gination, you have plainly contradicted the juft Measure of the Sanctuary, and in effect you declare that Chrift died in vain, and gave his Life out of an Error and Miftake of the Worth of the Soul: You fay, he needed not have given fuch a Price for it, feeing every Day you weigh it down with every Triffle of momen tany Alefhly Satisfaction. Latly, the Spirit binds this faft upon Soul is precious, and ceafeth for ever, Pfal. xlix, 8. and What can a Man give in exchange for bis Sou!, Mark viii. 37. For what material Thing can equalize a Spirit? Many Things may be had more precious and fine than the Body, but all of them have no Proportion to a fpiritual Being. Now then, in that fo dear a Ranfom, and fo infinite a Price muft be given for the Spirit of Man, it declares the infinite Worth and Excellency of itus; for the Soul of Man he hath chofen above the Body, and above all visible for his Habitation, and there he delights Things And here's indeed the greatest to dwell, in the Heart of the contrite and Confirmation that can te imagined, God humble; and this he intends to beautify hath valued it, he hath put the Soul of and garnish, and to restore it to that priMan in the Ballance, to find fomething mitive Excellency it once had. The equal in Weight of Dignity and Worth, Spirit of Man is nearer his Nature, and and when all that is in Heaven and Earth more capable of being conformed unto it; is put in the other Scale, the Soul is and therefore his peculiar and special Down-weight by far: There is fuch Dif- Work is about our Spirits. First, to tance, that there is no Proportion; only enlighten and convince them; then, to the Life and Blood of bis own Son reform and direct them and lead them; weighs it down, and is an Overvalue; and and this binds as forcibly, and conftrainthus in our Redemption we have a vifible eth a Believer certainly to resign himself Demonftration (as it were) of the in- to the Spirit; to ftudy how to order his finite Obligation of this Law, not to live Walk after that Direction, and to be after that contemptible Part, our Flefb, more and more abftracted from the Sabut to follow after the Motions and Di- tisfaction of his Body; elfe he cannot rections of an enlightned Spirit; not choose but grieve the Spirit, his best to spend our Thoughts, Care and Time Friend, which alone is the Fountain of upon the Body, and making Provision Joy and Peace to him, and being grieved, for the Lufts thereof (as moft Men do, cannot but grieve himself next. and all by Nature are now inclined to do) but to be taken up with the immortal precious Jewel that is within, how to have it rubbed and cleanfed from all the Filth, that Sin and the Flesh hath caft upon it; and reftored to that native Beauty, the Image of God in Righteoufnefs and Holiness. If you in your Practice and Affection turn the Scales otherwife, and make the Body and Things of the Body, fuppofe the whole World, down-weigh in your Affection and ima Now, my Beloved, confider, if you owe fo much to the Flefh, whether or not it be fo fteadable and profitable unto you? And if you think it can give you a fufficient Reward to compenfe all your Pains in fatisfying it, go on; but, I believe, you can reckon no good Office that ever it did you, and your Expectation is lefs. What Fruit have you of all, but Shame and Vexation of Conscience? And what can you expect but Death, the last Fruits of it? What then do you owe owe unto it? Are you Debters to its Pleasure and Satisfaction, which hath never done you good, and will do you eternal Hurt? Confider whether you are fo much bound and obliged to it, as to lofe your Souls for it? One of them muft be; and whether or not you be not more obliged to God the Father, and his Son Jefus Chrift, to live after the Spirit, though for the prefent it fhould be painful to beat down your Body. You are Debters indeed, but you owe nothing to the Flesh, but Stripes and Mortification. SERMON XXXIV. Verfe 13. For if ye live after the Flefb, ye shall die: But. if ye through the Spirit do mortify the Deeds of the Body, ye shall live. Hough the Lord, out of his abfolute withal neceffary; they pull off the Father's Sovereignty, might deal with Man Arm, and Power of the Holy Ghost; in fuch a way, as nothing fhould appear yet that which is visible or fenfible to the but his fupreme Will and Almighty Soul, is the framing of all Things fo, as Power; he might fimply command Obe- to engage it upon rational Terms: It is dience, and without any more Perfuafi- fet between two Contraries, Death and ons, either leave Men to the Froward- Life, Death which it natuaally abhorness of their own Natures, or else power- reth, and Life which it naturally loveth: fully constrain them to their Duty; yet An even Balance is holden up before the he hath chofen that Way that is moft fuit- Light of the Confcience, in which Obediable to his own Wisdom, and most con- ence and Sin are weighed, and it is found natural to Man's Nature, to lay out be- even to the convincing of the Spirit of fore him the Advantages and Difadvanta-Man, that there are as many Difadvantages, and to use these as Motives and Per- ges in the one, as Advantages in the fuafives of his Spirit: For fince he hath other. by his firft Creation, implanted in Man's Soul fuch a Principle as moveth itself upon the Prefentation of Good or Evil; that this might not be in vain, he adminifters all the Difpenfations of the Law and Go-one Side by a Promife of Life, on the fpel in a Way fuitable to that, by propounding fuch powerful Motives, as may incline and perfuade the Heart of Man. It is true, there is a fecret drawing, This was the Way that God used first with Man in Paradise, you remember the Terms run fo, what Day thou eats thou fbalt die: He hedged him in on the other by a Threatning of Death: And these two are very rational Reftraints, fuited to the Soul of Man, and in the inward Principles of it, which are a kind T12 of 334 of Inftinct to that which is apprehended all the Promifes that run in Way of Con good or gainful. dition, as be that believeth ball-not perish, &c. If ye walk after the Spirit ye shall live; thefe are all the confequent Fruits of that abfolute gracious Difpofiti Now, this ver. runs even fo in the Form of Words, If ye live after the Flesh ye ball die. You fee this Method is not changed under the Gospel; for in-on and Refignation of Grace and Life to deed it is natural to the Spirit of Man, them whom Chrift hath chofen; and fo and he hath now much more need of all their believing, and walking, and obeyfuch Perfuafions, because there is a great ing, cometh in principally as Parts of the Change of Mans Inclination to the worst Grace promifed, and as Witneffes and Side; all within is fo difordered and Evidences and Confirmations of that perverfe, that a thoufand Hedges of per- Life which is already begun, and will fuafive Grounds cannot do that which one not fee an End. Besides that, by Vertue might have done at firft: Then they of thefe abfolute Promifes made to the were added out of Superabundance, Seed of Chrift, and Chrift's compleat but now out of Neceffity: Then they Performance of all Conditions in their were fet about Man to preferve him in Name, the Promises of Life are made to his natural Frame and Inclinations, but Faith principally, which hath this peculinow they are needful to change and alter ar Vertue, to carry forth the Soul to them quite, which is a kind of Creation; another's Righteousness and Sufficiency, therefore faith David, create in me a and to bottom it upon another: And in new Spirit: And therefore the Gofpel the next Place, to boly Walking, though abounds in Variety of Motives and In- mixed with many Infirmities, which Producements, in greater Variety of far more mise in the first Covenant was only anpowerful Inducements than the Law. nexed to perfect and abfolute Obedience. Here is that great Perfuafion taken from the infinite Gain or Lofs of the Soul of Man, which if any Thing be able to prevail, this muft do, feeing it is feconded with fome natural Inclination in the Soul of Man to feek its own again. Yet there is a Difference between the Nature of fuch like Promifes and Threatnings, in the firft Covenant and in the fecond: In the firft Covenant,though Life was freely proanifed; yet it was immediately annexed to perfect Obedience, as a confequent Reward of it, it was firftly promifed unto compleat Righteoufnefs of Mens Perfons: But in the fecond Covenant, firftly and principally Life eternal, Grace and Glory is promifed to Jefus Chrift and his Seed, antecedent to any Condition or Qualification upon their Part: And then again, You heard in the preceeding ver. a ftrong Inducement taken from the Bond, Debt and Duty we owe to the Spirit, to walk after it, and the want of all Obligation to the Flesh. Now, if Honefty and Duty will not fuffice to perfuade you, as you know in other Things it would do with any honeft Man, plain Equity is a fufficient Bond to him; yet confider what the Apoftle fubjoins from the Damage, and from the Advantage which may of it felf be the Topicks of Perfuafion, and ferves to drive in the Nail of Debt and Duty to the Head; if you will not take with this Debt you owe to the Spirit, but ftill conceive there is fome greater Obligation lying on you, to care for your Bo dies and fatisfy them; then, I fay, behold the End of it, what Fruit you must one Day Day reap of the Flesh and Service of Sin: If ye live after the Flesh you fall die: But then confider the Fruit you shall reap of the Spirit and holy Walking, you fball live. It is true, the Flefb may Aatter you more for the prefent, but the End of it will be bitter as Death, amplectitur ut ftrangulet, the Flefb imbraces you that it may ftrangle you; and fo if you knew all well, you would not think you owed it any Thing but Enmity and Hatred and Mortification. If your Duty will not move you, let the Love of your felves and your Souls perfuade you, for it is an irrepealable Statute, the Wages of Sin is Death. Every way you choose to fulfil the Lufts of your Flesh, and to make Provifion for it, neglecting the eternal Welfare of your Souls, certainly it fhall prove to you the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it fhall be as the forbidden Fruit, which inflead of perform ing that was promifed, will bring forth Death, the eternal Separation of the Soul from God. Adam's Sin was a Breviary or Epitome of the multiplyed and enlarged Sins of Mankind: You may fee in this Tragedy all your Fortunes (fo to speak) you may behold in it the flattering Infinuations, and deceitful Promifes of Sin and Satan, who is a Liar and Murderer from the Beginning, and murdered Man at first by lying to him: You find the Hook covered over with the varnished Bait of an imaginary Life and Happiness Satisfaction promised to the Eye, to the Tafte, and to the Mind: And upon these Inticements, Man bewitched and withdrawn from his God, af ter these vain and empy Shadows; which when he catched hold upon, he himself was caught and laid hold upon by the Wrath of God, by Death and all the Miferies before it or after it. Now, here is the Map of the World; for all that is in the World, is but a larger Volume of that fame kind, the Luft of the Eyes, the Luft of the Fleft, and the Pride of Life! Albeit they have been known and found to be the notableft and groffeft Deceivers; and every Mar, after he hath fpent his Days in Purfuit and Labour for them, he is constrained to acknowledge at length, though too late, that all that is in the World is but an Imposture, a Delufion, a Dream, and worfe; yet every Man hearkens after thefe fame Flatteries and Lies, that bath caft down so many wounded, and made fo many trong ones to fall by them: Every Man trufts the Word and his own Flesh, as if they they were of good Report, and of known Integrity; and this is Mens Mifery, that no Man will learn Wifdom upon others Expences, upon the woful and tragical Example of fo many others, but go on as confidently now, after the Discovery of thefe Deceivers, as if this were the first Time they had made fuch-Promises, and ufed fuch fair Words to Men. Have they not been these fix thousand Years almoft deluding the World? And have we not as many Teftimonies of their Falfhood, as there hath been Perfons in all Ages before us? After Adam hath tafted of this Tree of Pleasure, and found another Fruit growing on it, that is, Death, fhould the Pofterity be fo mad, as to be medling ftill with the forbidden Tree, and therefore forbidden, because destructive to our felves. Know then and confider, Beloved in the Lord, that you fhall reap no other Thing of all your Labours and Endeavours after the Flesh, all your toiling and perplexing Cares, all your exceffive Pains in the making Provifion for your Lufts, and caring for the Body only, you shall reap. no to kill e'er you be killed, to kill Sin e'er it kill you, to mortify the Deeds and Lufts of the Body, which abound among you, or they will certainly mortify you, that is, make you die. Now, if Self love could teach you this, which the Love of God cannot perfuade you to; yet it is well, for being once led unto God, and moved to change your Course, upon the Fear and Apprehenfion of the infinite. Danger that will enfue: Certainly if you were but a little acquainted with the Sweetnefs of this Life, and Goodness of your God, you would find the Power of the former Argument a debito, from Debt and Duty, upon your Spirit: Let this once lead you unto God, and you will not want that which will conftrain you to abide, and never to depart from him. no other Harvest of all, but Death and Corruption. Death, you think, that is a common Lot, and you cannot efchew it however; nay, but the Death here meant is of another Sort, in refpect of which, you may call Death, Life: It is the everlafting Deftruction of the Soul from the Prefence of God, and the Glory of his Power: It's the falling of that infinite Weight of the Wrath of the Lamb upon you, in refpect of which, Mountains and Hills will be thought Light, and Men would rather wish to be covered with them, Rev. vi. 16. Suppofe now you could swim in a River of Delights and Pleatures; (which yet is given to none, for truly upon a juft Reckoning, it will be found that the Anxiety and Grief and Bitterness that is intermingled with all earthly Delights,fwallows up the Sweetness of them) yet it will but carry you down e're you be aware, into the Sea of Death and Destruction, as the Fifh that fwim and fport for a while in Jordan, are carried down into the dead Sea of Sodom, where they are prefently fuffocated and extinguished; or as a Malefactor is car-ber, that would corrupt the whole Body, ried through a pleasant Palace to the Gallows; fo Men walk through the Delights of their Flesh, to their own endless Torment and Destruction. If you mortify the Deeds of the Body, you fball live: As Sin decays, you increafe and grow, as Sins die, your Souls live, and it shall be a fure Pledge to you of that eternal Life: And though this be painful and laborious, yet confider, that it is but the cutting off of a rotten Mem and the Want of it will never maim or mutilate the Body; for you shall live perfectly when Sin is perfectly expired and out of Life; and according as Sin is near er expiring, and nearer the Grave, your Souls are nearer that endless Life. If this do not move us, what can be faid next? What shall he do more to his Seeing then, my Beloved, that your Sins and Lufts which you are inclined and accustomed to, will certainly kill you, if you entertain them; then Nature it felf would teach you the Law of Self-defence, Vineyard? SER |