The anatomie of a Christian man VVherein is plainelie shewed out of the VVord of God, what manner of man a true Christian is in all his conuersation, both inward, and outward. ... By M. William Covvper, minister of Gods Word.

CHAPTER II. Of his New Senses.

The Lords Command concerning them.

THou knowest not how, by Nature* 1.1 thou art wretched, and miserable, & blind, & poore, and naked, Reu. 3. 17. For the naturall man per∣ceiues not those things which are of the Spirit of God, 1. Cor. 2. 14. he sauours one∣ly the things of the flesh, Rom. 8. 5. his wisdome is death, for it is enmitie with God verse 6. Hearken therefore vnto my words, and keep them in the middest of thine heart, Prou. 4. 21. Come* 1.2 and buy from mee eye-salue to annoynt thine eyes

that thou maist see, Reu. 3. 18. for I am he, who maketh both the eye to see, and the eare to heare, Prou. 20. 12. I will bring forth the blind people, and they shall haue eyes, and the deafe, and they shall heare, Esa. 43. 8. He that walks in the darke, knows not whither hee goes, Ioh. 12. 35. But I am come a light into the world, that whosoeuer beleeues in me should not abide in darkenesse, vers. 46. While therefore ye haue the light, walke in the light, that ye may be the children of light, Ioh. 12. 36.

The Christians Prayer for Grace to obey this command.

LOrd remoue from me that curse, a 1.3 that in see∣ing I should not see, and in hearing I should not vnderstand; b 1.4 quicken me according to thy lo∣uing kindnesse, so shall I keep the testimonies of thy mouth. Specially worke faith in my heart, c 1.5 for it is thy gift. d 1.6 I beleeue, O Lord, but help thou my vn∣beleefe: e 1.7 Increase my faith that mine eyes may f 1.8 be opened to see the wonders of thy law. g 1.9 Speake to the heart of thy seruant, that h 1.10 I may get cares to heare what thy Spirit saith, i 1.11 that I may tast how gracious thou art, that I k 1.12 may smell the sauour of life in thy Gospel, and may so touch thee, that in beleeuing l 1.13 I may get life through thy holy name, and may so bee ioyned with thee,

m 1.14 that I may become one spirit with thee, through Iesus Christ, to whom be glory for euer.

The Christians Practise of this command.

I Was borne of my naturall mother deafe,* 1.15 dumbe, and blind, but now the Lord hath opened mine eares, Esa. 50. 5. so that I dis∣cerne the voyce of my shepheard, and will not* 1.16 heare the voyce of a stranger, Ioh. 10. 5. for the Lord hath giuen vnto me eares to heare what the spirit saith, Reuel. 2. he hath also annoynted mine eyes with eye-salue, Reu. 3. 18. I looke not* 1.17 on things which are seene, but on things which are not seene, 2. Cor. 4. 18. And haue attained to some in-sight of that glorious inheritance pre∣pared for the Saints, Eph. 1. Yea, with open face I behold as in a mirrour the glory of the Lord, 2. Cor. 3. 18. I haue smelled the sweet sauour of* 1.18 his garments, Psal. 45. 8. and of his oyntments, for which I loue him, Cant. 1. 2. I haue tasted* 1.19 how gracious the Lord is, Psal. 34. 8. his word is sweeter to my mouth then the hony, or the ho∣ny combe, Psal. 119. And I haue touched my* 1.20 Lord, and his vertue hath staied the filthy issue of my sinne, Luk. 8. 44.

THE OBSERVATIONS.

THe Naturall man liues not till fourtie and* 1.21 fiue daies after his conception be expired, but the Christian begins to liue as soone as he is conceiued.

The principall effects of life are Sense and* 1.22 Motion, and the more excellent the life is, the Sense and Motion is. In the Naturall man, Mo∣tion goes before Sense, at least before the vse of* 1.23 the Senses; but in the Christian, Sense goes be∣fore Motion. For it is the new Sense which cau∣ses the heart to moue and stirre in a new man∣ner. Therefore is it, that first wee will speake of the Christians Senses, and then of his motion or disposition.

Naturall parents often times bring out their* 1.24 children either dead, or wanting some Sense, or mutilate of some member; but in the new gene∣ration it is not so, for the Lord begets no dead, no senselesse, no imperfect children, but liuing, indued with all their Senses, and perfect in re∣gard of the number of their parts.

The first Sense by regeneration restored to* 1.25 the Children of God, is the Sense of Hearing. As the eare was the first port by which death was

conuayed to the soule; so is it the first by which* 1.26 life enters into it. Euah by hearing what the Serpent said, was brought to a delectation in sinne: and the Christian by hearing what the Spirit saith, is brought to a contrary hatred of sinne.

The Spirit of God opens our eares, before* 1.27 he open our eyes; if we refuse to heare the Lord, wee shall neuer see him: Auditus est gradus ad visum, Hearing is a step to Seeing. As Adam af∣ter* 1.28 his Apostacie heard the Lord when he cried to him, but saw him not; so is it with all his chil∣dren, we may liue in the body, and heare him, but no man can liue and see him.

It is the order appointed by God, that wee* 1.29 should heare him before we come to see him: Auditus aspectum restituet, we lost our sight by transgression of Gods word, we get it againe by obedient hearing thereof. Sanet itaqúe auditus* 1.30 oculum, qui turbatus est, vt serenus vi leat, quem turbatus non potuit. Let vs therefore by hea∣ring learne how to cure our eye, that the eye be∣ing made cleare, may see the Lord, whom it can∣not see, so long as it is troubled; then shall wee sing, As we haue heard, so haue wee seene, in the* 1.31 citie of the Lord of Hoasts.

Oh what a fearefull sentence they seale a∣gainst* 1.32 themselues, who delight not to heare the word of the Lord? Hee that turneth away his

eare from hearing of the Law, euen his prayer shall* 1.33 be abhominable: for if on earth they get not ac∣cesse to God when they pray to him, how shall they in heauen get accesse to see him? A iust punishment of mans rebellion, if hee will not heare when God speakes, God shall not heare when he prayes, and shall neuer admit him to see his face in heauen.

But the eares required in the Christian are* 1.34 internall, by which he may heare what the spi∣rit saith. Of these speakes our Sauiour, He that hath eares let him heare. All that heard him, saith* 1.35 Augustine, had eares, and yet few of them had* 1.36 eares; Omnes habebant aures audiendi, & pa•…•…ci aures obediendi: Eares to heare, but not eares to obey; like those of Samuel, Speake Lord for thy* 1.37 seruant heareth: and of Dauid, I will hearken* 1.38 what the Lord God will say, for he will speake peace to his people, and Saints, that they turne not againe to follie.

And they who haue receiued these eares doe* 1.39 heare in such sort, that they are sanctified by hearing according to that of our blessed Saui∣our, Now are ye cleane through the word which I* 1.40 haue spoken to you. But alas, how great is the number of them, who after so long a hearing of the Gospel, doe still retaine the filthinesse of* 1.41 their old sinnes? they are hearers onely, and not* 1.42 doers of the word, deceiuing themselues: for either

else when they heare the word, they vnderstand it not; or if they vnderstand it, they are not mo∣ued with it; or if they be mooued, they are not mended by it, their motion beeing but like that of Foelix, and their repentance like vnto the* 1.43 morning dew; but few they are, whose ears God hath opened by the grace of Regeneration.

The second Sense we receiue in the Regene∣ration,* 1.44 is the Sense of Seeing. Sathan promised* 1.45 to our parents, that if they would eat of the for∣bidden tree, they should become like God in knowledge; but like a false deceiuer as he is, hee made them like vnto himselfe: for the know∣ledge of good, which they had by creation, in∣stantly they lost it by their transgression, and learned by experience that euill which before they knew not; for their eies were opened to see their nakednesse, and they were ashamed of it.

The eye of the body was made to behold the* 1.46 light, that by it wee might see the rest of the creatures, and in them the goodnesse of the Creator; but if the eye be hurt and wounded, non solum auertit se a luce, sed etiam poenalis illi sit lux, It doth not onely turne away from behol∣ding the light, but the light also, which other∣wise is delightfull, becomes painefull to it. Sic & oculus cordis perturbatus & sauciatus auer∣tit se à iustitiae lumine, nec audet eam contemplari nec valet. So the eye of the soule being hurt

and troubled, turnes it selfe away from the light of righteousnesse, neither dare it, neither can it behold it.

An example whereof we may see in our first* 1.47 father Adam, who reioyced at the presence of God, so long as he kept a good conscience; but from the time the eye of his soule was wounded with transgression, he ran away from God, hee could not see the Lord as he was woont to doe, but was afraid to heare him. So cursed and consuming a canker is sin, that it changes our sweetest comforts, and makes them becom bit∣ter terrors vnto vs.

But this sight which wee lost by the sinne of* 1.48 Adam, is restored againe vnto vs by the grace of Christ, who annoynts our eyes with eye salue,* 1.49 by which we are made to see, and discerne things that are excellent: in a word, he indues vs with the gift of faith, by which we haue fel∣lowship with God, so that we dare in assurance draw neere the throne of his grace.

Now the eyes of Christs spouse are two; by* 1.50 the one we know our miserie, which causeth vs denie our selues: by the other we know his mer∣cies,* 1.51 which causeth vs to runne vnto him. Apo∣state Adam before his restitution by grace, had his eyes opened to know his miserie; for the knowledge of that good which hee had in the estate of innocencie, made him incontinent

sensible of that euill, into which he had fallen by his Apostacie. But now man cannot know his miserie, till by the grace of Regeneration his eyes be opened; for till that be, he knowes no other estate, but the estate of sinne, wherein hee was conceiued, borne, and brought vp, and which in his darkened cogitation hee esteemes to be good enough, vntill such time he be tran∣slated into a better.

Sight once receiued should be diligent∣ly* 1.52 conserued, for as the eye of the body is very tender, and easily offended, for which cause God hath guarded it with liddes which close and open most speedily at the pleasure of man; so is it with the eye of the mind, and there∣fore the good that may preserue it should be much esteemed, and the euill that may hurt it carefully eschewed.

Three things are required for the help of* 1.53 those spirituall eyes, by which the Lord is seene: first, that wee haue another light beside the light of our owne vnderstanding; for sicut Sol si∣ne* 1.54 Sole non videtur, ita nec Deus sine deo videri potest: as the eye albeit it were neuer so cleare, yet can it not see without the light of the sunne; so our vnderstanding though it were neuer so quicke, cannot attaine to know the Lord, vnlesse that he by his owne light reueale himselfe vnto vs in his word. And therefore is it that the most

wise Naturalists being destitute of this light, had* 1.55 their foolish hearts ful of darkenes, and became vaine in their owne imaginations.

The second thing required is, that we haue* 1.56 some conformitie with God in holinesse; for as no member in the body can perceiue the light of the sunne, but the eye, by reason of a simili∣tude which is betweene them, both of them be∣ing appointed vessels and organes of light, the one in the great, the other in the little world; so can no man see the Lord, except in some measure he be like him: Blessed are the pure in* 1.57 spirit, for they shall see him, but without peace and sanctification no man can see the Lord.

The third thing required, is attention: for e∣uen* 1.58 as a tumbling and rowling eye seeth not those things which are before it; so a wandring mind not stablished by consideration and di∣uine contemplation, cannot see the Lord.

The bodily sight is two manner of waies* 1.59 offended, either by exterior dust cast into it, or by interior humors stopping the opticke nerues within; so Sathan either casteth into our eyes the dongue of the world, to blind vs by it; or then by our owne grosse and carnall affections stops the conduits of our sight, that wee should not see the Lord: and therefore both the one and the other should carefully be eschewed.

If the eye be once offended with the smallest

mote, we delay not to remedie it, but doe im∣plore* 1.60 the help of such as are neerest vs to take it out. Since by nature we are so carefull to keep the eye, by which we see the sunne, how carefull should we be to conserue the eye, by which we see him who made the sunne.

The third Sense restored in the Regenera∣tion,* 1.61 is Smelling. All the garments of our Bride∣groome smell of Myrrhe and Cassia, but the virgins onely feele the sauour of his oyntments,* 1.62 for which they runne after him, they smell in the Gospel the sauour of life; and therefore as the Eagle smelling the carrion a farre off, re∣sorts vnto it; so the Christian senting liuely in the word of Christ Iesus, slees speedily after him, ascending after him in his affection, there where hee is, to wit, at the right hand of God in heauen.

But miserable are the wicked, for they sauour* 1.63 onely those things which are after the flesh, like those vncleane beasts in the Law, which creep with all their foure vpon earth, senting no∣thing but dongue, the puddle being more plea∣sant to such filthy swine then the pearle. Woe be to them, for euen in the Gospel of grace they smell no other thing but the sauour of death.

The fourth is the Sense of Tasting, by which the Christian so tastes the sweetnesse of Gods

mercy & the sauing grace of Christ in the Go∣spell,* 1.64 that it descends into his bowels to nourish him, and make him grow in godlinesse: where as the wicked, if at any time they taste thereof, yet they neuer digest it, the corruption of their nature being so strong in them, that it suffocates and choakes the seede of the word, so that it profits them not to saluation.

And the last is the sense of touching, which* 1.65 in effect is done by beleeuing, for, tangere Chri∣stum est credere in Christum, like as the rest of* 1.66 the senses are comprised in faith, that iustifies a supernaturall gift, which Adam in his innocen∣cie had not, but in Christ is giuen vs, a most* 1.67 ample gift, for it not onely makes all things our owne in Christ, but makes vs all manner of waies to enioy Christ, it being most certaine, that by faith wee heare him, and discerne his voice, by faith we see him, by faith wee smell him, by faith we taste his sauing grace, and by faith we so touch him, that we draw vertue out of him.

In Nature, that which is the obiect of one* 1.68 sense, is not alway the obiect of another, as for example: a voice is heard by the eare, but is not seene by the eie, but in the Christian rene∣wed by grace, that which is the obiect of any one sense, is also perceiued by all the rest.

And herein hath the Lord made his aboundant

loue manifest vnto man; for looke what manner* 1.69 of waies a man may enioy any thing that i•…•… good, all those waies doth God communicate himselfe to man, some good things we enioy by seeing, and some by hearing, and some by ta∣sting; but the Lord not content to communi∣cate himselfe vnto vs by hearing, doth also call vs to see him, to smell him, to taste him, to touch him, that so all manner of waies we may enioy him: euerlasting praise therefore be vnto him.

Againe, wee see that as in nature those things* 1.70 which are learned by Sense, cannot be vnder∣stood of him who is destitute of Sense; what a∣uailes it to teach the harmonie of Musicke to him that is without eares? or to discourse of the comfortable light of the Sunne to him that is without eies? Can any eloquence so well ex∣presse the sweetnesse of hony, as it is felt by ta∣sting?* 1.71 Sensus enim omni sermone est efficacior. But it is more impossible that they who are de∣stitute of these new and spirituall Senses should vnderstand those things which concerne the spirituall life.

Pitifull then is the ignorance of Naturalists,* 1.72 euen of them who seeme to the world to be most wise; for surely, as the bruit beast vnder∣stands nothing of the naturall life of man, and knowes not how farre it excels that sensitiue life

by which it liues, and therfore desires not a bet∣ter, because it knowes no better; so the naturall man knowes nothing of the excellencie of that spirituall life, which the Christian hath begun to liue here, and by which he shall liue for euer hereafter: and therefore being delighted with his owne miserable life, hath not so much as a desire of a better.

The Censure.

By these rules it is euident that all are not Chri∣stians indeed, who now vsurpe the Christian name.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Naturally wee are borno senselesse of heauenly things.
• * 1.2

  Spirituall Senses required to salua∣tion.
• a 1.3

  Luk. 8. 10.
• b 1.4

  Psal. 119. 88.
• c 1.5

  Ephes. 2. 8.
• d 1.6

  Mark. 9. 24.
• e 1.7

  Luk. 17. 5.
• f 1.8

  Psal. 119. 18.
• g 1.9

  Hos. 2. 14.
• h 1.10

  Reuel. 2. 29.
• i 1.11

  Psal. 34. 8.
• k 1.12

  2. Cor. 2. 16.
• l 1.13

  Ioh. 20. 31.
• m 1.14

  1. Cor. 6. 17.
• * 1.15

  The Christian by regeneration re∣ceiueth the new senses.
• * 1.16

  Of hearing.
• * 1.17

  Of seeing.
• * 1.18

  Of smelling.
• * 1.19

  Of tasting.
• * 1.20

  Of touching.
• * 1.21

  1 The Christian liues as soone as he is conceiued.
• * 1.22

  2 Sense and motion two principall ef∣fects of life.
• * 1.23

  In the natural man motion goes be∣fore Sense. not so in the Christian.
• * 1.24

  3 No imperfect nor mutilate children borne by the new generation.
• * 1.25

  4 The first Sense re∣stored in Regene∣ration is Hearing.
• * 1.26

  Bern. in Cant. Serm. 28.
• * 1.27

  5 We must heare the Lord before we see him.
• * 1.28

  Bern. in Cant. serm. 41.
• * 1.29

  6 For by hearing our •…•…ies are cured, and prepared to see God.
• * 1.30

  Bern. in Cant. serm. 48.
• * 1.31

  Psal. 48. 8.
• * 1.32

  7 A warning for such as refuse to heare the word of the Lord.
• * 1.33

  Prou. 28. 9.
• * 1.34

  8 Eares of the man regenerate are in∣ternall.
• * 1.35

  Reuel. 2. Matth. 13.
• * 1.36

  Aug. H•…•…m. 28.
• * 1.37

  1. Sam.
• * 1.38

  Psal. 85. 8.
• * 1.39

  9 How the internal eares are knowne by sanctification.
• * 1.40

  Ioh. 15. 3.
• * 1.41

  Iam. 1. 22.
• * 1.42

  10 Carnall hearers of the word discoue∣red.
• * 1.43

  Act. 24. 26.
• * 1.44

  11
• * 1.45

  2 The second Sense we receiue in Re∣generation is Seeing.
• * 1.46

  12 As a troubled eye cannot behold the light, so a wounded conscience dare not looke to the Lord.
• * 1.47

  13 An example hereof proposed in Adam.
• * 1.48

  14 Sight lost by Adam restored by Christ.
• * 1.49

  Reuel. 3.
• * 1.50

  15 The eyes of a Christian are two.
• * 1.51

  Adam knew his miserie before he was restored by grace, but we can∣not doe so, and why?
• * 1.52

  15 Sight restored should be diligent∣ly conserued.
• * 1.53

  16 Three things help∣full to spirituall sight.
• * 1.54

  First, that Gods light illuminate our vnderstan∣ding.
• * 1.55

  Rom. 1.
• * 1.56

  17 Secondly, that wee haue some confor∣mitie with God in holinesse.
• * 1.57

  Matth. 5. 8. Heb. 12. 14.
• * 1.58

  18 Thirdly, that the heart be stablished by attention and consideration.
• * 1.59

  19 Sight two manner of waies offended.
• * 1.60

  20 The sight offen∣ded should be cu∣red without delay.
• * 1.61

  21 The third Sense restored in regene∣ration is Smelling.
• * 1.62

  Psal. 45. Cant. 1.
• * 1.63

  22 To the naturall man nothing sa∣uours well but dongue.
• * 1.64

  23 The fourth sense restored in regene∣ration is tasting.
• * 1.65

  24 The sift sense is touching.
• * 1.66

  Aug. in Ioan. •…•…ract, 16.
• * 1.67

  How all these sen∣ses are comprehen∣ded in faith.
• * 1.68

  25 In the Christian the obiect of one sense, is the obiect of all.
• * 1.69

  26 Gods great good∣nesse, who by all possible waies com∣municates himselfe vnto man.
• * 1.70

  27 No speech can giue vnderstanding, where sense is wan∣ting.
• * 1.71

  Basil. exhort. ad Bapti.
• * 1.72

  28 As the beast know∣eth not the life of the man naturall: so the naturall man knoweth not the excellent life of the Christian.