Much of the ambiguity of the word I confess is cut off when it is opposed to flesh yet even then also it wanteth no varietie The literal and mystical sense the Ordinances of the old and new Testament the body and the soul sensuality and reason the corruption of nature and the grace of God all these may according to the peculiar exigence of several places be understood by the termes of Flesh and Spirit Generally the word Spirit in the common notion of it importeth a thing of subtile parts but of an operative qualitie so that the less any thing hath of matter and the more of vertue the nearer it cometh to the nature of a Spirit as the Wind and the quint-essences of Vegetables or Minerals extracted by Chymical operations We use to say of a man that is of a sad sluggish and flegmatick temper that he hath no spirit but if he be lively active quick and vigorous we then say he hath a spirit in him It is said of the Queen of Sheba when she saw the Wisdom and Royal state of King Salomon that there was no more spirit left in her that is she stood mute and amazed at it as if she had no life speech sense or motion in her the soul is therefore call'd a spirit because it being it self no bodily substance it yet actuateth and enliveneth the body and is the inward Principle of life thereunto called therefore The spirit of life And Saint James saith The body without the spirit is dead that is it is a liveless lump of flesh without the soul So that whatsoever is Principium agendi internum may in that respect and so far forth borrow the name of a spirit insomuch as the very flesh it self so far forth as it is the fountain of all those evil works mentioned in the fore-going verses may in that respect be called a spirit and so it is by Saint James The spirit that is in us lusteth after envy saith he that is in very deed the flesh that is in us for among the lusts and works of the flesh is envie reckoned in the very next verse before the Text To come up close to the point for I fear I have kept off too long as they stand here opposed By Flesh I take to be clearly meant the natural corruption of man And by Spirit the Supernatural grace of God even as the same words are also taken in some other places as namely in that saying of our Saviour John 3. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Which words may serve as a good Commentary upon this part of the Text for they do not only warrant the Interpretation but afford us also the Reason of it under the Analogie of a twofold Birth or Generation The Generation whether of Plants or living Creatures is effectual by that prolifical vertue which is in the Seed Answerable therefore unto the twofold Birth spoken of in the Scriptures there is also a twofold Seed The first Birth is that of the old man by Natural Generation whereby we are born the sons of Adam The second Birth is that of the new man by Spiritual Regeneration by which we are born the sons of God Answerable whereunto the first Seed is Semen Adae the seed of Adam derived unto us by carnal Propagation from our natural Parents who are therefore called The fathers of our flesh together wherewith is also derived that uncleanness or corruption which upon our first Birth cleaveth so inseparably to our nature and is the inward Principle from which all the works of the flesh have their emanation But then there is another Seed Semen Dei as S. John cals it the seed of the second Adam Jesus Christ God blessed for ever derived unto us by the communication of the Holy Spirit inwardly renewing us together wherewith is also derived a measure of inherent supernatural grace as the inward Principle whence all these choyce fruits of the Spirit do flow So that upon the whole matter these two points are clear First clear it is that all the wicked practices recited and condemned in the fore-going verses with all other of like quality do proceed meerly from the corruption that is in us from our own depraved minds and wils without any the least co-operation of the Holy Spirit of God therein It cannot stand with the goodness of God to be the Principal and neither with his goodness nor greatness to be an Accessory in any sinful action He cannot be either the Author or the Abettor of any thing that is evil Whoso therefore hath committed any sin let him take heed he do not add another and a worse to it by charging God with it rather let him give God and his Spirit the glory by taking all the blame and shame of it to himself and his own flesh All sinful works are works of the flesh Secondly It is clear also that all the holy affections and performances here mentioned with all other Christian vertues and graces accompanying salvation not here mentioned though wrought immediately by us and with the free consent of our wils are yet the fruit of Gods Spirit working in us that is to say they do not proceed Originally from any strength of nature or any inherent power in mans free will nor are they acquired by the culture of Philosophy the advantages of Education or any improvement whatsoever of natural abilities by the helps of Art or Industry but are in truth the proper effects of that supernatural grace which is given unto us by the good pleasure of God the Father merited for us by the precious blood of God the Son and conveyed into our hearts by the sweet and secret inspiration of God the Holy Ghost Love Joy Peace c. are fruits not at all of the Flesh but meerly and entirely of the Spirit All those very many passages in the new Testament which either set forth the unframableness of our nature to the doing of any thing that is good Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think a good thought In me that is in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing and the like or else ascribe our best performance to the glory of the grace of God Without me you can do nothing All our sufficiency is of God Not of our selves it is the gift of God It is God that worketh in you both the will and the deed and the like are so many clear confirmations of this truth Upon the evidence of which truth it is that our Mother the Church hath taught us in the Publick Service to beg at the hands of Almighty God that he would indue us with the grace of his Holy Spirit to amend our lives according to his holy Word and again consonantly to the matter we are now in hand with almost in terminis that he would give to all men increase of grace to
do his part too in giving theincrease and Crowning our endeavors with success Secondly a duty of thankfulness If by this good blessing upon our Prayers and endeavors we have been enabled to bring forth any fruit such as he will graciously accept take we heed we do not withdraw the least part of the glory of it from him to derive it upon our selves or our own endeavors Non nobis Domine non nobis Not unto us O Lord by no means to us but to thy Name be the glory Enough it is for us i◠we have the comfort inward and shall have an immeasurable reward at the last for the good we have done either of both which is infinitely more then we deserve but far be it from us to claim any share in the glory let all that be to him alone Whatsoever fruit therefore we bear or how much soever let us not be high minded thereupon or take too much upon us for we bear not the Root but the Root beareth us and when we have done our outmost endeavors the fruit we bear is still the fruit of the Spirit and not the fruit of our endeavors I have dwelt long upon this first difference not so much because it was the first though that sometimes falleth out to be the best excuse we are able to make for such prolixities as because it is most material as arising from the different nature of the things spoken of whereas the three that follow are rather verbal arising but from the different manner of the Apostles expressions in respect of the words The first whereof the 2d of the whole four is That the evil effects proceeding from the flesh are called by the name of works and the good effects proceeding from the Spirit are called by the name of fruits The Quere is Why those these being both effects alike they are not either both alike called works or both alike called fruits but the one works the other fruits The works of the flesh there here the fruit of the Spirit For answer whereunto I shall propose to your choyce two conjectures the one more Theological which is almost as new to me as perhaps it will seem to you for it came not into my thoughts till I was upon it the other more Moral and Popular For the former take it thus Where the immediate Agent produceth a work or effect virtute propriâ by his own power and not in the vertue of a superior Agent both the work it self produced and the efficacy of the operation whereby it is produced are to be ascribed to him alone so as it may be said properly precisely to be his work But where the immediate Agent operateth virtute alienâ in the strength and vertue of some higher Agent without wch he were not able to produce the effect though the work done may even there also be attributed in some sort to the inferior and subordinate Agent as the immediate cause yet the efficacy wherby it was wrought cannot so properly be imputed to him but ought rather to be ascribed to that higher Agent in whose vertue he did operate The Application will make it somewhat plainer In all humane actions whether good or bad the will of man is the immediate Agent so that whether we commit a sin or do a good work inasmuch as it proceedeth from our free wills the work is still our work howsoever But herein is the difference between good and evil actions The Will which is naturally in this depraved estate corrupt and fleshly operateth by its own power alone for the producing of a sinful action without any co-operation at all as was said already of God or his Holy Spirit and therefore the sin so produced is to be ascribed to the fleshly Will as to the sole and proper Cause thereof and may therefore very rightly be said to be the work of the flesh But in the producing any action that is spiritually good the Will operateth onely as a subordinate Agent to the grace of the Holy Spirit and in the power and vertue thereof And therefore although the good work may in some sort be said to be our work because immediately produced by our Wills yet it is in truth the fruit of the Spirit and not of our Wills because it is wrought by the power of that and not by any power of our own Wills Nevertheless not I but the grace of God with me If this conjecture seem but a subtilty and satisfie not let it go the other I presume wil being it is so plain and popular The word fruit most-what relateth to some labour going before Hoc fructi ab labore pro his fero in the old Poet So in the Scriptures Nevertheless this is the fruit of my labour The Husbandman that first laboureth must be partaker of the fruits Labour first and then fruits That which David calleth the labour of the hands Thou shalt eat the labour of thy hands Psal. 128. Solomon calleth the fruit of the hands Give her of the fruit of her hands Prov. 31. The reason is because no man would willingly undergo any toyl or labour to no end he would have something or other in his eye that might in some measure recompence his pains and that is called the fruit of his labour Tully therefore joyneth Praemium and Fructum together as importing the same thing Who planteth a Vineyard but in hope to eat of the fruit of it Or what Husbandman would Plow and Sow and Plant and Prune and Dig and Dung if he did not hope to find it all answered again when he cometh to Inne the fruits Spe fructûs dura ferentes The first question in every mans thoughts when he is importuned to any thing of labour and business is Ecquid erit pretii will it be worth my labour what benefit shal I reap by it what wil be the fruit of my pains In all deliberations where two wayes are offered to our choice Wisdom would that we should first weigh as advisedly and exactly as we can the labour and the fruit of the one against the other and as we find those rightly compared to be more or less to make our resolutions accordingly We are called on hard on both sides God commandeth us to serve him Satan and the World sollicite us to the service of sin Promises there are or intimations of fruit on both sides Salvation to our souls on the one side Satisfaction to our lusts on the other Here then is our business and our wisdom to compare what is required and what is offered on both sides to examine on the one side first and then on the other whether the work exceed the fruit or the fruit the work Now the Apostle by the very choice of his words here hath after a sort done the business and determined the controversie to our hands In the service of sin the toyl is so great that in comparison thereof the
calmness less toylsom and vexatious then are Hatreds and Debates and Emulations and Seditions and Murthers and those other works of the flesh Now if as the task is easier so the benefit be greater what can excuse our folly if we do not give up our selves to be ordered by the guidance of the Spirit in every thing rather then yield to satisfie the lusts of the flesh in any thing And the benefit is greater A sure reward saith Solomon For God is not unrighteous to forget your labour of faith and love A great reward saith David and that many times for a very little work done the giving of a Cup of cold Water to refresh a thirsty soul shall not want its reward It is our Apostles elsewhere that we should alwaies abound in the work of the Lord and that upon this very ground forasmuch as you know saith he that your labour is not in vain in the Lord If we labour in his work we shall find the fruit of it in time Onely let us be content to stay the time and not be thrusting in the Sickle before the Corn be half ripe The Husbandman when he hath done his work in earing and sowing doth not look to receive the precious fruits of the earth into his Garners again the next day or the next month but he hath long patience for it and whether it chance to be an early Harvest or a late Harvest he waiteth still and taketh the season as it falleth Even so have we need of Patience that after we have done the will of God and suffered according to the will of God we may receive the promised reward for in due time we shall reap if we faint not The final reward is sure veniens veniet it will come at last and not fail us and it is so great withal Copiosa nimis that when it cometh it will abundantly recompence all our Work yea and our Patience too Nay let me say if that reward were not nor any other world to come yet the fruits we reap in the mean time even in this world from a godly life is incomparably greater then any that the works of the flesh can yeild us even in the judgment of Heathen men Vertue ever carrieth its reward with it as being Bonum propter se expetendum a thing to be desired and imbraced for its own worth without respect to any further reward and certainly the evenness of the mind and vacuity from those secret lashes those horrors and fears that haunt a guilty conscience and the sweet comfort and complacency that a righteous soul findeth in the sincere performance of his bounden duty to God and man in eschuing evil and doing good is a fruit infinitely more valuable then all the pleasures and sensualities of a wicked life How happy then is he that truly serveth God who both hath his Fruit in holiness onward that is the hundred fold Mark 10. and shall in the end have everlasting life to boot There are of the four Differences proposed two more yet behind which I must dispatch in few words The 3d is That the works of the flesh are spoken of as many {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} works in the Plural but the fruit of the Spirit is spoken of as one {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Fruit in the singular many works but one fruit There is such a connexion of Vertues and Graces that albeit they differ in their Objects and natures yet they are inseparable in the Subject As when many links make up one chain pull one and pull all So he that hath any one Spiritual Grace in any degree of truth and eminency cannot be utterly destitute of any other But as for sin and Vices it is not so with them they are not only distinct in their kinds natures and definitions for so are Vertues too but they may also be divided from one another and parted asunder in respect of the Subject wherein they are We are told Rom. 2. and if we were not told it we could not but see reason enough otherwise to believe it that a man may hate Idolatry a work of the flesh and yet love Sacriledge well enough a work of the flesh too There is no necessity that a swearer should be an Adulterer or an Adulterer a slanderer or a slanderer an oppessor or an oppressor a drunkard or a drunkard a seditious person and so of many other The reason of the difference is because all spiritual graces look one way they all runne to the same indivisible point wherein they concenter to wit Almighty God who is Bonum Incommunicabile unchangeable and one even as all moral vertues concenter in the same common point of Right Reason But sins which turn from God to follow the Creature and vices which are so many deviations from the rule of Right Reason do not only necessarily run towards the same point but may have their several tendencies different one from another Because though God be one yet the creatures are manifold and although the strait way from one place to another can be but one yet there may be many crooked turnings by-paths and deviations Even as Truth is but one and certain but Errors are manifold and endless The Spirit of God whose fruits these are is first a renewing Spirit It createth a new heart in a man wherby hee becometh a kind of new creature it disposeth him to obedience And true obedience is copulative it submitteth to the Commanders wil entirely it doth not pick and choose The Spirit of God is secondly a holy Spirit The holy Spirit of Discipline And such a holy Spirit wil not brook to dwel in a soul that is subject to sin it wil endure no such inmate they can no more dwell together then light can fellow with darknesse but where any grace is wanting there must needs be the contrary sin to fill up the vacuity And therefore where that holy Spirit is there cannot be a total defect of any holy grace The spirit of God is also a loving Spirit and sheddeth abroad the love of God in every heart it taketh possession of and love is so comprehensive a grace that it includeth all the rest and so is in effect the fulfulling of the whole Law There is a thred of love that runneth through all the particular duties and offices of Christian life and stringeth them like so many rich Pearles into one chain See 1 Cor. 13. throughout A Confideration not unuseful to quicken our care for the subduing of every sinfull lust and our endeavour to have every grace of the Spirit habituated in us knowing that so long as we allow our selves in any one sin suffer any one lust of the flesh to remain in us unsubdued at least in respect of desire and endeavor there cannot be any one true grace of God in us There are certain common graces of Illumination which are the
effects also of Gods Spirit and are therfore cal'd {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} spiritual gifts these indeed are given by dole alius sic alius verò sic knowledg to one to another tongues to another healings miracles c. All by the same spirit manifesting himself to sundry persons in sundry kinds and measures and dividing to every one severally as he will but it is nothing so in the special graces of Sanctification there is no distribution or division here either all or none He that certainly wanteth any one at least in the desire and endeavour may justly suspect that all those he seemeth to have are but so many counterfeits all this variety of graces maketh but one fruit The Last difference is that the works of the flesh are expresly said to be manifest ver. 19. but no such thing affirmed of the fruit of the Spirit The most probable reasons of which difference are to my seeming one of these two following First the commonness and frequency of those above these every where abroad in the world The works of the flesh Adultery Fornication Uncleannesse Wantonnesse Idolatry Witchcraft Hatreds Emulation Debate Wrath Strifes Seditions Herefies Envying Murthers Gluttony Drunkennesse and such like I name them because the bare recitall of them will save me the labour of further proof do so abound in all places that you can scarce look beside them turn your eyes which way you will you shall see cursed examples of some or other of these every day and in every street and corner Alas the works of the flesh are but too manifest But the fruits of the spirit are not so Love Peace Gentlenesse Faith Meeknesse Temperance and the rest These are very thin grown in the world they are rarities not every where to be met withall insomuch as David complaingly cryeth out there is not one godly man left Psal. 12. and Psal. 14. There is none that doth good no not one And the Prophet Jeremiah when he had run to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem for the purpose to find out a man that executed Judgement and sought after truth when he had employed his legs and his eyes and his tongue in the search he could not yet find the man he looked for Hippes and Haws grow in every hedge when choicer fruits are but in some few gardens And every soyle almost yeilds stones and rubbish but gold and precious stones are found in very few places Secondly the works of the flesh may be said to be manifest and the fruits of the Spirit not so with respect to our judgments of them and the easinesse of desiring the one more then the other The works of the flesh are so manifestly evill that no man of common sense can lightly be mistaken in them Murder sedition drunkennesse adultery it is not possible any man should be of such gross understanding as to imagine they should be the fruits of Gods holy Spirit they are undoubtedly and manifestly to every mans apprehension the works of the flesh but as for the fruits of the Spirit they are not so manifest but that a man who hath not his senses verie well exercised to the discerning of good and evil may be easily deceived therein Hypocrisie is spun oftentimes of a very fine thred and the heart of man abounding with so much hypocrisy as it doth and so much selflove and uncharitableness withal is the most deceitful thing yea and the most deceivable too actively and passively both of any thing in the world There are on the one side so many Mock-graces and specious counterfeits that carry a semblance of spiritual fruit but are not the things they seem to be And on the other side inordinate love of our selves partly partly want of Charitie towards our brethren have so disposed us to a capacity of being deceived that it is not a wonder if in passing our judgments especially where our selves are concerned we be very much and very often mistaken It might rather be a wonder if we should not be sometimes mistaken As most errors claime to be a little a kin to some truths so most vices challenge a kind of Affinity to some vertue Not so much from any proper intrinsecall true resemblance they have with such vertues as by reason of the common opposition they both have to one and the same contrary vice As Prodigality hath some overly likenesse with liberalitie and so may hap to be mistaken for it for no other cause but this only that they are both contrary to covetuousnesse {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith Aristotle truely fallacy and deception for the most part arise from the appearance of some likenesse or similitude when things that are like but not the same are taken to be the same because they are like They that have given us marks of sincerity for the trial of our graces have not been able to give us any certain rules or infalliable Characters whereby to try the sincerity of those marks so as to remove all doubting and possibilitie of erring Whence I suppose I may safely infer that the certaintie of a mans present standing in grace but much more then of his eternall future Salvation although I doubt not but by the mercy of God it may be attainable in this life and that without extraordinary Revelation in such a measure as may sustain the soul of an honest Christian with coÌ„fort is not yet either so absolutely necessary nor so void of fears and doubtings as some perhaps have imagined Not so necessary but that a man may be saved without it Many a good soul no doubt there is in the world that out of the experience of the falsenesse of his own heart and the fear of self-deceit and the sense of his own unworthinesse could never yet attaine to be so well perswaded of the sincerity of his own repentance Faith and Obedience as to think that God would approve of it and accept it The censure were very hard and a great violation it would be of charitie I am sure and I think of truth also to pronounce such a man to be out of the state of Salvation or to call such his dis-perswasion by the name of despair and under that name to condemne it There is a common but a great mistake in this matter Despair is quite another manner of thing then many take it for When a man thinketh himself so incapable of Gods pardon that he growes thereupon regardlesse of all duties and neither careth what he doth nor what shall become of him when he is once come to this resolution over shoos over boots I know God will never forgive me and therefore I will never trouble my self to seek his favour in vain this is to run a desperate course indeed this is properly the sin of despair But when the fear that God hath not yet pardoned him prompteth him to better resolutions and exciteth him to a greater care of repentance and newnesse of life and maketh him more diligent in the performance of all holy duties that so he may be more capable of pardon It is so far from being any way prejudicial to his eternal salvation that it is in the readiest way to secure it But where the greatest certainty is that can be attained to in this life by ordinary means it is not ordinarily unless perhaps to some few persons at the very hour of death so perfect as to exclude all doubtings The fruits of the Spirit where they are true and sincere being but imperfect in this life and the truth and sincerity of them being not always so manifest but that a man may sometimes be deceived in his judgment concerning the same it can hardly be what between the one and the other the imperfection of the thing and the difficulty of judging but that the Assurance which is wholly grounded thereupon and can therefore have no more strength then they can give it must be subject to fears and jealousies and doubtings I speak not this to shake any mans comfort God forbid but to stir up every mans care to abound and increase so much the more in all godlinesse and in the fruits of the Spirit giving all diligence by walking in the Spirit and subduing the lusts of the flesh to make his calling and election sure Sure in it self that he fail not of salvation in the end and sure to him also as far as he can that his comfort may be the greater and sounder in the mean time Now the God of all grace and glory send the Spirit of his Son plentifully into our hearts that we may abound in the fruits of godly living to the praise of his grace our present comfort in this life and the eternall salvation of our souls in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ FINIS Eccles. 1. 9. Gal. 1. 6. 5. 26. 5. 15. Gal. 3. 1. 1 Kin. 10. 5. Gen. â—2 7 Jam. 2 26 Jam. 4 5. John 3. 6. Heb. 12. 9. 1 Ioh. 3. 9. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Rom. 7. 18. John 15. 17. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Ephes. 2. 8. Phil. 2. 13 Matth. 7. 16. Matth. 12. 23. Jam. 1 20. Col. 1. 10. Mat. 3. 8 10. Gen. 2 15. Prov 4. 23 Heb. 12. 15. Jam. 1. 21. Psal. 115. 1. Rom 11. 18. 1 Cor. 15. 10. Phil. 1. 22. 2 Tim. 2. 6. Psal. 128. 2. Prov. 31. 31. 1 Cor 9. 7. Hor. 2. Ep. 1. Terent. Wisd. 5. 7. Jer. 9. 5. Hab. 2. 13. Psal. 39. 6 Hab. 2. 13. 1 Pet. 1. 18 Rom. 6. 21. Solinus Isa. 55. 1. Mat. 11. 30 1 Joh. 5. 3. Prov. 11. 8. Heb. 6 10. Psal. 19. 11 Mat. 10 42 1 Cor. 15. ult. Jam. 5 7. Heb. 10. 36 Gal. 6. 9. Heb. 10. 37. Rom. 6. 22 Mar. 10. 30 Rom. 2. 22 Psal. 51. 10 Gal. 6. 15. Wisd. 1. 4 5. Rom. 13. 10. 1 Cor. 12. 1. 14. 1. 1 Cor. 12. 8 -10 Jer. 51 c Jer. â—7 9. 2 Pet. 1. 5.