Sermons Volume 4, Sermons on Titus · Sermon 6
SERMON VI.
TITUS II.12.
—And worldly Lusts, &c.
Vse 3. EXhortation. Let us deny these worldly Lusts. I shall urge Arguments both on Grace's part, and then on the part of worldly Lusts.
1. On Grace's part. Grace hath denied us nothing, it hath given us Christ, and all things with him; and shall we stick at our Lusts that are not worth the keeping? Certainly God loved Christ with an inexpressible Affection, it was infinitely more than we can love the World. Tho Nature be much addicted to these Lusts, and tho we be carried out with great strength of Affection to the World, yet we cannot love the World as much as God loved Christ; for his Love to Christ is infinite and unlimited, like his Essence: and God found a full Complacency and Satisfaction in Christ; yet God gave up the Son of his Love. Grace counteth nothing too dear for us, not the Blood of Christ, not the Joys of Heaven; and shall we count any thing too dear for Grace? A right Eye, or a right Hand cannot be so dear to us, as Christ was dear to God. At what cost is Grace to redeem and save us? And shall Grace be at all this cost for nothing? If God had commanded us a greater thing, ought we not to have done it? If God had commanded thee to give thy Body to be burnt, or to offer thy first-born for the Sin of thy Soul; considering his absolute Right over the Creature, he might have required thy Life, and thy Childrens Lives: but he only requires thy Lusts, things not worth the keeping, things that will prove the Bane of thy Soul, and things that we are bound to part with, to preserve the Integrity and Perfection of our Natures. If God had never dealt with us in a way of Grace, we should have parted with our Lusts: And shall Grace plead in vain, when it presseth to deny Lusts? It will be the Shame and Horror of the Damned to all Eternity, that they have stood with God for a Trifle, and that they would not part with Dung for Gold, with a Stable for a Palace, especially being so deeply pre-ingaged by God's Mercy in Christ.
2. On the part of worldly Lusts. There let me speak of them in general, then in particular.
I. In general; they are Lusts, and they are worldly Lusts; both will yield us Arguments, why we should deny them.
1st. They are Lusts; and therefore Lust should be checked, because it is Lust. That we may see what Victory we have over our selves, it is a fit occasion to express our Self-denial, and to shew what we can do for God. There can be no considerable Self-denial there but where the Lust is great; and there we shew how we can renounce our Bosom-desires for God's sake. Mat. 7.13. it is said, Strait is the Gate, and narrow the Way that leads to Life. If we desire to go to Heaven, we must look to cross our selves in those things we most affect and desire, and pass through a strait Gate; and therefore if you let Lust have its scope, you mistake the way: Without Self-denial there can be no good done in Religion. Again, Lust is the Disease of the Soul. Natural Desire is like the Calor vitalis, the vital Heat which preserves Nature; but Lust is like the feaverish Heat that oppresseth Nature: We should get rid of our immoderate Desire, as we would of a Disease. Nature's Desires are temperate, and soon satisfied; but Lust's are immoderate and ravenous. Contentation is the Soul's Health, as Lust is her Sickness. If after much eating and drinking a Man is unsatisfied, it is a sign he is sick, and hath more need of Physick than of Meat and Drink, and to be purged rather than filled: So when we are not contented with God's Allowance in a moderate supply of Nature, we need to be cured rather than satisfied. Drink is sweet to a Man in a feaverish Distemper, but it is better to be without the Appetite, than to enjoy the pleasure of Satisfaction. Who would desire a burning Feaver to relish his Drink? Better mortify the Lust than satisfy it, in the issue it will be sweeter: for it is the Disease of the Soul, though it seem sweet. I am sure the Pains of Mortification will not be half so bitter as the Horrors of everlasting Darkness. And Lust let alone, begins our Hell; it is the burning Heat that at length breaks out into an everlasting Flame. Again, Lust is the Disorder of Nature: and Reason, that should be Monarch and King in the Soul, is enslav'd, and under a base Bondage by strength of Desires: and it is the greatest Slavery for a Man to be a Slave to his own Desires, and the truest Freedom to command them. Consider what an odd sight it were, if the Feet should be there where the Head is, and Earth there where Heaven should be: there is as great a Monstruousness and Disorder within, when the Soul is under the power of a ruling Lust. All should be in subjection to the Law of the Mind. God made Reason to have the Soveraignty and Dominion, and we give it to Appetite and Lust. A Man is drawn away by his Lusts; Iames 1.14. Every Man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own Lust, and enticed. The Affections are like wild Horses in a Coach, that have cast their Driver; they draw away the Soul by violence, and Reason hath no command. Again, Lusts make us not only brutish like Beasts, for Beasts are led by Appetite, and Man by Reason; but worse than Beasts: for Beasts can do no more, and ought to do no more; they have not a higher Rule, Appetite is made Judg. Yea, (and which is more) we exceed them in Lusts; Beasts, which are wholly led by Appetite, desire things only nigh at hand, and which are easy to be gotten: but Man's Lusts romage throughout the whole Course of Nature; sometimes they desire things impossible. The Lust of Beasts is less inordinate than the Lust of Men; for the Beasts only desire to satisfy Nature, which is contented with a little. You cannot force a Beast to take more, when Nature hath its fill: but our Desires know no bounds; and we desire not only necessary things, but superfluous, such as are burdensom and cumbersom to the Soul; Lust only maketh them necessary. A Horse, when he hath taken his measure, will take no more. Every other Creature naturally is carried only to that which is helpful to its Nature, and shuns that which is hurtful and offensive: Only Man is in love with his own Bane, and fights for those Lusts that fight against the Soul. Again, it is Lust that makes our abode in the World dangerous; and it would be a safe Place, were it not for Lust; 2 Pet. 1.4. The Corruption that is in the World through Lust. The fault is not in the Object, in Gold, in Wine, but in the Heart of Man; not in the Creature, whom we abuse to this excess, but in our own Lusts. God made them to be Creatures for our help, and Lust turns them into Snares for our ruin. As when a Vessel is filled with filthy Liquor, and it runs dreggy, the fault is not in the Piercer that broacheth it, and giveth it vent, but in the Liquor it self. Lust is the cause of all the Hurt that is done us in the World: the Creature doth only broach the Barrel, gives vent to our Desires, and we run dreggy and filthy. Were it not for Lust, nothing in the World could harm us. All other things are conquered with ease, if a Man could subdue his own Affections; and all Temptations are so far under us, as we are above our selves. Again, it is Lust that doth hinder our Peace. How quietly and happily would Men live, if they were more mortified? Men desire more than they have, and so are made poor, not by Want, but by Desire. He that expects little, is soon satisfied; and certainly he will never storm at Injuries, that hath overcome his own Passion: whereas a froward Man is at the command of others, because he hath not the command of himself: he doth not storm at Disgrace, that hath not set too high a price upon himself. If a Man be vile and little in his own eyes, when others contemn and slight him, they do but ratify his private opinion of himself; and who is angry with another, because he is of the same judgment with himself? But usually this is the cause of Discontent and Trouble, we set too high a price upon our selves; and when others will not come up to it, we are troubled: Take away the Lust, and Trouble ceaseth. No Man is hurt but by himself. It is a Man's own Affection and Feeling that makes the Misery: Always the fuller of Lust, the fuller of Discontent. What need Haman be troubled, that Mordecai would not bow the Knee, but that he looked for it, and set a value and esteem upon it? The Inordinateness of Affection causeth the Greatness of the Affliction; and because Lust is not mortified, the Life is full of Trouble: We would have more than God allows us, and so our Trouble doth increase. Again, as Lusts deny them, for Lusts will end in gross Sins, and gross Sins in publick Shame: and therefore as Elisha cast Salt into the Spring, to cure the Brackishness of the Water; so look to Lusts, they are the Spring and Rise of evil Actions. Let any Lust alone, (either Pride, or Envy, or Worldliness) if you do not destroy it, it will prove a bitter Root to some gross Sin, and it may be of final Apostacy and Desperation. A Man that is given to worldly Lust, one time or other is put upon the trial; if we find the Sin, Providence will find the Occasion, and then he comes off with visible Shame and Dishonour. There is the Root within; and to what an excess doth Sin grow in those that deny themselves nothing, and will not be denied in any thing? Lusts grow licentious and unruly: and because they usurp God's place in the Heart, therefore God suffers it; always it ends ill, in Shame and Judgment. Iudas at first was but a little worldly, he allowed his Covetousness, and it brought him to betray his Master, and that brought him to the Halter. Gehazi was first blasted with Covetousness, and then with Leprosy. Ananias and Saphira were taken off with sudden Judgment. Nay, God sometimes arms their own Hands and Thoughts against themselves. Covetousness begins with inordinate Desire, and ends in Injustice; and then that Injustice must be professed and vailed with Hypocrisy, (as in Iudas); and that Hypocrisy breeds hardness of Heart; and then God bringeth them to Shame, and that Shame leads on to Despair and Ruin. And so I may instance in other Lusts; Sensuality begins with Daintiness, and ends in Adultery, or some shameful Act, or else with Beggary, or some shameful Punishment; and both end with Despair: as Sodom began with fulness of Bread, then went on to foulness of Lust, and that brought Hell out of Heaven. The Lust of the Flesh can also boast of its Trophies and Spoils; it drowned the old World, burned Sodom, slew three thousand of God's own People in one day, Numb. 23. compared with 1 Cor. 10. Pride is not behind-hand; proud Men have their Falls, and usually they are the more shameful, because God's Honour is most sensibly usurped by Pride. The great Work of Providence for these 6000 Years, hath been to pour Shame and Contempt upon Pride. The first Act of God's Judicial Providences, was the casting the Angels out of Heaven, then Adam out of Paradise: What, shall I tell you of Nebuchadnezzar turned a grazing, and Herod eaten up with Lice? Thus you see we had need to beware; Sin is an ill Guest, that always sets its Lodging on fire. Once more, why we are to deny these Lusts; it is Lust that blasts all your Duties and Services; it either hinders or poisons them; it either draws away the Heart from Duty, or in Duty. Gal. 5.17. The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the Flesh; and these two are contrary one to the other; so that you cannot do the things that you would. And Rom. 7.19. For the Good that I would, I do not; and the Evil that I would not, that I do. Lust will not suffer God to have his due. The love of Pleasures cannot brook constant exercise in Religion; and the World is a great Encroacher: and Pride is all for the Publick where it may be seen; in private Duties it is slight, or nothing. As a Mill stands still when the Wind blows not; so when the Wind of Popular Applause ceaseth, a proud Man cannot spread his Sails, or do any thing for God and Conscience: Thus it draweth away the Heart from Duty. Then it draws away the Heart in Duty: Observe it, and you will find it by constant Experience; the main Lust will surely be discovered by the working of the Thoughts; when you come to pray, or in your solemn Duties, that which your Thought is most taken up with, discovers the main Lust: Ezek. 33.31. They come unto thee as the People cometh, and they sit before thee as my People; and they hear thy Words, but they will not do them: for with their Mouth they shew much Love, but their Heart goeth after their Covetousness. The Devil loveth to affront Christ to his Face, and therefore takes advantage of the chief Lust which occupies and possesses the Heart, to cast up Mire and Dirt even in God's presence: Therefore Lust hinders, poisons, or perverts Duty. All that Men do in Religion, if Lusts remain in force, is either to promote Lusts, or to conceal a Lust; to hide other Sins, or to feed a Lust: and therefore we had need to deny it as it is Lust.
2dly. You should deny them as worldly Lusts; so you must abstain from them, not serve them; as they are stirred up by worldly Objects, they keep us from better Employment; and therefore Grace teacheth us to deny them, as they tend only to such a vile purpose▪
Many Arguments there are:
1. Whatever is for this World, must be left on this side the Grave. Pomp, Pleasure and Estate, must be left behind us: Job 1.21. Naked came I out of my Mother's Womb, and naked must I return thither. There is no carnal Pomp and Pleasure in the next World. Here we bustle for Greatness, but Death ends the Quarrel: Like foolish Birds, we seek to build strong Nests, when to morrow we must be gone. Open the Grave, and look upon the Reliques of Man's Mortality, thou canst not discern between the Rich and the Poor, the King and the Peasant; all are alike obnoxious to Stench and Rottenness. Those Desires that carry you out to the World, must be mortified. A Mill-wheel runs round all the Day, and at Night it is in the same place. So whatever we gain and purchase in the World, it must be left at Night when we go to Bed, when Death finds us, and in the same place; at Death we are as naked as we came into the World: 1 Tim. 6.7. For we brought nothing into the World, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. A Man's Wealth doth not follow him, but his Sins do; his Iniquity will find him out. Consider, at Birth a Man is contented with a Cradle, and at Death with a Grave; yet here we join House to House, and Field to Field, Isa. 5.8. as if the whole World could not contain us.
2. As they are only for this World, so our abode here is but short and uncertain; and therefore if it be worldly Lust, it should be less prized, for it lasts but for a time. Within a very little while, those that are most potent, powerful and shining in the Splendor of the World, shall be turned to Dust and Ashes. God hath made Life short, for many wise and merciful Reasons, that the time of our Labour might not last too long. He hath made us to enjoy himself; and because he loveth the Saints, he would have them the sooner with himself, and would not be long without their Company; and that we might love eternal Life, therefore this Life is short; and that he might gratify the Saints, (for he that hath a Journey to go, would pass it over as soon as he can) God makes their Journey as short as is convenient for his Glory; and to shame wicked Men, because they delight in that which is but of a short continuance, but their Torment is Eternal. The Pleasure of Sin is but for a Season, but the Torments of Sin are for ever and ever; therefore this should put a check to your Desires, it is only for a World that passeth away; nay, the Lusts of this World pass away; 1 Iohn 2.17. The World passeth away, and the Lusts thereof. The time will come when we shall have no lusts to these things; it begins at Sickness, but at the Day of Judgment we shall have no relish of these things; and when the whole World is burnt up, it will be our torment that we have prostituted our Affections to such low and unbeseeming things, we shall see the Vanity when it is too late; Men will have little love to the World then.
3. If they be but worldly Lusts, they should not be cherished were they never so durable. Why? Because this is not our Happiness, and our Rest. Carnal Men have more of the World. Christ committed his Purse to the worst of his Disciples. Of the other he saith, They are not of the World, even as I am not of the World, John 17.16. In this World God is most liberal to the worst, therefore here we should not set up our Rest. Look as it is said of Abraham, Gen. 25.6. that he gave Gifts to Ishmael, and to the Sons of Keturah, but he gave the Inheritance to Isaac. Wicked Men have their Portion, but not the Inheritance. God will not be in their Debt, therefore they have Gifts: Therefore saith a Christian, Why should I cherish these worldly Lusts? this is not my Portion, but the Portion of others; —From Men of the World, which have their Portion in this Life, Psal. 17.14. The World is Satan's Circuit, he compasseth the Earth. It is the Saints Slaughter-house, they shed the Blood of Saints and Prophets, Rev. 16.6. It is the place where God is dishonoured. They are favoured and loved most by the World, whom Christ hath rejected and past by.
4. Worldly Lusts do hinder us from our Work. We were made for another World; and this Life is lent us for a while to look after Heaven. We cannot drive on those two Cares at once, for the World and Heaven too; as a Man cannot look with one Eye to Heaven, and with another to the Earth: therefore why should we indulge worldly Lusts? Who would lose a Crown, to be owner of a Dunghil? And will you forfeit Heaven, and the Joys of God's Presence, for worldly Conveniences? Lust hinders your care of Heaven. It is true, a temperate and religious use of the World furthereth it, but worldly Lust doth take off your Heart from God and Heaven, and unfits it for it, so that your Heavenly Desires are hindered.
5. In a sense, worldly Lusts do hinder us of the Comfort of this World. Want encreaseth with Enjoyment; as the Fire encreaseth by laying on more Fuel. The more we enjoy, the more we desire; so we do not enjoy what we do possess. The more we have, the more we want; so that a covetous Man neither enjoys this World, nor the World to come.
6. If it be worldly Lust, then take heed of it; for thou art as thy Love is. If thou lovest this World, thou art a worldly Man; if thou lovest God, thou art a godly Man; if thou lovest Heaven, thou art a heavenly Man. A Man is not as his Opinion is, but as his Affections are. A bad Man may be of a good Opinion, but a bad Man can never have good Affections. The Soul, as Wax, receives the Impression from the Object. Thou art a Person of the World, if thou lovest the World. Take a Looking-glass, and put it towards Heaven, there you shall see the Figure of Heaven, the Clouds and things above; put it downward towards the Earth, you shall see the Figure of the Earth, Trees, Meadows, Fruits. So doth the Soul receive a Figure from the things to which it is set; if the Heart be set towards Heaven, that puts thee into a heavenly Frame; if thou appliest it to earthly Objects, thou art a Man of the Earth.
7. The more we mortify these worldly Lusts, the more we prevent Affliction. We might prevent the bitterness of the Cross, if we would subdue our own Lusts; but because we are negligent of that Work, God is forced to lay on heavy Crosses.
Secondly; Let me now deal with these Lusts in particular, Pride, Sensuality, and Covetousness, these are immediate Issues of corrupt Nature; the Apostle calls them, Lusts of the Flesh, Lusts of the Eye, and Pride of Life.
1st. Sensuality, or the Lust of the Flesh. Let me begin there, because we live first by Sense, before we live by Reason. These Lusts are deeply rooted in the Heart of Man. Other Sins defile a part; Covetousness and Pride defile the Soul, but sensual Lusts defile Soul and Body too; they leave Guilt upon the Soul, and Dishonour upon the Body. By Gluttony and Drunkenness, the Body, which is God's Temple, is only made a Strainer for Meats and Drinks to pass through; and by Adultery, it is made the Sink and Channel of Lust. In short, (that you may know what these Lusts of the Flesh are) Sensuality is an inordinate desire of soft and delicate Living; an intemperate use of Pleasures, of what kind or sort soever; an undue liberty of Diet, Sports, and other Appurtenances of Life. There is allowed a due care of the Body, to keep it serviceable; and there is allowed a Delight in the Creature: for he that created Water for our Necessity, created Wine for our Comfort. The Body must not be used too hardly, that it may be serviceable to the Purposes of Grace.
But then, what is this inordinate Desire, this intemperate Use, this undue Liberty? How shall we trace and find out the Sin? Different Natures and Tempers make Rules uncertain; but the two general Bounds which God hath set to our Liberty in this kind, are the Health of our Body, and the Welfare of the Soul: But when bodily Health is overturned, and the Soul clogged and perverted, then your Lusts have carried you too far.
1. When bodily Health is overturned. Too much care for the Body, destroys it. As the Romans were wont to have their Funerals at the Gates of Venus's Temple, to shew that Lusts shorten Life. When Health is destroyed, or the Vigour of Nature is abated, (as too much Oil puts out the Lamp) then you sin. Hos. 4.11. it is said, Whoredom, and Wine, and new Wine, take away the Heart: The Heart, (that is) the generousness and sprightliness of Man. When gallant and active Spirits are effeminated, and brave Hopes are drowned and quenched in excess of Pleasures, and we lose our masculine Agility and Vivacity, all is melted away; then we sin against the Bounds and Limits God hath set us. Thus there is a Restraint that ariseth from the Body.
2. When the Soul is clogged or unfitted for Duty, or disposed for Sin. (1.) Then we are unfitted for Duty, when there's less aptitude for God's Service. The Matter of carnal Pleasure is burdensome and gross, it oppresseth the Soul, that it cannot lift up it self to God and Divine Things, because it is bowed down and humbled to Pleasures, and the Heart is overcharged: Luke 21.34. Take heed to your selves, lest at any time your Hearts be overcharged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness, and Cares of this Life. Men drive on heavily, and Duty grows burthensome and irksome: by turning out our Affections to present Contentments and Delights, we cannot pray with that readiness. The strength of our Delight should be reserved for Communion with God, and for those chaste Pleasures that flow in his House, and are to be had in his presence. (2.) When there is more aptitude for Sin: Tit. 3.3. We our selves were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers Lusts and Pleasures. Lusts and Pleasures are fitly coupled and put together: The Soul waxeth wanton, when natural Desires are too far indulged. If we do not watch over our Senses, but the Heart grows wanton and libidinous, and restraints of Grace grow weaker, and carnal Motions are more urgent; then Pleasure becomes a Snare; Grace is disturbed, and Nature is distempered, and the Heart is more free for Sin.
Deny these Lusts of the Flesh, do not indulge them, suffer them not to grow wanton.
By way of Argument consider.
1. Sensual Men have little of God's Spirit; Iude, v. 19. Sensual, having not the Spirit. The Spirit is a free Spirit, and they are Slaves to their Lusts; the Spirit is a pure Spirit, and their Desires are unclean and gross; the Spirit is active, and they are heavy, and muddy, and of a Nature dull and slow. Sensual Men quench the vigour of Nature, much more the Efficacy and radiancy of the Graces of the Spirit. The Spirit works intellectual Delights, and they are all for Sensual. They love Pleasures more than God: 2 Tim. 3.4. Lovers of Pleasure, more than lovers of God, those dreggy Delights; whereas the Comforts and Consolations of the Spirit are Masculine, and they are got by Exercise. Look, as the manly Heat gotten by Exercise, is better than that which is gotten by hovering over the Fire: So the Comforts of the Spirit, gained by much Communion with God, by being instant and earnest in Prayer, is better than that Delight which is gotten by hovering over the Creature. Well then, which will you chuse? will you live at large, and ease, and wallow in earthly Delights and Contentments? or would you be stirred up by the active Motion of the Spirit of God? Would you dissolve your precious Hours and Spirits in Ease and Pleasure, or else be employed in the solemn and grave Exercises of Religion? Frogs delight in Fens; and the worst Natures are most sensual, they are not fit for any worthy Action, or any great Exploit.
2. It is the first thing you must do, if you mean to do any thing in Religion, to renounce Pleasure; and therefore it is put in the first place, the Lusts of the Flesh. It is below Reason to live in Pleasure; therefore much more below Grace. Alas, you will do nothing if this be not done, but will lie open to every Temptation. If a carnal Motion arise, that bids you neglect Duty, or practise Sin, you lie open to it; therefore it is said, Prov. 25.28. He that hath no rule over his own Spirit, is like a City that is broken down, and without Walls. He that bridles not his Appetite, is like a City whose Wall is broken down. When a Town is dismantled, it lies open for ever Comer; so where the Appetite is unruly, there is no room for the Spirit, but for every Temptation. Ezek. 47.11. But the miry Places thereof, and the Marishes thereof shall not be healed, they shall be given to Salt. The Waters of the Sanctuary could not heal the miry Places; which is an Emblem of a sensual Heart. Pleasure brings a Brawn and Deadness upon the Conscience, a Cloud upon the Understanding, and a Damp upon the Affections. Daniel, that had the high Visions of God, lived by Pulse, he was a Man temperate. Those that mortify Pleasure, are of the clearest Understanding. And Iohn the Baptist, which had most eminent Revelations of the Mysteries of the Gospel, (of all the Prophets, there was not a greater than Iohn the Baptist) he was fed with Locusts and wild Honey; therefore mortify Pleasure.
3. By Custom this Sin is rooted, and so hardly lest; because it doth not only pervert the Constitution of the Soul, but the Constitution of the Body. Now when the Body is unruly, as well as the Affections, Grace hath more to struggle with. A Man that hath habituated himself to carnal Pleasure, because his Body is distempered and perverted, is not so soon healed. That's the reason, that when the Apostle speaks of Meats and Drinks, 1 Cor. 6.12. he saith, he will not be brought under the Power of any. So again, when Men are given to Wine, it is their Custom, and rooted Disposition; therefore avoid, not only the gross Act, but the very Beginning, that it may not be a settled Distemper. Whenever you take Pleasures, they should be used with fear. It is the Charge the Spirit of God commenceth against those, Iude v. 12. Feeding themselves without fear. Mark, it is not enough for your acquitment, that you do not drink to Drunkenness, or feed to actual Excess and Distemper, but suffer it not to be a rooted Disposition in your Hearts, for then it will be hardly left. Austin speaks of his own Experience in this kind, Ebrietas longe à me est, crapula autem nonnunquam subrepit servo tuo: Lord, I was never a Drunkard, it is far from me; but Gluttony creeps upon me unawares, and so hinders me from the Duties of the Spiritual Life. The Throat is a slippery Place, and needs to be guarded with much Watchfulness and Care, lest this Distemper be rooted in the Heart. Iob sacrificed while his Sons were feasting; chap. 1.5. For Job said, It may be that my Sons have sinned, and cursed God in their Hearts. In all these things should we use much caution.
2dly. The next Particular the Apostle mentions, is, the Lusts of the Eye, or Covetousness. This is an Evil very natural to us; and we cannot be watchful enough against the Encroachments of the World: We need it in part, and we love it more than we need it. Worldliness is a Branch of Original Sin, it is a Disease we are born with. The Tenth Commandment that forbids Original Sin, saith, Thou shalt not covet. The Best find Temptations this way. We are daily conversant about the things of the World, and we receive a Taint from those things with which usually we converse; we find by Experience that long Converse is a bewitching thing. Again, the World is a thing of present Enjoyment; we have the World in Hand, and Heaven in Hope. The Judgment of Carnal Men is quite different from the Judgment of the Word. The Word of God counts the World to be but a Fancy, and an Apparition, and Heaven to be the only Substance: Prov. 23.5. Wilt thou set thine Eyes upon that which is not? It is not in comparison of better things. And the Fashion of this World passeth away, 2 Cor. 7.31. But, Prov. 8.21. That I may cause those that love me, to inherit Substance. Heaven is the durable Substance; this is the Judgment of the Word, but wicked Men think quite otherwise. We have sensible Experience of the Profits of the World, and therefore we judg thus perversly, and call it durable Riches, and Heaven but a meer Fancy to make Fools fond withal. Besides, Worldliness is a serious thing, it doth not break out into any foul Act, therefore it is applauded by Men. Psal. 10.3. The Wicked boasteth of his Heart's Desire; and blesseth the Covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth. We think well of it, at least we stroke it with a gentle Censure. A Drunkard is more liable to Reproach and Shame than a Worldling. Worldliness is consistent with the gravity and strictness of Profession; and therefore above all Corruptions it is usually found amongst them that profess Religion: but dissoluteness of Luxury will not stand with that external Gravity and Strictness which the Profession of Religion requires. Licentious Persons procure shame to themselves, and are publickly odious; but now this being a serious Sin, and possibly it may win the Soul from other Vices, therefore we indulge it the more. Again, it is a cloaked Sin; the Apostle speaks of the Cloak of Covetousness, 1 Thess. 2.5. It is a hard matter to discover and find it out, there are so many Evasions; necessary Providence, and Provision for our Families is a Duty, and it is a Duty enforced by Nature and Grace. Here Men evade the Charge of Covetousness, they think their carking is justified, as being no more than the prudent management of their Affairs. But consider, it is an Evil which the Lord hates. Covetousness bewrays it self by an immoderate care after the things of this Life, immoderate Desire, and immoderate Delight.
1. By an immoderate Care after worldly Comforts. When we are so sollicitous about outward Supports, what we shall do, and what will become of us, that is a sure sign of a worldly Heart. We dare not trust God's Providence, but cark our selves: Luke 12.29. And seek ye not what ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful Mind. The words, foreign signifies, Do not hang like a Meteor in the Air, hovering between Heaven and Earth, between Doubts and Fears. This is to take God's Work out of his Hands; as the Care of the Son is a Reproach of the Father. It is a sign we dare not trust God's Providence, but will be our own Carvers, we reprove and tax his Providence as if he were not sollicitous enough for us.
Obj. But must we not be careful and provident? I answer, 1. Do your present Work, and for the future leave it to God. God would have us look no farther than the present day, provided we do not embezel our Estate by idle Projects, or in carnal Pleasures, or wasteful Profusion; and provided we be not negligent in our Calling: Let us do our Work, and let God alone for future Times. It is a Mercy. God would have our Care look no farther than the present day, Mat. 6.34. Sufficient unto the Day is the Evil thereof. God is very careful of Man's Welfare, he hath made carking a Sin, he might have left it as a Punishment. Every day hath Trouble enough for our Exercise, and that's as much as God hath required.
2. It is bewrayed by an immoderate Desire. The Temper of the Heart is very much discovered by the Current and Stream of the Desires. As the Temper of the Body is known by the beating of the Pulses, so is the Temper of the Soul by the Course of the Desires: Or, as Physicians judg of the Patient by his Appetite, so may you judg of your Spirits by your Desires, how they are carried out, whether to Heavenly Things, and the Enjoyment of God, or to the World. A carnal frame of Spirit will be known by an unsatisfied Thirst, and the ravenousness of the Desires, when they still encrease with the Enjoyment, and Men crave more and more: Such a Dropsy as this is, argues a distempered Soul, especially when the Desires are transported beyond all bounds of Modesty and Contentment; Isa. 5.8. Wo unto them that joyn House to House, and Field to Field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the Earth. The inordinate Inclinations still encreaseth, and Men never have enough, as if they would grasp all, that they might be blessed alone. Alas, those that have a heavenly frame, will stand wondering that God hath given them so much in their Pilgrimage; nay, that God hath given them any thing. But more especially doth this bewray Lust, when these Desires bring the Soul to that determinate Resolution, that this shall be the Project of their Lives. He that is rich hath many Temptations, how ever Wealth be gotten, or given by God; but he that will be rich is sure to miscarry, 1 Tim. 6.9. They that will be rich, fall into Temptation, and a Snare, and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts, which drown Men in Destruction and Perdition. The Bent and Resolution of the Soul argues the Heart is naught; he hath drowned himself already, he falls into a Snare, and into many Temptations.
3. By an immoderate delight in worldly Comforts. A Man may be worldly, that is, not carking and ravenous. Esa… saith, I have enough, my Brother, Gen. 33.9. Your Complacency in outward Enjoyments is a great Sin: When Men are satiated with their present Portion of the World, it is as great, if not a greater Sin, than to desire more. When Christ would represent a Covetous Man, he doth it not by one that grasps at more, but by one that found a greater Complacency in what he had, he blesseth himself as if he had Happiness enough, Luke 12.19. I will say to my Soul, Soul, thou hast much Goods laid up for many Years, take thine Ease, eat, drink, and be merry. It is a Question which is worse, a ravenous Desire after more, or a carnal Complacency in what we do enjoy? This last is worst; there is Discontent and Distrust in the former, but God is robbed and wholly laid aside by the latter: Our Delight, which is the choicest Affection, is intercepted. Many will say, I desire no more: but thy Heart is set upon what thou hast, and so God is robbed, who is to be the Soul's Treasure; and the Poor are robbed, they are loth to part with what they delight in; and the Soul is robbed of eternal Happiness which it should look after, and of present Comfort, in case God should blast all by his Providence; for a contented worldly Man will be soonest discontented. It is a breach of the Matrimonial Contract, Iames 4.4. Ye Adulterers, and Adulteresses, know ye not that the Friendship of the World is Enmity with God? There is a Matrimonial Contract between God and the Soul, wherein God propoundeth himself as God All-sufficient. Now, as if God were not good enough, Men seek Delight elsewhere. Well then, deny these Lusts of the Eyes. To this purpose consider,
(1.) Your Happiness doth not lie in these things. Luke 12.15. Take heed, and beware of Covetousness; for a Man's Life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth; you may be happy without them. The Saints have a Candle that shall never be blown out: Neither your Safety nor Comfort lies in the World; your Safety doth not lie in it, you do not live by ordinary Supplies, but by God's Providence. Your Comfort doth not lie in it, it should be in God. We cannot see how we can be well without Friends, Wealth, present Supports: but consider, a Man lives not by visible means, but by the Providence of God.
(2.) A little serves the turn to bring us to Heaven: He is not poor that hath little; but he that desires more, he is the poor Man. Enlarged Affections make us want more than the Necessities of Nature: We are not contented with God's Allowance, but pitch upon such a state of Life, and cannot live without such Splendor and Pomp, or without such an Estate. It is not want of Estate that makes a Man poor, but an unsatisfied Mind. He that doth not submit to God's Allowance, is poor.
(3.) God will provide for us, if we do our Duty. He that hath given us Life, will give us Food that is less than Life, it is Christ's Argument; Mat. 6.25. Is not the Life more than Meat, and the Body more than Raiment? Nay, he that hath given us Christ, will he not with him also freely give us all things? Rom. 8.32. So a Man may argue, God hath given me Life, and that is better than Food and Raiment; as the Body is better than the Garment. Is any Man so illogical, and of so little Reason, as to argue thus, God hath given me Christ, and will he not give me Support? I have trusted him with my Soul, shall I not trust him with my Estate? God never sets any one to work, but he gives them Maintenance: He feeds the Ravens, and will he not feed his Children? Certainly a Father will not be more kind to a Raven than to a Child, to a Flower than to a Son. Mat. 6.26, 27, 28, 29.
(4.) Wealth doth not make us more acceptable with God. Grace puts the Rich and the Poor upon the same level, Iames 1.9, 10. Let the Brother of low degree, rejoyce in that he is exalted; but the Rich in that he is made low: because as the Flower of the Grass he shall pass away. The rich Man is not too high for God, if his Heart be kept humble with his Estate; and the poor Man is not too low for God, if he be preferred by Grace: so that Grace still is the ground of Acceptation. Riches profit not in the day of Wrath, Prov. 11.4. What is the Hope of the Hypocrite, tho he hath gained, when God takes away his Soul? Job 27.8. These things will stand you in no stead.
(5.) The more Estate you have, the more Danger, and the more Trouble. A Pirat doth not set upon empty Vessels; None are so liable to such Snares as those that have Wealth and Greatness. You can hardly discharge what you have already: if you had more, you would have the greater Trust; for to whom much is given, of them much shall be required, Luke 12.48. You must give account for more Time, for more Opportunities to do good, for more Acts of Mercy: A greater Estate is incident to more Cares, and more Duties.
3dly. The third Lust is, Pride of Life. The most natural Affection is Self-love, and Pride is nothing else but the Excess of Self-love; we suck it in with our Milk. Our first Parents fell by Pride, they soon catched at that Bait, You shall be as Gods, Gen. 3.5. and we see it takes with us, and surprizeth us upon every small occasion; a fine Garment, a Lock of Hair, a good Horse, or a serviceable Creature. There is nothing so high, and nothing so low, but Pride can make use of it: if we go back any degrees, it is to rise the higher. Yea, rather than not be proud, we can be proud of Sin; the Apostle speaks of some that glory in their Shame, Phil. 3.19. as their Revenge, and glutting themselves with their unchaste Pleasures. It is a Sin that will put us upon much Self-denial. How can Men rack their Spirits to promote their own Praise and Exaltation? How can they pinch themselves of the Conveniences of Life, to feed Pride, and to supply Pomp and State? Nay, a Man may be proud after his Death, in Funeral-Pomp, and in the Glory of the Sepulcher. Now Pride is twofold, in Mind, and in Desire; Pride in the Mind is Self-Conceit, and Pride in the Desire is an inordinate Affection of Glory, or high Place. Pride in Mind is when we ascribe to our selves what we have not, or transfer upon our selves the Praise of what we have. To boast of what we have not, is Folly; to boast of what we have, is Sacrilege, and we rob God; this is like a Man deeply in Debt, who boasts of an Estate he has borrowed. Pride in the Desire is an inordinate Affectation of our own Glory: all that Men do, is to set up themselves.
1. Against Pride in the Mind; consider what little Reason we have to be proud Poor Men! in whose Birth there is Sin, in whose Life there is Misery, and in whose Death there is Sorrow and Perplexity: What should we be proud of? Not of Strength, which is inferior to many Beasts: Not of Beauty, many Flowers are decked with a more glorious Paintry. Beauty it is but Skin-deep; it is blasted with every Sickness, it is the laughing-stock of every Disease. And then he that is proud of his Clothes, is but proud of his Rags wherewith his Wounds are bound up. Clothes you know were occasioned by Sin; in Innocency Holiness was a Garment for Man, and Men might have conversed naked without Shame. And so for Birth, we have no reason to be proud of that, Omnis sanguis concolor, all Blood is of a Colour: He hath made of one Blood all Nations of Men to dwell on all the face of the Earth, Acts 7.26. Not of Estates, they are but as Trappings to a Horse, things without us: We do not value a Horse for his Trappings, but by his Courage, Mettle and Strength. Not of Learning; there is none so learned, but he hath Ignorance enough to humble him: To be proud of Learning, shews our Ignorance. A little River seems deep when it runs between narrow Banks; but when there's a broad Channel, it is very shallow: So Men seem to be profound till their Thoughts run out into the breadth of Learning. Nor should we glory in Preferment, and in being advanced; when Men are put into great Places, they grow proud, but it is their Folly: thy Preferment may be in Judgment; God many times chooseth wicked Men to rule. He gives Kingdoms to the basest of Men, Dan. 4.17. God's Providence is not only seen in preferring wise and godly Governours, but in setting up the Base for a Judgment to the Nation. Nebuchadnezzar is called God's Servant, Ier. 25.9. the Sins of Egypt and Iudah did require such a Servant. A devout Man complained of a bloody Prince, Lord! why hast thou made him Emperor? he did seem to hear this Answer, Because I could not find a worse for such a wicked People. So when such a one was chosen Bishop, he grew proud upon it, and there was a Voice heard, Thou art lifted up, not because thou art worthy of the Priesthood, but because the City is worthy of no better a Bishop. Some may be preferred, not because they are worthy, but because the Sins of the Nation deserved no better Governours. So in any good Actions, when they are done commendable before Men, remember, God makes another Judgment. All the ways of Man are clean in his own Eyes; but the Lord weighs the Spirits, Prov. 16.2. Man hath but a partial hatred of Sin; but God hath an exact Ballance, and he weighs the Spirits, Luke 16.15. Ye are they that justify your selves before Men, but God knoweth your Hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among Men, is Abomination in the sight of God. When Men praise you, say, these Men cannot see my Heart: usually after some Eminency, there afterward comes a blasting. Iacob wrestled with God, and then his Thigh was broken. Paul was wrapt up into the third Heaven, then presently there was sent him a Thorn in the Flesh. Sometimes God blasts the Creature before the Work, as Moses his Hand was made leprous, before he wrought the Miracle, Exod. 4.6. Sometimes after the Work, to shew we are but vile Instruments; there is something left to remember the Creature of his own Vileness. Then be not proud of thy Holiness, for what is this to God's? Psal. 130.3. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark Iniquities; O Lord, who should stand? And God hates this Sin so much that he lets Men fall into many scandalous Sins, when they grow proud of their Holiness. The Ornament of a high and honourable Estate in the World, is not outward Splendor, but the humble Mind; Iames 1.10. Let the Rich rejoyce in that he is made low. This is true Nobleness and Eminency, and an Argument of a great Mind, to be like a Spire, least and low in our own account, when most exalted by God.
2. Against the other, Pride in Desires and inordinate Affectation of Greatness. Consider what God hath done for you already, and prize the Opportunity of a private Life, and improve it to frequency of Duty, and converse with God. It is better to be like a Violet, known by our own Smell, rather than our Greatness. The Mountains are exposed to Blasts and Winds, and they are generally barren; but the low Vallies are watered and fruitful: Therefore Men know not what they do when they seek great things. The true Ambition is to seek the great things of Heaven, and the great things of Christ; and for other things to refer our selves to the fair Invitation and Allowance of God's Providence. A vain-glorious Man is nothing in Christianity. Paul can count a Man's Judgment but a small thing; 1 Cor. 4.3. With me it is a very small thing, that I should be judged of you, or of Man's Iudgment. God is our Judg, and the Business of our Lives is to approve our selves to God; Man's Judgment must not be valued. And besides, it is a vain thing to affect that in which we may be soon crossed: One Man's Opinion may disturb our Quiet: One Mordecai can cross Haman in all his Pomp. To dote upon that which is in the Power of those whose Humours are as inconstant as the Waves, or their Breath, or the Wind, is a very great Folly; where one Word may deject us, and cast us into Sorrow. And lastly, consider, this is nothing to eternal Glory.