Twenty sermons preached at Oxford before His Majesty, and elsewhere

all these, have I kept from my youth, which evidenced him to have bin a good moral man indeed in that he had done so much, yet this was not enough one thing lacked: go and sell all that thou hast, &c. However because there was so much in him, we read Mark. 10.21. Jesus loved him: he showeth that his cause was heavy, that going so far he should not attain his end. ⟨p. 22⟩But this was not to be despised, for this Jesus loved him. So 1 Kings 14.13. He only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good things towards the Lord. If there are but some good things in a man, the remains of Gods work, God loveth his own work; Here's the point then, though Morality be good, and natural reason be good: And what through the providence of God remains in us, since the state of our first creation; (For this state was a pure and a full glass, made by God himself, but since the fall, is much darkened: If we consult with natural reason and Moral Philosophy, they will discover many things:) yet this comes short. There are abundance of things that it cannot discover, manifold defects which it cannot discern. The Apostle saith in the Romans c. 7. v. 7. I had not known sin but by the Law. I had not known lust to have been a sin, had not the Law said, thou shalt not lust. We have many sins we cannot know, but by the Law, yea such secret sins, as must be repented of. Our Saviour overthrew the Tables of the Money Changers, and would not suffer them to carry Burdens through the Temple, though for the use of those that sacrificed, a thing which had some show of Religion in it. He whipped both out, not only those that had residence there, but those that passed through: He would suffer none but those that could justify what they did by the Law. Now, as God would not have sin lodge and make its abode in the Soul, so he would not have it made a thorough fare for sin: he would not have vain thoughts come up and down in the hearts. Now, By the Law comes the knowledge of these secret sins. Reason is a glass much to be esteemed for what it can show; but it is not a perfect glass; sometimes it shows a sin, but many times diminishes it, that we cannot see it in full proportion. The Apostle makes this use of the Law, that by it sin becomes exceeding sinful.