Satisfaction and necessarily renders us by so many Degrees miserable as it exceeds the real worth and value of Things BESIDES which also it is to be considered that all these lesser Goods which are the Objects of our Extravagant Affections are things which we must ere long be for ever deprived of For the lesser Goods are those which are only good for the worser Part of us that is for our Body and Animal Life the proper Goods whereof are the Outward Sensitive Enjoyments of this World All which when we leave this world we must leave for ever and go away into Eternity with nothing about us but only the Good or Bad Dispositions of our Souls So that if our Soul be carnalized through our immoderate Affection to the things of this World we shall carry that Affection with us but leave the things which we thus vehemently affect behind us for ever For that which is the prevailing Temper of Souls in this Life will doubtless be so in the other too and so far is that of the Poet true Quae gratia currûm Armorúmque fuit vivis quae cura nitentes Pascere equos eadem sequitur tellure repostos For though the coming into the other world will questionless improve those Souls which are really good before yet it is not to be imagined how it should create those good who are habitually bad and if we retain in the other world that Prevailing Affection to these sensitive Goods which we contracted in this it must necessarily render us unspeakably miserable there For every Lust the Soul carries into the other world will by being eternally separated from its Pleasures convert into an Hopeless Desire and upon that account grow more furious and impatient For of all the Torments of the mind I know none that is comparable to that of an outragious Desire joined with Despair of Satisfaction which is just the case of sensual and worldly minded Souls in the other Life where they are full of sharp and unrebated Desires and like starving men that are shut up between two Dead Walls are tormented with a fierce but hopeless Hunger which having nothing else to feed on preys and quarries on themselves and in this desolate condition they are forced to wander to and fro tormented with a restless Rage an Hungry and Unsatisfied Desire craving food but neither finding nor expecting any and so in unexpressible Anguish they pine away a long Eternity And though they might find content and satisfaction could they but divert their Affections another way and reconcile them to the Heavenly Enjoyments yet being irrecoverably preingaged to sensual Goods they have no Savour or Relish of any thing else but are like Feaverish Tongues that disgust and nauseate the most grateful Liquors by reason of their own overflowing Gall. So impossible is it for men to be happy either here or hereafter so long as their Affections to the lesser Goods of this World do so immoderately exceed the worth and value of them ONE Essential Part therefore of the Christian Life which is the Great Means of our Happiness is the Virtue of Moderation the peculiar Office whereof is to bound our Concupiscible Affections and proportion them to the Intrinsic Worth of those outward Goods which we affect and desire For though the word Moderation according to our present Acceptation of it be no where to be found in the New Testament yet the Virtue expressed by it is frequently enjoined as particularly where we are forbid to set our Affections upon the Things of the Earth Col. iii. 2 To love the World or the Things that are in the World 1 John ii 15 Which Phrases are not to be so understood as if we were not to love the Enjoyments of the World at all for they are the Blessings of God and such as he has proposed to us in his Promises as the Rewards and Encouragements of our Obedience and to be sure he would never encourage us to obey him by the Hope of such Rewards as are unlawful for us to desire and love The meaning therefore of these Prohibitions is that we should so moderate our Affections to the world as not to permit them to exceed the Real Worth and Value of its Enjoyments For it is not simply our loving it but our loving it to such a Degree as is inconsistent with our Love of God that is here forbidden For he that loveth the world saith St. John the Love of the Father is not in him i. e. he that loves it to such a Degree as to prefer the Riches Honours and Pleasures of it before God and his Duty to him hath no real Love to God i. e. He loves not God as God as the Chiefest Good and Supream Beauty and Perfection And hence Covetousness which is an immoderate Desire of the world is called Idolatry Col. iii. 5 because it sets the world in the place of God and gives it that supream Degree of Affection which is only due to him And this the Apostle there calls Inordinate Affection because it extravagantly exceeds the Intrinsic Worth and Value of its Objects Wherefore we are strictly enjoined to take heed and beware of Covetousness Luke xii 15 And to let our Conversation be without Covetousness Heb. xiii 5 By all which and sundry other Commands and Prohibitions of the Gospel the Moderation of our Concupiscible Affections is made a necessary part of the Christian Life NOW that this also mightily contributes to our Acquisition of the Heavenly Happiness is evident not only from what hath been already said but also from hence that till our Affections are thus moderated we can have no Savour or Relish of the Heavenly Enjoyments For in this corrupt State of our Nature we generally understand by our Affections which like coloured Glass represent all Objects to us in their own Hue and Complexion When therefore a mans Affections are immoderately carried out towards worldly things they will be sure by Degrees to corrupt and deprave his Judgment and render him as unfit to judge of divine and spiritual Enjoyments as a Plowman is to be a Moderatour in the Schools For when a mans thoughts have been employed another way and the Delights of Sense have for a long while preoccupied his Vnderstanding he will judge things to be Good or Evil according as they disgust or gratifie his lower Appetites And this being the Standard by which he measures things 't is impossible he should have any Savour of those Spiritual Goods in which the Happiness of Heaven consists For though in his Nature there is a Tendency to Rational Pleasures yet this he may and very frequently does stifle and extinguish by addicting himself wholly to the Delights and Gratifications of his Sense which by degrees will so melt down his Rational Inclinations into his Sensual and confound and mingle them with his Carnal Appetites that his Soul will wholly sympathize with his Body and have all Likes and Dislikes in common with
Affection corresponding with the most perfect Draughts and Models of its own Reason it must needs highly approve of and be perfectly satisfied with it self and while it surveys its own Motions and Actions it must necessarily have a most delicious Gust and Rellish of them they being all such as its best and purest Reason approves of with a full and ungainsaying Judgment And thus the Soul being cured of all irregular Affection and removed from all corporeal Passion will live in perfect Health and Vigor and for ever enjoy within it self a Heaven of Content and Peace IV. ANOTHER Virtue which appertains to a man considered meerly as a Rational Animal is TEMPERANCE which consists in not indulging our Bodily Appetites to the Hurt and Prejudice of our Rational Nature Or in refraining from all those Excesses of Bodily Pleasure of Eating Drinking and Venery which do either disorder our Reason or indispose us to enjoy the pure and spiritual Pleasures of the Mind For besides that all Excesses of Bodily Pleasures are naturally prejudicial to our Reason as they indispose those Bodily Organs by which it operates For so Drunkenness dilutes the Brain which is the Mint of the Understanding and drowns those Images it stamps upon it in a Floud of unwholesome Rheums and Moistures and Gluttony cloggs the Animal Spirits which are as it were the Wings of the Mind and indisposes them for the Highest and Noblest Flights of Reason so Wantonness chafes the Bloud into Feverish Heats and by causing it to boil up too fast into the Brain disorders the motions of the Spirits there and so confounds the Phantasms that the Mind can have no clear or distinct Perception of them by which means our Intellectual Faculties are very often interrupted and forced to sit still for want of proper Tools to work with and so by often loitering grow by degrees listless and unactive and at the last are utterly indisposed to any Rational Operations Besides this I say which must needs be a mighty prejudice to our Rational Nature by too much familiarizing our selves to bodily Pleasures we shall break off all our acquaintance with spiritual ones and grow by degrees such utter strangers to them that we shall never be able to rellish and enjoy them and our Soul will contract such an Vxorious Fondness of the Body that being the Shop of all the Pleasure it was ever acquainted with that 't will never be able to live happily without it For though in its separate state it cannot be supposed that the Soul will retain the Appetites of the Body yet if while it is in the Body it wholly abandons it self to Corporeal Pleasures it may and doubtless will retain a vehement hankering after it and longing to be re-united to it which I conceive is the only sensuality that a separated Soul is capable of For when such a Soul arrives into the Spiritual World her having wholly accustomed her self to bodily Pleasure and never experienced any other will necessarily render her incapable of enjoying the Pleasures of pure and blessed Spirits So that being left utterly destitute of all her dear Delights and Satisfactions which are such as she knows she can never enjoy but in conjunction with the Body all her Appetite and Longing must necessarily be an outragious Desire of being Embodied again that so she may be capable of repeating her old sensual Pleasures and acting over the brutish Scene anew AND this as some think is the Reason why such gross and sensual Souls have appeared so often after their separation in the Churchyards or Charnel-Houses where their Bodies were laid because they cannot please themselves without them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The soul that is infected with a great Lust to the Body continues so for a great while after Death and suffering great Reluctancies hovers about this visible place and is hardly drawn from thence by force by the Demon that hath the Guard and Care of it Where by the visible Place he means 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is About their Monuments and Sepulchres where the shadowy Phantasms of such Souls have sometimes appeared For being utterly unacquainted with the Pleasures of Spirits they have nothing in all the spiritual world to feed their hungry Desire which makes them when they are permitted to wander to hover about and linger after their Bodies the Impossibility of being re-united to them not being able to cure them of their impotent Desire of it but still they would fain be alive again and reassume their old Instruments of Pleasure Iterumque ad tarda reverti Corpora Quae lucis miseris tam dira Cupido And hence among other Reasons it was that the Primitive Christians did so severely abstain from Bodily Pleasures that by this means they might gently wean the Soul from the Body and teach it before hand to live upon the Delights of separated Spirits that so upon its separation it might drop into Eternity like ripe Fruit from the Tree with Ease and Willingness and that by accustoming it before to spiritual Pleasures and Delights it might acquire such a savoury Sense and Relish of them as to be able when it came into the spiritual world to live wholly upon them and to be so intirely satisfied with them as not to be endlesly vext with a tormenting Desire of returning to the Body again For so Clemens Alexandrinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We that are hunting after the Heavenly Food must take heed that we keep our Earthly Belly in subjection and to keep a strict Government over those things that are pleasant to it For saith he a little before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither saith he is Food our Work nor Pleasure our Aim but we use them only as necessaries to our present Abode in which our Reason is instituting and training us up to a Life incorruptible i. e. They did so use them as that as much as in them lay they might wean their Souls from the pleasures of them that so they might have the better Appetite to that Spiritual Food upon which they were to live for ever AND therefore thus to temperate and restrain our selves in the Use of bodily Pleasures is one of the necessary Virtues of the Christian Life For hitherto tend all those Precepts concerning abstaining from fleshly lusts which war against our Souls I Pet. ii 11 and mortifying the deeds of the Body Rom. viii 13 and keeping under the Body 1 Cor. ix 27 and putting off the body of the sins of the Flesh Coloss. ii 11 And we are strictly enjoined to be temperate in all things to watch and be sober and walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in excess of wine revellings and banquettings The sense of all which is That we should not indulge our bodily Appetites to the vitiating and depraving of our spiritual that we should not plunge our selves so far in
prudent considering what a treacherous and ill-natured World we have to deal with to be what we seem and not to paint ill Meanings with smiling Looks and smooth Pretences to notifie our Intentions and unfold our Hearts and so far as innocent Prudence will admit to turn our selves inside outwards to all we converse with to give to every one his due and not to intrench upon other mens Rights whether it be to their Lives or Liberties Reputations or Estates in a word to weigh to our Neighbours and our selves in the same Balance and to do to them whatsoever we could reasonably wish they should do to us if we were in their Persons and Circumstances By the Practice of which excellent Rules our Mind will by degrees be refined and purified from all Disposition to Fraud and Injustice and then when we go from hence into Eternity we shall carry thither with us such a just and righteous Frame of Mind such an honest Plainness and Integrity of Temper as will immediately qualifie and dispose us for the Society of just men made perfect who finding us already united to them in Disposition and Nature will joyfully receive us into their blessed Communion And now O! the blessed State we shall be in when being stripped of all Partiality and unjust Desire of all Insincerity and Craftiness of Temper we shall be admitted into a Nation of just and righteous People where every one has his appropriate Seat and Mansion of Glory and is so perfectly contented with it that he never covets what another enjoys so that every one possesses what is his own without the least suspicion of being ejected by a subtiler or more powerful Neighbour where being perfectly assured of each others Integrity they converse together with the greatest Openness and Freedom and in all their Language whatsoever it be do read their Hearts and convey their Intentions to one another where their Souls converse face to face and do freely unbosom themselves to one another without the least Disguise or Dissimulation so that in all their Society there is no such thing as a Secret or Mystery but they are all Bosom Friends to one another and every one has a Window into every ones Breast O! blessed God what a most happy Conversation must such just Souls as these enjoy with one another from whose Society all Fraud and Falshood Violence and Oppression is for ever banished For whilst they live together as they do in the continual Exercise of perfect Righteousness and Integrity they can neither design upon nor suspect one another and so consequently must needs converse together with infinite Security and Freedom And being all of them thus inviolably safe in each others Sincerity and Justice every one enjoys his proper Rank and Degree of Glory without Fear or Disturbance and freely communicates his wise and excellent Thoughts to every one without any Strangeness or Reserve Thus all Heaven over there is a most perfect Freedom of Conversation among those righteous People that inhabit it and every one is every ones Neighbour and every ones Neighbour is as Himself For in all their Communication and Intercourse they mutually exchange Persons with one another and there is no one doth that to another which he would not gladly have done to himself in the same Condition and Circumstances So that none of them all can possibly be aggrieved because they are every one dealt by just as they would be most fairly most righteously and faithfully And hence there can be no Grudges among them no Whisperings Backbitings or spightful Misrepresentations because every one likes what every one does and so they are all perfectly satisfied with one another And thus you see in the Exercise of perfect Righteousness and Integrity all the Society of Heaven is rendred perfectly happy III. AS we are rational Creatures related to one another we are obliged to behave our selves peaceably in our respective States and Relations For Society being nothing but an united Multitude it is indispensably necessary to the preservation of its Union that every Individual Member of it should peaceably comport himself towards every one in that Degree and Order wherein he is placed Because as the Health of natural Bodies depends upon the Harmony and Agreement of their Parts so doth the Prosperity of Societies or political ones For 't is Peace and mutual Accord which is the Soul that doth both animate and unite Society and keep the Parts of it from dispersing and flying abroad into Atoms which nothing but Force and Violence can hinder them from when once they are broken into Discords and Dissentions So true is that of our Saviour A Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand For besides that Division impairs the strength of a Society which like an impetuous Stream being parted into several Currents runs with far less force and is much more easily forded for the several Factions that are in it are like the several Nations in a Confederate Army which though they be all united into one Body have several contrary Interests and Designs which divides their Councils and sows Jealousies among them and so renders them not only less able to withstand the Force of an unanimous Enemy but also less willing to aid and assist one another besides this I say Faction and Discord naturally disunite and separates Society as it dissolves the Bond of Peace which holds it together For a Society without Peace is but an aggregated Body whose Parts lie together in a confused heap but have no Joints or Sinews to fasten them to one another for want of which instead of mutually assisting they do but mutually load and oppress each other which must necessarily divide their Wills and their Interests and when that is done 't is only external Force that hinders them from dividing and separating their Society Upon this account therefore every man is obliged as he is a Member of Humane Society to comport himself peaceably with all men because otherwise he will necessarily render himself a publick Pest and Nuisance For so long as he is of an unquiet and turbulent Spirit instead of being an Help he must necessarily be a Disease to every Community of which he is a Member and if those with whom he is joined were all of his Humour and Spirit it would be much better for them all to live asunder in the most solitary Condition than to continue in Society together because instead of helping and assisting they would be sure to be continually vexing and plaguing one another IF therefore we go into the other World with an unquiet and quarrelsome Temper we shall be thereby inclined to and prepared for the most wretched and miserable Society even the Society of those factious Fiends that could not be quiet even in Heaven it self but raised a Mutiny before the Throne of God and for so doing were driven thence and damned to keep one another Company in endless Misery and Despair The Souls of men therefore
Nature but still it hangs upon me and sinks and weighs down my Soul as oft as 't is aspiring towards thee O my God have pity upon me deliver me from this Body of Sin ease my weary and heavy laden Soul of this grievous Burthen under which it labours and groans and suffer not this spark of divine Life which thou hast kindled in me to be opprest and extinguisht by it but so cherish it I beseech thee with the continual Influences of thy Grace as that it may at length it may break through all this Rubbish that suppresses it and finally rise into a glorious Flame Then shall I always approach thee with Joy and breath up my Soul to thee in every Prayer then shall my Heart be firmly united to thee in a devout and chearful Affection and my Prayers shall come up as incense before thee and breathe a sweet-smelling savour into thy Nostrils Hear me therefore O my God I beseech thee and strengthen me with all might in the inward man that for the future I may contend more vigorously and successfully against these vile Inclinations of my Nature which do so miserably hamper and depress my soul that so at last I may be a conqueror and more than a conquerer through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen If through any bodily Infirmity such as Melancholy Weariness Drousiness or Sickness you find your self indisposed to divine Offices indeavour to quicken your sluggish Mind with the Consideration of some one of the most moving Arguments of your Religion such as the Love of God and of your Saviour the Majesty of Gods Presence in which you are or the blessed Immortality you hope for and then address your self to God in this following Prayer O Blessed God thou art a most pure and active Spirit who doest always move with an uncontrolable Freedom and art never hindred or wearied in thy Operations have pity upon me I beseech thee thy poor infirm Creature who am cumbred with this Body of death and so deprest by its manifold Frailties that I cannot lift up my Heart unto thee Thou knowest O Lord my spirit is willing though my flesh is weak my labouring Soul aspires towards thee it stretches forth the Wings of its Desires toward thee and would fain mount up above all earthly things and unite it self with thee in eternal Love but alas its Fervours are dampt and its Endeavours tired by this clog of Flesh that hangs upon it and perpetually sinks and weighs it down again O my God draw near unto me and touch my Mind with such a powerful sense of thee as in despight of these my bodily Indispositions may attract and draw up my Soul unto thee And if it be thy blessed will release me from these fleshly Incumbrances and fit my Body to my Mind that I may serve thee as I desire to do with a fervent and a chearful Spirit But if it shall seem good in thine Eyes to leave me strugling under these bodily Oppressions Lord give me Patience and Submission to thy heavenly Will that so when I cannot approach thee with that Pleasure and Satisfaction I desire I may be heartily content to serve thee upon any Terms and that what I want of Vigour and Chearfulness in my Religion I may make up in Truth and in Reality And O let the Sense of these my present Indispositions cause me more vehemently to long after that free and blessed State wherein with fixt and steady Thoughts with flagrant Love and an entire Devotion of Soul I shall for ever worship praise and glorifie thy name Amen If through present Worldly-mindedness or Vanity of Spirit you find your self cold and apt to be distracted in your Religious Offices indeavour to stir up your Affections by representing to your self the Greatness and Urgency of your spiritual Wants the Vanity of all outward things and the Reality and Fulness of heavenly Enjoyments And do what you can to recollect your wandring Thoughts by setting your self in the Presence of the great God to whose All-seeing Eye every Thought and Motion of your Soul is open and naked And when by thus doing you have composed your Mind into a more serious Frame present this following Prayer O Thou ever blessed Majesty who fillest Heaven and Earth with thy Presence and art always listening to the Supplications of a world of Creatures that hang upon thee open I beseech thee thine Ears of Mercy to me who am unfit and unworthy to approach thee who by setting my Affections upon things below and plunging my self into the Cares and Pleasures of this Life have estrang'd and alienated my Mind from thee and lost that delightful Relish of thee with which I was wont to draw near unto thee And now that I am retired from the World to converse with thee and spread my wants and my desires before thee those worldly Cares and Delights with which I have been too too conversant are importunately thrusting themselves upon me to divert my Thoughts distract my Intentions and carry away my Affections from thee by reason whereof my Mind wanders my Hope droops and my Desires are frozen and whilst I am drawing near thee with my lips my heart is running away from thee O my God have pity upon me pluck my Soul out of this deep mire quicken raise and spiritualize these my groveling Affections Possess this Heart which opens it self to thy gracious Influences with such a strong and vigorous Love to thee as may lift me up above all earthly things and continually carry forth my Soul in vehement Desires after thee that so I may always approach thee with a joyful Heart being glad to leave the company of all other things to go to thee my God my exceeding Joy Give me a sober diligent and collected spirit that is neither choaked with Cares nor scattered with Levity nor discomposed with Passion nor estranged from thee with sinful Prejudice or Inadvertency but fix it fast to thy self with the Indissoluble Bands of an active Love and pregnant Devotion that so when-ever I prostrate my self before thee I may presently be born away far above all these sensible Goods in a high Admiration of thee and a passionate Longing after thee And now O Lord while I am addressing to thee gather in I beseech thee my wandering Thoughts and fix and stay them upon thy self And O do thou touch my cold and earthy Desires with an out-stretched Ray from thy self and cause them to rise and flame up to thee in Fervours answerable to my pressing Wants that I may so ask as that I may receive so seek as that I may find so knock as that it may be opened unto me through Jesus Christ my blessed Lord and Redeemer Amen If after this you find your Heart is very much enlarged and your Mind and Affections vigorously disposed towards God and heavenly things fix your Mind a little while upon the Beauty and Excellency of his Nature or upon some of the most
Country and live a great way off from the Heavenly City have as yet no Domicilium in Vrbe no actual Possession of any of its blessed Mansions are notwithstanding Free Denizens of it and have by Covenant a Right to all those blessed Priveledges which its Inhabitants do actually enjoy From whence it is evident that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that Text referrs to their being Citizens of Heaven and as such it earnestly exhorts them to behave themselves to live as those who being now in a remote Country are yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle expresses it Ephes. ii 19 i. e. Fellow-Citizens with the Saints above that are connaturalized with them into that Heavenly Commonwealth And being thus understood the Apostles Advice will comprehend in it both those kind of Means which I have before described For to live as Cittizens of Heaven is First to live like those who are the Inhabitants of Heaven to imitate their blessed Manners and Behaviour in doing the Will of God upon Earth as it is done by them in Heaven and this takes in the Practice of all those Heavenly Virtues of which the Religion of the End consists Secondly To live like those that have a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Citizenship in Heaven that are entitled by Covenant to the Priviledges and Immunities of it but are as yet to win its Possession by a continual Warfare and Contention with those manifold Difficulties and Oppositions which lie in our way to it and this takes in the Practice of all those Duties in which the Religion of the Means consists So that to live like Christians or as becomes the Gospel is to live in the continual Use of both kinds of the Means of Happiness So that the Christian Conversation consisting of these Two is the only full and adequate Means by which Heaven can be obtained BUT that I may make this more fully appear I shall consider these two parts of it distinctly and indeavour to shew how effectually each of them doth contribute in its kind to our obtaining the Happiness of Heaven And First I shall begin with the Proximate Means viz. The Practice of all those Heavenly Virtues which are implied in the Religion of the End and do make the Heavenly Part of the CHRISTIAN LIFE CHAP. III. Concerning the Heavenly Part of the Christian Life which is the Proximate Means of obtaining Heaven shewing what Virtues it consists of and how much every Virtue contributes to the Happiness of Heaven VIRTUE in the general consists in a suitable Behaviour to the State and Capacities in which we are placed Now Man who is the Subject of that Virtue we are here discoursing of is to be considered under a threefold Capacity The First is of a Rational Animal the Second of a Rational Animal related to God the Third of a Rational Animal related to all other Creatures And these are the only capacities of Virtue that are in Humane Nature So that all the Virtues we are obliged to and capable of consist in behaving our selves suitably to the State and Condition of Rational Animals that are related to God and their Fellow Creatures BY which three Capacities of our Nature the Virtue or Suitableness of Behaviour which we stand obliged to is distinguished into three kinds viz. The Humane The Divine and The Social Humane Virtue consists in behaving our selves suitably to the State and Capacity of mere Rational Animals Divine Virtue consists in behaving our selves suitably to the Condition of Rational Animals related to God Social Virtue consists in behaving our selves suitably to the Capacity of Rational Animals related to their Fellow Creatures but especially to Rational Creatures that are of the same Class and Society with us THAT I may therefore proceed more distinctly in this Argument I shall endeavour to shew what those Vertues of the Christian Life are which are proper to a man in each of these Capacities and how much each of those Virtues contributes to the Happines of Heaven SECT I. Concerning those Humane Virtues which belong to a Man as he is a Reasonable Animal shewing that they are all included in the Heavenly Part of the Christian Life and that the Practice of them effectually conduces to our future Happiness FIRST we will consider Man in the Capacity of a meer Rational Animal that is compounded of contrary Principles viz. Spirit and Matter or a Rational Soul and Humane Body by which Composition He is as it were the Buckle of both Worlds in whom the Spiritual and Material World are clasped and united together and partaking as he does of both Extreams of Spirit and Matter Angel and Brute there arise within him from those contrary Natures contrary Propensions viz. Rational and Sensual or Angelical and Brutish And in the due Subordination of these his Sensual to his Rational Propensions consists all Humane Virtue For his Reason being the noblest Principle of his Nature must be supposed to be implanted in him by God to rule and govern him to be an Eye to his blind and bruitish Affections to correct the Errours of his Imagination to bound the Extravagancies of his Appetites and regulate the whole Course of his Actions so as that he may do nothing that is destructive or injurious to this excellent Frame and Structure of his Nature But now in this compounded Nature of a Man there are his Concupiscible and Irascible Affections with the first of which he desires and pursues his Pleasures and with the second he shuns and avoids his Dangers and there are also Bodily Appetites such as Hunger Thirst and Carnal Concupiscence and together with these a Self-Esteem and Valuation all which are the natural Subjects of his Reason and indeed the only Subjects upon which it is to exercise its Dominion So that in the well and ill Government of these consists all Humane Virtue and Vice To the perfect well governing therefore of a mans self there are Five things indispensably necessary 1. That He should impartially consult his Reason what is absolutely best for him and by what means it is best attainable and and then constantly pursue what it proposes and directs him to For so far as he is wanting in this he casts off the Government of his Reason 2. That he should proportion his Concupiscible Affections to the just value which his Reason sets upon those things which he affects For every Degree of Affection which exceeds the merit of Things is irrational and consequently injurious to our Rational Nature 3. That he should not suffer his Irascible Affections to exceed those Evils and Dangers which he would avoid For if he doth they will prove greater Evils to him than those Evils or Dangers are which raise and provoke them 4. That he should not indulge his Bodily Appetites to the Hurt and Prejudice of his Rational Nature For if he does he will violate the nobler for the sake of the viler Part of Himself And 5. That upon the
whole he should maintain a Modest Opinion of himself and not think better of his own Conduct and Management of himself than it deserves For by so doing he will be apt to overlook his own Misgovernments and so incapacitate himself for any farther Improvements And in these five Particulars consists all that Virtue which belongs to a man considered meerly in the Capacity of a Rational Animal The First is the Virtue of Prudence The Second is the Virtue of Moderation The Third is the Virtue of Fortitude The Fourth is the Virtue of Temperance The Fifth is the Virtue of Humility All which as I shall shew are Essential Parts of the Christian Life and such as do effectually contribute to our Heavenly Happiness I. PRUDENCE And this is the Root and Ground-Work of all other Virtues 'T is this that gives Law and Scope to all our Motions that proposes the Ends and prescribes the Measures of our Actions For Prudence consists in being guided and directed by Right Reason as it proposes to us the worthiest Ends and directs us to the fittest and most effectual Means of obtaining them So that to live prudently is to live in the constant Exercise of our Reason and to be continually pursuing such Ends as Right Reason proposes by such Means as Right Reason directs us to which is the proper Business of all the Virtues of Religion And hence Religion in the Scripture is frequently called by the Name of Wisdom or Prudence The Fear of the Lord that is Wisdom saith Job and to depart from Evil that is Vnderstanding Job xxviii 28 And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom saith David Psal. cxi 10 where the Fear of the Lord comprehends all the Acts of Religion which are therefore wise and prudent because they are the fittest Means to those worthiest Ends which Right Reason proposes So that to exercise our Reason in the Search and Discovery of what is absolutely best for us and to follow our Reason in the Pursuit and Acquest of what it discovers to be so is that virtue of Prudence whereunto we stand obliged as we are Rational Animals FOR our Reason being the noblest Principle of our Nature That by which we are raised above the Level of Brutes yea by which we are allied to Angels and do border upon God himself ought upon that account to be submitted to as the supream Regent and Directress of all our other Powers and to be looked upon as the Rule of our Will and the Guide of all our Animal Motions And when to gratifie our sensual Appetites or unreasonable Passions we either neglect those Ends which our Reason proposes to us or pursue them by such Means as our Reason disallows of we reverse the very order of our Natures and tread Antipodes to our selves And while we do so it is impossible we should be happy either here or hereafter For every thing you see is diseased while it is in an unnatural State and Condition while its Parts are displaced or put into a Disorder or distorted into an unnatural Figure And so it is with a Man who while he preserves his Faculties in their natural Station and Subordination to each other while he keeps his Affections and Appetites in subjection to his Will and his Will to his Reason he is calm and quiet and enjoys within himself perpetual Ease and Tranquillity But when once he breaks this order and suffers his Passions or his Appetites to usurp the Place of his Reason to impose contrary Ends to it or prescribe contrary Means his Faculties like disjointed Members are in perpetual Anguish and Anxiety And hence it is that in the Course of a wicked Life we feel such restless Contentions between our Spirit and Flesh between the Law in our Minds and the Law in our Members because our Nature is out of Tune and its Faculties are displaced and disordered and that sovereign Principle of Reason which should sway and govern us is deposed and made a Vassal to our Appetites and Passions For in all our evil Courses we chuse and refuse resolve and act not as Reason directs us but as Sense and Passion biasses us and our Reason having nothing to do in all this Brutish Scene of Action either sleeps it out without minding or regarding or else sits by as an idle Spectator of it and only censures and condemns it And it is this that causes all that Tumult and Contest that is in our Natures and till by the Exercise of Prudence our Faculties are reduced and set in order again our Mind will be like our Body while its Bones are out of Joint continually restless and unquiet And therefore to remove this great Indisposition of our Nature to Happiness Prudence is required of us as one of the principal Virtues of the Heavenly Part of the Christian Life FOR thus our Saviour injoins that we should be wise as Serpents as well as harmless as Doves Mat. x. 16 which though it be here prescribed in a particular Case only viz. that of Persecution yet since the Reason of it extends to all other Cases and it is fit we should be Prudent in all our Undertakings as well as in suffering Persecution it is upon that account equivalent to an universal Command So also Ephes. v. 15 See that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise i. e. In the whole Course of your Actions take heed that ye follow the Guidance of your Reason and do not suffer your selves to be seduced by your blind Passions and Appetites which are meer Ignes Fatui or the Guides of Fools And accordingly the Apostle prays for his Christian Colossians That they might be filled with the Knowledge of God in all Wisdom and spiritual Vnderstanding Coloss. i. 9 i. e. That they might have such a knowledge of Gods will as might render them truly prudent and cause them to pursue the best Ends by the best Means And though this Virtue seldom occurs in the new Testament under its own Name yet as in the above-named Places it is expressed by Wisdom so it is elsewhere by Knowledge as particularly 2 Cor. vi 6 where he commands the Ministers of the Church to approve themselves such by several Virtues and particularly by Pureness i. e. Continence and by Knowledge i. e. by Prudence For besides that Knowledge as it signifies an Vnderstanding of Divine Things was not a Virtue in the Apostles but a Gift of God and so not proper to be enumerated amongst these Virtues there is hardly any Account to be given why the Apostle should place Knowledge in the midst of so many Moral Virtues if he did not thereby mean the Virtue of Prudence which is as it were the Eye and Guide of all the other Virtues So again 2 Pet. i. 6 where he bids us add to Faith Virtue i. e. Fortitude or Constancy of Mind and to Virtue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance By Knowledge it is highly probable he means Prudence
Object and always love him as much as we are able and be able to love him a thousand times more than we can now imagine For the longer we view the more we shall know him and the more we know the better we shall love him and so through everlasting ages our Love shall be stretching and extending it self upon his infinite Beauty and Loveliness Now Love is naturally a most sweet and grateful Passion a Passion that sooths and ravishes the Heart and puts the Spirits into a brisk and generous motion For it wholly consists in a fixed complacency or well-pleasedness of Mind arising from the apprehended Goodness and Congruity of the thing beloved and it is meerly by accident that it hath any disquieting or ungrateful Emotion mingled with it Either the Person beloved is absent which fills it with unquiet Desire or he is unhappy or unkind which mingles it with Grief and Sorrow or he is fickle and inconstant which imbitters it with Rage and Jealousie but consider it separately from all these Accidents and it is nothing but pure Delight and Complacency But now in Heaven our Love of God will have none of these disquieting Accidents attending it for there he will never be absent from us but continually entertaining our amorous Minds with the Prospect of his infinite Beauties there we shall ever feel his Love to us in the most sensible and endearing Effects even in the Glory of that Crown which he will set upon our Heads and in the ravishing Sweetness of those Joys he will infuse into our Hearts there we shall experience the continuation of his Love in the continued Fruition of all that an everlasting Heaven means and be convinced as well by the Perpetuity of his Goodness to us as by the Immutability of his Nature that he is an unchangeable Lover in a word there we shall find him a most happy Being happy beyond the vastest wishes of our Love so that we shall not only delight in him as he is infinitely lovely and amiable but rejoice and triumph in him too as he is infinitely blessed and happy For Love unites the Interests as well as the Hearts of Lovers and mutually appropriates to each each others Joys and Felicities So that in that blessed State we shall share in the Felicity of God proportionably to the Degree of our Love to him For the more we love him the more we shall still espouse his happy Interest and the more we are interested in his Happiness the happier we must be and the more we must enjoy of it Thus Love gives us a real Possession and Enjoyment of God it makes us Copartners with him in himself and derives his Happiness upon us and makes it as really ours as his So that Gods Happiness is as it were the common Bank and Treasury of all divine Lovers in which they have every one a Share and of which proportionably to the Degrees of their Love to him they do actually participate to all Eternity And could they but love him as much as he deserves that is infinitely they would be as infinitely blessed and happy as he For then all his Happiness would be theirs and they would have the same delightful Sense and Feeling of it all as if it were all transplanted into their own Bosoms God therefore being an infinitely lovely infinitely loving and infinitely happy Being when once we are admitted to dwell for ever in his blessed Presence our Love to him can be productive of none but sweet and ravishing emotions for the immense perfections it will then find in its Object must necessarily refine it from all those Fears and Jealousies Griefs and Displeasures that are mingled with our carnal loves and render it a pure Delight and Complacency So that when once it is grown up to the Perfection of the heavenly State 't will be all Heaven 't will be an eternal Paradise of Delights within us a living Spring whence Rivers of Pleasures will issue for evermore O blessed State in which my heart shall be brim-full of Love and my Love shall triumph alone within me and be all Joy and Ravishment being removed for ever out of the Noise and Neighbourhood of all those disquieting Affections which here are wont to mingle with and continually disturb and incommode it IV. AS we are rational Creatures related to God we are obliged attentively to imitate him in all his imitable Perfections and Actions For this is an allowed Maxim Perfectissimum in suo genere est mensura reliquorum that is that which is most perfect in its kind is to be the rule and measure of all those Individual natures that are contained under it For Perfection is the measure of Imperfection even as a straight line is of a crooked and every Individual of a kind must needs be so far defective in its nature as it falls short of that which is most perfect in its kind God therefore being the most perfect of all in the whole kind of reasonable Beings must needs be the supream Pattern of all those Individuals that are under it and so far as any of them disagree with him so far they are defective in their Natures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. lib. 2. pag. 132. i. e. God is the Archetype of every reasonable Nature and Man is his Imitation and Image For he is a Being that is infinitely reasonable in all his Volitions and Actions that hath not the least intermixture either of Humour or Folly or Prejudice in his Choices but is always and in every thing governed by his own pure and all-comprehending Wisdom Upon which account he ought to be owned and looked upon by every reasonable Being as the sovereign Standard and Pattern of their Natures and so far as any reasonable Nature moves or acts counter to his which is the most perfectly reasonable so far it ought to be looked upon as monstrous and unnatural in its kind For as it is monstrous in a humane Body to have its parts displaced its Mouth opened in its Belly or its Legs growing out of its Shoulders because these are unnatural positions that are directly contrary to the true Idea Form and Figure of a humane body so every reasonable Nature that doth not imitate and take after Gods but chuseth and acts contrary to him is so far monstrous and mishapen because 't is wrythed and distorted into a Figure that is directly contrary to its natural Pattern and Exemplar And while it continues so it is not capable of true Happiness For that which renders God so infinitely happy in himself is not so much the Almighty Power he hath to defend himself from foreign Hurts and Injuries as the exact Agreement of all his Motions and Actions with the all-comprehending Reason of his own Mind For he always sees what is best and what he sees is best he always chuses and affects and this makes him perfectly satisfied with himself and fills him with infinite Joy and Complacency because
regulate all our Motions by those very eternal Laws of Reason whereby he everlastingly wills and acts and there is nothing will be so abhorrent to our Natures as an ungodlike Will or Action For if as the Apostle tells us by beholding now the glory of God in a glass we are changed into the same image from glory to glory 2 Cor. iii. 18 then doubtless much more shall we be so when we behold him face to face 'T is true as our Knowledge of God who is an infinite Truth can never be absolutely perfect because if it were it would be an infinite Knowledge so neither can our Resemblance of him be who is an infinite Goodness because if it were we should be infinitely good both which are contradictions to the state of a Creature yet as we shall be knowing him farther and farther so proportionably we shall be imitating him too through infinite Ages of Duration and still every act of our Imitation shall be so attentive and vigorous that it shall leave a further impression of his infinite Perfection on our Natures So that though our finite Nature can never arrive to a perfect Likeness of that infinitely lovely and amiable Being because it can never be infinitely amiable yet it shall be everlastingly approaching nearer and nearer to him proportionably as it discovers more and more of his infinite Beauties and Amabilities and be still growing more wise and pure more righteous and benign according as its prospect of the Wisdom Purity Justice and Goodness of his Nature is enlarged and extended So that as his Beauty shines into us it will still imprint it self upon us and transform us into blessed Images of it self and then according as we are assimilated to the divine Nature we shall still partake of those Joys and Pleasures which are inseparable to it and resemble it in Bliss as much as we do in Perfection For as Gods infinite Perfection is the spring of his infinite Self-satisfaction so from our finite Perfection there shall ever redound to us a Satisfaction equal to our finite Capacities For though we shall never attain to absolute Perfection that is to all the possible degrees of Wisdom and Goodness which is the Peculiar of God yet to Eternity we shall be growing on to it and in every Period of our growth we shall be perfectly what we ought to be that is we shall ever know as much of God as is possible for us our present State and Circumstances considered and so far as we know of him we shall to our utmost power continually imitate and resemble him And thus in our eternal Race to Perfection our Wills shall always follow our Understanding and our Understandings shall always follow God with their utmost Vigour and Activity so that neither the one nor the other shall ever be deficient of any Degree of Knowledge and Goodness which pro hic nunc is possible to them NOW what an unspeakable Satisfaction must this give to the Mind when surveying it self round about it shall find every thing within it self exactly as it ought to be every Faculty to its utmost Power and Capacity perfectly corresponding with its original Pattern and Exemplar when upon the strictest Scrutiny it will discover nothing within it self but what the most critical Conscience will be forced to approve of no Motion or Action but what will endure the Test of its severest Reason in a word when it shall interchangeably turn its Eyes from God to it self and compare Grace with Grace and Feature with Feature and perceive what an amiable Consent and Agreement there is between its own Copy and his fair Original what a pure Imitation of God its Life is and how exactly Deiform all its Motions and Actions are when I say our blessed Minds shall always find themselves in this Godlike Posture and Condition O! what incomparable Content and Satisfaction will they take in themselves With what enravishing Pleasure will they ever review their own Motions which being immediately copied from the Nature of God will be such as its severest Reason will be always forced to commend and approve of So that now the happy Mind will be always triumphing in its own Purity and enjoy within it self an everlasting Heaven of Content and Peace now 't will continually be crowned with Applauses of its own Reason and all its Actions will have the joyful Ecchoes of a well-pleased Conscience continually resounding after them And thus by imitating Gods Perfections we shall imitate his Happiness too and shall for ever take after him not only in respect of the Rectitude of our Natures but also in the most blessed and comfortable Enjoyment of our selves Besides that our Resemblance of God will everlastingly dispose us to love and our Love to contemplate and adore him For all these blessed Acts do reciprocally further and promote each other just like contiguous Bodies that are placed in a Circle the first of which being moved thrusts on the second the second the third the third the last if there be no more between and then the last thrusts on the first and so round again in the same order So that if we carry with us into Eternity a Frame and Disposition of Nature like Gods we shall always so imitate as still to love him so love as still to contemplate him so contemplate as still to adore him so adore as still to imitate and love and contemplate him anew and in this blessed Circle we shall move round for ever with unspeakable Vigour and Alacrity V. AS we are reasonable Creatures related to God we are bound to resign up and submit our selves to his blessed Will and Disposal For God hath a just Dominion oveâ— all founded in his own infinite Power that doth not like other Dominions result to him from any external Acts or Atchievements but is the eternal Prerogative of his own Nature For he as well as all other Beings hath a freedom to exercise his own Abilities so far as it is just and lawful but being infinitely paramount to all other Powers whatsoever he can be subject to no superiour Authority nor consequently be obliged by any other Law but that of his own Nature So that whatsoever he can do he can justly do if it be not contrary to the infinite Perfections of his Nature For his Power being infinite and unconfined as well as his Wisdom Justice and Goodness doth sufficiently warrant him to do whatsoever is consistent with them otherwise he would be infinitely powerful in vain And therefore since he can exercise a Dominion over all he must needs have an eternal Right to do it so far as his own Wisdom Goodness and Justice will permit which are the only Laws by which he can be bounded in the exercise of his infinite Power and Ability So that while he governs us by such Rules and Laws as are convenient to his own Nature his own Greatness and Power which exalts him above all other Law
and Pleasures and in every act of our celestial Behaviour we should have some Foretast of the celestial Happiness So that now we shall no longer need external Arguments to convince us of the Truth and Reality of that blessed State for we shall feel it within our selves and be able to penetrate into its blessed Mysteries by the light of an infallible Experience Now we shall have no Occasion to search the Records of Heaven to assure our selves of our Interest in it for by a most sensible Earnest of Heaven within us we shall be as fully satisfied of our Title to it as if one of the winged Messengers of Heaven should come down from thence and tell us that he saw our Names inrolled in the Book of Life And with this sweet Experience of Heaven within us we shall go on to Heaven with unspeakable Triumph and Alacrity being tolled all along from step to step with the alluring Relishes of its Joys and Pleasures and in every vigorous Exercise of every Virtue of the Heavenly Life we shall have such lively tasts and sensations of Heaven as will continually excite us to exercise them still more vigorously and still the more vigorously we exert them the more of Heaven we shall tast in them and so the Vigour of our Virtue shall increase the Pleasure of it and the Pleasure of it shall increase its Vigour till both are perfected and grown up into the blessed State of Heaven Wherefore as we do love Pleasure which is the great Invitation to Action let us be persuaded once for all to make a through Experiment of the heavenly Life and if upon a sufficient Trial you do not find it the most pleasant kind of Life that ever you led if you do not experience a far more noble Satisfaction in it than ever you did in all your studied and artificial Luxuries I give you leave to brand me for an Impostor V. CONSIDER the great Repose and Ease of a Heavenly Life and Conversation In every sensual and devilish Course of Life we find by Experience there is a great deal of Vneasiness and Disquiet For the Mind is disturbed the Conscience galled the Affections divided into opposite Factions and the whole Soul in a most diseased and restless Posture And indeed it is no Wonder it should be so since 't is in an unnatural State and Condition For whilst 't is in any unreasonable Course of Action the very Frame and Constitution of it as it is a rational Being suffers an unnatural Violence and is all unjointed and disordered And therefore as a Body when its Bones are out is never at Rest till they are set again so a rational Soul when its Faculties and Powers are dislocated and put out of their natural i. e. rational Course of Action is continually restless and disturbed and always tossing to and fro shifting from one Posture to another turning it self from this to t'other Object and Enjoyment but finding no ease or satisfaction in any till 't is restored again to its own rational Course of Motion and that is to act and move towards God for whom it was made and in whom alone it can be happy And if its Reason were not strangely dozed and stupified with Sense and sensitive Pleasure it would doubtless be a thousand times more restless and dissatisfied in this its preternatural State than it is it would feel much more Distraction of Mind Anguish of Conscience and Tumult of Affections than 't is now capable of amidst the numerous Enjoyments and Diversions of this World For as a musical Instrument were it a living thing would doubtless be sensible of Harmony as its proper State as a great Author of our own ingeniously discourses and abhor Discord and Dissonancy as a thing preternatural to it even so were our Reason but alive and awake within us our Souls which according to their natural Frame were made Vnison with God would be exquisitely sensible of those divine Virtues wherein its Consonancy consists as of that which is its proper State and native Complection and complain as sadly of the vicious Distempers of its Faculties as the Body doth of Wounds and Diseases 't would be perfectly sick of every unreasonable Motion and never be able to rest till its disjointed Faculties were rectified and all its disordered Strings set in tune again Which being once effected as it will quickly be in a continued Course of heavenly Action we shall presently find our Souls disburthened of all those malignant Humours that do so perpetually disease disquet and disturb us For by relying upon God we shall totally quit and discharge our selves of all those restless Cares and Anxieties which circle and prick us like a Crown of Thorns by our hearty Submission to his heavenly Will we shall ease our Consciences of all that Horror Rage and Anguish which proceeds from the invenomed Stings of our Guilt by loving admiring and adoring him our Affections will be cured of all that Inconsistence and Inordinacy that render them so tumultuous and disquieting And these things being once accomplished the sick and restless Soul will presently find it self in perfect Health and Ease For now all her jarring Faculties being tuned to the musical Laws of Reason there will be a perfect Harmony in her Nature and she will have no disquieting Principle within her nothing but calm and gentle Thoughts soft and sweet Reflections tame and manageable Affections nothing but what abundantly contributes to her Repose and Satisfaction So that do but imagine what an Ease the Body enjoys when after a lingering Sickness it recovers a sound Constitution and feels a lively Vigour possessing every Part and actuating the Whole such and much more is the Ease and Quiet of the Soul when by the diligent Practice of the heavenly Life it feels it self recovered from the languishing Sickness of a sensual and devilish Nature Now she is no more tossed and agitated in a stormy sea of restless Thoughts and guilty Reflections no more scorched with Impatience or drowned with Grief or shook with Fear or bloated with Pride or Ambition but all her Affections are resigned to the blessed Empire of a spiritual Mind and cloathed in the Livery of her Reason Now all the War and Contest between the Law in her Members and the Law in her Mind is ended in a glorious Victory and happy Peace and those divided Streams her Will and Conscience her Passions and her Reason are united in one Channel and flow towards one and the same Ocean And being thus jointed and knit together by the Ties and Ligaments of Virtue the Soul is perfectly well and easie and enjoys a most sweet Repose within it self Wherefore as you value your own Rest and Ease and would not be endlesly turmoiled and disquieted be persuaded heartily to ingage your selves in the Course of a heavenly Conversation and then though at first you must expect to find some Difficulty in it by reason of its Contrariety to
enough to correct and amend them before they are too deeply rooted in our Natures and have wound themselves too far into our Inclinations and a wound in our Innocence as well as our Bodies may be easily cured if it be taken in time but if it be neglected too long it will rancle by Degrees into an incureable Gangreen AND as frequent Self-Examination is a great Bridle to our Sin so it is also an effectual Spur to our Vertue For as when a man reflects upon his Sins and Miscarriages and considers how and where he hath done amiss his Conscience will be presently urging and exciting him to Repentance and Amendment so when he reflects upon his own Vertue and Sincerity his conscience will smile upon and crown him with Applauses and give him such a sweet and grateful Relish of his own Actions as will mightily incourage him to persevere in Well-doing For in all our Self-examinations we taste the difference between Good and Evil the Sweetness of that and the Bitterness of this and consequently the oftner we do so the more we shall be sure to like and approve of the one and to dislike and nauseate the other WHEREFORE to secure a good success to this our Christian Warfare as it is necessary especially at first that we should every Morning before we go into the World repeat and inforce our good Resolution so it is no less requisite especially till we have made some considerable Progress that we should every Night when we are withdrawn from the World strictly examin the performances of the Day whether they are such as do comport with our solemn Engagements And if upon an impartial Survey it appear that they do though as yet it be but weakly and imperfectly let us attend to the Sense of our own Minds to that silent Melody that resounds from our Consciences to our Actions and so lye down in Peace blessing and adoring that Grace by which we have been assisted and preserved Or if it appear that we have been unwarily faulty for want of due Care and Watchfulness let us resolve to take more Care for the future and thereby to put a timely Stop to our Sin before it hath too far insinuated into our Will and Inclinations but if we are conscious of any wilful Breach upon our Morning Vows of Obedience let us lament and bewail it with Shame and Indignation What have I done O wretched Traitor that I am to God and my own Soul I have falsified my Vows to Heaven and broke those Sacred Bands by which I was tyed up from my Lusts and my Ruin What can I plead for my self base and unworthy that I am with what Face can I go into his dreadful Presence whom I have so often mocked with my treacherous Promises of Amendment Yet go I will though I am all ashamed and confounded and confess and bewail mine Iniquity before him IF we would but take care thus to call our selves to Account every Night and impartialy to censure the Actions of the day it is not to be imagined how fast 't would set us forward in our Christian Warfare how much the Reflection on a well-spent Day would chear and enliven us how the grateful Sense of it would spirit our Faculties and encourage us to go on against all Oppositions how much the Review of the Sins of the Day would contribute to make our Reason more vigilant and our Consciences more tender for the future how much the Pleasure of our Sins would be allayed and abated by the stinging Reflections we should make upon them and how much the Dread of having the same Reflections repeated to us at Night would secure us against the Temptations of the Day VII TO prosper the Course of our Christian Warfare it is also necessary that we should be very watchful and circumspect For this also is one of those militant Duties which the Gospel injoins us Thus Matt. xxvi 41 Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation and Mark xiii 37 What I say unto you I say unto all watch so also 1 Cor. xvi 13 Watch ye stand fast in the faith quit your selves like men and 1 Thes. v. 6 Wherefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober where the Nature of the Duty is plainly discovered by its Opposite or Contrary let us not sleep but watch i. e. do not behave your selves like men that are asleep that take no Notice or Regard of what is done by to or about them but be sure you exercise a suitful prudent and constant Care over your own Actions and those manifold Temptations that assault and surround you And therefore elsewhere 't is exprest by walking circumspectly Eph. v. 15 i. e. looking round about you weighing the nature and circumstances of your Actions and using all honest Care either to prevent the Temptations that threaten you or to provide against them so that in short the sense of this Duty is this that we carefully avoid acting rashly and precipitantly without considering before-hand the Nature of our Action whether it be good or evil that in all doubtful and suspicious Cases we impartially consult our Rule and Conscience and look before we leap and take care to satisfie our selves of the Goodness of our Designs before we put them into Execution in a word that we do not carelesly run our selves into Temptations but if possible to avoid them if not to be sure to arm our selves against them and keep as far off from all sin especially from that we are most inclined to as is consistent with our necessary Occasions or in fewer words 't is to be always well advised in what we do whether it be good or evil and if it be evil to remove so far as we can from all Occasions that lead to it and provide our selves with Considerations against it and to keep them always awake in our Minds that we may not be surprized by it unawares WHICH is a Duty indispensably necessary for us in the whole Course of our Christian Warfare For whilst we accustom our selves to act rashly and inconsiderately without bethinking before-hand what we say or do we wander like blind men in a Field that is full of Pits and Quagmires and are every moment in Danger of stumbling into one Mischief or other and shall certainly plunge our selves into many an evil Custom before ever we have bethought our selves of the evil of it and so instead of conquering our old Sins we shall be ever and anon running our selves into new ones and while we are running away from one evil shall many times stumble into another and to avoid the Defects of Vertue leap head-long into the Excesses of it For in most moral Actions the Transition from the utmost of what is lawful into the nearmost of what is sinful is indiscernible and that line which parts this Vertue from that neighbouring Vice is generally so small that 't is hard to distinguish
are able do you but your Part which is only what you can and then doubt not but God will do his put forth but your honest hearty Endeavour and earnestly implore his Aid and Assistance and if then you miscarry let Heaven answer for it But if upon a Pretence that your Work is too difficult and your Enemies too mighty for you you lay down your Arms and resolve to contend with them no longer let Heaven and Earth judg between God and you which is to be charged with your ruine God that so graciously offer'd you his Help that stretch'd out his Hand to raise ye up tenderd you his spirit to guard and conduct ye through all Oppositions to eternal Happiness or you that would not be persuaded to do any thing for your selves but rather chose to perish with Ease than take any Pains to be saved V. CONSIDER that the Practice of these Duties is not so difficult but that it is fairly consistent with all your other necessary Occasions When men are told how many Duties are necessary to their successful Progress in Religion what Patience and Constancy what frequent Examinations and Tryals of themselves what lively Thoughts and Expectations of Heaven c. they are apt to conclude that if they should ingage to do all this they must resolve to do nothing else but even shake hands with all their secular Business and Diversions and Cloister up themselves from all other Affairs Which is a very great Mistake proceeding either from their not considering or not understanding the nature of these religious Exercises the greatest part of which are such as are to be wholly transacted in the Mind whose Motions and Operations are much more nimble and expedite than those of the Body and so may be very well intermixt with our secular Employments withour any Let or Hindrance to them For what great Time is there required for a man now and then to revolve a few wise and useful Thoughts in his Mind to consider the Nature of an Action when it occurs and reflect upon an Error when it 's past and hath escap'd him I can consider a Temptation when it 's approaching me and with a Thought or two of Heaven or Hell arm my Resolution against it in the twinkling of an eye I can look up to Heaven with an eye of earnest Expectance and send my Soul thither in a short Ejaculation without interrupting my Business and yet these and such as these do make up a great Part of those religious Exercises wherein the proper Duty of our Christian Warfare consists And though to the due performance of these Duties it will be sometimes necessary that our Minds should dwell longer upon them yet it is to be considered that when once we are entered upon the Practice of them our Mind will be much more at Leisure to attend to them for then 't will be in a great measure taken off from its wild and unreasonable Vagaries from its sinful Designs and lewd Contrivances from its Phantastick Complacencies in the Pleasures of Sin and anxious Reflections on the Guilt and Danger of it and when all this Rubbish is thrown out of the Mind there will be Room enough for good Thoughts to dwell in it without interfering with any of our necessary Cares and Diversions For would we but give these our religious Exercises as much Room in our Minds as we did heretofore freely allow to our Sins they would ask no more but leave us as much at Leisure for our other Affairs as ever I confess there are some of these Duties that exact of us their fixt and stated Portions of Time such as our Morning Consideration and Prayer our Evening Examination and Prayer our religious Observation of the Lords Day and our preparing for and receiving the Holy Sacrament but all this may be very well spared without any Prejudice to any of our lawful Occasions For what great matter of Time doth it ask for a man to think over a few good Thoughts in the Morning and fore-arm his Mind with them against the Temptations of the Day to recommend himself to God in a short pithy and affectionate Prayer and repeat his Purpose and Resolution of Obedience what an easie matter were it for you to borrow so many Moments as would suffice for this Purpose from your Bed and your Comb and Looking-glass And as for the Evening when your Business is over it 's a very hard case if you cannot spare so much time either from your Company or Refreshments as to make a short Review of the Actions of the Day to confess and beg Pardon for the Evils you have faln into or to bless God for the Good you have done and the Evils you have avoided and then to recommend your selves to his Grace and Protection for the future And as for your religious Observation of the Lords Day it is only the seventh Part of your Time and can you think much to devote that or at least the greatest Part of that to him who gives you your Being and Duration And lastly as for your receiving the Lords Supper 't is at most but once a Month that you are invited to it and 't is a hard Case if out of so great a proportion of Time you cannot afford a few Hours to examine your Defects and to quicken your Graces and to dress and prePare your selves for that blessed Commemoration Alass how easie were all this to a willing Mind and if we had but half that Concern for our Souls and everlasting Interest that we have for our Bodies we should count such things as these not worth our mentioning How disingenuous therefore is it for men to make such tragical Out-cries as they do of the Hardship and Difficulty of this spiritual Warfare when there is nothing at all in it that intrenches either on their secular Callings or necessary Diversions when they may be going onward to Heaven while they are doing their Business and mortifying their Lusts even in the Enjoyment of their Recreations and so take their Pleasure both here and hereafter VI. CONSIDER that the Difficulty of these Duties is such as will certainly abate and wear off by Degrees if we constantly practise them For in all Undertakings whatsoever it is Vse that makes Perfectness and that which is exceeding hard to us at first either through want of Skill to manage or Inclination to practise it will by degrees grow easier and easier as we are more and more accustomed and familiarized to it And this we shall find by Experience if we constantly exercise our selves in these progressive Duties of our Religion which to a Mind that hath been altogether unacquainted with them will at first be very difficult 'T will go against the grain of a wild and ungoverned Nature to be confined from its extravagant Ranges by the strict Ties of a religious Discipline and to reduce a roving Mind to severe Consideration or a fickle one to Constancy and Resolution
it And there is nothing will be capable of pleasing the One but what does gratifie the unbounded Liquorishness of the Other NOW to such a Soul the spiritual World must needs be a barren wilderness where no Good grows that it can live upon none but what is nauseous and distastful to its coarse and vitiated Palate where there are noble Entertainments indeed for Minds that are contempered to them that have already tasted and experienced them but not one Drop of Water to cool the Tip of a Sensual Tongue or gratifie the Thirst of a Carnal Desire So that were we admitted to that Heavenly Place where the Blessed dwell yet unless we had acquired their Heavenly Disposition and Temper we could never participate with them in their Pleasures For so great would be the Antipathy of our sensual Affections to them that we should doubtless flie away from them and rather chuse to be for ever Insensible than be condemned to an everlasting Perception of what is so ungrateful to our Natures So that till we have in some measure moderated our Concupiscible Affections and weaned them from their excessive Dotages upon sensual Good it is impossible we should enjoy the Happiness of Heaven For such perfect Opposites are a Spiritual Heaven and a Carnal Mind that unless This be spiritualized or That be carnalized it is impossible they should ever meet and agree III. ANOTHER Virtue that belongs to a Man considered meerly as a Rational Animal is FORTITUDE which in the largest sense consists in not permitting our Irascible Affections to exceed those Evils or Dangers which we seek to repel or avoid in keeping our Fear and Anger our Malice Envy and Revenge in such due subjection as not to let them exceed those Bounds which Reason and the Nature of Things prescribe them For I do not take Fortitude here in the narrow sense of the Moralists as it is a Medium between Irrational Fear and Fool-Hardiness but as it is the Rule by which all those Irascible Passions in us which arise from the sense of any Evil or Danger ought to be guided and directed That by which we are to guard and defend our selves against all those troublesome and disquieting Impressions which outward Evils and Dangers are apt to make upon our Minds And in this Latitude Fortitude comprehends not only Courage as it is opposed to Fear but also Gentleness as it is opposed to Fierceness Sufferance as it is opposed to Impatience Contentedness as it is opposed to Envy and Meekness as it is opposed to Malice and Revenge All which are the Passions of weak and pusillanimous Minds that are not able to withstand an Evil nor endure the least Touch of it without being startled and disordered that are so softned with Baseness and Cowardise that they cannot resist the most gentle Impressions of Injury For as sick Persons are offended with the light of the Sun and the freshness of the Air which are highly pleasant and delightful to such as are well and in health Even so Persons of weak and feeble minds are easily offended their Spirits are so tender and effeminate that they cannot endure the least Air of Evil should blow upon them and what would be only a Diversion to a Couragious Soul troubles and incommodes Them And whatsoever Courage such persons may pretend to it 's meerly a Heat and Ferment of their Bloud and Spirits A Courage wherein Game-Cocks and Mastives out-vy the greatest Heroes of them all But as to that which is truly Rational and Manly which consists in a firm Composedness of Mind in the midst of Evil or Dangerous Accidents they are the most wretched Cowards in Nature For the true Fortitude of the Mind consists in being hardened against Evil upon Rational Principles in being so fenced and guarded with Reason and Consideration as that no dolorous Accident from without is able to invade it or raise any violent Commotions in it In a word in having such a constant Power over its Irascible Affections as not to be overprone either to be timorous in Danger or envious in Want or impatient in Suffering or angry at Contempt or malicious and revengeful under Injuries and Provocations And till we have in some measure acquired this Virtue we can never be happy either here or hereafter FOR whilst we are in this world we must expect to be encompassed with continual Crouds of Evil Accidents some or other of which will be always pressing upon and justling against us So that if our minds are sore and uneasie and over-apt to be affected with Evil we shall be continually pained and disquieted For whereas were our Minds but calm and easie all the Evil Accidents that befall us would be but like a Shower of Hail upon the Tiles of a Musick-House which with all its Clatter and Noise disturbs not the Harmony that is within our being too apt to be moved into Passion by them uncovers our mind to them and lays it open to the Tempest And commonly the greatest Hurt which these outward Evils do us is their disturbing our Minds into violent Passions and this they will never cease doing till we have throughly fortified our Reason against them For if our Reason commands not our Passions to be sure outward Accidents will and while they do so we are Tenants at will to them for all our Peace and Happiness and according as they happen to be Good or Bad so must we be sure still to be Happy or Miserable And in this Condition like a Ship without a Pilot in the midst of a Tempestuous Sea we are the sport of every wind and wave and know not till the Event hath determined it how the next Billow will dispose of us whether it will dash us against a Rock or drive us into a quiet Harbour SO miserable is our Condition here while we are utterly destitute of this Virtue of Fortitude But much more miserable will the want of it necessarily render us hereafter For all those Affections which fall under the Inspection and Government of Fortitude are in their Excesses naturally vexatious to the Mind and do always disturb and raise Tumults in it For so Wrath and Impatience distracts and alienates it from it self and confounds its Thoughts and shuffles them together into a heap of wild and disorderly Fancies so Malice Envy and Revenge do fill it with anxious biting Thoughts that like young Vipers gnaw the Womb that bears them and fret and gall the wretched Mind that forms and gives them Entertainment And though in this world we are not so sensible of the mischief which these black and rancorous Passions do us partly because our sense of them is abated with the Intermixture of our Bodily Pleasures and partly because while we operate as we do by these unwieldy Organs of Flesh our Reflexions cannot be comparably so quick nor our Passions so violent nor our Perceptions so brisk and exquisite as they will doubtless be when we are stript