Divine Characters in Two Parts
But yet, by grace, they become weapons of righteousness, against sin, turning their enmity against grace, to an enmity and counterpoison against sin, as Art makes medicines of poisons, causing the venom of herbs in the field to purge venomous humors in the body, as the scorpion crushed is made a plaster for her own wound. And, as the Canaanites, among other reasons, were left in the land to destroy the wild beasts; or as the Gibeonites were employed to draw water, and for other necessary services of the Sanctuary; so these passions and affections are still retained, notwithstanding their sinfulness, in the choicest servants of God, to quicken and stir up better qualities in them, and to make them more instrumental in their several places and relations to glorify God, by doing him more and better service, than could possibly be performed without them.
Yea, being sanctified, they little differ (in their use) from virtues, when rightly used; as, holy shame, godly sorrow, religious fear, zealous anger, &c. If therefore, for some reasons, they deserve to be expelled, because, through sin, they are of sin, for sin, and at the command of sin: yet for other reasons they are worthy to be preserved, because they are of nature created, part of God's image, or assistants to it, notwithstanding their uncomeliness: and, being by grace rectified, they become weapons of the new creature. Sharp, and dangerous weapons they are indeed. Yet as no wise man throws away his knife when it hath cut his fingers, or for-swears fire and gun-powder, because he hath been scorched by them; but rather resolveth to be more cautelous in the use of them; so doth a Christian not cast away, but more charily keep, and carefully use these passions that he may neither fall under the mischief, nor want the benefit of them.
Contrarily, Some hypocrites and other Moralists seemingly, but wickedly wise, finding the passions troublesome, have taught men to cut them off.
So the Stoics of old, and others after them, have hated passions; not because sinful, but because painful and troublesome, by too much disturbing their own ease, and laying too open their weaknesses unto others: as if a man should rather maim himself, than be troubled with a useful member. Indeed he that wanteth these affections is maimed and defective not only in nature but in virtue. For, without affection there is either no virtue at all, or else a very dull and lumpish virtue. It is as if, to keep men from going out of the way, one should take off their chariot-wheels, or cut off the legs of their horses; so taking away the means of motion, to hinder aberration and error in moving. Thus many a Prince imagining to take away an enemy, cuts off an useful friend or subject, for want of wisdom to use him.
The hypocrite may talk much of an Heaven upon earth by being freed wholly from those boisterous winds and storms of violent passions which some men suffer within themselves; and, that the best way to be rid of them, is, to grub up the passions by the roots. Nor hath he any spiritual power or skill to improve them as the true Christian doth: but he resolves to use (not all but some of) them which trouble and shame him, as Saul did the Gibeonites, whom Saul slew, out of his pretended zeal for the children of Israel and Judah ; the Gibeonites being not Israelites, but of the Amorites, that by a wile had over-witted the Israelites, in pretending to be not of the natives of Canaan, but of a far country, whereby they obtained a league with Israel, and Israel had sworn unto them, in the days of Joshua . But God was angry with Saul and his house for this; and so will he be with these men; and that for more faults than this: for they that are so forward to kill these poor Gibeonites (which a Joshua, a true Christian, would make good use of for the service of the Sanctuary, ) are content to spare those Amalekites of pride, self-love, and vain-glory, which God would have to be utterly destroyed.
To have nothing to do with these passions at all, is the state of just men made perfect in heaven. It is enough to a Christian here, if by grace he be able to master them, and to force them to be serviceable unto his Lord. Wilde colts and horses, being tamed, are of great use to the owners: but pains must be taken with them; not to knock them in head, but to bring them to the bridle, saddle, pace, and hand, and then they are every man's money. So is it with the passions. It is not warrant sufficient to destroy them, because they are naturally wild, furious, and tumultuous: but more pains must be taken with them to bring them to hand and use, and to make them serviceable against sin that naturally are so instrumental to promote and increase sin in the hypocrite and unregenerate.
They cannot be worse in their kind, than the earth, to Adam and his posterity, after his fall. The ground was cursed for his sake, and in sorrow was he to eat of it all the days of his life. Why so? because it grew so full of thorns and thistles, which it brought forth unto him, that he was fain to eat his bread in the sweat of his brows , by laboring to make the earth useful and fruitful, that was so apt to yield thorns and weeds. Adam did not hereupon neglect or forsake the ground as unworthy his care and labor; but, took the more pains with it, that it might bring forth herbs meet for them, by (and for) whom it is dressed, and thereby receive a blessing from God .
Thus the true Christian is for the preserving and improving the passions, as Jonathan was for the preserving of David, when Saul sought to destroy him; saying, wherefore shall they be slain? what have they done ? The stoical hypocrite is like Saul, persuading himself that as David, so, these must die; and to let them live is to preserve them to his own confusion: the one continueth them to make them serviceable against sin, the other seeks to destroy them, because (through his own default) they are ofttimes occasions of his shame and vexation: the one mortifies them, that they may become useful; the other • ills them out-right, and so renders himself useless.
[Character 3] Passions, to the Christian, are as malapert, yet useful servants.
Servants they are by condition, being now made so by grace; but, malapert of disposition, as the sons of Zeruiah were to David; and, many times, too hard for him . In his wars he could not want them while he lived; but dying, he took order to rid the world of them. So these passions, while we are in this life militant against sin, are necessary, though saucy servants: but our Solomon shall one day make an end of them when we have no further use of them.
In this life it were a fearful case for a child of God to be past sorrow or shame for sin; or immovable to anger in God's cause. Who can repent, without sorrow? who can be ashamed of the evil he hath done, without shame? How can a Christian hate them that hate the Lord, or be grieved with those that rise up against God , if it were not for an holy anger, and zeal that even eateth him up ? He knoweth that his Lord was angry, and grieved at the hardness of men's hearts : and that a Christian is commanded to be angry, for God, so he sin not in his anger : and therefore will not destroy, but improve that troublesome passion.
It is so far from unseemlinesse in a Christian, that it is his property quickly to mourn and weep for his own sins , and for the sins of others , even with bitter passion and deepest grief. He is apt to dislike, and blush for shame, at the very naming of sin, and cannot endure the company of such as make sport in the mention of obscenity and wickedness: which he could never do, were it not for making use and improvement of those passions which where they bear rule, are the worst, and most deformed. He makes use of the passions, as wise men do of horses, or chariot-wheels, which are good to carry, but naught to guide. He useth them in his journey, and at his need: but afterwards, shakes them off, as glad he shall no longer need them.
On the contrary. To the unregenerate, Passions are imperious masters, and tyrants.
He cannot command them, but they command him. They are not his servants, but he theirs. He that ruleth his spirit, is better than he that taketh a City . But, he that hath no rule over his spirit, is like a city that is broken down, and without walls . Where, by Spirit is meant that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that appetite and desire of either pleasure, or revenge that is natural to all (although in some, more predominant and out-ragious. For, unto these two, all passions and affections are referred.
Now there cannot be a worse kind, or greater degree of slavery, than for man to be subject to this base, and as it were brute part, wherein (when this spirit bears sway) he differeth little, or not at all from the beast that perisheth. Howbeit, from this vassalage the natural man cannot free, or acquit himself. What more plausible conquest of a city, than to dismantle it, and to lay it open to every invasion? In innocence man was walled, and his affections were under rampiers and garrisons. But, by sin, as by a Nebuchadnezzar , these walls and fortifications were broken down; and so they lie, till grace, as Nehemiah , come to rebuild them: which, sin in man, yea, even in these affections of man, as Sanballet , is very angry at, and seeks to oppose with all its might.
Thus the Christian is troubled with passion, because disturbed in his government of them; the unregenerate is troubled with them as governed by them: the one makes use of them in his war with sin, as a wise Prince doth of stirring spirits in a state, that otherwise would be dangerous: the other finds his passions to take state upon them, and to employ him, not he them: and, to make peace with sins abroad, that they may more securely war and wast, sack and spoil at home.
Sometimes the Christian suffereth his affections too much to sway his will and reasonable [Character 4] part.
There is no man so temperate, but he is at times transported, as Moses . No man so wise but he is in some cases blinded, as Solomon . No man so watchful, but he is upon occasion surprised, as David . No man so just, but at times, through prejudice or partial affection, he may do unjust acts, as the same David, in the case of Mephibosheth, upon the false information of Ziba . David is said to be wise as an Angel of God to discern between good and evil , yet he foully failed in the case last mentioned, albeit he well knew that he that ruleth over men must be just . His sons rebellion had so exasperated him that he lay open to the sycophancy of a traitor, to wrong the simplicity of a loyal subject.
In heat of blood and high provocation, patience is wanting or over-born, even in the best. Elijah threatened by Jezebel, makes a breach not only in his own patience, but also against providence. He will needs die in all the hast, that she may not take off his head . Jonah, sick of the same disease, fell out with God himself, (after he had so miraculously saved him in, and delivered him out of the whales belly) about a gourd; yea, and thinks he hath just cause so to do; I do well, saith he, to be angry even unto death . He was scorched with the Sun, deprived of the shade of the gourd, his denunciations took not effect, and the City of infidels was spared, which he had prophesied should be destroyed. Everyone in passion, especially of anger, thinks he doth well and right, because he suffereth his passions to bear down his reason to serve his humor, till he hath again recovered himself.
Contrarily. The unregenerate willingly subdueth his reason under his passion.
Not for a fit, or by occasion for a time, when himself is on the sudden, or for want of due watchfulness, surprised: but he makes choice of such a translation of passion into the room of reason; and seeth, as he thinks, a necessity to have it so. Herein is that of the wise man verified, I have seen servants upon horses, and Princes walking as servants upon the earth . A notorious indignity to see Passion Lord it in a Coach, and Reason, as a Lacquy footing it by his side. But now, new Lord's, new Laws. Passion reigning forceth Reason to devise Laws against herself. For without Reason they cannot be made, though they be made against Reason.
Even in cold blood, he determineth to follow the commands of passion, and silenceth reason, if it contradict this determination. He is herein as Caesar that went soberly about the over-throw of the State, not for want of reason, but as resolved not to hearken to it. So Cato killed himself with great advisement and show of discretion. Thus men use all the Reason they have after an evil committed, to make good what passion hath done, that before trod it under foot of passion, when Reason offered to hinder the doing of it.
It is a part of the triumph of Passion, to force Reason supparisitari, Parasite-like, to maintain all acts of passion in the unregenerate. From hence proceed all strained and profane Apologies for evil. Hence it is, that men add thirst to drunkenness : fuel to lust, because they think they can command Reason to make some excuse for it: herein being worse than beasts; for they lust, but do not provoke to lust, by cogitation, by diet, or such like courses. But this man is ready to answer, Bestiae enim sunt. They provoke not, because they are beasts, and understand no better. But he hath more wit, and he employeth it to be more wicked, and more brutish. He may say with the Idfornicator, Impetravi egomet, ut me corrumperem. I have obtained leave of my reason and conscience, to defile myself still. He liketh because he loveth; and seeth faults, because he hateth. What he lusteth after, Reason must not only not presume to oppose, but not refuse to maintain.
Thus, the regenerate have too much mixture of passion; the unregenerate, an habituated predominancy. The one gives way to passion, as fond Parents to their children, who through over-doting affection love more and think better of their children than they deserve, and so give them the reins more than is meet: the other, as blind lovers, through rage of fancy, love where they should hate, and like where they should loath. In the regenerate, fancy as a Phaeton gets the chariot for a while: in the other, the cart always guides the horse, and the horse the carter. Hence, the one, as David, blesseth the means by which he is stayed and reclaimed from giving further vent to his passion . The other, as Balaam, that would have killed his Ass for not carrying him further , thinks he hath no greater enemy than him that will stop his course in sinning, or show him his error.
[Character 5] In a regenerate man may be forward, free, active, and quick affections.
The wind bloweth where it listeth , and the Spirit worketh where he pleaseth. His wisdom knoweth of what extraordinary u • e even the most quick and nimble passions, rightly guided, and employed, may be: therefore he often takes delight in renewing and sanctifying such whose affections and passions unsanctified would prove very dangerous; but, being sanctified, become prime instruments in the hand of the Lord, to do him excellent service and honor.
Who, fuller of affections than David? yet, through grace, he so employed them, that God gives him this peculiar honor, to be a man after his own heart . Jeremy was a man of swift passions; especially of anger , at the desperate wickedness, and of sorrow , for the matchless miseries of the Kingdom of • udah, that he first prophesied, and after saw in part fulfilled upon them, yet God having sanctified him in the womb, and ordained him a Prophet unto the Nations , how great an instrument did God make him, over the Nations, and over the Kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down; to build, and to plant, &c ? Witness his Prophecies against Egypt , against Moab , the Ammonites, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, Elam , and • ast of all▪ against Babylon itself , the scourge, and destroyer of all the for me • , (so far as they were destroyed,) and the events answering those denunciations.
But, as quick-silver must first be subdued in the poisonous quality of it, before it can be used to any benefit; so these affections must be mortified, or they will soon grow pernicious to him in whom they be found. No man, a more zealous and industrious publisher, and Propugner of the Gospel, after his Conversion, than blessed Paul : yet, before, no man such a Persecutor .
Notwithstanding, affections, where they are naturally quick, they are seldom, or never so absolutely mortified in this life, but that sometimes they break out beyond due bounds. For, as a smooth, soft, and keen edge is soonest turned, blunted, or gapped, or otherwise cuts and wounds him that useth it, if he be not more than ordinarily careful in the use of it; so it not seldom happeneth, that the quickest and most active affections, are soonest turned aside, dulled, or corrupted to break out into disorderly and exorbitant actions. Hence it comes to pass that the most forward natures, as they give great helps and luster unto grace, while they be contained within order; so, at times breaking out, they give greater foils, and become greater blemishes, than the passions of others of a more moderate temper, and less grace.
David, whose courage, (steeled with faith, and experienced by the killing of a Bear, and a Lion ) put him on to encounter Goliath, the terror of all Israel; yet shown impotency enough in his sudden resolution to destroy Nabal, and his house, upon a private affront, and disgust ; had not the wisdom of a woman prevented his shedding of blood, and the avenging his own private quarrel, with his own hand . Those sons of Zebedee, James and John, as they were of a forward nature, and fervent, which being sanctified, made them sons of thunder ; so, they were soon transported, as we see in their rash zeal against the Samaritans, for not receiving our Lord , and in their ambitious desire of priority of the other ten Apostles .
So Peter, as he was ever the most forward in attempting dangers, so he most often and most dangerously stumbled, and hardly escaped, as we see in his weak walking upon the sea , his Satanical boldness in rebuking his Lord , and his desperate denial of him in the High-Priests Hall, even after he had cut off an ear of the High Priests servant in the quarrel of his Master , and promised to stand by him to the death . Howbeit, such distempers and exorbitances of the regenerate, are duly repented of, and thereupon graciously pardoned.
Contrariwise. An unregenerate man of quick and vehement affections and passions, is extremely wicked.
As his passions, so his actions are all in extremes. He is not only 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , one that will do mischief, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , presently, suddenly in action. He cannot hold off till he hath seriously considered what he is about to do: and so he is full of all mischief, even in an instant, as the Apostle describeth Elimas . As Augustus was wont to say, that he should leave behind him an Emperor (meaning Tiberius ) that would not think twice of one thing: so it is with this man; no sooner doth Satan, ill counsel, or his own corruption put any evil in his head, but his fingers itch to be at it. He rusheth upon it as the horse rusheth into the battle . If he but see a thief , he presently is so taken with him, that he not only consenteth to him, but runneth with him, and as some translate the word , which noteth the readiness and earnestness of the affections unto theft. His affections are as Gunpowder, fired, so soon as touched.
Mischief and wickedness in the height is his delight, and glory. He cannot eat without this sauce, nor sleep without this pillow. He sleepeth not, except he hath done (not only some small inconsiderable fault, but) mischief: and his sleep is taken away unless he hath caused some to fall. He eateth the bread of wickedness, and drinketh the wine of violence . He is in extremes, not only for his hasty acting, but for the nature of the sins which he acteth. If it be possible to go beyond the worst, he will put on with all his might to out-strip them. In an instant, ere he can be discerned, he over-passeth the deeds of the wicked . Nor is this his grief, but his sport . He boasteth himself in mischief, his tongue deviseth mischiefs (in the plural, if possible,) like a sharp razor working deceitfully, leaving nothing behind it, but in pretending to cut the hair for haste, he cutteth the throat also. He loveth evil more than good , thinking nothing so good as to do evil with both hands ; as Doeg, that was not only forward to inform against Ahimelech, but, when Saul's guard refused, he readily fell upon the Priests; and, not only cut off eighty five persons that wore Ephods, but utterly destroyed all men, women, and children, that belonged to them . His feet were swift to shed blood .
Thus, in the regenerate, passion is sometimes as a swift dromedary traversing her ways, sometimes too swift for the Rider : but, being mastered, showeth mettle to very good purpose: but, in the unregenerate, passion is as Asahel, as light of foot, as a wild Roe of the field : and so swift, that it will not be stayed till it hath carried him on to his destruction, notwithstanding all admonitions to prevent it . The one, by temptation may give way to his passions, too forward to evil; but, having them under the command of grace, he usually turns them the right way, to be zealous and earnest in that which is good, however they be too hard for him at times to hurry him on upon the evil he hateth. The other, is not only forward but desperate in evil, and in evil only, having no command at all over his passions, but rather delighteth to give himself up to them; and is then best pleased, when they be most swift in the pursuit of the grossest abominations.
[Character 6] In a true Christian there may be strong, sturdy, and intractable passions.
Such as the sons of Zeruiah to David, whom he cannot rule . All passions corrupted are the stronger by corruption, while the man in whom they are waxeth weaker and weaker, as a man under a disease too hard for nature. Such passions are hardly mastered with the bit and bridle of grace, no more than the horse and mule which have no understanding . For usually, where passion is strong, reason is weak; and there, grace hath the harder task. Passion and Reason are the scales of the mind, as the one goeth down, the other goeth up. Jonah must confess this to be so: for, neither the whales belly nor the sea itself could drown his passion of anger, even when he could expect nothing but the drowning of himself. He was a Prophet, and therefore an holy man : yet his anger was too hard for his holiness, even after he had been in the whales belly .
This violence of the passions ariseth much from bodily temper or distemper rather, and namely from melancholy, which is a tough and viscous humor, to hold the impressions of passion. It is much also from education and liberty given to the follies of childhood and youth, without crushing in the egg, and nipping corruption in the bud. When children are used to have their will without curbing, correction, or reproof in their first ordering, such, in short time, grow so head-strong, that afterwards they will hardly be governed by any Law; correction then comes too late, unless to irritate corruption, and to make them more desperately and incorrigibly wicked.
Unto such much grace is needful, and many prayers, and strivings more than ordinary. In fine, there needeth an Alexander, for such a Bucephalus, or strong headed horse. Yet are not such passions to be wholly cast away, or knocked in the head: forasmuch as they (being once mastered and renewed) may prove not only good, but excellent. Even the Lion, the Bear, and the Wolf (that is, men naturally as fierce, fell, rapacious, and violent, as those bruits) are admitted into the Kingdom of Christ, and so tamed by the power of his grace, that they lie down with the Lamb, the Kid, and the Calse . For he hath received gifts for the rebellious also, that the Lord God may dwell among them .
The Jews were naturally a fierce, furious stiff-necked Nation , yet such of them as were renewed by grace, proved the Worthies of the Church in both Ages. Such in a good cause, will stand as Eleazar, or as Shammah, in the field of Lentiles, against the Philistines, although forsaken and all, and fight till their hand cleave to their sword . Indeed such affections are as the loud-crying woman and the Scold sought out to drive away the enemies . But he that hath them to contend with them at home, shall be sure to be acquainted with the troubles of war. Yet by the power of grace, he maintaineth against them a difficult and perpetual conflict, till at last he sing 10, triumphing over them, through Jesus Christ .
On the contrary, an unregenerate man so tempered and hampered with head-strong and sturdy passions, is dangerous to himself and others.
He hath no command over himself, because himself is under command of his passions. He is as a City broken down, and without walls , which can resist no assault, but is at the enemies pleasure, to sack and burn it, and to put all to the sword that are in it. He is ruled by his lusts and passions, and will be ruled by naught else; neither man, nor God himself shall rule him, further than his own affections please. The temptations of Satan, the frauds and illusions of wicked men shall be of more force with him, than any counsel from God. But his great and mighty lords, are his passions within, whom he worshippeth and serveth, as the covetous man, his wedge and wealth . He cannot stand out against any sinful passion of his own heart, he cannot curb the rage of that unruly member the tongue , he is a slave to every noisome lust, and hellish vice that his corrupt affections hurry him upon, whether it be quarrelling, railing, covetousness, uncleanness, fraud, lying, theft, or whatever any vile affection within him hath a lust unto. It carries him on headlong with fury into all mischief and misery, as wild and fierce horses not weighed, nor under command, run away with a Coach to the hazard of the lives of all that are in it.
Such an one is unapt for counsel, and impatient of reproof. Yea, the more he is reproved, the more he hardeneth his neck, until he be on the sudden destroyed, and that without remedy . In this disposition he delighteth more than in his estate, honor, friends: his will, his lusts, are his Law, his God. Under color of constancy and stayednesse to which he pretendeth, he maketh his heart as hard as an Adamant-stone , in wickedness, rendering it both desperately evil, and pertinacious in it. He is so far from hearing others laboring to reclaim him, that he will not hear the voice of his own reason and conscience. There is in him a perpetual storm, as in a ship in a tempest, wherein for the noise of winds and waves, the commands of the Ship-Master cannot be heard for the saving of the ship. His passions are so often and much in uproars, and tumults, that when wisdom and conscience speak loudest, they are no more regarded, than Alexander when he beckned with his hand, and would have made his defense, to the enraged Ephesians . And if he do hear, he is resolved notwithstanding to do what he list, although God himself speak to him to the contrary; as they, to Jeremy, As for the Word that thou hast spoken unto us in the Name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth out of our own mouth, &c .
Thus, passion in the regenerate is as an horse stiff of reins; but, under a good rider most serviceable: in the unregenerate, as a wild Ass used to the wilderness, snuffing up the wind at her pleasure , and running away with her rider. The one seeing his danger, doth what he can to prevent it, the other humoureth that most which is most dangerous to him.
In the regenerate there may be soft, weak, and pliable affections. [Character 7]
Some natures are so facile, that a child may lead them; so capable of every impression, that you may draw them to anything; not so much out of a corrupt inclination, as of a natural temper, and ductile disposition. They understand well enough, and they mean well, but are so pliable to every motion that they be overtaken and overcome of evil, ere they be aware, not as delighting in it, but as not suspecting it, or thinking evil of him that enticeth and beguileth; as those Israelites whose hearts were stolen away by Absalom, whom they followed in the simplicity of their hearts, knowing nothing of his treason .
Such are soon won, and soon wounded, ere they be aware: apt for all impressions, especially of sorrow, fear; and sometimes of jealousy also, ready to call God's love into question, and think themselves forsaken; They are, as wayward children, sick folks, and women for the most part, too apt to be displeased and distempered. Even a David is apt sometimes to say to God, in his haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes; that is, cast out of thy sight . And, at another time, all men are liars , even Prophets and all, that had prophesied that to him, which he could not see performed. But he confesseth his rashness, as taking the blame upon himself, for his hasty, blaming of others.
But such an one, as he is soon hurt, so is he as soon healed: as he is quickly offended, so he is as quickly pacified; as he is suddenly cast down, so is as suddenly raised again and comforted. If he easily tread awry, he is soon snibbed, and turned again into the right way. If he be not so careful and cautious to keep in with the Lord, yet is he soon brought to see his wanderings, and to mourn and lament after the Lord . He is as a soft-natured child, that easily offendeth his father, but is never quiet till he be reconciled. Such an one because he wanteth resolution, hath fear for his Guardian and Watchman (r): and, wanting strength to withstand evil motions, his wisdom is to keep himself, as much as may be, out of the noise and view of temptations .
Contrarily, the unregenerate of facile affections, is apt and ready for all sinful purposes.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , an yielding man (saith the Philosopher) is carried by every word and wind. He enters not into consideration what is fit and warrantable; but, if pressed by others, to do so and so, he presently yieldeth, be it good or evil. Such an one is for any faith or religion: yea, for any practice that others will persuade him to; especially, if plausible, or such as carries not abhorrency in the very face of it; and, that the snake lie not open to all men's view in the high-way, but hidden under the grass in a pleasing meadow. Any specious pretence is sufficient to carry him whithersoever you please. Do but say the word, he scorns to dispute, but readily obeyeth.
If he happen to fall into company and discourse with any insinuating Popish Priest or Jesuit, whose policy and rule is to deal chiefly with the weaker sex, and with effeminate, or obnoxious men, that will be more apt to hearken to a Mountebank, promising an easy cure, (without destruction of the lusts within,) than to a solid and faithful Physician that is more for taking away the cause, than for giving present ease; the doors shall be open to any Impostors whatsoever, that creep into houses, and lead captive silly women (and weak men too) laden with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth . The hook is no sooner let down, but he, not considering the danger, first nibbles, by entertaining discourse (as Eve did with the Serpent ) which he is not able to maintain: and then, swallows the bait, and with it the hook, which he cannot escape.
Such an one counts it his wisdom and glory, not to cross company, but to be as they are. Any fashion, behavior, action, (except what is truly good) faction, course, or conspiracy will suit with his disposition. Do but say, what you will have him do, and he is your servant. The least beckning or holding up the singer of him whom he thinks worthy of respect upon any account, is to him enough. If a man of honor and power, such an one as Absalom, do but take him by the hand , he presently takes him by the heart too, and steals it away, even to commit treason and rebellion against his Sovereign, as Absalom did the hearts of the men of Israel : and as Garnet, Owen, &c. did the hearts of the Gun-powder Traitors.
He will quickly like, and as quickly loath, and both without cause, as Amnon did his Sister Tamar . He liked her without cause, to make her his whore: and loathed her without reason, so soon as he had forced her. In the things of God, he will not trouble himself to stand in the ways (where God, in the Ministry of his Word useth to set guides) to see, and ask for the old paths (the Law and the Testimonies) where is the good way, that he may walk therein : but he only asketh what religion his fathers and Ancestors were of; and what any flattering Priest will persuade him to, especially if outwardly pompous and gaudy, he presently resolves (let Jeremy say what he will to the contrary) we will certainly do what we and our fathers, our Kings and our Princes have done . But let Kings and Princes alter Religion, he is then for Cantemus canticum novum: Let us sing a new Song, as hastily as any Perne of them all. Till then, he will trust himself with any Popish Priests, loose companions, and corrupters of youth, till he be engaged in the grossest evils that they think fit to draw him into for advance of the Catholic cause, as they smoothly, but falsely suggest.
Thus the regenerate by facile affections is sometimes overswayed, as the man of God by the old Prophet of Bethel, pretending an unknown Word of the Lord, to require the man of God to do contrary to what he had an express charge to forbear ; yet, in this he fares better in the issue, as it did with Barnabas, who, being of a good nature, was, for a while, carried away with other men's dissimulation; but, at length, recovered himself . The unregenerate is as one of the simple ones, as the young man void of understanding falling into the company of an harlot, and charmed by her enticements, whereby he goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, till a dart strike through his liver, as a bird that hasteneth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life . The one finding himself to be of a weak and yielding nature, marrieth his Virgin unto Christ, that so when he is weak, he may become strong in the Lord, by putting himself under Covert- • aron of Christ: the other is as Dinah, out of her fathers house, a prey for Shechem , or any loose Tempter.
In a Christian regenerated there are sometimes dull, heavy, and lumpish affections. [Character 8]
Sometimes nature, sometimes sickness, otherwhile temptation, or spiritual desertion makes him slow and unwieldy in the ways of God, in rejoicing in God, and in honoring his holy Profession as he desireth. Some are of a dull heavy nature, even from their youth, not out of affected sloth, but by natural phlegmatic constitution, such an one was Jacob, an honest, plain, quiet man, not over-active abroad, but as a Shepherd dwelling in Tents, far unlike his brother Esau, who was of a more vafrous subtle stirring nature, loving hunting and more nimble exercises . Some are so by age, in whom nature is spent and worn out, as old Barzillai, so feeble as not to discern between good and evil to sense, to taste meat or drink, with any quickness of tasting; or to judge of music with a distinguishing ear . Some are so by sickness, in whom a disease confirmed, and deeply rooted, doth even alter the very temper and constitution of the body, as well as waste and consume the spirits, making them so unwieldy and heavy in spiritual motions, as the impotent man that had a long time lain at the pool of Bethesda, for cure, and could never be so nimble as to get soon enough into the water after the moving of it by the Angel, but that another stepped in before him . Some are so dejected by temptation, and the withdrawing the light of God's countenance, that they are as it were planet-smitten to the ground, and not able to stir with any vivacity, as David who sometimes (especially after his great fall, when God, notwithstanding his repentance and pardon, chastised him for the scandal he had given whereby the enemies of God took occasion to blaspheme the very ways of Godliness and Profession of Religion ; had much ado to hold up his soul in clean life, but that it would be cast down, and disquieted within him, that he could hardly keep alive any hope in God, within it .
In all which cases a Christian must needs be in a sad temper of spirit, for his slow and heavy moving for, or towards God, in which he finds himself out-stripped by all that have any truth of grace in them. When he seeth others as ready to follow God, and to express their forwardness, as David's servants when he was forced to flee from Absalom (behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my Lord the King shall appoint ) he himself is as lame Mephibosheth that cannot go with him : and is perhaps by some false-hearted Ziba (that should assist him) traduced and slandered, as if he had some treacherous design against his Sovereign .
Some are naturally more stoical and dispassionate than others. They are of an even disposition, and so, take then when you will, whatever comes from them is much what like the sound of a Bell, that always yieldeth the same note. But yet they come behind others in both duty; and comfort, the very sense whereof cannot but much affect and afflict a true child of God, as it did holy David: who was often troubled with his lumpish dullness .
Nevertheless, even herein he is not cast off as an unfaithful servant, nor left without encouragement: but, the more he labors under this dull temper, the more he stirreth up himself to take hold on God, to quicken him in his way . And so he finds that the spirit is willing, even when the flesh is weak, heavy, and sleepy . So that though he want the comforts that others more active do sometimcs find, yet withal he is freed from sundry discomforts that they meet withal: for, it much freeth him from excesses to which others are subject, and he comes as soon and fast as he can to the Lord, although limping, as lame Mephibosheth to David with as true an heart as those that are more forward.
Contrariwise, an unregenerate man of this dull temper is dead unto all goodness.
He is dull, and insensible of it. He is in a sad condition, and it is impossible to make him to take his case to heart. He is as one that sleepeth on the top of a mast, and fears no danger: yea, he pleaseth himself in his affected and corrupt sluggishness, and flattereth himself as being in the only good temper. For, his slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep , he is lumpish and like a dead man, unless perhaps when he is about some evil that pleaseth his palate more than ordinary. But in any honest and good business, the way of this evil beast and slow-belly , is as an hedge of thorns ; it appears to him to be full of difficulties and dangers, as a path that is over-grown with briers and thorns.
He looks upon others of a quicker metal and seeth them often to miscarry, and stumble by their haste, for which he despiseth them. Hereupon he condemneth fervency and forwardness in good duties, as excesses, and extremes not to be imitated, and applaudeth his own sloth, as the only true even disposition worthy of a wise man. If the Minister lifting up his voice as a Trumpet, do cry fire, fire against sin. He asketh not where? or what is the matter? but, what ails the man? is he mad? away with him to the prison . In the mean time, for evil, he is as the still Sow, in the proverb, sly and still, not forbearing the evil, but only careful to make no noise.
Thus, the regenerate is as Jacob, after wrestling with God, making what speed he can , although he be constrained to halt in going, not as unfaithful, but as unable to make haste: the other is as the slothful in work, brother to him that is a great waster , and shall as certainly come to woe and misery, as if with the professed Prodigal he resolved to consume all. The one although he be slow, yet is not negligent; the other sits still and saith, All in good time. No more haste than good-speed. I shall get to heaven as soon as any hot-spurr of them all.
A regenerate man may be of a various and inconstant temper, in respect of affections. [Character 9]
As to the main resolution of cleaving close to God without separation, he is constant to the death , and is kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation . But as to the temper of his particular affections and passions, he is ofttimes very variable and inconstant. Sometimes he is hot in love, by and by he leaves his first-love . Sometimes very zealous, sometimes remiss . Sometime glad, and sometimes sad . One while quick, another while more dull ; Now confident, and shortly distrustful: At one time, valiant; and anon, cowardly . And this comes to pass not through intercisions of grace, but from the constitution of nature, not thoroughly vanquished by grace.
But, as it was said of Alexander, that he excelled both in virtues and vices, so such though sometimes they be more notorious in their falls, yet are they upon recovery more notable for their graces. As Lute-strings, if they be true, though sometimes, by being set too high or too low, they make an unpleasing sound, yet being put into a right pitch and tune, they yield a more than ordinary symphony and melody: so is it with a Christian of this temper, although sometimes, when out of tune, he offendeth the eyes and ears both of God and man, yet when he is again reduced to a good frame of spirit, he maketh excellent music beyond other men in the ears of both.
As for his own feelings, he hath a kind of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in, his life, and in himself. Sometimes more of the sweet, another while more of the sour: as he finds the inconstancy of his temper to act him, or the power of grace overcoming it. Nevertheless, he not only bewails his sicklenesse, but labors for constancy, and for that purpose entereth into a stricter Covenant with his eyes, lips, ears, and especially with his heart: then, with others, both with his former companions in evil, that is, as Jacob with Laban, a parting Covenant, a stone of separation , forever to depart from them ; and with his Associates in Reformation, that the one may witness against the other, if he should fall off, or fail; that the witness of the thing may bind all the faster unto God . Yea, further, he renews Covenant with God himself, upon all such failings, coming up even to the Oath and to the Curse, and that in his sight who alone is able to help him to keep it . And having done this, he is careful to mind himself of it, and to make it good, I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments .
On the contrary, the unregenerate, although he be unstable in all his ways, yet is he constantly evil, and always in it.
He is not only as the hypocrite, that hath an heart, and an heart , one (as he pretendeth) for God, and another, for anything, like Theophrastus his Partridges of Paphlogonia that had two heatts; but he hath as many hearts as lusts, and these carry and hurry him, now hither, now thither; anywhere, everywhere, so that he is unstable in all his ways, that you know not where to find him, save only in evil in the general, which agrees to all his ways. For every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, are only evil continually .
He often varieth his steps, but never his way. He goeth round as an horse in a Mill: not from good to evil, for he was never good: not from evil to good, for he never means to be good: but only from one way, or kind, or degree of evil unto another; from one sin, error, or humor to another. He gaddeth about with all earnestness, to change his way, as Judah, that sought first to the Assyrian, then to Egypt, for help against the Chaldean; but never, to get into God's way, and therefore, with shame in both , because still, in the way of sin.
Thus, the regenerate is uncertain in his particular walks, as a Deer that is now here, now there; but always within the pales of the Park; but the unregenerate roveth and strayeth as an out-lying stag, that is everywhere trespassing upon the neighbors, not only within the purlues, but as far beyond them, as he is able and dares to wander. The one is as the loyal wife, always faithful, but otherwise very fickle and inconstant in her daily behavior towards her husband: the other is as the loose gadding house-wife of Samaria before her Conversion, that entertaineth a Paramour instead of an husband, after she had enjoyed husbands enow ; or, as a wife that committeth adultery, taking many strangers instead of her husband .