the Law or the Promises of the Gospel What though they call themselves Churchmen and Sons of the Church What if they be of separate Assemblies if they walk not after the Spirit but after the Flesh they are the Devil's Slaves and Firebrands of Hell There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isai 48.22 Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Holiness is the true end of all Religion we must attain unto Holiness or we can never please God in any Religion that we profess Cease to do evil learn to do well put away the evil of your doings Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool Esai 1.16 17 18. There is no communion with God no Fellowship or Converse with or Approach unto God for all these I take to be understood by Reasoning together without washing and cleansing ourselves Before this in the 11 12 13 14 15 Verses God renounceth all Acceptance of any thing they did in Religion To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me c. saith the Lord. Men may use some kind of honest Endeavours after Holiness and fail of attaining what they seek after Thus the Apostle witnesses of the Jews Rom. 9.31 But Israel which followed after the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness Verse 32. Wherefore because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the law Now for these the Aposile had a great deal of Pitty and Commiseration as you may see Rom. 9.1 2 3. I say the truth in Christ I lye not my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelites c. And so Rom. 10.1 2 3. Brethren my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to the knowledge For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God Now I have made these two last Quotations to prove That Men may in some sort and way have a great Zeal and Endeavour to please God and to be the Favorites of Heaven and yet lose their labour What shall become then of those that take no pains in Religion at all and indeed do not truly endeavour to become universally Holy but please themselves with some poor low ends in their Profession short of this only worthy design I shall conclude this Application with those words of the Apostle in Rom. 6.21 22. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed What real Profit or what real Comfort had ye in those sinful Pleasures and wicked Courses wherein once in the State of Unregeneracy ye indulged yourselves Wicked Men of the World take a great deal of pains to get Profits and Pleasures and Honours and what doth it afford them What comfort have they of it at the very time upon a sober Review and Consideration The Answer is None at all and besides now ye are ashamed of what ye then did then it was no matter of Comfort and now 't is a matter of Shame But what follows Ver. 22. But now being made free from sin Who is free from sin Answer Every Saint of God is free from Sin in the Apostle's sence not in the sence of a quarrelsome Scholastick and become servants to God you have your fruit unto holiness That is a present rich Fruit indeed that by turning to God and exercising ourselves unto Righteousness we attain unto an Holy Frame and Temper and Readiness to every good Work And the end everlasting Life The Law teacheth Holiness and the Gospel effects it and though some may lose their labour that are at some pains in Religion for want of diligent Enquiry after the right way as the Jews did and all that seek to be justified and sanctified by the Law will do yet they that are at no pains at all in Religion are sure to tumble into Hell Strive to enter in at the strait gate sa it our Saviour for many I say unto you shall seek to enter in but shall not be able Luke 13.21 If seeking will not do but we must also strive to enter what will become of those that do not so much as seek And now I would end this Subject Use VII Of Consolation which is grown under my hand to double the largeness that I intended it with a Use of Consolation to all the true Saints of God Are there any as I hope there are many that have been duly convinced of Sin how great an Evil it is how it hath dishonoured God and defiled and debased their Nature and Noble Soul which is God's Off-spring and endangered their sinking under the Divine Displeasure to Eternity and especially of the great Sin of not believing in Christ but rather seeking to be justified by the Works of the Law have they at last found themselves killed by the Law with a Thousand Deaths and been driven to flee from the Wrath that is certainly to come unto the Hope that is set before them in the Gospel Have they been couvinced of Righteousness because Christ is gone to the Father and we are to see him no more till his second coming and from hence conclude that he hath brought about Everlasting Righteousness by his Death for else how could he upon whom his Father laid the Iniquities of us all and did while he was punishing him upon the Cross as it were forsake him be admitted again into his Father's presence as an Advocate for us Have they been convinced of Judgment as knowing that because Christ hath died and is again gone to the Father that therefore the Prince of this World the Devil is judged and condemned and shall be cast out of his Tyranny over Men all Men that betake themselves to Christ the Captain of their Salvation who by Death destroyed him that had the power of Death that is the Devil that he might deliver them who through fear of death are all their life-time subject to bondage Heb. 2.14 15. And so have they betaken themselves to Christ as their Head and Husband and only Saviour that he may be made of God unto them Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Why unto you is the Word of this Salvation sent You are the blessed of the Lord and ye shall be blessed and the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against you You are called to resist the Devil to fight against Principalities and Powers and the Rulers of the Darkness of this World and against Spiritual Wickedness in high places
Sanctification by Faith VINDICATED IN A DISCOURSE ON THE Seventh Chapter of the Epistle OF St. PAUL to the ROMANS Compared with the Sixth and Eighth Chapters of the same Epistle Written by ZACHARY MAYNE M.A. To which is prefixt a Preface by Mr. Rob. Burscough 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrysostom de Apostolo Paulo Peccata Populi Ennumer at Persona sua Quod Apostolum in Epistola ad Romanos facere legimus S. Hieronymus in Daniel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 15.9 Licensed Sept. 11th 1693. LONDON Printed by W. O. for John Salusbury at the Rising Sun in Cornhill near the Royal Exchange MDCXCIII THE PREFACE THE Christians of the first Ages were such Ornaments of their Profession and such Examples of Piety and Zeal of Humility and Patience and all other Vertues that the World beheld them with astonishment Many of their Enemies concluded that so heavenly a Conversation proceeded from a Principle that is more than Human and were thereby induced to embrace the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But it must be acknowledged that there were many that assum'd the Name of Christians who by their various Heresies and detestable Practices caus'd the Way of Truth to be blasphem'd Yet * Vid. Iren. advers Haeres lib. 1. cap. 1. pag. 26 28. cap. 9. pag. 73. Clem. Alex. Paedag. lib. 1. cap. 6. pag. 107. Tertul. de Praescript Haeret. cap. 41. p. 217. did they stile themselves The elected Seed and boasted of an extraordinary Perfection They pretended that they understood more than Paul or Peter or any other Mortal and that they were no more polluted with the Sins they committed than Gold was diminished in its Substance or corrupted with Dirt. I know not whether any amongst us be arriv'd to such Arrogance and Folly But it is too evident and it is sad to consider that as there is no small number of debauch'd and profligate Wretches even in these Times of so much Light who set their Mouths against Heaven and like the prophane Antiochus speak marvellous things against the God of Gods So there are many others that profess to know God but in Works deny him and to have a special interest in the favour of Christ but hate to be reform'd by him They flatter themselves into a belief that they have made an exchange with him of their Sins which nevertheless they resolve not to part with for his Righteousness which they are willing he should keep to himself They are not concern'd about it nor are they solicitous to know whether the advantageous Bargain with which they are so much affected have any other ground but in their own imagination Because a just Enquiry into this Matter would frustrate their great Design which is to live wickedly and as comfortably as they can and to reconcile their Vices with the hopes of Salvation This disposes them to advance or defend such Doctrines as are most suitable to their corrupt Inclinations and from hence it is that instead of bringing their Actions to the Rule they warp the Rule into a compliance with their Actions Or as St. Basil speaks * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil in Hex Homil. 2. p. 17. of those that adulterate the Truth They do not accommodate their Mind to the Scripture but pervert the Scripture to their own Will And thus they seek to cover their shame under the shadow of a Divine Authority as Seneca tells us †Vitiis dediti luxuriam suam in Philosophiae sinu abscondunt Senec. de Vit. Beat. c. 12. the Epicureans hid their Luxury in the Bosom of Philosophy Amongst all the parts of the Holy Scripture that have been thus perverted I think none have suffer'd more than St. Paul's Epistles in which as another Apostle assures us there are some things hard to be understood 2 Pet. 3.16 And such are the things which Men of corrupt minds are wont to set upon the Rack * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesych that they may extort a Confession from them in favour of Immorality The plain and necessary Rules and Precepts of Religion they neglect and from obscure Passages they wrest those Conclusions that are only fit to support a false Peace in the way to destruction For this purpose they serve themselves of the seventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans and they seem to me to argue more plausibly from thence in vindication of Impiety than from any other part of the Apostle's Writings Which may shew what care we ought to take to inform ourselves of his meaning that we may avoid their Mistakes of which both the Causes and Effects are very deplorable and be able to defend Christianity from their Assaults and the Reproaches that they would cast upon it You see says St. Chrysostom †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chryst t. 3. p. 100. Ed. Savil. speaking of this place that unless with due fear or circumspection we consider his Words and have an eye to his Scope there will follow infinite Absurdities And of this Admonition I think there is sufficient reason Indeed if St. Paul speaks of himself in the state of Sanctification where he says that he is Carnal and sold under Sin with other things of the like nature a Man may then at once be engaged in the Service of God and Mammon and be in Communion both with Christ and Belial He may reconcile things that are most inconsistent and be at the same time a Child of Light and of Darkness He need but say The Evil I do I allow not and therefore it is no more I that do it but Sin that dwelleth in me and this would justifie the greatest Enormities To know his Master's Will and not to do it to confess it to be holy just and good and to be under convictions from it and yet to neglect it would secure him from future stripes for his disobedience to it And to bite the Chain that holds him fast and to frâ—â— at the wretched Slavery he endures would be an Argument of a Glorious Liberty To violate the Laws of God with reluctancy and against the dictates of his own Conscience would be a mark of Sanctification and of this Consolation he could never be depriv'd unless he lost all sence of good and evil and being past feeling rush'd furiously into Sin without any consideration or apprehension of Divine Vengeance If these be just and natural Inferences from the Interpretation which I have mention'd as I think they are this is cause enough to reject it For they that are skill'd in the Art of Reasoning lay this down as a Maxim * Docent nos Dialectici si ea quae rem aliquam sequantur falsa sint falsam illam ipsam esse quam sequantur Cicer. de Fin. Bon. Mal. lib. 4. sect 19. and it is generally receiv'd as an evident Truth That if the things are false which follow from certain Premises these Premises are also false And our blessed Saviour tells us
are to be conceived as two Queen-Regents to one of which every Man and Woman in the World is a Subject and all their Limbs Senses and Faculties of their Bodies and Souls are made Servants to do their Work Now the Work which Uncleanness or Iniquity enjoyns is Iniquity the Work which Righteousness enjoyns is Holiness Therefore says the Apostle with great accuracy as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity the Queen or Tyrant rather unto iniquity the Work or rather Drudgery of Uncleanness and Iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness the Queen-Regent in and of your Souls unto holiness the Work of Righteousness This is all I can observe in the difference of to and unto For when ye were the servants of sin Verse 20 ye were free from or free to righteousness That is Righteousness had no command over you What fruit had ye then of those things whereof ye are now ashamed Verse 21 The Apostle now having as it were done with the Description of their Relations of Servants and Mistresses Queen and Subject Services and Works he concludes the Chapter and the whole Discourse with an Account of the Wages paid by each Mistress each Queen to their several Servants What fruit had ye then of these things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of these things is death That is of those things or services which ye performed or perpetrated to that tyrant sin But now being made free from sin Verse 22 and become the servants of righteousness ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life For the wages of sin is death Verse 23 but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. In this Verse the Apostle makes a manifest distinction betwixt the reward of Sin and the reward of Righteousness and Holiness The reward of Sin is in the nature of a due Debt as a Soldier 's Wages are a due Debt Death Temporal Spiritual and Eternal are the bitter Fruit and due Merit of Sin but Eternal Life though it be due to Saints by promise yet not by any desert of theirs it is the free gracious gift of God he gave us a Saviour to redeem us he gave us the Doctrine of the Gospel Faith and Repentance are the gifts of God and every Grace in us is not only gratum faciens but gratis data that which makes us acceptable but freely given us through Jesus Christ our Lord. And now having gone through the Chapter I think fit to re-capitulate a little and make a few Reflections upon what hath been said and so come to the main Chapter And now that we have seen the Doctrine of Universal Holiness so recommended unto us by our very Profession of being Christians that by our Baptism and necessary conformity to Christ in his Death and Burial and Resurection we are perfectly obliged to become dead to every Sin and alive to every Holy Action and Opportunity of bringing Glory to God when we are exhorted to reckon our selves dead unto Sin and alive unto God when we are charged that Sin must not reign in our mortal Body and assured that it shall not for this very reason because we are not under the Law but under Grace and at last told in plain terms that if it be eventually otherwise with us that if we do obey Sin we are the Servants of Sin and that unto Death besides all the rest that follows wherein we are particularly directed not only how to imploy our Minds and Affections but every Member of our Bodies in the Service of God being again and again said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made Freemen from Sin and entered intirely into the Service of Righteousness If I say after all this it may be truly said of the same persons that they are sold under Sin and carnal persons that they do in a general way things that they hate which Slaves indeed do and cannot do otherwise that they cannot find the way or obtain so much of themselves after all the change of state which they have past under as to perform that which is good I despair of understanding the meaning of any words that I shall ever hereafter meet with But yet I do not doubt to make it appear to any unprejudiced Reader in explaining the next Chapter that these Expressions are not spoken of the same Persons that are spoken to in this fixth Chapter which I here dismiss ROMANS Chap. VII KNow ye not Brethren for I speak to them that know the law how that the law hath dominion over a man so long as he liveth or so long as he liveth that is the Law liveth Verse 1 or as Dr. Hammond saith the Law of Man hath power or force as long as he liveth For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband Verse 2 so long as he liveth but if the husband be dead she is loosed from the law of her husband So then if while her husband liveth she be married to another man Verse 3 she shall be called an adulteress but if her husband be dead she is free from that law so that she is no adulteress though she be married to another man In these three Verses you have the common Case stated betwixt an Husband and Wife to which the Apostle by and by by way of similitude doth accommodate the State and and Case of every true converted Christian the Wife is to keep herself intirely for her husband so long as he liveth but if her Husband be dead she is free to marry whom she pleaseth Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the law That is Verse 4 the Law is become dead to you by the Body of Christ So saith Dr. Hammond upon the place at the first Verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You are put to death to the Law must be interpreted as a figurative Speech the Law is put to death to you The Soul of every Christian is the Wife the Law was her first Husband Christ is the second Husband While the Law was alive it had the power over the Soul as over a Wife but the Law being put to death that is in its Condemning Power by the Suffering of Christ and the Satisfaction that he made to it by enduring the Penalty of it for every Believer every Man is free from the Power of the Law that chuseth to betake himself to Christ as an Husband and to take him for his Lord and Saviour The Verse at large is thus Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ Verse 4 that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God The Apostle would not say the Law is dead to you for that had been an invidious Expression amongst the Jews at Rome to say that the Law was dead and therefore he