Chapter II
How reason affords all assistance to the encouragement of sin. By what prin
ciples it is herein acted, and what motives it useth.
These grounds being laid, you shall see the corrupt dealings of reason in
us, how it affords all its assistance for sin ; and first we will see what prin
ciples reason is most effectually guided by. Now the first office of reason
is to advise and counsel upon all occasion what is best to be done, for with
it the heart adviseth upon all occasions, and unto it are all deliberate actions
- * Idem est uHimus finis ad rationem practicam, quod prima principia ad rationem
speculativam. Aquinas, 1, 2, qu. 90, art. 3.
CHAP. II.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT.
brought, to have reason s approbation and broad seal set to them. Now,
therefore, when we come seriously to advise with reason what is best to be
done, whether we should do this or that, refuse this or choose this; to what
principles hath reason recourse in the advice it gives ; doth it go to the prin
ciples of the word, and make them its counsellors, as David did, Ps. cxix.
104, 105, to see what it judgeth of such an action or cause, or do the rules,,
the motives, the persuasions thereof prevail with reason ? No ; because God is not a man s end, nor do we believe the principles of his word ; but
reason now, as corrupted, looks and adviseth with a man s own heart, a::d
considers what ends, what present desires or occasions a man hath ; look how things do suit with our present occasions, or conduce to our own ends,
and seem to please our present desires, those corrupt reason, and fleshly wisdom judgeth best. And these principles are the new inventions which men have sought out. So that as the holy wisdom of God, whereby he doth
all he doth, looks into himself for the reason of all his actions, and to nothing out of himself; and therefore he is said to work all according to the counsel
of his own will, his holy ends being the principles his wisdom is wholly
swayed by in all, so as his will is the rule of all reason ; so reason now
having set up a man s self for its end, it looks for the reason of everything
in itself, and judgeth not those things to be best which are best in them
selves, but which are best for himself and his corrupt desires, and the pre sent constitution of his heart and condition.
As therefore whilst God was a man s end, as in the state of innocency, or when he becomes a man s end, as in the estate of grace, then all the parti
cular directions God expresseth his will in become laws and principles to
consult with in all a man s actions, which he is sure never to swerve from ; and then all the motives which are drawn from God, which the word lays down to persuade us, become effectual reasons to move us to anything, for
they had all reference and relation to that first principle reason looks to, God
being his utmost end. Now, on the clean contrary, a man s self being become
his utmost end, look how many corrupt desires he hath to be satisfied and
pleased, look how many by-ends he hath whose turns are to be served, too
many principles he hath which corrupt reason, fleshly wisdom, hath an eye
unto, according to which it guides you, and counsels you in all your actions.
If the things you are to do be suitable to them, it adviseth you to put them
in execution, to set upon them, and also all motives drawn from pleasing your lusts and ends become strong reasons, effectual arguments to persuade you to do anything. So that now, I having told you that all true principles of godliness are extinguished, you see the principles and reasons which a man in his actions is guided by, are lusts, and by-ends, and motives drawn from them. These are the principles you go by ; with these reason consults, from these reason argues upon all occasions, when anything is to be done
by us. And therefore, in Ps. Ixxxi. 12, to be given up to their lusts, and
their own hearts counsels, are all /me, because reason in all consults with lusts.
To make this clear to you by instances out of the word.
1. If riches be a man s end, what principle is that his reason in all his
actions consults with ? Paul tells you it : 1 Tim. vi. 5, Perverse disput-
ings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain
: from such withdraw thyself. They suppose that gain is godli ness; that is, they lay that for a rule, a principle, that they advise with, and have recourse to, and frame their actions by ; however men do not
is godliness
profess so much, yet this they lay for a ground, this they truly think and
believe ; whereas, says the apostle, there is another principle we are guided
220 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK V.
by in all estates and conditions, that godliness is great gain. Now this
principle being laid in the heart, when in a matter of unjust gain a man comes to advise with his reason whether it be better to obey God than get money, whether it be better to increase godliness or his estate, to forsake or leave off some practice of godliness or lose his estate, his heart supposing gain better than godliness, because it suits with his desires and disposition of his heart more, this being his principle, he lets godliness go, as the young man in the Gospel and Demas did. Now there is the like reason of
honour, pleasure, &c.
So also if a man be to profess godliness, and sees he must take up some
religion, what principles doth reason consult with, how far he shall shew himself in the cause ? Why he consults with his own ends : Eccles. vii. 16, Be not righteous over much ; neither make thyself over wise : why shouldst thou destroy thyself? In the 15th verse he had named a shrewd
temptation that stumbles many in the world : ver. 15, All things have I seen in the days of my vanity
: there is a just man that perisheth in his
righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness. They see a righteous man perish in his righteousness, trodden down and oppressed, and a wicked man that prolongs his days in
his wickedness, and it is a means to save him. Two conclusions are drawn
thence, the one by corrupt reason, the other by the Spirit. What principle doth carnal reason then gather from it? It is this : take heed, be not righteous over much, nor over nice, nor wiser than the rest of the world, says flesh ; why the principle which reason guides him by is to preserve himself whole
by taking a moderate course, destroy not thyself; he thinks that too much
religion would destroy his credit, &c. The other opposite conclusion the
* Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish : why shouldest thou die^before thy time ? So^that the principles men advise with are themselves and their own ends.
Spirit draws : ver. 17,
So when a man hath his enemy in his power to hurt him, the principle carnal reason consults with is quite different from what godly reason is
guided by.
When David had Saul in his power, what was David s principle his rea son consulted with ? 1 Sam. xxiv. 6, And he said unto his men, The Lord
forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord s anointed, to
stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. The Lord forbid that I should do this thing ; how shall I do it, and sin
against God ? for God was his end. But what was Saul s principle, which he would have consulted with in the like advantage ? If the question had been asked whether it had been best in such a case to kill David, what would Saul have thought ? If a man find his enemy, will he let him go well
away ? Saul thought in his reason he were a fool that would do it. This was a principle in his heart he should have gone by.
So for pleasing men when they command one thing and God another. This was the principle the apostles in their hearts stuck to and reasoned from : it is better to obey God than man, Acts v. 29 ; but when the Jews
were to move Pilate to crucify Christ, when he knew him to be a righteous man, what principle do they work upon, and from what do they draw their
reason to move him ? John xix. 12, And from thenceforth Pilate sought to
release him : but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou
art not Caesar s friend : whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. If thou lettest this man go, thou art not Caesar s friend ; they knew
that was an argument to carnal reason which would prevail.
And therefore, now, if you are to move a carnal man in any business,
CHAP. II.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 221
would you speak reason to him so as to prevail, you must speak to save lust,. to save the end that he hath in his aim and purpose ; for they are the prin
ciples in his heart, and what is drawn from thence is effectual to move, else
not. Thus when Balak would persuade Balaam to curse the people of God, what reason doth he use ? Numb. xii. 16, 17,
* I will promote thee to very
great honour ; and ver. 37, And Balak said unto Balaam, Did I not ear
nestly send unto thee to call thee ? wherefore earnest thou not unto me? am
I not able indeed to promote thee to honour ? Am I not able to promote thee to honour ? He speaks reason to him that suited and was agreeable. So when the Jews consulted among themselves what they should do with
Christ, what was the prevailing reason and argument to put him to death ?
* The inheritance shall be ours, Luke xx. 14.
1. Say they,
2. Say they, All will believe in him, and the Romans shall come and take away our place and nation, and so we must lose all : John xi. 48, If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him ; and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation; and so in John vii. 4. Christ s carnal friends there urge a carnal rule they went by of credit to move him to preach, John vii. 3, 4 ; and thus, too, when any man turns to God, what reason and
arguments doth he find his heart stick at most, what principles doth his reason argue from ? I shall be cast out of the synagogue, says one ; that is the reason moved some not to profess faith in Christ: John xii. 42, Never
theless, among the chief rulers also many believed on him ; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the syna gogue. I shall lose my friends, says another; my preferment, says a third; and these are reasons with them why they should not turn to God. And on the contrary, we see by experience that the motives out of the word, and which are reasons drawn from the principles thereof, move not, because we believe not those principles ; but reason hath other it looks unto and con
sults with, viz., its own corrupt ends, and those motives having no connec tion with such ends, therefore they move not, are no arguments to them, nay, they are foolishness : 1 Cor. ii. 14,
* But the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God : for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned ; that is, he sees no reason in them, because the principles they are drawn from are not believed, for reason is that which sees the dependence and connection of one thing with and from another.
But, 2, this is not all that reason doth, but when a man hath pitched upon an end to be acquired, reason is farther employed to invent and to look out for such fit means whereby those ends may be accomplished. Sin could do
little if it were not for the help of reason ; for as the speculative understand
ing, when a thing is propounded to be proved, invents and starts up mediums and notions to prove it, so the practical is set on work to find out ways and means, and to consider what will best conduce to such an end. And this
office of corrupted reason is especially meant here in this place the devices and arts of the heart, to bring sinful enterprises to pass ; for he here means nets and snares to catch men ; and these inventions are many, they are
infinite, not to be numbered. Insomuch as the way of a serpent is on a
stone, so is the way of a man with a maid, full of infinite plots, Prov. xxx. 19 ; and herein corrupt reason is exceeding witty, wiser in their generation than the children of light. How ready was the wit of a woman, Jezebel, when Ahab himself knew not what to do, how rational to take away, to get in Naboth s vineyard, to plot his death ; but that would not be enough, for had he been simply killed, his son would inherit, but if he should die as a traitor, then his goods should be forfeited. See how she plots it: 1 Kings xxi. 9, 10,
222 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK V.
And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on
high among the people ; and set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king
: and then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die.
How witty was Joseph s mistress, and sudden to invent a way to be re
venged on Joseph, when he left his coat with her, to turn the enticing to
adultery upon him ! How subtle were Daniel s enemies to plot against him when he stood in
! They knew they could charge him in nothing but in the matter of his God, and they knew him constant in prayer ; therefore get this con firmed by the king, that whosoever put up any petition to any but the king
their way
should be put to death.
What an invention was it that Simeon and Levi had to accomplish their
revenge upon the men of Shechem for the rape of Dinah, to have them all circumcised first, that so when they were sore they might fall upon them ! Many and infinite are the inventions of corrupt reason to do mischief.
8. Our lusts use wit and reason to make compositions of pleasures for
them, to mingle a spiced cup of many sweet ingredients, artificially com
posed, to improve creatures to the uttermost ; so Solomon used not only his
power, but his wit also, to make inventions to please himself: Eccles. ii.
4-9, I made me great works ; I builded me houses ; I planted me vine
yards ; I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits ; I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that
bringeth forth trees ; I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born
in my house ; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above
all that were in Jerusalem before me ; I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces ; I gat me men-
singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical
instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great, and increased more than
all that were before me in Jerusalem : also my wisdom remained with me.
4. Reason serves our lusts in discerning the fittest opportunity of accom
plishing our lusts and ends ; so Herodias did, who had watched how to do John a mischief, Mark xvi. 19, but finding Herod in a good mood, and so
large in promising to give whatever was asked, she takes the opportunity of
craving John Baptist s head ; and it was suddenly thought of, for straight way the maid came in again, ver. 25. So, Prov. vii., the adulteress takes
the opportunity of her husband s being abroad; so, Mat. xxvi. 16, Judas
sought opportunity to betray Christ.
, 5. Men have inventions to conceal their sins. So had Joseph s brethren
by his coat, to conceal their selling their brother, and inventing a cunning
lie with it ; so had David in making Uriah drunk, to conceal his adultery. As men have arts to cover the deformities of their bodies, so also of their
souls. Therefore their wicked ends in sinning they strive most to conceal.