The Excellency of Christ, Section 14
SECT. 14. Of Baſeneſſe, the third Let.
3. AS ſome baſe people will not gather roſes to beſtrow their cloathes and roomes with the ſame, 3Let. Baſeneſſe.though they ſmell moſt odiouſly and abominably, becauſe they can endure any ſent, and make no reckoning of it, being uſed to it: ſo carnall men and women are ſo baſe and ſordid, as that they will not get Chriſt, becauſe they are ſo accuſtomed to the filthy ſmell of ſin, as that they doe ſcarſe perceive it themſelves, though a ſtranger to them, who is not uſed to ſuch an abominable ſent, doe ſmell it quickly; and therefore, I pray you be ſenſible of this baſeneſſe, and remaine it by labouring to be ſenſible of thoſe odious ſmels, which your filthy hearts doe continually exhale and ſend forth, as it is written, that every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart (by nature) is onelyonly evill continually, Gen. 6.6. and that out of the heart proceed evill thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, falſe witneſſe, blaſphemies, which defile a man, Mat. 15.19, 20.
Doe ye not ſmell theſe abominations brethren (I ſpeake but to the guilty) nay ſhould ye not perceive them? how can you chuſe? every body that knowes you, cannot but take notice of you how baſely you carry your ſelves, and how ſtrangely you be overſwayed with fierceneſſe and anger, and with monſtrous pride, which doth even ſtinke before God and man, and ſometimes with filthy avarice, and other times with that deteſtable ſinne of drunkenneſſe; and therefore ſeeing others note you, can you not, and ſhould you not obſerve it in your ſelves, being privy to your very hearts and moſt ſecret and reſerved imaginations, which others know not ſo well as you? Well you know that …f one doe ſtirre in a dunghill, and put it abroad, it will ſtink ſo much more then it did before, ſo as that one muſt needs ſmell it, and I doubt not but if you ſhall ſtirre but a little in this matter, 1. …anſacking your hearts; and 2. ripping up your lives, and ſitting them exactly, you ſhall ſmell more of your odious ſinnes then ever you did; and therefore, ſearch your ſelves, and ſo labour to come to the ſight and ſenſe of all your abominations, that you may get Chriſt to ſweeten you, as roſes doe ſweeten our houſes.
And here looke back a little I pray you to the ſecond branch of the ſecond generall uſe tending to conviction: For I confeſſe that there is ſuch a neare affinity between this let and that uſe, as that one may be ſaid to embrace & to re-imbrace the other, and that both agree in one, I meane in one end principally. For as there I did labour to make men ſee that they are out of Chriſt by the ill ſavour of their abominable thoughts, words and works to fit them for Chriſt, and for the meanes to be uſed for the getting of Chriſt, that they may ſee what need they have of Chriſt: ſo here I ſtrive againe to make men ſenſible, if I can, of that ſame odious ſavour, upbraiding them with their execrable baſeneſſe, that I may take away that which letteth, after men have heard much of Chriſt, and know what they muſt doe to obtaine Chriſt, preſſing them before and behinde, as fighting ſouldiers are wont to doe in the wars, to make ſome yeeld, who yet will ſtand it out and maintaine the field againſt Chriſt, ſuppoſing that they are for Chriſt, and Chriſts already, and need not goe to Chriſt, when indeed they are againſt Chriſt, as may appeare by the odious ſent of their corrupt hearts and lives, both to others, and to themſelves, but to themſelves eſpecially.
Brethren, this is my aime I tell you, and therefore I have purpoſely ſuperadded this lot of Baſeneſſe, not forgetting my ſelfe what I had ſaid in the former uſe of conviction, but intending to ſecond that by this, becauſe I know that elſe all my preaching and my labour will be in vaine, if men be not made ſenſible of the moſt odious ſent of their abominable deeds; and on the contrary, that if men doe once ſmell the intolerable ſtinch of their very deareſt and moſt delicious ſins, they will then labour as much as they can for that ſweet roſe of Sharon, Jeſus Chriſt, to perfume and to ſweeten their moſt corrupt and filthy hearts: For doe we not ſee how men will fetch roſes, and other flowers and perfumes to perfume their roomes, if by reaſon of one that dyed of a filthy diſeaſe, and ſtinks moſt abominably, they cannot otherwiſe ſtay in their houſes, as not being able to endure the odious and peſtilent ſent wherewith the dead corps doth fill the ſame? and therefore I doe proportionably conclude, that if men were but or could be ſenſible of that infinitely more abominable and execrable ſmell, which that body of death, even ſinne within their hearts evaporates, and ſends forth continually out of their hearts, they would not goe ſo as they doe without Chriſt that heart-ſweetning roſe of Sharon; but rather cry out as thoſe, Acts 2.37. What ſhall we doe to get Chriſt, that he may take away this moſt odious ſent, which we are no longer able to endure; and with the Apoſtle, Rom. 7.24. O wretched men that wee are, who will deliver us from that ſtinking body of death? Oh that Chriſt would doe it! and oh that we were but able to get Chriſt to doe it.