the Word of faith and with the spirit of faith Beeyee not slothfull saith the Apostle but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the Promises Lastly we must doe with faith as men doe with pretious things Try it and put it to the touchstone that wee may prove whether it be truly valuable and unfeigned because there is much counterfeite faith as there is false money and deceitfull jewels and wilde herbes in the field which very neerely resemble those that are right and pure This is an argument which hath been much travail'd in by men of more learning and spirit and therefore I will but touch upon it by considering foure principall effects of this Grace The first is a love and liking of those spirituall truths which by faith the heart assenteth unto for according as is the evidence and pretiousnesse of the thing beleeved such is the measure of our love unto it For saving faith is an assent with adherence and delight contrary to that of Divels which is with trembling and horror and that delight is nothing else but a kind of rellish and experience of the goodnesse of that truth which we assent unto Whereupon it necessarily followes even from the dictate of nature which instructeth a man to love that which worketh in him comfort and delight that from this assent must arise a love of those truths whence such sweetnesse doth issue By the first act of faith we apprehend God a reconcileable God by the second a reconciled God for faith shewes us Gods love to us in Christ proposeth him as altogether lovely the chiefest of ten thousand and thereby begetâ—…eth in us a love unto Christ againe and this love is a sincere uncorrupted immortall love a conjugall and superlative love nothing must be loved in competition with Christ every thing must be rejected and cast away either as a snare when hee hates it or as a Sacrifice when he calles for it Therefore God required the neerest of a mans blood in some cases to throw the first stone at an Idolater to shew that no relations should preponderate or over-sway our hearts from his love Christ and earthly things often come into competition in the life of a man In every un just gaine Christ and a bribe or Christ and cruelty in every oth or execration Christ and a blasphemy in every sinfull fashion Christ and a ragge or Christ and an excrement in every vaine-glorious affectation Christ and a blast in every intemperancy Christ and a vomit a stagger a shame a disease O where is that faith in men which should overcome the world and the things of the world Why should men delight in any thing while they live which when they â—…e on their death beds a time speedily approching they shall never bee able to reflect on with comfort nor to recount without amazement and horror Certainely he that fosters any Dalila or darling lust against the will and command of Christ well may hee delude himselfe with foolish conceits that hee loves the Lord Iesus but let him be assured that though he may be deceived yet God will not bee mocked not every one that faith Lord Lord shall bee accounted the friends of Christ but they who keepe his Commandements The second effect of faith is Assiance and Hope confidently for the present relying on the goodnesse and for the future waiting on the power of God which shall to the full in due time performe what in his word hee hath promised I haue set life and death before you saith Moses to the people That thou maist love the Lord thy God and that thou maist obey his voice and that thou maist cleave unto him c. Wee are confident saith the Apostle knowing that whilst wee are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. When once the minde of a man is wrought so to assent unto divine promises made in Christ as to acknowledge an interest claime and propriety unto them and that to be at last actually performed not by a man who may be subject both to unfaithfulnesse in keeping and disability in performing his promises but by Almighty God who the better to confirme our faith in him hath both by word and oath engaged his fidelity and is altogether omnipotent to doâ—… what hee hath purposed or promised Impossible it is but from such an assent grounded on the veracity and all sufficiency of God there should result in the minde of a faithfull man a confident dependance on such Promises renouncing in the meane time all selfe-concurrencie as in it selfe utterly impotent and to the fullfilling of such a worke as is to be by Gods owne omnipotencie effâ—…cted altogether irrequisite and resolving in the midst of temptations to relie on him to hold fast his mercy and the profession of his faith without wavering having an eye to the recompence of reward and being assured that hee who hath promised will certainly bring it to passe A third effect of faith is ioy and peace of Conscience Being justified by faith wee haue peace with God The God of peace fill you with all ioy and peace in beleeuing The mind is by the rellish and experience of sweetnesse in Gods Promises composed unto a setled calmenesse and serenity I doe not meane a Dead peace which is onely an immobility and sleepinesse of Conscience like the rest of a dreaming man on the top of a mast but such a peace as a man may by afyllogisme of the practicall judgement upon right examination of his owne interest unto Christ safely inferre unto himselfe The wicked often haue an appearance of peace as well as the faithfull but there is a great difference For there is but a dore betweene a wicked man and his sinne which will certainely one day open and then sinne at the doore will fly upon the Soule but betweene a faithfull man and his sin there is a wall of fire and an immoveable impregnable fort even the merits of Christ the wicked mans peace growes out of Ignorance of God the Law himselfe but a righteous mans peace growes out of the knowledge of God and Christ. So that there are two things in it Tranquillity it is a quiet thing and serenitie it is a cleare and distinct thing However if a faithfull man have not present peace because peace is an effect not of the first and direct but of the second and reflexive act of faith yet there is ever with all faith the seed of peace and a resolution to seeke and to sue it out The last effect of faith which I shall now speake of is fructification faith worketh by love And it worketh first Repentance whereby we are not only to understand griefe for sinne or a sense of the weight and guilt of it which is onely a legall thing if it proceed no farther and may goe before faith but hatred of sinne as a thing contrary to that new spirit
of holinesse and grace which in Christ wee haue receiued For as sense of sin as a cursed thing which is legall humiliation doth arise from that faith whereby wee beleeve and assent to the truth of God in all his threatnings which is a legall faith so the Abominating of sinne as an uncleane thing and contrary to the image and holinesse of God which is evangelicall repentance doth arise from evangelicall faith whereby we look upon God as most mercifull most holie and therefore most worthie to bee imitated and served Secondly Renovation and that two fold First inward in the constitution of the heart which is by faith purified Secondly outward in the conversation and practice when a man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and as he hath received the Lord Iesus so walketh in him Now in all our obedience wee must observe these three Rules First that binding power which is in the law doth solely depend upon the authority of the Lawgiver who is God Hee that customarilie and without care of obedience or feare of displeasure or antipathy of spirit breaks any one Commandement ventures to violate that authority which by one and the same ordination made the whole law equally binding by consequence is habitually in praeparatione animi a transgressor of the whole Law And therefore Obedience must not bee partiall but vniversall as proceeding from that faith which hath respect equally to all Gods will and lookes upon him as most true and most holy in all his commands Secondly As God so his Law is a spirituall and a perfect Law and therefore requires an inward universality of the subject as well as that other of the Precepts which wee walke by I meane such a spiritual and sincere obedience of the hart as may without any mercenary or reserv'd respects uniformely sway our whole man unto the same way and end Thirdly In every Law all matter Homogeneall and of the same kind with the particular named every sprig seede originall of the Dutie is included as all the branches of a tree belong unto the same stock And by these rules wee are to examine the truth of our obedience Before I draw downe these premises to a particular Assumption and Applycation I must for Caution sake premise that faith may be in the heart either habitually as an actus primus a forme or seede or principle of working or else actually as an actus secundus a particular Operation and that in the former sense it doth but remotely dispose and order the soule to these properties but in the later it doth more visibly and distinctly produce them So then according as the heart is deaded in the exercise of Faith so doe these properties thereof more dimly appeare and more remisly worke Secondly we must note that according as faith hath severall workings so Satan hath severall wayes to assault and weaken it There are two maine workes of Faith Obedience and Comfort to purifie and to pacifie the heart and according unto these so Satan tempts His maine end is to wrong and dishonour God and therefore chiefly hee labours to disable the former vertue of Faith and tempts to sinne against God But when hee cannot proceede so farre hee labours to discomfort and crush the spirits of men when hee prevailes in the former he weakens all the properties of Faith when in the later onely he doth not then weaken all but onely intercept and darken a Christians peace For understanding this point we must note that there are many acts of faith Some direct that looke outward towards Christ others reflexive that looke inward upon themselves The first act of faith is that whereby a man having beene formerly reduced unto extremities and impossibilities within himselfe lookes upon God as Omnipotent and so able to save as mercifull and in Christ reconcileable and so likely to save if he be sought unto Hereupon growes a second act namely a kinde of exclusive resolution to be thinke himselfe of no new wayes to trust no inferiour causes for salvation or righteousnes to sell all to count them all dung not to consult any more with flesh or blood but to prepare the heart to seeke the Lord To resolve as the Lepers in the famine at Samaria not to continue in the state he is in nor yet to returne to the Citie to his wonted haunts and wayes where he shall be sure to perish and from this resolution a man cannot by any discomforts bee removed or made to bethinke himselfe of any other new way but onely that which hee sees is possible and probable and where he knowes if he finde acceptance hee shall have supplyes and life enough and this act may consist with much feare doubt and trembling The Syrians had food and Samaria had none therefore the Lepers resolve to venture abroad Yet this they cannot doe without much doubting and distrust because the Syrians whom they should meete with were their enemies However this resolution over-rul'd them because in their present estate they were sure to perish in the other there was roome for hope and possibilitie of living and that carried them co Esters resolution If we perish we perish such is the Act of Faith in this present case It is well assured that in the case a man is in there is nothing but death to bee expected therefore it makes him resolve to relinquish that It lookes upon God as plenteous in power and mercie and so likely to save and yet it sees him too as arm'd with Iustice against sinne as justly provoked and wearied in his patience and therefore may feare to bee rejected and not saved alive Yet because in the former state there is a certainty to perish in the later a possibility not to perish therefore from hence ariseth a third act a conclusive and positive purpose to trust Christ. I will not onely deny all other wayes but I will resolve to trie this way to set about it to go to him that hath plenty of redemption and Life If I must perish yet He shall reject me I will not reject my selfe I will goe unto Him And this act or resolution of faith is built upon these grounds First because Gods Love and free Grace is the first originall mover in our salvation If God did beginne His worke upon prevision of any thing in and from our selves we should never dare to come vnto Him because wee should never finde any thing in our selves to ground His mercie towards us upon But now the Love of God is so absolute and independant that it doth not only require nothing in us to excite and to cal it out but it is not so much as grounded upon Christ himselfe I speake of His first Love and Grace Christ was not the impulsive cause of Gods first Love to mankinde but was Himselfe the great gift which God sent to men therein to testifie that Hee did freely love them before God so
by meere naturall reasons and the assent produced by it is differenced from suspition hesitaâ—…cie â—…ubitation in the opinion of schoolâ—…men themselves Now then in as much as we are bound to yeeld an evident assent unto divine truths necessary hereunto it is that the undâ—…rstanding bee convinc'd of these two things First that God is of infallible authoritie and cannot lye nor deceive which thing is a principle by the light of nature evident and unquestioned Secondly that this authoritie which in faith I rely upon is indeede and infallibly Gods owne authoritie The meanes whereby I come to know that may bee either extraordinary as revelation such as was made by the Prophets concerning future events or else ordinary and common to the faithfull This the Papists say is the authoritie of the Church Against which if one would dispute much might bee said Briefly granting first unto the Church a ministeriall introductory perswasive and conducting concurrence in this worke pointing unto the starre which yet it selfe shineth by its owne light reaching forth and exhibiting the light which though in it selfe visible could not bee so ordinarily to mee uâ—…lesse thus presented explaning the evidence of those truths unto which I assent for their owne intrinsecall certainâ—…y I doe here demaund how it is that each man comes to beleeve The Colliar will quickly make a wise answere as the Church beleeves But now how or why doth the Church beleeve these or these truths to bee divine Surely not because the Church hath so determined our Saviour Himselfe would not be so beleeved If I beare record of my selfe my record is not true Well then the Church must needes beleeve by the spirit which leads it into all truth And what is the Church but the Bodie of Christ the congregrtion of the faithfull consisting of divers members And what worke is that whereby the Spirit doth illuminate and raise the understanding to perceive aright divine truth but onely that Oyntment which dwelleth in you saith the Apostle whereby Christs sheepe are enabled to heare His voyce in matters of more Heavenly and fundamentall consequence and to distinguish the same from the voyce of strangers Now have not all the faithfull of this unction Doth it not runne downe from the head to the skirts of the garment Are wee not all a royall Priesthood and in both these respects annointed by the Spirit And having all the Spirit though in different measures and degrees is it not in congruitie probable that we have with Him received those vivificall and illightning operations which come along with him Capable is the poorest member in Christs Church being growne to maturitie of yeeres of information in the faith Strange therefore it is that the Spirit not leaving mee destitute of other quickning graces should in this onely leave my poore soule to travell as farre as Rome to see that by a candle or rather by an ignis fatuus which himselfe might more evidently make knowne unto me For the Spirit doth beget knowledge We have received the spirit which is of God that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God And againe Hereby we know that wee dwell in Him and Hee in us because Hee hath given us of His Spirit And againe Hereby we know that Hee abideth in us by the Spirit which Hee hath given us Especially since wee must take even the determinations of the Church and Pope though they were infallible in themselves at second hand as they passe through the mouth of a Priest whose authoritie being not infallible nor apostolicall but humane impossible it is not but that he may misreport His holy Father and by that meanes misguide and delude an unsetled soule Againe I demaund How doth it appeare unto mee that the Iudgment of the Church is infallible when it alone is the warrant of my Faith That this is it selfe no principle nor to the light of naturall reason primo intuitâ—… manifest ex evidentia terminorum is most certaine For that this company of men should not erre when other companies of men may erre cannot possibly be immediateâ—…y and por se evident since there must first needs apriori be discovered some internall difference betweene those men from whence as from an antecedent principle this difference of erring or not erring must needes grow Now then I demand what is that whereby I doe assent unto this proposition in case it were true That the Church cannot erre The Church it selfe it cannot be since nothing beares record of it selfe and if it should the proofe would be more ridiculous then the opinion being but idem peridem and petitio quaestionis Above the Church a Priori there is not any light but the scriptures and the spirit Therefore needs by these must I assent unto that one proposition at least And if unto that by these why then by the same light may I not assent unto all other divine truths since evident it is that the same light which enables me rightly to apprehend one object is sufficient also to any other for which a lesser light then that is presumed to suffice So then a true faith hath its evidence and certainty grounded upon the Authoritie of the word as the instrument and of the spirit of God raising and quickning the soule to attend and acknowledge the things therein revealed and to set to its owne seale unto the truth and goodnesse of them But how doe I know either this word to be Gods Word or this spirit to bee Gods spirit since there are sundry false and lying spirits I answer first ad Hominem there are many particular Churches and Bishops which take themselves to be equally with Rome members and Bishops of the universall Church How shall it invincibly appeare to my Conscience that other Churches and Bishops all save this onely doe or may erre and that this which will have me to beleeve her infallibility is not her selfe an hereticall and revolted Church This is a question controuerted By what autority shall it be decided or into what principles á priori resolved and how shall the evidence of those principles appeare to the Conscience That the Popes are successors of Peter in his see of Rome that they are doctrinall as wel as personall successours that Peter did there sit as moderator of the Catholike Church that his infallibility should not stick to his chaire at Antioch as well as to that at Rome that Christ gave him a principality jurisdiction and Apostleship to have to himselfe over all others and to leave to his successors who though otherwise privat men and not any of the pen-men of the holy Ghost should yet have after him a power over those Apostles who survivd Peter as it is manifest Iohn did That the scripture doth say any title of all this that the traditions which do say it are a divine word are al controversed points and though there be sorceries more then enough
in the Church of Rome yet I doubt whether they have yet enough to conjure themselves out of that circle which the agitation of these questions doe carry them in But secondly there are sundry lights there is light in the Sunne and there is light in a blazing or falling starre How shall I difference these lights will you say surely I know not otherwise then by the lights themselves undoubtedlie the spirit brings a proper distinctive uncommunicable Majesty and luster into the soule which cannot be by any false spirit counterfeited and this spirit doth open first the eie and then the Word and doth in that discover not as insit as veritatis those markes of truth and certainty there which are as apparant as the light which is without any other medium by it selfe discerned Thus then we see in the general That saving faith is an assent created by the word spirit We must note further that this knowledge is two fold first Generall mentall spâ—…culative and this is simply necessary not as a part of saving faith but as a medium degree passage thereunto For how can men beleeve without a teacher Secondly particular practicall Applicative which carries the soule to Christ and there â—…ixeth it â—…o whom shall wee go thou hast the words of eternall life wee beleeve and are sure that thou art that Christ. I know that my Redeemer liveth That yee being rooted and grounded in Love may be able to comprehend and to know the Love of Christ. I live by the faith of the Sonne of God who loved me and gave himselfe for me By his knowledge shall my righteous servant iustifie many This saving knowledge must bâ—…e commensurate to the object knowne and to the ends for which it is instituted which are Christ to be made ours for righteousnesse and salvation Now Christ is not proposed as an object of bare and naked truth to bee assented unto but as a Soveraigne and saving truth to do good unto men He is proposed as the Desire of all flesh It is the heart which beleeves With the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse and Christ dwelleth by faith in the heart If thou beleevest with all thine heart thou maist be bapâ—…ized And the hâ—…art doth not onely looke for truth but for goodnesse in the objects which it desireth for an allsufficiencie and adequate ground of full satisfaction to the appetites of the soule such a compasse of goodnesse as upon which the whole man may test and relie and unto the which he may have a personall propriety hold-fast and possession So then in one word faith is a particular assent unto the truth and goodnes of God in Christ his sufferings and resurrection as an allsufficient and open treasurie of righteousnesse and salvation to every one which comes unto them and thereupon a resolution of the heart there to fixe and fasten for those things and to looke no further Now this faith is called knowledge First in regard of the principles of it The word and spirit both which produce faith by a way of conviction and manifestation Secondly in regard of the ground of beleeving which is the knowledge of Gods will revealed for none must dare demand or take any thing from God till hee have revealed his will of giving it He hath said must be the ground of our faith Thirdly in regard of the certainty and undoubtednesse which there is in the assent of faith Abraham was fully perswaded of Gods pow'r and promise now there is a twofold certainty a certainty of the thing beleeved because of the power and promise of him that hath said it and a certainty of the minde beleeving The former is as full and sure to one beleever as to any other as an Almes is as certainly and fully given to one poore man who yet receives it with a shaking and Palsie hand as it is to another that receives it with more strength But the mind of one man may bee more certaine and assured then another or then it selfe at some other time sometimes it may have a certainty of evidence assurance and full perswasion of Gods goodnesse sometimes a certainty onely of Adherence in the midst of the buffets of Satan and some strong temptations whereby it resolveth to cleave unto God in Christ though it walke in darkenesse and have no light Fourthly and lastly in regard of the last Reflexive Act Whereby we know that we know him and beleeve in him And yet both this and all the rest are capable of grow'th as the Apostle here intimates we know heere but in part and therefore our knowledge of Him may still increase The heart may have more plentifull experience of Gods mercie in comfotting guiding defending illightning sanctifying it which the Scripture cals the learning of Christ and thereupon cannot but desire to have more knowledge of Him and Communion with Him especially in those two great benefits His Resurrection and sufferings And the power of His resurrection The Apostles desire in these words is double First that he may finde the workings of that power in his soule which was shewed in the resurrection of Christ from the Dead that is the Power of the Spirit of Holynesse which is the mighty principle of Faith in the heart That Spirit of Holynesse which quickned Christ from the Dead doth by the same glorious power beget Faith and other graces in the Soule It is as great a worke of the Spirit to forme Christ in the heart of a sinner as it was to fashion Him in the wombe of a virgin Secondly that He may feele the resurrection of Christ to have a Power in Him Now Christs resurrection hath a twofold Power upon us or towards us First to apply all His merits unto us to accomplish the worke of His satisfaction to declare his conquest over death and to propose himselfe as an All-sufficient Saviour to the faithfull As the stampe addes no vertue nor matter of reall value to a piece of gould but onely makes that value which before it had actually applyable and currant So the resurrection of Christ though it was no part of the price or satisfaction which Christ made yet it was that which made them all of force to His members Therefore the Apostle saith that Christ was Iustified in Spirit In His Death Hee suffered as a malefactor and did undertake the guilt of our sinnes so farre as it denotes an obligation unto punishment though not a meritoriousnesse of punishment but by that Spirit which raised Him from the Dead Hee was Iustified Himselfe that is He declared to the world that Hee had shaken of all that guilt from Himselfe and as it were left it in His Grave with His Grave clothes For as Christs righteousnesse is compared to a robe of triumph so may our guilt to a garment of Death which Christ in His Resurrection shooke all of to note that Death
covetous practises on Gods owne Day count any time of their life any worke of their hand any sheaffe of their corne any penny of their purse throwne quite away even as so much bloud powr'd out of their veines which is bestow'd on the worship of God and on the service of the Altar but because men thinke that there is indeed more life in their monie and the fruits of their ground then in their God or the promises of his Gospell Else how could it possibly be if men did not in their hearts make God a lier as the Apostle speakes That the Lord should professe so plainely from this day upward since a stone hath beene layed of my house since you have put your selves to any charges for my worship I will surely blesse you and againe Bring all my tithes into my house and prove me if I will not open the windowes of heaven and powre a blessing upon you that there shall not be roome enough to hold it and againe He that hath pitty on the poore lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given will he pay him againe and againe If thou wilt hearken unto me and obserue to doe all these things then all these blessings shall come on thee and over-take thee blessings in the city and in the field c. If men did in good earnest personally and hypothetically beleeve and embrace these divine truths How could it be that men should grudge Almighty God and his worship every farthing which he requires from them of his owne gifts that they should date let the service and house of God lie dumbe and naked that they should shut up their bowels of compassion against their poore brethren and in them venture to denie Christ himselfe a morsell of bread or a mite of monie that they should neglect the obedience prophane the name word and worship of God use all base and unwarrantable arts of getting and all this out of love of that life and greedinesse of that gaine which yet themselves in their generall subscription to Gods truth have confessed will either never be gotten or at least never blessed by such cursed courses so prodigious a property is there in worldly things to obliterate all notions of God out of the heart of a man and to harden him to any impudent abominations I spake unto thee in thy prosperity saith the Lord but thou saidst I will not heare According to their pasture so were they filled they were filled and their heart was exalted therefore have they forgotten me Take heede lest when thou hast eaten and art full thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God Therefore it is that we reade of the Poorerich in faith and of the Gospell preached to the Poore and revealed unto babes because greatnesse and abundance stops the eare and hardens the heart and makes men stand at defiance with the simplicitie of the Gospell Now then that we may be instructed how to use the Creature as becommeth a dead and impotent thing wee may make use of these few directions First have thine Eye ever upon the Power of God which alone animateth and raiseth the Creature to that pitch of livelihood which is in it and who alone hath infinite wayes to weaken the strongest or to arme the weakest Creature against the stoutest sinner Peradventure thou hast as much lands and possessions as many sheepe and oxen as Iob or Nabal yet thou hast not the lordship of the clouds God can harden the heavens over thee hee can send the mildew and canker into thy corne the rot and murren into thy cattell though thy barnes bee full of corne and thy fats overflow with new wine yet he can breake the staffe of thy bread that the flowre and the winepresse shall not feed thee though thou have a house full of silver and gold he can put holes into every bagge and chinkes into every Cisterne that it shall all sinke away like a winter torrent God can either denie thee a power and will to enjoy it and this is as sore a disease as poverty it selfe or else hee can take away thy strength that thou shalt not relish any of thy choisest delicates he can send a stone or a gowte that shall make thee willing to buy with all thy riches a poore and a dishonorable health and which is yet worst of all he can open thy conscience and let in upon thy Soule that lyon which lies at the dore amaze thee with the sight of thine owne sinnes the historie of thine evill life the experience of his terrours the glimpses and preoccupations of hell the evident presumptions of irreconciliation with him the frenzie of Cain the despaire of Iudas the madnesse of Achitophel the trembling of Felix which will damp all thy delights and make all thy sweetest morsels as the white of an Egge at which pinch however now thou admire and adore thy thicke clay thou wouldest count it the wisest bargaine thou did'st ever make to give all thy goods to the poore to goe bare-foote the whole day with the Prophet Esay to dresse thy meate with the dung of a man as the Lord commanded the Prophet Ezekiel to feede with Micajah in a dungeon on bread of affliction and water of affliction for many yeeres together that by these or any other meanes thou mightest purchase that inestimable peace which the whole earth though changed into a Globe of Gold or Center of Diamond cannot procure So uttterly unable are all the Creatures in the world to give life as that they cannot preserue it intire from forraine or domestique assaults nor remove those dumps and pressures which doe any way disquiet it Secondly to remove this naturall deadnesse of the Creature or rather to recompence it by the accession of a Blessing from God use meanes to reduce it unto its primitive Goodnesse The Apostle shewes us the way Every Creature of God is good being sanctified by the Word of God and by Prayer In which place because it is a text then which there are few places of Scripture that come more into dayly and generall use with all sorts of men it will be needfull to unfold 1. What it meant by the sanctification of the Creature 2. How it is sanctified by the Word 3. How wee are to sanctifie it to our selves by Prayer For the first The Creature is then sanctified when the curse and poison which sin brought upon it is remooved when we can use the Creature with a cleane conscience and with assurance of a renewed and comfortable estate in them It is an Allusion to legall purifications and differences of meates Levit. 11. No Creature is impure of it selfe saith the Apostle in its owne simple created nature But in as much as the sinne of man forfeited all his interest in the Creature because eo ipso a man is legally dead and a condemn'd man is
thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkenesse be as the noone day then thy waters shall not lye unto thee that happinesse which it falsly promiseth unto other men it shall performe unto thee And so much be spoken touching the great disproportion between the Soule of man and the Creature in regard of the Vanitie of it The next disproportion is in their Operation They are vexing and molesting things Rest is the satisfaction of every Creature all the rovings and agitations of the Soule are but to find out something on which to rest and therefore where there is Vexation there can be no proportion to the soule of man and Salomon tels us That All things under the Sunne are full of labour more then a man can utter He was not used as an Instrument of the Holy Ghost to speake it onely but to trie it too the Lord was pleased for that very purpose to conferre on him a confluence of all outward happinesse and inward abilities which his very heart could desire that he at last might discover the utter insufficiency of all created Excellencies to quiet the Soule of man But if we will not beleeve the Experience of Salomon let us beleeve the authority of him that was greater then Salomon who hath plainely compar'd the things and the cares of the earth to Thornes which as the Apostle speakes Pierce or bore a man thorough with many sorrowes First They are Wounding Thornes for that which is but a pricke in the flesh is a wound in the spirit because the spirit is most tender of smart and the wise man cals them Vexation of spirit The Apostle tels us they beget many sorrowes and those sorrowes bring death with them If it were possible for a man to see in one view those oceans of bloud which have been let out of mens veines by this one Thorne to heare in one noise all the groanes of those poore men whose lives from the beginning of the world unto these dayes of blood wherein we live have been set at sale and sacrificed to the unsatiable ambition of their bloody rulers to see and heare the endlesse remorse and bitter yellings of so many rich and mighty men as are now in hell everlastingly cursing the deceite and murther of these earthly Creatures it would easily make every man with pitty and amazement to beleeve that the Creatures of themselves without Christ to qualifie their venome and to blunt their edge are in good earnest Wounding Thornes Secondly they are Choaking Thornes they stifle and keepe downe all the gratious seeds of the word yea the very naturall sproutings of noblenesse ingenuity morality in the dispositions of men Seed requires emptinesse in the ground that there may be a free admission of the raine and influences of the heavens to cherish it And so the Gospell requires nakednesse and poverty of minde a sense of our owne utter insufficiencie to our selves for happinesse in which sense it is said that the poore receive the Gospel But now earthly things meeting with corruption in the heart are very apt First To Fill it and secondly To Swell it both which are conditions contrary to the preparations of the Gospell They Fill the Heart First with Businesse Yokes of oxen and farmes and wives and the like contentinents take up the studies and delights of men that they cannot finde out any leisure to come to Christ. Secondly They Fill the Heart with Love and the Love of the world shuts out the Love of the father as the Apostle speakes When the Heart goes after covetousnesse the power and obedience of the word is shut quite out They will not do thy words saith the Lord to the Prophet for their heart goeth after their covetousnesse A deare and superlative Love such as the Gospell ever requires for a man must love Christ upon such termes as to bee ready without consultation or demurre not to forsake onely but to hate father and mother and wife and any the choisest worldly endearments for his Gospels sake I say such a Love admits of no Corrivalty or competition And therfore the love of the world must needs extingvish the love of the word Lastly they fill the heart with feare of forgoing them and feare takes of the heart from any thoughts save those which looke upon the matter of our feare when men who make Gold their Confidence heare that they must forsake all for Christ and are sometimes haplie put upon a triall they start aside choose rather securely to enjoy what they have present hold of then venture the interuption of their carnall contentments for such things the beauty where of the Prince of this world hath blinded their eyes that they should not see For certainly till the minde be setled to beleeve that in God there is an ample recompence for any thing which wee may otherwise forgoe for him it is impossible that a man should soundly embrace the love of the truth or renounce the love of the world Secondly as They Fill so they Swell the Heart too and by that meanes worke in it a contempt and disestimation of the simplicity of the Gospell We have both together in the Prophet According to their pasture so were they Filled they were filled and their heart was Exalted therefore have they forgotten me Now the immediate child of Pride is selfe-dependence and a reflection on our owne sufficiencie and from thence the next issue is a contempt of the simplicity of that gospell which would drive us out of our selves The Gentiles out of the pride of their owne wisedome counted the Gospell of Christ foolishnesse and mocked those that preached it unto them and the Pharisees who were the learned Doctors of Ierusalem when they heard Christ preach against earthlie affections out of their pride and covetousnesse Derided him as the Evangelist speakes Nay further they stifle the seeds of all noblenesse ingenuity or common vertues in the lives of men from whence come oppression extortion bribery cruelty rapine fraud iniurious treacherous sordid ignoble courses a very dissolution of the Lawes of nature amongst men but from the adoration of earthly things from that Idol of covetousnesse which is set up in the heart Thirdly they are Deceitfull Thornes as our Saviour expresseth it Let a man in a tempest go to a thorne for shelter and he shall light upon a thiefe in stead of a fence which will teare his flesh in stead of succouring him and doe him more injury then the evill which he fled from and such are the Creatures of themselves so farre are they from protecting that indeed they tempt and betray us The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee thou that dwellest in the Clefts of the Rockes thou that sayest in thine heart Who shall bring me downe I will bring thee downe saith the Lord to Edom. Lastly they are vanishing Thornes nothing so apt nothing so easie to catch fire and be
the Divell threaten Demas with persecuâ—…ion and presently hee forsakes the fellowship of the Apostles and imbraceth this present world And as it was heretofore so is it still If a mans heart be not set on God and taught to rest upon his providence to answer all Satans promises with his All-sufficiencie to reward vs and all his threatnings with his All-sufficiency to protect us how easily will promises begvile and threatnings deterre unstable and earthly minds Let the Divell tell one man All this will I give thee if thou wilt speake in a Cause to pervert judgement how quickly will men create subtilties and coine evasions to rob a man and his house even a man and his inheritance Let him say to another I will doe whatsoever thou sayst unto me if thou wilt dissemble thy conscience divide thy heart comply with both sides keepe downe the power of godlinesse persecute zeale set up will-worship and superstiâ—…ions how quickly shall such a mans religion bee disgviz'd and sincerity if it were possible put to shame If to another thou shalt by such a time purchase such a Lordship out such a neighbour swallow up such a prodigall if thou enhance thy rents enlarge thy fines set unreasonable rates upon thy Farmes how quickly will men grinde the faces of the poore and purchase ungodly possessions with the blood of their tenants If to another beware of laying open thy conscience of being too faithfull in thy Calling too sâ—…rupulous in thy office least thou purchase the dis-favour of the World lest the times cloud overthee and frowne upon thee lest thou be scourged with persecuted names and make thy selfe obnoxious to spies and censures how will men be ready to start backe to shrinke from their wonted forwardnesse to abate their former zeale to coâ—…ple in with and connive at the corruptions of the age in one Word to tremble when Ephraim speakes and not to tremble when God speakes So hard is it when the heart is wedded to earthly things and they are gotten into a mans bosome to beare the assaults of any temptation Lastly this comes from the just and secret wrath of God giuing men over to the deceitfulnesse of sinne and to the hardnesse of their owne hearts to beleeve the lies and allurements of Satan because they rejected the counsell of God and the love of his truth before In the influences of the Sunne we may observe that the deeper they worke the stronger they worke the beames nearer the Center meeting in a sharper point doe consolidate and harden the very Element so the Creatures by the justice of God when they meete in a mans Center reach as farre as his heart doe there mightily worke to the deceiving and hardning of it the eye nor any other outward sense can finde no more in the Creature then is really there it is the heart which mis-conceives things and attributes that Deity and worth to them which the senses could not discover If men then could keepe these things from their spirits they should ever conceive of them according to their owne narrow being and so keepe their hearts from that hardnesse which the Creatures destitute of Gods blessing doe there beget and so worke in the soule a disposition suteable to Satans temptations Secondly a Heart set upon any lust is unfit likewise to beare any affliction The Young man whose heart was upon his riches could not endure to heare of selling all and entring upon a poore and persecuted profession First Lusts are choice and dainty they make the heart very delicate and nice of any assaults Secondly they are very wilfull and set upon their owne ends therefore they are expressed by the name of concupiscence and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wills of the flesh and wilfulnesse is the ground of impatiency Thirdly they are naturall and move strongly to their owne point they are a Body and our very members no marvell then if they be sensible of paine from afflictions which are contrary unto nature The stronger the water runnes the more will it roare and some upon any opposition lust is like a furious beast enrag'd with the affliction the chaine that binds it Fourthly Lusts are very wise after a fleshly and sensuall manner and worldly wisedome is impatient of any stoppage or prevention of any affliction that crusheth and disappoints it Therefore the Apostle doth herein principally note the opposition betweene heavenly and carnall wisedome that the one is meeke peaceable and gentle the other divelish and full of strife Fifthly Lusts are proud especially those that arise from abundance of the Creature and pride being set upon by any affliction makes the heart breake forth into impatience debates and stoutnesse against God a proud heart growes harder by afflictions as Metals or Clay after they have past thorow the furnace It is said of Pharaoh that he did not set his heart to the Iudgements of God but exalted himselfe against his people Pride grew stronger by Affliction Besides pride in earthly things swallowes up the very expectation of Afflictions and therefore must needs leave the heart unprepared against them Sixthly Lusts are rooted in selfe-love and therefore when Christ will have a man forsake his lusts he directs him to denie himselfe Now the very essence of Afflictions are to be grievous and adverse to a mans selfe Seventhly Lusts are contentious armed things and their enmity is against God and therefore utterly unfit to accept of the punishment of sinne and to beare the â—…ndignation of the Lord or to submit unto any afflictions Eighthly Lusts resist the truth set up themselves against the Word and thereby utterly disable men to beare Afflictions for the Word sanctifies and lightens all Affliction the Word shewes Gods moderation and intention in them an issue out of them the benefits which will come from them the supplies of strength and abilities to beare them the promises of a more abundant exceeding weight of glory in comparison whereof they are as nothing Lastly if wee could conceive some Afflictions not contrary to lust yet Afflictions are ever contrary to the provisions of lust to the materials and instruments of lusts such as are health pleasure riches honours c. And in all these respect a Heart set upon lust is weakened and disabled to beare Afflictions Secondly when the Heart is set upon the Creature it is utterly disabled in regard of its active strength made unfit to doe any duty with that strength as Gods requires First because Bonum fit ex causâ integrâ A good duty must proceede from an entire Cause from the whole heart Now lust divides the Heart and makes it unstedfast and unfaithfull unto God There is a twofold unstedfastnesse one in degrees another in objects the former proceeds from the remainders of corruption and therefore is found in some measure in the best
and are therefore altogether undisposed to Continue or hold fast the truth A man in his lusts is like a man in a disease not long well in one way but is ever given to changes and experiments and as he changeth so doth he ever new shape the scripture and dragge it downe to the patronage of his owne wayes So that the Law in a wicked mans heart is like a candle in a foule lanterne or as a straight oare in troubled water or the shining of light through a color'd glasse wried and chang'd into the image of the corrupted minde wherein it lies The Law in it selfe is Perfect right pure sure and faithfull holy just and spirituall lively and operative and men by nature are unlike all this degenerate and crooked wavering and unfaithfull deceiving and being deceived unholy carnall and impure fleshly minded dead and reprobate to every good worke Such a great disproportion is there betweene Nature and the Law 3. Because it doth not Drive us out of our selves for a Remedie The sublimest philosophie that ever was did never teach a man to denie himselfe but to build up his house with the old ruines to fetch stones and materials out of the wonted quarrie Humiliation confusion shame selfe-abhorrencie to be vile in a mans owne eyes to be nothing within himselfe to be willing to owne the vengeance of almighty God and to judge our selves to justifie him that may condemne us and be witnesses against our selves are vertues knowne only in the booke of God and which the learnedest Philosophers would have esteemed both irrational and pusillanimous things 4. Because naturall judgement is so throughly distorted and infatuated as to count evill good and good evill light darkenesse and darkenesse light to perswade a man that he is in a right way when the end thereof will be theissues of death that he is Rich and in need of nothing when in the meane time he is miserable poore blinde and naked Platoes community Aristotles Vrbanitie and magnanimity Ciceroes blinding the eyes of the Iudges and his officious dissimulation and compliancie the Stoicks apathie and officious lies that so much admired stoutnesse or rather sullennesse of those rigid Heathen that puld out their owne eyes that they mighy bee chaste and kild themselves to be rid of evill times nay more the Pharisies strictnesse the zeale and unblameablenesse of Paul the devotions of obstinate Iewes all the strength of civill morall formall shewes and expressions of goodnesse though specious in the eyes of men yet in the eyes of God that seeth not as manseeth they are all but sinfull and filthy losse and dung Lastly because nature in particular men never knew nor had experience of a better estate and therefore must needs bee ignorant of that full Image in which it was created and unto which it ought still to be conformable As a man borne in a dungeon is unable to conceive the state of a Palace as the Childe of a Noble man stolne away and brought up by some lewd Begger cannot conceive or suspect the honour of his blood so utterly unable is corrupted nature that hath bin borne in a wombe of ignorance bred in a hell of uncleannesse enthrall'd from the beginning to the prince of darkenesse to conceive or convince a man of that most holy and pure condition in which hee was created the least deviation where-from is sinne unto him Now then since Nature cannot thus convince the spirit in the Commandement must We have no inward principle but these two We grant there is a difference to be made betweene the illumination and Renovation of the spirit men may be illightned and yet not sanctified as a false Starre or an ignis fatuus may have light without influence or heate yet withall it is certaine too that it is impossible to know sinne in that hatefulnesse which is in it with such a knowledge as begets hatred and detestation of it or to know divine things with such a knowledge aâ—… is commensurate to them such as in their spirituall and immediate purity they are apt to beget but that knowledge must worke admiration delight love endeavours of conformity unto so heavenly truths No comprehension of things divine without love Ephes. 3. 17. 18. the reason why God gives men over to strong delusions to beleeve lyes is because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved 2. Thes. 2. 10. 11. This conviction then of sinne the spirit worketh First by revealing the Rule Secondly by opening the condition of the state of sinne Thirdly by giving a heart experimentally and reflexively to understand all or by shaping and framing the heart to the Word and so mingling them both together The Apostle saith that By the Commandement sinne revived By the life of sinne I understand the strength of it and that is twofold A strength to condemne and a strength to operate or worke in a man obedience to it selfe a strength to hold a man fast and to carry him its owne way Sin is a body and hath earthly members Col. 3. 4. which are very active vigorous the Apostle speaketh of a holding propertie which it hath Rom. 7. 6. and this strength hath the sinewes of all strength in it It is a Lord and so it hath the strength of power to command and it is a husband and so it hath the strength of love to perswade and prevaile First it is a Lord and Master in which respect it hath these tyes upon us First a Covenant there is a virtuall bargaine betweene lust and a sinner Esay 28. 15. we make promise of serving and obeying sinne Ioh. 8. 34. Rom. 6. 16. and that returneth unto us the wages of iniquitie and the pleasures of sinne 2. Pet. 2. 15. Heb. 11. 25. Secondly love unto it as unto a bountifull and beneficiall Lord. Sinne exerciseth authority over us and yet we account it our benefactor Hos 2. 5. 12. 13. Iob 20. 12. 13. Thirdly an easie service the worke of sinne is naturall the instruments all ready at hand the helpers and fellow-servants many to teach to encourage to hasten and lead on in the broad way Fourthly in sinne it selfe there is a great strength to enforce men to its service First it is edg'd with malice against the soule arm'd with weapons to fight against it and enmity is a great Whetstone to valour Secondly it is attended with fleshly wisedome suppported with stratagems and deceits hastened and set on by the assistance of Satan and the world Eph. 4. 22 Heb. 3. 13. Thirdly it hath a Iudicature and regiment in the heart it governes by a Law it fâ—…nds forth lusts axnd temptations like so many edicts into the soule and when we object the Law of God against the service
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
some present exigencies it makes them seeme necessary and â—…avoydable Fifthly Its violence and importuniâ—…e for sinne is so wilfull that as he once answered the Persian king when it cannot finde a law to warrant that which it requires yet it will make a law to command what it will and it will beset and pursue and importune the soule and take no answere Balaams ambition was sufficiently nonplusd by the severall answeres and parables which God put into his mouth and yet still it pursues him and will put him upon all experiments make him try the utmost of his divelish wit to curse Gods people and promote himselfe Ioâ—…h his fretfulnesse had beene once put to silence and could reply nothing when God charged him yet upon a second occasion it gathers strength and becomes more headstrong even to dispute with God and to charge him foolishly Dalilah we know was an Allegorie or type of lust and wee know how violent and urgent she was with Sampson till she grieved and vexed his soule with her dayly importunities Sixtly its provisions those subsidiary aâ—…des and materials of lust which it fetcheth from abroad those things of the world with which the heart committeth adulterie for the World is the Armorie and store-house of lust Lastly its instruments which willingly execute the will of sinne and yeelde themselves up as weapons in the warre In these things principally doth the strength of lust consist Having thus discovered wherein the strength of lust lies set your selves against it in these particulars thereof First for the wisedome and deceite of lust First set up a spirituall wisedome which may discover and defeate the projects of the flesh Christs teaching is the onely way to put off the old man and to be renewed in the spirit of the minde Secondly mutuall exhortation is a great helpe against the deceitfulnesse of sinne Exhoâ—…t one another while it is called to day lâ—…st any of you be hardned by the deceitfulnesse of sinne Silence is the best advantage an Enemie can have when one doth not warne nor give notice to another If a Cheate or cunning Spie should come to a place and apply himselfe with severall insâ—…nuations unto severall persons for the better managing his purposes and sifting out those discoveries which he is to make the best way to disclose the plots and mischiefes of such an Enemie would be to conferre and compare his severall passages and discourses together so Christians mutuall communicating of the experiments temptations conflicts victories which they have had in themselves to one another is a sure way to discover and prevent the deceit of lust Rahabs hiding and concealing the spies did much advance their project against Iericho and so the keeping of the divels counsell and stifling his temptations and the deceits of lust is one of the greatest advantages they can have Thirdly receive the Truth with love for lies and delusions are the doome of those men who receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved Secondly for the perswasions and suggestions of lust entertaine no Treatie have no commerce with it be not in its company alone let it not draw thee away sit not in counsell with it Qui deliberant desciverunt if it prevaile to get our eare and make us listen unto it it will easily proceed further As soone as ever Saint Paul was called he immediately refused to conferre with flesh and blood which relation elsewhere making he useth another expression Whereupon O King Agrippa I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision intimating thus much that but to hold a conference with the flesh is a beginning of disobedience If our first mother Evah had observed this rule not to deliberate or admit any dispute with the Serpent but had at first offer rejected his motion with this peremptorie answere We have a Law given us and servants must be rul'd by their master and not by their fellowes It is fitter to obey God then to dispute against him to execute his commands then to interpret them she might have prevented that deluge of sinne and calamitie which by this one over-sight did invade the world Therefore the Lord strictly commands his people that when they were to succeed the nations whom God would cast out before them and should dwell in their land they should take heed that they were not snared by following them neither should they enquire after their Gods saying How did these nations serve their Gods The very acquanting themselves with the formes of other mens idolatries might ensnare them Therefore as soone as lust stirres and offers to perswade thee start away from it as Ioseph did Come not nigh the doore of a strange womans house though the first allurements seeme modest and moderate yet if the Serpent get in but his head he will easily draw in the rest of his body and if he should not yet his sting is in his head Thirdly for the promises and threats of lust first beleeve them not for lust is a Tempter and it is given to all Tempters to be liers too When God hath said one thing let no arguments make thee beleeve the contrarie As we are to beleeve above hope so above reason too for though sophistrie may alledge reasons for a false conclusion which every understanding is not able to answer or evade yet there is a voyce of Christ in all saving truth which his sheepe are apt to heare and subscribe unto in which there is an evidence to make it selfe knowne and to difference delusions from it though haply a man have not artificiall logick enough to distinguish it from every captious and sophisticall argument If an Angell from heaven saith the Apostle preach any other Gospell let him be accursed we know what it cost the man of God when he gave credit to the old Prophet of Bethel though pretending an Angels warrant to goe backe and eate with him contrary to the commandement which he had received before Secondly get security of better promises for all the promises of the flesh if they should bee perform'd will perish with a man learne to rest upon Gods All-sufficiencie see thy selfe rich enough in his wayes there are more riches in the persecutions much more in the promises and performances of God then in all the treasures of Egypt Lust can promise nothing but either thou hast it already and the same water is farre sweeter out of a fountaine then when it hath passed through a sinke the same monie farre better when it is a Blessing from God then when a bribe from Lust when it is the reward of a service then when 't is the price of sinne when it is given by the Owner then when deposited by a thiefe or else thou art farre better without it thou walkest amongst fewer snares hast an over-plus of spirituall goods for thy earthly defect hast thy poverty sweetned and sanctified
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
eyes to apprehend Secondly It is hid in some sort from the faithfull themselves First under the prevalencie of their corruptions and adherencie of concupiscence as Corne under a heape of chaffe or a wall under the Ivie or mettall under the rust which overgrowes it Secondly under the winnowings and temptations of Satan As in sifting of Corne the branne being lightest gets upmost so when Satan disquiets the heart that which is finest and should most comfort will sinke and bee out of sight Thirdly under spirituall desertions and trials as in an Eclipse when the face of the Sunne is intercepted the Moone looseth her light so when God who is our light hideth his Countenance from us no marvell if we can discover no good nor comfort in our selves Secondly the life of glorie is much more obscure and secret for notwithstanding the first fruites and inchoations thereof bee in this life begun in the peace of Conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost as in an Eclipse of the Sunne some dimme glimpses doe glance from the edges of the interposed body yet in regard of the plenarie infusion of glorious endowments and those prerogatives of the flesh which belong unto it at the redemption of the bodie it is a hidden mysterie It is a light which is onely sowed for the righteous though we expect a revelation of it yet now it is but as corne in the ground covered over with much darknesse Now we are Sonnes saith Saint Iohn we have Ius ad rem right unto our Life and Crowne already but we are in a farre countrie like the prodigall absent from the Lord and therefore It doth not yet appeare what we shall be we can no more distinctly understand the excellencie of our inheritance by these seales and assurances which ratifie our right thereunto then one who never saw the Sunne could conjecture the light and lustre thereof by the twinckling of a litle starre or the picture thereof in a table Onely this wee know that when he shall appeare wee shall be like unto him not onely in true holynesse for so we are like him now wee are already created after him in righteousnesse and true holynesse but in full holynesse too we shall be filled with all the fulnesse of God as the same Apostle speakes Such a fulnesse as shall satisfie us when I awake I shall bee satisfied with thy likenesse Therefore the last day is by an emphasis called a Day of redemption First in regard of the manifestation and Revelation thereof The Lord shal then appeare and bee revealed from Heaven all those curtens shall bee drawne those vailes betweene us and our Glory those skinnes with which the Arke is overlaid shall be torne and removed our sinnes our earthly condition our manifold afflictions the seeming povertie and foolishnesse of the ordinances shall be all laid aside and then wee shall see our Redeemer not as Iob did from a dunghill nor as Moses through a Cloude but we shall know even as we are knowne Here then wee see one of the maine reasons why wicked men despise religion and abominate the righteous as signes and wonders to bee spoken against They judge of Spiritual things as blind men do of colors These are hidden mysteries to them no marvell if they count it a strange thing and a very madnesse that others runne not to their excesse But our comfort is that our hope is Germen a growing thing a stone full of eyes a hidden Manna sweete though secret a new name which though no other man can know yet he that receiveth it is able to reade And this is the reason too why the Saints themselves are not enough affected with the beautie of Holynesse because it is in great part hidden even from them by corruptions and admixture of earthly lusts Lift up your heads saith our Saviour for your redemption draweth nigh noting unto us that so long as the thoughts and affections of men are downeward their redemption is out of their sight Open thou mine eyes saith David that I may behold the wondrous things out of thy Law I am a stranger on earth O hide not thy Commandements from me When a man makes himselfe a stranger unto earthly things and setteth not any of his choisest affections and desires on them he is then qualified to see those mysteries and wonders which are in the Law If there were no earth there would bee no darknesse for the shadow of the earth is that which makes the night and the bodie of the earth which absenteth the Sunne from our view It is much more certaine in spirituall things the light of Gods Word and Graces would not bee eclipsed if earthly affections did not interpose themselves This is the reason why men goe on in their sinnes and beleeve not the Word because they have a vaile over their eyes which hides the beautie of it from them Who hath beleeved our report or to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed saith the Prophet intimating unto us that the Word will not be beleeved till it bee revealed The Lord opened the heart of Lydia to attend unto Pauls preaching As soone as the vaile is taken away by Christ and the Truth Goodnesse and beautie of the Gospell discover'd there is immediately wrought a cleare assent and subscription in the minde an earnest longing and desire in the heart a constant purpose and resolution in the will to forsake all things as dung in comparison of that excellent knowledge As in the discoverie of mathematicall conclusions there is such demonstrative and invincible evidence as would make a man wonder he had not understood them before so in the discoveries of Grace unto the Soule the Spirit doth so throughly convince a man that hee wonders at his former stupiditie which never admired such things before Againe the faithfull are here to be directed in this state of obscuritie how to carry themselves under those corruptions temptations desertions which here hide the brightnesse and beautie of their life from them First above all preserve sinceritie in the heart There is nothing in us so perfect so contrarie to our corruptions as sinceritie that will ever bee to the soule in the midst of darknesse as a chinke in a Dungeon through which it may discerne some glimmerings of light whereas without it all other shewes and pretences are but like windowes fastned upon a thicke wall onely for uniformitie in the building though they seeme specious to the beholder without yet inward they transmit no light at all because they are laid over an opace body Secondly foster not temptations doe not pleade nor promote the Divels cause set not forward thine enemies suggestions Though it bee our dutie to have our sinnes alwayes before us so it bee upon the suggestion and proposall of Gods Spirit yet we must turne our eyes from our very sinnes when Sathan displayes them Christ will be confessed but hee forbids the