but leave a flime track behind,it which way foever it goes.Here is our bondage; where is our liberty; ubi fpriritus domini, ibi libertas; where the fpirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, 2 Cor. 3. 7. Oh wretched man that I am, who fhall deliver me from this body of death; I thank my ·God through Jefus Chrift.So then Chrift hath freed us from the bondage of fin.

An accufing confcience is a true task-mafter of Egypt; it will be fure to whip us for what we have done, for what we have not done : Horrour of fin, like a fleeping Maftive, lyes at our door. Gen. 4. 7. when it awakes it will fly on our throat. No clofer doth the fhaddow follow the body, then the revenge of felf-accufation followes fin; walk Eastward in the morning the fhadow ftarts behind thee, foon after it is upon thy left fide; at noon it is under thy feet; lye down it coucheth under thee, towards even it leaps before thee; thou canst not be rid of it, whiles thou haft a body, and the Sun light; no more can thy foul quit the confcience of evil; This is to thee inftead of an Hell of Fiends that shall ever be fhaking fire brands at thee, ever torturing thee with affrights of more paines then thy nature can comprehend, Seva contureata confcientia, wifd. 17. 11. If thou look to the punishment of lofs, it fhall fay as Lyfimachus did, how much felicity have I 'ot, for how little pleafure: If to the punishment of sense it fhall fay to thee as the Tyrant dream'd his heart faid to him out of the boiling caldron ainía; I am

the cause of all this mifery: Here is our bondage, where is the liber ty? Having our hearts sprinkled from an evill Confcience, Heb. 10. 22. Sprinkled, with what? Even with the blood of Jefus, verf. 19. This, this only is it that can free us: It is with the unquiet heart as with the troubled Sea of Tiberias; the Winds rile, the Waters fwell, the billowes roar, the fhip is toffed, Heaven and Earth threat to meet; Chrift doth but fpeak the word, all is calme; fo Chrift hath freed us Secondly from the bondage of an accufing confcience.

The confcience is but Gods Bayliff; It is the difpleasure of the Lord of Heaven and Earth that is the utmost of all terribles; the fear of Gods wrath is that ftrong winde that stirrs these billowes from the bottom; fet afide the danger of divine difpleasure and the clamours of confcience were harmlefs; this alone makes an Hell in the bofome: The averfion of Gods face is confufion, the leaft bending of his brow is perdition Pf. 2.ult.but his totus æftus,his whole fury,aspf.78.38.

is the utter abforption of the creature; excandefcentia ejus funditur ficut ignis; His wrath is poured out like fire, the rocks are rent before it, Nahum 1. 6. whence there is nothing but ( indo» ) a fearfull ex-. pectation of judgment, and fiery indignation,which ball devour the adverfavies, Heb. 10. 27. Here is the bondage, where is the liberty? Being juft fyed by faith we have peace with God, through Jefus Christ our Lord. So then Chrift hath freed us thridly from the bondage of the wrath of God.

As every wicked man is a Tyrant, according to the Philofophers pofition; and every Tirant is a Devil among men :fo the Devil is the Arch-tyrant of the creatures; he makes all his Subjects errand vaffals, yea chained flaves, 2 Tim. 2. ult. That they may recover themselves from the fnare of the Devil who are taken captive by him at his will: lo here is will, fnares, captivity, perfect tyranny. Nahafb the Ammonite was a notable Tyrant, he would have the right eyes of the Ifraelites put out,as an eminent mark of fervitude; fo doth this infernal Nahafb blind the right eye of our understanding; yea, with the fpightful Philiftim, he puts out both the eyes of our apprehenfion and judgment,that he may gyre us about in the Mill of unprofitable wickedneffe;and cruelly infult upon our remedileffe mifery.And when he hath done, the faireft end is death, yea death without end Oh the impotency of earthly tyranny to this; the greatest blood-fuckers could but kill; and livor poft fata, as the old word is; but here is an homicida ab initio ; and a fine too; ever killing with an ever-living death, for a perpetual fruition of our torment. Here is the bondage; where is the liberty? Christ hath Spoiled principalities and powers,and made a show of them,openly triumphing over them in the fame cross, Colof. 2. 15. By his death he deftroyed him that hath the power of death, the Devil, Heb. 2. 14. So then Chrift hath freed us fourthly, from the bondage of Satans tyranny.

At the beft, the law is but a hard Mafter, impoffible to please, dan faith St. Paul: but at the worst, a cruell one; The very courtefie of the law was jugum, an unfupportable yoke, but the fpight of the law is made a curfe. Curfed is every one that continues not in all that is written in the book of the law to do it, Gal. 3. 10. Do you not remember an unmercifull steward in the Gofpell that catcheth his bankrupt fellow by the throat, and faies, Pay me that thou oweft me; fo doth the law to us; we fhould pay and

D

can

cannot ; and because we cannot pay, we forfeit our felves; fo as every mothers fon is the child of death. Here is our bondage; where is our liberty? Chrift hath redeemed us from the curfe of the law, being made a curfe for us; Oh bleffed redemption, that frees us from the curfe. Oh bleffed redeemer, that would become a curfe for us that the curfe of the law might not light upon us ; fo Chrift hath freed us fifthly, from the bondage of the law.

Mofes was a meek man, but a fevere Mafter; His face did nor more thine in Gods afpect upon him, then it lowred in his aspect to men; His ceremonies were hard impofitions; Many for number, coftly for charge, painfull for execution. He that led Ifrael out of one bondage, carryed them into another: From the bondage of Egypt, to the bondage of Sinai; this held till the vail of the Temple rent; yea till the vail of that better Temple, his facred body, his very heart-ftrings did crack a funder, with a confummatum eft; And now hires roue xersios, Chrift is the end of the law, Rom. 10. 4. Now the law of the spirit of life hath freed us, Rom. 8. 2. You hear now no more newes of the ceremonies of prefiguration, they are dead with Chrift; ceremonies of decency may and muft live; let no man now have his ear bored thorough to Mofes his poft; Chrift hath freed us fixtly from the law of ceremonies.

Our laft Mafter is humane Ordinances; the cafe of our exemption where from is not fo clear; concerning which I finde a double extream of opinion; The one that afcribes too much to them, as equaliiug them with the law of God; the other that af cribes too little to them, as if they were no tie to our obedience: The one holding them to bind the confcience no lefs then the pofitive laws of God; the other either fleighting their obligation, or extending it only to the outward man, not the inward: we must learn to walk a inid-way betwixt both; and know that the good lawes of our fuperiours, whether civil or ecclefiaftical, do in a fort reach to the very confcience; though not primarily and imme diately as theirs, yet mediately and fecondarily as they ftand in reference to the law of God with our obedience to his inftituted authority; and therefore they tie us in fome fort befides the cafe whether of fcandall, or contempt. Where no man can witnefs, there is no fcandall; where is no intention of an affront to the commanding power, there is no contempt, and yet willingly to

break

break good laws without all witnefs, without all purpose of affront is therfore fin becaufe difobedience; For example, Idine fully alone out of wantonneffe, upon a day fequeftred by authority to a publick faft; I dine alone, therefore without fcandall; out of wantonneffe, therefore not out of contempt; yet I offend against him that feeth in fecret, notwithstanding my folitarineffe, and my wantonneffe is by him conftrued as a contempt to the ordainer of authority. But when both fcandall and contempt are met to aggra vate the violation, now the breach of humane lawes binds the confcience to a fearfull guilt. Not to flatter the times, (as I hope I fhall never be blurred with this crimination) I muft needs fay this is too fhamefully unregarded; Never age was more lawleffe ; Our fore-fathers were taught to be fuperftitiously fcrupulous in obferving the lawes of the Church, above Gods; like thofe Chriftians of whom Socrates the hiftorian fpeaks of, which held fornication as a thing indifferent, de diebus feftis tanquam de vita decertant, but strive for an holy day as for their life; we are leapt into a licentious neglect of civill or facred lawes, as if it were piety to be difobedient. Doth the law command a Friday faft; no day is fo felected for fcasting; let a fchifmaticall or popish book be prohibited, this very prohibition endears it; let wholfome lawes be enacted against drunkenneffe, idleneffe, exactions, unlawfull tranfportations, exceffe of diet, of apparell, or what ever noted abuse: commands do not fo much whet our defires, as forbiddances: what is this but to baffle and affront that facred power which is entrusted to government: and to profeffe our felves not Libertines, but licentiate of dif order. Farr, farr is it from the intentions of the God of order, under the ftile of liberty to give fcope to thefe unruly humors of men; the iffue whereof can be no other then utter confufion. But if any power (befides divine) in Heaven or Earth fhall challenge to it felf this priviledg, to put a primary, or immediate tie upon the confcience, fo as it fhould be a fin to difobey that ordinance, because 'tis without relation to the command of the higheft, let it be anathe ma; our hearts have reafon to be free in fpight of any fuch Antichristian ufurpation, whiles the owner of them hath charged us, not to be (thus) the fervants of men 1 Cor. 7. 23. fo Chrift hath laftly freed us from the bondage of humane ordinances.

Lo now ye have feen our liberation from a whole heptarchy of fpiritual

D 2

spirituall tyranny; Stand still now awhile, Honourable and beloved, and look back with wondring and thankfull eyes upon the infinite mercy of our deliverer; fin beguiles us, confcience accufeth us, Gods wrath is bent against us, Satan tyrannizes over us, the law condemnes us, infolent fuperftition inthralls us, and now from all thefe Chrift hath made us free.. How fhould we now crcct altars to our dear Redeemer, and infcribe them Chrifto liberatori; how fhould we from the altars of our devoted hearts, fend up the holy facrifices of our beft obediences, the sweet incenfe of our perpetuall prayers. Oh bleffed Saviour, how fhould we, how can we enough magnifie thee; no not, though thofe celeftiall Choristers of thine fhould return to bear a part with us in renewing their gloria in excelfis, glory to God on high; Our bodies, our fouls are too little for thee; Oh take thine own from us, and give it to thy felf, who hast both made and freed it. To fumme up all then; we are freed from the bondage of fin by the fpirit of Chrift; from an accufing confcience by the blood of Chrift, from the wrath of God by faith in Chrift, from the tyranny of Satan by the victory of Chrift from the curfe of the law by the fatisfaction of Chrift; from the law of ceremonies by the confummation of Chrift; from humane ordinances by the manumiffion and inftruction of Chrift; and now ftand faft in all these liberties wherewith Chrift hath made free; And fo from the liberty, and prerogative, we defcend to the maintenance of this liberty, Stand faft.

you

i

Is it any boot to bid a man hold faft our once recovered liberty; did ye ever hear of a wild bird that once let out of the cage wherein the hath been long enclosed would come fluttering about the wires to get in again. Did ye ever fee a flave, that after his ranfome paid, and his discharge obtained would run back and fue for a place in his Gally. Cafuifts difpute whether a prifoner (though condemned) may upon breach of prifon efcape; and the beft refolve it affirmatively; fo Caietan, Soto, Navarre, Leffius, others: Their reafon is; For that he is not fentenced to remain voluntarily in bonds, but to be kept fo; neither is it the duty of the offender to ftay, but of the keeper to hold him there; hence chaines and fetters are ordained, where otherwife twifts of towe were fufficient: but never any Cafuift doubted, whether a prifoner would be glad to be free; or once well escaped would or ought to returne to his gaol ;.

that