his impendent Suffering exprest a great perplexity Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say The fearful expectation of the just and heavy punishment due for our Sins perplex'd his Holy and Humane Nature he address'd a Request to God Father save me from this hour but it was with a Revocation but for this cause came I to this hour it was subordinate to his main desire Father glorifie thy Name When he was seized by his bloody Enemies and Peter struck with his Sword one of them he repress'd his rash Zeal with that Consideration The Cup which my Father has given shall I not drink of it He regarded his Soveraign Will in giving it and with Submission drank of the dregs of it How instructive is this to us to take the hottest and bitterest Potion that God our Father and Physician prepares for us 2. Prayer is an Effectual Means to obtain an increase of Spiritual Blessings 'T is the Law of Heaven that Blessings are to be obtain'd by Prayer for this is most Honourable to God and Beneficial to us 'T is the Supreme Act of Religious Worship discover'd by the Light of Nature to the Heathens Prayer is the Homage due to his Eternal Greatness the most glorious acknowledgement of his All-sufficiency that he is Able and Willing to relieve our Poverty from his immense Treasures notwithstanding our unworthiness for we are less than the least of his mercies and deserve the severe inflictions of his Justice 'T is the setting our Seal to his Truth that he is a God hearing Prayer 'T is very beneficial to us for it engages us to receive his Benefits with Adoration and Thankfulness and prepares us to receive new Favours and by our obtaining Blessings in this way we have a more Clear and Comfortable Sense of his Love that gives the sweetest Tincture and Relish to them 'T is true Prayer is not requir'd to inform God or to incline him to be Gracious and sometimes from his exuberant Goodness he prevents our desires but we cannot regularly expect his Blessings without the Sense of our Wants and Prayer to supply them Now all Blessings are originally from God but some are immediately from him As the Sun inlightens the World by its presence in the Day and the Moon and Stars inlighten it in the Night by Light borrowed from the Sun St. James tells us Every good and perfect gift descends from above from the Father of Lights All Blessings in the order of Nature the Qualities of the Body Beauty Strength Health or the Endowments of the Mind Knowledge Wit Eloquence are his Gifts all Temporary Talents Riches Power Dignity are from him by the mediation of second Causes but there are more precious and perfect Gifts that come from him immediately as the Father of Lights Sanctifying Graces and Spiritual Comforts by the Illumination and Infusion of the Holy Spirit The first sort of Blessings we are not to pray for absolutely for they may be pernicious by our abuse of them to our Souls and are often bestowed upon Reprobate Sinners But the other kind saving Graces deserve our most ardent desires As the hart pants after the water-brooks our Souls should seek after the Favour of God and Sanctifying Grace the infallible Testimony and effect of it We must pray for them unsatisfiedly not content with any thing else nor without excellent degrees of them David breaks out his ardent desires O that my wayes were directed according to thy Statutes O that my Soul may be baptiz'd with the Holy Ghost as with Fire to purifie and refine me from all my dross that as Gold taken from a vein of Earth receives such a lustre from the Fire as if it were the sole product of Fire so my renovation by the Spirit may be so intire that all Carnality may be abolish'd Our Prayers should be for our perseverance in well-doing Perseverance is a most free Gift of God a new Grace superadded to what we have received without it we shall forsake God every Hour God promises to give the sanctifying Spirit as a permanent Principle of Holiness in his People to cause them to walk in his Statutes and declares for this I will be enquired of by the house of Israel We must imitate Jacob who wrestled with the Angel and would not let him go till he had blest him This is an Emblem of fervent Prayer wherein we strive with the strength and sinews of our Souls and as it were offer violence to the King of Heaven to bestow Spiritual Blessings upon us Carnal Men are intemperate greedy and passionate in their desires of Temporal Blessings tho' Reason Religion and Experience of their Vanity should regulate them They are impatient and insatiable and will bear no denial nor delay but with regret and reluctancy But how remiss and cold are their desires for spiritual and eternal Blessings they invite a denial Their Prayers are defective in the Principle they do not understand the value and their want of them Divine Grace the gift of God's saving Mercy the dear purchase of the Sufferings of Christ the precious fruit of his Holy Spirit are of little price in their esteem Our Saviour tells the Samaritan Woman If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that asks thee Give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water We are encouraged to be earnest and resolved Suppliants for the Graces of God's Spirit because we are assur'd he is most willing to bestow them Our Saviour sometimes encourages us from the resemblance of a Father who cannot so unnaturalize himself and devest his tender Affections as to renounce his own off-spring to deny a Child necessary Food for his subsistence Will he give him a stone for bread or a serpent for a fish If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask it Sometimes he excites us to pray and not to faint from the Parable of an incompassionate Stranger a Judge that was overcome by importunity to afford relief to one in distress God delights to hear and answer those Prayers that are for his best Blessings When Solomon prayed for Wisdom to Rule his People God was so pleas'd that he gave him Wisdom in an Eminent Degree and as an accession Riches and Honour If we imitate Solomon in his Prayer we shall have his Acceptance St. James directs us If any man wants wisdom let him ask it of God who gives liberally and upbraids no man the Wisdom to manage Afflictions that may be for his Glory and our Spiritual Advantage He gives Liberally which either respects the Affection of the Giver or the Measure of the Gift or the repeated Acts of Giving and upbraids not neither with their unworthiness nor the frequency of their Addresses Liberality among men is a costly Vertue and but
and by a Temporal Holy Rest are prepar'd for an Eternal Glorious Rest. The observing this Command enables us to do the rest for the Duties of it are Divine and Spiritual and have a powerful influence in the Souls of Men for the exercise of Grace by a proper efficacy increases it and in their sanctifying that day God sanctifies them and liberally bestows the Treasures of Grace and Joy the consequent Blessing of the divine Institution The Profaners of that Holy Time do vertually renounce their Allegiance to the Crâ—ator and Redeemer they will not attend upon his Oracles but despise the Persons and Office of the Ministers of Christ and their Contempt reflects upon him They make the Sabbath their delight in another sense than the Commandment intends they make it a Play-day Others who are call'd and counted Christians who are good in every thing but wherein they should be best they are Just and Merciful Temperate and Chaste Affable and Obliging to Men but wretchedly neglect the duties of Piety to God and the sanctifying his day That precious and dear interval to a Saint from the business of the World is a galling restraint to Carnal Men from their secular Employments 'T is true they will go to the publick Worship either for seculary respects Custom or the Coertion of the Laws or the impulse of Conscience that will not be quiet without some Religion but they are glad when 't is done and by vain discourses dash out of their minds the instructions of the Word of God They spend a great part of the day as if it were unsanctified time in curious dressing in Luxurious Feasting in Complemental Visits in Idleness and sometimes in Actions worse than Idleness The certain Cause of this Profaneness is they are not partakers of the divine Nature that inclines the Soul to God and raises our esteem of Communion with him as a Heaven upon Earth and from hence it follows that they come and go from the Publick Ordinances neither cleansed from Sin nor chang'd into the divine Image But those who conscientiously employ that day in Duties proper to it in Prayer and Hearing and Reading the Scriptures and spiritual Books in holy Conference whereby Light and Heat is mutually Communicated among the Saints and in the Meditation of Eternal things whereby Faith removes the Vail and looks into the Sanctuary of Life and Glory as Moses by Conversing with God in the Mount came down with a shining Countenance so a divine Lustre will appear in their Conversations in the following Week 5. The frequent discussion of Conscience and review of our Ways is an effectual Means of rising to Perfection in Holiness This Duty is difficult and distastful to Carnal Persons for Sense is prevalent and fastens their Thoughts upon External Objects that they are unfit for reflecting upon themselves for the proper and most excellent operations of the Reasonable Soul wherein they are rais'd to the Rank of Angelical Spirits and to a resemblance of the Deity who Eternally Contemplates with Infinite Delight the Perfections of his Nature and the Copy of them in his Works They are insensible of the Nobility of their Nature and cannot sequester themselves from Worldly things and enter into the Retirements of their Souls They are afraid and unwilling to look into their Hearts lest they should be Convinc'd and over-argued by Conscience of their woful Condition Home is too hot for them Their study is to Charm their Cares and not to be disturb'd in their Security But the Duty is indispensable requir'd of us We are commanded to stand in awe and sin not and commune with our own hearts to search and try our wayes and turn to the Lord to prove our own work The benefit resulting from it is worth our Care and should make us to digest all difficulties in the performance David declares I thought on my wayes and turned my feet to thy testimonies He first reflected on his ways and then reform'd them Conscience must be awaken'd by Grace or Judgment to Self-reflection The examen of Conscience either regards our spiritual State or our Actions in their Moral Qualities of Good and Evil. The first is of infinite moment that we may understand whether we are in the state of polluted Nature or in a renewed state and consequently whether in the present Favour of God or under his Displeasure and accordingly what we may expect in the next World a blessed or miserable Eternity But as was before observed Men are very averse from the severe tryal of their state for fear the issue will be perplexing the exact inquiry into their Lives is like the Torment on the Rack Or if sometimes they turn their thoughts inward to consider themselves they do it slightly not with sincere Judgment and though their spiritual state be uncertain or apparently evil yet they are resolved not to doubt of it This neglect is fatal to many who comfort themselves with their Company because the most are in no better condition than they are This I shall not insist on but consider the survey of Mens Actions Conscience is the centre of the Soul to which all Moral Good and Evil has a tendency 't is an internal supervisor and guardian which a Man always carries in his Bosom To perform its Office it must 1. Be inlightened with the clear knowledge of the Divine Law in its Precepts for Duties unknown cannot be practised and Sins unknown and unconsider'd cannot be loathed and forsaken The Law like a clear and equal glass that reflects the Beams according to their incidence discovers the beauties and spots of the Soul There are contain'd in it general Rules that respect all and particular Precepts that concern the several relations of Men. 2. The discussion of Conscience that it may be effectual must in the manner of it be regulated by the matter of the discussion that is good and evil Actions which are of eternal Consequence and the end of it the making us better Accordingly it must be 1. Distinct in comparing our Actions with the Rule that we may understand the defects of our best Duties and the aggravations of our Sins The Law enjoyns the Substance and Circumstances of our Duties and forbids all kinds and degrees of Sin The more particular the discussion is the more perfect 2. It must be serious and with sincere Judgment as previous to our Tryal at God's Tribunal This Consideration will excite the Conscience which is the directive and applicative Mind to be vigilant and impartial in sifting our selves that no Sin of omission or commission may be past over for what a high strain of Folly is it to be subtle to conceal any Sin from our selves which are open to the all-seeing Eyes of God Men are apt to be insensible of Sins of omission but there is no mere Sin of omission for it proceeds from a dislike of the commanded Duty which exposes to Judgment The more the Mind
is transplanted from the Body to the Soul The intemperate Person remembers with delight the wild Society wherein he has been ingaged the rich Wines wherein he quench'd his Cares the ungracious Wit and Mirth that made the hours slide away without observation Now 't is a Rule concerning Remedies applyed for the recovery of the Sick that Physick is ineffectual without the assistance of Nature but the case of the Sick is desperate when the only Medicine proper for his Cure increases the Disease and brings Death more certainly and speedily Those who are defil'd by Carnal Lusts have a special Curse they provoke God to withdraw his Grace according to that fearful Threatning my Spirit shall not always strive with Man for he is Flesh and after so desperate a forfeiture they are seldom redeemed and released from the Chains of Darkness wherein they are bound Accordingly Solomon frequently repeats this Observation The strange Woman flatters with her words Her house inclines to the dead and her paths to the dead None that go unto her return again neither take they hold of the path of Life The mouth of a strange Woman is a deep pit he that is abhorred of the Lord shall irrecoverably fall therein If it be said that this representation of the deplorable state of the unclean seems to cut off all hopes of their reclaiming and Salvation and may induce Despair I answer with our Saviour in another instance With Men it is impossible and not with God for with God all things are possible He can open and cleanse adorn and beautifie the most obstinate and impure Heart He can by omnipotent Grace change a Brutish Soul into an Angelick and plant a Divine Nature that abhors and escapes the Corruption in the World through Lust. Notwithstanding the Severity of the Threatning yet the Divine Mercy and Grace has been exercised and magnified in the renewing such polluted Creatures The Apostle tells the Corinthians they were Fornicators and Adulterers but they were washed sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1. Let them address their Requests to God that he would cleanse them from the guilt of their Sins in the Blood of Christ the only Fountain of Life and baptize them with the Holy Ghost as with Fire to purge away their Dross and Pollutions An unholy Life is the off-spring of an unclean Heart The loose vibrations of the impure Eye the inticing words of the impure Tongue the external caresses and incentives of Lust are from the Heart The Heart must be purified or the Hands cannot be cleansed 2. Suppress the first risings of Sin in the Thoughts and Desires Sins at first are easily resisted but indulged for a time are difficultly retracted 3. Abstain from all Temptations to these Sins As Wax near the Fire is easily melted so the Carnal Affections are suddenly kindled by tempting Objects The neglect of this Duty fills the World with so many incorrigible Sinners and Hell with so many lost Souls Men venture to walk among snares and serpents without fear and perish for the neglect of circumspection 4. Do not presume that you will forsake those Sins hereafter which you are unwilling to forsake at present There is in many a Conflict between Conviction and Corruption They love Sin and hate it they delight in it and are sorry for it they cannot live without it nor with it in several respects Now to quiet Conscience and indulge their Lusts they please themselves with resolutions of a future Reformation The Tempter often excites Men to consent for once and obtains his aim But 't is a voluntary distraction to think Men may without apparent danger yield to a present Temptation resolving to resist future Temptations For if when the Strength is intire a Temptation captivates a Person how much more easily will he be kept in bondage when the Enemy is more tyrannous and usurping more bold and powerful and treads upon his neck and he is more disabled to rescue himself The inlightned natural Conscience is arm'd against Sin and if Men regarded its dictates if they believed and valued Eternity they might preserve themselves from many Defilements But God has never promised to recover Sinners by special Grace who have neglected to make use of common Grace In short consider what is more tormenting than all the Pleasures of Sin that are but for a season can be delightful the reflection of the guilty accusing Conscience and the terrible impression of an angry God for ever CHAP. II. Anger is a Lust of the Flesh. No Passion less capable of Counsel Directions to prevent its rise and reign Motives to extinguish it The Lust of the Eyes and Pride of Life are joined with the Lusts of the Flesh. Covetousness consider'd 'T is radically in the Understanding principally in the Will vertually in the Actions The love of it produces many vicious Affections 'T is discovered in getting saving and using an Estate The difficulty of curing Covetousness made evident from the Causes of it and the unsuccessfulnss of Means in order to it 'T is the root of all Evil. Excludes from Heaven 'T is the most unreasonable Passion The present World cannot afford Perfection or Satisfaction to the Immortal Soul The proper Means to mortifie Covetousness 2. ANger is another Lust of the Flesh. Of all the Passions none is less capable of Counsel nor more rebellious against the Empire of Reason It darkens the Mind and causes such a fierce agitation of the Spirits as when a Storm fills the Air with black Clouds and terrible flashes of Lightning It often breaks forth so suddenly that as some acute Diseases if check'd at first become more violent there is no time for remedy nor place for cure so there is such an irrevocable precipitancy of the Passions that the indeavour to repress their Fury inrages them 'T is astonishing what enormous Excesses and Mischiefs are caused by it How many Houses are turned into Dens of Dragons how many Kingdoms into Fields of Blood by this fierce Passion To prevent its rise and reign the most necessary Counsel is if possible to quench the first Sparks that appear which are seeds pregnant with Fire But if it be kindled do not feed the Fire by exasperating Words A prudent silence will be more effectual to end a Quarrel than the most sharp and piercing reply that confounds the Adversary Julius Caesar would never assault those Enemies with Arms whom he could subdue by Hunger He that injuriously reviles us if we revile not again and he has not a word from us to feed his Rage will cease of himself and like those who dye with pure Hunger will tear himself Hezekiah commanded his Counsellors not to say a word to Rabshekah 2. Try by gentle and meek addresses to compose the ruffled Minds of those who are provoked 'T is the observation of the wisest of Men that a soft Answer breaks the Bones 'T is usually successful to
when he leaves this World and enter naked and solitary into the next World where he will be poor for ever He is rich that carries with him Divine Graces and Comforts the Treasures of the Soul when he dyes and takes possession of the Inheritance undefiled that passes not away How often do Worldly Men in their last hours when the thoughts of the Heart are declared with most feeling and least affectation condemn their unaccountable Folly for their having set their Affections on things below and neglecting things above that with such fervour and constancy they prosecuted their secular ends and were so coldly affected to eternal things as unworthy of their care and diligence Those forlorn Wretches in their Extremities with what significant and lively Expressions do they decry the Vanity of this World and the Vanity of their Hearts in seeking it 'T is related of Philip King of the Macedonians that while one was pleading before him he drop'd asleep and waking on a sudden past Sentence against the righteous Cause Upon this the injur'd Person cryed out I appeal The King with Indignation ask'd To whom He reply'd From your self sleeping to your self waking and had the Judgment revers'd that was against him Thus in matters of eternal moment if there be an Appeal from the sleeping to the waking Thoughts of Men when Death opens their Eyes to see the Dross of false Treasures and the Glory of the true what a change would it make in their Minds Affections and Actions But O Folly and Misery they but superficially consider things till constrain'd when 't is too late From these Considerations we understand the Reasons of our Saviour's declaring 'T is as easie for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle as for a rich Man that trusts in his Riches to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But what is impossible with Men is possible with God He can by so strong a Light represent the Eternal Kingdom to Mens Minds and purifie their Affections that they shall so use the World that they may enjoy God We should from hence be excited to watchfulness against this Sin Our Saviour gave a double Caution to his Disciples Take heed and beware of Covetousness In some the Leprosie appears in their Foreheads their Company their Conversation make it evident that the World is set in their Hearts In others the Leprosie is in their Bosoms their Affections are intensly and entirely set on the World though the discovery is not so visible None but the circumspect can be safe In order to the mortifying this Lust the following means with the Divine Blessing will be very useful The inward causes of the greedy desires and tenacious humour of the Covetous are the irregular esteem of Riches and consequently the jealousie of losing what is so highly valued and sollicitude to prevent all possible future wants Now to take away these causes consider 1. There are Treasures infinitely more precious and durable and more worthy of our esteem and love than all the Gold that is drawn from the Mines in Peru the true inrichments of the Soul without which a Man possess'd of all the Wealth of the Flota is not rich towards God but wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked God offers himself to be our Portion who is rich in all Perfections whose Treasures are unsearchable and unwasted If we seek his Love and Grace to love him we shall inherit substance and durable Riches The Apostle when the scales were fallen from his Eyes discovered such an excellency in the knowledge of Christ that he counted all things loss and dung that he might have an interest in him This eminent advantage there is in seeking Heavenly Treasures we shall certainly obtain them and never be deprived of them whereas the most eager pursuit of Earthly Riches is uncertainly successful and if we do acquire them they will certainly be lost Now as inward bleeding that endangers Life is stop'd by revulsion in opening a Vein so if the stream of our Affections be directed to things above it will stop their impetuous current to things below 2. The liberal use of Riches for the Glory of God and in Charity to others is the best means to secure the tenure of our Temporal Possessions For the neglect of paying the Tribute we owe to God makes a forfeiture of our Estates and he can by Right and Power resume them in a moment Besides there is no Epithet more proper to be joyn'd with Riches than uncertain Is that Man certainly rich whose entire Estate is in a Ship sailing through dangerous Seas and open to frequent Piracies There is no greater a distance between a Tempest and a Shipwrack than between often and always Innumerable Disasters are imminent and nearly threaten the undoing of the richest Man But God who commands the Winds and the Seas and governs the Wills of Men whose Providence orders the most fortuitous Events has promised that the liberal Man who deviseth liberal things he shall stand He has a special Protection and as he is like to God in giving so he shall be in not being poorer for his giving The Apostle incourages Christians not to be covetous by this Argument God has said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee We may firmly rely on his Promise for Truth is the foundation of trust and rest on his Providence which is Omnipotent Add to this Consideration there is an accessional security to the Charitable from the assistance of others Man is sociable by instinct and the civil Life that is proper to him will be dissolv'd without mutual assistance 'T is order'd by the Rule of Providence that there is no Man so compleatly sufficient in himself so absolutely and independently happy but he wants the Counsel the Courage the Help of others 'T is usual that he who possesses most can do less and that he that has less can do more From hence it follows that the Wealth of the one and the Strength of the other the giving that wherein one abounds and the receiving that which the other wants makes such an equipoise between the Rich and the Poor that they cannot be disjoyn'd Experience declares there is nothing does more endear and engage the Affections of others to us than acts of Kindness Beneficence joyn'd with Innocence render Men venerable and amiable conciliate Esteem and Love for a good Man one would even dare to dye Whereas the Covetous and Incompassionate not only provoke God for he that abuses a Benefit despises the Benefactor and by imprisoning their Treasures without doing Good the abuse is as real as by riotous wasting them but are exposed to Hatred and Contempt and if a Disaster surprises them a secret Joy touches the Hearts of others 2. 'T is a means to increase Riches 'T is a Rule not only in Spirituals but in Temporals As a Man sows so he shall reap both in the Recompences of Justice and the Rewards of
Majesty I have laid the Foundations thereof on the centre of the Earth and raised its Towers to the Heavens This Pride is attended with relyance and confidence in their own direction to contrive and ability to accomplish their designs and with assuming the glory of all their success intirely to themselves The proud manage their affairs independently upon the Providence of God who is the Author of all our Faculties and the efficacy of them and totally neglect the two essential parts of Natural Religion Prayer and Praise or very slightly perform the external part without those inward Affections that are the Spirit and Life of them 'T was the wise Prayer of Agar Give me not Riches lest I be full and deny thee God strictly cautions his People against this dangerous Sin Beware thou forget not the Lord and say in thy Heart my power and the might of my Hand hath gotten me this Wealth Remember 't is he that gives the power to get Riches And 't is equally dangerous lest Men should attribute Victories or Prosperity in any kind to their own Counsel and Resolution their Prudence and Power without humble and thankful observing and acknowledging the Divine Providence the fountain and original of all our Blessings 2. Whatever the kinds of Sin be when committed against knowledge with design and deliberation they proceed from Insolence and Obstinacy The Israelites are charged with this aggravation in their sinning They dealt proudly and harden'd their necks and harken'd not to the Commandments and refused to obey Proud Sinners are introduced boasting Our Tongues are our own who is Lord over us They will endure no restraints but are lawless and loose as if they were above fear and danger 'T is true there are few so prodigiously wicked as to speak thus but Mens Actions have a language as declarative as their Words And sinning presumptuously with a high hand is constructively a denyal and despising of the Dominion and Power of the Law-giver as if he had no right to command nor strength to vindicate the Honour of his despised Deity In the last Judgment the Punishment of rebellious Sinners will be according to the Glory of God's Majesty and the extent of his Power that was contemned and vilified by them 3. When Divine Judgments are sent to correct the dissolute disorders of the World and Sinners should with tenderness and trembling hear the Voice of the Rod and who has appointed it yet they proceed in their Wickedness as if God were not always Present to see their Sins nor Pure to hate them nor Righteous to exact a severe Judgment for them nor Powerful to inflict it this argues intolerable Pride and Obstinacy God and Sinners are very unequal Enemies The effects of his Displeasure should be received with obsequiousness not with obduration Therefore the Apostle puts that confounding Question Do you provoke the Lord to jealousie are you stronger than he Can you encounter with offended Omnipotence To despise his Anger is as provoking as to despise his Love 'T is astonishing that Dust and Ashes should rise to such an incorrigible heighth of Pride as to fly in the Face of God Who ever hardned himself against him and prospered All that are careless of God's design to reform them by Afflictions that seek for relief in diverting Business or Pleasures provoke God to more severe inflictions of his Anger But those surly proud Natures that are exasperated by Sufferings and wrestle with the strongest Storms are in combination with the stubborn Spirits of Hell and shall have their portion with them Lastly When Men have a vain presumption of the goodness of their spiritual state of the degrees of their Goodness and their stability in Goodness not sensible of their continual want of renewed supplies from Heaven they are guilty of spiritual Pride Of this there are two Instances in Scripture the one in the Church of lukewarm Laodicea the other in the Pharisee mentioned by our Saviour The first said I am rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and poor and miserable and blind and naked The Pharisee to raise the esteem of his own Goodness stands upon comparison with others whose Vices may be a foil to his seeming Graces He said I am not as other Men are Extortioners Adulterers or even as this Publican 'T is true he superficially thanks God but the air of Pride transpires through his Devotion by valuing himself above others worse than himself as if his own Vertues were the productive cause of his distinguishing Goodness If Humility be not mix'd in the exercise of every Grace 't is of no value in God's esteem The humble unjust Publican was rather justified than the proud Pharisee This spiritual Pride is very observable in the superstitious who measuring Divine Things with Humane from that mixture of imaginations introduce carnal Rites into the Worship of God and value themselves upon their opinionative Goodness They mistake the swelling of a Dropsie for substantial growth and presume themselves to be more holy than others for their proud singularity Superstition is like Ivy that twines about the Tree and is its seeming ornament but drains its vital Sap and under its verdant Leaves covers a Carcass Thus carnal Ceremonies seem to adorn Religion but really dispirit and weaken its efficacy Pharisaical Pride is fomented by a zealous observance of things uncommanded in Religion neither pleasing to God nor profitable to Men. On the contrary some Visionaries pretend to such a sublimity of Grace and eminent Sanctity that they are above the use of Divine Ordinances They pretend to live in immediate Communion with God as the Angels and dazled with specious Spiritualities they neglect Prayer hearing the Word and receiving the Sacrament the means of growing in Grace as if they were arrived at Perfection This is the effect of spiritual Pride and Delusion For the mortifying this vicious Disposition consider that Pride is in a high degree injurious and provoking to God An ordinary Malefactor breaks the King's Laws but a Rebel strikes at his Person and Crown The first and great Commandment is to honour God with the highest Esteem and Love with the most humble Adoration consequently the greatest Sin is the despising his Majesty and obscuring his Glory There is no Sin more clearly opposite to Reason and Religion For the most essential duty and character of an understanding Creature is dependance and observance of God as the first cause and last end of all things receiving with thankfulness his Benefits and referring them all to his Glory Pride contradicts natural Justice by intercepâ—ing the grateful affectionate ascent of the Soul to God in celebrating his Greatness and Goodness A proud Man constructively puts himself out of the number of God's Creatures and deserves to be excluded from his tender Providence The Jealousie of God his most severe and sensible Attribute is kindled for this revolture of the
with some attainments and presume we are perfect We must be contending till our Conquest over Sin be clear and compleat The reflection upon our progress will give new Spirits to proceed to new work To him that continues in well-doing Glory and Immortality is the reward Perseverance is the Crown of Christianity 2. I now come to answer the Allegations that are brought to discourage Men from endeavours after perfect Holiness I have in the Preface Answered some of the principal Objections I will consider some others to remove the most plausible Pretences The first Objection against the Divine Command of being perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect is the impossibility of obeying it How can sinful Dust and Ashes be perfect as the holy God is To this a clear Answer may be given 1. 'T is true if a Law be absolutely impossible it cancels it self For there can be no authority in a superiour to command nor obligation on a Subject to obey in a matter that is not capable of his choice Absolute impossibility quenches desire and causes despair and that enervates the strength of the Soul and cuts the sinews of Industry Now we cannot suppose that God whose Wisdom Rectitude and Goodness are essential and unchangable should command reasonable Creatures any thing utterly impossible for then the cause of their Sin and Misery would not rise from themselves but they would be fatally lost and undone for ever 2. The Command signifies not a resemblance of equality for in that sense there is none holy as the Lord but of analogy and conformity to his holy Nature of which intellectual Creatures are capable 3. In the present state our Conformity is not entire our Graces are not pure our Vertues not refin'd without allay But this is from our culpable impotence And it cannot be imagined that God should reverse this Law and dissolve the obligation of it because we have contracted a sinful disability to perform it Besides God is pleased to offer divine assistance to enable us to be like God in the kind of Holiness though not in the perfection of degrees And though we cannot attain to Perfection here we may be ascending to it The Apostle exhorts Christians to strive for the comprehension of the heigth and depth and length and bredth of the love of Christ that passes knowledge That is we must be adding new degrees of Light in our Minds We cannot know as we are known till we come to the full inlightned state above and we cannot be holy as God is holy till we come to his transforming presence in Heaven but we must be aspiring to it We have the most excellent incouragement to this Duty For if we are zealous in our desires and endeavours God will pardon our imperfections and accept us as if they were perfect But those who are settled in their defects and lye still in their laziness will be justly condemned 2. 'T is objected That this Duty is at least extreamly difficult To this I answer 1. Difficulty is an unreasonable pretence in matters of indispensable Duty and infinite consequence Our Saviour commands us to strive to enter in at the strait gate for strait is the gate and narrow is the way 't is hard to find and hard to keep but that only leads to Eternal Life The Kingdom of Heaven is to be taken by violence and the Wrath to come escap'd by flight 'T is better to take pains than to suffer Pains The Cords of Duty are more easie than the Chains of Darkness 2. There is nothing in Religion insuperable to the Love of God and of our Souls Love is not cold and idle but ardent and active in pursuit of its Object There are many Instances that resolved Diligence will overcome great obstacles to the designs of Men. Demosthenes the Athenian was the most unqualified for an Orator of a thousand His Breath was so short that he could not speak out a full Sentence his Voice and Pronunciation was so harsh and his Action so ungrateful and offensive to the most delicate Senses the Eye and Ear that the first time he spake in the publick Assembly he was entertained with Derision and the second with Disdain by the People yet by unwearied Industry and Exercise he corrected his defects and became the most Eloquent and Perfect Orator that ever flourish'd in Greece Now can there be any so difficult heigth in Religion but a strong resolution join'd with consequent endeavours and the supernatural assistance of the Holy Spirit will gradually attain to To naked Nature the Commands of plucking out the right Eye and cutting off the right Hand are extreamly hard Carnal Men pretend they can as easily stop the circulation of the Blood as mortifie their sensual Inclinations But by the Grace of God 't is not only possible but pleasant to abstain from fleshly Lusts that war against the Soul I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me saith the Apostle the word implies I can easily St. John declares his Commands are not grievous The yoke of Christ is a gracious yoke The impotence of Men to obey Christ consists in their obstinacy They are not infected by Fate nor determin'd by Destiny and constrain'd by strict Necessity to follow their sinful Courses but are chain'd to their alluring vicious Objects by the consent of their own Wills I will to convince those who are Christians only in title and profession and pretend invincible impediments against performing their Duty propound the Moral Excellencies that shin'd in some Heathens in regulating the angry and desiring Appetites Socrates who had a fiery Nature that inclin'd him to sudden Anger yet attain'd to such a constant equal Temper that when provok'd by Injuries his Countenance was more placid and serene his Voice more temperate his Words more kind and obliging Plato surprized with Passion for a great Fault of his Servant took a Staff to beat him and having lift up his Hand for a stroke stop'd suddenly and a Friend coming in and wondring to see him in that posture said I chastise an angry Man reflecting with shame upon himself Thus he disarm'd his Passion When Alexander had conquer'd Darius and taken his Queen a Woman of exquisite Beauty he would not have her brought into his presence that his Vertue might not be violated by the sight of her Scipio having taken a Town in Spain and among them a Noble Virgin very beautiful resign'd her untouch'd with her Ransom of great value to the Prince to whom she was contracted If it be said that Vanity assisted Vertue in these Persons and one Carnal Passion vanquish'd another the Desire of Praise the Pride of Life the Lust of the Flesh But shall not Divine Grace be more powerful than Humane Motives The impotence of Carnal Christians is not from the defect of assisting Grace but their culpable neglect of using it But for the intire Conviction of Carnalists that are under the tyranny of the voluptuous