The means to keep Sin from reigning in our mortal Body. A SERMON PREACHED AT PAUL'S CROSS, May 26. 1629. By William Foster, Master of Arts, and Parson of Hedgeley in the County of BUCKINGHAM. LONDON, ¶ Printed by John Haviland. 1629. TO THE RIGHT Honourable, Robert Lord Dormer, Baron of Wing, Earl of Caernaruon, Lord Lieutenant of the County of Buckingham, my very good Lord: As also To the right honourable and virtuous Lady, the Lady Anna-Sophia Countess of Caernaruon, his most gracious, dear, and loving Wife. Right Honourable, I Formerly provided this Sermon for you in a Country Auditory. Your occasions then carried you elsewhere. The approbation it received from such learned Divines as happened to be present, made me settle my thoughts and meditations again upon it. Those second thoughts and meditations gave it a new being, and that growth, that it came from the Country to the City. Meeting there with the Press, it presumeth to press from the City to the Court, bearing your Honour's name in the forehead. For whither could it be sent more fitly to cry down the reigning of sin, than to Court? where virtue and not sin should reign among the Peers and Nobles of so virtuous and pious a King as we have: 〈◊〉. histor. 〈…〉 4. 3. who like the Emperors Theodosius the younger (besides his private devotions) leaving his Princely sports, is an assiduous frequenter of public prayer; Eus●b. de vit. 〈◊〉. l. 4. ●. 33 and Constantine the Great, (besides his private reading) is a great and constant hearer of Sermons, the means to receive sacred instructions to keep sin from reigning in his mortal body. Let me not be thought then presumptuous if I dedicate this small work of mine to your Honours, to be a Remora to stay you from yielding to the enchanting allurements of such perdition-working Sirens, as are always seducing the frail nature of man unto sin. Neither do I this, because I any ways deem your Honours prone to follow such, or because you want either good precepts or near examples to follow. D. Prid●●ux, his Majesty's Professor or Divinity in the University of 〈◊〉 For, my good Lord, besides your own gracious disposition, you have been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel in the University, that hath furnished you with the one: you have those noble Lords, The Earl of Pembroke Lord Steward, and the Earl of Montgomery Lord Chamberlain to his Majesty's household. your Uncle and Father in Law, near and bright shining Lights to you in the other: you have the daily attendance of * D. Williams, with others. such as are able and ready to direct you in both. And you, right noble Lady, (as inheritrix of your deceased Lady-mothers' virtues) are ready to join in the practice of such actions as may bring eternal happiness to you both. But I dedicate these my poor labours to your Honours to encourage you to go on in what you are. For your Lordship well knows that of the Poet; Qui monet ut facias, quod jam facis, ipse monendo Ouid. Laudat, & hortatu comprobat acta suo. I devote them to you, as a sure testimony of my unfeigned respect to your Honours, and hearty desire that you may be saved in the day of the Lord. For seeing this Sermon (such as it then was) should have been yours before, seeing you have been graciously pleased to receive me for yours since, to whom may it more fitly be appropriated than to your Honours? So that I may say to each of you with the Poet; Hoc lege quod possis dicere jure meum est. Marti●● Censurers I shall have, and do expect, many; but I fear or regard none. My aim is God's glory, to cast my mite into the Treasury of the Church, for the good of my Country in general, and to testify my desire of doing your Honour's service in particular. This is the mark I look at, and I shall ever endeavour by God's grace to hit it. The critical Spectators I pass by, without any glance on them; I shall never care to please them. That Archer which looks on the standers by, and not on the mark, cannot but miss his aim; and that Writer which endeavours to please all, shall please none, neither God, good men, nor himself. But if (next to God's glory and the Churches good) your Honours, out of your wont candour, will be pleased to accept it, I shall attain my wished scope, and shall be encouraged further to show myself, Your Honour's devoted Chaplain and humble servant to be commanded, WILLIAM FOSTER. A SERMON PREACHED AT PAUL'S Cross, May the 26. 1629. ROME 6. 12. Let not sin reign therefore in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. IN Adam's being we had all our being: and in his fall we all received a fall. His person (being the first) infected our humane nature: our humane nature (being from him) infects our persons. So that now no man living, without the brand laid upon him by S. john, of deceiving himself, and lying to others, can say he is without sin: 1 joh. 1. 8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth it 〈◊〉 in us, 1 joh. 1. 8. (Lawn, and that the ●●est, hath his bracks, Roses, and those the sweetest, have their pricks; Men, and those the best, have their faults.) S. james outstrips S. john, and saith, that we do not only offend all, but we offend all many ways; 〈…〉 In many things we offend all, jam. 3. 2. The Prophet David (though this be already too much, for our store) augments the store, and makes the many sins, many many sins, so many, that we know not how many; Who can tell how oft he offendeth? Psal ●9. 12. Lord cleanse me from my secret faults: Psal. 19 12. So that then the righteousness of man consisteth not in having no sin, for then no man could be justified, no man could be righteous; but it consisteth in man's stout resisting and suppressing of sin, that it reign not in him, and presumptuously get the dominion over him, and Gods free remission of sin, that it be not imputed unto him, he condemned for it. David therefore prays against the dominion of sin, that he may be innocent from the great offence: 〈◊〉. ●9. 13. and S. Paul exhorts us to resist and suppress sin and his lusts, that it reign not in us, and we incur the irrevocable sentence of eternal death for our offence. Let not sin reign therefore in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. As if the Apostle had said; To exhort you to an absolute purity, were to enjoin you an absolute impossibility. For there was never yet any man altogether pure, and without sin (Christ jesus excepted, who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, both God and man) but yet a man need not be all sin; he need not yield the powers and faculties of his soul, and members of his body, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, and so let sin have his full career in him, and rule and reign in his mortal body, but he may by the grace of God resist sin, and so have but few, and those but underling sins; and those few underling sins, by the great and superabundant mercy of God in jesus Christ forgiven, and not imputed unto him. For, as when we walk abroad in the fields to take the air, ye cannot hinder the Fowls thereof from flying and hover over our heads, but we may well hinder them from roosting, building, and making their nests there: 〈…〉▪ Even so, as long as we live in this vale of misery, clad with these weeds of mortality, this body of ours, we cannot choose but have sin hover up and down in us, but we may choose whether we will let it roost there, we may choose whether we will let it build and make his nest there, to rule and domineer in our mortal body; therefore the Apostle here in my Text saith, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. In which Text I shall commend three things to your observation. 1. Here is a King described by his reigning, namely Sin; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Let not sin therefore reign. 2. Here are his laws declared, by obeying, viz. his lusts; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, That you should obey it in the lusts thereof. 3. Here is his Kingdom specified by the place where he would reign, viz. your mortal body, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in your mortal body. For, Origen in Epis. Peccatum velut sedem quandam & solium regni sui in nostro corpore collocatum habet: ad Rome lib. 5. saith Origen. Sin hath, as it were, cap. 6. tom. 2. the fear and throne of his kingdom in our mortal body. In all which there is such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and disorder, that this Commonwealth cannot stand long. 1. The King he is insulting, it is Sin, which at first got footing in Adam, 〈…〉. a little new inspired slime of the earth, and by that wound itself into all the men of the earth. 2. The kingdom that's decaying, it is your perishing mortal body: which as soon as it hath life and being, tends to dissolution and not being. Like apples of Sodom, 〈…〉 48. a touch turns it into dust and ashes. 3. Lastly, the laws they are unlawful, they are lusts: Quicquid libet licet. What it lusteth, that it willeth. Here is aliud ex alio malum, Disorder upon disorder. A wilful king, a rueful kingdom, and hateful laws. S. Paul therefore, the Ambassador of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, teacheth us in my Text, how to order this disorder, and how to deal with each of these. 1. Sin must be suppressed, and kept from reigning: Let not sin reign therefore. 2. Lusts, the laws; they must not be obeyed, obey it not in the lusts thereof. 3. Your mortal body, the kingdom, that must be repaired, and of ●uinate decaying mortal bodies, you must make yourselves strong and lively bodies. For so it followeth in the verse after my Text. Neither yield 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. And of these three in their order. And first of sin, that he must be suppressed. Let not sin reign, etc. Let not sin reign therefore. IT is the Parable of jotham in the ninth of judges, 〈◊〉. 9 25. that of all the trees the Bramble (that base hedge creeping shrub) would needs take upon it to be King. So of all that man's nature is incident unto, sin (that base depravitie of nature) must needs take upon him to be king, and to reign in our mortal body. Nay that will not content him, to reign as a king, but he will make havoc of all like a tyrant. For Sin is the greatest tyrant that ever the world had. Other tyrants (though monstrously raging) killed but some persons; Nero killed his mother that bore him, and his Master Seneca that taught him; he burned the City of Rome that was under his sovereignty & obeyed him; but these are but petty slaughters in respect of those which sin makes. For, that spares none; it killed all those that lived before us, it will kill all us that are now living, and all that ever shall be borne after us. It is good therefore to keep ourselves freemen, from being slaves to so havocke-making a Tyrant. Let not sin reign therefore in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. No man would be willing to serve a Master, how great a Prince soever he were, that when his servant had spent his youthful years, crippled his sturdy limbs, and wasted his plentiful estate in his service, and comes for his reward, will draw his sword and kill him (surely none would be willing to receive their pay in such cracked coin:) but sin dealeth so with us; when we have yielded all the powers and faculties of oursoules, and the members of our bodies, to be commanded by sin, what's the reward he gives us but death? so saith the Apostle in the last verse of this Chapter: Rom. 6. v. ult. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through jesus Christ our Lord. Those then which neglect the service of God, and give themselves over to the tyrannous subjection of sin, are like the perfidious jews, who rejected Christ the giver of life, 〈◊〉 27. 21. and desired Barabas a murderer to be given them, Matth. 27. 21. Let us therefore shake off the murdering yoke of sin, and by true and hearty repentance send a messenger of defiance unto it, saying with those citizens in the Gospel, Luke 19 14. Nolumus hunc regnare super nos; We will not have this man, we will not have sin reign over us. And as Origen exhorts, Origen. in Epist. 〈◊〉 Rom. lib. 5. unusquisque pessimum regem regnantem in suâ carne depellat: cap. 6. tom. 2. Let every man expel this evil king reigning in his flesh. Let not sin reign therefore in your mortal body. Now Kings, as the Politickes teach us, do ordinarily obtain their rule two ways, either by Succession, and so are Kings, as it were, naturally: or Election, and so are Kings adoptively. but this king sin, because he would be sure to be king some way, claims the rule of our mortal body both these ways, both by succession and election. But his title of succession hath been found weak long ago. That indeed shows his antiquity, how Lucifer begot him when he was cast out of heaven. That indeed shows that he hath freehold of inheritance in our mortal body; but truly no Lord to command it, or King to rule it. Elect him not therefore for your King, so you shall prevent him of his kingdom; so you shall keep him from reigning in your mortal body. Let not sin reign therefore in your mortal body. And that you may not elect him, you must know that as there are three things concurring to the election of a political King; 1 Nomination. 2 Consultation. 3 Consent or Approbation. So this spiritual King sin comes to his kingdom by three steps. Gregor. Mag. Pas●or Curae par. 3. admon. 30. tom. 1. For as S. Gregery observes, there are three degrees in sin; 1 Suggestion, offered by the Devil. 2 Delight, administered by the flesh. 3 Consent, yielded by our reason. The first, that is, Suggestion, is like to Nomination. The second, that is, Delight, is like to Consultation. The third, that is, Consent, is all one with Approbation. Suggestion begins sin, 〈…〉 Delight continues, Consent finisheth sin. Now resist sin in the beginning, so you shall prevent him of his kingdom, and keep him from reigning in your mortal body. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. When the Devil proffereth his enticing suggestions, bid him a●aunt Satan, 〈…〉 thou shalt not tempt those which belong unto the Lord thy God. Nay, Saint Chrysostome saith, that every man of God may say as God himself, Matth 4. 7. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, Chrys●st. hom. 5. in opere imper●. Matth. 4. 7. Quoniam qui hominem Dei tentat, Deum tentat. For he which tempts a man of God, tempts God also. Resist him then we must in his temptations; and that we may do to good purpose; for in resisting him, we shall be sure to foil and vanquish him. For the the Devil is an arrant coward, he is like a shadow. 〈…〉 Si fugio sequitur, sed me fugit illa sequentem. If we be afraid of the Devil, and fly from him, he will pursue us; but if we resist the Devil, and pursue him, he will fly from us. james 4▪ 7. Therefore Saint james saith, Resist the Devil, lu●. Scalig. de Subtle 〈◊〉. 181. 〈…〉 and he will ●ly from thee, james 4. 7. The Devil may well be compared to a tree (whereof julius Scaliger maketh mention) growing in a Province called Pudiseram, to which if a man come, ramos constringit, it shrinks up the boughs, as angry and displeased; but when he departs, ramos pandit, it spreads and opens the boughs, as content and pleased again: So the Devil, if we be afraid of him, and fly from him, ramos pandit, he useth all subtility he can, to catch us, and spreads his nets of vanity to ensnare us; but if we take heart-a-grace, and affront him, and meet him in the teeth, ramos constringit, he withdraweth himself, and vanisheth; as he did when our Saviour Christ repelled him with Sic scriptum, It is written. Then the Devil left him, Matth. 4. 11. and Angels came and ministered unto him, Matth. 4. 11. Christ could have repelled him by the power of his Deity, but then we could not have imitated him, but he quelled him by the Word of God, to teach us that no weapon is like the Scripture to resist the Devil; no sword like the Sword of the Spirit, Ephes. 6. 16, 17. no shield like the Shield of faith, whereby we may be able to quench all the fiery darts of Satan, Ephes. 6. 16, 17. But you will say that the suggestions of the Devil do often get possession of our hearts before we are aware! True, he is malicious, sparing none, not Adam in Paradise, not Christ the Son of God in the wilderness; he is a cunning impostor, and can slily convey his delusions into our hearts, making himself of a devil seem a Saint, of a foul fiend of darkness, 2 Cor. 11. 14. a bright Angel of light, 2 Cor. 11. 14. But if he have gotten thus much of thee, give no more place to him, stay here, and thou mayest do well enough yet: proceed not to the second degree, that is, let not thy flesh be delighted with his suggestions of sin, and so thou shalt prevent sin of his kingdom, and keep it from reigning in thy mortal body. The Devil may present his suggestions to us, but unless our flesh with delight entertain them, they cannot hurt us: P●ecata non nocent, Greg. Mag. Moral. exposed. in job, sib. 16. si non placent; Sin hurts not, if it please not. Thief's may peep in at our windows, but if we keep our doors and windows close shut, and fast barred, they cannot hurt us. So the Devil may peep in at the windows and doors of our hearts, the eyes and ears of man; but if we shut the windows, and stop those doors of our flesh with the deaf Adder, that they may not hearken to the voice of this Charmer, charm be never so cunningly, he cannot hurt us. Let us tell then our flesh ready to be tickled with delight, that our senses are deluded, and that she hatcheth but a viper, which in the end will gnaw asunder the very bowels where she was conceiced. For the bread the Devil presents thee, is truly no bread to feed thee, but a stone to smite thee; the fish he shows, is truly no fish to nourish thee, but a serpent to bite thee; and the egg he would make thee put thy hope in, will not hatch to prove a bird to delight thee, but a Scorpion to sting thee. Keep then thy flesh from delighting, and thou shalt keep these from hutting, and sin from reigning. Let not sin reign therefore in your mortal body. But you will say that our flesh is impure, and so may quickly infect us, and carry us headlong with delight, as the Devil carried the swine into the sea. Let it be so; if thou canst but stay here, thou mayest do reasonable well. Consent not to sin; let not thy will and reason, thy superior, and rational appetite, yield to thy flesh and her delight, thy inferior and sensitive appetite. Though the Devil have suggested thee, the flesh delighted in it, yet let not thy will consent and yield unto it. For it is consent that finisheth sin, and causeth it to reign in our mortal body. juest peccat●m cum delecteris, regnat autem cum consenseris, 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉. saith Saint Anselm. Sin is then in a man, when he is delighted in it, but it never reigns till he hath given his full and express consent thereto. And Saint Bernard, 〈◊〉 Par. 〈◊〉. Vitios●s dico, qui ex voluntate consenti●●●, nec resistunt, quantum possunt. I call those vicious men which willingly consent to sin, and resist not what they are able. But you will say our reason is depraved, and so may easily be deceived with apparent good, and the sensitive appetite tainting the rational, may make the will to finish what Satan suggested, and the flesh lusted after. O wretched sinner, now thou pressest me too far! now thou comest too near the pit! I scarce know what to say unto thee! But yet that thou mayest not be swallowed up in the gulf of despair, there is one ultimum re●ugium, one last refuge yet left, that is, that thou accustom not thyself to sin. Though the Devil like the Serpent, have glided in his suggestions; though thy flesh, like Eua●, ●●en. 3. have thought them fair to the eye, and pleasant to the taste, and delighted in them; though thy will and reason, like Adam, have been drawn to consent unto them; yet let not Custom, like the river jordan, carry us as the fish that follow that stream in mare mor●●am, 〈◊〉 contra 〈◊〉. into the dead sea, and enure us to sin all our life time. There is an axiom in war, ●●●●tarch. in A●●●heg regum 〈◊〉. that, Non licet ●is pe●care; No man must offend twice. Oh that we could abserue it in our Christian warfare in the Church militant, so should we stop the course and habit of sinning; so should we prevent sin of his kingdom, and keep it from reigning in our mortal body. Saint Augustine therefore addeth a fourth degree of sin, August. in joan. cap. 11. tract. ●9. 〈◊〉. 9 and that is, the use and custom of sinning. The three first degrees of sin, may easily be resisted, but if it once come to the fourth, and grow to a custom, it will hardly, Aug. in Psal. 36. if ever, be removed. Cons●●t●dinem vincere dura pugna; It is hard to overthrow a custom, saith the same Father. For custom makes the face impudent, we blush not to sin, the heart senseless; we feel not our sin, our sin tyrannous, our mortal body is ruled by sin. For, though sin itself he a tyrant, yet custom will set a sharper edge upon it. Custom is a monstrous tyrant, it rules both Church and Commonwealth; sta● pray ratione volume as; if it be customs pleasure that it must be so, it shall be so, Law will not control it, sufferance hath made it above all law Saint Augustine in his fourth book, and 24▪ August. de doct. Christ. l. 4 c. 24, tom. 3. Chapter, De doctrinâ Christianâ, tells 〈◊〉 that the people of Cas●●ea had an ancient custom, once a year for certain days together to meet, and divide themselves into parts, and throw stones one at another, the father not sparing the son, nor the son the father. Which custom, though it were a most barbarous custom, and yearly the occasion of the slaughter of many men; yet Saint Augustine (whom we count the most learned and eloquent of all the Fathers) found it an exceeding hard matter to dissuade them from their custom; Idem. Ibidem. ●gi quidum granditèr quant●●● valui; I dealt with them (saith ●e) with all the might and main I could. But let us come home to ourselves. It was taken up for a custom, for Carriers and Drovers, to labour themselves and their cattle upon the Lord's day. Which custom though it were expressly against the Commandment of God, and for above sixty years together daily cried out against, by zealous Preachers in their Pulpits, yet it continued, and looked the Law in the face, till the Parliament made a penal Statute to reform it. And if we should come yet nearer, and take a survey of personal sins, we shall find them by custom and habit made as hard to be cast off, as local and national sins. For Consuetudo peccandi tollit sensum peccati. & in alteram naturam vertitur; The custom of sinning quite bereaves us of all sense and feeling of our sins, and is changed into another nature. The common swearer makes it a matter of nothing to thunder out a multitude of ●oulevgly oaths together; nay the more mouth they give their oaths, the more gentlemanlike grace they think their oaths give them. ●●●kg. Confess. l. 2. cap. 3. tom. 1. Like Saint Augustine's companions of his youth, Tanto gloriantes magis, quant● sunt turpes magis; Glorying in that most, whereof, if they had any grace, they should be ashamed most. Nay, I have known some, whom the custom of swearing hath carried so headlong to swear, that they know not when they swear; so that being reproved for their swearing, they would presently swear they did not swear. The common drunkard whilst he swallows his liquor, is so swallowed himself, that no remorse for his sin appeareth in him; Ier●●. 3. 3. he puts on a wh●res face, ●●d refuseth to be ashamed, jerem. 3. 3. He riseth early to p●●ire in strong drink, as Esay speaketh. He thinks there is no kindness, where there is no drunkenness, and makes one drunkenness a medicine to cure the distemper of another, and professeth that nothing but a hair of the same dog, can allay the distemper of his doglike appetite. Oh to what an height of impiety doth evil custom bring men. It makes a man, 〈…〉 Peccare quasi pecucare; So to sin, that he degenerates and becomes a beast in his sin, as junius observes. I could show you the like of gluttony and luxury; so that Pope julius the third being by his Physicians, for his health sake, Vergerius in Historiá Spierae. Sladanus. Surius. Crispinus. Bal●us, & alii. forbidden pork; missing it one day at his table, gluttony made him reprove his ser●●●, and command him to fetch him pork; for (saith he) I care not what the Physician saith, I will eat pork in despite of God himself. And joannes à Pisa, Archbishop of Beneventum, and the Pope's N●●cio for Ve●ice, wrote a book, and printed it, in commendation of that sin, that I tremble to name, that sin, for the reigning of which in Sodom, the Lord reigned upon them brimstone and fire from heaven and consumed them. But let these examples teach you how hard a thing it is to remove and alter an evil custom. Can the Aethiopian change his skin, jer. 13▪ 23. or the Leopard his spots? Even so may they do good, that are accustomed to do evil, saith the Prophet jer. 13. 23. O then, beloved, if you will prevent sin of his kingdom, prevent the custom of sinning, so you shall keep sin from reigning in your moral body. Let not sin reign therefore etc. But you must remember, that I told you that this was but ultimum refugium, a last refuge; and a last refuge is to be embraced only, when our case grows desperate. The best and safest way then to suppress sin, is to deal with him in the first or second degree thereof: Nay in the very first ●ustfull motions, we must crush this cockatrice in the shell, Psal. 58. 7. and make out lusts and suggestions like the untimely fruit of a wom●n▪ which perishes ere it see the Sun, Psal. ●8. 7. For lusts are the laws of sin, and if you would not have sin reign over you, you must not obey the laws thereof. Therefore, saith Saint Paul, Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. So that, as sin is to be suppressed, so his laws which are his lusts must not be obeyed. Obey not the lusts thereof. And this leads me by the hand to the second part of my Text: that the laws of sin must not be obeyed. Obey not the lusts thereof. 2. Obey not the lusts thereof. DRaco, the Athenian Lawgiver, made such cruel Laws, 〈◊〉. Gell. Noct. that Solon abrogated them, and Demades the Orator said, 〈◊〉. lib. 32. c. 18. that Sanguine non atramento scribebantur: They were written in blood, not in ink. But we have more need to abrogate the laws of sin, and it may be more truly said of Lusts these laws, that they are written in blood, not in ink. For lusts the laws of sin, are not barren lusts, but they are teeming and conceiving lusts. Lusts, if they be obeyed, bring forth sin, and sin finisheth his work with nothing but death: so saith S. ●ames; ●am. 1. 15. When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death, jam. 1. 15. And S. Paul saith, Rom. 6. 2●. that The wages of sin is death, Rom. 6. 23. Lusts, the beginning are deceitful; sin, the progress, hateful; death, the conclusion, dreadful. For, six malis praemissis nunquam colligi potest bona conclusio: Out of so ill premises can never be gathered a good conclusion. jesus therefore the son of Syrach saith, that we must fly from sin, Ecclu●. 21. 2. tanquam à facie colubri; as from the face of a Serpent; for if thou comest too near 〈◊〉, it will bite thee, the teeth thereof are as the teeth of a Lion, ●●aying the souls of men: Ecclus. 21. 2. We must fly from sin, as from the face of a serpent; For, as in the face of a serpent lieth all the danger, because there is the poison, and the teeth; so in obeying of lusts, which are the faces, and first appearings of sin, we shall swell with the poison of sin, and be bitten with the teeth of death. Or we must fly from sin, 〈◊〉 from the face of a serpent, that is, from the heads and first lustful motions of sin. A serpent hath a head, a tail, and a body. Procop. in Exod. Capite immisso totus statim illabitur, And if she get her head into a place, the whole body is so glib and ●ubricke, that it will quickly enter in after: So in yielding to lusts, which are the heads of sin, the whole body of sin will quickly follow after. For lusts, the heads of sin, though they seem small, yet they will make no small work where they enter. They are like young rogues, who getting their heads in at the windows, creep in and open the doors for the great thieves to spoil the house. For lusts, the heads of sin, are not idle heads, but like Jesuits heads, working mischievous heads, contriving treason against the state both of soul and body. Lust's will hatch sin, sin will produce death, and death will bring a thousand endless woes and miseries. Now our lusts are many, our acts of sin many, and the deaths produced by sin and the lusts thereof as many. Mi●●e ●●dis homines miser●s mors ●na f●rig●●. Death assays men a thousand ways. But death in general produced by sin and his lusts, is threefold, Viz. Mors 1. Corporis. The death of the body. 2. Anima. The death of the soul. 3. Corporis & anima. The death of both. 1. john 11. The death of the body. So dead was La●arus, john 11. 2. The death of the soul. So dead are such widows, whereof S. Paul speaketh, 1 Tim. 5. 6. So dead was he to whom out Saviour Christ said, 1 Tim. 5. 6. Let the dead bury their dead, Matth. 8. 22. follow thou me, Matth. 8. 22. A strange speech, Let the dead bury their dead. As if the dead had not as much need to be buried themselves, as to bury other dead; and as unable to bury other dead, as themselves. But our Saviour Christ meant it of those which followed sin, and not him (being via, vita, & veritas; The way, the life, and the truth,) that they were dead already in their souls; Theophylact. in 〈◊〉 cap. 7. that in them (as Theophylact speaketh) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, their living bodies were nothing else but coffins of their dead carrion stinking souls, 3. Luk. 16. 24. The death both of body and soul. So was Dives, Luk. 16. He prayed, therefore he had a soul. He had a tongue to be cooled, therefore a body: He was dead; therefore dead both in body and soul. Thus die all they that suffer sin to reign in their mortal body. Nay, they are not only dead, but buried while they live. Their sins become their graves: 〈◊〉 Luc. Tumulusiste mali mores; saith S. Ambrose. 〈◊〉. tom. 1. Their throat is an open sepulchre; saith the Prophet David, Psal. 14. 5. Psal. 14. 5. Nay, they are not only dead and buried, but they are dead and buried, and in hell whilst they live. Ambros. de Bon. 〈◊〉. c. vit. tom. 5. Nobiscum videntur vinere, sed sunt in infern●, saith S. Ambrose, They seem to live with us, but in very deed they are in hell. For where are presumptuous sinners, but where the Devil is, that first presumed to sin? And where is hell, but where the Devil is, that was without redemption cast out of Heaven? O than my beloved, take heed of going on in wickedness, nip sin in the bud, yield not obedience to the lusts of sin; Lusts are the jaws of sin, and the king reigns where his laws are obeyed. Lust's will go on to acts; acts will go on to custom; custom will go on to the death and destruction both of body and soul. For God will wound the hairy scalp of such as go on still in their wickedness, Psal. 68 21. Psal. 68 21. The sinner goes on in his sins, and God goes on to punish their sins, sin follows sin, and one death follows another. The second death follows the first: the death of the body begins, and the death of both body and soul follows after. The death of the body is, cum anima deserit corpus, when the soul forsakes the body, and is by order natural, statutum est omnibus, Heb. 9 27. etc. It is decreed for all men once to die, Heb. 9 27. The death of the soul is, cum animam descrit Deus, when God forsakes the soul, and is by divine justice judicial; Ezek. 18. 4. the soul that sinneth shall die, Ezech. 18. 4. The death of both body and soul is, August. de Ci●it. cum anima à Deo deserta, Dei. lib. 13. cap. 2. deserit corpus; when God forsakes the soul, and the soul forsaken of God, forsakes the body; and is by equality proportional. For both body and soul have sinned, Cyprian. Epist. lib. 1. epist. 4. therefore they both die, both are punished. Qui i●●guntur in culpâ, non separantur in poenâ; saith S. Cyprian; Those that are partners in the fault, must also be partners in the punishment for the fault. But yet a man may so die the first, that he may escape the other death: He may so die, that he may repair the ruins of his mortal body, and not die for ever. For as a ruinous house (though the walls be fallen down, and the roof perished) may by reparation be sustained, and be made more beautiful than at first, so long as the main and principal posts thereof are kept sound: So this mortal body of ours, though it be ruinous, and the fleshy walls falling down, and the thatch of the roof thereof decaying with hoatie hairs, yet so long as the principal pillars thereof be not pulled down (as Samson did the house upon the Philistines) that is, 〈◊〉 16. 29. so long as the members of our body (the pillars thereof) are not yielded, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, to let sin reign; but yielded, as those that are alive from the dead, as instruments of righteousness unto God, and sin suppressed, we may repair this mortal body, and make it more beautiful than before; Corruption putting on incorruption, 〈…〉 and mortality putting on immortality; death being swallowed up in victory. O death where is thy sting? O hell where is thy victory? 1 Cor. 15. 44, 45. And this leads me by the hand to the last part of my text, to speak of the kingdom, our mortal body, and the repairing thereof. Let not sin reign therefore in your mortal body. 3. In your mortal body. ANd here by our mortal body, we must not understand only our lump of flesh, part of man, but totum composuum, the whole man, consisting of both body and soul. For by a Synecdoche, the part is put for the whole. The whole man, both body and soul, have sin in them, working their ruin and destruction, therefore the whole man, both body and soul, are to be repaired, and we are to labour for their restauration. I know there is a great dispute betwixt the body and soul, each endeavouring to put off the enormity of sinning to the other. The body pleads for itself; that that is but inanimis truncus. a dead and senseless trunk, void of all action and motion, and so could not sin, nor exercise any operation, if the soul did not actuate and enforce it. The soul, that pleads for itself, that that is purus & simplex spiritus, a pure and simple spirit, void of all organs, without eyes to behold vanity, without hands to commit folly, without feet to follow enormity, and if the body did not detain it as prisoner, it would mount aloft, to take up its residence in the place of spirits, and therefore the fault of sinning must needs rest on the body. But the very truth is, that neither the body sins without the soul, nor the soul without the body, but like Simeon and Levi, Genes. 49. 5. they are brothers and partners in mischief, and so tend both to eternal destruction, unless we wisely endeavour their timely reparation. Peter Martyr in his Commentary on the fourth book of the Kings, Pet. Mart. in 4 Reg c. 4. pag. 215 illustrates this by a pretty Simile. There was (saith he) a master of a family, that committed the custody of his Orchard to two servants, one of them lame of his feet, and the other blind. The lame servant being taken with the beauty of the apples, told his blind fellow-servant, that if he enjoyed the use of his limbs, and could go as well as he, it should not be long but he would be possessed of some of those apples. The blind servant said, he was as desirous of them as himself, and if he could but see as well as he, they should not rest long upon the tree. In the end they agreed to join together: the whole-limbed blind man took the well-sighted lame man on his shoulders, and so he reached the apples. Their master coming, and missing his fruit, expostulated the matter with them. Each framed his excuse. The blind man said, he could not have them, for he could not see so much as the tree they grew on. The lame man said, he need not be suspected; for it was well known he could not climb, or stand to reach them. But their master perceiving their craft, how they had both joined together, put them as they were, one upon the shoulders of the other, and punished them both together. So in very deed, neither the body sins without the soul, nor the soul without the body, Ambros. de fide 〈◊〉. c. 5. but corporis animique communis est actus, saith S. Ambrose, It is the common act of both: therefore both body and soul tend to death, and if they be not repaired, will fall to utter ruin and destruction. Wherefore as sin the tyrant must not reign, nor lusts, the laws, be obeyed: So our mortal body, his kingdom, must not run to utter ruin, but be repaired; corruption must put on incorruption, and mortality put on immortality. And the means to repair our mortal body is threefold: Viz. 1. Diligent watching. 2. Often fasting. 3. Zealous praying. Fasting, that's good to repair the body, that though it be cast down it may be raised again, ● Cor. ●. 27. and not become a castaway, 1 Cor. 9 27. Praying, that's good to repair the soul, it consecrates it to God, makes the soul the temple and habitation of the everliving God. Templum mentis amat non marmoris, aurea in illo 〈◊〉 utra 〈◊〉. Fundamenta manent fidei.— Watching, that's good for both body and soul. By watching, we may see and know when the lusts of sin do tempt us, and so keep them off and avoid them. By fasting, we may so tame our bodies, that concupiscence shall not delight us: and by praying, we shall so rectify our depraved will and reason, that it shall not consent unto sin, to obey it in the lusts thereof. First, we must watch, that sin enter not into us. And here we must do, as is done in besieged cities, keep the strictest watch, where the places are weakest, and the enemy the most likely to enter. The places where sin would enter, are three, the heart, the mouth, and the hands. Therefore S. Bernard saith, that every man must keep a threefold watch. There must be Vigilia 1. Cordis 2. Oris 3. Manus super Cogitationes & affectiones. Bernard in Seut. Verba. Opera. A Watch of the Heart Mouth Hands over our Thoughts and affections. Words and speeches. Works and actions. First, we must watch over our hearts, that they be not stained and polluted with evil thoughts. For, saith our Saviour, Matth. 15. 19 Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, Adulteries, fernications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies, Mat. 15. Psal. 14. 1. 19 And, the fool said in his heart, there is no God, Psal. 14. jerem. 17. 9 1. The heart (saith the Prophet jeremy) is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? jer. 17. 9 It is good therefore to follow the counsel of wise Solomon, Keep thy heart with diligence, for out of it issueth life, Prou. 4. 23. Prou. 4. 23. Secondly, we must watch over our mouths, that we speak no evil words: For, saith our Saviour Christ, By thy words thou shalt be justified, Matth 12 37. and by thy words thou shalt be condemned, Matth. 12. 37. And the wicked servant was condemned out of his own mouth, Luke 19 12. Luk. 19 12. For the tongue in udo est, August. ●n Psal. 38. ●om. 8. ideo facile labitur (saith Saint Augustine) is placed in moisture, and therefore is apt to run over to our own destruction. Ber. de 3. custed. Facilè volat, ideo facilè violate, saith Saint Bernard, It runs glibly, and offends quickly. Our evil words, Bernard. saith the same Father, are like arrows, Levitèr volant, sed gravitèr vnl●erant, The fly lightly, but they wound deeply. Saint Gregory in the fifth of his Morals, saith there are three sorts of men, viz. 1 Some, that let lose both heart and tongue to impiety; they travel with mischief in their heart, that they may utter and bring it forth with their tongue: Such was Eliphaz the Temanite to job: Though he knew he should grieve him, yet he must speak; Who can withhold himself from speaking? job 4. 2▪ job 4. 2. Such are the proud ungodly men, which have said, Psal. 12▪ 4. with our tongue we will prevail, we are they that ought to speak, who is Lord over us? Psal. 12. 4. 2 Some, Gregor. expos. Moral. lib. 5. cap. 12. tom. 1. that though their hearts conceive evil, yet they refrain their lips, they bridle their tongue from speaking evil. 3 Others, that keep a watch over both heart and tongue; that so near as they can, they neither think nor speak evil. 〈◊〉. 39 ●. Thus the Prophet David, I said I will look to my ways that I offend not in my tongue, Psal. 39 1. I said I will look to my ways, that is, my heart, from whence are the ways to a man's tongue. Matth. 12. 32. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, Matth. 12. 32. And of these three, the last is the pious and godly man, and the surest to keep sin from reigning in his mortal body. 〈◊〉 3. 2. Therefore Saint james saith, If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body, 〈◊〉 1 26. jam. 3. 2. And, if any man seem to be religious, and bridle not his tongue, that man's religion is in vain, jam. 1. 26. But there are many that esteem lightly of words; words are (think they) but wind, and who do they hurt? Though in their words they repine and murmur like Corah, against Moses; rail like Goliath against David; flatter the State like jerobeams young Councillors; curse like Shemei; lie like Gehezi; blaspheme like Senacharib, and are as vainglorious as Herod; yet, so they abstain from open violence, and pay every man his own, they think their lives good enough: but these deceive themselves; Evil words corrupt good manners, 1 Cor. 15. 33. 1 Cor. 15. 33. Where evil words reign in the mouth, there sin must needs reign in the mortal body. Ambros. in Eph. cap. 4. 10. n 3. Non credibile est cum bene vivere qui male loquitur, saith Saint Ambrose; It cannot be thought that that man's life is good, whose speech is bad. It may more truly be said to him, than it was said to Peter, Thy very speech betrays thee, Matth 26. 37. Matth. 26. 73. It stands every Christian then upon, to bridle his tongue, to refrain his lips, Prou. 13. 3. to watch over his mouth; He that keepeth his mouth, keepeth his life, but he that openeth wide his lips, shall have destruction, Prou. 13. 3. And in this watch of our mouths over our words, we must observe three things. There must be 1 Veritas in verbis, truth in our words. For lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, Prou. 12. 22. Prou. 12. 22. 2 Vtilitas in verbis, some profit must redound by our speech. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, Ephes. 4. 29. but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, saith Saint Paul, Ephes. 4. 29. For one day we shall give an account for our corrupt communication, we shall answer for every idle word that proceedeth out of our mouths. And if you would more distinctly know what an idle word is; Verbum ●tiosum est quod sine utilitate, vel loquentis, 〈…〉 vel audientis profertur; That is an idle word, by speaking of which neither speaker nor hearer is bettered. 3 Parcitas in verbis; A mean and sparing in our speech. 〈…〉 For, saith Solomon, In the multitude of words wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise, Prou. 10. 19 And, A fool's voice is known by a multitude of words, 〈…〉 Eccles. 5. 3. 3. There remains yet the third and last watch, that is, the watch of our hands over our works; we must watch over our works, that we neither omit that which we should do; nor commit that which we ought not to do. And here we must be sure to keep the most severe and strictest watch. For there redounds greater dishonour to God, and more ill examples to men, by the evil acts of our hands, than by the thoughts of our hearts, or the words of our mouths. If it please you therefore to cast the eye of your understanding upon the Decalogue, upon the ten Commandments, you shall find more Commandments forbidding sin in action, than in the speech, or cogitation. Look into the first Table; there is one commandment forbidding sin in the heart, namely, the first, Thou shalt have no other gods but me. There's another forbidding sin in the tongue, namely the third, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. But the other two forbid sin in action. Look into the second Table, there's one Commandment forbidding sin in the heart, namely the tenth, Thou shalt not covet, etc. There's another forbidding sin in the tongue, namely the ninth, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. But the other four forbid sin in action. And hereby we are taught, that if we will keep sin from reigning in our mortal both, we must watch over our hands, to keep them from acting and committing sin. Esay 56. 2. For, saith the Prophet Esay, Blessed us the man that keepeth his hand from doing any evil, Esay 56. 2. So that to conclude this point, the first way to suppress sin, and keep it from reigning, is diligent watching. A watching over our hearts for our thoughts, 〈…〉 a watching over our mouths for our words, but chiefly, and most diligently, a watching over our hands ●or our actions. The second means to suppress sin, is often fasting. Watching is like our besieging of our enemy, 〈…〉 but fasting is like the pulling him down, the spoiling and disarming him. For what are the arms and weapons of sin, wherewith he fights against us, but the members of our mortal body? 〈…〉 And how are these arms made to be laid down? How are they pulled out of this tyrant's hand, but by fasting? Thus Saint Paul disarmed sin, suppressed and kept it under; 1 Cor. 9 27. I keep my body under (saith he) I keep it in subjection, left, by any means, when I have preached unto 〈◊〉, I myself should be a castaway, 1 Cor. 9, 27. And in very deed our sins are like those devils which could not be cast out, Matth. 17. 21. but by prayer and fasting, Matth. 17. 21. This exercise of fasting produceth three excellent effects: 1 Vitia compri●i●. It allays the heat of sin, it tames and pulls down the lusts of the body. Therefore S. Basil calls it, Basil. the 〈…〉. 1. 〈◊〉. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, A medicine to take away the m●lady of sin. 2 Diabolum fugat. It puts the Devil to flight. Saint Ambrose saith, that if a Serpent tastes but of fasting spittle, Ambros. Exam. lib. 6. c. 4. tom. 1. it killeth it: Vides quan●● vis ieiu●●●, ut & sput● sue home terre●●m Serpented interficiat & merit● spirit ●●em; Ye see the force of fasting, fasting spittle will kill a bodily Serpent, much more the spiritual. 3. Mentem elevat. It elevates a man's mind, and makes him apt to be rapt into contemplation, and his life here in earth to approach near in likeness to the life of the Angels in heaven. Therefore saith Saint Ambrose, 〈◊〉 ●lia & ieiun. c. 3. tom. 1. Quid est enim ieiunium, nisi vitae coelestis image? For what is fasting, but a representation of our heavenly life? Hoc gradu Elias ascendit antequam curru; Elias ascended into heaven by this ladder of fasting, Idem, Ibidem. before he ascended in his chariot of fire, saith the same Saint Ambrose. Bonaventure therefore compares fasting to three things. 1 To a little wood under a pot. 〈◊〉. Diat. Salut. tit. 2. c. 6. Opusc. tom. 2. 2 To the nimbleness of a little bird. 3 To the hollowness and concavity of a musical instrument. 1. It is like a little wood under a pot. For as by withdrawing the wood from under the pot, it incontinently ceaseth boiling: So by withdrawing the usual store of food from the body, the pride and sustinesse of the flesh is abated. 2. It is like the agility & nimbleness of a little bird. For as a little bird can easily by flying aloft eschew the snares of the Fowler: Frustra enim iacitur rete ante oculos pennatorum; In vain is the snare of the Fowler laid before the bird that can take her wing, Prou. 1. 17. But gross and fat fowls which cannot fly are taken: So the mind of a temperate and abstinent man may easily, by mounting aloft to heaven upon the wings of his contemplation, eschew the snares of the deceitful fowler, the Devil, whilst those which with swine give themselves over to feeding, are carried into a sea of misery. 3. It is like the hollowness or concavity of a musical instrument, For as a Lute or vial yieldeth no delightful and musical sound, unless the belly thereof be hollow and empty: So a man, unless his belly be so hollow and empty that his bones desire not rest, yieldeth no musical and delightful harmony of prayers and thanksgiving in the ears of the Lord. For fasting is not commended of itself, ex opere operato, of the thing done, Chem●it. Exam. Concil. Trident. part. 4. (as Chemnitius saith some Papists teach; though Bellarmine disavows the opinion) but it is commended ex opere operantis, Bellar. de Bon. operib. in partic. lib. 2. cap. 11. Control. tom. 4. out of the faith and devotion attending the action. Devout prayers, divine ejaculations, and heavenly meditations must accompany our fasting. It was a caveat therefore which Saint Hierom gave to Calantia; Hieron. ad Calant. epist. 14. tom. 1. Ca●e, ne si iei●nare aut abstinere caeperis te p●tes esse sanctam. Hac enim virtus adi●ment●m est, non perfectio sanctitatis; Beware lest if you begin to fast or abstain, you presently think yourself holy. For this virtue of abstinence is but the help, not the perfection of sanctity. We must therefore, to suppress sin, and to keep it from reigning in our mortal body, not only abstain from meat and drink, but from all vice and impiety; and exercise ourselves in acts of devotion, spend our time in prayer and meditation, relieve the needy, and perform works of charity. Ambros. in D●m. 4. Quadrag. tom. 5. Qui ieiun●●t à cib● & non abstinent à malo, ●●●les sunt Diabolo, qui non manducat & tamen à malo non cessat, saith Saint Ambrose. They which fast from meat, but abstain not from impiety, are like the Devil, who eats never, but is wicked ever. Therefore saith Saint Origen, jeiuna à mali● actibus, Origen. in Levit. cap. 16. ●om. 10. tom. 1. abstine à malis sermonibus, conti●e te à pes●●●●is cogitatio●●bus; Fast from evil actions, abstain from vain speech, refrain thyself from naughty cogitations. To our watching then we must join fasting, and to our fasting we must join devout prayer and holy meditation, and this is the third and the last help to repair our mortal body, and to keep sin from reigning in it. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof. The first help, that is, watching, is the besieging of sin; the second, fasting, is the disarming of sin; but this last help, praying, is the utter vanquishing and suppressing of sin. Exod. 17. 9 For as Moses lifting up his hands, Israel prevailed against their enemies, Exod. 17. 9 So let us lift up our hearts and hands to God, in humble and hearty prayer, and we shall prevail against sin, and keep it from reigning in our mortal body. The deadly serpent the B. siliske (as Isiodorus, Hispalensis reporteth) is killed by the breath of a Weasel: ●s●od. Hispal. Ae●imolog. lib. 12. cap. 3. So the breath of a faithful praying man is able to kill sin, and drive away the old Serpent the Devil, who suggesteth us to sin, and desires that it should reign in our mortal body. I will reduce all for you into three words, and so conclude. Explora. Deplora. Implora. Explora. Let each Christian, to keep sin from reigning, find out his sin by watching▪ Deplore. Let him drive it out when he hath found it, by weeping and fasting. Implora. Let him desire the gracious assistance of God, that he may continue this combat, by praying. So shall Sin, Hell, and Satan be confounded, your mortal body here be repaired, and after death most gloriously be crowned. Revel 2. 10. So saith God, Be thou faithful, unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life, Re●. 2. 10. Thus doing, though we cannot altogether acquit and clear ourselves of sin, yet we shall have but few sins, and those few sins shall be remissible and pardonable sins unto us. Not for that they do merit remission, or are so small that they are unworthy God's punishment; but because remission doth follow such sins, neither shall they be imputed to us to our condemnation. Herein we shall be happy, that our sins shall not be imputed unto us. For they are not blessed, which have no sin; for than no man could be blessed (we are all miserable wretched sinners: Psal. 32. 1, 2 ) but saith the Prophet David, Blessed is he whose unrighteousness i● forgiven, and whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth no sin, Psal. 32. 1, 2. So that all men being sinners, here is the difference betwixt the sins of the wicked and the sins of the godly. The sins of the wicked are committed with an high hand, they meditate on them in their beds, they commit them with all greediness, they draw sin with cart-ropes, they sin without repentance; therefore their sins are peccata regnantia, sins reigning in their mortal body, and never forgiven them, but death and hell reigns over them; they die the second death, the eternal death, the death both of body and soul. But the sins of the godly are committed without meditation, through infirmity, they are committed with a reluctancy, there's a combat betwixt the flesh and the Spirit, they are resisted by watching, they are suppressed and kept under by fasting, they are cast out by praying, they are repent of with repent me never to be repent of; therefore their sins are 〈…〉 sins no● reigning in their mortal body, but by the great mercy of God, in Christ jesus, forgiven and not imputed unto them, so that death hath not full power of them, they die the death of the body only, the first, not the second death, Reuel. 14. 13. and so die in the Lord, and die blessedly. For blessed are they which die in the Lord, even so saith the Spirit, they rest from their labours, and their good works follow them, Reu. 14. 13. In one word then to conclude all, with a true and lively faith in Christ jesus, resist sin, let it not reign in your mortal body; and than you have done all which is required to your salvation: than you shall live happily, die blessedly, be rewarded plentifully, and possess Heaven everlastingly. Which God of his infinite mercy grant unto every one of us. To which God the Father, the Creator of all, and hater of sin; God the Son, the Saviour of all, and Redeemer from the punishment of sin; God the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier of all, and Purifier from the pravity of sin, three Persons, one only wise God, be ascribed of us all, all honour, glory, power, dominion, might, and majesty, now and for evermore. AMEN. FINIS. Errata. PAg. 2▪ lin. 15. read and he pag. 16. lin. 31. for jaws, read laws. pag. 20. in ●argine, read c●ntra.