thou hast done in all Meekness and Charity and Faith and Hope that I may be fitted for those Mansions thou art gone before to prepare for me Amen Amen SECT IV. Cantaining the fourth Motive to Holiness i. e. the Consideration of the vanity of all those things which tempt us to sin A Man who should have seriously laid to heart the strength and importance of these Motives to Holiness which I have considered would be apt to think that nothing less than some unimaginable temptation or some unavoidable necessity in the contrivance of our natures could provoke men to cast off all these Obligations and break thorough all these obstructions that he might sin and die but on the quite contraty which doth strangely reproach the folly of the sinner 1. Those things which are the allurements to fin have little or no temptation in them 2. Sin it self is a silly base thing And 3. Man hath strength enough offer'd to enable him to avoid it 1. The first I shall have occasion to consider fully in the third part of this Treatise and thither I refer the Reader only by the way we must take notice there is no more sttess to be laid upon this Argument than it will bear and that this Argument hath still respect to the joys and punishments of another life the sensual satisfactions of Man are very little and trifling compar'd with the pleasures of Heaven and it can never be worth a mans while to be damn'd for them yet sure if there were no life to come it would behove every man to be content with and make the most of this nor do I at all doubt but that men may manage their lusts so as that they may not be able to infer Reason enough to relinquish them from any influence they have upon their interest or if any one should think it necessary to purchase a pleasure by the shortning of his life or the lessening of his Estate I cannot see why he may not have reason on his side for a short life and a merry one and my mind to me a Kingdom is would upon the former supposition be a wise Proverb for upon this supposition the pleasure of the mind would be very narrow and faint and the checks of Conscience would be none or insignificant But as the case stands now though there be pleasure in sin and deceitfulness in lust granted in Scripture to abandon the hopes of Heaven for some carnal pleasures upon Earth is like Esau to sell his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage and on the other hand to renounce all present enjoyments for the sake of Heaven is like Peter to forsake a worn Fisher-boat and broken Nets a troubled Lake and uncertain Hopes for the assurance of a Crown and Kingdom which is surely very reasonable And now I pass on to the second thing and fifth Section SECT V. Containing a fifth Motive to Holiness from the Nature of Vertue and Vice IN 1 Ep. Jo. 1. this is set down as the great Message which Christ came to acquaint the world with that God is light and in him is no darkness at all and therefore they who walk in the light have fellowship with him and they that walk in darkness have none where it is plain that S. John founded the necessity of Holiness in the Divine Nature because God is holy therefore he must first renounce his own Nature e're he can establish any other contrary Laws or love or hate on any other condition than Holiness and sin This being so I think the best way to discover the Nature of Vertue and Vice is to consider how the one renders us like God and the other unlike him The Account we have of the Nature of God is that he is a Spirit of Eternal Life Infinite Power Wisdom Goodness Justice and Truth these are the chief of his Attributes and such as Reason it self acknowledges to be the highest perfections and excellencies imaginable If Holiness therefore tend to implant and improve some resemblances of them in men and Vice to efface and extinguish them it will easily appear how the one makes us like God and the other unlike him 1 God is a Spirit it is true that Vertue and Vice do not change the substances of things and make Spirit Flesh or Flesh Spirit yet because they do so wonderfully transform things by instilling new qualities and so altering the operations of beings they are in Scripture said to do so Thus because Vertue raises and refines the Soul frees it from those Fogs which a sensual dotage casts about it scatters a new light upon it and mortifies those affections which reign in the body and render it more obedient to the mind so that the man lives the life of Faith as becomes a wise and an immortal being therefore it is said in the Language of the Holy Ghost to have render'd him a spiritual man and on the other side because sin doth stupifie and sensualize the mind imbolden and pamper the body so that the soul seems to have chang'd its nature into flesh and relishes nothing of those pleasures which are properly spiritual but is wholly taken up with those enjoyments which are the proper and natural entertainments of flesh and blood not a Spirit therefore sin is said to have rendred the man a natural man 2. Eternal Life is the second Attribute of God Life in man is either of the Body or Soul as to the former Temperance Imployment and a chearful spirit are the great Preservatives of Health and the best supports of such crazy beings as our bodies are Religion injoyns the two former for no man can be holy without being temperate and imploid at least in doing good and it contributes very effectually to the later i. e. chearfulness of spirit by begetting in us a peaceful Conscience a resign'd mind and glorious hopes but sin shortens our hasty days by exposing us to diseases violence the Law and by the ill influence which a distemper'd mind hath upon the body as to the Soul Righteousness is the life of it it is the nourishment and pleasure the freedom and the security of it but sin is the death and plague of it non est vivere sed valere vita it is not the meer existing but the welfare and happiness of a being which is its life and if so how can a soul which is sick of passions daily tortur'd and distracted by an ill Conscience be said to live Besides sin doth impair the faculties o'recast the light and fetter the powers of the mind so that it neither understands nor wills nor commands as it ought to do it is rendred a poor sickly despicable being and therefore the sinner is said to be dead in trespasses and sins or at least because the Metaphor is not to be press'd too far as appears from the Text following if it hath any life it is as imperfect as that of a Lethargick drowsie body all 's a thick night
place i. e. Sacraments Prayer and Fasting each of which may be consider'd in a threefold respect 1. As Parts of Divine Worship or of Holiness in general 2. As Instruments of advancing Holiness 3. As Remedies and Antidotes against Temptation In each of which Relations I will consider each of them a little And 1. Of Baptism COnsider'd in the first sense of the three it contains a Solemn Profession of the Christian Faith an actual Renunciation of those Enemies of Christianity the World the Flesh and the Devil and a listing ones self into the service and obedience of Christ And because I cannot think that there is any Essential part in the System of Christianity meerly Ceremonial I cannot think but that besides the Admission into the Church which is the Body of Christ and consequently a Title to all the glorious priviledges of its Members our blessed Saviour doth endow the Person baptized with power from on high to perform all those great ingagements he takes upon him as will appear to any one who shall consider the Nature of Christianity which doth alway annex a Grace to the external Mean or Instrument or 2. The great things spoken or this Sacrament or 3. The value all understanding Christians have had for it or the effects which follow'd it when practis'd in the Infancy of the Church and I humbly conceive this to be the sense of the Church of England which supposes the thing signified by the outward Ceremony of Baptism to be a Death unto sin and a New-birth unto Righteousness But whatever become of this motion it is certain that it is a strange Obligation to a Holy Life and a Remedy against Sin as being a most solemn ingagement of our selves to the obedience of Christ from which we cannot start back without drawing upon our selves the guilt and punishment of Perjury and forfeiting all those advantages we partake of by it and I wish all would lay this to heart who plead the Obligations of Civility and Friendship Custom and Fashion in defence of their sins as if any trifling Ceremony were sufficient to supersede our Obligation to Christ and acquit us of that guilt which the breach of the most sacred Covenant brings upon us The Prayer BLessed and holy Saviour give me grace to remember my Baptismal Vow to remember that I am a sworn Enemy to the World the Flesh and the Devil and inable me to fight the good fight of Faith under thy Banner the Cross Let me have no truce entertain no friendship with thine and my Enemies Let them flatter me if they will with smiles and promises I am sure they mean nothing to me but death and ruine how shall any fantastick Obligations Cancel my duty to thee resulting from so solemn a Covenant In vain doth the World disguize its temptations under the forms of Civility and Honour I know no Civility which can oblige me to renounce my Vows no Honour that can excuse my Perjury in vain doth the World assault me by Greatness and Wealth and Glory these are the very things I resolv'd against when I took up the Cross of my Crucified Saviour in my Baptism Grant O blessed Lord that I may have mortified affections and a Victorious Faith an humble meek Spirit and glorious Hopes that after this troublesome life is ended I may rest with thee in Everlasting Glory Amen Amen Of the Lords Supper THe Supper of our Lord may fall under the same forms of Consideration which Baptism did that is it may be consider'd 1. As a part of Divine Worship 2. As an Instrument of Holiness 3. As a Remedy against Temptation I will look upon it briefly under each of these notions and herein I will guide my self by that incomparable Office of this Church which hath admirably express'd and reduc'd to a method the whole mind of the Gospel relating to this matter for which I have often bless'd God whilst I beheld and reverenc'd that Primitive plainness and truly Christian Spirit visible in it First then our Lords Supper consider'd as an act or part of Religious Worship or Holiness contains in it these four things 1. An humble acknowledgment of our sins 2. A devout Profession of our Faith in Christ that we are the Disciples of a Crucified Saviour and expect Salvation by no other way than that Sacrifice of his Body and Blood offer'd upon the Cross 3. A solemn Oblation of most humble and hearty thanks to God for this inestimable benefit his bestowing his Son upon us to die for us and to our Master and only Saviour Christ for his exceeding great love in dying for us 4. A most solemn Oblation of our selves souls and bodies to be a holy lively and acceptable Sacrifice unto God so that this Sacrament consists of a whole Constellation of Graces Repentance Faith Hope Charity It is a nearer approach into the presence of God and more solemn exercise of the Graces of the Gospel and this gives a very fair account of the reason of its frequent practice for nothing can be Secondly A more effectual instrument of Holiness upon these and the following accounts 1. That the preparation necessary as a condition of our worthy Reception doth awaken our Souls and refresh all our Graces and mortifie all our sensual Lusts and draws us nearer to Heaven and the necessity of such a preparation as the Church-office prescribes appears from hence that Repentance and Faith and Charity are absolutely necessary to inable a man to exert those acts before-mention'd which constitute this Sacrament consider'd as a part of Divine Worship and therefore to approach that holy Table without a Soul so qualified is to affront and mock the Majesty of Heaven 2. That the exercise of our Graces in receiving doth increase and improve them that act of humble Adoration and profound Prostration of our selves before God under a sense of his Purity and Majesty and our sinfulness and meanness that lively Acts of Faith whereby the Soul doth profess its firm belief of and dependance upon the Death and Passion of its dear Lord and Saviour for Salvation that love whereby the Soul offers its praises and its self a Sacrifice to God do leave such lively and lasting impressions upon mens minds as are not quickly nor easily effac'd and the Soul by the delight it finds in its exerting these Graces is inkindled with a desire of repeating the same Acts. 3. That the Sacrament it self hath a natural tendency to promote Holiness 1. By its sensible Representations of a Crucified Saviour the Symbols themselves being fit to bring into our minds the pain and sufferings of our dear Lord and Master 2. By that inward Grace inseparable from the worthy Reception of it bestow'd upon us to refresh and strengthen our Souls to root and confirm our Faith to inflame our Love and perfect our Hopes 3. By being a Pledge and Assurance to us of the pardon of our sins thorough the Blood of Christ 4. That it is
with or the frequent sins to which the lusts of it have betraid us will discern Reason enough to invite him to this Duty either in order to our Mortification and our future security or as an act of Affliction and Revenge for our past faults Therefore 2. Who ever totally neglects this Duty upon pretence of the ill effects it hath upon either Body or Mind ought well to be assur'd that the uneasiness of the one or other be not the effect of a wanton and carnal Mind rather than of the temper of the Body and that his Body will admit of no degrees of this Duty otherwise he is oblig'd according to his capacity 3. To Fasting must be joyn'd Alms and Prayer and Vain-glory must be separated from it without the former it is insignificant with the latter it is a sin But if any just Reasons disable any man to give Alms or to devote the day intirely to Spiritual Exercise I cannot yet think but that Fasting may be us'd as an act of Affliction provided it be consecrated to God by a holy intention at least The Prayer GLorious God I see in what a world I live and what a Body this Soul of mine doth dwell in how little kindles those Lusts which blast the Innocence of my Soul and destroy my peace I remember how often I have behav'd my self unbeseeming a Child of God only to gratifie the inclinations of an ungovernable Body Enable me therefore so to mortifie and subdue it that I may enjoy an entire peace and conquest so to humble and afflict it that my revenge may testifie the sorrow I feel for my misdemeanours and accept thou my sorrow to the attonement of my sins thorough the Blood of Christ Amen The Conclusion I Am now earnestly to beseech the Reader to reflect seriously upon this whole Discourse and consider whether the Christian Religion be not a System of most glorious delightful and important Truths whether any Principles can raise Man to such an entire Conquest o're the world and himself whether Holiness doth not transform him into a great and a glorious thing whether any knowledge can create in him so perfect a peace and so undisturb'd a joy whether there be any thing besides Religion can make a man spurn fawning pleasures and out-brave his fears whether there be any thing which would turn the world into so much Paradise and secure our peace and interest on such unshaken bottoms and lead on the whole Train of a publique or a private life in such a safe and pleasant method What then Art thou fond of ruin or hath damnation any charm in it that thou wilt still resolve to persevere in such a manifold contradiction to the Laws of the blessed Jesus Wilt thou suffer thy soul to be miserable here through those numerous lusts which are the incessant torments of it and canst thou think of abandoning all the hopes of a glorious immortality Or dost thou indeed look upon the Gospel of Christ as cunningly devised Fables and readest these kind of arguings as only wise and politique harangues Surely so much Holiness confirm'd by so many miracles must needs witness its divine authority and if thou wouldst but trie thy self the practice of it thou wouldst feel its divine principle in the Life and the joyes of the Spirit But I am perswaded the greater part of mankind cannot choose but indespight of Inclination acknowledge the truth of the Gospel and the Excellency of virtue and confess that their vices are the effect not of their choice but weakness Blessed God! What account then will these men give of their Disobedience at that day when Christ shall come to render the vengeance to all who have not obeyed his Gospel when they shall be put in mind of the prevalent motives made use of to endear Holiness to them and of the mighty assistance of the Divine Spirit which was offer'd them towards enabling 'em to live well when they shall see as a perfect Refutation of all such excuses so many millions I hope of blessed Saints who tho liable to the same Passion and encompass'd by the same Temptations did yet conquer all and enter'd into Life thorough the Strait-gate But if this little Treatise should light into the hands of a perfect Atheist or at least of one who laughs at every particular Sect of Religion to such a one I address these last lines and I beseech him to allow them so much Consideration as he would to any other thing which pretended to so much concernment and importance 1. If there be a God Nature seems to dictate that he is a Rewarder of those that seek him and forgets not the Wise and Virtuous neither in Life nor Death and Men as wise and rational Creatures are his peculiar Off-spring and more nearly related to him and on this Argument Socrates in his Apology founded his hopes of another life an argument much of a kin to that of our Saviour God is the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob now God is not the God of the dead but of the living at the smartness and clearness of which arguing the people were astonish'd And If there be another Life Virtue and Goodness must needs be the proper qualities to recommend and endear us to the God who presides in that other World for I can never fancy a Bruitish and irrational Deity If there be no God which is impossible it is a thing impossible to be prov'd and therefore an Atheist can never possess his Soul in any Rest and Peace and besides if there be none the belief and practice of this Religion of Christianity as I 'le make appear presently can do no man any harm and what madness then is it not to take the safest side in a mat-ter of this dear concernment 2. In behalf of Christianity in perticular I beseech such a one to consider That if those Miracles and Proofs of Divine Authority which the Gospel relates were true and real then the matter is beyond dispute If they were not I would fain see some probable account how Christianity could so generally obtain in despight of all the disadvantages it was to encounterâ— having neither interest nor pleasure nor force to countenance it against the establish'd Superstitions and Vices of the Age. That it concern'd them of Judea which was the Scene of our Saviours Actions to have given the world a manifest account of the Imposture and so have provided for the security of Judaisme which was subverted by it that the wisest and most religious Sects amongst both Jew and Gentile were quickly swallowed up into Christianity That those early dayes were the most fit for a confutation of the Proofs on which Christianity is bottom'd as being most nearly conjoyn'd to the times of our Saviours and his Apostles actions and therefore capable of being easily inform'd and yet we find no such thing done which must needs suppose the world either monstruously ignorant or
state of torments afterward And yet all this while I have taken no notice of those additional sufferings which Divine Vengeance will no doubt inflict upon the Soul nor of the nature of the Soul the exaltedness of whose Essence heightens and sharpens the pain for the more delicate the Being the more subtle its perception and the more exquisite the torment Sect. 3. There is a third State wherein misery swels to the highest marke it can possibly when the Body being rais'd again shall follow the Fate of the Soul and both shall be condemn'd to inextinguishable flames O Hell where only the Enemies of God and Goodness dwell where wretched men undergo all that sullying the Divine Glory and trampling on the blood of Christ can merit But I have reserv'd a place for a further survey of this state I am sufficiently convinc'd that the gaining of the whole World cannot recompence the loss of my Soul since its loss implies all this and more for what would I take to be miserable or rather what would I take to be eternally so is it a rational question if I lose my self what can be gain to me the world peradventure will continue amiable many ages after I am gone but what is that to me And if to gain the whole world at so dear a price be so ill a Bargain how fatal a purchase should I make who am like to gain so little being none of the worlds greatest Favourites My Soul is not so cheap yet that I can set it at so low a rate as a few hundreds a year I am as immortal as any Monarch in Christendome and my pretensions to the Almighties favour may grow equal to that of any of the Sons of men and I should be a Profligate and Reprobate a Brute indeed if I should abandon my poor Soul to Misery and renounce the interest I have in the God of Heaven and Earth for I know not what Let who will therefore sweat and toil for wealth and greatness I have but this one business to do to insure this dear dear Soul of mine in its voyage to eternity let who will gain the Reputation of a wise man by a clearer fore-sight and thriftier management of affairs by an unwearied Attendance and insinuating applications I shall think my self wise enough if I can but be sav'd and great enough if I enjoy but the Smiles of Heaven Let who will applaud themselves for the contempt of intrigue and sullen business whilst they thaw and dissolve in soft and delicate pleasures or waste and spend themselves in course and toilsome Lusts If I may enjoy the pleasure of a manly rational life spent in a constant course of Religion and virtue without Superstition or frowardness of a mind unharass'd by desires and fears of a peaceful assur'd conscience of the contemplation of glorious Truths and the hopes of a blessed immortality I shall envy none the happiness of the most luscious pleasure or kindest fortune the World affords A Prayer reflecting on the precedent Discourse BLessed God give me grace to prefer the interest of my Soul to the World and Flesh the things eternal to the things temporal that amidst the pleasures of Prosperity and Peace and the flatteries of Reputation I may not forget to think what will be the condition of my future State and that amidst the troubles which besiege this mortal Life I may be supported by the blessed hopes of a better world that the confident belief of the Souls immortality may render me industrious to lay up a good foundation for the time to come so that when I shall have put off this Tabernacle of clay I may be cloath'd with a building of God not made with hands eternal in the Heavens all this I beg through Jesus Christ our Lord. CHAP. II. Of the Nature of Christianity Sect. 1. CHristianity may be considered either in Relation to Faith or Practice I will first consider the Christian Faith and that in the most practical manner I can In my Creed I have regard to three things especially 1. To the use and end of Faith which is certainly to guide and influence our lives 2. To the peace of my own Breast And 3. To the preservation of Charity My Reason for the first is evident of it self for the two later is this Tho I may doubt whether I believe aright all that is necessary to my eternal salvation and yet that doubt not prove injurious to my happiness at the last day because I did both believe aright and live conformably to it and the scruple arose only from the Disputes and Contests of men and the weakness of my own understanding not from any iniquity of my will yet this doubt will disquiet and disturb my repose damp my cheerfulness and vigour and may peradventure unsettle my faith and end if not in Atheism in coldness and indifferency And tho 2. I may believe Another in a damnable Errour when he is not without prejudice to my own Soul because I may make this judgement in the Simplicity of my heart by the best light and Rule I have yet peradventure this opinion may improve it self insensibly upon my affections to a very ill consequence and invite me to an uncharitable and unfriendly deportment 1. If I consider the Christian Faith with regard to the great end of it Holyness I observe that the Gospel contains two great things the Knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ This is Life eternal Joh. 17.3 To know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent This knowledge contains in it all the Obligations imaginable to a Holy Life and secures the hopes and comforts of Christians upon an unmovable foundation and this knowledge agrees perfectly with the Nature and Ends of Religion 1. First With the Nature of Religion Religion is nothing else but the true and spiritual worship of the only true God who is a Spirit Now all the worship we are capable of paying him consists either in the Affections of the Soul or Actions of the Body so that that Belief or Knowledge which tends to render these proper and acceptable to God is directly conformable to the Nature of Religion The Gospel therefore hath discovered God to us 1. One infinite in Wisedom Power Holyness Goodness c. And secondly as he stands more particularly related to us in the Work of Creation Providence Redemption All this put together proves him to be God and to be Ours it evinces his Excellency and his Supremacy it represents him infinitely Lovely and Adorable in himself and entitles him to all the service and affection which Dominion Love and Munificence can lay a just claim to all which is enforcement enough which is the use of Faith to our Duty when we are acquainted with it Which that we might be and that we might have assistance to enable us to performe it and that there might be a Provision made for the pardon of our errors God in
fill'd with joy and peace through believing or if I abound with hope through the power of the Holy Ghost I can think of that shine of Glory with which I shall be once invested and then suffer these Rags with patience till my Nuptials come and my new Suits be made I can love this contempt and poverty because it shall make my Crown more weighty and my being more glorious What is it O my Soul for which I complain what is it that I have lost Estate Reputation It is affirm'd by the Spirit of God concerning all sensual pleasures in general That they war against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 in particular concerning wealth How hardly shall a rich man enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.23 concerning vain-glory and how can they believe who receive the praise of men c. Am I then so much troubled because my difficulties in the way to Heaven are diminished my Chains grown lighter and mine Enemies fewer because my tyes to or dependances on the world are few and consequently my distractions in and diversions from holy duties are the fewer I have no fears no cares no contrivances no jealousies because I have no concern in it How near Heaven am I grown who am thus remov'd from Earth And being in this condition I am not expos'd to the changes of the world I have nothing wherein ill fortune can attacque or wound me This state is not so contemptible which is thus full of peace wherein I may possess my self and need not spend the greater portions of my life in things which fame or greatness requires of me not inclination or choice The Prayer LOrd teach me to form my Opinions according to the light of thy Gospel to guard my Soul against all the impressions of the World and Flesh to mortifie the inbred Inclinations of my Body to Lust and to fix my mind so upon the things that are not seen that when ever vain fears assault me from without they may find the House guarded by the strongest Man Amen Amen SECT II. Of Real Evils whereof some are unavoidable others only common to this life THere are some Evils so natural and constant Appendages to this state of Mortality and Imperfection that unless men can cease to think them Evils they cannot be happy For example a Friend dies or proves false c. or I am to die my self i. e. things happen in their natural course and as I ought to expect them I may as well quarrel with God that he did not create me an Angel and that my first Station was not in the Courts of Heaven Now though it be true that an Evil is not the less an Evil because it is incurable or unavoidable or yet universal I must from hence infer that the wise man ought to be better provided and confirm'd against such and that he gains no small step towards happiness who can divest these Evils of their affrighting shapes which the man shall in a great measure do who shall expect nothing more in this state than what is proper to it and then can no more be aggriev'd at Death Chance Folly c. than at the imperfection of our intellectual capacities the meanness of our natural inclinations and the frailties of our bodies for those other are the effects of these and yet no man thinks himself miserable because he doth not understand as much as God does because being flesh and blood he doth not will as Nobly as Angels and why should he think it amiss or hard that being mortal any thing should die or being imprudent or passionate any thing should act so It is highly reasonable that he who Created us out of nothing should Create us as he pleas'd for he who was not bound to do any thing cannot be blam'd for doing so much But Christianity rests not here it provides a Remedy for all these Evils 1. By the discovery of the Souls Immortality of the Bodies Resurrection and of glorious Rewards which shall Crown those who suffer contentedly and patiently 2. By the discovery of Objects fitted for the affections of an Immortal Soul noble and great enough to fill the biggest capacities and most inlarg'd desires such are God and Jesus Christ and the glories of another life which are unalterable and unchangeable so that the happiness and pleasure of a Christian Soul depends not upon these uncertain things below but upon those things which are above 3. Since these misfortunes are such as are unavoidable in this life they can be no temptation to sin because we cannot avoid them by sinning and they who endeavour to drown their sense of worldly afflictions by an indulgence in any sins do worse than those who kill themselves to get rid of some uneasie passion the very Remedy is the worst of mischiefs But to proceed as to pains which are common to though not unavoidable in this life I cannot chuse but see there are a sort of men who suffer bravely and yet I must confess they suffer and though they are patient cease not to be miserable these are the only things which I could ever think so unhappy as to deserve my pity and yet it will not be reasonable to sin for the avoiding such sufferings as these for though Religion cannot remove all sense and pain and passion for then this world would be a Heaven and the Scripture is plain that no affliction for the present is joyous and if they were not Fiery Tryals they would be no temptations yet it supplies all the ease and comfort which such a state is capable of and such as is enough to make it supportable Therefore I first premise these two Propositions 1. That no temptation befals us but what is common to men That a whole Cloud of Witnesses is gone before us in the severest and bloudiest paths and therefore that there is no state which is not supportable by Divine Assistance and may not be pass'd thorough without such an ill demeanour as may forfeit our everlasting happiness 2. That there is no condition so miserable but it is capable of some mixture of comforts let us for an example in matter of fact regard the Apostle of our Lord 2 Cor. 6. In affliction in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings and yet the Cloud had a bright as well as dark side for v. 10. Though dying yet behold we live though chasten'd yet not kill'd though sorrowful yet alway rejoycing though having nothing yet possessing all things Now it matters not I confess as to entire happiness whether Scale of sorrow or comfort outweighs because to entire happiness it is requir'd that both parts of us as well Body as Soul enjoy good yet it will become a wise man to get as much ease as he can and when the Sun is set not to despise a Candle And this proves thus much that no man can be necessitated to sin since a man can