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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A59652 Moral vertues baptized Christian, or, The necessity of morality among Christians by William Shelton, M.A., late fellow of Jesus Colledge in Cambridge, and now vicar of Bursted Magna in Essex. Shelton, William, d. 1699. 1667 (1667) Wing S3099; ESTC R37384 107,365 208

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Conscience is such as we may daily invite our selves to Nemine contradicente if it please God to allow us the rejoycing testimony of our own consciences it is not all the world can make us melancholy and therefore holy men are most merry when they are alone but so are not drunkards and swearers c. And it is of ordinary observation that many men cannot abide to be alone especially not in the dark they are glad of any company And I believe were it not for this that men do not know how to spend their time alone to their own comfort and satisfaction Taverns and Ale-houses would not be so full as generally they are it is no sign a man lives merrily because his boon company makes him so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch p. 100. John 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If we judge of men according to outward appearance we shall not judge righteous judgment There are many are counted happy but their hearts know their own bitterness Now this pleasure that men are fain to go out of doors for to get it where they can to buy it by penniworths and small parcels must needs be little and inconsiderable in comparison of that which vertuous men have in a full stock within their own Souls Besides it may be added the more our pleasure comes from without it is the more uncertain for the same causes that give it may withhold it if they either withdraw or prove miserable Comforters Or if all second causes should conspire together to make a man prosperous in his wickedness yet it is but a forc'd mirth not natural and therefore not constant yea all the noise these pleasures make cannot drown nor still the clamor of a guilty conscience but all this while in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowful Prov. 14. And it is evident that so it is because the more men retire from the world their pleasure abates the more they are alone the more dejected and sorrowful they are There may be an objection against this concerning one sort of men and it is the observation of the Poet of covetous men who seem to be never so well pleased as when they are alone meditating on their wealth Populus me sibilet at mihi plaudo Horace Ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplor in Arcâ I don't regard what people say Let them laugh on and flout me At home I 'm merrier then they I have all my bags about me It is hard to find an answer in the next words of the same Poet but Plautus doth it fully in his Euclio Nunc ibo ut visam estne ita Aurum ut condidi Aulular Quod me sollicitat plurimis miserum modis I hid my Money in a cunning hole And yet I can't but be afraid 't is stole I 'm glad I 'm rich yet have a thousand fears Vexations griefs disquietments and cares And if the solicitudes and perplexities of covetous men be set against their pleasures they have little to boast more then other men And even these men depend upon others for their comfort for it is in the power of any body that hath to deal with them to vex or disquiet them either by disappointing of them or by making them afraid they shall be disappointed CHAP. VII Sect. 1 THat which is a foundation to this Reason is by it self another Wickedness and vice is in its own nature disturbing and troublesome It is so far from producing any considerable comfort that it is properly the cause of trouble and discomfort Vice doth rob and deprive men of that which it pretends to bring them as Juglers perswade silly people they can make money when at the same time they pick their pockets such juglings and hypocrisies are there in sin there is a shew of pleasure and assemblance of mirth but it is a deceitful and a destructive play such a play as was between Abner and Joabs men Abner said to Joab let the young men now arise and play before us and Joab said let them arise but what was their sport They caught every one his fellow by 2 Sam. 2. the head and thrust his sword into his fellows side so they fell down together Or such sport as Sampson Judg. 16. made the Philistines Call for Sampson that he may make us sport they did not know what would follow he pull'd down the house upon the Lords and all the People and crusht them to pieces Many are the woes and sorrows that men bring upon their own heads by indulging themselves in sin which when they feel they believe though before they would not Two waies sin is troublesome formally and efficiently Sect. 2 Formally In as much as forma dat esse distingui beings are distinguished by their forms therefore the properties of beings do arise from those forms whatever kind of things those forms be thus is vice formally the cause of trouble because it is a property inseparably annexed to it or indeed more then a property Sin is the sickness of the soul as it is the property of sickness to be troublesome to the body so is sin to the soul and it cannot otherwise be especially in the irregularities of passions Anger and Revenge and Malice and Envy and Ambition and Pride and such like exorbitances as these they are grievous afflictions to those that are over-born with them The impetuous workings of these affections are like the ragings of the Sea The wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast forth mire and dirt and therefore no wonder that it follows Isa 5. 7. There is no peace saith my God to the wicked How can that Nation be at peace that nourishes an intestine War so is it here there is an 1 Pet. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch De virt vitio p. 101. Army of lusts that wars against our souls Our passions in their nature are disquieting vexatious So could a Philosopher challenge vice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where is the sweetness and pleasure of wickedness it is neither without cares nor grief neither doth it satisfie and content nor doth it remove trouble nor produce ease No verily as the same word in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie both sin and the punishment of it so doth the thing answer the name Vertue is not more its own reward then Vice is its own punishment and torment The sollicitudes and fears of Covetousness and Ambition the heats and turbulencies of Anger the impatiencies of Revenge the frettings and pinings of Envy and generally the dissatisfiedness of every Lust what are all these but plentiful demonstrations that sin and sorrow are so interwoven together that they cannot be parted unless all be unravelled by Repentance which yet is likewise an Argument to the purpose for though Repentance be safe if it be sincere yet it is a troublesome work As it is the property of a Wave