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prince, a cardinal; and all this, not by solicitation, but by force: for thus he compiled his sins, he ravished a cardinal. This is the sin, in which men pack up as much sin as they can, and as though it were a shame to have too little, they belie their own pack, they brag of sins of this kind, which they never did, as St. Augustine with a holy and penitent ingenuity confesses of himself.

This sin then, (though one great mischief in it be, that for the most part, it destroys two together, the devil will have his creatures come to his ark by couples too, two and two together, yet this sin we are able to commit without a companion, upon our own bodies, yea without bodies; in the weakness of our bodies our minds can sin this sin.) This which the wise man calls a pit, The mouth of a strange woman is as a deep pit, he with whom the Lord is angry, shall fall therein2o. And therefore he that pursues that sin, is called to a double sad consideration, both that he angers the Lord in committing that sin then; and that the Lord was angry with him before for some other sin, and for a punishment of that former sin, God suffered him to fall into this. And it is truly a fearful condition, when God punishes sin by sin; other corrections bring us to a peace with God; he will not be angry for ever, he will not punish twice, when he hath punished a sin, he hath done: but when he punishes sin by sin, we are not thereby the nearer to a peace or reconciliation by that punishment, for still there is a new sin that continues us in his displeasure. Punish me O Lord, with all thy scourges, with poverty, with sickness, with dishonour, with loss of parents, and children, but with that rod of wire, with that scorpion, to punish sin with sin, Lord, scourge me not, for then how shall I enter into thy rest?

And this is the condition of this sin; for, He with whom the Lord is angry, shall fall into it. And when he is fallen, he shall not understand his state, but think himself well; for Nathan presents David's sin to him, in a parable of a feast, of an entertainment of a stranger: he tastes no sourness, no bitterness in it; not because there is none, but because a carcass, a man already slain, cannot feel a new wound; a man dead in the habit of a 28 Prov. xxii. 14.

VOL. III.

29 2 Sam. xii.

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sin, hath no sense of it: this sin of which St. Augustine, who had been overcome by it, and was afraid that his case was a common case, saith in the person of all, Continua pugna, victoria rara; In a defensive war, where we are put to a continual resistance, it is hard coming to a victory; what hope then where there is no resistance, no defence, but a spontaneous and voluntary opening ourselves to all provocations, yea provoking of provocations by high diet, a tempting of temptations by exposing ourselves to dangerous company, when as the angels who were safe enough in themselves, yet withdrew themselves from the uncleanness of the Sodomites 30. This sin will not be overcome but by a league, Job's league, Pepigi fœdus, I have made a corenant with mine eyes, why then should I think upon a maid"? Since I have bound my senses, why should my mind be at liberty to sin? This league should bind both; I have taken a promise of mine eyes, that they will not betray me by wanton glances, by carrying me to dangerous objects, why should not I keep covenant with them? why should my thoughts be scattered upon such temptations? The league must be kept on both parts, the mind and the senses; we must not entertain temptations from without, we must not create them within. Eloquia Domini casta, The words of the Lord are chaste words, pure words, and so must all the talk, and conversation of him, that loves God, be. And then, Castificate animas vestras, You must see that you keep your minds pure and chaste. If we have not both chaste minds, and chaste bodies, we shall have neither; and then follows the excommunication: St. Augustine saith, That according to most probability, there were no mules in the ark; but indisputably there are no mules in the church, in the triumphant church, none of our metaphorical mules there: the apostle hath put it beyond a problem, Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate persons shall inherit the kingdom of heaven, there is the fearful excommunication: and therefore nolite fieri sicut, be not made like the horse or the mule, in pride, or wantonness especially, quia non intellectus, because then you lose your understanding, and so become absolutely irrecoverable, 32 Psalm xii. 6. 34 1 Cor. vi. 9.

30 Gen. xix. 10.
33 1 Pet. i. 22.

31 Job xxxi. 1.

and leave God nothing to work upon: for the understanding of man is the field which God sows, and the tree in which he engrafts faith itself; and therefore take heed of such a descent, as induces the loss of the understanding, and that is the case here, (and our next consideration) Non intellectus, They have no understanding.

This faculty of the understanding in man is not always well understood by men. The whole Psalm is a Psalm to rectify the understanding; it is in the title thereof, David's Instruction: and that office God undertakes in the verse before our text, I will instruct thee, which is in some Latin copies, Faciam te intelligere, I will make thee understand, and in others, (the Vulgate) Intellectum tibi dabo, I will give thee understanding; now though this instruction, and this understanding, which is intended in the title, and specified in the former verse, be not the same understanding as this in our text, (for this is but of that natural faculty of man, wherewith God enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world", till he make himself like the horse or the mule) the other is God's superedification upon this, those other supernatural graces, which God produces out of the understanding, or infuses into the understanding; yet this understanding in our text, though it be but the natural faculty, is a considerable thing, and hath, in part, the nature of materials for God to work upon. That instruction which is the subject of the whole Psalm, is that saving doctrine, that there is no blessedness but in the remission of sins. That David establishes for his foundation in the first verse, and would say nothing till he had said that. But then, though this remission of sins (which only constitutes blessedness) proceed merely from the goodness of God, yet that goodness of God, as it excites primarily, so it works still upon that act of man, penitent confession, Notum feci, I acknowledged my sin, and Dixi confitebor, I prepared myself to confess my sin, and thou forgavest all.

This then St. Hirome delivers to be the instruction of the Psalm, Hominem, non propriis meritis, sed Dei gratia, posse salvari, si confiteatur admissa; That man of himself is irrecoverable, but yet there is way open to salvation in Christ Jesus:

35 John i. 9.

but this way is only open to them, who enter by confession. And though St. Hierome, and St. Augustine differ often in the exposition of the Psalms, yet here they speak almost the same words. The instruction of this Psalm is, Intelligentia, quæ intelligitur, non meritis operum, sed gratia Dei hominem liberari, confitentem sua peccata, That no man is saved by his own merits, that any man may be saved by the mercy of God in the merits of Christ, that no man attains this mercy, but by confession of his sins and that that rule, In ore duorum aut trium, may have the largest fulness, add we a third witness 37, Intellectus est, This is the instruction that David promises, Nemo ante fidem, Let no man presume of merits, before faith; but in all this they all three agree, every man must know, that he may be saved, and that by his own merits he cannot, and lastly, that the merits of Christ are applied to no man, that doth nothing for himself. Quid est intellectus? saith he again, What is this understanding? It is, saith he, no more but this, Ut non jactes opera ante fidem, Never to take confidence in works, otherwise than as they are rooted in faith: for (as he enlarges this meditation) if thou shouldst see a man pull at an oar, till his eye-strings, and sinews, and muscles broke, and thou shouldst ask him, whether he rowed; if thou shouldst see a man run himself out of breath, and shouldst ask him whether he ran; if thou shouldst see him dig till his back broke, and shouldst ask him, what he sought, and any of these should answer thee, they could not tell, wouldst not thou think them mad? So are all disciplines, all mortifications, all whippings, all starvings, all works of piety, and of charity madness, if they have any other root than faith, any other title or dignity, than effects and fruits of a preceding reconciliation to God. Multi pagani, saith he, There are many infidels that refuse to be made Christians, because they are so good already; Sibi sufficiunt de sua bona vita; They are the worse for being so good, and they think they need no faith, but are rich enough in their moral honesty. And there are Christians, that are the worse for thinking and believing that it is enough to believe. It is not faith to believe in gross, that I shall be saved, but I must believe, that I shall be saved by him that died for

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me. If I consider that, I cannot choose but love him too; and if I love him, I shall do his will; Ama et operaberis, Whomsoever thou lovest, thou wilt do what thou canst to please him. Da mihi vacantem amorem; I would be glad to see an idle love, that that man, that loved anything in this world, should not labour to compass that that he loved: but Purga amorem, saith he, I do not forbid thee loving, (it is a noble affection) but purge and purify thy love; Aquam fuentem in cloacam converte in hortum; Turn that water which hath served thy stables, and sewers before, into thy gardens: turn those tears which thou hast spent upon thy love, or thy losses, upon thy sins, and the displeasure of thy God, and Quales impetus habebas ad mundum, habebis ad Creatorem mundi, Those passions which transported thee upon the creature, will establish thee upon the Creator. The instruction then of the whole Psalm, is peace with God, in the merits of Christ, declared in a holy life; which being the sum of all our Christian profession, is far beyond this understanding in our text, (they have no understanding) but yet upon this understanding God raises that great building, and therefore we take this faculty, the understanding, into a more particular consideration. Here is the danger, he that at ripe years hath no understanding, hath no grace, a little understanding may have much grace; but he that hath none of the former, can have none of this. God therefore brings us to the consideration, not of the greatest, but of the first thing; not of his superedifications, but of his foundations, our understanding, our reason. For, though Animalis homo, The natural man perceiveth not the things that be of the Spirit of God, yet let him be what man he will, natural or supernatural, he must be a man, that must probare spiritum, prove and discern the spirit; let him have as much more as you will, it is requisite he have so much reason, and understanding, as to perceive the main points of religion; not that he must necessarily have a natural explicit reason for every article of faith, but it were fit he had reason to prove, that those articles need not reason to prove them. If I believe upon the authority of my teacher, or of the church, or of the Scripture, very expedient it were to have reason to prove to myself that these

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