of abundance and he may live in the world though not to the world which is a dutie easily spoken of yet not easily performed neither was it easily wrought in our Apostle who being a persecutor of the Church was powerfully altered and changed from Heaven and thus doth God deale with his children whom hee doth first cast downe and afflict that they may finde by experience that these outward things can stand us in no stead it may be hee suffers them to fall into some grievous scandalous sinne that they might see the bodie of sinne that lies in them and seeing no good nor help in themselves their desires are stirred up to the imbracing of some better thing wherein they may finde comfort then doth God reveale Christ to us to whom he will have us to flie and say Lord what wilt thou have mee to doe So as this power of changing our selves is not in our selves but it is an almightie power If we thinke therefore that wee are selfe-lovers goe to God present thy selfe in the meanes and then our eyes shall be opened to see and discerne good and evill For God hath promised to annex his spirit to the use of the meanes if that wee in obedience submit our selves to them VERS 8. Yea doubtlesse and I count all things but losse THe words containe a kinde of correction as if in few words he had said All things whatsoever I formerly boasted in nay my very priviledges I count them not onely dung but I doe count them to be losse to me nay I have suffered the losse of them all in comparison and for Christ my â—ord Yea I desire to expresse the earnest intention of my affections by my desire to win him to know hâ—m to be found in him and to formable to his death In generall observe The Apostles resolution and zeale his assured certainty his large heart being not able to expresse his affection but by many words viz. his love of Christ and hate of all outward things whatsoever Therefore we also in maine fundamentall points must be resolute carrying a full saile as in the truth of the thing there is a certainty so in us there must be an assured perswasion thereof For even from these uncertaine irresolute hearts comes Apostacie men being not grounded are carried about with every winde of doctrine and hence also comes different measures of grace in Christians some say with Paul Doubtlesse others are of doubting hearts But the end of the word is to settle us Ephes. 4.13 And though it be never so true yet if we not beleeve it though the foundation be sure yet if we not build on it the tru hand force of it is not good unto us In the second place fâ—om the Apostles example We are to learne in fundamentall truthes to be zealous The Apostle speaking of any thing that â—eâ—kes competition with Christ for value how doth he vilisie it that he hath not words sufficient to eâ—prâ—sse his fervent hatred thereof For zeale is such an affection as causes a constant hatred against any thing that opposes that which we intirely love even such a hatred as will cause us not to indure to heare of it And God therefore promiseth Ephraim he shall so abhorre Idols as he shall not have to doe with them And indeed a jealous God and a zealous heart doe well agree when wee have to doe with any one that opposes God in his â—ruth we are not to be cold but to be zealously affected In the third place Wee are to learne to bee large hearted in expressing our affection wee beare to the truth and therefore we are to bee ashamed of our shortnesse of breath in speaking or meditating of Gods honour and glory and his truth But particularly from our Apostles esteeme wee may learne That Gods children have sanctified and regenerate thoughts and esteemes For with new soules they have new eyes new senses new affections and judgements what they saw before to be gaine they see now to be losse Beasts we know conceive not of mens matters neither doe weake simple men of state matters that which weake silly men admire the Apostle scornes and contemnes Moses accounted of the afflictions with the children of God more than of the pleasure of Egypt We may observe this as a marke to know our estates by what is high in thy esteeme is honour riches pleasure or the like thou art not yet throughly sanctified for if thou wert thou wouldst have a sanctified judgement But some may say did Paul esteem all things to be losse yea his good workes I answer good workes in their own nature are good but weighing them with Christ as Paul did they are also drosse and dung Secondly it teaches us that wee are not righteous or justified by any workes ceremoniall or morall either before or after our conversion The Papists alledge works as meritorious we contrarily doe disclaime them As to that purpose I say they you meane ceremoniall works we say no we meane also morall For Paul was unblameable as concerning the works of the law and yet counts them dung O say they St. Paul meaned those works before his conversion and not those after his conversion I answer yes all things in respect of Christ I doe now account them as drosse and losse To prove this the fuller If nothing after conversion bee perfect then cannot they intitle us to heaven but all our best works in state of regeneration are imperfect to prove this See the examples of David a man after Gods owne heart Psal. 143.2 None righteous in thy sight and who can say his heart is cleane And Esay 64.6 Wee are all as an uncleane thing and all our righteousnesse as filthie ragges O but Bellarmine sayes the Prophet speakes this in the person of the wicked I hope he will not put the Prophet into that number for he saith wee and our and our righteousnesse not our ill deeds and all our righteousnesse Nay of himselfe in particular Esay saith as much in Esay 6.5 And besides the wicked doe not use to pray as the whole Chapter is to that end And Daniel also includes himselfe in his confession Dan. 9.20 And to prove this by reason We know that weake and corrupt principles must needs produce imperfect effects now the principles of all our motions are evilly affected our understandings memomories affections all are corrupt and weake Corruptions make combates in all parts of the soule and body in whatsoever therefore we doe there is flesh and spirit and their owne Authours agree hereunto as Ferus and Catharen a Cardinall of their owne sayes there is donatajustitia and inhaerens When the question is what we must leane to it must be onely on Christ and his righteousnesse wherewith from him we are indowed And a Pope of theirs Adrian the fourth saith that all our righteousnesse is as the reed of Egypt which will not onely faile us if we rest on it but will pierce our
God what if we part with them if it be for his cause he will bring us to a better life which shall not be taken away from us and this life we must part with ere long and thus we ought to worke on our selves by often meditating of them as the Saints have done In the fourth place we are to labour to strengthen three graces in us especially Faith to assure us that wee are the children of God and that we have heaven and all things belonging thereto laid up for us and we are to labour to see more and more into the valew of them and then we are to strengthen our Hope which makes us cheerfully to undergoe and doe any thing for Gods cause through our expectation of that which faith beleeves Lastly let us cherish our love of Christ this made St. Paul desire to be dissolved and to bee with Christ which was best of all And this love comes from Faith and Hope and these together will breed a largenesse of heart that cares for no worldly thing and will bee daunted with no affliction or crosses what ever But how farre are we here from did St. Paul part with life It pertaines not to us no not to leave a new fangled fashion nor an oath whereby wee teare Gods name dayly alas where is faith what corruption is here overcome which of us will ever be of Paul or Davids minde to become vile or base for Gods cause where is he that will indure a scoffe or scorne for religion let us beg of God this large spirit and large affections the children of heaven have a free spirit basely esteeming all worldly things Zacheus when hee is called cares not for his goods nor Paul for his priviledges The Stoicks commend this resolution in men to be willing and readie to die alas crosses and afflictions Paul esteemed not so as he might attaine to the resurrection of the dead these are the things that the Stoicks feared most and it was the feare of these made them so willing and readie to die together with a base servitude to pride but a Christian heart is more noble it not only feares not these but it contemnes them yea cares not for life without afflictions but with joy can undergoe all manner of torments Let us therefore take heed how wee quiet our selves in our earthly dwellings here supposing our estate to be happie surely it is the maine ground of Apostacie wee shall never come to see the price of religion nor the excellencie of a peaceable conscience nor the vanitie of these things so long as we blesse our selves in them And contrarily let us exercise our graces in the dayly trials we meet with here doth favour of great men doth pleasure profit or honour crosse and oppose thy conscience let the peace thereof be preferred above all evermore else shalt thou never come to Pauls holy resolution And dreame not of a vaine emptie faith thou hast no more than thou dost practise it s not Lord Lord that will prevaile at the day of judgement but Christ will be ashamed of them at the day of judgement that made no more account of him while they lived than to preferre every vaine idle wanton delight and pleasure before his honour VERS 12. Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect IT is a correction of the Apostle hee formerly spake of his desire choice and esteeme of Christs death and resurrection and the force thereof hee found in him Now lest secret insinuating proud conceits might arise either in himselfe or in them concerning his holinesse hee crosses them with a Not as shewing that the best estate of Gods children in this world is imperfect there is ever some thing to doe or suffer some lust to conquer or some grace to strengthen There is no absolute perfection but onely in God himselfe yet in Christians there is a kind of derivative spirituall perfection which consisteth chiefly in the parts a Christian hath this perfection he hath all grace in some measure we have no other perfection no not so much as perfectio viae though the Papists say they have it indeed we are so far from it that never could Christian keepe the rules of nature much lesse can we attaine to the perfection of obedience to the law for by it we are all cursed nay in Christ none attaines to evangelicall perfection of grace so as thereby wee can be justified as by a worke of our owne for our righteousnesse is but in part and this perfectio viae which they boast of so much differs not from their perfectio finis no more than love to a man raised by good report of him differeth from love caused by the good I finde in him by personall communicating with him and this is onely in degrees in nature they are the same love But why or how is it that there is no perfection of grace in this life Because there is and ever shall be in us during this life a perpetuall combate betweene the flesh and spirit so as one weakens and hinders the other Paul at the best found a law in his members warring against the law of his minde Rom. 7.23 the flesh continually lusting against the spirit Gal. 5.23 Hindering us from doing good or in doing good or in doing thereof from doing it in a right manner But the Papists object love is the fulfilling of the law we may love ergo we may fulfill the law and consequently be perfect I answer love in the abstract being perfect is the fulfilling of the law but in this or that subject it s not perfect Pauls love nor Peters love was not the fulfilling of the law They urge further all Gods workes are perfect ergo the grace that is in us It s true Gods workes are perfect but in their times when they are finished grace at length shall be perfect in us Secondly all Gods workes without us are perfect as justification and glorification they are perfect for we are perfectly justified even now but his workes within us such as are his sanctifying graces are not perfected till our time of glorification for he suffers the old Adam to be within us for divers reasons so long as we live in this earthly Tabernacle For use hereof observe this as a ground for justification by faith Paul Rom. 5.9 proves that even now he was justified and in this place he denies and disclaims absolute perfection and therefore could not be justified by it and therefore must needs be justified by faith if it were his case it is much more ours who come not to that measure of the fulnesse of grace that hee attained to Secondly this may serve to comfort Christians that finde themselves burthened with diverse wants with dulnesse and frowardnesse of spirit and with manifold corruptions and are induced thereby to call in question their Christian estate let them looke upon a better patterne than themselves they may bee growne
In the fourth place let us consider how this being in Christ is a ground of doing of all dutie I say therfore it will direct us in duties to God towards men and to our selves First in duties towards God how thankfull ought we to be to him for taking us to himself for being Emmanuel God with us so that wee are become bone of his boneâ— what need wee now Saints or Angels to intercede for us who should Christ heare above his owne flesh For duties towards men this ought to stirre us to duties of peace and unitie shall wee be so unnaturall as to fall out with the members of our owne body Non est concors cum Christo ubi est discors cum Christiano Secondly it ought to stirre us up to duties of respect to each other considering they are members of Christ as we are and shall so be found in him ere long Thirdly this should stirre us up to charitie to the poore members of Christ they being his members are fellow members and in loving them and doing them good we shâ—w our love to Christ himselfe And in the last place towards our selves we are to carry our selves with more respect and not to prostitute our selves to every base pleasure consider in whom am I to what I am redeemed and with what price shall I make my bodie the member of an harlot who am the member of Christ this pride and high esteeme of our selves above base pleasures and lusts this is commendable and therefore the Apostle had good reason thus to account of these earthly things to bee drosse and dung In the second place this will teach us to see our residence in Christ and growth in him for if we be in Christ wee will have an especiall eye to our conversation that we be not feet of iron and clay under a golden head as many base licentious drunkards and filthie persons esteeme of themselves will Christ owne such members as these think we no those that are in Christ Christ will be in them discovering himselfe by ruling in them his house is holy if we bee of his house we will not desire grieve nor affect but by the sway of his spirit In the last place How shall we come to be found in Christ I answer we must first come where he is we shall finde him in the Temple teaching and strengthening our faith and love and so in our judgements and affections we shall bee in him Secondly we must separate our selves from the contrary to Christ as a loyall wife will from all doubtful acquaintance we must depart from Antichrist our owne corruptions and lusts and dayly we must labour to get ground of them And from the words this wee may learne First that a Christian is continually under Christs wing till he be in heaven else how could the Apostle desire to be found in him at the day of judgement Secondly we learne that there is such a time when God will as it were with a Candle search men out and lay them open as they are This is not thought upon men now shuffle it off I shall be saved as well as any other and this and that good company I am acquainted withall trust not I say to good acquaintance there is a time of separation when thou shalt bee found out as thou art in thine owne colours Thirdly hence we learne that the foundation of future happinesse must be laid now before we can be with Christ in the Kingdome of glorie we must be his members in the Kingdome of grace dost thou live therfore a corrupt and carnall life here never thinke to be found in him hereafter And therefore let the uncertainty of this life be a spurre to thee to watch over thy wayes so as thou be such at this and all other times as you would be willing to bee found at that day many boast hereof but their lives savour nothing hereof but are knit altogether to their lusts or to Antichrist woe to such they shall goe on the left hand But snch as Christ findes in him it must needs go well with them Christ will not judge them for whom he died but shall set them on his right hand for ever more VERS 9. Not having mine owne righteousnesse which is of the Law IN these words and those following the Apostle layes downe summarily his desire fiâ—st negatively in these words he desired not to be found in Christ trusting to his own righteousnesse implying a difference and distinction betweene his righteousnesse by the Law and that by Christ the righteousnesse by the Law he disclaimes as any way meritorious and that as well habituall wrought by God in him or actuall righteousnesse consisting in the outward workes that he did and that with good reason for first mans righteousnesse is but finite and therefore unfit to worke or deserve infinitely and impossible to deserve heaven and the joyes thereof Secondly this righteousnesse is imperfect and stayned as a menstruous cloth and unable to quiet or satisfie our owne consciences much lesse God who is greater than our owne consciences and therefore the Saints prayed Enter not into judgement with thy servants Lord for in thy sight shall no flesh be justified But the Papists answer the worke of God is perfect but our righteousnesse is the worke of God and therefore perfect We say that the workes of God are within us or without us the works of God without us are perfect but those that are within us are imperfect still savouring of our polution and corruption by reason that the old man in us perverteth all that is good in us and therefore partus sequitur ventrem Secondly it is true that the workes of God within us are so farre perfect as tend to the end hee workes them for in us but our righteousnesse was never ordained of God to that end as to save us by them and therfore they cannot accomplish that end but God workes this righteousnesse in us to convince us of our owne weaknesse and to be a testimonie of the presence of his spirit in us Paul therefore sayes not I will not have mine owne righteousnesse but I desire not to be found in my righteousnesse so as to merit salvation thereby VERS 9. But that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith that I may know him and the power of his Resurrection THat is that righteousnesse which is in Christ but laid hold on of me and apprehended by faith and all that righteousnesse that he had both active and passive as Mediatour but especially his passive for he was born obedience lived and dyed for us and this is that which St. Paul desired to be found in and this is that which we must trust to But how can this righteousnesse performed wholly by him be mine I answer by faith it s made ours for if Christ be ours all his righteousnesse must consequently be made ours But