And no marvel if the spiritual government of Christ be so opposed : 1. Because it is government, and that limits the course of the will, and casteth a bridle upon its wanderings ; everything natural resists what opposeth it ; so corrupt wiU labours to bear down all laws, and counteth it a generous thing not to be awed, and an argument of a low spirit to fear any, even God himself, until unavoidable danger seizeth on men, and then those that feared least out of danger fear most in danger, as we see in Belshazzar, Dan. v. 6.
2. It is spiritual government, and therefore the less will flesh endure it. Christ's government bringeth the very thoughts and desires, which are the most immediate and free issue of the soul, into obedience. Though a man were of so composed a carriage, that his whole life were free from outward offensive breaches, yet with Christ to be ' carnally or worldly-minded is death,' Eom. viii. 6 : he looketh on a worldly mind with a greater detesta- tion than any one particular ofience.*
But Christ's Spirit is in those who are in some degree earthly-minded.
Truth it is, but not as an allower and maintainer, but as an opposer, pubduer, and in the end as a conqueror. Carnal men would fain bring Christ and the flesh together, and could be content wiih. some reservation to submit to Christ ; but Christ will be no underling to any base affection ; and therefore, where there is allowance of om'selves in any sinful lust, it is a sign the keys were never given up to Christ to rule us.
3. Again,! this judgment is opposed, because it is judgment, and meii love not to bo judged and censured. Now Christ, in his truth, arraigneth them, giveth sentence against them, and bindeth them over to the latter judgment of the great day. And therefore they take upon them to judge that truth that must judge them ; but truth will be too good for them. Man hath a day now, which St Paul calls 'man's day,' 1 Cor. iv. 33, wherein he getteth upon his bench, and usurpcth a judgment over Christ and his ways ; but God hath a day wherein ho will set all straight, and his judg- ment shall stand. And the saints shall have their time, when they shall
* Gravius est peccatum diligere quam perpetrare, &c. — Grefflori/I. Moral., lib. XXV. cap. 11.
t ' Again .... opposed,' added in B.
AND SMOKING FLAX. 97
sit in judgment upon them that judge them now, 1 Cor. vi. 2, In the mean time, Christ will rule in the midst of his enemies, Ps. ex. 3, even in the midst of our hearts.
Use. It is therefore no sign of a good condition to find all quiet, and nothing at odds ; for can we think that corruption, which is the elder in us, and Satan, the strong man that keepeth many holds in us, will yield possession quietly ? No ; there is not so much as a thought of goodness discovered by him, but he joineth with corruption to Idll it in the birth. And as Pharaoh's cruelty was especially against the male children, so Satan's mahce is especially against the most rehgious and manly resolutions.
This, then, we are always to expect, that wheresoever Christ cometh, there will be opposition. When Christ was born, all Jerusalem was troubled ; so when Christ is born in any man, the soul is in an uproar, and all because the heart is unwilling to yield up itself to Chiist to rule it.
Wheresoever Christ cometh he breedeth division, not only, 1, between man and himself; but, 2, between man and man ; and 3, between church and church : of which distm'bance Chi'ist is no more the cause than physic is of trouble in a distempered body, of which noisome humours are the proper cause ; for the end of physic is the peace of humom-s. But Christ thinketh it fit that the thoughts of men's hearts should be discovered, and he is as well for the falling as the rising of many in Israel, Luke ii. 34.
Thus the desperate madness of men is laid open, that they had rather be under the guidance of their own lusts, and by consequence of Satan himself, to their endless destruction, than put their feet into Christ's fetters, and their necks under his yoke ; whereas, indeed, Christ's service is the only true hberty. His yoke is an easy yoke, his burden but as the bm-den of wings to a bird, that maketh her fly the higher. Satan's government is rather a bondage than a government, unto which Christ giveth up those that shake 05" his own, for then he giveth Satan and his factors power over them, since they will not ' receive the truth in love,' 2 Thess. ii. 20 : take him, Jesuit, take him, Satan, blind him and bind him and lead him to perdition. Those that take the most liberty to sin are the most perfect slaves, because most voluntary slaves. The will in everything is either the best or the worst ; the farther men go on in a wilful course, the deeper they sink in rebellion; and the more they cross Christ, doing what they will, the more they shall one day sufler what they would not. In the mean time, they are prisoners in their ovm souls, bound over in their consciences to the judgment of him after death, whose judgment they would none of in their lives. And is it not equal that they should feel him a severe judge to con- demn them, whom they would not have a nuld judge to rule them ?