Sermons on Romans 8

SERMON IV
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,
God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh.—ROM. 8:3.
HERE the apostle explaineth himself, and showeth how 'the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus, doth make us free from the law of sin and
death.'
In the words observe three things,—
1. The deep necessity of mankind; 'for what the law could not do, in that it
was weak through the flesh.'
2. The means of our deliverance; or God's merciful provision for our
relief. The means are two—(1.) Christ's incarnation, in these words; and
God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. (2.) His passion,
and for sin, or by a sacrifice for sin.
3. The end or benefit accruing to us thereby, condemned sin in the flesh.
Doct. From the whole, that when man could by no means be freed from
sin and death, God sent his Son to be a sacrifice for sin, that our liberty
might be fully accomplished. The apostle's method is best; I shall
therefore follow that.
First. The deep necessity of mankind is argued and made out by this
reason, that it was impossible for the law to do away sin, and justify man
before God; so he saith, For what the law could not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh, that is, through the corruption of our natures, we being
sinners, and unable to perform the duty of the law. To understand the
force of this reason, take these considerations:—
1. That it was necessary, in respect of God's purpose and decree, that we
should be freed from sin and death. For God would not have mankind
utterly to perish, having chosen some to salvation and repentance, and so
leaving others without excuse; therefore the strict judgment of the law is
debated upon this argument: Ps. 143:2, 'Enter not into judgment with thy
servant, O Lord, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified,' and
again: Ps. 130:3, 'If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, Lord who shall
stand?' According to the first covenant, none can escape condemnation.
Now, this consisted not with the purposes of the Lord's grace, who would
not lose the whole creation of mankind. God hath showed himself
placable and merciful to all men, and hath forbidden despair, and
continued many forfeited mercies; and did not presently upon sinning,
put us in our everlasting estate, as he did the fallen angels, but rather is
upon a treaty with us.
2. God resolving to restore and recover some of mankind, it must be by
the old way of the law, or by some other course. The old way of the law
claimeth the first respect and precedence of consideration; for, take away
Christ and the gospel, nothing more divine and perfect was given to man
than the law. This was first intended by God for that end, as the
scriptures every where witness; and God will not depart from his own
institutions, without evident necessity; for he doth nothing in vain, or
without necessary cause and reason: Gal. 3:21, 'If there had been a law
given which could have given life, verily righteousness had been by the
law.' God would have gone no further than his first transaction with man.
Again, it is said: Gal. 2:21, 'If righteousness had been by the law, then
Christ is dead in vain.' If there had been any other way possible, in
heaven or in earth, than the death of Christ, by which the salvation of lost
sinners could have been brought about, Christ would not have died; no,
our disease was desperate as to any other way of cure, before this great
physician took our case in hand. Christ is of no use till our wound be
found incurable, and all other help in vain.
3. The law coming first into consideration, as our remedy, its
impossibility to justify and give life, needs to be sufficiently
demonstrated; for till we are dead to the law, we shall but carelessly seek
after the grace of God in Jesus Christ; therefore doth the scripture travail
so much in this point, and showeth us, we must not only be dead to sin
and dead to the world, but dead to the law, before we can live unto God:
Gal. 2:19, 'I through the law am dead to the law, that I may live unto God;'
and again: Rom. 7:4, 'Ye are become dead to the law, by the body of
Christ, that ye may be married to another, even to him that was raised
from the dead, that ye may bring forth fruit to God,' These two places
show the means how we become dead to the law, partly through the law
requiring a righteousness so exact and full, in order to live, as the corrupt
estate of man cannot afford; partly, by the body of Christ introducing a
better hope, that is, his crucified body, which is the foundation of the new
covenant. Besides Paul argueth this, that the law doth only discover sin,
but cannot abolish it, but doth increase it rather; it bindeth over to death,
and therefore cannot free from death; and so to fallen man, 'it is a law of
sin and death;' and then answereth the objections that might be brought
against this; 'Is therefore the law sin? God forbid:' Rom. 7:7; and verse 10,
'The commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death;'
and so was a law of death, and working wrath, and all not because of any
defect in God's institution, but the weakness of our flesh, that is, the
corruption of our nature. Nature being depraved, cannot fulfil it, or yield
perfect obedience to it. Once more it is said: Acts 13:39, 'By him all that
believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified
by the law of Moses.' The law of Moses was either the ceremonial law. All
the oblations and sacrifices, the washings and the offerings then required,
could not take away sin, for they were but shadows and figures of what
was to come: Heb. 9:9, 'They were figures which could not make him that
did the service perfect, as appertaining to the conscience;' and again,
Heb. 10:1, 4, they were 'shadows of good things to come, and it was not
possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.' They
might obtain some temporal blessings, or remove some temporal
judgments, as they obeyed God in them; but did little as to the ease of the
soul, as it was conscious of sin, or under fears of the eternal punishment.
They that looked beyond them, to the Messiah to come, with an humble
and penitent heart, might have their consciences cleansed from dead
works. Every effect must have a cause sufficient to produce it. The blood
of bulls and goats was no such cause, had no such virtue; the effect was
far above it; there was a more precious blood signified, and shadowed out
thereby, that could do it indeed. Or secondly, the moral law given by
Moses; partly, because we cannot keep it of ourselves, and the best works
that the regenerate perform, are so imperfect, and mixed with so many
infirmities and defects, that they stand in need of pardon: Jam. 3:2, 'In
many things we offend all of us;' 'our righteousnesses are as filthy rags:'
Isa. 64:6; and partly, because they cannot satisfy for the least sin,
whereby the infinite Majesty of God is provoked. This is only spoken to
show why the scriptures do so often speak of the weakness of the law, and
how impossible it is the law should give us life, that we may wholly be
driven to Christ.
4. The utter impotence of the law to produce this effect, may be known by
these two things, which are necessary to salvation, justification and
sanctification. The law can give neither of these.
[1.] It cannot give us justification unto life; the law promiseth no good to
sinners, but only to those that keep and observe it; he that doth them,
shall live in them. Do and live, Sin and die, this is the voice of the law,
that was a way whereby an innocent person might be saved, but not how
a sinner might be saved. The law considered us as innocent, and required
us to continue so; 'Cursed is every one that continueth not in all the
words of the law to do them:' Gal. 3:20. But alas, all we have broken with
God: Rom. 3:23, 'We have all sinned, and are come short of the glory of
God.' The gospel considereth us in this sinful estate, and therefore it
promiseth remission, and requireth repentance; both the privilege and
the duty concern our recovery to God. Secondly, if the law could be
fulfilled for the future, past sins would take away all hope of reward by
the law; for the paying of new debts would not quit old scores; what
satisfaction shall be given for those transgressions? Let me express it
thus, the paying of what we owe, will not make amends for what we have
stolen. We have robbed God of his glory and honour; though for the
future we should be obedient to him, yet who shall restore that we have
taken away, or satisfy for the wrong done to God's justice? Thirdly, the
law had no power of taking away of sin, but only of punishing of sin, as it
threatened death to the sinner; but how we should escape this death, it
told us not. Being all shut up under sin, we are shut up under wrath, and
there is no escape but by Jesus Christ.
[2.] It cannot give us sanctification. It calleth for duty, and puts in mind
of it, but giveth no strength to perform it; for, being corrupted within, we
are little wrought upon by a law without, to which our hearts stand in
such enmity and contrariety. But let me prove it by two arguments.
(1.) They that did not keep themselves in innocency, cannot recover their
integrity, now it is lost. It is easier to preserve life, than to restore it when
once dead. Any fool may open the flood-gates, but when once the waters
are broken in, who can recall them? Job. 14:4. 'Who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? not one;' that is, who can purify his heart when it
is once defiled with sin?. This is an evil not to be remedied by instruction,
but inclination.
(2.) Suppose they could recover themselves, they would soon lose it again.
As Adam gave out at the first assault, so we would be every moment
breaking with God; the sure estate, and the everlasting covenant is
provided for us by Christ, and our condition by grace is more stable. God
by Christ hath engaged his faithfulness, to give us necessary and effectual
grace to preserve the new life: 1 Cor. 1:9, 'God is faithful, by whom ye
were called.' Austin compareth the state of Job and Adam: Job was more
happy in his misery than Adam in innocency; he was victorious on the
dunghill, when the other was defeated on the throne; he received no evil
counsel from his wife, when the first woman seduced Adam; be by grace
despised the assaults of Satan, when the other suffered himself to be
worsted at the first temptation; he preserved his righteousness in the
midst of his sorrows, when the other lost his innocency in paradise. So
much better is it to stand by the grace of Christ, than our own free will;
the broken vessel being cemented again, is strongest in the crack.
Well then, you see that our misery is such, that God only can help us by
some new treaty of relief, and therefore let us see what God hath done for
us:—
Secondly, the means of our deliverance; they are two, his incarnation and
passion.
First, His incarnation,
'He sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.' Let me, first, open the
words; secondly, show what benefit we have thereby.
[1.] Christ's corning in the likeness of sinful flesh, implieth that it was the
nature of sinful men; that he had a true human nature as other men have,
but not a sinful nature. In some places it is said he was made in the
likeness of men: Phil. 2:7, and Heb. 2:17, 'Wherefore in all things it
behoved him to be made like unto his brethren;' in other places sin is
expected; 'tempted in all points like us, except sin:' Heb. 4:15: and Heb.
7:26. He assumed the true and real nature of man, with all the same
essential properties, which other men have, only sin is excepted; that
infection was stopped by his supernatural conception through the power
of the Holy Ghost. In short, he came not in sinful flesh, but in the likeness
of sinful flesh; he took not our nature as in innocency, but when our
blood was tainted, and we were rebels to God.
[2.] He took not the human nature as it shall be in glory, fully without sin.
There will a time come, when the human nature shall be perfectly
glorified; but Christ took our nature as it was clothed with all natural,
sinless infirmities, even such as are in us. The punishment of sin as he
assumed a mortal body; and death to us is the fruit of sin: Rom. 6:23, and
5:12; he was hungry, weary, pained, as we are.
[3.] He was counted a sinner, condemned as a sinner, exposed to many
afflictions, such as sinners endure; yea, bore the punishment of our sin.
The Jews accused him of sedition and blasphemy, two of the highest
crimes against either table; the standers by looked on him as one 'stricken
and smitten of God:' Isa. 53:4, yea, God made him to be sin: 2 Cor. 5:21.
'He was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him:' and Heb. 9:28, 'So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of
many.' Let us next consider,—
2. What benefit have we thereby. Because Christ's flesh is meat indeed, to
feed hungry souls. I shall a little insist upon that; it being so useful to us
when we are sacramentally to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son
of God.
[1.] He came in our flesh, that thereby he might be under the law which
was given to the whole race of mankind: Gal. 4:4. 'Made of a woman,
made under the law.' His human nature was a creature, and bound to be
in subjection to the creator; but then you will say, if Christ obeyed the law
for himself, what merit could there be in his obedience? Much every way,
because he voluntarily put himself into this condition; as a man that was
free before, if he remove his dwelling into another country and dominion,
merely for his friends' sake, is bound to the laws of that country, how
hard soever they be; and the merit of his love is no way lessened, because
he did it voluntarily and for friendship's sake. Well then, there is much in
this, that Christ who was a sovereign would become a subject, and obey
the same laws that we are bound to keep, not only to be a pattern and
example to us, but by his obedience to recover what by our disobedience
was lost, and be a fountain of grace and holiness in our nature.
[2.] That in the same nature he might suffer the penalty and curse of the
law, as well as fulfil the duty of it: and so make satisfaction for our sins,
which, as God, he could not do. We read 'He was made a curse for us:'
Gal. 3:13; and Phil. 3:8, he was 'obedient to the death, even the death of
the cross.' Death was threatened, and a curse denounced against those
that obeyed not the law; and we being guilty of sin, could by no means
avoid this death; therefore Christ came in the sinner's room to suffer
death, and 'bear the curse' for us, to free us 'from the law of sin and
death,' and by this means the justice of God is eminently demonstrated,
the lawgiver vindicated, and the breach that was made in the frame of
government repaired, and God manifested to be holy, and a hater of sin,
and yet the sinner saved from destruction.
[3.] That he might cross and counterwork Satan's design; which was
double: First, To dishonour God by a false representation, as if he were
envious of man's happiness: Gen. 3:5. 'God doth know, that in the day ye
eat thereof your eyes shall be open, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good
or evil;' that is, sufficient to themselves without his direction. Satan's aim
was to weaken the esteem of God's goodness in our hearts. Now when
Christ will take flesh, and dwell among us, do whatsoever is necessary for
our restoration and recovery, his goodness is wonderfully magnified, and
he is represented as amiable to man, not envying our knowledge and
happiness, but promoting it at the dearest rates. That God should be
made man, and die for sinners, is the highest demonstration of his
goodness that can be given us: 1 John 4:9, 'In this was the love of God
manifested towards us, that God sent his only begotten Son into the
world, that we might live by him. What greater proof can we have that
God is not envious, but loving, yea, love itself? Secondly, Satan's other
design was to depress the nature of man, who in innocency stood so near
unto God, that falling off from our duty we might fall also from that
firmament of glory wherein God at our creation had placed us, and upon
the breach there might be a great distance between us and God. Now, that
human nature so depressed and abased by the malicious suggestion of
the devil, should be so elevated and advanced, and set far above the
angelical nature, and admitted to dwell with God in a personal union, Oh!
how is the design of the devil defeated. The great intent of this mystery,
'God manifested in the flesh,' was to make way for a nearness between
God and us. Christ condescended to be nigh to us by taking human
nature into the unity of his person, that we might be nigh unto God; not
only draw nigh unto him now in the evangelical estate, but be
everlastingly nigh unto him in heavenly glory. When we first enter into
the gospel-state, we that were afar off, are said to be 'made nigh in Christ,'
Eph. 2:13; but this is but a preparation for a closer communion,
conjunction, and nearness to God, when we shall be ever with the Lord, 1
Thes. 4:17.
[4.] To give us a pledge of the tenderness of his love and compassion
towards us. For he that is our kinsman, bone of our bone, and flesh of our
flesh, will he be strange to his own flesh? especially, since he is not so by
necessity of nature, but by voluntary choice and assumption. We could
not have such confident and familiar discourse with one who is of another
and different nature from us; nor put our suits into his hands with such
trust and assurance: it is a motive to man, 'Thou shalt not hide thyself
from thine own flesh,' Isa. 58:7. A beggar is our own flesh; men in pride
and disdain will not own it, and shut up their bowels against them; but
Christ had our nature in perfection. This made Laban, though otherwise a
churlish man, kind to Jacob: Gen. 29:14, 'Surely thou art bone of my
bone, and flesh of my flesh.' But this is not all; Christ assumed human
nature, that he might experiment infirmities in his own person; and his
heart be more endeared towards us: Heb. 2:17, 18, 'In all things it
behoved him to be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God, in making reconciliation for the sins of the people; for in that he
himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are
tempted.' We have more assurance that he will pity us who is not a
stranger to our blood, and hath had trial of our nature, and our miseries
and temptations. He knoweth the heart of an afflicted, tempted man, and
will mind our business as his own.
[5.] Christ by taking our flesh is become a pattern to us of what shall be
done both in us and by us.
(1.) His own holy nature is a pledge of the work of grace, and the
sanctification of the Spirit whereby we are fitted and prepared for God.
For the same holy Spirit that could sanctify the substance that was taken
from the virgin, so that that holy thing that was born of her might be
called the Son of God, can also sanctify and cleanse our corrupt hearts.
The pollution of our natures is so ingrained, that we are troubled to think
how it can be wrought off, and these foul hearts of ours made clean; but
the same Spirit that separateth our nature in the person of Christ from all
the pollution of his ancestors, can purify our persons and heal our
natures, how polluted soever they be: 1 Cor. 6:11, 'Such were some of you,
but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God.' So many generations as there
are reckoned up in the story of Christ's nativity: Mat. 1, 'Abraham begat
Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob,' etc.; so many intimations there are of the
deriving of sinful pollution from one ancestor to another, and though it
still run in the blood, yet when Christ was born of the virgin, he sanctified
the substance taken from her, there the infection was stopped, he was
born a holy thing: Luke 1:35: and Heb. 7:20, 'Who is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners.'
(2.) His life was a pattern of our obedience; for 'he gave us an example,
that we should follow his steps, and walk as he walked:' He submitted to
all manner of duties both to God and men; Luke 2:49, 'Wist ye not that I
should be about my Father's business?' There was his duty to his
heavenly Father; and for his natural and reputed parents: Luke 2:51, 'He
went down and was subject to them;' and still he 'went about doing good,'
Acts 10:38. This was the business of his life. Obedience Christ would
commend to us, for he never intended to rob God of a creature, and a
subject, when he made man a christian; therefore, he in our nature
having the same interest of flesh and blood, the same passions and
affections, would teach us to obey God at the dearest rates.
(3.) In the same nature that was foiled, he would teach us also to conquer
Satan. He conquered him, hand to hand, in personal conflict, repelling
his temptations by scripture, as we should do: Mat. 4:10. So he conquered
him as a tempter. There is another conquest of him as a tormentor, as one
that hath the power of death. So he conquered him by his death on the
cross, and so his human nature was necessary to that also: Heb. 2:14,
'Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also took
part of the same, that he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is, the devil' Christ would stoop to the greatest indignities to free us
from this enemy, and to put mankind again into a condition of safety and
happiness.
(4.) That he might take possession of heaven for us in our nature: John
14:2, 3, 'I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you
to myself.' The devil's design was to depress our nature, but Christ came
to exalt it; Satan endeavoured to make us lose paradise, but Christ came
to give us heaven; and to assure us of the reality of the gift, he did himself
in our nature rise from the dead, and entered into that glory he spake of,
to give us, who are strangely haunted with doubts about the other world,
a visible demonstration that the glory of the world to come is no fancy.
He is entered into it, and hath carried our nature thither, that, in time, if
we regard his offers and his promises, ourselves may be translated thither
also.
(5.) After he had been a sacrifice for sin, and conquered death by his
resurrection, he hath triumphed over the devil, and led captivity captive,
and gave gifts unto men, in the very act of his ascension into heaven: Eph.
4:8. To teach us, that if we in the same nature continue the conflict, and
be faithful unto the death, we shall triumph also, and 'the God of peace
shall tread Satan under our feet shortly' Rom. 16:20. These things occur
to me for the present as the fruits and benefits of Christ's incarnation; but
the chief reason why it is brought here, is 'that God might condemn sin in
the flesh,' show the great example of his wrath against it, by the sorrows
and sufferings of Christ.
Secondly, by his passion. This is intimated in the terms, for sin, or by a
sin-offering, as we have it in the margin; and is confirmed in other
scriptures: as Heb. 10:6, 'In burnt-offerings and sacrifices of sin thou
hadst no pleasure.' In the original it is only περὶ ὑμαρτιας in burnt
offerings, and for sin, thou hadst no pleasure; therefore in the translation
we put the word sacrifices in another sort of letter, as being supplied. So
Isa. 53:10, 'When he shall make his soul sin,' that is, as we will render it,
an offering for sin; so 2 Cor. 5:21, 'Christ was made sin for us,' that is, a
sacrifice for sin; so here by sin he 'condemned sin in the flesh,' that is, by
a propitiatory sacrifice. All things that were in the sin-offering, agree to
Christ's death; for instance:—
1. Sin was the meritorious cause why the beast was slain. The beasts
obeyed the law of their creation, but man had sinned against God: Lev.
5:6. 'He shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord, for his sin which
he hath sinned, and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning
his sin.' Here was no other reason the beast an innocent creature should
die; so Christ died for our offences: Rom. 4:25; not his own, he had no
sins of his own to expiate; therefore, while the sacrifice was yet alive, the
man was to lay his hand on the head of the sacrifice, confessing his sins.
Lev. 16:21, and putting them on the sacrifice.
2. The sacrifices were substituted into the place of the offender, and the
beasts died for him; so did Christ die, not only in bonum nostrum—for
our good; but loco et vice omnium nostri—in our stead and room: Isa.
53:4, 'Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; he was
wounded for our transgressions.'
3. The offerings offered to God in our stead were consumed and
destroyed; if things of life, they were killed or slain; other things were
either burnt, as frankincense; or spilled and poured out, as wine. There
was a destruction of the thing offered to God for sin in man's stead. So
Christ waste die, or to shed his blood, to put away sin, by the sacrifice of
himself: Heb. 9:26, 'He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself.' All the offerings typified Christ, but more strictly the sacrifices
which were of living beasts; some whereof were killed, flayed, burnt,
some roasted and fried on coals; some seethed in pots, all which were
shadows of what Christ endured, who is the only true propitiatory
sacrifice, wherein provoked justice rests satisfied.
4. The effects of the sacrifices all either respect God, or sin, or the sinner.
God was pacified or propitiated, the sin expiated, the sinner reconciled,
that is to say justified, sanctified.
[1.] God was pacified, propitiated, or satisfied, the law being obeyed
which he had instituted for the doing away of sin; not satisfied or
propitiated as to the eternal punishment, by the mere sacrifice; but so far
as to prevent many temporal judgments, which otherwise would fall upon
them, for the neglect of God's ordinances; but the true propitiation is
Christ: 1 John 2:2, 'Who gave himself to be a propitiation for our sins.'
Propitiation implieth God's being satisfied, pacified, appeased to us, so as
to become merciful to us.
[2.] The sin for which the sacrifice was offered was purged, expiated, as to
the legal guilt; there was no more fault to be charged on them as to the
remedy which that law prescribed; but the true purgation of the
conscience from dead works belongeth only to the Son of God: Heb. 9:14.
[3] The effect on the sinner himself was, the sinner, coming with his sin
offering, according to God's institution, was pardoned, or justified, so far
as to quit him from temporal punishment, both before God and man. The
magistrate could not cut him off, he having done what the law required
for his sin or trespass; nor would God, he having submitted to his
ordinance; yea, he was sanctified, so far as to be capable of legal worship:
Heb. 9:13, 'For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer,
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh,' etc.; but
now as to Christ, the sinner is justified by the free and full remission of all
his sins: Mat. 26:28, 'For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is
shed for many for the remission of sins,' and sanctified with an eternal
and real holiness: Heb. 10:10, 'We are sanctified by the offering of Jesus
Christ, once for all;' perfectly justified, and perfectly sanctified. Heb.
10:14, 'By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified,' that is, with a perfection opposite to the legal institution, not
with a perfection opposite to the heavenly estate, that cometh afterwards.
The ordinances of the legal covenant did what belonged to them; but as to
the removing of the internal guilt, and eternal punishment, they were not
perfect without looking to Christ.
Thirdly, I come to the end and benefit When God sent his own Son, surely
he designed some great thing thereby; what was his end and design? 'He
condemned sin in the flesh.' Two things must be explained—First, What
is meant by condemning of sin; secondly, What is meant by these words,
in the flesh.
1. What is meant by condemning of sin. To condemn it is to destroy it,
because execution ordinarily followeth the sentence. Therefore the
sentence is put for the execution; and the word condemn is used for
weighty reasons. The gospel is speaking of justification, or our not being
condemned. Christ condemned that which would have condemned us, by
bearing the punishment of it in his own person. Sin had conquered the
world, or subjected man to condemnation; therefore Christ came to
condemn sin, that is, to destroy it. The question then is, whether the
apostle doth hereby expound the mystery of sanctification or justification.
I answer, both are intended, as they are often in these words which
express the great undertaking of the mediator, which is to take away sin.
There is a damning power, and a reigning power in sin; now if
condemning sin be destroying of sin, or taking away its power by his
expiatory sacrifice, then not only the pardon of sin, but the mortification
of the flesh is intended.
2. What is the sense of those words, 'in the flesh'? Is it meant of the flesh
of Christ, or our flesh? Both make a good sense; I prefer the latter. First,
he condemned sin in the flesh, or by the crucified body of Christ, exacting
from him the punishment due to sin. Secondly, in our flesh, that is sin,
which by our flesh rendereth us uncapable of fulfilling the law of God, or
obnoxious to his vengeance. This was destroyed by the death of Christ,
'Our old man was crucified with him,' Rom. 6:6: and in conversion the
virtue is applied to us, when sin received its death's wound by virtue of
Christ's death or sacrifice.
Use 1 is, Information. 1. To show the heinous nature of sin. God hath put
a brand upon it, and showed how odious it is to him. Nothing short of the
death of Christ could expiate such a breach between God and his
creatures; Christ must die, or no reconciliation. Christ's death doth lessen
and greaten sin; it greatens the nature of it, to all serious beholders; it
lesseneth the damning effect of it to the penitent believer.
2. If Christ came to destroy sin, accursed are they that cherish it. These
seek to put their Redeemer to shame, tie the cords the which he came to
unloose: 1 John 3:8. Christ 'came to destroy the works of the devil.'
3. Christ did not abrogate the law, but took away the effects and
consequents of sin committed against the law. The sinner was obnoxious
to the justice of the lawgiver and judge; the law could not help him, but
the Son of God came to fit us again for our obedience.
Use 2 is, To exhort us to consider first our misery. How unavoidable our
perishing was, had not God found out a remedy for us. In our corrupt
estate, we neither could nor would obey the law; the duty became
impossible, both as to the tenor of the law, and the temper of our hearts,
and then the penalty is intolerable.
2. Our remedy lies in the incarnation and passion of the Son of God, that
in so entangled a case he could find out a ransom for us. The goodness of
God, that he sent his own Son; the power of God, that by this means the
guilt and power of sin, with all the consequents of it, are dissolved.
Use 3 is, Direction in the Lord's Supper. 1. Here is the flesh of Christ,
which is food for souls: John 6:51, 'The bread that I shall give is my flesh,
which I shall give for the life of the world.' In it he hath purchased grace
and pardon of sin, which are the foundations of immortality.
2. The Lord's Supper is a feast on a sacrifice, a commemoration of
Christ's sin-offering, or a standing memorial of his passion; a table spread
for us in the sight of our enemies. How must we be conversant about it, as
the Jews about the sacrifices? First, there is required an humble, broken,
and contrite heart, confessing our sins: Ps. 51:17, 'The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not
despise.' Secondly, sensible, thankful, and comfortable, owning of God's
love in Christ. When they had eaten the Passover, they were to rejoice
before the Lord: Deut. 16:11. So should we after this feast prepared by
God to feed and nourish our souls to eternal life

SERMON VI
They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; and they
that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit.—ROM. 8:5.
This scripture containeth a notable character of those that are interested
in the privileges of the gospel, and will help you in your assuring work, or
making out your claim and title. In the words you have:—
1. An intimation of two sorts of persons; they that are after the flesh and
they that are after the spirit.
2. Their different disposition and practice are compared and set forth:—
[1.] By the act: they both mind their several affair.
[2.] By the object: things of the flesh from things of the spirit. Different
persons, different objects, and different affections.
Thus you may in one view and prospect discern the scope and intent of
the place. I shall lay it before you in several propositions, and then apply
all together.
1. There are two sorts of men in the world—some after the flesh and some
after the spirit.
2. That these two sorts of men have two different objects—the things of
the spirit and the things of the flesh.
3. That men discover their temper and constitution of soul by their favour
or affection to either of these objects.
n. 1. There are two sorts of men in the world—some after the flesh and
some after the spirit. So it must be. There is a twofold original; which
produceth a twofold principle, which is acted by a twofold assisting
power; and this bringeth them under a twofold covenant, which maketh
way for a twofold final estate, into which all the world issueth itself.
1. There is a twofold original; some are only born, others new born; the
renewed, and the unrenewed: John 3:6, 'That which is born of the flesh,
is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.' Some remain under
the power of corrupt nature; others are regenerate and renewed by the
Spirit.
2. This twofold original produceth a twofold principle; that men are led
by flesh and spirit, which are always contrary one to another: Gal. 5:17,
'The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit lusteth against the
flesh; and these two are contrary one to the other.' Men, if they be merely
such as nature hath left them, are governed by the flesh, or their own
carnal inclinations. Others are led by the spirit, walk after it, as ver. 1.
They that are born again, have a new principle set up in their natures, to
incline them to God.
3. These two principles are supported and assisted with contrary powers.
They that are governed by the flesh, are also acted by Satan; he rules and
works in them: Eph. 2:2, 'Wherein in time past ye walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now ruleth in the children of disobedience; among whom
also we had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of the flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.' There are all the
enemies of our salvation. They that follow inbred corruption as their
guide, fall into the devil's share, who hurrieth them on in a way of sin,
more vehemently than otherwise they would do. But now those that are
led by grace, or a new principle, or the new nature, as their guide, they
are assisted and acted by the Spirit of God: Rom. 8:14, 'As many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God; the Spirit is their guardian
and keeper; he exciteth and worketh up the habit of grace into greater
power and activity.' Now, being under such contrary powers, no wonder
that they are so different in their courses, and so contrary one to another.
It is said, Prov. 29:27, 'The wicked is an abomination to the just: and he
that is upright in his way is an abomination to the wicked.' Their birth is
different, the inward principle by which they are guided is different,
nature and grace; and they are under different assisting powers, either
under the power of Satan, or under the power and conduct of God's Holy
Spirit; and therefore no wonder that their course is different, and that
there is enmity between both the seeds. A godly man cannot delight in a
wicked man, and a wicked man cannot abide the godly. The ground of
friendship is eadem velle et nolle. Similitude, and likeness of mind and
disposition, only the enmity and contrariety is carried on with some
difference. The godly pity the wicked, but the wicked hate the godly,
because they are against that course of life that they choose. They think it
strange they do not run with them to the same neglect of God, and
carelessness of heavenly things; and therefore they speak evil of them, 1
Peter 4:4; and despitefully use them, 1 John 3:12, as Cain hated Abel.
4. As they are under different assisting powers, so they are under a
distinct covenant. The carnal are under the covenant of works, the duty of
which is to them impossible, and the penalty intolerable. They are under
the condemning power of the law: Rom. 8:6, 'To be carnally minded is
death;' it maketh them liable to the death threatened in the first
covenant. But, on the contrary, they that are under the blessed conduct of
God's Holy Spirit, and obey the dictates of the new nature begun in them,
are under a covenant of grace, where their sincere obedience shall be
accepted, and their failings pardoned: Gal. 5:18, 'If ye be led by the Spirit,
ye are not under the law.' They are still under the law, as a rule of
obedience, but they are not under the curse and rigour of the law. The law
in its rigour pronounceth death on every failing; so they are not under the
law; but being in some measure enabled to do what the law requires, they
are pardoned in what they fall short.
5. These two covenants issue themselves into two places or eternal states,
heaven and hell. To the carnal, the scripture denounceth God's eternal
wrath; to the spiritual, God's favour and life eternal. The scripture is plain
and positive with us: Rom. 8:13, 'If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but
if ye, through the spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live:' Gal.
6:8, 'He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he
that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.' All
mankind, after they have acted their parts in this world, and God cometh
to shift the stage, go into one of these two places. Well then, here is our
first step, that the whole world is comprised in one of these two ranks;
there is no neutral or middle state; either they are guided by the flesh (as
all men are in their unregeneracy)—and if they continue so in a constant
slavery to their lusts, their end shall be everlasting perdition—or else they
are guided by the Spirit and obey the motions of grace, and make it their
business and main employment to please God, and enjoy communion
with God; and their end shall be eternal life. It is a question you should
often and seriously put to your souls, Shall I be saved, or shall I be
damned? If you have any sense and spark of conscience left you when you
are sick and dying, you will then put it with great trembling and
anxiousness of heart, Poor soul! whither am I now going? It is better to
put it now, when you have opportunity to correct your error, if hitherto
you have gone wrong. Every man would know his own destiny, what shall
become of him, or what is in the womb of futurity, concerning the state of
his affairs; as the King of Babylon stood in the heads of the way, to make
divination. Now, no destiny deserves so much to be known as this. If the
question were, shall I be rich or poor? happy, or miserable in the world?
it were not of such great moment; for these distinctions do not out-live
time, but cease at the grave's mouth; but this question is of greater
moment than so, whether I shall be eternally miserable, or eternally
happy? It is foolish curiosity to inquire into other things; they are not of
such importance that we should know them beforehand; but it
concerneth us much, to know whether we be in a damnable or saveable
condition; if we be in a damnable condition, to know it whilst we have
time to remedy it; if we are heirs of salvation, the assurance of our
interest will preoccupate our blessedness, and will be a great
encouragement to us in the way of holiness for the present. Now, nothing
will sooner decide this great question than the business we have in hand,
whether we be after the flesh or after the spirit; for between these two,
heaven and hell is divided. These two divide both the present world and
the world to come. I thought good to premise this, that you may consider
the weight of the case in hand.
Doct. 2. That these two sorts of men have two different objects, the things
of the spirit and the things of the flesh, τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ τὰ τῆς
σαρκὸς; the one suits with the one, and the other with the other.
1. τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς—the things of the flesh. Let us first know what is meant
by flesh, and then we shall better understand what are the things of the
flesh.
By the flesh is not meant the mass and substance of our fleshly bodies, or
the outward part in which our soul is seated, and by which it performeth
its functions and operations, but the vitiosity and corruption of human
nature, inclining and addicting itself to the interests of the bodily life.
There are the inclinations of the flesh, and the interests of the flesh. The
inclinations of the flesh are the evil lustings of corrupt nature; and the
interests of the flesh are the things that feed this corruption, or gratify
these evil inclinations; the same with τὰ σαρκὸς, in the text. Now these
are of two sorts:
[1.] Things apparently evil, as all vices and sins: Gal. 5:19, 20, Ἑργα
σαρκὸς φάνερα—'The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these,
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.' Though the inward root
from whence these things flow be hidden, yet these effects are apparent
rank weeds, that smell strong in nature's nostrils. These are not all, but
he concludeth it with a such like; and instanceth in these, as the most
known, and most commonly practised; as the commandments forbid the
grosser sin in the kind, some serve the flesh in a more cleanly manner.
And mark in the things enumerated, some belong to the blind and
corrupt will, as idolatry and heresy; some to the depraved will, as
witchcraft and hatred; some to the affections both of the irascible faculty,
as emulation, wrath, strife; some to the concupiscible, as uncleanness,
revellings; some to the sensual appetite as adultery and drunkenness. He
instanceth not only in the grosser evils, as adultery, but wantonness, or
any unseemly behaviour, that tendeth to excite the lust of filthiness in
ourselves or others: not only in witchcraft, but hatred or malice, which is
a temptation to it; not only in murder, but wrath and strife; not only in
drunkenness, but revelling, riotous feasts, and meetings. There is a
difference between sins; but the least is to be avoided, if we would shun
the greater.
[2.] Things good in their own nature, but immoderately affected, as all
the comforts and appurtenances of the bodily life, which are used as baits
of corruption, as worldly profits, honours, and pleasures, some that
immediately tend to the pleasing of the flesh, as bodily pleasures; others
remotely, as they lay in provision for that end. What are here called the
things of the flesh, are elsewhere called earthly things: Phil. 3:19, 'They
mind, τὰ ἐπίγεια, earthly things;' such things as, if rightly used, would be
comforts in our passage, but through our folly prove snares. Meat, drink,
marriage, pleasures, profits, preferments, ease, idleness, softness,
daintiness—these things immoderately sought, not in respect to God, or
in subordination, but opposition to heavenly things, become baits of
corruption, and fuel wherewith to feed the flesh. While men seek them for
themselves, and only to please themselves, they are not adjumenta, helps
to heaven, but impedimenta, lets and snares. Our greatest danger doth
not lie in things simply evil, but in lawful things. Carnal men esteem these
things as the best, and place their happiness in them; these things they
affect, and love, and like, and care for: so that the heart is turned off from
God and the pursuit of better things, to entertain itself with these baser
objects. This is to seek out baits for the flesh; for the flesh is nothing else
but the corruption of nature, which inclineth us to any inferior good, and
diverteth us from things truly good and spiritual, as communion with and
enjoyment of God. Well, now we have suited those that are after the flesh,
with an object proper to them, and agreeable with their inclinations.
2. The next thing is, what are τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος—'the things of the Spirit?'
They are all things pertaining to spiritual life and godliness, You may
conceive of them thus:
[1.] Such things as the Spirit revealeth. Now he revealeth the mysteries of
salvation, or the deep things of God in Jesus Christ, which the natural
man is not capable of: 1 Cor. 2:14. The whole doctrine of godliness, or
salvation offered by God in Christ, is the element of the renewed man, his
life and soul is bound up in it: Ps. 119:103, 'How sweet are thy words unto
my taste?' But a natural man savoureth not these things, nor knoweth
them, nor loveth them, if he be told of them. They that are in a common
way partakers of the Spirit, are said to 'taste the good word,' Heb. 6:4. So
far as the Spirit worketh upon them, so far they have a relish for these
things.
[2.] Such things as the Spirit worketh, καρπὸς πνεύματος: Gal. 5:22, 'The
fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, patience, meekness;' all internal excellences. The
renewed man ever seeks to excel and advance in these things; not to trim
the body, but to deck and adorn the soul: 1 Pet. 3:3, 4, 'Whose adorning,
let it not be the outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and wearing of
gold, and putting on of apparel: but let it be the hidden man of the heart,
in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet
spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.' All his desires are to be
'strengthened with might in the inner man by the Spirit,' Eph. 3:16. He
rejoiceth, and faints not under troubles, while the inward man is safe; 2
Cor. 4:16, for 'as the outward man decreaseth, the inward man is renewed
day by day.' If they can keep grace alive in their souls, that is their care,
their business, their comfort. The natural heart is altogether taken up
about the outward man, but the renewed heart about the inward man,
and an increase in holiness, or spiritual strength; for that is the great
product of the sanctifying Spirit, and that which they should mainly look
after.
[3.] Such things as the Spirit urgeth and inclineth unto; and these are
communion with God here, and the full enjoyment of God hereafter. The
great impression which the Spirit leaveth upon the soul is a tendency
towards God; for his office is to bring us to God, into communion with
him here. God, as a Judge, by the Spirit of bondage, drives us to Christ as
a Mediator; and Christ, as a Mediator, by the Spirit of adoption, bringeth
us to God as a Father: Rom 8:15, 'Ye have not received the Spirit of
bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba Father.' One of the things which the Spirit urgeth
us to look after is the favour of God: Ps. 4:6, 7, 'Lord, lift up the light of
thy countenance upon us,' etc.; and communion with him here: Ps. 17:15,
'As for me, I will behold thy face with righteousness; I shall be satisfied
when I awake with thy likeness;' and the full enjoyment of God hereafter:
Rom. 8:23, 'We ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we
ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of our bodies:' 2 Cor. 5:5, 'Now he that hath wrought us for
the self same thing, is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the
Spirit,' always groaning, longing to live with God for ever. So when the
unregenerate and regenerate are spoken of as two contrary minds and
affections, Phil. 3:19, 20, the one are said to mind earthly things, the
others are said to have πολίτευμα, their conversation, in heaven. The
flesh draweth us off from God to things earthly and fleshly; but the
Spirit's work is to raise the heart to things eternal and heavenly, that our
main business might be there. Well now, the things of the Spirit are all
those things that are agreeable to the new and spiritual life, as
righteousness, peace, grace, and glory, the image of God, and word of
God; these things suit with the new nature.
Doct. 3. That men discover their temper and constitution of soul by their
respect to either of these objects. To evidence this to you
1. I will show you what this minding is,
2. Give you some observations,
3. The reasons of the point.
1. What is this minding or respect? Answer.—It may be considered
simply, and apart; or comparatively, our respects to these contrary
objects being compared together.
[1.] Simply, by itself. Our minding is bewrayed by the three operations of
man—thoughts, words, and actions. That which he minds he often thinks
of, speaks of, and seeks after, be they the things of the flesh, or of the
spirit, the life and vigour of our souls are seen in thinking, speaking, and
acting.
(1.) Men's thoughts will be where their hearts are, and their hearts are
where their treasure is; Mat. 6:21. Carnal men are brought in thinking of
their worldly affairs: Luke 12:17, 29, διελογίσατο, and he 'dialogued with
himself.' Not that it is simply unlawful to mind our earthly business: I
bring it to show the temper of the men; their hearts are always exercised
with such kind of thoughts, talking with themselves. And on the other
side, godly men are remembering God and heaven, and pleased with this
kind of thoughts. 'My soul remembered thee in the night;' and they are
described: Mal. 3:16, 'They that feared the Lord, and thought upon his
name.'
(2.) The same is true of words also, they declare the life and vigour of our
spirits, for there is a quick intercourse between the tongue and the heart:
1 John 4:5, 'They are of the world, and speak of the world, and the world
heareth them;' men's speeches are as their temper is: Prov. 10:20, 'The
tongue of the just is as choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is little
worth.' When the heart is stored with knowledge, and biassed by spiritual
affections, they will enrich others with their holy, savoury, profitable
discourse; but a drowsy, unsanctified heart in man, bewrayeth itself by
his speeches and communications with others.
(3.) By actions, or what we seek after: if all our business be to gratify the
flesh, Luke 12:21; or sowing to the flesh, Gal. 5:8; it argues a fleshly mind.
On the other side, they that have a spiritual mind, make it their business
to grow in grace: Phil. 3:13, 'This one thing I do, forgetting the things that
are behind, I press forward towards the mark of the prize of the high
calling in Christ Jesus.' They labour for spiritual and heavenly things:
John 17:27, 'Seek the things that are above:' Col. 3:1, 'They mind the
things of the Spirit.'
[2.] Comparatively, so the mark must be interpreted. The simple
consideration is not so convictive as the comparative.
(1.) Partly, because all minding the flesh is not sinful, but an over
minding the flesh. The body hath its necessities, and they must be cared
for. Yea, take the flesh for sensitive appetite, to please it with lawful
satisfactions is no sin; for it is a faculty put into us by God, and in due
subordination to religion may be pleased. To please it by things forbidden
is certainly a sin; and to prefer it before the pleasing of God is a great sin
indeed, for it is a character of them who are in a state of damnation, that
'they are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God,' 2 Tim. 3:4.
Therefore though we must observe our thoughts, words, and actions, yet
it must be thus interpreted not to condemn every act, but that we may
know in what proportion the vigour of mind is manifested and carried out
to either of these objects, by thoughts, words, or actions. If our thoughts
of the world shut out all thoughts of God, Ps. 12:4, 'God is not in all their
thoughts.' If our thinking of spiritual things be too rare, unfrequent, and
unpleasing to us, we are after the flesh. So for words, if we are heartless in
our talk of heavenly things, and we are in our element when speaking of
carnal things, and when a serious word is interposed for God, we frown
upon the motion. So for actions, compare men's care for the world with
their care for their souls; if they more earnestly and industriously seek to
please the flesh than to save their souls, it is a sign the flesh and its
interests are predominant in them; all things are done superficially, and
by the by in religion, not as becomes those that work from and for life,
with any diligence and fervency. There is no proportion between
endeavours for the world, and their preparations for eternal life; all is
earnest on one side, but either nothing is done, or in a very slight manner
on the other side; their thoughts, and love, and life, and strength are
wholly occupied and taken up about the things of the flesh.
(2.) Partly, because we must distinguish between the sin of flesh pleasing,
and the state of flesh pleasing; for a man is to judge of his spiritual
condition, not by single acts, but his state, or the habitual frame of his
heart. Who is there among God's own children who doth not mind the
flesh, and too much indulge the flesh? But they who make it their
business to please the flesh, are over careful about it: Rom. 13:14, 'Who
make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof;' and so indulge the
minding of the flesh, as not to mind the things of the spirit, so that vain
pleasures do exceed their delight in God, and kill it yet more and more,
and bring a slavery upon themselves, which they cannot help: Tit. 3:3,
'serving divers lusts and pleasures,' and being captivated by the fleshly
part, they have contracted a strangeness and enmity to God and his ways:
Rom. 8:7. They that have no relish for the joys of faith, and the pleasures
of holiness, and do habitually prefer the natural good of the body, before
the moral, spiritual, and eternal good both of body and soul, these are in
a state of carnality.
2. The observations upon the point.
[1.] This minding of the flesh must be interpreted not with respect to our
former estate; for alas! all of us in times past pleased the flesh, and
'walked according to the course of this world,' and 'had in time past our
conversation in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh, and of
the mind,' Eph. 2:3. It was God that loosed our shackles: Tit. 3:3, 'We
ourselves were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers
lusts and pleasures, etc., but after the kindness and love of God appeared
towards mankind,' etc. If we yet please the flesh we are not the servants of
Christ; but if we break off this servitude, God will not judge us according
to what we have been but what we are.
[2.] To know what we are we must consider what principle liveth in us,
and groweth and increaseth; and on the other side, what decreaseth, the
interest of the flesh or the interest of the spirit; for these two are contrary,
and the one destroyeth the other. The love of the world, and the flesh,
estrangeth us from God: 1 John 2:15, 'Love not the world, nor the things
of the world; if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him.' On the other side, minding the things of the spirit deadeneth our
affections to the world and the baits of the flesh. The conversation in
heaven is opposed to the minding of earthly things: Phil. 3:19, 20, 'Whose
God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things;
but our conversation is in heaven.' So much of affection as we give to the
one, we take from the other: Col. 3:2, 'Set your affections on things above,
and not on things of the earth.' Now we are to consider if we grow more
brutish, forgetful of God, unapt for spiritual things, the flesh gaineth; but
if the spiritual inclination doth more and more discover itself with life
and power in our thoughts, words, and actions, the flesh is in the wane,
and we shall be reckoned among those that walk not after the flesh, but
after the spirit; we have every day a higher estimation of God, and Christ,
and grace, and heaven, and thereby we grow more dead to other things.
[3.] Some things more immediately tend to the pleasing of the flesh;
others more remotely. Immediately, as bodily pleasures, and therefore
our inclinations to them are called fleshly lusts, as distinguished from
worldly lusts. Tit. 2:12; or from the lusts of the eye, and pride of life, 1
John 2:16; and these are intended, when it is said, 1 Peter 2:11, 'Abstain
from fleshly lusts which war against the soul;' that is, those inclinations
which carry us to vain and sordid pleasures. Other things more remotely,
as they lay in provision for that end, as the honours and profits of the
world; as all religion is pleasing God, so all that is opposite to it is
pleasing the flesh. Some please it one way, some another; though a man
be not voluptuous, yet he may be guilty of minding the things of the flesh,
because the world lieth nearest to his heart, and so he is taken off from
care of and delight in better things: 'envy, emulation, wrath, strife,
division make us carnal,' 2 Cor. 3:3. Namely, as we bustle and strive for
greatness and esteem in the world, though they are not sordidly given to
brutish pleasures, and worldly lusts, are called foolish and hurtful lusts,
which drown men in perdition and destruction: 1 Tim. 6:9. Therefore
fleshly minding must be applied to any thing that inticeth us to neglect
things spiritual and heavenly, for the world and the flesh suit; one is the
affection, the other the bait.
[4.] Some please the flesh in a more cleanly, others in a more gross
manner; as some men's sins are open and manifest, and stink in the
nostrils of God, as whoredom, drunkenness, and the like. Now though we
fall not into these sins, but escape the pollutions of the world, yet there is
a more secret, carnal minding, wherewith we may be tainted, as when we
let loose the heart to such alluring vanities as draw us off from God, and
Christ, and heaven; and the savour and relish that we have for outward
things obstructeth and quencheth the heavenly life, as much as those
baser lusts that are more shameful and hateful in the world. Some are
disengaged from gross sins, but yet wholly live to themselves, and the
pleasures of their fleshly mind; whereas the spiritual living is a living
unto God, and subordinateth all things to our great interest; and till we
return to God from whom we have strayed, there is little difference what
way of sin we choose; we are all gone astray, but every one his own way,
Isa. 53:6.
[5.] The prevalency of the carnal or spiritual mind is known by observing
what we mind seriously, resolutely, willingly, constantly.
(1.) Seriously, and in good earnest. Some seek after worldly things in good
earnest, but spiritual and heavenly things in an overly, careless, and
perfunctory manner. Now it is easy to know to what sort they are to be
reckoned, for where the strength of the soul is employed there our mind
is. The scripture adviseth us to moderate our affections to earthly things,
to rejoice here, as if we rejoiced not; to mourn here, as if we mourned not;
to use all things as not over-using them; and many mourn for sin, as if
they mourned not; and rejoiced in God, as if they rejoiced not; seek after
heavenly things superficially and by the by, not with their chief strength
and care: Mat. 6:33.
(2.) Resolutely, so as to carry it on whatsoever difficulties and oppositions
we meet with: Neh. 4:6, 'The wall was built, for the people had a mind to
the work.' It was a great charge for a wasted people to undergo, being
newly returned from the captivity; and there was a great opposition, for
they were fain to use sword and trowel together, they did work with one
hand, and held the sword with the other hand to fight; but it went on, for
the people had a mind to the work. We make our way to heaven by
conflict and contest every step, till we are resolved and cleave to the Lord
with full purpose of heart, whatever it costs us: Acts 11:23, 'He exhorted
them, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.' We
make no work in religion until we so mind these things that we come to
such a resolution as Paul had: Ἑτοιμως ἔχω: Acts 21:14, 'I am prepared, I
am ready, not only to be bound, but to die at Jerusalem for the sake of the
Lord Jesus Christ.' Such a resolvedness there is also in minding the
things of the flesh. When they put up many sad wound and check of
conscience, overlook their conveniences in the world, credit, interest,
sacrifice whatsoever should, is dear and precious to them, to follow their
lusts.
(3.) Willingly. How constrained are most men's duties? Their thoughts of
God, their prayers to him, their attendance on his word; doing all they do
as a task, rather than going about it as a willing and pleasing
employment, as Saul said, that he 'forced himself:' 1 Sam. 13:12. He
pleadeth it as an excuse of his sin, as committing it out of necessity; but it
is a just account of most men's worship, they are held to it by force; the
heart liketh it not, seeketh to slide away, and they are glad when they are
enlarged, and can divert to other things. On the contrary: Ps. 104:35, 'I
will be glad in the Lord, my meditation of him shall be sweet;' this for
thoughts. For words: John 4:32, 'My meat and drink is to do the will of
him that sent me.' They are in their element when discoursing and
promoting the interest of God. For actions and endeavours: Ps. 40:8, 'I
delight to do thy will, O God:' 1 John 5:3, 'His commandments are not
grievous;' nothing is more pleasing to them than when they are thus
employed.
(4.) Constantly. This is that which is mainly to be observed, the constancy
of our operations, as to things of the flesh and of the spirit.
(1st.) For thoughts. What thoughts have you of God and Christ and the
world to come? You mind the world's days, weeks, months, years, it
cannot be denied; but if you can never find leisure for God, Christ, and
heaven, not in one of a hundred, or a thousand, yea, or twenty thousand
thoughts, can you be said to mind the things of the spirit? Did you ever
shut the door of your hearts upon vain objects? Cast them out with
indignation, as you divert and shift from the thoughts of God, or
regarding your last end and great work; we that should retire for the
meditation of God banish him out of our minds: Job 21:14, 'We say to the
Almighty, Depart from us.' We like not these serious reflections, and cast
them out.
(2d.) For words. How much, how often, and delightfully do you speak of
God and the things of the world to come? Do you show this respect for
God, or those useful and necessary things which concern your own
salvation and the salvation of others? Speech must be guided by
prudence, and you must consider not only what you must do, but others
will bear; but as to yourselves, you are to observe the vigour of your own
spirits, which way it is most let out. To be pent up in carnal company is a
grief to a godly heart. It is a grief to him to hold his peace from good: Ps.
39:2, 3, 'I was dumb with silence, I held my peace even from good, and
my sorrow was stirred, my heart was hot within me, while I was musing
the fire burned.' But in holy company 'they that fear the Lord speak often
one to another:' Mal. 3:16. In the general, men will speak as they are
affected: Ps. 37:30, 'The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his
tongue talketh of judgment.' He studieth to glorify God, and edify others,
because the law of God is in his heart: ver. 31, that is the reason rendered
there; that is, because his mind is upon it.
(3d.) For actions. Men are known by their constant exercise, what they
pursue and seek after; whether their life be a 'sowing to the flesh' or a
'sowing to the spirit:' Gal. 6:8.
3. The reasons to prove it. That we may fix the reasons we must again, in
a shorter method, consider what minding implieth. It implieth our
savour, and our walk; or, to divest it from the metaphor, our affections
and endeavours. So the reasons will be two, suitable to these two notions.
[1.] As minding implieth our savour and affections. Men's gust is
according to their constitutions, and the bait discovereth the temper: for
pleasure is applicatio convenientis convenienti; when the object and the
faculty suit, things please us, and are minded by us, as they are agreeable
to our humour: Luke 16:25, 'Son, remember that thou in thy life-time
hast received thy good things.' Carnal men have their good things and the
children of God their good things. Our relish is agreeable to our nature. A
fish hath small pleasure on the dry land, or a beast at sea. A fleshly
creature can arise no higher than a fleshly inclination moveth it; therefore
men's complacency and displacency showeth of what nature they are. The
nature is hidden, but the operations and affections discover it.
[2.] As it implieth our walk and endeavour. Men's actions are according
to their predominant principle. As the tree is, so is the fruit: Mat. 7:18,
'Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth
forth corrupt fruit.' And as a man is, so his work will be; for the course of
his life showeth the constitution of his soul: such as the man is, so will his
works be. Can a man be said to be after the spirit that only looketh after
those things which please the senses, and scarce admitteth a serious
thought of God, or the life to come? Or, on the other side, can he be said
to be after the flesh that maketh it his business to tame the flesh, and his
work to please and enjoy God?
[3.] From both. Things that suit with the disposition and inclination of
our hearts do banish all love of contrary things. As the carnal minding is
opposite to the spiritual minding, and quencheth and weakeneth it more
and more, so the spiritual minding weakeneth the inclinations, and
retrencheth the interest of the flesh: Gal. 5:16, 'Walk in the spirit, and ye
shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.' There is no such care of minding the
things of the flesh, as by diversion to nobler objects, and obeying a higher
principle. Our affections cannot lie idle; while we are awake to the world,
we sleep to God; and while we are dead to the spirit, we are alive to the
flesh; and so on the contrary.
SERMON VII
They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; and they
that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit.—ROM. 8:5.
I PROCEED now to the application of the former discourse:
Use I. To put us upon serious self-reflection, of what sort are we? after the
flesh, or after the spirit? I pray let us go to a thorough search and trial;
and to deal more plainly in it,
1. Consider there are three sorts of persons in the world:—
[1.] Some are wholly carried away by the desires of the flesh, and seek
their happiness here but neglect things to come. The case is clear, that
they are after the flesh, and so for the present in a state of death and
damnation. And they had need to look to it betimes; for 'to be carnally
minded is death,' meritorie et effective. They provoke God to deny them
life, whom they despise for their lusts' sake, and dispense with their duty
to him to satisfy some foolish and inordinate desire: and effective, they
have no sound belief, nor desire of the world to come: and do you think
God will save them against their wills, and thrust and force these things
upon them without their consent, or beside their purpose and
inclination? No, it will not be Surely there is no difficulty in the case, to
state their condition, who grossly set more by their lusts than by their
obedience to God. The things of the flesh are the chief scope and business
of their lives; and they care not whether God be pleased or displeased,
obeyed or disobeyed, honoured or dishonoured, a friend or an enemy; so
the flesh be pleased, that is all their desire and aim.
[2.] There is another sort of men, who do many things that are good, but
the flesh too often gets the upper hand; and though they do many things
that appertain to the spirit, yet in other things they show they are
influenced by the carnal life, as is evident.
[3.] Some unquestionably show they are after the spirit, by their deep
sense of heavenly things, their care about them, their diligence and
watchfulness over the desires and inclinations of the flesh, and holding a
hard hand over the passions and affections thereof, and their serious
endeavours to please God. There is no doubt but these are born of God.
All the difficulty is about the middle sort, to understand their condition.
They must be again distinguished:—
1. Some are not far off from the kingdom of God.
2. Others are actually admitted, though grace be in some weak degree.
(1.) For the first—those that are not far from the kingdom of God. They
are such as have the grace of the third ground described: Luke 8:14, 'And
that which fell among thorns, are they who, having heard, go forth, and
are choked with cares, and riches, and the pleasures of this life, and bring
no fruit to perfection.' They have good sentiments of religion, and retain
them longer than the stony ground doth, but they are over-mastered with
the cares of this world, and voluptuous living, so as that they attain not to
the perfection of that holy and heavenly life that should be in Christians.
They do not lay aside the profession, but have not felt the power of
Christianity in mortifying their fleshly and worldly lusts, that they may be
more at liberty for God, and the duties of their heavenly calling; and so
cherish a kind of imperfect Christianity, which little honoureth God in the
world, or doth good to their own souls. They are neither wholly on nor off
from religion. The bane of it is, that carnal and temporal things lie too
near their hearts, so that they cannot fully commence into the divine life,
and never took pains to overcome the natural spirit, which lusteth to
sensuality, envy, pride, and worldliness. There are some good things
found in them; but the carnal minding is not mortified, nor doth the
meek, holy, heavenly spirit prevail in them. There are others—
(2.) Who are regenerate; but grace is weak in them, and corruptions
break out, and shake off the empire of grace for a time, though it
habitually prevails, and governs their actions. Now for the former, we
must persuade them to get a good and a honest heart; that is, that their
intentions be more sincere and fixed, their way more thorough and exact,
lest they get a name for religion, to do a mischief to it. For most of the
calamities of the church, and the prejudices against religion, and
hardening by scandals and blemishes, come from that sort of men, and
are to be laid at their doors. And for the second, we are to advise them,
and call upon them to distinguish themselves from the carnal state more
clearly and explicitly. For though God may accept them, yet whilst they
border too near upon the carnal world, it is in vain to find out evidences
whereby they may assure their hearts before God; for though God
possibly hath given them saving grace, and will accept them at last, yet he
will not give them assurance; and we do but perplex cases of conscience,
to reconcile the tenor of Christianity with their weak state. Exhortation
doth better than trial. If they be sincere, they will come on in the way of
godliness, and then that which was doubtful will be more clear and
satisfactory, and their sincerity will be more unquestionable.
(3.) Because God's dear children write bitter things against themselves,
either out of weakness of judgment, or consciousness of too much
prevalency of corrupt affections, and tenderness of God's honour, and
trouble for their own imperfections, it will be necessary further to state
the point. There is to the very last, flesh and spirit in the best: Gal. 5:17,
'For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit lusteth against the
flesh;' yet there is enough to distinguish them from the carnal world; and
that is the potency and the predominancy of the spiritual principle.
Denominatio est a potiori; not from what is perfect, but from what is
sincere, and habitually reigneth and beareth the upper hand in the soul.
But then the question returneth, How shall we know the prevalency? I
answer—
[1.] Negatively. Not by a bare sense of duty, or a dictate of conscience,
that showeth what ought to be done; but many times we do quite
otherwise; for many 'hold the truth in unrighteousess:' Rom. 1:18. A
dictate of conscience is unsufficient to change the heart and sanctify the
life. Nor barely by the resolution of the will, for that may be uneffectual,
and without a full purpose of heart: 'I go, sir,' said the first son in the
parable, 'but went not:' Mat. 21:30. Many resolve well, but they have not a
heart to verify and make good their resolutions: Deut. 5:29. The Jews
said, 'All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.' 'Oh! that there were such
a heart in them,' saith God. Nor by a faint desire; for many can wish not
only for heaven and happiness, but that it might be otherwise with them
in point of holiness, that God would change their natures; but they do not
use the means: 'The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing,'
Prov. 13:4. None goeth to heaven by the sluggard's wishes; not by
prevailing in one act, or more; for many, in a pang of zeal, may do much
for God: Gal. 4:18, 'It is good to be zealously affected always in a good
matter; Ps. 106:3, 'Blessed are they that do righteousness at all times.'
Nor by every kind of dislike, and resistance of sin, that may sometimes
arise from other lusts; for they sometimes fight among themselves: James
4:1, 'Whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence,
even from your lusts, which war in yourselves?' Or from hypocrisy, to
hide and feed some other lusts the more plausibly. Or if from conscience,
the resistance is too feeble to break the power of sin, till the heart be
renewed, or more thoroughly set towards God and heavenly things.
[2.] Positively.
(1st.) By the course of our actions. Habits are known by the uniformity of
acts, when the effects of the spirit are more constant than those of the
flesh, and the drift and business of our lives is for God and our salvation;
our bent and business is the pleasing of God, and the saving of our own
souls. Men must be judged, not by a few acts, but their walk, or the tenor
of their conversations. They that spend their time in knitting one carnal
contentment to another, and glut themselves with all manner of vain
delights, and God hath from them but what the flesh can spare, a little
formal slight service, that they may pacify conscience, and enjoy their
pleasures with less remorse; what are they doing but the flesh's business?
(2d.) By cherishing the best principle with all care and diligence, and
mortifying and suppressing the other. The better principle must be
cherished; that is, we must get more degrees of faith, love, and hope, that
faith may be more strong, love more fervent, hope more lively: 2 Pet.
3:18, 'But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ.' On the other side, the flesh would fain be pleased before
God; but you must subdue it more and more: 1 Cor. 9:22, 'I keep under
my body, and bring it into subjection;' give it not what it craveth. Rest not
in endeavours without success; for, Gal. 5:24, 'They that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts thereof.' A Christian is
seen proposito conatu, eventu. Some victory there must be over the
carnal mind. See that the power of the flesh be diminished in you, both as
to the motions of it and your obedience to it.
Use 2 is Exhortation.
First. Negatively: Not to mind the things of the flesh. That is, take heed
not only of the grosser out-breakings of the flesh, but of serving it in a
more cleanly manner, by too free and full a gust and relish in any outward
thing; for by this means it securely gets interest, and gaineth upon you. If
you freely let loose the heart to every alluring object, and withhold not
yourselves from any joy, lust will grow bold and head-strong, and be
hardly kept within bounds.
Motives:—
1. Consider your engagement, as you are Christ's: Gal. 5:24, 'They that are
Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof.'
Every man is engaged by his profession and covenant, sealed in baptism,
so to do; which should be a very moving argument to press us to do
things cross and unpleasing to the flesh.
2. Your comfort dependeth on it. For here is your evidence, either you
must mortify the flesh, or gratify the flesh; if you gratify the flesh, you are
not under the conduct of the Spirit, and so not under the hope of glory; if
you mortify it, then you shall live. The only evidence that will content and
satisfy you, as to your gracious state, is such a high estimation of God and
Christ and grace, as weaneth you, and draweth off the heart from other
things. A dull approbation of that which is good will make no evidence,
nor a few good wishes; nothing but such a strong bent as deadeneth your
affections to the world: Gal. 6:14, 'God forbid that I should glory, save in
the cross of Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I
unto the world.'
3. This will be your wisdom. There is a false wisdom, and a true wisdom:
James 3:15, 'This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly,
sensual, devillish:' ver. 17, 'But the wisdom that is from above, is first
pure, then peaceable,' etc. This is the true wisdom, to be wise for the
spirit. I do the rather insist upon this because there is a notion of wisdom
in the word of the text. Carnal men judge their own way wisest, and the
way of the godly to be mere folly: 1 Cor. 2:14, 'The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him: neither
can he receive them, because they are spiritually discerned.' The godly
employ themselves to get things spiritual, and such as God's honour is
mainly concerned in; and are not attended with an income of worldly
advantage, but rather of loss and detriment—but yet the end shall prove
that they that thought themselves the only wise men and gainers, have
been mere fools; and the greatest losers (those others whom they looked
upon as madmen) are the wisest adventurers and the greatest gainers.
The issue will show it: Gal. 6:8, 'He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the
flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit
reap life everlasting;' Rom. 8:6, 'To be carnally minded is death, but to be
spiritually minded is life and peace.'
4. The flesh is really our enemy; yea, our greatest enemy. Therefore we
should not indulge the flesh, but give up ourselves to be ruled by the
Spirit: 1 Peter 2:10, 11, 'Take heed of fleshly lusts which war against the
Spirit.' That it is one of our enemies, is clear by that: Eph. 2:2, 3,
'Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now ruleth
in the children of disobedience: among whom also we had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even
as others.' There is the course of this world, and the prince of the power
of the air, and our own flesh. Corrupt nature within us would make us vile
enough, without external incitements and suggestions, though there were
never a devil to tempt or evil example to follow. If the devil should stand
by, and say nothing, there is enough within us to put us upon all manner
of evil, though there were no other irritation than God's law: Rom. 7:9,
'When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.' Other enemies
could do us no harm without our own flesh. We are tempted to sin by
Satan, encouraged to sin by the example and custom of others, inticed to
sin by the baits and allurements of the world; but inclined to sin by our
own flesh. It is the flesh that holdeth correspondence with Satan, the
flesh that openeth the door to temptations, the flesh that maketh our
abode in the world so dangerous, the flesh that choketh the good seed,
that hindereth all our heavenly thoughts, and maketh the service of God
so burdensome. The flesh is within us and maketh a part of ourselves.
There is more imminent danger from a plague in the body, than from an
enemy that waiteth in the streets to kill us. If we would but keep ourselves
from ourselves we should do well enough. It is the flesh that lulleth us
asleep in carnal security, that tainteth all our actions, and is so ready to
betray us. The devil dealeth with us as Baalam by the Israelites; all his
curses and charms prevailed nothing, till he found a means to destroy
them by themselves, to corrupt them by whoredom, and by whoredom to
draw them to idolatry. It is the flesh that is the domestical enemy, that
dwelleth with us, and in us, and so maketh us a ready prey to Satan. We
carry it about with us wherever we go, and so it is ready to do us mischief
upon all occasions. When we are about holy duties, it distracteth us with
vain thoughts, and taketh off our edge, and make us drowsy and dead
hearted, and weary of God's service. When we are about our callings, it is
the flesh that maketh us lazy and negligent, and diverteth us by the
proposals of sensual objects; or else to be so earnest in them, that we
have no time nor heart for God and soul-necessities. When we are eating
and drinking, it is the flesh that turneth our table into a snare, and tempts
us to glut ourselves with carnal delights, and to oppress our bodies when
we should refresh them and strengthen them for God's service. In our
recreations it is the flesh that maketh us inordinate in them, and to forget
our great work and last end; and so we are the more intangled in sin
when we should be more fit to glorify God. It is the flesh that, being
beaten out at one door, entereth by another, and still assaults us afresh,
to our great spiritual prejudice. And will you study how to please the
flesh, that is so great an enemy to your souls—that flesh that resists all the
motions of God's Spirit; that cloggeth you in every duty, and draweth you
off from the pursuit of everlasting happiness?
5. Consider how ill Christ will take it, and what just cause you give him to
withdraw, when you prize the things of the flesh before him and the
comforts of the Spirit. Must not the Lord Jesus take it exceeding
unkindly, that after all his love, and the discoveries of his grace, you
should study to please his competitor, and your own enemy? Is his grace
and glory worth no more than so? and hath he deserved no better at your
hands? 'God spared not his own Son, but gave him up to the death for us:'
Rom. 8:32. 'Christ pleased not himself:' Rom. 15:3. There is nothing so
answerable as some self-denial on our part. The most genuine and
natural influence from this grace is, that we should spare nothing, please
not ourselves: Titus 2:11, 'The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath
appeared unto all men, teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly
lusts.' Teaching us, etc., how? By way of precept? No, by way of argument.
It persuadeth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts.
6. Consider, the more you indulge the flesh, the more it is an enemy, and
the more is your slavery and bondage increased; and still you grow the
more brutish, forgetful of God, and unapt for spiritual use for make it a
wanton once, and it groweth stubborn and contumacious, and secureth
its interest, and gaineth upon you. If you allow yourselves too free and
full a gust and relish in any outward thing, and let loose the heart to every
alluring object, and withhold not your hearts from any joy and sense
pleasing object, which Solomon acknowledgeth as his sin: Eccles. 2:10;
vicious and inordinate desires increase upon you; and the more you
gratify them the more they crave. The way to abate their rage is to deny
them, and hold a hard hand over them, to 'bring the body into
subjection:' 1 Cor. 9:27. Liberty allowed in satisfying carnal desires doth
marvellously increase and nourish them, and will bring you to
carelessness, and hardness of heart, if not. some foul scandalous fall. I am
sure the heart is corrupted strangely. Solomon saith: Prov. 24:21, 'He that
delicately bringeth up a servant, shall have him become a son at length;'
he will no more know his condition, but grow bold and troublesome. I am
sure the flesh was ordained to be a servant, and not a master. Take it in
the mildest sense, it was ordained to be God's servant, and our servant,
and must be used as a servant, kept fit for work. We are the worse for
licence; our natural desires, unless they feel fetters and restraints, will
grow unruly; therefore it is good to bridle the flesh, lest it grow masterly.
But when the flesh is that which you mind, which you indulge with too
free a leave, you deny yourselves nothing, but cocker every appetite; you
bring a snare upon the soul; and carnal distempers are the more rooted,
and will prove troublesome if not destructive to you.
7. Consider the consequence and weight of these things. If it were a small
matter we speak to you about, you might refuse to give ear; but it is in a
case of life and death—eternal life, and eternal death. We can tell you of
many temporal and present inconveniencies that come by the flesh. The
body, the part gratified, suffereth, as well as the soul by it: Prov. 8:11,
'Thou shalt mourn at last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed.' It
betrayeth you to commit such sins as suck your bones, and devour your
strength, and give your years to the cruel. It bringeth infamy, and a blot
upon the name, sins and scandals. Pleasing the flesh, and minding the
flesh, makes one turn drunkard, another a wanton, another a glutton, or a
hard-hearted worldling, or an ambitious, vain-glorious fool, or a
senseless voluptuary: these are no small things. But rather consider, it
will be the eternal ruin of your precious and immortal souls. The more
you give up yourselves to please the flesh, the more you add fuel to that
fire which shall never be quenched, and provide matter of eternal sorrows
and confusion of face to yourselves. There will a day come when God will
call you to an account for this: Eccles. 11:9, 'Rejoice, O young man in thy
youth, and let thine heart cheer thee, and walk in the way of thine own
heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know that for all these things
God will bring thee to judgment.' Mark, O young man! We say, Dandum
est aliquid huic œtati—some allowance is to be made to this age, before
they have learned by experimenting pleasures to contemn them; but the
young man is admonished: Do what thou pleasest; let thy wanton and
wandering eye inflame the lusts of thine heart, smother thy conscience by
all manner of sensual and vain delights, but at length thou wilt learn the
folly of this to thy bitter cost. These things that are now so pleasing to the
senses will one day gnaw and sting the conscience; when God, whom thou
now forgettest, shall, whether thou wilt or no, drag thee forth to
judgment, and thou shalt in vain 'call upon the rocks and mountains to
cover thee.'
8. Consider how contrary it is to our Christian hopes to mind the flesh, or
please the flesh: 1 Peter 2:11, 'Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers
and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.' You
are, or you should be, travelling into another country, where are 'the
spirits of just men made perfect;' and this body of thine is to become a
spiritual body; will you please it not in a gross, but in a more cleanly
manner? Nothing is more unsuitable. Shall we that are going to Canaan
hearken after the flesh pots of Egypt? Nothing is so contrary to our
profession, and that breedeth such unreadiness to depart out of the
world, as these vain delights; and therefore if you be strangers and
pilgrims, you should not lust after worldly and fleshly things; stop here,
lest you forget and forfeit your great hopes.
9. Consider what a vile unthankfulness, and an abuse it is of that liberty
which we have by Christ, and all the blessings of God's providence: Gal.
5:13, 'Ye are called to liberty, only use it not as an occasion to the flesh.'
We have a great liberty to use worldly comforts, in order to God's glory,
and as encouragements of God's service, and for the sweetening of our
pilgrimage; but now, when you use this liberty to please the flesh, you
turn it into a bondage, and offer a great abuse to Jesus Christ. Surely he
never died to promote the power of sin, he never gave us these comforts
richly to enjoy, to hearten our enemy; he was not a man of sorrows that
we might live in pleasures, he did not suffer in the flesh that we might
have liberty to indulge and please the flesh; he bestowed not so large a
supply of outward comforts to hinder us from those better and eternal
things which he purchased for us—1 Tim. 6:17, 18—or to turn them into
occasions of unrighteousness, and means whereby to dishonour his
name, and destroy our souls.
Now if we would not do so, something must be done:—
[1.] As to sinful inclinations.
[2.] As to sinful motions.
[3.] As to sinful actions.
[1.] As to sinful and fleshly inclinations, observe them, weaken them.
(1.) Observe them. Satan doth, and we should; he observeth which way
the tree leaneth, and what kind of diet our soul distempers crave, and
suiteth his temptations accordingly, as the angler suiteth his bait as the
fishes will take it, for every month a bait: 1 Cor 7:5, 'Lest satan tempt you
for your incontinency.' He hath a bait of preferment for Absalom, for he is
ambitious; a bait of pleasure for Samson, for he is voluptuous; a bait of
money for Judas, for he is covetous; thus will he furnish them with
temptations answerable to their inclinations; a man by temper
voluptuous may despise profit, as an earth-worm doth pleasure, or
honour, reputation, and great places, or at least doth not so much value
these things. It is sad that our enemy should know our temper better than
we do ourselves, where we are weakest, and how to make his assaults;
and therefore observe your inclinations. Flesh-pleasing is the general
term by which it is expressed. Three objects there are about which this sin
of flesh-pleasing is exercised: 1 John 2:16, 'The lusts of the flesh, the lusts
of the eye, and the pride of life'—credit or honour, profit or riches,
sensual pleasure or carnal delight. Now see which of these things do you
favour or mind most—what carnal interest suiteth with your hearts, and
groweth there.
(2.) Weaken and subdue them. It is your uprightness and faithfulness: Ps.
18:23, 'I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine
iniquities.' Let a Christian observe the increase or decay of his master sin,
and other things will succeed the more easily. 'Fight not against small nor
great, but the king of Israel.' When we can deny ourselves in our dearest
lusts, Satan is more discouraged. Samson's strength lay in his locks; so
doth the strength of sin, in one part more than another. Every man is
sensible of his darling sin, more or less; but the next thing to be looked
after is what we do with it. Herod raged when John the Baptist touched
his Herodias; Felix trembled when Paul touched his bribery and
intemperance, but puts it off. The young man went away sad and troubled
when Christ told him of selling all that he had, for he had great
possessions: Mark 10. Many are troubled in conscience, not so much for
want of assurance, as loathness to part with some bosom lust; but when
we must pluck out right eyes, and cut off right hands. Mat. 5:29, 30, it is
hard to them. When you pray and strive against this sin, and grow in the
contrary grace, this showeth the truth of a man's self-denial; as
Abraham's love appeared in that he did not spare Isaac.
[2.] As to evil motions. Prevent them, and suppress them.
(1.) Prevent them: 1 Peter 1:11, 'Abstain from fleshly lusts that war against
your souls.' Which implies not only an abstinence from the outward act,
but that you weaken the power and root of sin, that it do not so easily bud
forth; those impetus primo primi are sins, not only infelicities but sins;
they would not be so rife with us, if the heart were more under command.
We are guilty of many sins whereunto we do consent, because we do not
more strongly dissent, and more potently and rulingly command all the
subject faculties, as a man is guilty of the murder of his child if he seeth
his servant kill him, and doth not his best to hinder it; but chiefly when
some partial consent followeth, when the heart is tickled and delighted
with them. So an unclean glance is adultery: Mat 5:28, 'If a man look on a
woman so as to lust after her, he hath committed adultery with her
already in his heart.' The more they are mortified, the heart is the less
pestered with them.
(2.) Suppress them speedily. When we cannot keep sin under, let us crush
it. When the mind dwelleth on it, lust is conceiving, which bringeth forth
sin: James 1:15. The flesh riseth up in arms against every gracious
motion; so should the spirit against every sinful motion; if you let it
alone, it will break out, to God's dishonour. Dash Babylon's brats against
the stones.
[3.] As to sinful actions. Prevent them as much as may be; repeat them
not, lest they grow into a habit.
(1.) Prevent them as much as may he. It is good to stop at last, to hinder
the action. When lust hath gained the consent of the will; let it not break
forth into action. The very lust is a grief to the spirit, but the act will bring
dishonour to God, and give ill example to men: Micah 2:1, 'Woe to them
that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their bed; when the morning is
light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hands.' If fire be
kindled in thy bosom, it is dangerous to let the sparks fly abroad.
(2.) Repeat not these acts; lest they grow into a habit and settled
disposition of soul. Evil customs increase by many acts, and so the
mischief is more remediless: Jer. 13:27, 'I have seen thy adulteries and
thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredoms, O Jerusalem! Wilt thou
not be made clean? When shall it once be?' It is a very difficult thing for a
man to leave his inveterate customs; customary exercise in the use of
earthly things begets worldly dispositions not easily cured. Augustine
saith of his mother Monica: Ad illud modicum quotidiana modica
addenda in eam consuetudinem delapsa erat, ut plenos jam mero calices
inhianter hauriebat. Vinolency crept upon her by degrees. To be
gratifying carnal desires now with one thing, now with another, what
doth it do, but bring us under the power of a distemper which we cannot
remedy: Heb. 3:13, 'Exhort one another daily whilst it is called to-day, lest
ye be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.' Yield a little to sin, and
it prevaileth more, till at last you are brought under the power of it: 1 Cor.
6:12, 'All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all
things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any
thing.'
Secondly. Positively, as to the things of the spirit.
1. Mind the things of the spirit more than ever you have done. Many stick
there in the very acts that properly belong to the mind, never so much as
trouble themselves, or come to any reasoning within themselves, about
pardon of their sins, peace with God, the sanctification of the spirit, or
hopes of eternal life: Ps. 10:4, 'The wicked, through the pride of his
countenance, will not seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts.' Alas!
What have you been doing since you came to the use of reason? How have
you spent your time in youth or riper age? If you have never thought of
God and his grace, nor regarded the offers of mercy in the gospel,
certainly you have lost your time, neglected your duty, and betrayed your
souls. What have you been doing? Have you been governed by the flesh or
by the spirit? If all your care hath been about back and belly, and your
thoughts have reached no higher than the riches, and honours, and
pleasures, and applause, and esteem of the world, and heaven and
heavenly things have been little regarded, alas I for the present you are in
the highway to hell and everlasting destruction, if you do not correct your
error in time, and more earnestly mind other things.
2. You must not only mind the things of the spirit, but prize and choose
them for your work and happiness, for some of them belong to your duty,
and some to your felicity: Luke 10:42, 'One thing is necessary, and Mary
hath chosen the better part, which shall never be taken from her.' Give
your hearty consent to seek after that happiness in that way. Without
choice, or a determinate fixed bent of heart, you will never thoroughly
engage yourselves to God. Determine not only that you must, but you will
walk in the way which God hath set forth for you. All will choose
happiness before misery, but they are out in the means; they do not
choose the good of holiness before the pleasures of sin, nor the life of
faith before the life of sense. If you have more mind to keep sin than to let
it go, you are still charmed and enchanted with the delights of the flesh,
your will and resolution are not fixed.
3. To this add an industrious pursuit and seeking after these things; for
our choice is known by our pursuit, and our bent by our work. These
things must be diligently sought after, that we may behave ourselves like
men that are desirous to have what they seek: Heb. 11:6, 'God is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him.' Everlasting joys will not drop
into the mouth of the lazy soul; these things are not trifles, they will cost
us diligence and seriousness: Phil. 2:12, 'Work out your salvation with
fear and trembling.' It is a weighty work, and it must be followed close; if
you miscarry in it, you are undone for ever; but if you happily get through
it, you are in a blessed state indeed.
4. You must seek after the privileges of the gospel in God's way. You
cannot have spiritual life, and adoption, arid justification by Christ, till
you are united to him by faith: 1 John 5:12, 'He that hath the Son, hath
life; and he that hath not the Son, hath not life.' You cannot have heaven
and glory, but by patient continuance in well-doing: Rom. 2:3, 'To them
that by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory, and honour, and
immortality, eternal life.' You cannot have the end, but in the use of
means, and you do not like the end if you do not like the means. Till you
come to God by Christ, you cannot live the life of grace; and till you live
the life of grace you are not capable of glory. Therefore you must ask your
souls often, What have I to show for my title to salvation more than most
of the world have?5. It is not enough that you seek after them in God's way, but you must
seek after them above other things. A feeble desire cannot maintain itself
against fleshly lusts and temptations. If you have a mind to these things,
and a greater mind to other things, your resolution will be soon shaken,
carnal things will intercept the vigour and life of your souls. These things
must be sought first, and most; all must be sold for the pearl of price:
Mat. 13:45, 46.
6. You must beg of God to give you a new mind, and a new heart, both to
discern and relish spiritual things; for your old corrupt minds and hearts
will never do it: 1 Cor. 2:14, 'The natural man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he receive
them, because they are spiritually discerned.' He cannot accept, nor
savingly understand, these things so as to believe them with a sound
belief, and a large affection. Exhortations are in vain, for inclination here
doth more than persuasion; all things are of God: 2 Cor. 5:17, 18. God
must give both, and therefore ask them of him.
SERMON VIII
For to he carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life
and peace.—ROM. 8:6.
The apostle is giving reasons, why the comforts of justification do only
belong to the sanctified. He only takes notice of two. First, the difference
between the sanctified and unsanctified as to their disposition; secondly,
the difference that is between them as to the event and issue. There is a
contrary disposition, and a contrary end and issue: first, how they are
affected, or what they mind; secondly, what will come of it, according to
God's ordination and appointment.
1. He reasoneth from the contrary disposition of the unsanctified. They,
being after the flesh, do only mind and savour carnal things. They study
to please the flesh, value all things by the interest of the flesh; therefore,
are justly excluded from the privileges of the spiritual life; for it is not fit
men should be happy against their wills, or be possessed of privileges
they do not care for. God will not cast pearls before swine that trample on
them, nor bestow these precious comforts where they are not valued. This
argument you have, ver. 5, 'They that are after the flesh do mind the
things of the flesh, and they that are after the spirit the things of the
spirit.' Because they mind them not, they have them not.
2. He reasoneth from the consequent issue and event, by the ordination
and appointment of God. Thus in the text, 'For to be carnally minded is
death.' Death belongeth to the carnally minded, and life and peace to the
spiritually minded.
In this Scripture there are two ways and two ends, both opposite and
contrary to each other:—
1. The two ways; the carnal minding, and the spiritual minding—φρόνημα
σαρκὸς, φρόνημα τοῦ πνεύματος.
2. The two ends; death and life and peace.
Doct. That the carnal mind tendeth and bringeth a man to death, but the
spiritual mind is the way to life and peace.
The text and the doctrine being a copulate axiom must be explained by
parts.
First. To be carnally minded is death. I must open two things. (1.) The
carnal minding; (2.) That death which is the fruit and consequent of it.
First. "What is this φρόνημα σαρκὸς, which here we translate 'to be
carnally minded,' in the margin 'the minding of the flesh,' and some
translations, 'the wisdom of the flesh'?
I answer, it is the influence of the flesh upon all the faculties,
understanding, will, and affections; as also upon our practice and
conversation, when the wisdom of the flesh governeth our counsels,
choices and actions. It includeth the acts of the mind; there are two acts
of the mind, apprehension and cogitation; in both, the flesh bewrayeth
itself.
[1.] As to apprehension, we are acute in discerning the nature, worth, and
value of carnal things, but stupid and blockish in things spiritual and
heavenly: Luke 16:9, 'The children of this world are wiser in their
generation than the children of light, εἰς τῆν γενεὰν;' more dexterous in
the course of their affairs, skilful in all things of a secular interest in back
and belly concernments, but very senseless in things that are without the
line of the flesh, and beyond the present world: 2 Pet. 1:9, 'He is blind,
and cannot see afar off.' He can see nothing of the danger of perishing for
ever, or the worth of salvation, or the need of Christ to heal wounded
souls, or the necessity of making serious preparation for the world to
come. It is strange to consider how acute wits are stupid and senseless in
these things, being blinded by the delusions of the flesh. Surely none have
such a lively knowledge of spiritual things as spiritual men.
Object. But do not many carnal men understand the mysteries of
godliness? Yea, sometimes move distinctly and accurately than the
sanctified.
I answer, carnal men know not God, nor Christ, nor the things of the
Spirit; it is a sottish people of no understanding: Isa. 27:11, and generally
the fear of the Lord giveth a good understanding: Ps. 111:10, a blunt iron
that is red hot will pierce further into a board than a sharp tool that is
cold. Love to God enlivens our notions of God and Christ and the world to
come, and perfects them; but then it is true that carnal men may be well
stocked with literal knowledge, they have μόρφωσιν τῆς γνώσεως: Rom.
2:20, 'A form of the knowledge of the law;' but they have not those
piercing apprehensions and heart-warming thoughts of danger, duty, and
blessedness as the spiritual hath; the lively light of the spirit leaveth a
greater power and impression upon the heart than this cold knowledge
doth or can do. Some carnal men may have more of the notions, words,
forms, methods than the unlearned saints have; but they want the thing
these were made for. They may dress the meat as cooks, but the godly
feed on it, and digest it, and are most capable savingly to understand the
things concerning the spiritual life.
[2.] The next act of the mind is cogitation, and so they are said to mind
the things of the flesh, whose hearts are continually haunted and
exercised with carnal thoughts, or thoughts about sensual, worldly, and
earthly things. To make this evident, let me tell you, there are three sorts
of thoughts, expressed by three distinct words in scripture.
(1.) There are λογίσμοι, or διαλογίς μοι, discourses and reasonings. (2.)
There are θυμήσεις, and ἐνθυμήσεις, musings or imaginations. (3.) There
are devices. All these ways doth the flesh or spirit bewray itself.
(1.) Sometimes in our discourses, debates, and reasonings. The spirit is
seen in debating with ourselves about our eternal condition: Acts 16:14,
'She attended to the things that were spoken,' that is, weighed them in
her mind; and Luke 2:19, 'Mary pondered them in her heart,'
συμβάλλουσα, compared thought with thought: Rom. 8:31. What shall we
say to these things? Now the fleshly minding is seen partly in jostling out
these thoughts, and opposing these discourses of the mind, that we have
no profit by them; and partly by filling and stuffing the mind with carnal
thoughts and discourses, that there is no room for better things: 2 Pet.
2:14, 'A heart they have exercised with covetous practices.' Their hearts
are always busied with low, carnal, and base thoughts; therefore it is said.
'The heart of the wicked is nothing worth:' Prov. 10:20. All the debates
and discourses of their minds are of no value, and tend to no serious and
profitable use.
(2.) Musings, admiring their excellency and blessing, and applauding
themselves in what they have, and hope for in the world: Dan. 4:30, 'Is
not this great Babel that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the
might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?' and Ps. 144:15,
'Happy is the people that is in such a case.' This self-blessing is a sign of
carnal minding; they never set their minds a work upon spiritual and
heavenly things. Surely one that believeth heaven, and looketh for
heaven, and longeth for heaven, will be thinking of it. Shall an ambitious
man find such a savour in thoughts of preferment? a covetous man in the
thoughts of wealth and riches? a vain-glorious man in the echoes and
supposition of applause? the voluptuous man in revellings and eating and
drinking, so that his heart is always in the house of mirth? the unclean
person in personating the pleasure of sin by imaginations Mat. 5:28? an
envious man in thoughts of revenge? and shall not a spiritual disposition
discover itself in our musings? Faith and hope will send the thoughts, as
spies, into the land of promise: Heb. 11:1. Love will be thinking on the
object loved. The treasures will take up the mind and heart: Mat. 6:21.
Can a man love God, and Christ, and never think of them? Our pleasant
musings should be regarded. A third sort of thoughts are—
(3.) Counsels, and contrivances or devices: Rom. 13:14, 'Make no
provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.' They wholly bend their
minds how to compass their worldly ends, and how to advance
themselves in the world, carking and caring for these things, but 'God is
not in all their thoughts:' Ps. 10:4; care not whether God be pleased or
displeased, honoured and glorified or dishonoured, nor how to come to
enjoy him and carry on the spiritual life with more success, and assure
their interest in eternal happiness. The spiritual life is not a thing of hap
hazard and peradventure, but to be carried on with contrivance and
heedfulness: 'ponder the path of thy feet;' Prov. 4:26. Now men employ
their time and wit upon other projects than how to mortify sin, or 'perfect
holiness in the fear of God.' Thus thoughts being the first issues of the
mind discover the temper of it. Those that are after the flesh are thorough
and true to their principle, they can freely employ their minds about
things which are agreeable to their constitution of soul, and can hardly
take them off for any serious and grave purpose; they do most readily and
delightfully entertain these thoughts, mind the world's weeks, years, days,
but never find leisure or time to mind life to come. They never shut the
door against vain thoughts; but thoughts of God, Christ, and heaven and
hell, sin and holiness, what strangers are they? and when they rush in
upon us are thrust forth as unwelcome guests. Any thing relating to the
flesh is pleasing and welcome, but how to get our hearts washed and
cleansed by the blood or Spirit of Christ, is not regarded by them; how to
be more holy, to be at peace with God, to keep that peace unbroken by an
uniform course of obedience, this is not thought of, nor discoursed of, in
the mind, nor the happiness mused on, nor our care and contrivance
employed about it.
2. The word also compriseth the will and affections, desires, purposes,
choices. What we now read 'mind' is in other translations 'savour,' the
Vulgar reads sapiunt; Erasmus reads curant; Valla sentiunt, have a sense
or gust; so in these things, we translate it savour: Mat. 16:23, 'Thou
savourest not the things that be of God,' οὐ φρονεὶς τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ.' We
translate it elsewhere: Col. 3:2, 'set your affections upon things above, τὰ
ἄνω φρονεῖτε, and not on things on earth.' But the word as it standeth in
our translation will bear it; for when men say they have a mind to it: Neh.
4:6, 'We built the wall, for the people had a mind to the work.'so here it is
true of the carnal minding, and the spiritual minding. The relish and
taste, which are in the will and affections, floweth from the apprehension
of the mind; we relish and delight in objects suitable to that nature which
we have; as the constitution is, so are the gust and taste. Tell a carnal
person of the joys of the life to come, the comforts of the spirit, the peace
of a good conscience, the sweetness that is in the word and ordinances,
they find no more savour in these things than in the white of an egg, or a
dry chip; but banquets, merry meetings, and idle sports, they have a
complacency for these things, and soon find a delight free and stirring at
the mention of them: 'their hearts are in the house of mirth' Eccles. 7:4.
To be well clad, and well fed, maintained in pomp and state, these are the
things which are most sweet and pleasing to them, and which they most
desire and seek after, for they mind these things, and so bestow their care
and delight upon them, and can spend days and hours without weariness
in them. Carnal men relish no sweetness in religion: 1 Cor. 2:14, 'But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are
foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned.' As they do not perceive them, so not receive them:
these are not the things which are likely to make an impression upon
their souls; but, on the contrary, the spiritual minding is discovered by
this, because it is best pleased with spiritual things; spiritual minds find a
marvellous sweetness and comfort in the word of God, and the means of
grace and salvation: Ps. 119:103, 'How sweet are thy words to my taste,
yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth;' and Ps. 63:5, 'My soul shall be
satisfied, as with marrow and fatness;' and Job 23:12, 'I have esteemed
the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.' What gladness
doth communion with God put into their hearts! One day with him is
better than all those flesh-pleasing vanities, wherewith others are
deluded and enticed from God.
3. It reacheth also to practice, and implieth earnest prosecution. And so,
to be carnally minded, is to make the things of the flesh our work and
scope; to be spiritually minded is to make that our work and trade, to
seek after the things of the spirit; therefore the course of men's actions,
and the trade of their lives are to be considered. Our business showeth
our bent; and what we constantly, frequently, and easily practise,
discovereth the overruling principle. Wicked men have their good moods,
and godly men have their carnal fits, the constant practice showeth the
prevailing inclination. To mind the things of the flesh or spirit is to seek
after them in the first place, when men are seriously, constantly, readily,
willingly carried to those things which please the flesh, without any
respect to God and eternal life. Effects show their causes. If the drift and
bent of our lives be not for God and salvation, and our great business in
the world be not the pleasing of God and the saving of our own souls, and
this be not chiefly minded and attended more than all the pleasures,
honours, and profits of the world, God hath not the precedency, but the
flesh—walking after the flesh or the spirit, is the great discriminating note
in this place; propounded, ver. 1. amplified afterwards by minding the
things of the flesh, and then living after the flesh, ver. 13; so Gal. 6:8, 'He
that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption: but he that
soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.' We must see
whether our lives be a sowing to the flesh or the spirit. The mind leaveth a
stamp upon the actions. As a godly man showeth spirit in all things, so a
carnal man showeth flesh in all things: Zech. 14:21, 'On every pot in
Jerusalem, and in Judah, shall be Holiness to the Lord of hosts.' As God
showeth his divine power in every creature, in a gnat, or pile of grass, as
well as the sun; so a Christian showeth grace in all things. On the
contrary, carnal men show their mind in all things, not only in eating and
drinking and trading, but in preaching, praying, and conference about
holy things. The one goeth about his worldly business with a heavenly
mind, casts all into the mould of religion; the other goeth about his
heavenly business with a carnal and worldly mind; the flesh doth not only
influence his common actions, but his duties, either to feed or hide a lust,
to serve his worldly mind and vain glory; or else that he may more
plausibly carry it on without blame before men, or check of conscience;
and so maketh one duty excuse another. It is the flesh maketh him pray,
preach, confer about holy things, give alms, and seemingly forgive
enemies, or do that which is outwardly and materially just.
Thus you see what is the carnal minding; only I must tell you, that,
because the apostle saith it is death, or the high way to everlasting
destruction, we must more accurately state the matter.
1. The minding of the flesh must be interpreted not barely of the acts but
the state. Who is there among God's children that doth not mind the
flesh? and too much indulge the flesh? But yet he doth not make it his
business to please the flesh, but rather mortifieth and subdueth it: Gal.
5:24, 'And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh,' and they are still
labouring that they may subdue it more and more: 1 Cor. 9:27, 'But I keep
under my body, and bring it into subjection.'
2. This minding of the flesh or spirit must be understood as to the
prevalency of each principle; that is to say, when we mind the flesh so as
to exclude the minding of the spirit, and the things that belong to the
spirit: 1 John 2:15, 'If any man love the world, and the things of the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.' And so on the other side, when we so
mind the spirit, as that it deadeneth our affections to the world and baits
of the flesh: Gal. 6:14, the 'conversation in heaven' is that which is
opposite to 'minding earthly things:' Phil. 3:19, 20. Therefore if the flesh
can do more, constantly and ordinarily, to draw us to sin than the spirit to
keep us from it, we are under the power of the fleshly mind.
3. This minding of the flesh must be interpreted with respect to
continuance, not with respect to our former state; for, alas! all of usin
time past pleased the flesh, and walked according to the course of this
world in the lusts of the flesh: Tit. 3:3, 'We were sometimes foolish and
disobedient, serving divers lusts and pleasures;' and 'if we yet please the
flesh, we are not the servants of Christ.' But if we break off this servitude,
and do at length become servants of righteousness, God will not judge us
according to what we have been but what we are. Therefore it is our duty
to consider what principle liveth in us, and groweth, and increaseth;
whether the interest of the flesh decreaseth or the interest of the spirit. If
we grow more brutish, forgetful of God, unapt for spiritual things, the
flesh governeth; but if the spiritual life doth more and more discover
itself with life and power in our thoughts, words, and actions, the flesh is
on the wane, and we shall not be reckoned to have lived after the flesh,
but after the spirit; we have every day a higher estimation of God and
Christ, and grace weaneth and draweth off the heart from other things,
that we may grow more dead to them, and live to God in the spirit, and
more entirely pursue our everlasting hopes.
4. Some things more immediately tend to the pleasing of the flesh, as
bodily pleasures; and therefore the inclinations to them are called the
'lusts of the flesh:' 1 John 2:16. Other things more remotely, as they lay in
provisions for that end, as the honours and profits of the world. Now,
though a man be not voluptuous, he may be guilty of the carnal minding,
because he is wholly sunk and lost in the world, and is thereby taken off
from a care of and delight in better things. Envyings, emulations, strife,
and divisions make us carnal: 1 Cor. 3:3, 'For ye are yet carnal: whereas
there is among you envyings, strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and
walk as men?' They have little of the spirit in them that bustle for
greatness and esteem in the world, though they be not wholly given to
brutish pleasures; and those that will be rich are said to 'fall into foolish
and hurtful lusts, which drown the soul in perdition and destruction:' 1
Tim. 6:9. These are taken off from God and Christ and the world to come,
and therefore the fleshly minding must be applied to any thing that will
make us less spiritual and heavenly: Luke 12:21, 'So is he that layeth up
treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God.' They seek outward
things in good earnest, but spiritual things in an overly, careless, or
perfunctory manner.
5. Some please the flesh in a more cleanly manner, others in a more
gross: Gal. 5:19, 'The works of the flesh are manifest ἕργα σαρκὸς φανερὰ
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft.'
These are the grosser out-breakings of the flesh; now, though we fall not
into these, yet there is a more secret carnal minding, when we have too
free a relish in any outward thing, and set loose the heart to such alluring
vanities as draw us off from God and Christ and heaven; and these
obstruct the heavenly life, as well as the other; therefore, still all must be
subordinated to our great interest; some are disengaged from baser lusts,
but are full of self-love and self-seeking. I proceed to the second thing—
Secondly. What is that death which is the consequence of it? Death
signifieth three things in Scripture—death temporal, spiritual, and
eternal. The first consisteth in the separation of the soul from the body;
the second in the separation of the soul from God; the third in an eternal
separation of both body and soul from God, in a state of endless misery.
1. Death is a separation of the soul from the body, with all its antecedent
preparations; as diseases, pains, miseries, dangers, these are death
begun: 'in deaths often,' 2 Cor. 11:13, that is, in dangers; that he may take
from me this death, Exod. 10:7, meaning the plague of the locusts; and
death is consummated at our dissolution, 1 Cor. 15:55. Now all this is the
fruit of sin, and they forfeit their lives that only use them for the flesh;
they are unserviceable to God, and therefore why should they live in the
world?
2. Spiritual death, or an estrangement from God, as the author of the life
of grace; so we are said to be 'dead in trespasses and sins,' Eph. 2:1; and
so it may hold good here: 1 Tim. 5:6, 'She that liveth in pleasure, is dead
while she liveth.' That is, hath no feeling of the life of grace. But
3. Eternal death, which consisteth in an everlasting separation from the
presence of the Lord, called the second death: Rev. 20:6, 'On such the
second death hath no power;' and v. 14, 'death and hell were cast into the
lake of fire, this is the second death.' This is most horrible and dreadful,
and is the portion of all those that are slaves to the flesh. Now this is
called death, because, in all creatures that have sense, their dissolution is
accompanied with pain. Trees and vegetables die without pain, and so
doth not man and beast; and death to men is more bitter, because they
are more sensible of the sweetness of life than beasts are, and have some
forethought of what may follow after; and because it is a misery from
which there is no release; as from the first death, there is no recovery into
the present life. This second death is set forth by two solemn notions:
'The worm that never dieth, and the fire that shall never be quenched:'
Mk. 9:44; by which is meant the sting of conscience, and the wrath of
God. Both these make the sinner for ever miserable; the sting of
conscience, or the fretting remembrance of their past folly, when they
reflect upon their madness in following the pleasures of sin, and
neglecting the offers of grace; and besides this, there are pains inflicted
upon them by the wrath of God. There is no member or faculty of the soul
free but feeleth the misery of the second death.
As no part is free from sin, so none shall be from punishment; in the first
death, the pain may lie in one place, head or heart, but here all over; the
agonies of the first death are soon over, but the agonies and pains of the
second death endure for ever. The first death, the more it prevaileth, the
more we are past feeling; but by this second death there is a greater
vivacity than ever, the capacity of every sense is enlarged and made more
receptive of pain, while we are in the body. Vehemens sensibile corrumpit
sensum—the more vehemently anything doth strike on the senses the
more doth it deaden the sense; as the inhabitants about the fall of Nilus
are deaf with the continual noise, and too much light puts out the eyes,
and taste is dulled by custom; but here the capacity is improved by feeling
the power of God sustaining the sinner whilst his wrath torments him. As
the saints are fortified by their blessedness, and can endure that light and
glory, the least glimpse of which would overwhelm them here, so the
wicked are capacitated to endure the torments. In the first death, our
praying is for life, we would not die; there, our wish shall be for
destruction, we would not live. Every man would lose a tooth rather than
be perpetually tormented with the tooth-ache; these pains never cease;
this death is the fruit of the carnal life.
Secondly. To be spiritually minded is life and peace. Here all will be easily
and soon despatched.
1. What is it to be spiritually-minded? I answer, when we know the things
of the spirit, so as to believe them, and believe them so as to affect and
esteem them; and esteem and affect them, so as to seek after them; and
so seek after them, as to seek after them in the first place. (1.) We must
know them; for the things of the spirit must be understood before they
can be chosen and desired: John 4:10, 'If thou knewest the gift.' The
brutish world know not the worth of spiritual and heavenly things,
therefore mind them not. (2.) Believe them. None will seek after that
which they judge to be a fancy, or of the certainty of which they are not
persuaded, especially when they must forego present delights and
contentments to obtain it: such is salvation by Christ: 2 Pet. 1:5, 10, 16,
'And besides this, giving all diligence to add to your faith virtue, and to
virtue knowledge: wherefore the rather, brethren, give all diligence to
make your calling and election sure.' (3.) Affect and esteem them above
all other things: Heb. 11:13, 'Being persuaded of these things, they
embraced them; so esteem them, that your desires may not be checked
and controlled by other things: Heb. 11:26, 'By faith, Moses, when he was
come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.' (4.) To
pursue after them with all diligence: Phil. 2:10, 'Working out your
salvation with fear and trembling;' and John 6:27, 'Labour not for the
meat that perisheth, but that which endureth to everlasting life.' (5.) Seek
them in the first place, that you may not only make it your business, but
the chiefest business of your lives to obtain these things: Mat. 6:33, 'First
seek the kingdom of God.' This is to set your faces heavenward, when you
make it your great business to please God, and save your souls.
2. This is life and peace. By life and peace are meant eternal blessedness.
He addeth to the word life the term peace, because in eternal life there is
freedom from all evil, and the presence of all good; for there can be no
true solid peace where there is the fear of any evil, or a want of any good;
but here being neither, the soul is fully at peace and rest; therefore it is
said that God 'will give glory, honour, and peace to every one that doeth
good:' Rom. 2:10. Heaven is the new Jerusalem, the city of peace, where
we converse with God, who is a God of peace, and enjoy full peace and
rest from all our molestations; but though it be meant of heaven, yet
peace of conscience is not excluded, partly because it is the beginning and
earnest of it, that peace which we now have in the kingdom of the
Messiah by our reconciliation with God: Rom. 5:1, 'Being justified by
faith, we have peace with God and the testimony of a good conscience;' 2
Cor. 1:20, 'This is a continual feast.' Now the fruit of righteousness is
peace; peace in heaven, and peace on earth: Luke 2:14, and Luke 19:38,
'Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord;' 'Peace in
heaven, and glory in the highest.' It is begun here, and perfected there.
And partly because whatever the spirit worketh tendeth to our peace and
blessedness, not only hereafter, but now: Rom. 15:13, 'Now the God of
hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.'
The reasons are in common.
1. With respect to God's justice. God, who is the most righteous governor
of the world, will make a just difference between the righteous and the
wicked by rewards and punishment. It belongeth to his general justice ut
bonis bene sit, et malis male—that it should be well with them that do
well, and ill with them that do ill: Ps. 11:5, 6, 'Upon the wicked he shall
rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest shall be the
portion of their cup: for the righteous God loveth righteousness, his
countenance beholdeth the upright. Surely God is not indifferent to good
and evil, to them that will please the flesh, and them that obey the spirit.
His justice will not permit that the carnal and the regenerate, who are so
different in their lives, should meet together in the end. No, surely; the
end of the one will be death, and the other life and peace.
2. To suit his motives to the profit of men—
[1.] There needeth something frightful to make sin a terror to us;
therefore doth he counterbalance with advantage the pleasures of sin,
that are but for a season. We are vehemently addicted to carnal delights;
therefore to check this inclination, God balanceth the choicest and
highest pleasures with eternal pain, that by setting one against the other
we may be deterred from pleasing the flesh: Rom. 8:13, 'If ye live after the
flesh, ye shall die.'
[2.] To encourage the godly in their self-denying obedience. The godly
quit and forego many pleasures which others enjoy. Now, to restrain and
deny the flesh seemeth a pain and trouble; therefore to encourage them
to continue in a holy course, though it be distasteful to the flesh, and to
renounce worldly pleasures and sensual delights while they may enjoy
them, God hath told them of life and peace; they shall have joy enough.
Use 1 is Information, to show us the folly of wicked men, who are self
destroyers, and wrong their own souls, while they despise the ways of
wisdom, and prefer carnal satisfactions before the pleasing of God: 'All
that hate me, love death,' Prov. 8:36. Not formally, but consequentially; a
wicked man sinneth not purposely that he may be damned, but that is the
issue.
2. It showeth us the security of the wicked. They sleep most soundly when
their danger is nighest, as Jonah in the storm that was raised for his sake;
they are upon the brink of hell, yet they go on merrily, lulling their
consciences asleep with outward and vain delights; but though they sleep,
'their damnation sleepeth not.' It were better to waken and escape the
danger: Prov. 27:12, 'A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth
himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.' A little sober
consideration of this truth may be of use to them.
Use 2 is Admonition. Oh! let this stop us from going on in a flesh-pleasing
course. Consider whither it will lead you; what followeth upon this:—
1. It is death. If it were a small thing, you might bear it; but it is a case of
life and death—eternal life and death. This will be the eternal ruin of your
precious and immortal souls. The more you please the flesh, the more you
add fuel to that fire which shall never be quenched; and provide matter
for that never-dying worm, or eternal sorrow and confusion of face to
your souls. Those things that now please the senses, will one day sting the
conscience. We should not affect that which will be death to us.
Remember the hook, when the flesh looketh only to the bait.
2. It is death threatened in the word of God, and therefore certain, as well
as dreadful: Rom. 6:23, 'The wages of sin is death;' and Rom. 7:5, 'The
motions of sin did bring forth fruit unto death.' If a man warn you of
apparent death in a way wherein you are going, you will be cautious.
Surely God deserveth more credit than man. He giveth you warning of the
danger of this way; and will you go on, and try what will come of it?
Surely men do not believe the carnal life will be so mortal and deadly to
them as it will be. The false prophet in every man's bosom deceiveth him,
that it may destroy him.
3. Consider how willing God is to reclaim you: Ezek. 33:11, 'Why will you
die, O house of Israel?' Hath God any pleasure in your destruction? He
delighteth in your conversion rather, and threateneth death, that he may
not inflict it.
Use 3. Let us examine what is our frame and temper—the carnal minding
or the spiritual minding. This is the great test, or the true and lasting
difference between men and men, in life and death. The great difference
and division is begun here, and continued for ever. Other differences
cease at the grave's mouth, but this distinguisheth between heaven and
hell.
1. What do you seek after, the gratifying of the flesh, or the perfectives of
the soul? that the inner man may be renewed and quickened: 2 Cor. 4:16;
'That it be strengthened: Eph. 3:16, decked and adorned: 1 Pet. 4:3, to
keep grace alive in your souls that is our care, our business, and our
comfort.
2. To what end do you live? That you may please, glorify, and enjoy God,
or live after the flesh? You were made by God, and for God, that you
might have fellowship and communion with him here and hereafter: Ps.
73:25, 'Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth I
desire in comparison of thee.' This God's people long for, and labour
after, and wait for.
3. In what manner do we mind it? Is this our constant care, and earnest
desire, and choice delight? A naked approbation of that which is good will
make no evidence; nor a few cold wishes, or faint endeavours; but your
constant business: 2 Cor. 5:9, 'Wherefore we labour, that whether present
or absent, we may be accepted of him.

SERMON X
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.—ROM. 8:8.
THIS verse is consectary from the whole discourse, especially from the
former verse. They who are in the flesh, are professed enemies to God,
and therefore they cannot please him.
In the words here are two things—
1. The persons spoken of.
2. What is said of them.
1. The persons spoken of. They that are in the flesh, that is, who are
unregenerate, in the state of corrupt nature. He saith not, if the flesh be
in you, ye cannot please God, but if you be in the flesh, that is in a carnal
state. As to be in the faith, 2 Cor. 13:5, implieth being in a gospel state;
and to be in Christ: Rom. 8:1, noteth a state of true Christianity; so to be
in the flesh is to be under the dominion and power of the flesh, so as to
serve the lusts and passions thereof; during this carnal and corrupt
estate, till men are converted and changed, they cannot please God.
2. What is said of them? They cannot please God. Which may be
interpreted two ways, quoad conatum, vel quoad eventum. First, With
respect to their endeavour, they will not frame their doings, nor make this
their business and scope to please the Lord, as it is said of the Jews that
rigorously kept up the ritual observances of the law: 1 Thess. 2:15, 'They
please not God, and are contrary to all men.' They were as far from
fulfilling the true meaning of the law, as they were from observing the
gospel; and all men as long as their lusts are untamed and unbroken, they
cannot do those things which are pleasing in his sight. Secondly, With
respect to God's acceptance and favour, they are not accepted with him so
as to obtain life and peace, and be exempted from condemnation.
Doct. Carnal men do not, cannot please God.
To prove this I shall lay down some propositions:—
1. That it is man's duty and happiness to please God. For this end was he
made and sent into the world, not that he might live to himself, but unto
God. I prove it by this argument; It is man's happiness to please him
upon whom he dependeth; all the world goeth upon this principle, that
dependance begetteth observance, or a study to please; and as the
dependance is less or greater, so men take themselves bound more or less
to please those from whom they receive their supplies, as children their
parents, servants their masters; and if any breach and displeasure fall
out, their dependance obligeth them to see it made up again. We have an
instance in scripture: Acts 12:24, 'Herod was highly displeased with them
of Tyre and Sidon, but they came with one accord to him, and desired
peace, because their country was nourished by the king's country.' What
their interest taught them to do to man, our interest teacheth us to do to
God; we depend upon none so much as God, from whom we have both
our being and well-being: 'In his hand is our breath, and all our ways,'
Dan. 5:23. Our business lieth more with God, than with all the world
besides, and therefore him should we love and study to please.
2. That this being man's duty and happiness, it should be our work and
scope to approve ourselves to God; for man is never in his proper posture,
till he mindeth his true work and happiness, but is either out in the end
or way; his end, if pleasing God and being accepted with him be not his
scope; the way, if he doth not those things which God will accept.
Therefore God's children are sometimes described by their intention,
which is of the end, intentio est finis ultimi: sometimes by theiir choce,
which is of the means, electio est medii; by their scope oand intentin: 2
Cor. 5:9, 'Therefore we labour, that whether present or absent, we may be
accepted with him,' φιλοτιμούμεθα. This is the honour we affect, the end
which we propound to ourselves, and which our minds are principally set
upon. Some seek to please God, others to please their fleshly mind by the
fruition of some inferior good. That is our end which we love most, and
are pleased best with, and would do most for; so the people of God are
sometimes described by the choice of their ways: Isa. 56:4, 'They choose
the things that please him, and take hold of his covenant;' that is, resolve
to do what is pleasing to God, or to behave themselves in such a manner
as they may be accepted with him.
3. That it is no easy matter to make this our scope and work to please
God. This I shall prove by two reasons.
[1.] Because of the thing itself.
[2.] Because of the requisites thereunto, which are, that a man be
renewed and reconciled, &c.
[1.] The matter of itself. God is a great and holy God, and will not be put
off with anything, but expecteth worship and service from us becoming
his majesty; and lest we should mistake, hath stated our duty in his holy
law; which we are to study and fulfil, we are to study it, and know how
God will be pleased: Rom. 12:2, 'That we may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God.' It is a good and perfect rule that we
must live by, for this is only εὐάρεστον acceptable or well-pleasing unto
God: so Eph. 5:10: 'Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord? We must
not serve God hand over head, but prove and try our way, and every step
of it, whether it be well pleasing unto him; and consult often, not what is
our interest, but our duty; not what is for our advantage, and will gratify
our lusts and please the world, but what will please God; and again, v. 17,
'Be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.' We may
mistake, and therefore we must search again and again, crassa
negligentia dolus est. It is a sign men have no mind to practise, when they
have no mind to know, or be informed. And we are to fulfil our duty as
well as to understand it, and that not in a few things, but all: Col. 1:19,
'That ye walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.' Some men are in with
one duty, and out with another; but this is to please ourselves, not to
please God. Some will rest in rituals, and neglect morals, though the
moral duty hath the attestation not only of the word of God, but of
conscience: Rom. 14:17, 18, 'For the kingdom of God is not meat and
drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost: for he that
in these things serveth Christ, is acceptable to God, and approved of
men.' Many will rest in ordinances and church-privileges, this will not
satisfy God: 2 Cor. 10:5, 'With many of them, God was not well-pleased.'
Some rest in moralities, and cast off faith and the love of God; others
please themselves in an overly religion, without moral duties.
Nor must this be minded superficially; no, we must be every day more
exact in our walking, that no cause of offence, or breach may arise
between us and him: 1 Thess. 4:1, 'As ye have received of us, how to walk,
and how to please God, so you would abound therein more and more.'
You never please God so much, but you are to please him better; he
expecteth more from you, the more you are acquainted with him; and
that we should not always keep to our first weaknesses.
[2.] Consider what is requisite thereunto, viz., that a man be in a
reconciled and renewed estate.
(1.) Reconciled to God by Christ. All mankind is fallen under the
displeasure of the most high God, by preferring the pleasure of the flesh
before the pleasing of God; and there is no atonement found to pacify
him, but only Jesus Christ, who is his beloved Son, in whom he is well
pleased: Mat. 3:17. Upon his account grace may be had, both to justify
and sanctify us. Now while men are in rebellion against God, they have no
interest in Christ, or the grace purchased for them, but are under death
and damnation, and therefore cannot be accepted with God, so far as to
obtain the great reward; yea, to do nothing acceptably to him, till we
believe and are in Christ Jesus, and have his merits applied to us;
therefore it is said: Heb. 11:6, 'Without faith it is impossible to please
God;' for till there be some means, that God be a rewarder rather than a
punisher to the fallen creature, nothing is done kindly, or taken kindly.
Well then, nothing can please God but what is done in faith, or in a
reconciled estate; and that both in respect to the person working, or the
work itself. With respect to the person working; for he is not within the
covenant of grace till he believe, but the wrath of God abideth on him:
John 3:36; he is an enemy to God. 2. With respect to the work itself; for
till it be quickened by a true and lively faith, and love to God as the
consequence of it, it is but the carcase of a good work, and so not
acceptable to God; the life and soul of it are wanting, that obediential
confidence which should enliven it. Certainly there is no bringing forth
fruit unto God, till married to Christ: Rom. 7:4. As children are not
legitimate who are born before marriage, it is a bastard offspring; so
neither are works acceptable till we are married to Christ.
(2.) It is also requisite that the person be renewed by the Spirit of Christ;
for otherwise he cannot have his spirit, affections, and ways, such as to
please God. Nature can rise no higher than itself; it is grace carrieth the
soul to God; there needeth renewing grace: Heb. 12:28, 'Let us have
grace, whereby we may serve him acceptably with reverence and godly
fear.' To serve him εὐαρέστως, in an acceptable manner, and with that
reverence and seriousness as is necessary, is a work above our natural
faculties; till God change them, we cannot please him. So also actual
grace: Heb. 13:21, 'Working in you that which is pleasing in his sight.' The
best actions of wicked men please him no more than Cain's sacrifice, or
Esau's tears, or the Pharisees prayers, it is but a shadow of what a man
reconciled and renewed doth, or an imperfect imitation, as an ape doth
imitate a man, or a violent motion doth resemble a natural.
Use 1. Is to show us what to think of the good actions of carnal men; they
do not please God; they are for the matter good, but there are manifold
defects in them.
1. There is a defect in their state, they are not renewed and reconciled to
God by Christ, and therefore God may justly say: Mal. 1:10, 'I have no
pleasure in you, neither will I accept an offering at your hands.' They live
in their sins, and therefore he may justly abhor and reject all their
services; they live in enmity to him, and in neglect of his grace, and will
not sue out their atonement.
2. There is a defect in the root of these actions. They do not come from
faith working by love, which is the true principle of all obedience, Gal.
5:6. Without love to God in Christ, we want the soul and life of every duty.
Obedience is love breaking out into its perfect act: 1 John 2:5, 'If we keep
his word, herein is love perfected.'
3. There is a defect in the manner. They do not serve God with that
sincerity, reverence, seriousness, and willingness, which the work calleth
for; they show love to him with their lips, when their hearts are far from
him, Mat. 15:8; there is an habitual aversion, whilst they seem to show
love to him. All their duties are but as flowers strewed upon a dunghill.
4. There is a defect in the end. They do not regard God's glory in their
most commendable actions; they have either a natural aim, as when they
are frightened into a little religiousness of worship in their extremities:
Hos. 7:14, 'They how! upon their beds for corn and wine.' And then they
are like ice in thawing weather, soft at top, and hard at bottom. Or a
carnal aim, out of bravery and vain glory, Mat. 8:2. Or a legal aim, when
they seem very devout, to quiet conscience, or to satisfy God for their
sins, by their external duties: Mic. 6:6, 7, 8, 'Wherewith shall I come
before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before
him with burnt-offerings, and calves of a year old? Will the Lord be
pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I
give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of
my soul? But Solomon telleth us, Prov. 21:27, 'The sacrifice of the wicked
is an abomination to the Lord,' much more when he bringeth it with an
evil mind. At best it is an abomination, much more when it is to buy an
indulgence in some licentious practice, by performing some duties
requiring a sin offering, not a thank-offering. But this cannot please God,
so as to obtain an eternal reward. God temporarily rewardeth moral
obedience, to keep up the government of the world; as Pagan Rome while
it excelled in virtue, God gave it a great empire and large dominion. And
Ahab's going softly and mourning, was recompensed with a suspension of
temporal judgments: 1 Kings 21:29, 'Because he humbleth himself before
me, I will not bring the evil in his days.' Again, there is a difference
between a wicked man going on in his wickedness, and a natural man
returning to God. When wicked men pray to God to prosper them in their
wickedness, as Balaam's altars were made; or to beg pardon while they go
on in their sins; so 'the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the
Lord,' Prov. 15:8. Namely, as they rest in external performances, and
think by their prayers or some other good duties to put by the great duties
of faith, repentance, and new obedience, so these prayers and good things
are abominable; but in sinners returning to God, and using the means,
and expressing their desires of grace, though but with a natural fervency,
and with some common help of the Spirit, though the action doth not
deserve acceptance with God, and the person is not in such an estate that
God hath made an express promise to him that he will accept him, yet he
hath to do with a good God, who doth not refuse the cry of his creatures
in their extremities, and it is a thousand to one, but he will speed. The
carnal man is to act these abilities, and common grace he hath, that God
may give more.
Use 2. Is to exhort us. 1. To come out of the carnal estate into the spiritual
life; for whilst you are in the flesh, you cannot please God. Now what is
more unhappy than to do much to no good purpose; to be acquainted
with the toil of duties, and not to be accepted in them? Men are apt to rest
in some superficial good actions, and so neglect the grace of God in
Christ. We cannot sufficiently beat men from this false righteousness
wherewith they hope to please God. Certainly while you are ruled by the
world, the flesh, and the devil, you are unfit to obey God; therefore you
must renounce the flesh, the world and the devil, and give up yourselves
to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as Creator, Redeemer and
Sanctifier. All after-duties depend on the seriousness of the first: 2 Cor.
8:5, 'They first gave themselves to the Lord, then unto us, by the will of
God;' and Rom. 6:13, 'Neither yield ye your members as instruments of
unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are
alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God.' The more heartily you give up yourselves to obey God, and
look for his favour upon the account of Christ's righteousness, and wait
for the healing grace of his Spirit, in the use of fit means, the more easily,
readily, and comfortably will the spiritual life be carried on; and the more
hearty and serious you are in this, the more peace you will have, and such
graces will be heaped upon you, as will be the evident tokens of God's
approbation and acceptance. Till you renounce God's enemies, and
consent to be the Lord's, you are in the state of rebels; rebels in heart,
though subjects in show; and what you perform, is by constraint, and not
by a willing mind. God hath right to our duties, before we consent, and
therefore it is a sin in carnal men to omit them, but our consent and self
obligation is necessary to our voluntary obedience and acceptation with
God. Besides, when this resignation, willingness and consent, is deep
rooted, it becometh as a nature to us, and carrieth the force and authority
of a principle in our hearts, and puts the soul upon such sincere
obedience as God will take kindly at our hands; it habitnateth the mind to
an obediential frame, and then the particular acts will not be very
difficult.
2. To exhort us to please God. This must be managed,—
[1.] Negatively:—
(1.) Not to please the flesh; flesh-pleasing is the fortress of sin, for all sin
tendeth to flesh-pleasing. Now christians are to crucify the flesh, not to
gratify the flesh; our Lord Jesus Christ pleased not himself, Rom. 15:3; he
sought not to gratify that life he had assumed; not that we should deny
the body all delight in the mercies of God: then the soul would soon be
clogged, which perfecteth its operations by the body. We are to abstain
from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, but not to abstain from
worldly comforts, which would produce the same effect, hindering our
cheerful service of God. Common mercies must be received as mercies,
else there would be no room for humiliation and thanksgiving. Not of
humiliation, when God correcteth us for sin by depriving us of those
mercies, and so there would be no distinction between mercy and
punishment; nor for thankfulness, for we cannot be thankful for what we
do not esteem and relish in some subordinate degree. Is it a mercy, or is it
not? If it be a mercy, we may use it with thanksgiving; if not, then you
cannot bless God for it. But in the use of these things, we must take heed
that the soul be not drawn away from God, and the interest of the flesh be
not set up against him. It becometh a christian much more to mortify the
deeds of the body, than to fulfil his lusts; and he must be cautious that he
do not displease God by pleasing the flesh; that Satan who is ever laying
his baits to catch unwary souls, do not draw him to such an use of bodily
pleasures, as are immoderate and sinful.
(2.) Not to please men, who have power, or many advantages over us.
That we please not them to the wrong of God: the apostle saith; Gal. 1:10,
'If I yet pleased men, I were not the servant of Christ.' There is a twofold
man-pleasing, which is sinful; the one respects the matter, the other the
scope. First, The matter, when we seek to please them by something that
is sinful, or by dispensing with our duty to God. To do this voluntarily and
deliberately, is to forsake our vowed duty in the covenant, and to
renounce our happiness, and therefore a damnable sin; we forsake our
duty, when man must be pleased by some known sin; no, our absolute
dependance is on God, and therefore his will must be regarded in the first
place: Acts 5:29, 'We ought to obey God, rather than man.' And therefore
no man must be pleased by sin, it is a renouncing of our happiness, as if
their favour were to be preferred before the favour of God: John 12:42,
'Nevertheless among the chief rulers also, many believed on him: but
because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put
out of the synagogue;' and chap. 5:44, 'How can you believe that seek
honour one of another?' No, God is enough to a gracious soul: Ps. 63:3,
'Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.'
His approbation should satisfy us; the people of God have felt what it is to
have displeased God, and what it is to be reconciled to him by the death
and intercession of Christ; that to them it is a small matter whether man
be pleased or displeased; if God be pleased, it is no matter who is
displeased.
Secondly. As to their scope, when the matter is pleasing both to God and
men, but you regard man's eye most: Eph. 6:6, 'Not with eye-service as
men-pleasers; but as the servant of God, doing the will of God from the
heart;' and Col. 3:22, 'Not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but with
singleness of heart, fearing God.' As your happiness lieth not in man's
approbation, so this is the only constant motive of pure and sincere
obedience.
[2.] Positively. Pleasing God is your great duty and business in the world;
this is uprightness, and this will be your safety and happiness; for if you
study to please God, then God is ever with you. Christ hath given you an
instance of that: John 8:29, 'And he that sent me is with me, the Father
hath not left me alone: for I do always those things that please him.' And
then it is no matter who is displeased and angry with us: Prov. 16:7,
'When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh his enemies to be at
peace with him.' God will hear your prayers: 1 John 3:22, 'And
whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his
commandments. He will give you everlasting happiness and glory: Heb.
4:5, and truly he is not hard to be pleased: Mal. 3:17. Man-pleasing is a
more difficult and unprofitable task; God is pleased with nothing that
hurts yourselves or others.
3. Let me exhort you, to beg more of the spirit: for whilst we are in the
flesh, we cannot please God; and therefore you must beg more plentiful
grace to change your natures, and to fix your intention right that you may
please God in all things. Your natures are never changed till your love be
altered, nor till God direct your love: 2 Thes. 3:5, 'And the Lord direct
your hearts to the love of God.