wise to do evil but he hath no knowledge to do good Now experience doth more confirm us in the belief of this than a thousand Arguments Again we oft read of the enmity of the Devil against Mankind and though his power be not much discerned by many yet it is like the influence of Coelestial Bodies Sun Moon and Stars upon these sublunary things powerful and effectual though not discerned but in the effects hence we read of his working effectually in the hearts of the Children of disobedience of men being taken captive of him at his pleasure of the strength of delusion of his going about like a roaring Lion of wrestling with principalities and powers and resisting the Devil stedfast in the Faith He that should have seen the Poor Man cured by Christ offering violence to himself and casting himself sometimes into the fire sometimes into the water would have easily concluded that he was acted by some evil spirit to such things as were destructive to his own nature so to see men sin against their own souls and run such desperate hazards against their own interest is a clear argument that they are acted by some other nature which seeks their ruine and destruction Now these may be remote causes of the prevalency of that Atheism which we see and lament in the World but yet there must be some nearer causes searched out for unlesse it be in some secret Sympathies and Antipathies Man doth ordinarily act according to reason that is what is either really so or seems so to him and there must be some ratio motiva to elicite or draw forth the acts of his will The Grace of God is powerful in good actions yet it works congruously to our natures moving by the means of some rational arguments and principles so the efficacy of the Devil is very great in evil actions yet he makes use for the most part of moral arguments though he had such a hand in Judas his Treason and Annanias his cosenage as that he is said to put these things into their hearts yet by the whole tenor of their story we find that there were some moral motives he made use of and that it was covetousness that did more immediately sway in these sins Now it seems one main reason of Mens Atheism which is more near and immediate is the prevalency of sense as there are some actions which do prevent the reasonings of the mind which we call actiones hominis but not humanae which indeed are actions of Men but not humane actions proceeding from the essential principle of man objects coming to the sense before they can have access to the understanding the spirits move disorderly till the understanding taking cognizance of the matter do rectifie such motions of the spirits as in a sudden noise or unexpected sight the senses as the Centinels take the first alarm but as soon as the news is carryed to the understanding as the main guard or principal officer and found to be of no dangerous consequence this sudden commotion is allayed so in more important passages of our lives sense makes many disorderly sallies and motions without taking counsel of the understanding and objects do make very deep impressions upon them and the Scripture doth take notice how much we are led by sense in this frail state wherein we are so as we may all say with the Propher Law 3.51 Our eye affects our heart this is the foundation of the Apostles argument 1 John 4.20 He that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen We have a thousand times more reason to love God than to love our Brother considering the perfections and excellencies that are in God to render him amiable and the obligations which we are under to him who hath done more ten thousand times for us than all the friends which we have in the World but whatever reason there may be in the thing it self the Apostle argues according to our poor capacity the access that things have to us and doth clearly suppose that things which have accesse to out senses are more effectual for moving our affections than such things as are only the object of faith So though we hear of an infinite Majesty that created and sustains our selves and all other finite beings who seeth all our actions and will one day call us to an account for them and likewise of an eternal weight of glory made up of things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor ever entred into the heart of Man to conceive these things do not move us because they are far out of our sight and the things of the World which are nearer to our senses and are the immediate objects of them pleasing the tast delighting the smell tickling and flattering the Ear dazling the eyes have more prevalency upon us But yet upon examination we shall find this is not sufficient to prevail against those important considerations which I have already proposed nor to leave mankind excusable for abandoning himself to the pleasures of this life so as to neglect those better things which are propounded as the reward of holiness Let us but quit our selves like men and exercise those common principles of reason which we exercise in other affairs of our lives and though we cannot perhaps thereby silence the clamors of sence yet we may confute them and reject them Do we not ordinarily see men correct the errors of sense by reason Do we not see them part with their blood to prevent the inconveniency of a disease which for the most part they do believe or suspect not upon the evident demonstrations but probable conjectures of a Physician or at best by their own reason Do not men endure the cutting off of a member to save the body and lengthen out a miserable life for some days or years Do not men drink the most unpleasing potions for the recovery of their health or repairing their decayed strength Do not men cast their seed into the earth in hopes of receiving the increase of it Doth not the Merchant send away his goods in hope to receive others for them which may bring him some gain and advantage And what is all this to denying ungodliness and worldly lusts denying our selves the pleasure of sin for the pleasure of Heaven yea do we not see men ordinarily binding their Sons to some Apprenticeship for many years that so they may learn a Trade to maintain themselves in some repute in the world when they shall come to years rather than let them live in idlenesse and pleasure giving up themselves to childish sports and vanities when they are young which would afterwards expose them to poverty and contempt And he is accounted a cruel and unjust Father that will not thus love his Child with such a prudent severity rather than undo him by a foolish indulgence yet how wide a difference is there in these cases And how
serious weighing of the whole matter exceedingly commend it and argue something of more than ordinary worth in it and that is the Hypocrisie which is found among Christians this implies that there is something in it which is attractive that men should use such industry to counterfeit it and seek by a feigned shew of it to insinuate themselves into the esteem of others whose good opinion they think most considerable However as I have already said and shall say again in due place there are many scorn men for it yet this is an evident proof that it is a thing of good report and praise-worthy though we do not esteem every thing that looks like Gold because it is sometimes counterfeited yet this is an argument of the worth of that which is Gold indeed so though 't is true every one that makes profession of Godlinesse doth not presently deserve the honour and respect of a Godly Man because there are many Hypocrites yet it is an argument of the greater worth of such as are Godly indeed Pearls and Diamonds are oftener counterfeited than those things that are of mean value What is there that begets an higher esteem amongst Men than that Humility Meekness Goodnesse Charity Justice which the Gospel requires and which every true Christian in some measure hath It makes a Man as was said of Vespasian the Darling of Mankind and makes his memory blessed What is the ordinary Character which you shall hear of such a Man He was a good Man a quiet Man you might have put your Life in his hand his word was as good as his bond and however the Devil cheats men with the hopes of esteem in the World by a carelesse neglect of Religion though they gratifie the greatest part of the World in some respect as they justifie their wicked wayes by their own practice yet we shall observe through the just judgment of God shame is the present wages of sin Prov. 13.5 Rom. 6.21 and indeed the Heathens themselves made honour the reward of vertue so that a wicked Man according to them is not capable of it Pride is that which all abhor swearing and blaspheming are such sins as none gain by and therefore will commend no man for Drunkennesse discovers so much of a Mans weaknessse that it makes him obnoxious to every Mans pity or scorn lying injustice oppression and other sins against the second table being immediatly against our Neighbour and so prejudicial to the interest of Mankind cannot purchase any man any honour or esteem and though it is true as I have before complained that a Godly man is exposed to scorn and reproach yet first it is of such whose reproaches we may glory in and bind to us as a Crown What was said of Nero is true of them that it is likely to be something that is good which they speak against yea commonly such before they dye justifie those whom they reproached and when they grow wiser come to be of their mind when they come to lye on their sick beds and to be convinced by sense and experience of what they would not believe or at least consider before that there is a vanity in every Creature that they must dye and that their former pleasures will yield them no comfort at such an hour then they reproach themselves more than formerly they reproached others then they find that they were the fools for despising instruction and wish now they were in the case of those whom they despised and which is yet more observable Godliness doth command such an esteem from all that none dare speak against it and you shall hardly hear any Godlyman reproached as such as the Jews would not own that they stoned Christ for a good work but for Blasphemy when Wicked Men reproach others they will not by any means acknowledge that it is for Godlinesse but for Vngodlinesse for Hypocrisie for being too nice and superstitious doing more than God requires for Covetousnesse or such like sins so that by their own confession sincerity observing what God hath commanded charity c. are good and commendable and so they are condemned out of their own mouths Let sin seek excuses and subterfuges Vertue as truth seeks no corners knows no shame SECT IV. How much Godlinesse conduceth to the preserving and increase of Mens Estates which Sin doth like a Canker wast and consume An illustration of Jer. 17.11 and Hos 9.11 Objections answered which Men make from that Justice and Charity which Religion obliges Men to and from those expenses and losses which it exposes them to as also from experience and daily observation THe next interest of Man in his personal capacity which I shall consider is the furniture of this life for bearing his charges in his Pilgrimage while he is on his way towards his long home and though Riches by reason of the abuse of them sometimes seem to be undervalued both by God and Man in the Scripture and other writings yet in themselves they are useful and desirable and if we should understand these things absolutely and simply which are spoken of them not in a certain respect and secundum quid as they speak it might rather be said the curse of the Lord makes rich than his blessing thereby a Man is capable of doing good to others and our Saviour hath pronounced it more blessed to give than to receive he is able to command his own affairs he is freed from the temptations of poverty to a sinful flattery and pleasing of Men incroaching upon Gods time or Mens Estates from distracting cares about the necessaries of this life they are a defence to him not only in his own conceit but really lifting him up that the foot of contempt may not trample upon him and that whatever is praise-worthy in him may be more conspicuous to others which is little taken notice of in the poor whose wisdom yea all other graces and vertues are despised Now as the race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong so neither are Riches alwayes to the diligent or industrious or wise but to those whom God favours with his blessing Godlinesse hath the promise both of this life and that to come though God hath not absolutely promised abundance or superfluities necessaries he hath so that though the Lions whereby we may according to the language of Scripture understand those who have both cruelty and power to oppresse others may lack and suffer hunger those that fear the Lord shall want no good thing Again Godlinesse may be ranked amongst the natural causes as well as amongst the moral causes of riches Do but consider what diligence the Gospel requires in our particular callings and though according to what I lately said this is not the only or solitary cause of Riches yet it is a means which God doth ordinarily blesse Do but further consider what sobriety and moderation is required in Meat Drink Apparel and we shall easily conceive how
far doth this fall short of expressing the unreasonableness of such as will rather enjoy present pleasures than prepare for future happinesse A Child is bound to an Apprenticeship and he perhaps dies before his time be out and so all his labour and charge is lost or he doth not live seven years a Freeman after he hath lived seven years in a hard service But he that gives up himself to the service of Christ let it be imagined to be as hard as some mens prejudice perswades them the sooner he dyes the sooner his service is ended and though he dye never so soon he loseth not his Freedom but is made a Citizen of Heaven and once entred there he never dyes but doth for ever reap the fruit of his labours Do we not give twenty times as much for the Fee-simple as they speak of an Estate as it will bring us in one year and according to the same rule were we sure to enjoy the pleasures of sin twenty years and could imagine them to be equal to the joyes of Heaven yet we should quit them for those everlasting pleasures which we should enjoy for ever our selves and not only for some Ages as we hope to do Estates on Earth not in our selves but only in our posterity Further yet we see it is in vain to lay a snare in the sight of any Bird. Prov. 1.17 they will not come into the Net to feed if they perceive it or swallow the bait when they see the hook yet foolish men do venture on Hell which they are told will certainly be the wages of sin and will enjoy the present pleasures of it though they have all the assurance that a man can have of any thing which he sees not with his eyes that it will cost him his life and that his Soul must rue for ever in Hell God indeed doth not manifest himself to us ordinarily here nor take us up as he did Paul into the third Heavens to shew us the Glory thereof but he will have us to exercise faith here and to take his word which he hath so fully confirmed to us that we may as certainly trust to it as if we had the clearest evidence in the world The Husband-man casts his seed into the ground without any fear or suspition of losing having been confirmed by many experiments in the hope of receiving it again with increase but a thousand experiments will not so fully perswade as a divine testimony confirmed by Covenants Oaths and Seals the ordinary wayes of confirmation amongst men so that a Divine faith founded upon the word of God is as the substance of things hoped for which are but future and makes them as it were really subsist and is the evidence of things not seen confirming them to us and as fully perswading us of them though they are not obvious to the sense as any Philosophical demonstration can confirm any truth so that notwithstanding the Apostle owns sence to be a great means to move affections in this frail state wherein we are yet faith serves believers for a sufficient foundation of love and delight Though they see not Jesus Christ they love him and rejoyce in him with joy unspeakable and full of Glory 1 Pet. 1.7 We are short sighted and cannot see a far off 2 Pet. 1.9 but faith as a perspective brings things nearer to us that we may judge of them as really present Let not our senses therefore usurp authority over Faith and Reason but lot Faith and Reason have their perfect work let not the Men of the World be wiser in their Generation than Children of light let us not be wiser in the things of the World than in the things of Heaven We chuse not the fairest of things for the most part but such as are more serviceable and durable nor the sweetest but that which is wholsom and nourishing we chuse not the cleanest or pleasantest way but that which leads to the place which we are going to So let us judge of things not according as they present themselves to our senses but as they have a real intrinsick worth to commend themselves to our judgments and let us not judge of things according to their suitablenesse to our present fancies but as they conduce to our abiding good measuring every thing not by Time but by Eternity SECT XV. Inconsideratenesse another great cause of Atheism against which the best remedies are a serious apprehension of the great moment and importance of spiritual things frequent reading and hearing the word of God Christian communion and conference about matters of Religion mutual admonition The prevalency of evil customs and habits the folly of deferring repentance ANother chief reason of that Atheism which abounds so much in the World is inconsideratenesse the most important truths do not affect us any longer than we consider them The Platonists observed this who made knowledge nothing but remembrance or an actual consideration of that which Man knows not reckoning that to be knowledge which lyes dead in the habit and doth not at all affect the Soul And we find that the Scripture layes much weight upon this consideration or remembrance yea as much as Mans salvation comes to We may observe Isa 1.3 There is an Epimone wherein the Prophet layes the sin of Israel upon this that they did not consider So 1 Kings 8.47 We may observe affliction brings men to bethink themselves that brings them to repentance and repentance is a means to obtain pardon and we find by experience that when Men are by sicknesse brought to a serious weighing of matters they are easily perswaded to make good promises and resolutions which when their minds are afterwards by the pleasures of the World diverted from the thoughts of they turn to their former course yea we see many times that Men are so ingenuous as to yield to reproofs and to condemn themselves and their own wayes when they are admonished of them as if they stood in need of no more but to be put in mind of such things as they have in their own hearts and only to have conscience awakened and we find Ezek 18.14.28 that the turning away of a wicked man from the evil of his wayes depends chiefly upon consideration I have already shewed that the Devil is the remote cause of that wickednesse and prophaneness which abounds in the World yet he useth this as the great means to draw Men from God to divert their minds from the thoughts of such things as may have an influence upon their affections and actions to make a change in them as we see plainly in the Parable of the Sower Luk. 8.12 Men hear the word then comes the Devil and takes it away out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved First we find by experience that Mâ—n are oft seriously affected with those things that they hear while they are lively represented to their minds and pressed seriously upon their consciences
to consist quietly together which heat doth sever and seperate So that I am almost ready to say with Luther that I know not how to believe that the Gospel hath been preached in a place where I do not see errors and divisions And it is further observable as an argument of the general concurrence of all Christians in the belief of the necessity and excellency of an holy life that setting aside some few who being themselves Slaves to vile affections have laid down some loose principles to patronize their own corrupt practises and draw after them such as are laden with the like sinful lusts men of all opinions and perswasions have earnestly pressed men to the greatest strictnesse and accuratenesse in their conversations and have served themselves at least of a shew of holinesse as the most effectual means to induce men to a belief of their Doctrine But to come nearer to the matter let us leave men to suspend their belief a while of those things which they see controverted and where they find probable arguments alledged on the one side and on the other yet their objection holds not against such things wherein all are agreed as are most of the precepts of the Gospel That rule which was formerly mentioned given by our Saviour Mat. 7.12 is not only allowed by all Christians but by the very Heathens Alexander Severus did so much esteem it that he would have it written upon the Walls of his Palace So many other important truths which are a sufficient Foundation of the most strict and holy conversation are agreed on amongst all as Gods omnisciency overseeing all our actions a future judgement wherein all must be sentenced according to their actions insomuch that even Robbers and such as conspire in wickednesse and seem to bid defiance to Heaven are self condemned and witnesse for God against themselves in obliging themselves to secresie and faithfulnesse to each other by solemn oaths wherein they swear by the name of that God whose commands they live in the open breach of and so acknowledge him as a witnesse and spectator of their actions and one who will severely punish the contempt of his authority in the breach of such oaths Many cannot agree indeed about methodizing their notions and disposing them into such a systeme as that every part may agree and that there may be an harmony in the whole Some cannot agree about the order and nature of Gods decrees yet all believe that no decree doth excuse a Mans sin or that any can pretend any benefit by their election that have not some evidence of it in their sanctification Men differ in their notions about the cause of sin yet on both sides they hold that as the kind of fruit is not according to the root or stock but according to the Graft or Cyon out of which it immediately grows so the specification of actions depends not upon any remote causes which may have an influence into them but upon the will of him that is the immediate cause of them and that there is nothing in the decrees of God or the temptations of Satan which will excuse the sinner or quit him from guilt Men are at variance about the extent of the efficacy of Christs death but agree that none shall have any saving benefit by it but those that believe Men differ about the Power of nature and liberty of the will but on both hands own so much power as will leave men inexcusable and may be a ground of our endeavors and so much necessity of Grace and Divine assistance as may bring us upon our knees and force us to our Prayers Some difference there is about Perseverance but a consent in this that he that doth not persevere in holiness shall never be saved Some difference there is about the hand that works have in our justification but all agree that they are necessary in those that are justified Men vary in their opinions about the obligation of the Law the nature of the Covenant of Grace Christian liberty c. but in this they consent that the things required in the Law are necessary to be done though not perfectly yet sincerely as we can that the Covenant of Grace is not so far absolute that men may be saved without faith and holiness that Christians are not to abuse their liberty as an occasion to licenciousness Now happy is he that condemns not himself in the things which he alloweth In short let us pray as if all depended wholly on Gods grace without our endeavors Do good works as if we were to be justified by them Trust to Gods Grace and mercy in Christ as if we had done no works at all Live as if there were no Gospel Hope as if there were no Law I speak not in respect of the lowness and servileness of our principles but in respect of the diligence of our endeavours Let us walk watchfully and cautiously as if we feared falling away yet love God and hope in him as if we were certain to persevere In short if I may take liberty to mention such names let us pray like Calvinists endeavour like Arminians act like Legalists hope like Antinomians be Papists in our works Protestants in our Faith Let me again add to prevent mistake and offence I speak not of the principles of Mens actions but the matter and substance of them nor of what they do in Hypothesi which come under such distinguishing names but of what such Mens principles do really or at least are supposed by others to lead them to Finally whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same things FINIS ERRATA PAge 6. line 8. read Isa 6. l. 11. Phil. 3.19 p. 34. l. 25. for God read Gold p. 37. l. 6. r. Col. 3.23 p. 51. l. 15. blot out Mankind l. 28. blot out yet p. 53 l. 15. for them r. him p. 58. l. 10. r. out of joyn◠p. 129. l. 15. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 145. l. 9. r. Zech. 12.3 There are some small faults in the pointing but such as will not much trouble any Reader