God by the most unexpected means even in an Instant turn the Wheel over them and bring down their Pride to the greatest Shame Neither is the proud man's Grandure and Promotion his only miserable Condition for his whole Life is not only the greatest Vanity but the greatest Misery and Vexation of Spirit For how does some little thing which he cannot have rob him of all Content and Quiet in enjoying what he hath Mordecai's stiff Knee takes from the ambitious Haman the rellish of all the Honors of the greatest Court in the World nay the Power and Glory of a Crown could afford no Rest nor Pleasure to the proud and envious Ahab when once Naboth's Vineyard had appear'd in his sight To describe the pround man's Life were to represent unto you an exact Copy of all kind of Folly and Misery For what with his continual Plots and Contrivances and his incessant Cares and Business How does he Sacrifice his Health to his Ambition for want of due Repast or of quiet Repose What with his Envy at others that are higher than himself and his eager Desires after Preferment together with his continual Fears lest he should miss of it how is he rack'd with endless Tortures What with the baseness and durtiness of the way to his proud Designs what with the many affronts and denials what with his great hopes and sometimes his greater dispair a mixture of all which he cannot but meet with in it not to say any thing of the envy and scorn of others that attend his advancement or the little satisfaction that he himself meets with in it how is he fool'd and cheated with a Cloud instead of a Deity In a word how do the several Passions raised in him by these Causes constantly torture his Mind and disorder his Body till at length they bring upon him Misery Diseases and Death I need not remind you of the many mischiefs this Vice exposeth us to It threw down the Angels from Heaven and cast our first Parents out of Paradise it was the cause of the first Sins that ever were committed and by consequence is the Mother of all Mischief and of all Miseries Nay it still continues actually to produce these sad effects for where Pride is there is Strife and every evil work Give me leave to add two or three practical deductions from what hath been said If Misery and Death be the natural effects of every one of these Sins Viz. Pride Envy Voluptuousness Vncleanness Anger Gluttony Drunkenness Vncharitableness Injustice Profaneness and Irreligion what then remains But that First We should all keep Watch and Ward against The first Deduction these Destroyers of Mankind We are careful enough to keep our Houses from Fire our Goods from Thieves and our Bodies from Infection of the Plague and shall we be so foolish to hug these Enemies of our Lives and to follow these Sins which are no less destructive to us than all those other dangers which we so much fear and so earnestly endeavour to avoid To this end let every one of us consider seriously what hath been said against that particular Sin to which he finds himself most inclined let every one of us endeavour to mend himself more than others especially more than our Magistrates let them alone to take care to amend the Publick by the Execution of those wholsom Laws which are establish'd in our Church and State and let us who are private Christians study to be quiet and do our own Business i. e. to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling by avoiding our sins which we know will no less destroy our present than our future safety and Happiness Secondly If we are or have been guilty of The second Deduction any of these Sins or have seen others pursuing them with greediness and yet neither we nor they have felt any of those Miseries or Mischiefs that are the natural effects of them let us not from thence conclude that the Preacher is deceived but let us thank God for his Care and Providence over us which only hath preserved us from being our own Murderers by pursuing our own Sins and let this Patience and Long-Suffering of God prevail with us as we love our Lives to hate our Sins and to break off from them by Repentance lest by continuing in them we provoke God Almighty to give us up to be destroyed by them The third and last Deduction Thirdly and Lastly If our Sins are destructive to our present Happiness then if we have any care for our health or safety for our ease quiet or contentment or for our Lives themselves let us not any longer delay our amendment but let us immediately cast off all our Sins which are so dangerous and so hurtful to us Delays we know can never be prudent when the danger is great and imminent He that sees his House on Fire will not be so mad to squander away the present opportunity of quenching it he that descerns some mortal disease arising in his Body will lose no time in applying such Remedies as may prevent their danger Why then are we so unreasonable and senseless to trifle away our time and opportunity of quenching the Fires of our Lusts and of preventing the fatal dangers of our Sins Especially since we know not if we neglect the present whether God will give us any other opportunity in the time to come For he himself hath told us that * Gen. 6. 3. His Spirit shall not always strive with Man The only shew of Reason by which the Devil cheats too many of their Eternal Happiness is this Viz. That it is time enough to repent when they are past their Pleasures because there is some reason to hope that a Death-Bed-Repentance may be sincere and acceptable with God to the saving of our Souls But though this Pretence is most Presumptuous and groundless yet the tempter could not have so much as this against us if we did but consider that our Sins are as hurtful to our Bodies as to our Souls that they as much prejudice our present Happiness as they do our future and therefore that tho' it was possible which we have no grounds at all to suppose that a dying Repentance might come time enough to save our Souls yet it 〈…〉 absolutely too late when Sin hath already destroyed us to prevent the Miseries of our Bodies If therefore we have any care of our Lives or Happiness if we have any concern either for our own good or the good of the World and to sum up all in one Word if we would not add SELF-MVRDER to the rest of our Crimes let us put in practice that most necessary Exhortation Heb. 3. 13. of St Paul Exhort one another daily whilst it is called to day lest any of you be hardned by the deceitfulness of Sin and to this purpose let us seriously consider those Words of our Blessed Saviour and sedately ask our selves this Question of his Luke 9. 25. What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole World and lose himself or bring upon himself his own Destruction For since we are assured that as Righteousness â—endeth to Life so he that pursueth Evil pursueth it to his own Death Surely Common Prudence should perswade us no longer to hazard our present Welfare by running on in such sinful Courses as may bring upon us swift Destruction but to pursue the ways of Righteousness that so we may avoid the miseries that follow the Pursuit of Evil. To this End I shall conclude all with the most divine and most useful Words of St. Peter which are so beneficial to all Mankind that I could wish they were written upon every man's Soul in indelible Characters viz. He that will love Life and 1 Pet. 3. v. 10. to v. 14. will see good Days let him refrain his Tongue from Evil and his Lips that they speak no Guile Let him eschew Evil and do Good let him seek peace and ensue it For the Eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his Ears are open unto their Prayers but the Face of the Lord is against them that do Evil and who will harm you or who is he that shall harm you if ye be Followers of that which is good Now that all of us may so follow that which is Good and so eschew that which is Evil that we may live happily in this Life and be eternally happy in the Life to come God of his Infinite Mercy grant for Jesus Christ his sake to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be ascribed as is most due all Power Dominion Praise and Glory now and for evermore Amen FINIS
judge For God hath given us most dreadful Examples of his Vengeance upon unclean persons in * Gen. 19. 24. Sodom and Gomorra When nothing else would extinguish their Flames of Lust God pours down Showrs of flaming Brimstone upon them and utterly destroys them But tho' no extraordinary Judgment from God should follow this Vice yet he hath made it ordinarily a sufficient Punishment to it self For what with the Filthiness and Folly that accompanies it together with the Loathings and Shame that certainly follow it how doth every Act of this Sin become a Torture to it's silly Votaries The lustful Amnon was sick for love of Tamar but no sooner had he committed Folly with her but he is sick with loathing her * 2 Sam. 13. 15. 16. For the Text tells us He hated her exceedingly so that the Hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the Love wherewith he had loved her And his Actions demonstrate it for he that but just before could not live without her Company cannot now endure her Sight but is glad to use as much Violence to be rid of her as he had before made use of to enjoy her Lastly How is the man of Uncleanness exposed to all sorts of Crimes and Dangers either to gratifie his Paramour or to find Fuel for the unquenchable Fire of his Lust For having hereby consumed his Estate which was it as great as the Indies would be little enough to spend upon this one Lust for as the * Prov. c. 6. 26. wisest of men tells us by means of an Adulterous Woman a man is brought to a Morsel of Bread How is he forced by the worst of means to supply the ever-craving but never satisfied Desires of his Minion or himself In a word so much doth this one Vice besot Mankind that it hath rendred the strongest of men so weak and inconsiderable that he became the Scorn of the meanest of his Enemies It hath rob'd the man after God's own Heart of his Justice and Religion and drew him into the worst and most unnatural of all Sins even Murder it self and to say no more it made a Fool of the wisest of men and rendred him * Josephus Antiquit Judaiâ— as the Jewish Historian tells us contemptible to his own Subjects who had been fam'd and reverenc'd through the World for his former Wisdom But secondly Covetousness is no less dangerous 2. Covetousness and mischievous than the former For if we will believe the Apostle St. Paul he tells us They that will be rich fall into Temptation 1 Tim. c. 6. v. 9. 10. and a Snare and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts which drown men in Destruction for the love of Money is the Root of all Evil which while some coveted after they have pierced themselves through with many Sorrows And this is fully visible to any one whose Eyes the God of this World hath not blinded For he that hath given up his Soul to Covetousness hath condemned himself to the worst of Punishments that is to a Labour which as it never ceaseth so it is ever vain and fruitless For to satisfie a covetous Mind with Riches is as impossible as to fill a Sieve with Water which empties as fast as it is poured in How doth the man of Covetousness rob himself of all Quiet and Content in enjoying what he hath by his constant and violent Desires after that which he hath not What incessant pains doth he undergo in getting his Wealth How is he macerated with continual Care and Trouble in keeping it How is he wrack'd and tortur'd with the anxious Fears of losing it Or lastly How is he exposed to all Crimes and Dangers in the Pursuit of it and oft times to Death it self if not in the Pursuit of it yet in the parting with it Thus * Josh 7. 20. Ptolomy King of Cyprus having by his Vid. Oliveri not in Valer. Max. p. 778. fig. 5. vast Riches invited the Romans to pillage him not being able to out-live the loss of his Treasure put an end to his miserable Life by a dose of Poyson So truly-may it be said of the covetous man's Gold that it is like Achan's Wedge An accursed thing that too often cleaves his own Heart For if his own restless and insatiable Desires do not execute him oftentimes he meets with Achan's Fate his Theft is discovered and the hand of Justice becomes his Executioner For whoever gives up his Soul to the Love of Money can never be secure from any other Crime tho' he endangers not only himself but sacrifices whole Nations to the God of this World the only Deity that he worships A memorable Example the * Lib. 3. de finibus bon mal Roman Orator gives us of the rich General Crassus who having for no other cause but his own Covetousness waged War against the Parthians lost not only his own Life but the Lives of many of the Roman Legions And when he was slain his Enemies made sport with his Corps and pouring melted Gold into his Mouth they thus justly reproach'd his covetous Life saying Aurum sitisti Aurum bibe Thou hast thirsted after Gold drink now thy Fill of it thereby plainly intimating that there is no other ways to satisfie a covetous man's Mind with Gold but by filling his Mouth full of melted Or. So great a Temptation is the Insatiable Love of Money to all kind of evil that it would be infinite to Relate all the Injustice Murders Treasons Rebellions and Sacriledges that it hath been the cause of But the Poet hath done all this in one question when in Detestation of the horrid Murder of King Priam's Son for the sake of the Gold left for his Maintenance with King Polymnestor his Father in Law he cries out * Virgil Aeneid lib. 3. pag. 374. not Varior fig. 49. Quid non Mortalia pectora cogis Auri sacra fames What Dangers or what Mischiefs are so great to which the wicked Love of Money doth not force Mankind I need add no more than this one Instance out of the Holy Scripture viz. That of Ahab King â— Kings c. 21. of Israel of which we read in the first of Kings c. 21. How did his Covetous Desire of Naboth's Vineyard torment him and rob him of all the Pleasures that a Court or a Crown might else have afforded him How did this plunge him into the worse of Crimes the false Accusation and Murder of his innocent Neighbour And lastly how did that Crime bring utter ruin and Dostruction not only upon himself but his whole Family and Posterity Thirdly Neither is Voluptuousness or the love of Pleasure less Pernicious than the love of Money This is the Natural Parent of all Crimes and Mischiefs To this purpose St. Paul brings in the Lovers of themselves as leading the Van and the Lovers of Pleasures as bringing up the Rear of all Wickedness For describing to
* 2 to Tim. 2. 1. 4. 5. 6. Timothy the horrid Crimes of the last Times i. e. of the Times immediately preceding the Destruction of the Jews he tells us that in the last Days Perillous Times shall come and the Reason he gives us in the following Words For Men shall be Lovers of their own selves Covetous Boasters Proud Blasphemous Disobedient to Parents Vnthankful Vnholy without Natural Affection Truce-Breakers False-Accusers Incontinent Fierce Despisers of those that are good Traytors High-minded Lovers of Pleasures more then Lovers of God And * St. Peter tells us the Mischief and Misery they bring upon themselves for speaking of such as take pleasure in Riot and Sport themselves in their 2 Pet. 2. 12 13. own Deceivings he saith These as Natural Brute Beasts are made to be taken and destroyed and shall utterly Perish in their own Corruption and shall receive the Reward of Vnrighteousness And indeed our own Experience may too sadly demonstrate all this to us For what Wickedness is there so abominable or what Misery so intollerable to which he that gives up himself to the persuit of any one Pleasure is not necessarily exposed What Crime doth he bauk that stands in his way betwixt him and his beloved Pleasure How does the Voluptuous Prodigal destroy his Health disturb his Reason and ruine his Estate in the too eager Persuit of his beloved Delight How doth he like the Prodigal in the * Gospel run away from his best Friends and Luke 15. 11. 17. nearest Relations spend all his Portion and waste all his substance in Riotous Living till having brought himself to the Extremest Necessity and having made himself more like a Swine than a Man he is at length turn'd out to their Company and is glad to feed upon the Swines husks How hath the Love of Pleasure conquered the most Glorious Conquerors destroyed the most Invincible Armies and ruined the greatest Monarchs of the World Hannibal that could not be subdued by all the Roman force lost the most Valiant Army by the Pleasures of Capua So that Seneca saith too truely of him Epist 11. that he was Armis invictus vitiis victus not overcome by others Armes but Vanquish'd by his own Vices Xerxes whose Army in Forraging destroyed whole Countries and drank up whole Rivers as it went who was the greatest Monarch then in the World as well as the Richest when he had so far given up himself to his Delights that as * Cicero tells us by a publick Edict he proclaimed Cic. Tuscul Quest lib. 5. a Reward to any that could find out any new sort of pleasure how suddenly did he lose that vast Army and his greater Empire So that the * Historian might well conclude What can Valer. Max. not Varior pag. 750. lin 7. be more filthy than those Vices or what more hurtful by which all Vertue is defaced Victories languish Glory is buried in Infamy and all the Powers both of Soul and Body are utterly destroyed For they that are possessed with the inordinate Love of Pleasures seem to be like the Swine into whom the Legion of Devils had entred they run headlong with the greatest Violence to their own Destruction Their beloved Pleasure so imploys all the Faculties of their Souls and all the Members of their Bodies till they are fit for nothing that becomes a Man and take care of nothing more than the present satisfaction like the Brute Beasts and then this their Prodigality reduceth them to the most miserable necessity and thence into the worst of Crimes till publick Justice if no other private Accident hath done it before brings them to the most unnatural and most shameful ends This I am confident we shall find too true by our own sad Experience For if we enquire the Causes of all their Crimes who suffer by the hands of the publick Executioners of Justice we shall find that the immoderate pursuit of unlawful Pleasures hath most commonly hurried them to their own ruin For few or none of such miserable Wretches but in their last and dying words are forc'd to confess that their own Lusts and inordinate Passions have brought them to all their Shame and Misery Amongst which none can be more exorbitant than that concerning which I am next to discourse of Viz. 4. Envy or Malice Fourthly Envy Malice or the Love of Revenge For neither is this a less Foolish or less Fatal Passion than any other For whoever gives up himself to this Lust does as it were stretch himself upon the Rack and become his own Torturer He pines himself away in the midst of all abundance and starves whilst he possesseth the greatest plenty He is his own Vulture and Preys upon his own Bowels For so deadly a Disease of the mind is this of Envy that scarcely any thing the envious man eats or drinks can give him any suitable Nourishment but the most delicate Viands are by this Passion turn'd into Gall and Bitterness It so fires or at least so soures the Blood and so burns up or corrodes the Vitals that it soon dissolves the best-temper'd Body beyond all the help of Art or Nature To what fatal Miseries is the man of Malice necessarily and incessantly exposed If his malicious Designs take they are commonly so bloody that his own Darts being cast back upon him by the hands of Justice do slay himself and if he misseth his deadly Aims the Arrows that he shoots at others like those that are shot directly upwards fall down again upon his own head and wound him even unto Death He is in a much worse condition than any other Malefactor For he not only suffers for the Crimes he hath committed but for those which he cannot act this being one of his greatest Tortures that he cannot do them A dreadful Example of this nature the immortal * Dr. Harvey gives us of a Noble man Libr. de Circulat Sanguin who having received some Affront which he was not able to revenge took it so much to Heart that his Passion swell'd him like Poyson and as soon destroyed him for in a short time after he dyed of a malignant Fever and being dissected his great Artery was found as big as the jugular Artery of an Oxe So virulent a Venome does accompany this Passion and so certainly true is that of the holy Job Wrath killeth the Job 5. 2. Foolish-man and Envy slayeth the Silly one Why should I mention the publick Calamities that it brings along with it since they cannot but be visible to all Observers What Murders hath it not acted What Schisms in the Church or Seditions in the State hath it not rais'd and carryed on In a Word what Mischief or what Villany can be so great which it hath not accomplish'd All Histories are too full of sad Instances of this kind What unspeakable Mischiefs what shameful Vid. Optatum Milv Schisms what abominable Seditions Murders and Treasons over-spread all Africa