strong nor our hearts endure in the day when hee will have to doe with us How can wee choose but send forth an Embassage especially since he is not a great way off as it is in the Parable but standeth before the dore and is nigh at hand and will not carry an embassage of repentance to give up our armour to strip and judge our selves to meete him in the way of his judgements to make our selves vile before him and be humbled under his mighty hand and sue forth conditions of peace to meete him as the Gibeonites did Iosua and resolve rather to be his servants then to stand out against him This is certaine God is comming against his Enemies his attendants Angels and his weapons fire And if his patience and forbearance make him yet keepe a great way off that hee may give us time to make our peace O let the long suffering of God draw us to Repentance least wee treasure up more wrath against our selves Consider the great aggravation of that spirituall Iezabels sinne I gave her space to repent of her fornications and she repented not Consider that the long suffering of God is Salvation and therefore let us make this use of it Labour to bee found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse The last thing in this first point proposed was How the spirit by the Commandement doth thus convince men to be in the state of sinne To this I answere briefly First by quickning and putting an edge upon the Instrumentall cause the sword of the Spirit For the word of it selfe is a dead letter and profiteth nothing it is the spirit that puts life and power into it I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord to declare unto Iacob his transgressions saith the Prophet Mic. 3. 8. As the Spirit is a Spirit of life so hath he given to the Word to be a Word of life quicke and powerfull Phil. 2. 16. Heb. 4. 12. Secondly by writing it in the heart casting the heart into the mould of the Word and transforming the spirit of man into the image of the Word and making it as it were the Epistle of Christ bending and framing the heart to stand in awe of Gods Word for writing his Law and putting his feare into the heart is the same thing with God In which respect amongst others men are said to bee Sealed by the Spirit because that Spirituall Holinesse which is in the Word is fashioned in the hearts of the Saints as the image of the seale is in the waxe As the light of the Sunne doth by reflection from the Moone illighten that part of the earth or from a glasse that part of a roome from which it selfe is absent So though the Church bee here absent from the Lord yet his Spirit by the Word doth illighten and governe it It is not the Moone alone nor the glasse alone nor yet the Sunne without the Moone or the glasse that illightneth those places vpon which it selfe doth not immediately shine but that as the principall by them as the instruments so the Spirit doth not and the Word cannot alone by it selfe convince or convert but the Spirit by the Word as its sword and instrument So then when the Spirit turnes a mans eyes inward to see the truth of the Word written in his owne heart makes him put his Seale unto it frameth the will to search acknowledge and judge the worst of its selfe to subscribe unto the righteousnesse of God in condemning sinne and him for it to take the office of the Word and passe that sentence upon it selfe which the Word doth then doth the Word spiritually Convince of sinne Which should teach us what to look for in the ministry of the word namely that which will Convince us that which puts an edge upon the Word opens the heart makes it burne namely the spirit of Christ for by that only we can be brought unto the righteousnesse of Christ we are not to despise the ordinances in our esteeme when we find them destitute of such humane contributions and attemperations which we haply expected as Naaman did the waters of Iordan for though there bee excellent use of Humane learning when it is sanctified for opening the Word as a baser colour is a good ground for a better yet it is the Word alone which the Spirit worketh by the flesh and fleshly accessions of themselves profit no more nor adde no more reall vertue or lustre to the Word then the weedes in a field do unto the Corne or then the ground colour doth unto the beautie of that which is put upon it We should therefore pray for the Spirit to come along with his Word It is not enough to be at Bethesda this house of mercie and grace unlesse the Angell stirre and the Spirit move upon these waters It is Hee that must incline and put the heart into the Word or else it will remaine as impotent as before But of this point also I have spoken at large upon another scripture Having then thus shewed at large that the Spirit by the Commandment convinceth men to be in the state of sin both Actuall and Originall imputed and inherent what kinde of state that is A state of Impotencie and Enmity How it doth it by quickning the Word and opening the heart Now we are very briefly to open the second point That the Spirit by the Commandment convinceth a man to be under the guilt of sin or in the state of death because of sinne I died for which we must note First that there is a two fold Guilt First Reatus Concupiscentia which is the meritoriousnesse of punishment or liablenesse unto punishment which sinne brings with it and Reatus personae which is the actuall Obligation and obnoxiousnesse of a person vnto punishment because of sinne Now in as much as nature is not able to discover without the Spirit the whole malignity and obliquity that is in sinne therefore it cannot sufficiently convince of the Guilt of sinne which is a Resultancie therefrom and is ever proportionable thereunto In which respect the Iudgements of God are said to be unsearchable Rom. 11 33. And the wicked know not whither they goe 1. Ioh. 2. 11. cannot have any full and proportionable notions of that wrath to come which their sinnes carry them unto Secondly wee may note that there is a Twofold Conviction of this Guilt of sinne A naturall Conviction such as was in Cain Iudas Spira and other despairing men which ariseth from two grounds First the Present sense of Gods wrath in the first fruits thereof upon their consciences which must perforce beare witnesse to Gods â—…ustice therein and this is that which the Apostle calls Torment 1. Ioh. 4. 18. which though it may arise from naturall principles for wee know even heathens have had their Laniatus and Ictus as the Historian speakes their scourges and rendings of Conscience yet is it
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
utterly depriu'd the right of any worldly goods nothing is his ex jure but onely ex largitate and in as much as the sinne of man hath made him though not a sacrilegious intruder yet a prophane abuser of the good things which remaine partly by inditect procuring them partly by despising the author of them by mustering up Gods owne gifts against him in riot luxurie pride uncleanenesse earthly mindednesse hereby it comes to passe that to the uncleane all things are uncleane because their mindes and consciences are defiled Now the whole Creation being thus by the sinne of man uncleane and by consequence unfitted for humane use as Saint Peter intimates I never eate any thing common or uncleane it was therefore requisite that the Creature should have some Purification before it was unto men allowed Which was indeede legally done in the Ceremonie but really in the substance and body of the Ceremonie by Christ who hath now unto us in their use and will at last for themselves in their owne being deliver the Creatures from that vanity and malediction unto which by reason of the sinne of man they were subjected and fashion them unto the glorious liberty of the Children of God make them fit palaces for the saints to inhabit or conferre upon them a glory which shall bee in the proportion of their natures a suteable advancement unto them as the glory of the Children of God shall be unto them The bloud of Christ doth not onely renew and purifie the soule and body of man but washeth away the curse and dirt which adhereth to every Creature that man useth doth not only clense and sanctifie his church but reneweth all the Creatures Behold saith he I make All things New and if any man be in Christ not onely He is a New Creature but saith the Apostle All things are become New Those men then who keepe themselves out of Christ and are by consequence under the Curse as their persons so their possessions are still under the curse as their consciences so their estates are still uncleane they eate their meate like Swine rol'd up in dirt the dirt of their owne sinne and of Gods malediction So then the Creature is then sanctified when the curse thereof is washed away by Christ. Now secondly let us see How the Creature is sanctified by the Word By Word wee are not to understand the Word of Creation wherein God spake and all things were made Good and serviceable to the use of man For sinne came after that Word and defaced as well the goodnesse which God put into the Creature as his Image which he put into man But by Word I understand first in generall Gods Command and Blessing which strengtheneth the Creature unto those operations for which they serue in which sense our Saviour useth it Matth. 4. 4. and elsewhere If ye call those Gods unto whom the Word of God came that is who by Gods Authority and Commission are fitted for subordinate services of Gouernement under him say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified that is to whom the Word of the Father and his Commission or Command came to whom the Father hath given Authoritie by his Power and fitnesse by his Spirit to Iudge and save the world Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Sonne of God Secondly by that Word I understand more particularly the Fountaine of that Blessing which the Apostle cals in generall the Word of Truth and more particularly The Gospell of Salvation and this word is a sanctifying Word Sanctifie them by thy truth thy Word is Truth and as it sanctifies us so it sanctifies the Creatures too it is the Fountaine not onely of Eternall but of Temporall Blessings And therefore we finde Christ did not onely say unto the sicke of the Palsie Thy sinnes are forgiven thee but also Arise and walke intimating that Temporall Blessings come along with the Gospell it hath the Promises as well of this life as that to come I never saw the righteous forsaken saith the Prophet David suteable to that of the Apostle He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee nor their seed begging their bread That is never so wholly by God forsaken if they were the seed of the Righteous inheritors of their fathers hope and profession as to make a constant trade of begging their bread and so to expose the promises of Christ that they which seeke the kingdome of heaven shall have all other things added to them unto reproach and imputation from wicked men Or thus I never saw the righteous forsaken or their seede forsaken by God though they beg'd their bread but even in that extremitie God was present with them to sanctifie to their use and to give them a comfortable enjoyment of that very bread which the exigencie of their present condition had constrained them to begge Thus we see in generall That the Blessing or Command of God and the fountaine of that blessing the Gospell of Salvation doe sanctifie the Creature But yet neither by the Blessing nor the Gospell is the Creature effectually sanctified unto us till it be by us apprehended with the Word and Promise and this is done by Faith for the Word saith the Apostle profited not those that heard it because it was not mingled or temper'd with faith For Faith hath this singular operation to particularize and single out God and his Promises unto a mansselfe So then the Creature is sanctified by the Word and Blessing beleeved and embraced whereby we come to have a neerer right and peculiarity in the Creatures which we enjoy for being by Faith united unto Christ and made one with him which is that noble effect of faith to incorporate Christ and a Christian together we thereby share with him in the inheritance not onely of Eternall life but even of the common Creatures Fellow Heires we are and Copartners with him therefore in as much as God hath appointed him to be Heire of All things as the Apostle speakes we likewise in the vertue of our fellowship with him must in a subordinate sense be Heires of all things too All is yours saith the Apostle and you are Christs and Christ is Gods Fidelibus totus mundus divitiarum est The Saints saith Saint Austin have All the world for their possession And if it be here demanded how this can be true since wee finde the Saints of God often in great want and it would doubtlesse bee sinne in them to usurpe another mans goods upon presumption of that promise that Christ is theirs and with him all things To this I answere first in generall As Christ though he were the Heire of All things yet for our sakes became poore that we by his poverty might be made rich so God oftentimes pleaseth to make the faithfull partake not onely in the priviledges but in the poverty
art That God that is the same God in thy fidelity and mercy as then thou wert and thy words be true and thou hast promised this goodnesse to thy servant therefore let it please thee to blesse the house of thy Servant c. Excellent to this purpose is that which S. Austin obserues of his mother who very often and earnestly prayed unto God for hâ—…r sonne when he was an Hereticke Chirographa tua ingerebat tibi Lord saith he she urged thee with thine owne hand-writing she challenged in an humble and fearefull confidence the performance of thine owne obligations Thirdly and lastly by this meanes wee hasten the performance of Gods decreed mercies we retardate yea quite hinder his almost purposed and decreed Iudgements The Lord had resolved to restore Israel to their wonted peace and honour yet for all these things will I be enquired vnto by the House of Israel to doe it for them saith He in the Prophet The Lord had threatned destruction against Israel for their Idolatry had not Moses stood before him in the breach to turne away his wrath as the Psalmist speakes And we reade of the Primitive Christians that their prayers procured raine from heaven when the Armies of the Emperours were even famished for want of water and that their very persecutors have begg'd their prayers Secondly as by prayer the Creature is sanctified in the procurement for no man hath reason to beleeue that there is any blessing intended vnto him by God in any of the good things which doe not come in vnto him by prayer so in the next place the Creature is by Prayer sanctified in the fruition thereof because to enjoy the portion allotted us and to rejoyce in our labour is the Gift of God as Salomon speakes The Creature of it selfe is not onely Dead and therefore unable to minister life by it selfe alone but which is worse by the meanes of mans sinne it is Deadly too and therefore apt to poyson the receivers of it without the corrective of Gods Grace Pleasure is a thing in it selfe lawfull but corruption of nature is apt to make a man a lover of pleasure more then a lover of God and then is that mans pleasure made unto him the metropolis of mischiefe as Clemens Alexandâ—…inus speakes A good name is better then sweet oyntment and more to be desired then much riches but corruption is apt to put a flie of vaine-glory and selfeaffectation into this oyntment to make a man foolishly feed upon his owne credit and with the Pharisies to doe all for applause and preferre the praise of men before the glory of God and then our sweet oyntment is degenerated into a curse Woe bee unto you when all men shall speake well of you Riches of themselves are the good gifts and blessings of God as Salomon saith The blessing of the Lord maketh rich but corruption is apt to breed by this meanes covetousnesse pride selfe-dependency forgetfulnesse of God scorne of the Gospell and the like and then these earthly blessings are turned into the curse of the earth into Thornes and Briers as the Apostle speakes They that will be rich pierce themselves thorow with many sorrowes Learning in it selfe is an honourable and a noble endowment it is recorded for the glory of Moses that hee was learned in all the wisedome of the Egyptians but corruption is apt to turne learning into leauen to infect the heart with pride which being arm'd and seconded with wit breakes forth into perverse disputes and corrupts the minde Therefore Saint Paul advised the Christians of his time to beware lest any man spoile them through Philosophy and begvile them with entising words And the ancient Fathers counted the Philosophers the Seminaries of heresie Proofe whereof to let passe the Antitrinitarians and Pelagians and other ancient Hereâ—…ikes who out of the nicenesse of a quaint wit perverted Gods truth to the patronage of their lyes and to passe by the Schoolemen and Iesuites of late Ages who haue made the way to heaven a very labyrinth of crooked subtilties and have weav'd Divinity into Cobwebs wee may have abundantly in those Libertines and Cyrenians who disputed with Stephen and those Stoicks that wrangled with Saint Paul about the resurrection And now learning being thus corrupted is not onely turned into wearinesse but into very notorious and damnable folly for thinking themselves wise saith the Apostle they became fooles and their folly shall be made kâ—…owne unto all men To get wealth in an honest and painefull Calling is a great blessing for the diligent hand maketh rich but corruption is apt to perswade unto cozenage lying equivocation fals weights ingrossements monopolies and other Arts of cruelty and unjustice and by this meanes ouâ—… law full Callings are turned into abominations mysteries of iniquity and a pursuit of death Every creature of God is good in it selfe and allowed both for necessitie and delight but corruption is apt to abuse the Creatures to luxury and excesse to drunkennesse gluttony and inordinate lusts and by this meanes a mans table is turned into a Snare as the Psalmist speakes Now then since all the world is thus bespread with ginnes it mainely concernes us alwayes to pray that we may use the world as not abusing it that wee may enjoy the Creatures with such wisedome temperance sobriety heavenly affections as may make them so many ascents to raise us neerer unto God as so many glasses in which to contemplate the wisedome providence and care of God to men as so many witnesses of his love and of our duty And thus doth prayer sanctifie the Creature in the use of it Lastly and in one word Prayer sanctifies the Creatures in the review and recognition of them and Gods mercy in them with thanksgiving and thoughts of praise as Iacob Gen. 32. 9. 10. and David 2. Sam. 7. 18. 21. looked upon God in the blessings with which hee had blessed them And now since Prayer doth thus sanctifie the Creatures unto us wee should make friends of the unrighteous Mammon that wee may by that meanes get the prayers of the poore Saints upon us and our estate that the eye which seeth us may blesse us and the care that heareth us may give witnesse to us that the loynes and the mouthes the backes and the bellies of the poore and fatherlesse may be as so many reall supplications unto God for us The third and last direction which I shall give you to finde life in the Creature shall bee to looke on it and love it in its right order with subordination to God and his promises to love it after God and for God as the beame which conveyes the influences of life from him as his instrument moved and moderated by him to those ends for which it serves to love it as the Cisterne not as the fountaine of life to make Christ the foundation and all other
heart upon thine Asses for the desire of Israel is upon thee Why should a Kings heart be set upon Asses so may I say why should Christians hearts be set upon earthly things since they have the desires of all flesh to fix upon I will conclude with one word upon the last particu lar How to use the Creatures as Thornes or as vexing things First Let not the Bramble be King Let not earthly things beare rule over thy affections fire will rise out of them which will consume thy Cedars emasculate all the powers of thy Soule Let Grace sit in the throne and earthly things be subordinate to the wisdome and rule of Gods Spirit in thy heart They are excellent servants but pernicious Masters Secondly Be arm'd when thou touchest or medlest with them Arm'd against the Lusts and against the Temptations that arise from them Get faith to place thy heart upon better promises enter not upon them without prayer unto God that since thou art going amongst snares he would carry thee through with wisedome and faithfulnesse and teach thee how to use them as his blessings and as instruments of his glory Make a covenant with thine heart as Iob with his eyes have a jealousie and suspicion of thine evill heart lest it be surpriz'd and bewitched with finfull affections Thirdly touch them gently doe not hug love dote upon the Creature nor graspe it with adulterous embraces the love of mony is a roote of mischiefe and is enmity against God Fourthly use them for Hedges and fences to relieve the Saints to make friends of unrighteous Mammon to defend the Church of Christ but by no meanes have them In thy field but onely About it mingle it not with thy Corne least it choake and stifle all And lastly vse them as Gedeon for weapons of Iust revenge against the enemies of Gods Church to vindicate his truth and glory and then by being wise and faithfull in a little thou shalt at last be made ruler over much and enter into thy Masters Ioy. FINIS THE SINFVLNES OF SINNE Considered in the State Guilt Power and Pollution thereof By EDWARD REYNOLDS Preacher to the Honourable Societie of Lincolns Inne PAX OPVLENTIAM SAPIENTIA PACEM FK LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostocke 1631. THE SINFVLNESSE OF SINNE ROM 7. 9. For I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandement came Sinne revived and I died WEE have seene in the foriner Treatise that man can finde no Happinesse in the Creature I will in the next place shew That he can find no happinesse in Himselfe It is neither about him nor within him In the Creature nothing but vanitis and vexation in Himselfe nothing but Sinne and Death The Apostle in these words sets forth three things First The state of Sinne Sinne Revived Secondly the Guilt of Sinne I Died or found my selfe to be a condemn'd man in the state of perdition Thirdly the evidence and conviction of both When the Commandement came which words imply a conviction and that from the spirit First a conviction for they inferre a conclusion extremely contradictory to the conclusions in which Saint Paul formerly rested which is the forme of a conviction Saint Pauls former conclusion was I was alive but when the commandement came the conclusion was extremely contrary I Died. Secondly It was a spirituall conviction For Saint Paul was never literally without the Law but the vaâ—…le till this time was before his eyes he is now made to understand the Law in its native sense and compasse the Law is spiritual v. 14. and he is enabled to discerne it spiritually Absurd is the Doctrine of the Socinians some others That unregenerate men by a meere natur all perception without any divine superinâ—…us'd light they are the words of Episcopius and they are wicked wordes may understand the wholâ—… Law even all things requisite unto faith godlines Foolishly confounding and impiously deriding the spirituall and divine sense of holy Scriptures with the grammatical construction Against this we shall need use no other argument then a plaine Syllogisme compounded out of the very words of Scripture Darknesse doth not comprehend light Ioh. 1. 5. 〈◊〉 men are Darkenesse Eph. 5. 8. 4. 17. 18. Act. 26. 18. 2. Pâ—…t 1. 9. yea Held under the power of darkenesse Col. 1. 13. and the word of God is light Psal. 119. 105. 2. Cor. 4. 4. therefore unregenerate men cannot understand the â—…d in that spirituall compasse which it carries There is such an asymmetry and disproportion betweene our understandings and the brightnesse of the word that the Saints themselves have prayed for more spirituall light and vnderstanding to conceive it That knowledge which a man ought to have for there is a knowledge which is not such as it ought to be doth passe knowledge even all the â—…ength of meere naturall reason to attaine unto peculiar to the sheep of Christ. Naturall men have their principles vitiated their faculties bound that they cannot understand spirituall things till God have as it were â—…nplanted a â—…ew understanding in them framed the heart to attend and set it at liberty to see the glory of God with open face Though the vaile doe not keepe out Grammaticall construction yet it blindeth the heart against the spirituall light and beauty of the Word We see even in common sciences where the conclusions are suteable to our owne innate and implanted notions yet he that can distinctly construe and make Grammar of a principle in Euclide may be ignorant of the Mathematicall sense and use of it much more may a man in divine truths bee Spiritually ignorant even where in some respect hee may be said to know For the Scriptures pronounce men ignorant of those things which they see and know In divine doctrine obedience is the Ground of knowledge and Holinesse the best qualification to understand the Scriptures If any mâ—…n will doe the will of God he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God The 〈◊〉 will he teach his way and â—…eale his secret to them that feare him to babes to those that conforme not themselves to this evill world To understand then the words we must note first that there is an opposition between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those two Clauses in the Text Once and When the Commandement came It is the conceite of some that the latter as well as the former is meant of a state of unregeneration and that Saint Paul all this Chapter over speaketh in the person of an unregenerate man not intending at all to shew the fleshlinesse and adherency of corruption to the holiest men but the necessitie of righteousnesse by Christ without the which though a man may when once the Commandement comes and is fully revealed will good hate sinne in sinning doe that which he would not
side Love of lusts and pride of heart can never consist with obedience to the word Nehem. 9. 16. Ier. 13. 17. 43. 2. Thirdly converting and saving knowledge is not of our owne fetching in or gathering but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Doctrine that comes unto us and is brought by that sacred blast of the spirit which bloweth where he lifteth We doe not first come and are then taught but first we are taught and then we Come Ioh. 6. 45. Esai 55. 5. 65. 1. we must take heed of attributing to our selves boasting of our owne sufficiencies congtuities preparations concurrencies contributions unto the word in the saving of us Grace must prevent follow assist us preoperate and cooperate Christ must be All in All the Author and the Finisher of our faith of our selves we can doe nothing but disable our selves resist the spirit and pull downe whatever the word doth build up within us Ever therefore in humility waite at the poole where the spirit stirres Give that honour to Gods ordinances as when hee bids thee doe no great thing but onely wash and be cleane heare and beleeve beleeve and be saved not stoutly to cast his Law behinde thy backe but to humble thy selfe to walke with thy God and to see his name and power in the voyce which cryes unto thee Fourthly though sinne seeme dead to secure civill morall superstitiously zealous men in regard of any present sense or sting yet all that while it is alive in them and will certainely when the booke shall be opened either in the ministry of the word to conversion or in the last judgement to condemnation reviue againe All these points are very naturall to the Text but I should be too long a stranger to the course I intend if I should insist on them I returne therefore to the maine purpose Here is the state of sinne sinne revived the Guilt of sinne I died the Conviction of it by the spirit bringing the spirituall sense of the Commandement and writing it in the heart of a man and so pulling him away from his owne Conclusions The Doctrines then which I shall insist on are these two First the spirit by the Commandement convinceth a man to be in the state of sinne Secondly the spirit by the Commandement convinceth a man to be in the state of death because of sinne To convince a man that he is in the state of sinne is To make a man so to set to his owne seale and serious acknowledgement to this truth That he is a sinner as that withall he shall feele within himselfe the qualitie of that estate and in humility and selfe-abhorrencie conclude against himselfe all the naughtinesse and loathsome influences which are proper to kindle and catch in his nature and person by reason of that estate and so not in expression onely but in experience not in word but in truth not out of feare but out of loathing not out of constraint but most willingly not out of formality but out of humility not according to the generall voyce but out of a serious scrutinie and selfe examination loade and charge himselfe with all the noisomenesse and venome with all the dirt and garbage with all the malignitie and frowardnesse that his nature and person doe abound withall even as the waves of the sea with mire and dirt and thereupon justifie almighty God when he doth charge him with all this yea if he should condemne him for it Now we are to shew two things First that a meere naturall light will never thus farre convince a man Secondly that the spirit by the Commandement doth Some things nature is sufficient to teach God may be felt and found out in some fence by those that ignorantly worship him Nature doth convince men that they are not so good as they should be the Law is written in the hearts of those that know nothing of the letter of it Idlenesse beastiality lying luxury the Cretian poet could condemne in his owne countrey-men Drinking of healths ad plenoscalices by measure and constraint condemn'd by Law of a heathen prince and that in his luxurie Long haire condemn'd by the dictate of nature and right reason and the reason why so many men and whole nations notwithstanding use it is given by Saint Hierome Quia à natura deciderunt sicut multis alijs rebus comprobatur And indeede as Tertullian saith of womens long haire that it is Humilitatis suae sarcina the burden as it were of their Humility so by the warrant of that proportion which Saint Paul allowes 1. Cor. 11. 14. 15. We may call mens long haire Superbiae suae sarcinam nothing but a clogge of pride Saint Austin hath written three whole chapters together against this sinfull custome of nourishing haire which hee saith is expressely against the precept of the Apostle whom to vnderstand otherwise then the very letter sounds is to wrest the manifest words of the Apostle unto a perverse construction But to returne these Remnants of nature in the hearts of men are but like the blazes and glimmerings of a candle in the socket there is much darknes mingled with them Nature cannot throughly convince 1. Because it doth not carry a man to the Roote Adams sinne concupiscence and the corrupted seeds of a fleshly minde reason conscience will c. Meere nature will never Teach a man to feele the waight and curse of a sinne committed aboue five thousand yeeres before himselfe was borne to feele the spirits of sinne running in his bloud and sprouting out of his nature into his life one uncleane thing out of another to mourne for that filthinesse which he contracted in his conception Saint Paul professeth that this could not bee learned without the Law 2. Because it doth not carry a man to the Rule which is the written Law in that mighty widenesse which the Prophet David found in it Nature cannot looke upon so bright a thing but through vailes and glosses of its owne Evill hateth the light neither commeth to the light cannot endure a through scrutinie and ransacking left it should be reproved When a man lookes on the Law through the mist of his owne â—…usts he cannot but wrest and torture it to his owne way Saint Peter gives two reasons of it because such men are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Pet. 3. 16. 1. Vnlearned men namely in the mysterie of Godlinesse have not been taught of God what the truth is in Iesus till that time a man will never put off his lusts but defend them and rather make crooked the rule coine distinctions and evasions upon the law it selfe then judge himselfe and give glory to God 2. Fickle unstable men men apt to be tossed up and downe like empty clouds with every blast never rooted nor grounded in the love of the truth unstedfast in the Covenant of God that lay not hold on it
entred by Moses that sin might abound that is That that concupiscence which reigned without conviction before during the ignorance of the originall implanted Law might by the new edition and publication of that Law be knowne to be sinfull and thereby become more exceeding sinful to those who should be thus convinced of it that so the exceeding sinfulnesse of sinne might serve both the sooner to compell men to come to Christ and the Grace of Christ might thereby appeare to be more exceeding gratious for the Law was reviv'd and promulgated anew meerely with relation to Christ and the Gospell and therefore the Apostle saith It was added and ordained by Angels in the Hand of a Mediator or by the ministery of a Mediator Where there are three reasons to shew Gods Evangelicall purpose in the publication of the Law anew First it was not published alone but as an Additament with relation to the Evangelicall promise which was before made Secondly the service of Angels or Messengers which shewes that in the Law God did send from Heaven anew to instruct men and therein to take care of them and prepare them for salvation for Angels minister for this purpose that men might be heires of salvation Thirdly the ministry of a Mediator namely Moses who was Mediator in the Law with reference whereunto Christ is cald Mediator of a better Covenant and was faithfull as Moses Now where there is a Mediator appointed therein God declares his purpose to enter anew into a treaty with men and to bring them to termes of agreement and reconciliation with him Men were rebels against God held under the sentence of death and vengeance they are in darkenesse know not whither they goe are well pleasde with their owne estate give no heed to any that would call them out For this reason because God is willing to pull mē out of the fire he sends first Moses armed with thunder and brightnesse which can not be endur'd for the shining of Moses his face which the people could not abide denotes the exceeding purity and brightnesse of the Law which no sinner is able with peace to looke on and he shews them whither they are hastning namely to eternall death and like the Angell that met Balaam in a narrow roome shuts them in that either they must turne backe againe or else bee destroyed and in this fright and anguish Christ the mediator of a better covenant presents himselfe as a Sanctuary and refuge from the condemnation of the Law Secondly there is universalitie of men and in men universality of parts All men and every part of man shut up under the guilt and power of this sinne Both these the Apostle proves at large Iewes Gentiles all under sinne none righteous no not one all gone out of the way altogether become unprofitable none that doth good no not one Every mouth must be stopped all the world must be guilty before God all have sinned and come short or are destitute of his glory God hath concluded all in unbeliefe the Scripture hath shut up all under sinne this shewes the universality of persons The Apostle adds Their throate is an open sep◅lcher with their tongues they have used deceit the poyson of aspes is under their lips their mouth full of cursing and bitternesse their feete swift to shed bloud destruction and unhappinesse are in their wayes and the way of peace they have not knowne there is no feare of God before their eyes these particulars are enough to make up an Induction and so to inferre a universalitie of Parts Every purpose desire Imagination incomplete and inchoate notion every figment so the word properly signifies with reference whereunto the Apostle as I conceive cals sinne The creature of the Heart and our Saviour the Issue of the Heart is evill onely evill continually evill Originall sinne is an entire body an old man which word noteth not the impotencie or defects but the maturity wisedome cunning covetousnesse full growth of that sinne in us and in this man every member is earthly sensuall and divelish As there is chaffe about every corne in a field saltnesse in every drop of the sea bitternesse in every branch of wormewood so is ehere sinne in every faculty of man First looke into the minde you shall finde it full of vanitie wasting and wearying it selfe in childish impertinent unprofitable notions Full of ignorance and darknesse no man knoweth nay no man hath so much knowledge as to enquire or seeke after God in that way where he will bee found nay more when God breakes in upon the minde by some notable testimonie from his Creatures Iudgements or providence yet they like it not they hold it downe they reduce themselves backe againe to foolish hearts to reprobate and undiscerning mindes as naturally as hot water returnes to its former coldnesse Full of Curiositie Rash unprofitable enquiries foolish and unlearned questions profane bablings strife of words perverse disputes all the fruits of corrupt and rotten mindes Full of Pride and contradiction against the Truth oppositions of science that is setting up of philosophy and vaine deceit Imaginations thoughts fleshly reasonings against the spirit and truth which is in Iesus Full of domesticall Principles fleshlie wisedome humane Inventions contrivances super-inducements upon the pretious foundation of rules and methods of its owne to serve God and come to happinesse Full of Inconsistency and roving swarmes of empty and foolish thoughts slipperinesse and unstablenesse in all good motions Secondly looke into the Conscience you shall finde it full of Insensiblenesse the Apostle saith of the Gentiles That they were past feeling and of the Apostates in the latter times that they had their consciences seared with a hot iron which things though they be spoken of an Habituall and acqui◅'d hardnesse which growes upon men by a custome of sinne yet wee are to note that it is originally in the Conscience at first and doth not so much come unto it as grow out of it As that branch which at first shooting out is flexible and tender growes at last even by it owne disposition into a hard and stubbo◅e bow as those parts of the naile next the flesh which are at first softer then the rest yet doe of themselves grow to that hardnesse which is in the rest so the consciences of children have the seedes of that insensibility in them which makes them at last dea◅e to every charme and secure against all the thunder that is threatned against them Full of Impurity and disobedience dead rotten unsavorie workes Full of false and absurd excusations and accusations fearing where there is no cause of feare and acquitting where there is great cause of feare as Saint Pauls here did Looke into the Heart and you shall finde a very He◅ of uncleannesse Full of deepe and unsearchable deceit and wickednesse Full of hardnesse no sinnes no judgements no mercies no
waite for the Lord any longer If this be all the reward we haue for waiting and calling upon God to what purpose serve our humiliations and fastings what profitablenesse at all is there in his seruice Thus we find the hypocrits challenging God for afflicting them upbraiding him with their humiliations and the fruitlesnesse of his service Wherefore haue we fasted and thou seest not wherefore haue wee afflicted our soule and thou takest no knowledge ye haue said it is in vaine to serue God and what profit iâ—… it that wee haâ—…e kept his ordinance and that wee haue walked mournâ—…fully before the Lord of hoasts c And thus Saul when hee found himselfe forsaken by God and should haue humbled himselfe and sought his face he proceeded in a further rage to inquire of the witches which himselfe had commanded to be destroyed These things should teach us all to labour with God in prayer that what ever evill hee sendeth upon us hee would not suffer his strength and spirit to forsake us nor giue us ouer to the rage and madnesse of our owne nature O what hearts should men see in themselues if they would looke upon their owne faces in other mens lives See â—…ulian dye with revenge and rage against Christ Iudas bursting asunder under the weight of Gods wrath The cursed persecutors putting of their power retiring to a priuate life pining away with vexation because the Gospell of Christ was too hard for them Achitophel dispatching himselfe for very madnesse because his oracle was not beleeved One despaire another blaspheme another wrestle with his affliction as a beast in a snare till the part swell and rancle and grow too bigge for the punishment which is upon it How could not this chuse but make men out of loue with themselues and labour to haue more holdfast of the Spirit of Christ that this madnesse of our nature may thereby betained and our equanimity and moderation made knowne to all men Fifthly and lastly In the Ministery of the Word when thy bosome sinne is met with and the plague of thine owne heart discouer'd when thou art prick't in thy master veine when the edge of the sword enters to the quicke sacrificeth thee crucifieth thy lusts cuts off thy earthly members ransackes thy conscience and shewes thee the inside of thy foule soule heere by all meanes looke unto thy heart never so likely a time for madnesse and fierce opposition to set up it selfe as when a man is driven into a corner and cannot flie Sinners are all cowards and cannot indure the brightnesse of Moses face are not able to abide the scrutinie of the Word but would faine turne their backes upon it not onely out of scorne but out of feare too Many a sturdy sinner will seeme to contemne the plainenesse and power of the Word as an illiterate rude foolish thing to scorne undervalue the persons companies discourses of faithfull Ministers as of despicable or supercilious or schismaticall fellowes but the truth is and they in their owne consciences know it too that though there bee indeede much stoutnesse and contempt yet there is more cowardice Scorne is the pretence but feare is the reason they cannot indure to bee disquieted and gall'd as a diseased or wounded horse cuâ—…vets and pranceth and is very actiue and impatient at first sight a man would thinke it pride and metall but the truth is t is paine and smart that causeth it Well then sinners are all cowards and would faine fly but even cowards themselves when they are shutin and surrounded will fight with more fiercenesse then other men even for very feare The basest vermin almost that is when shut out of all his refuges and holes will trie his strength before he will perish and leape in the face of his pursuer And this now is the property of the word to 〈◊〉 men in The Scripture saith the Apostle hath shut up all under sinnâ—… Gal. 3. 22. And we shall ever finde that the deeper the conviction hath been the more likewise hath beene the preiudice and the fiercer the Opposition against the word see Ier. 5. 5 12. 6. 10. 43. 1 2. Nehem. 9. 29 30. Ioh. 8. 48 59. Ioh. 11. 47 53. Act. 5. 33. Act. 6. 10 11. 7. 54. 57 58. Ier. 36. 23. 2. Chron. 36. 15 16 17. As in the meeting of two contrary streames if one prevaile not to carry away and over-rule the other there must needs arise a mighty noyse and rage in the conflict so is it in the wrestling and strife betweene the Spirit of God in the Word and the current of a mans owne corruptions the greater strength and manifestation of the Spirit the Word hath in it and the fewer corners and chinkes it leaves for sinne to escape at the more fierce must needes the opposition be if the word be not prevalent enough to turne the current Let us therfore beware whatever we do of snuffing or rebelling against the warnings which are giuen us out of the Word It is hard to kicke against the prickes there is no overcomming Gods Spirit a man may fall upon the stone but hee shall be broken by it if he be so strong and lift so hard as to move the stone it shall fall upon him and grinde him to powder Let us not resolve to baffle the ministers and to despise their message It is a sinne that leaves no remedy for a man to throw away the physicke to trample under foote the playster that should heale him Let us not thinke to blow away the Words of God as if they were but so much empty winde for the Lord saith that they shall become fire to devouâ—…e the adversaries Let us not distinguish Scripture to our owne humours nor accept or reject Gods Truth as will best consist with our owne resolutions but as it is the power of the Word to Captivate even rebelliousthoughts to the obedience of Christ so let us resolve to accept of every one of Gods righteous Commandements and to hate every false way to heare Christ and his Ministers in all things to answer to Gods severest cals even then when they make us tremble and doe astonish us as Saint Paul did Lord what wilt thou haue me to doe Even when the word affrights thee yet giue this honour to it not to reject it nor fly from it not to smother and suppresse it but to endure it to search thee and to submit thy selfe unto it This is a notable way to abate the Originall madnesse which is in thy heart Secondly as there is furor in madnesse so there is Amentia too A distemper in the Intellectuals as well as in the passions Every man that is throughly mad is a foole too And therefore the same originall word is translated in one place madnesse Luk. 6. 11. and in another place follie 2. Tim. 3. 9. Now this distemper is Twofold for either it is an universall privation
much set forward by the Word because therein is made more apparant to the Soule the Glory and the Power of God therefore the Two Prophets are said to Torment the inhabitants of the Earth and the Law is said to make men guilty and to kill to hew smite and destroy those whom it deales with all Secondly such a faith as the Divels have begotten by the Word and assented unto by the secret suggestions of the heart witnessing to it selfe that it hath deserved more then yet it feeles and this begets a fearefull expectation of being devoured surpriseth the heart with horrid tremblings and presumptions of the vengeance to come which the Apostle calls the Spirit of bondage and feare But all this being an Assent perforce extorted for wicked men confesse their sinnes as the Divels confessed Christ more out of Torment then out of Love to God or humiliation under his mighty hand amounts to no more then a Naturall Conviction Secondly there is a Spirituall and Evangelicall Conviction of the Guilt of sinne and the damnation due thereunto arising from the Law written in the heart and tempered with the apprehension of mercie in the new Covenant which begets such a paine under the Guilt of sin as a plaister doth to the impostumation which withall it cures such a Conviction as is a manuduction unto righteousnesse And that is when the Conscience doth not onely perforce feele it selfe dead but hath wrought in it by the Spirit the same affection towards it selfe for sinne which the word hath is willing to charge it selfe and acquit God to endite accuse arraigne testifie condemne it selfe meete the Lord in the way of his Iudgements and cast downe it selfe under his mighty hand That man who can in secret and truth of heart willingly and uncompulsorily thus stand on Gods side against sinne and against himselfe for it giving God the Gloâ—ie of his righteousnesse if he should condemne him and of his uâ—searchable and rich mercie that hee doth offer to forgive him I dare pronounce that man to haue the Spirit of Christ. For no man by nature can willingly and uprightly Owne damnation and charge himselfe with it as his due portion and most just inheritance This can never arise but from a deepe sense and hate of sinne from a most ardent zeale for the Glory and Righteousnesse of God Now then since the Conviction of sinne and of the death and Guilt thereof are not to drive men to despaire or blasphemie but that they may beleeve and lay hold on the righteousnesse of Christ which they are then most likely to doe when sinne is made exceeding sinfull and by consequence death exceeding deadly give mee leave to set forth in two words what this Guilt of sinne is that the necessitie of righteousnesse from Christ may appeare the greater and his mercie therein bee the more glorified Guilt is the Demerit of sinne binding and subjecting the person in whom it is to undergoe all the punishments legally due the reunto This Demerit is founded not only in the Constitution Will and Power of God over his owne Creatures of whom hee may justly require whatsoever obedience hee giveth power to performe but in the nature of his owne Holinesse and Iustice which in sinne is violated and turned from and this Guilt is after a sort Infinite because it springeth out of the aversion from an Infinite Good the violation of an infinite Holynesse and Iustice and the Conversion to the Creatures infinitely if men could live ever to commit adultery with them And as the Consequence and reward of obedience was the favour of God conferring life and blessednesse to the Creature so the wages of sinne which this Guilt assureth a sinner of is the wrath of God which the Scripture calleth Death and the Curse This Guilt being an Obligation unto punishment leadeth us to consider what the nature of that curse and death is unto which it bindeth us over Punishment bearing necessarie relation to a command the trangression whereof is therein recompenced taketh in these considerations First on the part of the Commander a will to which the Actions of the subject must conforme reveal'd and signified under the nature of a Law Secondly a justice which will and thirdly a power which can punish the transgressors of that Law Secondly on the part of the subject commanded there is requir'd first Reason and free-will originally without which there can be no sinne for though man by his brutishnesse and impotency which he doth coÌ„tract cannot make void the commands of God but that they now binde men who have put out their light and lost their libertie yet originally God made no law to binde under paine of sinne but that unto the obedience whereof hee gave reason and free-will Secondly a debt and obligation either by voluntarie subjection as man to man or naturall as the creature to God or both sealed and acknowledged in the covenants betweene God and man whereby man is bound to fulfill that law which it was originally enabled to observe Thirdly a forfeiture guilt and demerit upon the violation of that Law Thirdly and lastly the evill it selfe inflicted wherein we consider first the nature and qualitie of it which is to have a destructive power to oppresse and dis quiet the offender and to violate the integritie of his well being For as sinne is a violation offered by man to the Law so punishment is a violation retorted from the Law to man Secondly the Proportion of it to the offence the greatnesse whereof is manifested in the majestie of God offended and those severall relations of goodnesse patience creation redemption which he hath to man in the quality of the creature offending being the chiefe and lord of all the rest below him in the easinesse of the primitive obedience in the unprofitablenesse of the wayes of sinne and a world of the like aggravations Thirdly the end of it which is not the destruction of the creature whom as a creature God loveth but the satisfaction of justice the declaration of divine displeasure against sinne and the manifestation of the glory of his power and terrour So then Punishment is an evill or pressure of the Creature proceeding from a Law giver just and powerfull inflicted on a reasonable Creature for and proportionable unto the breach of such a Law unto the performance and obedience whereof the Creature was originally enabled wherein is intended the glory of Gods just displeasure and great power against sinne which hee naturally hateth Now these punishments are Temporall Spirituall and Eternall Temporall and those first without a man The vanitie of the Creatures which were at first made full of goodnesse and beautie but doe now mourne and grone under the bondage of our sinnes The wrath of God revealing it selfe from heaven and the curse of God over-growing the earth Secondly within him All the Harbingers and Fore-runners of death sicknesse paine povertie reproach feare and
from the arâ—…e did direct it to sometimes by an externall cause a bâ—…ke meeting and turning the course ever by an internall the sway and corrective of the Bias which accompanies and slackens the impressed violence throughout all the motion So is it in the turning of a man from sinne A naturall man goes on with a full consent of heart no bias in the will or affections to moderate or abate the violence only sometimes by chance he meetes with a convicted judgement or with a naturall conscience which like a banke turnes the motion or disappoints the heart in the whole pleasure of that sinne but in another where haplie he meetes with no such obstacle he runnes his full and direct course But now a spirituall man hath a Bias and Corrective of Grace in the same facultie where sin is which doth much remit the violence and at length turne the course of it And this holdes in every sin because the Corrective is not casuall or with respect onely to this or that particular but is firmely fix'd in the parts themselves on which the impressions of sinne are made Thirdly they differ in the manner or qualities of the conflict For first a naturall conflict hath ever Treacherie mixed with it but a Spirituall conflict is faithfull and sound throughout and that appeares thus A Spirituall heart doth ever ground its fight out of the Word labors much to acquaint it selfe with that because there it shall have a more distinct view of the enemy of his armies holdes supplies traines weapons strategems For a spirituall heart sets it selfe seriously to fight against every method deceite armor of lust as well against the pleasures as the guilt of sinne But a naturall heart hath a secret treacherie and intelligence with the enemy and therefore hates the light and is willingly ignorant of the forces of sinne that it may have that to alledge for not making opposition There is in every naturall man in sinning a disposition very suteable to that of Vitellius who used no other defences against the ruine which approached him but onely to keepe out the memory and report of it with fortifications of mirth and sottishnesse that so he might be deliver'd from the paines of preserving himselfe Thus the naturall conscience finding the warre against sinne to be irkesome that it may bee deliver'd from so troublesome a businesse labours rather to stifle the notions to suppresse and hold under the truth in unrighteousnesse to strive resist dispute with the spirit to be gladly gull'd and darkened with the deceites of sinne then to live all its time in unpreventable and unfinishable contentions Secondly a naturall conflict is ever particular and a spirituall universall against All sin because it proceedeth from hatred which is ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher speakes against the whole kinde of a thing A naturall man may be angry with sinne as a man with his wife or friend for some present vexation and disquietnesse which it brings and yet not hate it for that reacheth to the very not being of a thing And for a naturall man to have his lusts so overcome as not at all to be would doubtlesse be unto him as painefull as mutilation or dismembring to the naturall bodie and therefore if it were put to his choice in such termes as might distinctly set forth the painefulnesse and contrarietie of it to his present nature he would undoubtedly refuse it because he should be destitute of a principle to live and move by and every thing naturally desires rather to move by a principle of its owne then by violent and forraigne impressions such as are those by which naturall men are moved to the wayes of God And therefore the naturall conscience doth ever beare with some sinnes if they be small unknowne secret or the like and hearkens not after them But the spirit holdes peace with no sin fights against the least the remotest those which are out of sight Paul against the sproutings and rebellions of naturall Concupiscence David against his secret sinnes as Israel against Iericho and Ai and those other cities of Canaan it suffers no Accursed thing to be referâ—…ed it slayes as well women and children as men of warre lest that which remaines should be a snare to deceive and an engine to induce more The naturall conscience shootes onely by aime and levell against some sins and spares the rest as Saul in the slaughter of the Amalekites But the spirituall shootes not onely by levell against particular notorious sinnes but at randome too against the whole army of sinne and by that meanes doth peradventure wound and weaken lusts which it did not distinctly observe in it selfe by complaining unto God against the bodie of sinne by watching over the course and frame of the heart by acquainting it selfe out of the Word with the armour and devices oâ—… Satan c. The opposition then betweene the naturall conscience and sinne is like the opposition betweene fire and hardnesse in some subjects the conflict betweene the spirituall conscience and sinne is like the opposition betweene fire and coldnesse Put mettall into the fire and the heat will dissolve and melt it but put a bricke into the fire and that will not melt nor soften because the consistencie of it doth not arise Ex causâ frigidà but siccâ but put either one or other into the fire and the coldnesse of it will be removed and the reason is because betweene fire and hardnesse there is but a particular opposition in some cases namely where a thing is hard out of a dominion of cold as in mettals not out of a dominion of dry qualities as in bricke and stones but betweene fire and coldnesse there is an universall opposition So a naturall conscience may peradventure serve to dissolve or weaken in regard of outward practice some sinnes but never All whereas a spirituall reacheth to the remitting and abating every lust because the one is onely a particular the other an universall opposition Thirdly the naturall conscience fights against sinne with fleshly weapons and therefore is more easily overcome by the subtiltie of Satan such as are servile feare secular ends carnall disadvantages generall reason and the like but the spirituall conscience ever fights with spirituall weapons out of the Word Faith Prayer Hope Experience Watchfulnesse Love godly Sorrow Truth of heart c. Fourthly they differ in their Effects First a natural conflict consists with the practice of many sinnes unquestioned unresisted but a spirituall changeth the course and tenor of a mans life that as by the remainders of the flesh the best may say We cannot doe the things which we would So by the first fruits of the spirit and the seede of God it may be truely said They cannot sinne For though they doe not attaine a perfection in the manner yet for the generall current and course of their living it is without eminent
but Gods Love and Mercy is the onely reason of making promises The Lord did not set his Love upon you nor choose you saith Moses to Israel because ye were more in number then any people but because the Lord Loved you that is the ground of making the promise and because he would keepe the oath which he had sworne to your fathers that was the ground of performing his promise For thy Words sake and according to thine owne heart saith David hast thou done all these great things According to thine owne heart that is ex mero motâ—… out of pure and unexcited love thou didst give thy Word and Promise and for thy Word sake thou hast performed it not for any thing that was in mee for whâ—… am â—… O Lord or what is my house hast thou brought me hitherto Thou wilt performe saith the Prophet the Truth to Iacob and the mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworne unto our fathers from the dayes of old Why Truth to Iacob and Mercy to Abraham We must note the promise after a sort began in Abraham therefore he is call'd the Father of the Faithfull and when God makes a promise it is onely out of Mercie but the Promise was continued unto â—…a cob who being Abrahams seede was an heiâ—…e of the Promise and so the inheritance which was out of mercy given unto Abraham did out of Truth and fidelitie descend unto Iacob the seede of Abraham and therefore we shall finde Covenant Mercy and Oath ioyned together in the Scripture to note unto us both the ground of making the Covenant Mercy and the ground of performing the Covenant made the Truth and Fidelity of God Thy God shall keepe unto thee the Covenant and the Mercy which he sware unto thy fathers saith Moses To performe the Mercy promised to our fathers and to re member his holy Covenant The oath which he sware to ouâ—… father Abraham c. saith Zachary in his song Thâ—… wee see that the Promises are the tokens and fruits oâ—… Gods meere Love And in that regard they are apt to cleanse or to moue us to any dutâ—…e which God requires of us For Love and mercy being by faith apprehended are strong arguments to love and feare God againe is love him because he loved us and they shall feare thâ—… Lord and his goodnesse the goodnesse of the Lord begetteth feare and that is all one as to cleanse and purifie for the feare of the Lord is cleane and pure There is an uncleane feare like that of the Adulteresse who feareth her husband lest hee should returne and deprehend her in her falsenesse to him but the true feare of the Lord is cleane like that of a chaste spouse who feareth the departure of her Love There are none so destitute of humanity as not to answere Love for Love Secondly Promises are the Efficient causes of our Purification as they are The grounds of our Hope and expectations Wee have no reason to Hope for any thing which is not promised or upon any other conditions then as promised Hope is for this reason in Scripture compared to an Anker both sure and stedfast because it must have something of firmenesse and stabilitie to fasten upon before it can secure the Soule in any tempest To hope without a promise or upon any promise otherwise then it stands is but to let an Anker hang in the water or catch in a Wave and thereby to expect safetie to the Vessell This argument the Apostle useth why we should not cast away our confidence or slacken our hope because there is a Promise which by patience and doing the Will of God we may in due time receive and which is a firme foundation for our Confidence to â—…est upon So Abraham is said to have beleeved against hope in hope that hee should be the father of many nations and the ground of that hope is added According to that which was spoken to that word of Promise â—…o shall thy seâ—…de be And else where he is said to have looked for a City which had foundations that is a Citie which was built upon the Immutable stabilitie of Gods â—…ath and Promise Thus we see Promises are the grounds of our Hopâ—… and Hopâ—… is of a cleansing nature The Grace of God saith the Apostle teacheth as to deny 〈◊〉 and worldly lusts and to live â—…oberly righteously and Godly in this present World the reason whereof is presently enforced Looking for that blessed Hope and the Glorious appearing of the great God And againe He that hath this hope in him saith S. Iohn namely to bee like him at his comming Purifieth himselfe even as He is Pure Hee that hopeth to be fully like Christ hereafter and to come to the measure of the stature of his fulnesse will labour to his uttermost to bee as he was in this World For a man hopes for nothing de futuro which he would not presently compasse if it were in his power No man is to bee presum'd to Hope for the whole who hates any part or to expect the fulnesse who rejects the first fruites of the Spirit He that loveth not his brother whom hee hath seene how can hee love God whom he hath not seene That is He that cannot endure nor looke on that little glimpse and ray of Holynesse which is in his brother in one of the same passions infirmities and corruptions with himselfe will much lesse be able to abide the light of the Sonne of righteousnesse and that most orient spotlesse and vast Holynesse which is in him The same reason holdes here he that cannot endeavour to purifie himselfe here doth never truely hope to be like Christ hereafter He that directs his course towards Yorke can never bee presumed to hope that hee shall by that journey get to London when he knowes or might easily be informed that it is quite the other way And the truth is no wicked man hath any true or aâ—… saint Peter calâ—… it lively Hope to come to Heaven Blind presumptions ignorant wishings and wouldings hee may have but no true Hope at all For that ever supposeth some knowledge and preapprehension of the Goodnesse of that which is Hoped for and there is nothing in Heaven which wickedmen do not hate as very evill to them the Presence of the most Holy God the purity and brightnesse of his Glory the Company of Christ Iesus and his Saints c. If they might be suffered first to have a view of it and see what is there doing what Divine and Holy imployments take up all the thoughts desires and powers of the blessed company there they would abhorre no place more Hope begets Love whom having not seene ye love saith the Apostle Hope to bee like Christ hereafter will worke a love and desire to expresse so much as wee can of his Image here Hee that longs for a thing will take any present
occasion to get as much of it as he may together Notably doth Saint Paul set forth this purifying propertie of hope in the promises I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Iesus I am already apprehended of Christ he hath in his body carried me in hope vnto Heaven with him and made mee sit together in Heavenly places and this hope to come to him at last to attaine to that price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus makes me presse and pull and strive by all meanes to attaine to perfection to expresse a Heavenly conversation in earth because from thence I looke for a Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ Hope as we said is an Anker Our Anker is fix'd in heaven our vessell is upon earth now as by the Cable a man may draw his vessell to the Anker so the Soule being fixed by hope vnto Christ doth hale and draw it selfe neerer and neerer unto him Thirdly Promises are the efficient causes of our purification as they are the objects of our Faith For we dare not beleeve without Promises Therefore Abraham stagger'd not through unbeliefe but gave glory to God because he was fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able to performe It is not Gods power simply but with relation to his Promise which secures our faith So Sarah is said through faith to be deliver'd of a child being past age because she judg'd him faithfull that had promised Now by being Objects of faith the Promises must needs cleanse from filthinesse for faith also hath a cleansing property It purifieth the heart and worketh by love and looketh upon the things promised as desireable things rejoyceth in them and worketh homogeneall and sutable affections unto them Againe we must note That sinne comes seldome without Promises to pollute us begets vast expectations and hopes of Good from it Balaam was whet and enliven'd by promises to curse Gods people The Strumpet in the Proverbes that said to the young man Come let us take our fill of loves conceiv'd most adequate satisfaction to her adulterous lusts by that way This was the delusion of the rich foole in his Epicurisme Soule take thine â—…ase eate drinke and be merry for thou hast much laid up for many yeeres Of the Iewes in their Idolatries to the Queene of heaven because that would afford them plenty of victuals and make them see no evill Of Gehazies foolish heart who promised to himselfe Olive-yards and Vineyards and sheepe and Oxen and men-servants and maide servants by his officious lie And this was one of the divels master pieces when he tempted Christ All these will I give thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me Thus we see sinne seldome comes without promises to seduce and pollute the soule And yet the Truth is these promises cannot hold up the hope of any man When a man hath wearied himselfe in the pursuit of them yet still there is lesse hope at last then at first But now faith fixing upon sure mercies upon promises which cannot be abrogated or disannull'd being made iâ—…eversible by the oath of God who after hee hath sworne cannot repent and seeing not onely stabilitie but pretiousnesse in the promises and through them looking upon the great goodnesse of the things contained in them as already subsisting and present to the soule and by this meanes overcomming the world whose onely prejudice and advantage against Christ is this that the things which hee promiseth are long hence to come whereas that which it promiseth it likewise presenteth to the view of sense which difference faith destroieth by giving a subsistence and spirituall presence of things hoped for to the soule by this meanes I say faith doth mightily prevaile to draw a man unto such holinesse as becommeth the sonnes and heires of so certaine and pretious promises Till a man by faith apprehends some interest in the promises he will never out of true Love endeavour a conformitie unto God in Christ. By them saith Saint Peter we are made partakers of the divine nature and doe escape the corruption that is in the world through lust What is it to be made partaker of the divine nature It notes two things first a fellowship with God in his holinesse that puritie which is eminenter and infinitely in Gods most holy nature is formaliter or secundum modum creaturae so farre as the image of his infinite holinesse is expressible in a narrow creature fashioned in and communicated unto us by our union with Christ. Secondly a fellowship with God in his blessednesse namely in that beatificall vision and brightnesse of glory which from the face and fulnesse of Iesus Christ who as a second Adam is made unto us the Authour and Fountaine of all heavenly things shall at last in fulnesse and doth even now in flashes and glimmerings shine forth upon his members And all this we have from those great and pretious promises which are made unto us of Holinesse and of Blessednesse For as we say of the Word in generall so more especially of the Promises they are operative words and doe produce some reall effects being received by faith As a man when he receiveth a deed signed sealed witnessed and delivered doth not onely take parchment or waxe or emptie words but hath thereby some fundamentall right created unto the things in the deed mentioned to be convey'd so that the deed is declaratorie and operative of some Reall effects so in the word and promises of God sealed by the bloud of Christ ratified by the oath of the Covenant testified by the Spirit of Truth deliver'd by the hand of Mercy and received by the hand of Faith there doth not onely passe emptie breath and naked words but also some Reall effects by the intendment of God are thereby produc'd namely the cleansing of our sinfull nature from the pollutions of the world and the transforming thereof into the image and purity of the divine nature Fourthly Promises are the efficient causes of our purification as they are the Raies and Beames of Christ the Sunne of Righteousnesse in whom they are all founded and established They are All in him Yea and in him Amen Every promise by faith apprehended carries a man to Christ and to the consideration of our unity with him in the right whereof we have claime to the Promises even as every line in a circumference though there never so distant from other doth being pursued carry a man at last to one and the same Center common unto them all For the Promises are not made for any thing in us nor have their stability in us but they are made in and for Christ unto us unto Christ in our behalfe and unto us onely so farre forth as we are members of Christ. For they were not made to seeds as many but to seed namely to Christ in aggregato as
comprehending the head and the members in the unitie of one body So then every Promise carrying us to that Vnitie which we have with Christ by his spirit who is therefore call'd a spirit of Adoption because he vesteth us with the sonneship of Christ and a spirit of holinesse and renovation because he sanctifieth us by the resurrection of Christ doth thereby purifie us from dead workes and conforme the members to the Head building them up in an holy Temple and into an habitation of God through that spirit by whom we are in Christ. In one word Our interest in the Promises is grounded upon our being in Christ and being one with him and our being in him is the ground of our purification Every branch in me that bringeth forth fruite my father purgeth that it may bring forth more fruite And in this respect the promises may be said to purifie as still carrying us to our interest in Christ in whom they are founded Fifthly and lastly the Promises are causes of our purification as Exemplars patterns and seeds of purity unto us For the Promises are in themselves Exceeding great and pretious Every Word of God is pure and tryed like gold seven times in the fire it is right and cleane and true and altogether righteous and therefore very lovely and attractive apt to sanctifie and cleanse the soule Sanctifie them by thy truth saith Christ thy Word is truth and againe Now ye are cleane through the Word which I have spoken unto you For the Word is Seed and seede a similates earth and dirt into its owne pure and cleane nature So by the Word there is a trans-elementation as it were and conforming of our foule and earthie nature to the spiritualnesse of it selfe Therefore the Apostle useth this for an argument why the regenerate cannot siâ— namely in that universall and complete manner as others doe because they have the seed of God abiding in them that is his Word Spirit and Promises abating the strength of lust and swaying them to a contrary point For thus the Word of promise makes a mans heart to argue Hath God of meere Grace made assurance of so pretious things to me who by nature am a filthy and uncleane Creature obnoxious to all the curses and vengeance in his booke Hath he wrought so great deliverance and laid up such unsearchable riches for my soule and should I againe breake his Commandements and joyne in the abominations of other men Would he not be angry till he had consumed me so that there should be no escaping Should I not rather labour to feele the comforts and power of these Promises encouraging mee to walke worthy of so great meroy and so high a calling to walke meete for the participation of the Inheritance of the Saints in light Shall I that am reserv'd to such honour live in the meane time after the lusts of the Gentiles who have no hope Hath God distinguished me by his Spirit and Promises from the world and shall I confound my selfe againe Shall I requite evill for good to the hurt of mine owne soule These and the like are the reasonings of the heart from the beauty and purity of the Promises Thirdly and lastly Promises are Arguments to inferre our Purification because in many of them that is the very Matter of which they consist and so the power and fidelity of God is engag'd for our Purification I will clense them from all their iniquity whereby they haue sinned against me saith the Lord. And againe I will sprinkle cleane water vpon you and you shall be cleane from all your filthinesse and from all your idoles will I clense you c. And againe They shall not defile themselues any more with their idoles nor with their detestable things nor with any of their transgressions but I will save them and I will cleanse them And againe I will heale their backeslidings I will Love them freely The Lord will wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion purge the bloud of Ierusalem from the midst thereof by the Spirit of Iudgement and by the spirit of burning Which Promises bringing along the fidelity and power of God to our faith doe settle our hearts amidst all the corruptions and impotencies of our nature When the conscience is once throughly acquainted with the sight of its owne foulnesse with the sense of that life and power which is in concupiscence it findes it then a great difficultie to rest in any hope of having lusts either subdued or forgiuen The Psalmist when his sore ranne and ceased not refused to be comforted thought himselfe cast out of Gods fauour as if his mercies were exhausted and his promises come to an end and his compassions were shut up and would shew themselves no more Therefore in this case the Lord carries our Faith to the consideration of his Power Grace and Fidelity which surpasseth not onely the knowledge but the very coniectures and contrivances of the hearts of men The Apostle saith That Christ was declared to be the Sonne of God with power according to the Spirit of holinesse by the resurrection from the dead That Spirit which raised Him from the dead is therefore called a spirit of Holinesse because the sanctifying of a sinner is a resurrection and requires the same power to effect it which raised Christ from the dead When Saint Paul had such a bitter conflict with the thorne in his flesh the vigor and stirrings of concupiscence within him he had no refuge nor comfort but onely in the sufficiencie of Gods grace which was able in due time to worke away and purge out his lusts And the prophet makes this an argument of Gods great power above all other Gods that he subdueth iniquities and blotteth out transgressions Though wee know not how this can be done that such dead bones soules that are even rotten in their sinnes should be cleansed from their filthinesse and live againe yet he knowes and therefore when wee are at a stand and know not what to doe to Cure our lusts then wee may by faith fix our Eyes upon him whose grace power wisedome fidelity is all in these his promises put to gage for our purification Thus wee see how promises in generall doe worke to the Cleansing of us from filthinesse of flesh and spirit The same might at large be shewed in many particulars I will but name those in the words before the Text to which it referres The Lord promiseth to Dwell in us as in spirituall Temples and this proves that wee ought to keepe our selues Cleane that wee may be fit habitations for so Dovelike and pure a spirit Flee forâ—…ication saith the Apostle why know you not that your bodie is the Temple of the holy Ghost which is in you therefore glorifie God in your bodies and spirits for they are Gods And againe If any man defile the Temple of God
him shall God destroâ—… for the temple of God is holy which temple ye are He promiseth to be Our Father and make us his people and this also is a strong argument why wee should purifie our selves and as obedient children not fashion our selves according to the former lusts in ignorance but as he who hath called us is holy so should we be holy in all manner of conversation And if we call him father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans workes we should passe the time of our sojourning here in feare Ye are a chosen generation saith Saint Peter a royall priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people that you should shew forth the vertues of him who hath called you out of darknesse into his marvellous light When yee were of the world ye were then strangers to the Covenant and aliens from the house and Israel of God but now being become Gods houshold ye are strangers and pilgrimes in the present world and should therefore abstaine from the lusts of the flesh which are sensuall and worldly things Those that are a peculiar people are a purged people â—…oo He will purifie to himselfe a peculiar people that they may be zealous of good workâ—…s The consideration of which things should make us labour to settle our hearts to beleeve love and prize the promises to store up and hide the word in our hearts to have it Dwell richly in us that in evill times and dayes of temptation wee may have some holdfast to relie upon In times of plenty security and peace men go calmely on without feare or suspicion but when stonnes arise when God either hides his face or le ts out his displeasure or throwes men upon any extremities then there is no hope but in our aâ—…ker no stay nor reliefe but in Gods promises which are setled and sure established in heauen and therfore never reversed or cancelled in the earth And if this faithfull and sure word had not bin Daâ—…ids delight comfort if he had not in all the changes chances of his owne â—…ife remembred that al Gods promises are made in heaven where there is no inconstancie nor repentance he had perished in his affliction Though David by a propheticall spirit foresaw that God would not make his house to grow but to become a dry and wither'd stocke of â—…esse yet herein was the ground of all his salvation and of all his desire that the Lord had made with him an Everlasting Covenant order'd in all things and 〈◊〉 that he had 〈◊〉 by his holâ—…nesse that he would not faile David so that it was as possible for God to be unholy as for the Word of promise made unto David to fall to the ground be untrue Now that wee may the better apply the Promises to our selves and establish our hearts in the truth and fidelity of God by them wee may make use of these few Rules amongst divers others which might be given First Promisâ—…s generally made and so in medio for all or particularly to some are by the ground of them equally appliable to any in any condition unto which the promises are â—…utable All the promises are but as one in Christ as lines thoâ—…gh severall in the circumference doe meete as one in the center Take any promise and follow it to its originall and it will undoubtedly carry to Christ in whom alone it is Yea and Amen that is hath its truth certainety and stability all from him Now the Promises meeting in Christ cannot be severed or have a partition made oâ—… them to severall men for every beleever hath All Christ Christ is not divided any other wise then the exigence of mens present estates doth diversifie them and so fit them for such promises as now to others or at other times to themselves would be unseasonable and unappâ—…able The Lord in aslenting to Salomons prayer made a generall promise to any man or to all the people that what prayer or supplication soever should be made towards his temple he would heare in heaven and forgive c. 〈◊〉 beiâ—…g after in distresse applied this generall to hiâ—… 〈◊〉 present 〈◊〉 when the children of Ammon 〈◊〉 and Mount Seir came to turne Israel out of their possessions The Lord made a particular promise 〈◊〉 Ioshua that he would be with him to blesse his enterprises against the Cananites and to carry him through all the difficulties and hazards of that holy warre aâ—…d Saint Paul applies the promise to all the faithfull in any straites or distresses of life as the Lord himselfe had before applied it from Moses to Ioshua Let your conversation be without covetousnesse for as God was with Ioshua so will he be with thee He will not faile thee nor forsake thee Christ made a particular promise unto Peter I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not And the same in effect he applies to All his I pray that thou wouldst keepe them from the evâ—…ll And the consequent words to Saint Peter make it good When thou art con verted strengthen thy brethren that is comfort and revive them by thine owne experience that when they are brought â—…nto the like case with thee they may have the benefit of the same intercessor and the sympathy and compassion of the same Saviour who deliver'd thee As our Saviour saith in matter of dutie What â—… 〈◊〉 â—…nto you I say unto All so we may say of him in matter of mercy What he promiseth unto any he promiseth unto alâ—… in an equall estate It is good therefore to observe the truth of God in his Promises to others and when we finde our selves reduced unto their condition to apply it unto our selves that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures may have hope This is the counsell of Saint â—…awes Take my brethren the Prophets for an examâ—…le of suffering affliction and of patience yee have heard of the patience of â—…ob and ye have seene the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pittifull â—…nd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And saint Paul assures us that for this cause God comforted him in his tribulation that he might be able to comfort them who might be in any trouble with the comfort wherewith â—…ee himselfe had beene comforted by God A poore Christian might object Aâ—…as If I were an Apostle if I had such graces such services such wayes of glorifying God as Paul had I might hope for the same power and providence of God in my afflictions as he findes But I am a poore ignorant unfruitfull and unserviceable creature who doe more blemish then adorne my profession of the Gospell of Christ and shall I looke for such care from God as saint Paul Beloved the members in the body would not so argue If I were an eye or a tongue one of the noblest parts of the body haply some compassion and remedy might be
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
and unitie of natures with him in his spirit and having this Spirit of Christ He thereby worketh in us the will and the deed and thus our sealâ—… is put unto Gods covenant and wee have a constat of it in our selves in some measure whereas jnfidelitie makes God a lyer by saying either I looke for life some other way or I have nothing to doe to depend on Christ for it though God have proposed Him as an all-sufficient Saviour Now then when man hath experience of Gods working this will in him when he findes his heart opened to attend and his will ready to obey the call when hee is made desirous to feare Gods Name and prepared to seeke His face ready to subscribe and beare witnesse to all Gods wayes and methodes of saving That Hee is righteous in His Iudgements if He should condemne wonderfull in His patience when He doth forbeare mighty in His power wisedome and mercie when Hee doth convert unsearchable in the riches and treasures of Christ when he doth Iustifie most holy pure and good in all His commands the soveraigne Lord of our persons and lives to order and dispose them at His will on the sense and experience of these workes doth grow that conclusion and resolution to cleave to Christ. Lastly because this act of Faith is our dutie to God As we may come to Christ because we are called so wee must come because wee are commanded For as Christ was commanded to save us so we are commanded to beleeve in Him From these and the like considerations ariseth a purpose to rely on Christ. But yet still this purpose at first by the mixture of sinne the pragmaticalnesse and importunitie of Satan in tempting the unexperience of the heart in trials the tendernesse of the spirit and fresh sight and reflexion on the state of sinne is very weake and consisteth with much feare doubts trepidation shrinking mistrust of it selfe And therefore though all other effects flow in great measure from it yet that of comfort and calmenesse of spirit more weakly because the heart being most busied in sprituall debatements prayers groanes conflicts struglings of heart languishing and sighing importunities of spirit is not at leisure to reflect on its own translated condition or in the seeds time of teares to reape a harvest of Ioy. As a tree new planted is apt to be bended at every touch or blast of winde or children new borne to crie at every turne and noyse so men in their first conversion are usually more retentive of fearefull then of more comfortable impressions The last act then of Faith is that reflexive act whereby a man knoweth his owne Faith and Knowledge of Christ which is the assurance of faith upon which the joy and peace of a Christian doth principally depend and hath its severall differences and degrees according to the evidence and cleerenesse of that reflection As beautie is more distinctly rendered in a cleere then in a dimme and disturbed glasse so is comfort more distinct and evident according to the proportions of evidence and assurance in faith So then to conclude with this generall rule according as the habits of faith are more firme and radicated the acts more strong constant and evident the conquests and experiences more frequent and successefull so are the properties more evident and conspicuous For the measure and magnitude of a proper passion and effect doth ever follow the perfection of the nature and cause whence it proceedes And therefore every man as he tenders either the love and obedience he owes to God or the comfort he desires in himselfe to enjoy must labour to attaine the highest pitch of Faith and still with Saint Paul to grow in the knowledge of him and his resurrection and sufferings So then upon these premises the heart is to examine it selfe touching the truth of faith in it Doe I love all divine truth not because it is proportionable to my desires but conformable unto God who is the Author of it Can I in all estates without murmuring impatiencie or rebellion cast my selfe upon Gods mercie and trust in Him though He should kill me Doe I wholly renounce all selfe confidence and dependance all worthinesse or concurrence of my selfe to righteousnesse Can I willingly and in the truth and sinceritie of my heart owne all shame and condemnation and acquit God as most righteous and holy if He should reject me Doe I not build either my hopes or feares upon the faces of men nor make either them or my selfe the rule or end of my desires Doe I yeeld and seriously endeavour an universall obedience unto all Gods law and that in the whole extent and latitude thereof without any allowance exception or reservation Is not my obedience mercenarie but sincere Do I not dispense with my selfe for the least sprigges of sinne for irregular thoughts for occasions of offence for appearances of evill for motions of concupiscence for idle words and vaine conversation for any thing that carries with it the face of sinne And when in any of these I am overtaken doe I bewaile my weaknesse and renew my resolutions against it In a word when I have impartially and uprightly measured mine owne heart by the rule doth it not condemne mee of selfe-deceite of hypocrisie of halting and dissembling of halfing and prevaricating in Gods service I may then comfortably conclude that my Faith is in some measure operative and effectuall in mee Which yet I may further trie by the nature of it as it is further expressed by the Apostle in the Text That I may know him Here we see the nature of faith is expressed by an act of knowledge and that act respectively to justification limited to Christ This is eternall Life to know thee and him whom thou hast sent where by knowledge I understand a certaine and evident assent Now such assents are of two sorts some grounded upon the evidence of the object and that light which the thing assented unto doth carrie and present to the understanding as I assent to this truth that the Sunne is light by the evidence of the thing it selfe and this kinde of assent the Apostle contradistinguisheth from faith by the name of sight Others are grounded upon the authoritie or authenticalnesse of a narrator upon whose report while wee rely without any evidence of the thing it selfe the assent which we produce is an assent of faith or credence Now that Faith is a certaine assâ—…nt and that even above the certaintie of meere naturall conclusions is on all hands I thinke confessed because how ever in regard of our weaknesse and distrust wee are often subject to stagger yet in the thing it selfe it dependeth upon the infallibilitie of Gods owne Word who hath said it and is by consequence neerer unto him who is the fountaine oâ—… all truth and therefore must needes more share in the properties of truth which are certainty and evidâ—…nce then any proved
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
had no holdfast at all of Him When Lazarus was raised It is said that Hee came forth bound hand and foote with Grave cloathes to note that Hee came not out as a victor over Death unto which He was to returne againe but when Christ rose Hee left them behinde because death was to have no more power over Him Thus by His resurrection He was declared to have gone through the whole punishment which Hee was to suffer for sinne and being thus justified himselfe that hee was able also to justifie others that beleeved in him This is the reason why the Apostle useth these words to prove the resurrection of Christ I will give you the sure mercies of David for none of Gods mercies had been sure to us if Christ had been held under by death Our faith had been vaine we had been yet in our sinnes But his worke being fully finished the mercy which thereupon depended was made certaine and as the Apostle speakes sure unto all the 〈◊〉 Thus as the Day wherein Redemption is victorious and consummate is cald the day of Redemption so the worke wherein the merits of Christ were declar'd victorious is said to have been for our justification because they were thereby made appliable unto that purpose The second worke of the Power of Christs Resurrection is to overcome all death in vs and restore vs to life againe Therfore he is cald the Lord of the living and the Prince of life to note that his life is operative unto others wee are by his Resurrection secur'd first against the death and Law which wee were held under for euery sinneâ—… is condemn'd already Now when Christ was condemned for sinne hee thereby deliver'd us from the death of the Law which is the curse so that though some of the grave cloathes may not be quite shaken off but that wee may be subject to the workings feares of the Law upon some occasions yet the malediction thereof is for ever removed Secondly we are secured against the death in sinne regenerated quickned renued fashioned by the power of godlinesse which tameth our rebellions subdueth our corruptions and turneth all our affections another way Thirdly against the hold-fast and conquest of death in the grave from whence wee shall bee translated unto glory a specimen and resemblance of this was shewed at the resurrection of Christ when the graves were opened and many dead bodies of the Saints arose and entred into the Citie As a Prince in his inauguration or sosemne state openeth prisons and unlooseth many which there were bound to honour his solemnitie so did Christ do to those Saints at his resurrection and in them gave assurance to all his of their conquest over the last Enemy What a fearefull condition then are all men out of Christ in who shall have no interest in His resurrection Rise indeed they shall but barely by his power as their Iudge not by fellowship with him as the first fruites and first borne of the dead and therefore theirs shall not be properly or at least comfortably a Resurrection no more than a condemn'd persons going from the prison to his execution may be cald an enlargement Pharaohâ—… Butler and Baker went both out of prison but they were not both delivered so the righteous and the wicked shall all appeare before Christ and bee gathered out of their graves but they shall not all bee Children of the Resurrection for that belongs onely to the just The wicked shall be dead everlastingly to all the pleasures and wayes of sin which here they wallowed in As there remaines nothing to a drunkard or adulterer after all his youthfull excesses but crudities rottennesse diseases and the worme of Conscience so the wicked shall carry no worlds nor satisfactions of lust to hell with them their glorie shall not descend after them These things are truths written with a sunne beame in the booke of God First That none out of Christ shall rise unto Glorie Secondly That all who are in him are purged from the Love and power of sinne are made a people willingly obedient unto his scepter and the government of his grace and spirit and have eyes given them to see no beauty but in his kingdome Thirdly Hereupon it is manifest that no uncleane thing shall rise unto glory A prince in the day of his state or any roiall solemnitie wil not admit beggers or base companions into his presence Hee is of purer eyes then to behold much lesse to communicate with uncleane persons None but the pure in heart shal see God Fourthly that every wicked man waxeth worse and worse that hee who is filthy growes more filthy that sinne hardneth the heart and infidelitie hasteneth perdition Whence the conclusion is evident That every impenitent sinner who without any inward hatred purposes of revenge against sinne without godly sorrow forepast and spirituall renovation for after-times allowes himselfe to continue in any course of uncleannesse spends all his time and strength to no other purpose then onely to heape up coales of Iuniper against his owne soule and to gather together a treasure of sins and wrath like an infinite pile of wood to burne himselfe in Again this power of Christs resurrection is a ground of solid and invincible comfort to the faithfull in any pressures or calamities though never so desperate because God hath power and promises to raise them up againe This is a sufficient supportance first Against any either publike or privat afflictions However the Church may seeme to be reduc'd to as low and uncureable an estate as dried bones in a grave or the brands of wood in a fire yet it shall be but like the darknesse of a night after two daies he will revive againe His goings forth in the defence of his Church are prepared as the morning When Iob was upon a dunghill and his reines were consumed within him When Ionah was at the bottome of the Mountaines and the weedes wrapped about his head and the great billowes and waves went over him so that he seemed as cast out of Gods sight When David was in the midst of troubles and Ezekiah in great bitternesse this power of God to raise unto life againe was the onely refuge and comfort they had Secondly against all temptations and discomforts Satans traines and policies come too late after once Christ is risen from the dead for in his resurrection the Church is discharged and set at large Thirdly against Death it selfe because wee shall come out of our graves as gold out of the fire or miners out of their pits laden with gold and glory at the last Lastly wee must from hence learne to seeke those things that are above whither Christ is gone Christs Kingdome is not here and therefore our hearts should not be here Hee is ascended