THat hereditary stain and ori­ginal corruption which we all drew from the loins of our first parents, (Christian and beloved brethren) it sticketh fast and close unto us: and so long as we carry about us this body of clay, this burden of flesh, we can never be perfectly rid of it. And the weight and burden of sin doth so [Page 2] press and weigh down a true Christian, that it causeth him to cry out almost dispairingly with the Apostle S. Paul, O miserable man that I am, who shall deli­ver me from this body of sin? But as we say in Philosophy, elementa in suo loco neque gravant neque levant, the elements in their proper place they are neither light nor heavy. So is it with sins, when they are in their proper place, the hearts of wicked men, they weigh nothing there: and whether they be light sins or heavy, they are insensible of the bur­den of them: and if hypocrites com­plain of sin in others, and true Christi­ans of sin in themselves, they that are fleshly minded meer natural men, as they know not what sin is, so they feel not the burden of it. And if they be not over curious to see sin in others, they are not over careful to see or amend it in themselves: and therefore they think themselves of all others in a happy con­dition, who neither trouble them selves with others sins, nor yet with their own. Whereas in truth there is no peace [Page 3] promised but to the troubled con­science, no quiet nor rest but to the burdened soul: those that are weary and heavy laden with the burden of their sins. While therfore these men are plea­sing themselves with this vain phantasie and thinking that they of all others have right to heaven and to earth too: The Spirit of God in the Scripture meeteth with them, and sheweth them that they may please themselves, but they cannot, they do not please God, while they remain in their natural con­dition without purging sin out of their hearts. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. The text it is a conclusion drawn from foregoing premises. The Apostle having in the sixth ver. laid down what a miserable condition it is to be carnally minded, and what a happy condition it is to be spiritually minded: to be carnally minded is death: but to be spiritually minded, is life and peace: In the se­venth ver. he laieth down the incom­petibility between these two conditions, [Page 4] and sheweth that the natural man is not, (and the impossibility that he should be) subject to the law of God, the carnal minde is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be. And then from hence he doth inferre this necessary Conclusion, So then they that are in the flesh, cannot please God. In which words the Apostle doth note three things unto us;

1. He doth [...] imply that some may be involved in this natural condi­tion here described and set forth unto us: they may be in the flesh.

2. He doth grant that a great many are involved in this condition: ye see it is set forth in the plural number, They that are in the flesh; and

3. There is the inferrence that the Apostle doth inferre, or the conclusion that he draweth from thence, They can­not please God.

First, then I will speak of that which the Apostle implieth here, which is, that some may be involved in this na­tural [Page 5] condition here described, and be in the flesh. I purpose not to lay down all the acceptions of the word Flesh in Scripture, but to propound onely so many as may make for the ne­cessary explication of the meaning of the holy Ghost in this place, where he saith, They that are in the flesh cannot please God. Flesh then it is taken for the body, as it consisteth of bones, sinews, ligaments, bloud, arteries, all that material massie fleshly lump which we carry about us: and for this body informed with a living soul, and so it is taken in the 1 Cor. 15. chap. the 50. verse where the Apostle saith, flesh and bloud cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven: and so it is taken, 1 Pet. 3. chap. 18. verse where the Apostle speak­eth of our Saviour, that he was put to death in the flesh. And in this sense are the Apostles words to be under­stood, 1 Phil. the 24. verse where he telleth the Philippians, that for him to abide in the flesh was more needful for them: that is for him to continue in [Page 6] the body and live upon the earth was better for them. Or else flesh may be taken for the remainder of natural cor­ruption in the regenerate. So it is taken in the 5. of the Gal. 17. ver. the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit a­gainst the flesh. And so to be in the flesh it is to live in this frail body incompas­sed about with sins and infirmities, and so the Apostles words may be un­derstood 2 Cor. 10. chap. 3. ver. Though we walk in the flesh yet we do not warre after the flesh. Or lastly flesh is taken for natural corruption, for the pravity of our nature, for the proneness and pro­pensity of the heart to evil, and the in­disposition thereof to do good: when the evil desires and motions of the flesh reign and bear sway and rule in the heart: and so the Apostles words are to be understood in the 7. Rom. 5. ver. where he layeth down, that when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the Law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. Properly in the Apostles meaning they are not [Page 7] said to be in the flesh in this place, who live in the body, for so we are all in the flesh. Neither are they said properly to be in the flesh accor­ding to the Apostles meaning in this place, in whom the reliques of natural corruption do remain: For so likewise we are all in the flesh, and the reliques of sin they will still re­main in us, so long as we live in the flesh, until such time as we put off the flesh, and this mortal put on im­mortality. But according to the true meaning of the Apostles words in Rom. 6. 12. this place they are said to be in the flesh, who suffer sin to reign in their mortal bodies, that they should obey it in the lusts thereof. And so the A­postle describeth the natural condition of all the sons of Adam, and of all san­ctified and regenerate persons before their conversion the 2 of the Ephesians 3. ver. we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the minde, and were by nature the chil­dren [Page 8] of wrath. This is the condition that all have been in, and some must needs acknowledge themselves to be still in. They have no knowledge of of Christ or of God, their under­standing is not enlightned with the saving doctrine of Christ and his kingdom, Christ crucified is a stum­bling block unto them, they esteem it foolishness when they hear it prea­ched, they mock at the resurrection of the dead, and the principles of Christian Religion are so absurd to their natural sence and reason, that they will not down with them by any means. Sin [...] they know not what it is, they have no sight of it: or if they have, they have no sence nor feeling of the hainousness of it, and for the inward corruption of the heart they suffer it to lye there with­out mortifying it: and it is the con­straint of the laws of the land that re­straineth them from the actual com­mission of sin, for otherwise they give full sway and swinge to their crooked [Page 9] and corrupt affections, free scope and liberty to themselves in sin, and run their full career in wickedness: and if they can but extricate themselves out of the briers so that the laws of the land should not lay hold of them, they care not to commit all manner of iniquity and impiety. Yea though they hear that the law of God is spi­ritual, and requireth the obedience of the inward man, and that God look­eth more to the heart then to the out­ward actions, and that a little sin such a sin as it is a question among a great many whether it be a sin, is exceeding hainous in the sight of God if mens hearts be set upon it, so that they will not part with it: Though they hear out of the Scripture that God will call men to account for idle 2 Mat. 36. ver. 5 Mat. 28 ver. Pet. 2 ch. 14 ver. 5 Matth. 22 ver. 3 Gen. 42. 20 Exod. 17 ver. words, for wanton looks, for lascivi­ous gestures, for spleeny passions, and revengeful meditations, for but pur­poses to enrich themselves by the gain of oppression: yet they suffer these euil motions of their corrupt minde, [Page 10] these desires of the flesh, to domi­neer and bear sway, and reign and rule in their hearts. And as for the works of the flesh which the Apostle reckons up in the 5 of the Galatians, 19 and 20 verses; The works of the flesh are manifest which are these, adultery, fornication, laciviousness, uncleanness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditious here­sies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings and such like: they are ex­ceedingly in love with these, and spare not to commit them so far forth as they come not within the compass of mens laws to be punished: yea and many times they leap over the laws of God and the land, wallow in swinish pleasures and sinful surfe­ting, follow their brutish appetites, their sinful and sensual desires, give no law to their unbridled passions, to their loose carriages, to their disso­lute behaviours, to their unjust pra­ctises: the restraint neither of Gods laws nor of mens can keep them [Page 11] within bounds, but they break both, and pursue their evil courses with all vehemency and violence. And are such as the Scripture speaketh of the unjust Judge; They neither fear God nor 18 Luke 4 ver. regard man, but oppress the poor, grind their faces, undo the fatherless and widows, against all law and equi­ty: and yet they have no sence nor feeling of their sins, they are touch­ed with no remorse for them. The terror of the law which doometh death and damnation to the breach of the least of Gods Commandments, the horror of their own guilty con­sciences, when they see their sins laid before them in their own ugly plight, shape, and form: doth not make them so to groan under the bur­den of their sins, that they should see what a sweet thing it is to have a Sa­viour, what a happiness it is to be a Christian. They are not so wearied with the heavy load and burden of their sins that they should seek and finde rest in Christ Jesus: But they 5 Wis. 7 & 8 ver. [Page 12] weary themselves in the way of wickednes, and never say, what hath pride profited us? Or what good hath riches with our vanting brought us? till they groan out this in hell, where they are ne­ver like to have part in God or inheri­tance in Christ. These now are the wicked, and such as these they are in the flesh, and fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the minde: and sure some such men as these the Apostle yieldeth and granteth that there may be. They have not their understand­ing informed, nor their reason recti­fied. Their talk is of bullocks, and they know [...] how to give the kine fodder: or their discourse is of their wares and their merchandise, and they know how to buy and sell and get gain. But they are strangers in Israel, unacquainted with the myste­ries of Christ and his kingdom: That Christ came down from heaven, and 13 Act. 23 ver. was inclosed in the virgins womb, that he was born of the seed of David, and took flesh for our redemption: [Page 13] his Priestly, his Princely, his Pro­phetical office: his being God, his being Man, the necessity of his be­ing both for our redemption. His humiliation, his exaltation: his hu­mility, that he humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross: his exaltation, his rising again from the dead: his glorification, his leading captivity captive. These are things that they have small knowledge of; or if they have some confused knowledge of the fall of Adam, of the corrupt state and condition of all mankind since the fall, of the impossibility of keeping Gods Laws and Commandements, and of the necessity of a Saviour to free us from the curse of sin, which is death, and from the punishment of the breach of Gods Laws, which is damnation: have they now a lively 5 Gal. 6 ver. faith that worketh by love to purge their consciences from dead works to serve the living Lord? Do they be­lieve in Jesus Christ and him cruci­fied? [Page 14] yet they believe that there is one God and one Mediator between 2 Tim. 2 c. 5 ver. God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Yea S. Iames telleth them that the 2 Jam. 19 ver. devils believe and tremble. But do they believe that Christ died for their sins, and rose again for their 4 Rom. 8 ver. justification? yea they believe that Christ died for the sins of the whole world, and more particularly for 1 Tim. 4 c. 10 ver. theirs: and they are ready at any time when they are weary and hea­vy laden with the burden of their sins, to apply Christ and his merits to themselves for the remission of them: and therefore they make no question but they are truly engraffed into Christ, and made lively members of his body: yea they weary Christ with the load and burden of their sins, and make him their pack-horse to bear their iniquities, and as God speaketh by his Prophet, He is pres­sed under them as a cart is pressed that 2 Amos 13 ver. as full of sheaves. But do they so groan under the burden of their sins, that [Page 15] they desire to be rid of them, and to purge them out of their hearts? Doth their faith in Christ for the remission of their sins increase their hatred of 2 Cor. 7 c. 1 ver. sin, and their desire to cleanse them­selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit? Hereby they shall know whether they be in Christ or no: They that are Christs the Apostle telleth us, have crucified the flesh with the af­fections 5 Gal. 24 ver. and lusts. Unless therefore men crucifie the flesh, and mortifie their earthly members: fornication uncleanness, immoderate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness and the like: they are not in Christ but are still in the flesh, and whatsoever right or title they may plead to Christ, they are carnally, they are earthly minded. Let not sin reign in your mor­tal 6 Rom. 12 ver. bodies, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. If then mens hearts and consciences tell them, that they are not renewed in the spirit of their 4 Eph. 23. minde, their hearts are set upon evil, the thoughts of their hearts are evil, and 6 Gen. 5 ver. [Page 16] that continually: the evil desires of the flesh they swarm there, and the carnal desires of the mind they nou­rish and cherish them, please them­selves in them, take a great deal of delight to suffer their mindes to wander after vain pleasures and sin­ful delights: and as for the inward corruption of the heart, they give no stay nor stop to it. For the proneness and propensity of the heart to evil, and the indisposition thereof to do good, they see it not: or if they do they love it with all their heart: and desire to live and die in this pol­luted estate, this corrupted condition, over run with sin and iniquity. Their heart is corrupt, their conscience de­filed, and yet they are touched with no remorse for the inward pollution of their souls, for the outward de­filement of their bodies, but make sin their solace, and iniquity their pastime: and if God do so work by his word, by the good motions of his Spirit, by his mercies, by his [Page 17] judgements, as to restrain them from some open enormious crimes: If there be some few virtues that they love, and some few vices that they hate, and their corruption doth not shew it self in the commission of them, yet when they hear of an inward change of the whole minde, of the whole man, of a general hatred of sin, and a general love of goodness, that so God might accept of their imperfect obedience for Christs sake, and intitle them to heaven and salva­tion, this they cannot endure. To fear all their waies with the holy man Iob: and to refrain their feet 1 Job. 5 ver. 119 Psal. 101 ver. from every evil path with the Psal­mist, this they will not admit of. They have not onely one, but many sins reigning in them: and many virtues there be which Gods Ministers have made appear to their understanding are exceeding lovely, and yet they will not practise them. Their heart is not whole within them, the mass of corruption lieth [Page 18] there still; The old leaven is not 1 Cor. 5 c. 7 ver. purged out, that so it may be a new lump. There is the same proneness and propensity of the heart to evil, and the same indisposition to do good. And excepting that the restraining grace of Gods Spirit doth restrain them from the commission of some sins, and enable them to do some good; their practise for the general it is to do evil, and not to do good. Such as these there are, and such as these they are in the flesh and make 3 Rom. 14 ver. provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. And thus I leave the first thing implied in the words that some may be involved in this natural 2 Doctrin. condition and be in the flesh. As the Apostle yieldeth that some may be in this condition, so he further grant­eth that a great many are in this condition, it is set forth in the plural number, they that are in the flesh. And so I proceed to prove that which is plainly expressed and come in the second place to show that there are [Page 19] numbers and multitudes that are in the flesh: our Saviour in the seventh of S. Matthews Gospel telleth us that wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat. And every where in Scripture we have the mul­titude of wicked men described and set forth unto us. S. Paul layeth it down in his Epistle to the Romans, as the Psalmist had before set it down, and the wiseman in his Proverbs, 3 Rom. the 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 verses; They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doth good, no not one: their throat is an open sepulchre, With their tongues they have used deceit, the poyson of aspes is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and and bitter­ness, their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their waies, and the way of peace they have not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes. And the Psalmist bringeth in God wondring at the multitude of wicked [Page 20] men; Have they no knowledge that they 14 Psal. 4 ver. are all such workers of mischief eating up my people as it were bread, and call not upon God? Nos numerus sumus, & fruges consumere nati, we were all of us so in our natural condition, and no doubt but there are still a number, a multi­tude of Epicurean people, who think they are born onely to eat and to drink 12 Joh. 19 ver. and to enjoy the sinful pleasures of of this life. Though the world went 6 Joh. 26 ver. after Christ and the multitudes fol­lowed him, yet it was but for loaves, for carnal and by respects, and he had but few true disciples and they were not many in whom the word of God did take place. They were not all Israelites that were of Israel. Nei­ther are they now all truly converted, that live in the bosome of the Church. Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. They are but a remnant, a few, a small company that have saving grace whereby the soul should be [Page 21] converted. Many are called, but few 20 Matth, 16 ver. 2 Tim. [...] c. 21 ver. are chosen to be vessels of honour san­ctified and meet for the masters use. The many, the number, the multi­tude, they have not felt the inward 31 Jerm. 33 ver. Covenant, the circumcision of the heart, whereby God should put his law in their hearts and write it in their inward parts, there is no truth in their inward parts, their inward parts are very wickedness. They say, 5 Psal. 9 ver. as it is in Iob; Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes. 21 Job 14 ver. God would have healed them, but they would not. They love to lie in this polluted estate, this sinful con­dition: And as for the inward cor­ruption of the heart, they do not de­sire that it should be abolished: they will not purge it out, yea and many multitudes there are of such kinde of men. They go by companies into 23 Prov. 20 ver. 5 Jer. 7. ver. 64 Psal. 5. ver. the Taverns: they assemble them­selves by troops into the harlots houses: they meet together and commune of laying snares: they [Page 22] encourage one another in unjust pra­ctises: and their onely care is to buy 5 Jam. 13 ver. 1 Thes. 4 c. 6 ver. and sell and get gain, and go beyond their neighbours in bargaining: but among these multidudes of evil men; there are but a few godly Christians, a few good men. A world of sinners there were in the dayes of Noah but one Noah a preacher of righteousness. A great many of filthy and unclean Sodomites, but one righteous Lot whose soul was vexed with the filthy Con­versation of the unclean Sodomites. And S. Peter reckoning up the multi­tude of sinners that were in the dayes of Noah, and in the dayes of Lot sheweth that there should be the like multitude of sinners in the world un­to the worlds end. And as Gods vengeance did not sleep against the multitude of sinners that were in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot, so neither should it sleep against the multitude of sinners that shloud be in the world unto the worlds end. But cheifly Gods vengeance should [Page 23] shew it self against those who walk after the flesh, in the lusts of unclean­ness presumptuous are they, self-wil­led, they are not afraid to speak evil 2 Pet. 2 c. 10 ver. of dignities. Wilful sinners then there are who walk after the flesh, and commit all uncleanness with greediness. And many such evil di­sposed persons there are who make a sport of sin, and pastime of iniquity: and who is there almost that his heart should stand affected as the Psalmist speaketh, that he should 9 Psal. 6 ver. have respect to all Gods commande­ments? and hate sin indifferently, his own sins as well as other mens, and his hatred should shew it self especially against those sins to which he seeth the greatest proneness and propensity in his own heart. They are very few but they have their hearts set upon some sins or o­ther, they suffer them to lie and roust there, they will not part with them or purge them out. The bent of their affections is not set against [Page 24] sin, is not set upon good: their heart meditateth mischief and they stirre up strife and contension all the day long. They may blear the eyes of the world with dawbing policies, and skin over their corruptions: but their heart is not right neither toward God nor toward their neighbour. Indolu­it orbis Christianus factum se videns A­rianum. The whole Christian world was overspread with Arianisme, and Scismes and Heresies they abound in every place, and multitudes of men there are that cause sects and divisi­ons: sins and surfetings they increase and multiply continually, and sinners they thronge in the streets, All tables 28 Isaiah [...] ver. are full of vomit and filthiness, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, every one is given to covetous­ness, and from the Prophet unto the 6 Jer. 13 ver. Priest every one dealeth falsely. Some few onely excepted as S. Iohn hath it, the whole world lieth in wickedness, 1 Joh. 5 c. 9 ver. tumbleth and walloweth in this sin­ful condition; their hearts are un­cleansed, [Page 25] unsanctified, unreformed, even sinkes of sin: and the spread­ing contagion of sin and iniquity it o­verrunneth all places and persons, and few there be that are not infected with this plague and leprosie of sin. Some have it in their forehead, and it riseth up as it did in Uzziah his. 2 Cor. 26 c. 9 ver. 3 Isaiah 9 ver. They declare their sin as Sodom they hide it not. Others have it in their heart, their sore rankleth and fester­eth inwardly, and their wound is in curable: others, their loins are filled 38 Psal. 7 ver. with a loathsom disease and there is no whole part in their flesh: others, their feet are swift to shed bloud: others, 1 Prov. 16 ver. 49 Gen. 5 ver. 55 Psal. 20 ver. 69 Psal. 23 ver. their hands are instruments of cruelty: others, their eyes are blinded that they see not; they have the eyes of their understanding darkned so that they know not what sin is, and how should they then amend it? Many, too ma­ny there be, who have not one but many sins reigning in them, who walk and war after the flesh, and fulfil the desires of their evil and cor­rupt [Page 26] mindes: so that it is no marvel though the Apostle setteth it forth in the plural number, They that are in the flesh. Having thus described the Natural Condition of being in the flesh, & having shewed what it is to be in the flesh and having made it plain that there are numbers and multi­tudes of men who live and lie in this sinful condition, overrun with iniqui­ty, and drowned as I may say in the lusts of the flesh. It remaineth that I come to shew what it is that maketh this condition so miserable and so deplorable a condition: It may seem to be a happy condition, and no marvel if there be multitudes that are in love with sin, and the greatest part please themselves in their natural condition, and have some sin or other which they pro­pound unto themselves as their chei­fest happiness, felicity, and content­ment in this life: for sin it is sweet and the task of repentance it is tedi­ous bitter and irksome: and the child­bearing [Page 27] pangs of a woman in travail are not so painful and laborious, as are the travailing pains of those that are born again, in whom new birth is wrought. A troubled conscience and a minde disquieted with the burden of sin, it is above all the troubles and tribulations that can happen to a man in this life. Seeing then sin is so sweet, and the task of repentance so bitter, tedious and irksome: not to strive against sin, but to enjoy the pleasures and profits of this life, there is no misery at all in this condi­tion, but a great deal of happiness: and if it were not for that which fol­loweth in this text of Scripture, who might not wish to remain still in his natural condition, without purging sin out of his heart. So then that which maketh this condition so mi­serable a condition it is this, that men while they are in love with this supposed happiness, they lose that which is their true happiness, their summum bonum, and their chief felici­tv: Gods favourable countenance. [Page 28] Nothing can content the soul but God, nothing can satisfie the heart but the Trinity, and while men remain in this condition without purging sin out of their hearts, they are deprived of this felicity they are debarred of this happiness. So then this condition of being out of the state of grace, maketh men miserable, because those that are out of the state of grace and not truly regenerate cannot please God.

And so I pass to the third thing the 3 Doctrin. inference that the Apostle doth in­ferre, and the conclusion that he ga­thereth to set forth the misery of those that are in their natural condi­tion, They cannot please God. The A­postles meaning when he saith, those that are in the flesh cannot please God. Is not, that it is all one whether they do good or whether they do evil, their vices and their virtues finde the like acceptance at Gods hands, their gloriousest virtues are but glittering sins, their best actions are abominable, they are in the flesh [Page 29] out of Christ, and whatsoever they do they cannot please God. These are the exceptions that the Sectaries of these times make, not onely against the actions of those who are meer na­tural men, unreconciled, unconver­ted, but against the actions of those that are spiritual, and more truly engraffed into Christ then themselves. And these Sectaries they do dilate and spread themselves every where, and where there are fewest of them there are two many of them. Yet for my part I am and ever shall be so charitable as to believe that there are among them, some igno­rantly seduced Christians, who de­sire above all things to fear God and to serve him, and for the elects sake that are among them, shall speak unto them all as unto Saints, and un­to brethren, and all that I shall at this time say is but this; If these men cannot be perswaded to have a little more charity, it were to be wished that they would be perswa­ded [Page 30] to have a little more humility: if saith Iob, I wash myself with snow wa­ter, 9 Job 30, 31 ver and make my hands never so clean: yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. And the holy Father S. Augustin sheweth how imperfect the actions of the best are, that none can be found innocent if God should deal with them accor­ding to the rigour of his justice. Vae August. confess. laudabili vitae hominum si remota misere­cordia discutias eam. Wo unto the most praise-worthy life of men, if God shall examine it without mercy. And so Arno­bius, Arno. in Psal. Vae nobis si quod debeamus exegerit vel quod debet rediderit. Wo unto us all if God should exact of us what we owe or are indebted unto him: or return unto us according to our deserts. I beseech you beloved brethren whosoever you are, can you do any thing to please God? have you any righteousness that is not stained? survay your own best actions, & abhor your selves in dust & ashes, your most lovely virtues, your goodliest actions, they receive such a [Page 31] tincture from the corrupt channel from whence they proceed, that you must needs see nothing but a men­struous cloth, have you any thing to glory of before God? take heed least he enter into judgement with you, you will find that all flesh hath cor­rupted it self before God, and that you have nothing but what others have imperfect goodness. But yet goodness it is Gods gift and the effect of our Saviours sufferings, and though it be imperfect in all, in regard we are not subjects capable of perfect goodness, yet God as he wroketh it in all, so he loveth it, and is pleased with it in all that he worketh it. And whether he worketh it by re­straining grace in those that are in their natural condition, or by saving grace in those that are in their spiri­tual condition, he is pleased with it, accepteth it, will reward it for Christs sake. Some good works that are wrought by restraining grace, they are as lovely in the sight of men, and [Page 32] as pleasing in the sight of God, as are those that are wrought by saving grace. And God as he worketh, so he is pleased with, and accepteth of goodness in every body. It was Gods speech to Cain, if thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted? He accepteth of every body when they do well, he will reward his own works and will be no mans debter for goodness. He hath rewarded you, he will reward you, he doth reward you, for works of piety, for deeds of charity, for any thing that is good. So then this is not the meaning of the words (howsoever some please to descant and para­phrase upon them) that those that are in the flesh, their best actions are abominable, their goodness imperfect and they cannot please God: for so are the actions of the best Saints li­ving and some actions that are wrought by restraining grace are as perfect as those that are wrought by saving grace, though both of them are imperfect: and God is pleased [Page 33] to accept of imperfect goodness for Christs sake and reward it. Onely herein is the difference: those good deeds that proceed from restraining grace, they have the promise onely of a temporary reward, but those good deeds that proceed from sa­ving grace they entitle men to heaven and salvation. So then the meaning of the Apostles words, (as it may ap­pear plainly to those that are not minded wilfully to pervert the Scri­tures) is this: They that are unrecon­ciled, unconverted, unrenewed in the spirit of their mindes, they cannot so please God, that he should accept of their imperfect obedience and entitle them to heaven, and deliver them from hell. This then is the misera­ble condition of all those who have not felt the inward Covenant, the circumcision of the heart, in whom restraining grace hath wrought onely a hatred of some few sins, and a love of some few vertues, and the saving grace of Gods Spirit hath not in­lightened [Page 34] the understanding with the knowledge of all sins which by the search of reason can be found to be sins: nor reformed the will that there should be a hatred of all sins nor rectified the affections, that so this hatred of sin should increase more and more. But they do good by fits and by starts, as they are taught by custome and example of others, as they are induced unto it by Gods mercies and his judgements, or as it pleaseth him sometimes to work extraordinarily in their hearts by his word and the good motions of his Spirit. Such as these they are in the flesh and cannot please God: that is they are out of Gods favour, the wrath of God abideth upon them; they have no hopes of heaven nor of happiness after this life. And what more miserable condition can there be then this? It is a life no life, when Gods frowning and ireful counte­nance is toward men: When men have no assurance of heaven, no hopes [Page 35] in their death: their consciences tell them that they have lived so, that they shall never see God nor enjoy the company nor presence of the bles­sed Angels: but shall have their por­tion 20 Revel. 10 ver. in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone with the devil and his an­gels. Sure the wrath of God for sin it causeth men to pine and languish a­way in despair. When thou with re­bukes 39 Psal. 11 ver. doest chasten a man for sin, thou causest his beauty to consume away like a moth fretting a garment: and who can 76 Psal. 7 ver. stand when thou art angry saith the Psalmist? If God please to hide a­way his face from his Saints from his servants, for a moment in a little 54 Isaiah 6 ver. wrath, nothing can afford them com­fort. And when he teareth the wic­ked in his wrath for the multitude of their transgressions, (as some time his hand is heavy upon them here for their sins) his wrath is a burden un­supportable. Let then their own ex­perience of the heaviness of Gods wrath when he afflicteth them for a [Page 36] short time for their sins in his wrath, teach them what a miserable con­dion it is to be such men with whom God will be angry for ever. If so be then that God be pleased with mens good works, with their hearty sighes and earnest groans, their weeping and howling and their repentance for sin: If God see these things, and be plea­sed with them: yet if he be not so pleased with them, that he should accept of mens good works, of their repen­tance for sin, that so they should be delivered from his wrath, and have hopes of heaven and happiness, what are they the better? And yet unless men be inwardly renewed in the spi­rit of their mindes, and have felt a change of the whole minde, of the whole man, they shall not be inti­tled to heaven, they shall not be de­livered from hell. This then is the misery of those who remain unrecon­ciled, unconverted, whose hearts are unchanged unaltered: they are li­able to Gods curse and eternal dam­nation. [Page 37] Heaven they have no part nor portion in it. Christian Reader, whosoever thou art, think now, think I say, (if it be possible for thee to conceive the greatness of this misery) what a miserable condition it is when men shall perish everlastingly, and shall never see God, nor possess the joyes of the celestial Paradise. It were a thousand times better for men that they had never been born, then that they should live and die in this de­filed condition, this polluted estate. The brute beasts and juments are happier then they, for when they die, their miseries are ended: but there are unspeakable miseries ever­lasting sorrows appointed to such af­ter death. What creatures are there so loathsome but men might wish to be them and be happy in the change unless they be changed inwardly, and renewed in the spirit of their mindes. All other creatures their miseries they end in death, but theirs will but then begin. Those that believe not [Page 38] as it is in S. Iohns gospel, are conden­ned already: and when death com­eth how frightful will the presence of the angry judge be? and when the great day of his wrath is come they will creep into the holes and cliffes of the rocks, and say to the mountains fall on us, and to the hils cover us. God is pleased with mens good works, and there is none of them forgotten be­fore him. When men repent of there sins he seeth their repentance, and he can, he will lighten his hand of them. God is pleased with goodness in eve­ry body, and there is no mans repen­tance that shall be in vain and to no purpose. But unless mens repentance be true and unfeined, unless their sor­row for sin increase every day more and more, and there be a setled pur­pose to weed all sins out of their hearts, they have no hopes to enjoy heaven to escape hell. I beseech you therefore Christian men and women whosoever ye be that read this: as you look to stand in the day of our [Page 39] Lord Jesus, when he shall come in flames of fire to render vengeance to them that know him not, and to them that obey not the Gospel of Christ: seek unto God and desire of him that he would sanctifie you throughout, and season your hearts with grace, that so your souls and bodies may be safe in the day of our Lord Jesus. Ne­ver rest till you finde in your hearts a general hatred of sin, and a gene­ral love of goodness and a constant progress in this general hatred of sin and love of goodness, which may in­title you to heaven, and deliver you from hell. If God should hear you at every call, and when you are o­verborn with grief, upon your repen­tance for two or three sins to which your hearts are exceedingly prone (which you suspect to be the cause of your misery) deliver you from evil that it should not vex you. If upon your performance of two or three good works, and your charity and hu­mility in the performance of them, [Page 40] he should load you with his earthly favours and his temporal blessings, (as he will be no mans debter for good­ness so he will reward his own gifts in every body) yet if he be not so pleased with your good works, as to accept of them and reward them with heaven and happiness hereaf­ter, what have you gained? how are you advantaged? What will it 18 Matth. 26 ver. profit a man to win the whole world, and to lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? If God should give you all that the world can afford, heap upon you his earth­ly favours, and his temporal bles­sings; if your conscience upon your death-bed should tell you that you are unreconciled, unconverted, that you have received the reward of your good deeds here, and God should answer you when you cry for mercy as Abraham did Dives and say son, 16 Luke 24 ver. remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things, and like­wise Lazarus evil things, and there­fore [Page 41] seeing in your life time you recei­ved the reward of your good deeds, therefore there are t [...]rments everlast­ing appointed for you, and joyes un­speakable appointed for others. Sure now (when you lay in this case) if God would hear you and grant that you might begin your life again, you would choose with Moses to suffer af­fliction with the children of God, ra­ther then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season: And the conceit that Gods over liberal rewarding you with his temporal mercies for your good deeds here, had excluded you from all hopes that he would reward you with his everlasting mercies hereafter, would peirce your hearts with a thousand sorrowes: labour then so to please God, that whatso­ever reward you receive for your good deeds here, you may have as­surance that he will not forget your patience and your labour of love hereafter. To die in Gods displea­sure it is a misery above all the mise­ries [Page 42] than can be conceived and ima­gined: and if you cannot so please God, that he would intitle you to heaven and deliver you from hell when you die: though you have all that the earth can afford you while you live, you will be never the better. And so ye see the greatness of their misery that are in the flesh, they can­not so please God as to have hopes of heaven and happiness.