26. 18. 2. Pâ—…t 1. 9. yea Held under the power of darkenesse Col. 1. 13. and the word of God is light Psal. 119. 105. 2. Cor. 4. 4. therefore unregenerate men cannot understand the â—…d in that spirituall compasse which it carries There is such an asymmetry and disproportion betweene our understandings and the brightnesse of the word that the Saints themselves have prayed for more spirituall light and vnderstanding to conceive it That knowledge which a man ought to have for there is a knowledge which is not such as it ought to be doth passe knowledge even all the â—…ength of meere naturall reason to attaine unto peculiar to the sheep of Christ. Naturall men have their principles vitiated their faculties bound that they cannot understand spirituall things till God have as it were â—…nplanted a â—…ew understanding in them framed the heart to attend and set it at liberty to see the glory of God with open face Though the vaile doe not keepe out Grammaticall construction yet it blindeth the heart against the spirituall light and beauty of the Word We see even in common sciences where the conclusions are suteable to our owne innate and implanted notions yet he that can distinctly construe and make Grammar of a principle in Euclide may be ignorant of the Mathematicall sense and use of it much more may a man in divine truths bee Spiritually ignorant even where in some respect hee may be said to know For the Scriptures pronounce men ignorant of those things which they see and know In divine doctrine obedience is the Ground of knowledge and Holinesse the best qualification to understand the Scriptures If any mâ—…n will doe the will of God he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God The 〈◊〉 will he teach his way and â—…eale his secret to them that feare him to babes to those that conforme not themselves to this evill world To understand then the words we must note first that there is an opposition between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those two Clauses in the Text Once and When the Commandement came It is the conceite of some that the latter as well as the former is meant of a state of unregeneration and that Saint Paul all this Chapter over speaketh in the person of an unregenerate man not intending at all to shew the fleshlinesse and adherency of corruption to the holiest men but the necessitie of righteousnesse by Christ without the which though a man may when once the Commandement comes and is fully revealed will good hate sinne in sinning doe that which he would not
the branches yet the rootes are so fastened to the joynts and intralls of the wall that till the stones be puld all asunder it will not be quite rooted out As that house wherein there was a fretting and spreading Leprosie though it might bee scrap'd round about and much rubbish and corrupt materialls removed yet the Leprosie did not cease till the house with the stones and timber and morter of it was broken downe so originall concupiscence cleaveth so close to our nature that though we may bee much repair'd yet corruption will not leave us till our house be dissolved As long as Corne is in the field it will have refuse and chaffe about it as long as water remaines in the Sea it will retaine it saltnesse till it be defecated and clensed in its passage into the Land and so is it with the Church while it is in the world it will have the body of sinne about it it will bee beset with this Sinne. In the Apostle it is for this reason call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an encompassing sinne a sinne that will not be cast off that doth easily occupate and possesse all our members and faculties a man may as easily shake off the skin from his backe or poure out his bowels out of his body as rid himselfe of this evill inhabitant It is an evill that is ever present with us and dwelling in us But it may be objected Doth not the Apostle say that by being baptized into Christ or planted into the likenesse of his death our old man is crucified the body of sinne is destroyed we are freed from sinne as a woman is from a dead husband we have put off the body of the sinnes of the flesh by the Circumcision made without hands that is by Baptisme and the Spirit Doth not the Apostle Saint Iohn say He that is borne of God that is he that is Regenerate by Water and the Spirit sinneth not neither can sinne To this I answer in generall with the same Apostle If we say wee have no sinne we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us More particularly wee must distingvish both of Death and of sinne There is a twofold Death an Actuall or Naturall Death when the essentiall parts of a living Creature are taken asunder and the whole dissolved and a Virtuall or Legall Death when though the party bee naturally Alive yet hee is Dead in Law and that notes two things First a designation unto a certaine Death at hand and ready to bee executed Secondly a disabilitie unto many purposes which lay before in the mans power as a man condemn'd though hee have his life out of indulgence for a short space yet hee is then set apart and appointed for death and in the very sentence disabled to order or dispose of any thing which was then his owne When a woman is divorced for adultery from her husband though she bee Alive naturally yet Legally and to the purpose of marriage she is Dead to her husband so that though shee should live in the same house yet she should have nothing to doe with his bed or body And thus the Apostle speaketh of sinfull Widowes that they are Dead while they Live 1. Tim. 5. 6. In sin likewise we may consider The guilt of it whereby it makes us accursed and the dominion of it wherewith it bringeth us into bondage in these two principally consists the life and the strength of sinne which it hath from the Law Now by being baptized into Christ wee are delivered from the Law Rom. 6. 14. Gal. 3. 25. First from the covenant of the Law Christ hath put an utter period to the Law quoad officium Iustificandi hee is the end of the Law for righteousnesse Wee are righteous now by Grace and Donation not by nature or operation by the righteousnesse of God not that whereby God is righteous but that which God is pleased to give us and stands in opposition to a mans owne righteousnesse which is by working Secondly from the Rigor of the Law which requires perfect and perpetuall obedience Gal. 3. 10. Though the Gospell command holinesse Matth. 5. 48. and promise it Luk. 1. 74. and worke it in us Tit. 2. 10. 11. yet when the Conscience is summon'd before God to bee justified or condemned to resolve upon what it will stand to for its last triall there is so much mixture of sinne that it dares trust none but Christs owne adequate performance of the Law this is all the salvation the maine charter and priviledge of the church Wee are not therefore rigorously bound either to a full habituall holinesse in our persons which is supplied by the merit of Christ nor to a through actuall obedience in our services which are covered with the Intercession of Christ. Wee are at the best full of weakenesse many remnants of the old Adam hang about us this is all the comfort of a man in Christ that his desires are accepted God regards the sincerity of his heart and will spare his failings even as a man spareth his Sonne that desires to please him but comes short in his endeavours that he will not looke on the iniquitie of his holy things but when he fals will pitty him and take him up and heale him and teach him to goe thus wee are delivered from the rigour of the Law which yet is thus to be understood That though wee bee still bound to all the Law as much as ever under perill of sinne for so much as the best come short of fullfilling all the Law so much they sinne yet not under paine of Death which is the rigour of the Law And therefore Thirdly wee are delivered from the Curse of the Law from the vengeance and wrath of God against sin Christ was made a curse for us Lastly from the Irritation of the Law and all compulsorie and slavish obedience we love by Christ all the principles and grounds of true obedience put into vs. First knowledge of Gods will the spirit of Revelation wisedome and spirituall understanding Secondly will to embrace and love what wee know Thirdly strength in some measure to performe it And by these meanes the Saints serve God without feare with delight willingnesse love liberty power the Law is to them a new Law a Law of liberty a light yoke the Commandements of God are not grievous to them Being thus Dead to the Law we are truly Dead to sinne likewise and sinne to us but not universally Dead in regard of its strength but not in regard of its beeing To apply then the premisses Sin is Dead naturally quoad Reatum in regard of the gvilt of it that is that actuall guilt of sin wherby every man is borne a child of wrath and made obnoxious to vengeance is done quite away in our regeneration and the obligations cancell'd Col. 2. 14. Secondly sinne is Dead Legally
upon so just and gratious a God as may safely bring into suspicion and disgrace any doctrine which admits of so just an exception Now to this likewise the Apostle answeres God forbid The Law is not given to condemne or clogge men not to bring sinne or death into the world It was not promulgated with any intention to kill or destroy the Creature It is not sin in it selfe It is not death unto us in that sense as we preach it namely as subordinated to Christ and his Gospell Tnough as the rule of righâ—…eousnesse we preach deliverance from it because unto that purpose it is made impotent and invalid by the sinne of man which now it cannot prevent or remove but onely discover and condemne Both these Conclusions that the Law is neither sinne nor death I finde the Apostle before in this Epistle excellently proviâ—…g Vntill the Law sinne was in the world but sinne is not imputed where there is no Law neverthelesse death â—…atgned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression That is as I conceive over those who did not sinâ—…e against so notable and evident Characters of the Law of nature written in their hearts as Adam in Paradise did for sinne had betweene Adam and Moses so obliterated and defaced the impressions of the morall Law that man stood in need of a new edition and publication of it by the hand of Moses That place serves thus to make good the purpose of the Apostle in this Sinne was in the world before the publication of the Law therefore the Law is not sinne But sinne was not imputed where there is no Law men were secure and did flatter themselves in their way were not apt to charge or condemne themselves for sin without a Law to force them unto it And therefore the Law did not come a new to beget sinne but to reveale and discover sinne Death likewise not onely was in the world but raigned even over all men therein before the publication of the Law Therefore the Law is not death neither There was Death enough in the world before the Law there was wickednesse enough to make condemnation raigne over all men therefore neither one nor other are naturall or essentiall consequences of the Law It came not to beget more sinne it came not to multiply and double condemnation there was enough of both in the world before Sinne enough to displease and provoke God death enough to devoure and torment men Therefore if the Law had beene usefull to no other purposes then to enrage sinne and condemne men if Gods wisedome and power had not made it appliable to more wholsome and saving ends he would never have new published it by the hand of Moses Here then the observation which from these words we are to make and it is a point of singular and speciall consequence to understand the use of the Law is this That the Law was revived and promulgated a new on Mount Sina by the ministery of Moses with no other then Evangelicall and mercifull purposes It is said in one place That the Lord hath no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth but it is said in another place That the Lord delighteth in mercie Which notes that God will doe more for the Salvation then he will for the damnation of men He will doe more for the magnifying of his mercy then for the multiplying of his wrath for if that require it he will revive and new publish the Law which to have aggravated the sinnes and so doubled the condemnation of men He would never have done Before I further evidence the truth of this doctrine It will be needefull to remove one Objection which doth at first proposall thereof offer it selfe If God will doe more for his mercie then for his wrath and vengeance why then are not more men saved then condemned If Hell shall bee more fill'd then Heaven is it not more then probable that wrath prevaileth against Grace and that there is more done for furie then there is for favour To wave the solution given by some That God will intentionally and effectually have every man to bee saved but few of that every will have themselves to be saved An explication purposâ—…ly contradicted by Saint Austin and his followers whose most profound and inestimable Iudgement the Orthodoxe Churches have with much admiration and assent followed in these points I rather choose thus to resolve that case It will appeare at the last great day that the saving of a few is a more admirable and glorious worke then the condemning of all the rest The Apostle saith That God shall bee gloryfied in his Saints and admired in those that beleeve For first God sheweth more mercie in saving some when He might have judged all then Iustice in Iudging many when he might have saved none For there is not all the Iustice which there might have beene when any are saved and there is more mercy then was necessary to haue beene when all are not condemned Secondly the Mercie and Grace of God in saving any is absolute and all from within himselfe out of the unsearchable riches of his owne will But the Iustice of God though not as essentiall in him yet as operatiâ—…e towards us is not Absolute but Conditionall and grounded upon the supposition of mans sinne Thirdly his Mercie is unsearchable in the price which procured it Hee himselfe waâ—… to humble and empty himselfe that he might shew mercie His mercie was to be purchased by his owne merit but his Iustice was provoked by the merit of sinne onely Fourthly Glory which is the fruite of Mercie is more excellent in a few then wrath and vengeance is in many as one bagge full of gold may bee more valuable then tenne of silver If a man should suppose that Gods mercy and Iustice being equally infinite and glorious in himselfe should therefore have the same equall proportion observed in the dispensation and revealing of them to the world wee might not therehence conclude that that proportion should be Arithmeticall that mercy should be extended to as many as severitie But rather as in the payment of a summe of mony in two equal portions whereof one is in golâ—… the other in silver though there bee an equalitie in the summes yet not in the pieces by which they are paide so in as much as Glory being the communicating of Gods owne blessed Vision Presence Love and everlasting Societie is farre more honourable and excellent then wrath therefore the dispensation of his Mercie in that amongst a few may bee exactly proportionable to the revelation of his Iustice amongst very many more in the other Suppose wee a Prince upon the just condemnation of a hundred malefactors should professe that as in his owne royall brest mercy and Iustice were equally poised and temper'd so he would observe an equall proportion of them both towards that number of