Exposition of the Apostles Creed, Part · Sermon 44
The denial of sin a deceit.
1 John 1. Ver. 8. & 10.
If we say we have no sinne, we deceive our selves, and the truth is not in us. And
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a lyar, and his Word is not in us.
I Have joyned these two Verses together, because they are not altogether disjoyned in sense; sin we find in both, and presumptuous sinners in both; in the eighth verse, some who are apt to say, They have no sin; in the tenth, those who were bold to maintain, That they never had sin: The first deceive themselves; the last, rather then they would be found guilty, would make God a lyar, that is, accuse the Word of God of a lye, which saith plainly,Rom. 3.23. That all men are sinners.
Clem. Alex. foreign. 6.There were, who gave out, that the Apostles after our Saviours Ascension were so far advanced by the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit, that they were no more subject to common passions and infirmities. This opinion Saint John here disavowes, both for himself and his fellowes; to such impiety they never came, as to make God a lyar; of such folly they would not be held guilty, as to deceive th…mselves; ingenuously they confessed, that they had sinned, and as yet they did sin: If a contrary thought should come into their heads, or a word to the contrary drop from their tongues, the Truth were not in them, the Word of God were not in them.
But the Apostles are in their Graves, and what they durst not, some after them have been over-bold to affirm; some among us are come to this pass, that they have no sin; and some again, That they have not sinned. The Pelagian denies original sin in infants. The Papists deny this to be a sin in Regenerate persons. The old Cathari with the Rabble of Novatians, Antimonians, and many new Sectaries, applaud themselves, and boast that they are perfect, pur…, holy, without sin in this life; and therefore they have no use of that petition, Dimitte nobis debita nostra, Forgive us our trespasses.
To all three we oppose these words of Saint John, professing th…t we have sinned in our father Adam, and we have sin, and yet carry it about us; we dare not make God a lyar, we dare not deceive our selves; both which we should do, si dixerimus, if we should say to the contrary; and to convince them of deceit and falshood, that I say no worse, I shall set down, and insist upon these Propositions.
1. That even Infants have sinned; against the Pelagians.
2. That Concupiscence in the Regenerate, is a sin; against the Papists.
3. That no Regenerate person is so heightned by grace, but he sins daily; against the Sectaries.
4. That those who say the contrary, Do
1. Deceive themselves.
2. They make God a lyar.
3. The Truth, his Word is not in them.
These Discourses I confess are fitter for a Professors Chair, than a Preachers Pulpit; and were I in the School, I would enlarge my self upon them. Howbeit, having so just occasion given me, I shall with what brevity I may, say somewhat of them. I begin with the first, and prove unto you, that even Infants are guilty of sin from the womb, taking my hint from the last verse of this Chapter.
1. If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a lyar, and his Word is not in us.
Who they were that said this in Saint Johns time, is not evident, but in all probability the Judaizing Corinthians were these bold men, who came to that rashness, that they denied the perversness of our corrupt nature, affirming that they had never sinned; who afterward trode in these steps, is well known. Pelagius, and his Scholar Celestius were of opinion, that sin was not subjectively inherent in our nature, nor by propagation transmitted to us, but only by example and imitation of our parents taken up by us, so that children were not guilty of it from their birth.
An heresie which Bellarmine endeavours to fasten upon us, because we affirm with Saint Paul, That the children of faithful parents are holy: 1 Cor. 7.14.But against the old Heretick, and maltcious Adversary, we profess, That holiness is not in us by nature, but by grace; that it is not our first, but second birth, which makes men good: For whatsoever is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that by nature we are the children of wrath; John 3. Ephes. 2.3. Job 14.4. Psal. 51.5. Ezek. 15.6.that even foreign the new born babe is conceived of unclean seed, and warmed in a sinful womb. In the conception, I say, polluted no less with sin than blood. Adam represented all mankind; and as in the loins of Abraham Levi paid tythes, so also in the loins of Adam every mothers son that descended from him, is a disobedient person; Saint Paul saith it in plain words, In him, that is, in Adam all sinned.Rom. 5.10.
Should I hold my peace, even the very children would cry this abroad; a man might find enough out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings to still the enemy; for these silly, harmless, Pelagian Innocents can no sooner speak,Psal. 8.2. but you shall see in them a crafty lying disposition, an inclination to revenge, stubborness against their parents, with the like enormities. These blossomes shew what the Tree is, and by what sap it is nourished; neither can they learn these ill qualities by imitation of their parents bad example, before they know what it is to imitate. The truth is, that same sin which dwells in the nature of man, which is by Baptism wounded, but not wholly healed; imminuta, but not sublata, weakned, but not removed, produceth these effects.
David acknowledgeth himself infected and defiled with this universal contagion: Behold I was formed in iniquity, Psal. 51.5.and in sin my mother conceived me. He fetcheth the cause of his actual Murder and Adultery from that Original, and in this common fate he doth lament his own; two words he useth to express it by: The first Cholel, signifying to create or form; the other Jacham, to warm; whereby he declares, that even in his forming in the womb he was defiled, while he was foster'd, warm'd, nourish'd in his mothers belly, he was polluted with this Original uncleanness; which being stirred up, and brought to flame by a beautiful object, …gg'd him on to commit that outragious sin;2 Sam. 11.3.
For which, he was in Law but a dead man; and from the very root, whence his sin did grow, all other Infants are obnoxious to death; to their Graves it brings them; and dare any man say then, that they have no sinful quality in their nature? This were to tell us of an effect without a cause, and to make God punish such as never deserved it; for the wages of sin is death; nay, the wages of this sin, is death; for one mans offence, Rom. 6.23. Rom. 5.18.God wrote this sentence of condemnation against all: And when we see death raign, and his will executed upon Infants as well as others, what reason is there to conceive, that any one put to death by this righteous Judge, should be an Innocent. Innocents indeed we call these, and well we may in comparison of our selves, which are such notorious Nocents; but if they, or any for them say, they have no sin, they make God a lyar, and his Word is not in them; for in his Word he hath said,Rom. 3.23. that all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.
But Pelagius for the better colour of his Errour, hath ranked Infants into two sorts: Some that are descended of parents who beleive not the Gospel; and these he confesseth obnoxious to sin and corruption: Other, who are the Off-spring of the godly and faithful; These godly parents (saith he) being holy themselves, cannot bring forth an ungodly child; Job 14.4. 1 Cor. 7.14.no more than an unclean thing can come out of a clean; and to give strength to this shift, he applies the Apostles words, Your children are holy.
True it is, that some are the issue of believing, some of unbelieving parents; but as untrue, that there is in the first an exemption from original sin, as it is true that the latter are guilty; for Saint Paul affirms, that this sin is in all alike, nor more, nor less, because by the offence of one, many were dead alike,Rom. 5.14. August. even those who had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression; that is, propriae voluntatis actu, by an act of their own will, as did Adam, and he means Infants: All dye, and therefore no difference betwixt a child of a believer, or an unbeliever; of a Jew, or a Gentile, in respect of natural corruption: And indeed how was it possible, when the child of Jew and Gentile was unborn at the commission of Adams sin, that one should be guilty of the transgression of the Law in Paradise more than the other? If they equally sinned in the loyns of Adam, as they did, either then exempt both, or exempt neither; for free the one, and you must free the other. Pelagius distinction then of children of good and bad parents, to this purpose, is altogether frivolous.
And that he collects from it, is as false, That the children of good men are without sin, confirming his assertion by that of the Apostle, Your children are holy.
For holy they are not, as if descended from holy parents, they had an inherent holiness from the birth; yet holy they may be said to be, because the children of believing parents have this Prerogative above Infidels, that they are born within the pale of the Church, and therefore have a present right and interest to those means, whereby the Ordinance of Christ is, that his Church should be sanctified.
And this Laver their good Mother the Church bestows upon them, because they are polluted; what do you at the water? why hath there been such care taken to wash little children? In vain were they washed in this Laver of Regeneration, were they without the spots and filth of sin. Go and wash your spotted dirty-tail'd Sheep there; Lambs these are, and if Pelagius Doctrine be true, I ask, What have they done?Rom. 5.19. What have they done? They have sinned in him, foreign, in whom all have sinned, they art involved in that great offence, foreign, of which all are guilty; and therefore they are all washed in that water, foreign, in which all must be washed; this very Baptisme of the Church is an evident Argument, that they are soil'd with the stain and pollution of the womb.
Yea, but Pelagius goes on, and layes hold on this answer as advantageous for him:John 1.13. For (saith he) are they washed? are they by it sanctified? then it will follow, that the children begotten by them, are not born of blood, and the will of the flesh; but coming from regenerate loyns, are a holy seed.
Suppose that were true, which this wise man takes for granted, viz. That grace did so far elevate our nature, that it raised it to the first integrity; that a father were as holy and clean, as Pelagius would have him; (which yet is not so, since in Baptisme there is a remission of the guilt of sin, the ill quality remaining) Yet suppose all this true, this will not make holiness hereditary; for piety and holiness, and other Christian vertues are adventitious forms, not natural to any man; these belong not to the nature of a man; for a man is a man without them; these then the Father begets not. That a good man beget a man, is natural; but that he beget a just, a holy man, is no wayes necessary, because he begets not a child as he is just, but as he is a meer man: And, since now to the nature of man sin cleaves, it is no wonder, that together with his nature, the corruption is infused into the posterity.
This is easie to be seen in Adam himself, to him God made a promise of pardon, his faith relying upon the seed of the woman to break the Serpents head, Gen. 3.justified him in the sight of God: And yet this believing Adam begets his eldest son, and Eve brings him forth a Cain, no Saint I am sure, no heir of his fathers faith,Gen. 4. and imputed justice.
Go now Pelagius, and say, That good parents must have good children; that sanctified persons must needs bring forth Saints; when justified Adam begets an impious Cain: And why should any man wonder at this, since every dayes experience can teach us, that a circumcised Jew begets an uncircumcised Infant, and the purest grain of Wheat thresh'd, and winnow'd, and …nn'd from the Chaffe, growes up, and ripens in the Ear with the husk about it; what the fore-skin is to the circumcised Jew, or the Chaffe to the purest grain, that sin is to our nature, it sticks so fast on, that it will appear with it.
It was the Prerogative of Christ alone to be free from this blot;Hebr. 4.15. he derived not from his mother original sin; for he was not from Adam, as from the Agent principal, and from the seminating power;Luke 1.35. but from the Ʋirgin he took that matter, which by the over-shadowing power of the Holy Ghost, was freed from the common contagion with which all other are polluted: Et fic actum est de Pelagio.
2. That Concupiscence in the Regenerate is a sin, against the Papists:
One of the main Reasons that perswaded the Romanists, that the vicious nature of original sin in Regenerate persons, is so far unrooted, that they are not guilty of it, is, because the Messalians were by Theodoret condemned for Hereticks, in that they thought Baptisme as a Razour to shave away past sins; but that it took not away the root, concupiscence remaining behind: But our Adversaries are partial in relation of the Messalian Heresie; they thought indeed Baptisme did not unroot original sin, but they added, that it did not deliver men from the tyranny of Satan, nor yet conferred grace to the resistance of sin: This last we disclaim; the first part of their assertion hath some truth in it. Now those of Rome explain themselves about it one way, and we another.
1. The Romanists grant, that this original corruption is in all men at their conception; which yet so far by Baptisme is taken away, that it ceaseth to be properly sin; that yet it is so called, they confess, because it is the incentive to sin, being much like Tinder, which though it be not formally fire, yet it is very apt to catch the flame; they liken it also to some hereditary disease, put case the Stone or the Gout, which being received even with the seed from the Progenitours, disaffects the sons body.
2. We agree with them in this, that it remains in our nature after Baptisme, that also it is a provocation to wickedness: but withall we say, which they deny, that it is a sin, and leaves a blot upon the soul.
I know very well that original sin extends farther than concupiscence; yet since Thomas, Lombard, and the other School-men speak of both as one, I in this place will not separate them; especially since the distinction of concupiscence will give great light and satisfaction in this controversie: Concupiscence is to be considered three manner of wayes.
First, As it is a power and faculty of the soul, by which we are stirred and moved from within, to desire somewhat without; and this power is like the visual faculty of the eye, or the prime ability of the ear, both natural and inseparable; neither is the motion any more sinful, when it moves the soul to desire any thing lawful, than that of the eye, or the ear are, when they are stirred up to behold their proper object. Concupiscence then in this sense is a natural faculty inseparable from the soul, and it offends …ot, when it desires any thing for quantity or quality as it ought, and in that decent order as it should; the fault is when things transitory and sensitive, are inordinately and overmuch, and eternal and spiritual matters too little desired.
Secondly, Concupiscence is taken then for an inordinate motion, deviation,Ephes. 2.3. Gen. 8.21. Rom. 1.24. Tit. 1.15. Rom. 7.23. or ataxie, either in the minde, or in the heart, or in the will, or in the affections, or in the conscience, making a man rebellious to the Law of God, and solliciting to evil. This in the Scripture is call'd the law of flesh, because it is in the flesh as the subject; the Law of the Members, because it makes an active rebellion in all parts;Bonav. in 2. Sent. dist. 30. fomes peccati, because from this scum all filth of sin is fomented; languor naturae, because it infeebles a man to do the good he would, and as he would. This is not so properly Original sin, as it is an ill consequent accompanying Original Sin. For in Original Sin there be two things.
Thom. 1. 2ae q. 82. Art. 3.The One is a privation of, and a defect in Original righteousness, or as Thomas teacheth, an Aversion from good, which is the formal part of it: The other is a pronesse to evil, and a difficulty to do good, which is the Material part thereof. Both these are in Original sin. For as sickness is not only a privation of health, but also an ill affection of the body arising from the distemper of the blood and humours: so also this hereditary stain is not only the want of righteousnfes, but also an exorbitancy and a defection to iniquity. This last ptoceeding from the former, as the act from the habit.
For thirdly, Concupiscence is taken for the effects themselves, which follow upon it; blindness in the mind, perversenesse in the will, a tumult in the appetite, the loss of supernatural endowments, and the corruption of those which are natural.
To apply this; Let Concupiscence be taken in the first sense, for the affection naturally arising from the soul, whereby it is carried to desire its proper object in an orderly way, and we grant it is no sin. But take it in the second and third acceptions, as it provokes to evil, averts from good, and sets us to desire unlawful and forbidden things, and so it is a sin: and the reasons to prove this are very pressing.
1. Is it not a breach of the last Commandment? hath God in vain said, Thou shalt not covet? In which, that not actual concupiscence is condemned, but original, is evident; because the act was prohibited before in the other commands; necessary then it is, that in this there be somewhat forbidden, which was not before, except we will make but nine Commandments. Which what it should be except original concupiscence, I see not: to which Zanchy adds many other reasons, Tom. 4. lib. 1. cap. 5. thes. 4?
2. But the confession of the Apostle is plain; for five times he calls it sin in the sixth chapter to the Romans, and six times in the seventh, and thrice in the eighth; and were it not truly and properly such, he never would so much for it have lamented in his own person the estate of a regenerate man, detested it,Rom. 7. Ver. 17, 16, 19, 20, 24. and himself for it. This he confess'd dwelt in him. This he confess'd made him do that which he would not. Against this he fought and strugl'd, but could not be rid of it. For this he judged himself to be a miserable man. And is it not then sin? Let any man shew, what more sin is able to do.
3. Farther yet, that vitious quality which lusts against the spirit, and by lusting tempts, and in tempting allures, and by alluring draws the heart to sin, is in nature sin it self.Gal. 5. James 1.14. Mat. 15.19. But concupiscence in the regenerate lusteth against the Spirit. It tempts: It draws away as well as allures: there is a conception from it, and the birth is sin. For from within come murders, thefts, fornication, adultery, &c. Now such as the fruit is, such the tree is like to be; but the fruit is naught, sowre and bitter, and then tree cannot be good and sweet.
Bellar. de pec. 5. 10. & 12. Stapl. de Just. lib. 3, c. 2.4. But after all the heat of dispute, our Adversaries me thinks break the very neck of their own cause by their own concession; for they grant that it is prohibited by divine Law, and repugnant to the same. What's this I read! prohibited by divine Law! repugnant to the same! and yet no sin. Opus est Oedipo, this a Sphinxes riddle for Oedipus to interpret; for it far passeth my capacity.
I could be tedious in this P…int; but it is, as I said, an intricate discourse, fitter for the School then the Pulpit. I w…ll therefore shut up all,August. contra Julian. lib. 5. cap. 3. with that excellent determination of Saint Augustine; Sicut coecitas cordis &c. As the blindnesse of the Heart is both a sin, in that by reason of it men believe not in God; and a punishment of sin, by which the proud heart of the sinner is worthily punish'd: and the cause of sin, since by it man becomes obstinate, and does that which is evil: So concupiscence against which the Spirit doth struggle, is a sin; because there is in it a disobedience against the Law of the mind; and a punishment of sin it is, it being just, that those who rebel against God, should have within a rebel to rise and rebel against them; and it is a cause of sin, in that wicked men do consent and yield unto it.
But at these last words of Saint Augustine our Adversaries hastily catch, hoping to make their advantage by them; for say they, the consent indeed is sin, but not till that be had; and to this purpose they cast in those words of Saint James, Lust when it hath conceiv'd, brings forth sin. It is not, say they, sin,Rhem. in Rom. 6. till it brings forth, which without consent it will never do.
We answer, first that the very conception of sin is a sin, though it have not out consent,Isodor. de diff. Spir. lib. 2. cap. 27. because it is a filthy motion of the soul in the affection of an unclean lust. Then secondly, that the argument follows not; for one Serpent may bring forth another, and yet that not hinder the first to be a Serpent; and so concupiscence, that conceives and brings forth sin as the mother, may be no less a sin then the daughter. The inference to my understanding were far more strong to the contrary and for us, that since lust brings forth sin, therefore it self is a sin; because the fruit declares the root.
The Pelagians then that deny the corruption of Nature, and the Papists who teach that Grace doth so far free us from this corruption, that the contrariety betwixt the flesh and the Spirit, and the proneness to desire inordinately things transitory, sensible, and outward, are not sinful, are by this Text found to be Deceivers and Lyars.
A third sort there are, who yer go one step farther, and free those who are born of God, from all sin, original and actual. They boast, that they are purified, sanctified, washed; all other men are a sort of impure, unholy creatures; they themselves only exempted from the condition of sinners; which is ex diametro contrary to Saint Johns words; for saith he, Ver. 8. If we say we have no sin, we deceive our selves.
That they are better then other men, let them bless God for it. I envy not their holiness, but will pray that it may be far greater, and that God would add to it, how much soever it is. But perhaps while in the arrogance of their heart they exalt themselves above other men, they may for this their spiritual pride be far worse in the eye of God. The Publican that stood afar off, and begg'd money, was dearer unto God, then the insolent Pharisee: Luk. 18.13.when he should have pray'd, he prai'sd himself, he thanked God for what he was not, when he should have confess'd, and a…k'd pardon for what he was. And so should the proudest Sectary that lives now; for if he, or any man else say they have no sin, they deceive, and are deceiv'd.
A man is said Haber… peccatum, to have sin three wayes: 1.Estius in loc. Propter affectum peccati, for the affection he bears to sin; and there is not a man to be found, whose affections are not inordinate and vicious; for every man bears too much love and goodwill to sin, being in one part carnal. In a mans own bosom a Saint shall find what he may reprove.Rom. 7.14.
Secondly, A man is said to have sin, propter peccati reatum, for the guilt of a sin newly contracted by him; there being …ot a man living who daily sins not. For if our affections to sin be not purg'd away in this life, the work one time or other will be committed, even by the most regenerate man; upon which there will follow a guilt, which that it may be removed, our Saviour hath taught us daily to pray, Forgive us our trespasses. One reason perhaps, why those pure souls dislike that form.Matth. 6.12.
Thirdly, Sin a man may to be said to have, propter actum peccati, because he is a continual and daily actor in sin; for which Saint John appoints him Confession, and upon it comforts him with the blood of Christ, which will cleanse him; and in the next chapter assigns him an Advocate; If any man sin, we have an Advocate; 1 John 2.1.Whosoever therefore saith that he hath no sin, that is, that he bears not too much love to sin, that he contracts no guilt of sin, that he acts not sin, he deceives himself.
In Baptism there is Grace conferr'd for the non-imputation of sin, but not for the non-existence of it: for this cause we say, that God vouchsafeth two blessings in Baptism; Remission of sin, and Mortification. He then remits the guilt of sin, so that the iniquity thereof shall be no more imputed to the condemnation of him that is born again. The guilt that is afterward contracted by an actual sin, rhough it needs not a new Laver, yet it needs a new repentance. As for the power of Mortification then bestowed, it goes further; and were it perfect, it would wholly abolish sin in the mind, w…ll, and affections, that so no corrpution, no not vitious concupiscence should remain behind; But because it is begun only, and not accomplished till death, therefore the bitter root still remains, though the fruits it brings forth, be not imputed.
Synod. Dordr.We disclaim then the whole extirpation of corruption. Yet we say, that Grace in the very act of regeneration doth work very powerfully upon the soul; that the tyranny of sin is thereby much allaid and stil…'d, and continually brought to a kind of rest and sleep. The rage then of sin, the dominion and reign is very much abated in the regenerate persons, but nor the root, nor the branches are quite taken away. This is a work for death, which God brought into the world, least sin should be immortal.
Method. apud Epiphan. Her. 64. Sect. 27.A skilful Artisan frames a statue of the gold of Ophir, which some malicious hand envying the glory of the workman, batters, and bruises, and defaces so much as lies in his power: The workman brings this to the file and the hammer; but when he finds that no art will reduce his Statue to the first lustre, in pieces, he breaks it, and melts it anew, that so it may recover its first beauty: God did thus with man, fram'd him to his own likeness, a goodly creature, which the envy of the devil presently defaced. And God perceiving that no skill or power would ever remove from him the bruises and scars, that he had received from that envious spirit, resolves to bring him into the dust of death, that so his blemishes might not remain for ever, but that they might be by the furnace of death as it were melted out. and never appear more.
Hence you may see, that in the judgment of antiquity, that sin doth so far deface our Nature, that the image of God first impress'd upon us, can never be fully repaired, till we be dissolv'd, and as a statue newly melted.
The cracks and blurs in a Statue may be perhaps stopped up, and scoured off, yet to a curious eye they will appear. And so Grace may and doth very much mend the flaws of our corrupt flesh, but cicatrix manet, the scars of that wound we first received, yet remain behind; and though the indiligence of man may passe by them, yet they are apparent to the eye of God.
Hebr. 12.15.Saint Paul acknowledgeth so much, that in the Hebrews there was a root of bitterness, and that in himself there were too manifest fruits of this bitter root. By which texts it is manifest, that the bitter root of sin yet remains in the regenerate, and that it is not dead, but living; and that the operation thereof is only kept in, and restrain'd from prevailing in such sort as it did before, but it is not wholly taken away. If the faithful would do Gods will on earth, as the Saints in heaven, they cannot; for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit; if they would sin maliciously and obstinately as the Devils, blasphemously as Julian, they shall not; because the Grace of Gods Spirit doth allay the power and tyranny of this inbred enemy.
Zanchy hath well observed upon this place, that there is a vast difference betwixt the sins of the Regenerate, and those who are not born again. Both sin, but not both in the same manner. Those he cals deambulationes, walks in sin: These, Lapsus, slips only.
1. First, the wicked walk in darkness; their ways be dark and slippery, Psal. 35.6.and yet they voluntarily and freely continue in them. 2. Then they take great delight in this walk; sin is no burden to them, but a pleasure; so that the works of darknesse give them great content; according to that of our Saviour, Men love darkness more than light, because their deeds are evil. 3. Lastly,Joh. 3.19. they give not over till they have walkt out their walk, and brought their sin to the Consummatum est, to be perfect.James 2.15.
2. But with a regenerate man it is quite otherwise. For first, sin may surreptitiously and in a cunning way steal upon him in his walk, but he will never give it the right hand of fellowship. The purpose of his Will is always entire, fixed as the centre immoveable, that God be King, that his Law be his guide. That he makes his scope, though by the practice of the flesh against the Spirit, destruit in particulari, quod in generali intentione est constitutum; He doth that he would not. For secondly, he rejoyceth not in doing evil, but rejoyceth in the truth. He finds sin a burden too heavy for him to bear, 1 Cor. 13.6. Psal. 38.4.and therefore hates, and is willing to cast it off. A full pleasure he takes not in the Act, and less after; peccat remurmurante conscientiâ, his conscience murmurs and riseth against that he does, and mutters that it should be done; His heart hath little rest within, comes and goes, and disciplines him, and puts him to pain even when he yields; displicet sibi quia displicet Deo, he is displeased with himself because he hath displeased his God. Lastly, having slipt, he recovers, if possible, or if his hard hap be to take a foul fall, he lies not along, and tumbles in his filth, but rises quickly and goes to his God, and complains of his own heart, and of his enemy. He pours in salt tears to his sweet sin, and pays for his pleasure with brine. And ever after is afraid of sin, as of the plague, he flyes from it citò, longè, tardè. His departure from it speedy, his remove far, his return is very slow, or never. He looks to every rub, to every stone, every rock against which he may dash his foot; and goes on his way with fear and trembling. He never awakes this sleepy Lion, nor stirs these dregs in the bottom by some tempting object let in by the ear, or any allurement from the eye; knowing well that these provocations will be like Jacobs pil'd sticks in the troughs and gutters;Gen. 30.38, 39. the heart that beholds them with delight, will bring forth no other but speck'd and spotted births:
These then are the differences betwixt a good and a bad man about sin.
1. The one offends freely, the other with reluctancy.
2. The one loves his sin, the other hates it.
3. The one continues on his course,Dan. 4.27. the other breaks it off by repentance, flyes from it, and takes care, that he provoke it no more.
Why God was pleased that sin should remain in regenerate persons.
Yea but now some will ask, Could not God have utterly destroy'd sin, root and branch, so that it never should have sent forth a blossom, nor born these sowr and hedge-grapes in the regenerate? Yes, no question he could have unrooted sin as well as have pruned it, but he hath left this root and sap in our nature, and permits it to be free and luxuriant even in his choicest vines, for divers weighty reasons.
1. The first is, to take down their pride, and to humble them. Man is too apt to have too high a conceit of his own person, his own wit, power, grace: So that there is not such a dangerous enemy to the soul as spiritual pride.Luke 18.11. The Pharisee because he was a little better, in his own conceit, than the Publican, contemn'd him. That a man therefore might descend into his own heart, and know himself, God lets the best of his servants be obnoxious to this poyson and the effects of ir, and so makes sin a remedy to slay pride, that invincible Monster which otherwise would slay the soul. Saint Paul for his abundance of Revelations, was in danger to be puffed up; to asswage this tumour,2 Cor. 12, 7. there was given to him a thorn in the flesh, the minister of Satan to buffet him. The heart in the body is so full of heat, it would stifle it self, and us also, were it not that God hath provided the lungs to cool it: Semblably in the soul grace is full of heat and spirit, were it not, that God had ordained these infirmities to cool it, and keep it in temper, to awake our care, and provide that we presume not too high.
2. Again, God suffers his servants to have sin about them, and to fall into it, that thereby he may quicken and revive those graces which lie hidden in their hearts;Acts 5. Joh. 20.28. Saint Peter is more bold after his denial; Thomas more strong in faith, after his infidelity: The good husbandman cuts his Vines, not with a purpose to kill them, but to make them bear more fruit. In the Canticles, when Christ left his Spouse,Cant. 4.4, 5, 6. then she riseth out of her bed; she opens the door; then her hands drop myrrhe upon the Bar; then she seeks, then she calls for him, but not before.1 Cor. 9.25. No man is crowned, except he strive; and therefore the Lord, who hath prepared for us a Crown, hath also suffered some enemies to remain, that by the battel and conflict with them, our faith, our patience, our perseverance might be tryed and increased; no otherwise than the Canaanites were left in the Land,Judg. 2.22. that his people might thereby be proved, whether they would walk in the way he set them, and keep it.
3. But there is another Reason beyond all these; that is, that by feeling our wants, we may seek for help, and petition for more grace; partly to supply what is wanting, partly to cover what is amiss.
1. Did not men by experience find how powerful sin is to over-rule them, they would never be so sensible of their own bondage, and sins tyranny; for if the remains only of it in the allay and weakness produce in us so strong and restless remptations and exorbitances, how would it tyrannize, were it in its full strength and vigour? That which abates it, and takes it down, is grace; and grace descends not down upon us, till our prayer ascends up, and fetches it down: Being then, even out of the abatement, sensible of the Tyrannical power, it behoves us to call for help, for armour to resist.
2. But when we have fought, wrestled, resisted to the utmost, yet we shall be foil'd. A cover then is necessary, that will hide all; and such a one there is; a long white Robe, made of our Saviours righteousness, which is able alone to cover all. He that is truly sensible how much he wants it, will alone petition for it; and it is this same root and stock of sin in the Regenerate, that forceth them to sue for it.Joh. 16 7. Christ told his Disciples, it is expedient for you that I go away; and so it is expedient that Christ sometimes withdraw himself, and leave man in the hands of his own counsels, leave sin in him to provoke, to tempt, to assault, to conquer him: that being pursued, and in danger of undoing, he may flie to him for remedy.
We see it in the common course of life; it is good for some men, that their meat be taken from them, yet meat is the staffe of life; that from some it is good that blood be taken, yet blood is the Nurse of life; that from men with sore eyes light be removed, and yet light is the comfort of life. Loth I am to say it, yet it is for our good that Christ absent himself; for upon his recess, men will seek him the more diligently; the people did so;John 6.24. the want of any thing being that which will set the true price upon it. This same home-bred, inbred disability will deject a pious soul; this same sad apprehension how little we can do without the help of our good Lord, the sense we have of our failings in his absence, w ll batter a religious heart to a flat nothing; and yet again inflame his affections to grasp his Saviour with all his merits, that he may be Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, Redemption, Light, Life, good works, in a word, all in all unto him.1 Cor. 1.30.
Evident hence it is why God hath suffered sin to dwell with good men, viz. to humble them, to perfect his graces in them, to drive them to Christ, such is his love, such is his goodness; He that caused light to shine out of darkne…s, hath out of the poyson of sin made a Cordial, by which he will make it appear, That all things, even sin and all, shall work together for the best, Rom. 8.28.to tho…e who love God.
Thus much of the Hypothesis, If we say we have no sin; which supposeth the Thesis, that there be some who say so; well, whosoever they be that say it, they are but in an ill case; for,
1. They deceive themselves; so are false people.
2. They make God a lyar; and so are impious.
3. There is no truth in them; and then are not to be trusted.
Not to detain you long, foreign, we wander, and erre, and put a meer fallacy upon our selves. Wise men love not to be deceived, or if by any, yet not by one they trust, and least of all by him they most trust, the Counsellour that lies in the bosome: But he who saith he hath no sin, is deceived by his own heart, his nearest Friend, his dearest Counsellour; of all other Errours then, let us take heed of this: For first, no man will pity us, rather turn upon us the Proverb, Self-do, Self-have: Gal. 6.3.Then by this over-swelling a man bursts to nothing, and by his nothing, thinking himself something, he deceives himself. But the greatest Paralogisme or Fallacy, is, That he deceives himself of a Saviour; for Christ saves none but sinners; his blood cleanseth from sin; he that hath no sin, hath no load; and he that hath no load, feels it not; and who so feels not his burden, is not called by Christ. Beware then that pride entice you not into the company of the Cathari; for by it you cousen your selves of salvation, and a more dangerous deceit and cousenage there cannot be.
2. We make God a lyar.
But this is not all, behold a greater impiety, We make God a lyar! What's this I read! God a lyar! The Father of Truth to become the Authour of a lye! Horresco referens: And yet this is done by him who saith he hath no sin; for God hath plainly delivered his testimony in this matter, All we like sheep have gone astray; there is not one that doth good, no not one; not the Infant of a day old is clean, All have sinned; Isa. 53.6. Psal. 4.1, 2.3. Gal. 3.22.and God hath shut up all under sin, that he might have mercy upon all. To exempt our selves from the common condition of sinners, is to make a false conclusion, and to blaspheme God to his face. All men are sinners, saith God; nay, say these pure souls, stay there, We are not so; and what is this but to give God the lye?
3. The Truth is not in him, and his Word is not in him.
But let this lie rest with those that devised it; let God be true, and all men lyars, Rom. 3.4.as it is written; for he that saith it, is a lyar, and the Truth is not in him. God is without sin; for he is justice and integrity it self: The Son of God is without sin;Isa. 53.9. for there was no deceit found in his mouth: The Angels without sin; for they stood in their integrity: But what man soever affirms this of of himself, contradicts Gods Word, Truth there is none in him. They who have said the Truth, have said to the contrary: Pettr confesseth, I am a sinful man. Paul an Elect Vessel,Luke 5.8. 1 Tim 1.15. sa. 6.5. That he was the chief of sinners: Isaiah, That he was of polluted lips. But what do I trouble you with Instances in this kind, since they are as many as men, who are, have been, or shall be; either then a mortal must depose the nature of man, or confess himself to be a sinner, except he will deceive himself, and deceive oth…rs; except he will make God a lyar, and his Word a lye.
The APPLICATION.
That counsel then of Solomon is good, Be not righteous over-much, neither make thy self over-wise, Eccles. 7.16.why shouldest thou destroy thy self? Righteous overmuch? Who can be so? He that rhinks he is so, that trusts in himself, and imagines he is not like other men; for ever, where there is the greatest sincerity, there is the greatest humility; and where the least truth, there is the greatest pride.1 Cor. 4.4. I know nothing by my self, saith Saint Paul, and yet am I not thereby justified: Guilty he was not of any malicious wickedness, nor to be convicted of any scandalous offence, and yet he durst not stand for, and plead his justice; for he confessed there was a Law in his memb…rs which r…belled, and led him captive to the Law of sin. Rom 7.23.Let's have no boasting then, since this chosen Vessel durst not boast, not of his Pedigree, not of his Pharisaism, not of his stripes, not of his preaching,Phil. 3.4, 5, 6. not of praying, not of his Fasts, his pennance: In his esteem all these, and all that might be added to these, in compari…n of Christ were but dung: 2 Cor. 11.22, 23, &c.In the eye of man of some worth, but at Gods Tribunal not worth talking of; for when all's done, the best man is but quasi justus, the resemblance of a just man; he may fall, as did David; he may sin, as did Peter, he carries flesh about him, that doth and will pollute his best actions: Wash in Abanah and Parphar, and all the Rivers of Damascus: Dowse thy self in Jordan seven times,2 Kings 5. yet this leprosie of sin will not off, it still cleaves to, and will yet dwell to the flesh. What vain confidence then is this, in which these walking Ghosts of the old Gnostiques trust? Is there not a lye in their right hand? It is a vanity to say, We have not sinned, we do not sin; and they that trust to these lying vanities, Jonah 2.8.forsake their own mercy.
What the sin of this Land was, that thus hath raised the anger of God into a flame, is not hard to discover; what it is that continues it, we know: We sin, and yet we say, We do not sin; we are deceived, and yet will not be brought to confess it. O holiness, the beauty of the old Saints, whether art thou fled? in what Corners are we call'd upon to seek thee? And thither when we come, there we are presented with thy Shadow and Name; but thy Self, in a foul Garment, and deformed face; woe is me, it pities me to see what thou wert, and what thou art.
— Quae causa indigna serenos
Faedavit vultus, aut cur haec vulnera cerno!
Wounded by ambition, wounded by sedition, wounded by covetousnes, wounded by sacriledge, wounded by obscenity, by cruelty, confusion; wounded by ignorance, by errour, by darkness, by heresie, by schisme, by hypocrisie, and yet thy venerable Name fastned upon all these; these which were wont to be branded with the name of hellish sins, now are presented to us for the beauty of holiness.
Aevi longa valet tantam mutare vetustas.
Men may well say they sin not, when they own these for vertues; but this gilded Copper moves us not farther than to pity the sinners, and wonder at their pride and darkness.
Back then we retire, and seek for holiness, where we are sure to find her in the Word of God; there we find her as old as the Ancient of dayes; there we behold her clad in meekness, courtesie, charity, humility, justice; about her we find the fruit of righteousness, peace, repentance, and the love of God and man; and a great Train of old Saints in a mourning weed attending on her, lamenting that they have stain'd her beauty by their weaknesses and infirmities.
And in the steps of these holy men we mean to walk. While they say, they have no sin, we will acknowledge we are sinners; while they defend their sin to be no sin, we will confess it, and lament for it; nothing doub…ing but that God who sees these tears, will put them into his Bottle, and will cover our imperfect holiness with the long Robe of his Sons righteousness, in which when we shall appear before him, we shall be cleansed from all sin: When they who say they have no sin, shall be found to be lyars, and have the reward of lyars. From which our good God deliver us, for his Son Jesus Christs sake. Amen.