to fall upon the Just and the Unjust He giveth us Rain from Heaven and fruitful Seasons Wherefore to have God in our sight and to have right Apprehensions of him and a Sense of his Love and Goodness this above all Things tends to the Nobleness Amplitude Freedom and Liberty of our Spirits Secondly I propose something in respect of our selves That is Be not in a worldly Spirit Be not in love with bodily Ease Give not your selves up to the Pleasures of Sense Be not eagerly bent upon Gain But be loose to it For this you may observe Sensuality and Covetousness do narrow the Soul and limit and confine its Reaches and Desires For Sensuality marrs the Understanding And he that hath mean Thoughts hath but poor Performances And Covetousness doth contract to a little and very narrow point So that there can be no Motion in any large Sphere of Action God and Religion and the Concernments thereof are nothing where either a selfish Spirit hath place or a covetous Humour reigns That Rule that is common Every Man for himself and God for us all It is the Effect of the lowest the shallowest the meanest sorriest Spirit that is in the whole Creation of God And that Frame and Temper of Mind doth make a Man uncapable of Self-enjoyment In all Competition of Actions or Objects Man shou'd always prefer that that will do him Good and bring him to Perfection according to his inward Man For a Man is more by his Soul Ten thousand times than he is by his Body Thirdly I propose something in respect of others Suspect no Body before-hand till you have Ground and Cause from some Experience Take up against no Body upon bare report Impute no Evil to any of whom you do not know some And further Make fair Application in an honest Cause to any Person therein concern'd with a Confidence and Expectation that he will do what is fit And let him perceive your good Opinion of him If any thing in the World engage a Man this pre-conceiv'd Opinion and right Supposition will * engage and oblige him But observe the seasonable Time of Speaking And allow to every Man for his Pre-possession for his Anticipation Pre-conception and his Temper This is Christian Prudence and honest Policy And this will gain Advantage and increase Good-will And I dare say both Reason and Religion will allow this Respect of Persons There is another kind of Respect of Persons which we disallow But this Respect of Persons there is good Cause for and it may be used It is a great Piece of Prudence to apply handsomely to Men and to avoid the darker Part of Men and take them at the best And some are very good at it These are the Proposals I make which tend to the enlarging a Man's Soul and amplifying him and qualifying him to be an Instrument to advance and promote the Good of the World * Lastly This is a Challenge to the Corrupt Guise of this World and the degenerate Practice that is in it Do we profess our selves to be Christians Do we do LOVELY Things How is the World apostatized from the Divine Nature and degenerate into the Devilish Nature For commonly our Parts are employed and our Time spent in studying and contriving Defiances one against another In the Creation God made the Second in order to the First And if we answer the Order of our Creation we shou'd be so much the more provided for by how many more there are in the World It should be one Man a God to another But we through our Degeneracy make it to be every Man a Wolf to another For we see Men glory in their Cunning and their Craft And a cunning and crafty Man he is called a wise Man But This is no true Wisdom Whatsoever Things are of GOOD REPORT Things may be of good Report two Ways There are Majora Insigniora Jura The greater the higher more universal famous Rights And there are Minutiora Leviora The lesser more particular and obscurer Rights And there is difference between these two both in respect of the Matter and of the Evidence The former need no external Report no foreign Determination they are above it Loquuntur Res The Things speak themselves And the Voice and Language of Things is more certain and infallible then Sense of Persons liable to Prejudice who may be incompetent to make Report through Impotency or Partiality But the Voice of Things is uniform constant and what cannot be practised upon All Men acknowledge Piety Devotion towards God Justice Righteousness amongst Men Sobriety Temperance as every Man's Measure conducible to his Health conservative of his Life And we may take that to be the Sense of Human Nature wherein all Men agree Who commends not Modesty before Impudency Faithfulness before Treachery Charity before selfishness Mercifulness before Cruelty Moderation before Insolency and Usurpation Sobriety before Intemperance Love and Good-will before Malice and Envy As for the Latter Rights In these the Reason of the Thing is less evident and the Right of the Case * is of more hazardous and uncertain Determination because of Change or Variety of Circumstances There is some what a different account in this Case in respect of the Liberty of the interior Man in Foro interno as we speak and of the exterior Man in foro externo In the former no Creature hath Cognizance therefore doth not intermeddle As concerning the Acts of the external Man not only the Sense of one's private Judgment is to be taken into Consideration but in the Use of our Liberty a just Regard is to be had to others to Government and Authority to the Sense of other People to the maintaining of Charity For Universal Charity is a Thing final in Religion Wherefore the maintaining and enlarging Love and Good-will Order and Peace are to be preferr'd before the Use of Externals in particular Cases Modesty Humility Meekness Charity and such Vertues do sanctifie by their Presence and Operations Which cannot be affirm'd of those Things which belong to the Instrumental part of Religion as Prayer Hearing of Sermons Receiving the Sacraments all which are esteem'd from their Respect to an End and are then crown'd when they attain their Purpose For Scripture tells us * as to those who are immoral that the Prayers of Persons in such Circumstances may be Abomination I put these * Things in Competition with the other not to prejudice these but to prefer the other These are the Means the other the End Our Saviour justifies this Distinction between the greater and lesser Rights Judgment Mercy Faith the weightier Matters these ought ye to have done Tithe of Mint Annise Cummin these ought ye not to have left undone So far as Conscience may be concern'd there is Certainty enough in Things We may have sufficient Assurance from the Reason of Things themselves or their Reference to the End from the clear Report of so
in the next Verse THE INVISIBLE THINGS OF GOD FROM THE CREATION ARE NOW CLEARLY SEEN by the Light of Reason and Understanding BEING UNDERSTOOD BY THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE EVEN HIS ETERNAL POWER AND GODHEAD That is That there is a God and his Natural Perfections For whereas here is exprest only his POWER it is a usual Synecdoche instancing in one and understanding all Because there is the same Reason for one as another * Now since this Scripture and other Scriptures use no other Arguments to prove there is a God for Revelation cannot prove it Revelation supposes it therefore I shall forbear all other Reasons For tho' I might produce many Metaphysical Things yet because they are abstract from Sence they shall not be nam'd Therefore I shall as in the Text only name THE EFFECTS OF GOD. And this is the best Demonstration the demonstrating an antecedent Cause by subsequent Effects There are Effects in the World natural of Inanimates of Vegetables and Sensitives and in the World moral of spiritual Substances and intelligent Agents that shew there is a God For they do far transcend Mind and Understanding in Man Therefore they must be the Product of some higher Being And if we bring a Man to acknowledge a Being that is abler and wiser than himself he acknowledges Deity This natural Knowledge of God is wrapt up in the Inward of Man's Mind and Soul that Men whether they will or no whether they be pleased or disaffected whensoever they look into themselves and consult with their own Principles and answer their very Make so oft are they satisfy'd in this Knowledge that there is a God And if they are averse they are self-confounded So that we may conclude that if any Creature on Earth that is born in the Species of Man and that is Partaker of Human Nature be devoid of Sence of Deity it is one of these Three Cases 1 st It is where there is not one ferious Thought nothing becoming Man's Principles no Product of Reason Mind and Understanding but where a Man is sunk below his Nature nay where he ceases to be in his Kind and is worse than a Gibeonite This is Atheism by gross self neglect Such a Man may be without God in the World who only hath Reason and Understanding to live according to Sence or to pursue his Animal Desires And this Man lives every Day to his Loss he doth not act according to the Excellency of the Principles of his Kind 2 dly It is where there is Affectatation and Choice to be an Atheist And then he would have it so struggles with himself doth what he can to keep all Thoughts of Deity out of his Mind He is one that hath an ill Affectation of being Lawless and Arbitrary and gratifying his Senses And so he doth affect being an Atheist that he may be free from Controul Or 3 dly It is where there is contracted Reprobacy of Mind by violent and unnatural Practice And this Case is often represented in Scripture * as by the Prophet Isaiah where it is said Make the Heart of this People fat c. which place is referr'd to six times in the New Testament and speaks to this Purpose that Man by gross abuse of himself may choak the Principles of his Nature These Men have confounded their Principles and transform'd themselves into a monstrous State And we must not produce any thing from what is true of a Monster to prove a Natural State For by Wickedness Mens Minds come to be blinded Aristotle doth well tell us that the Wickedness of Mens Lives and Practices viciates and corrupts the Judgment of Mind and Understanding To conclude with Tully's Argument who is a better Divine than some who pretend to be Christians and yet seem to deny Reason Man himself being a rational and intelligent Agent so an Agent of highest Order Ability and Perfection in this visible World finding his highest Principle his Understanding transcended by sundry Effects of Wisdom and Power where to he well knows he can make no Pretence he cannot avoid acknowledging a higher Agent than himself Upon whose Power and will these surpassing Effects depend A Man in the Use of his Reason surveys the Things that are about him he sees Causes and Effects he sees things depending one upon another he sees things done with * the greatest Skill and Exactness He doth very well know he did not order these things How came they to pass then We our selves are intelligent Agents We can do many things We can disarm the Creation below us and turn them to our own defence but for the Sun Moon and Stars c. We cannot produce these things But we that are intelligent Agents do many strange Effects in Comparison of what the Beasts below do They cannot take Cognizance of our Actions But there are Operations beyond our Understandings * and which surpass our Wisdom Therefore because we * who are able to do such things our selves are Intelligent and have Understanding we must assert that there must be an intelligent Agent that is higher and nobler than our selves upon whose Power and Skill these surpassing Effects depend This is a true Knowledge of God and where more is not reveal'd God will not require more This is Tully's Argument And this comes home to the Apostle in the Text for the Apostle says his BEING his POWER one for all his Perfections they are understood in a Way of Reason by the Effects of God in the World The Height and Excellency of Man in the Use of his Reason is over-born and transcended by the Effects in Nature Therefore they are the Effects of an Agent more perfect and more â—kilful more knowing and more powerful and he is abundantly good Hitherto I have only shewn that it is knowable by the Use of Reason and Understanding that there is a God ALL THINGS BEING MADE IN SUCH PROPORTION AND SUCH FITNESS ONE TO ANOTHER And Man's Reason is transcended For we going after God are at a Loss there is so much of Wisdom and Knowledge and Curiosity in the Things that are made We cannot therefore but Reverence an Agent that is higher than we are For an Account is not be given of them in way of Human Understanding Now I will give Four Arguments that it is more knowable there is a God and what God is in some measure than any thing else 1 st God is more knowable in respect of the Amplitude and Fulness of his Being because of that Ocean of Entity that Fulness of Being that is in him * This is as the Sea * in Comparison to a small Rivulet Every Creature is a Line leading to God God is every-where in every thing So we cannot miss of him For the Heavens declare the Glory of God and every Grass in the Field declares God Man's Understanding is every-where * transcended He cannot give an Account how several Varieties of Colours are in a Flower how the same
God in his just Indignation high Displeasure at Man's foolish Affectation and wilful Choice in so unequal a Competition doth not hinder unless he please but saith Then let it be according to Hearts Lusts and be filled with thy own ways Wherefore let no Man say when he is tempted He is tempted of God but drawn aside by his own Lust. Then let us be careful and cautious how we attribute Evil to God or entail Sins of Men upon him We cannot dishonour God more than by so doing since his moral Endowments of Holiness Righteousness and Goodness are his prime Perfections His Will and Power are always in Conjunction with them and guided by them Even when he punishes Impenitency and Contumacy in Sin it is an Act of Goodness As it is Goodness to pardon Penitents so it is Goodness by Chastisements to reduce the Lawless and Rebellious There is a good Intention in Chastisements For notwithstanding our great Boasts of our Free-will we should be too great Strangers to Duties of Piety and Vertue unless God should now and then exercise us with Sicknesses and Afflictions as a Counterpoise to our Propensions to follow the Lusts and Pleasure of Life and the ordinary Allurements of the World Now since we impute not Murthers and Robberies committed under a well-established Government which rules by Laws and punishes such Offences much less ought we to impute the Miscarriages of Men to God Since Men sin at their own Peril God gave no such Power to Men For Power is concluded within Bounds of Reason and Right Lawless and exorbitant Acts are Impotencies and Deformities If we attribute Evil to God these Mischiefs are likely to follow We shall think of God contrary to what he is worse than he deserves of us So shall less love him The Fountain of Good is highly lovely But not the Author of Evil. We shall not think aright of Evil * nor hate Evil as we ought For what harm is there in that which God doth We shall excuse our selves more than there is Cause for and shall abate in our selves Sence of our own Faultiness We shall think our selves but God's Instruments We shall take but little care to repent Who will trouble himself about that which he thinks is the Will of God Who can resist his Will Why should we expose our selves to Temptations by attributing external Evils to God more than we have Assurance of It is not true that God doth whatsoever Evil befals us * Or that all the Evils which befal us are the Punishment of some Sins as was the Deluge the Destruction of Sodom the Death of Nadab and Abihu of Ananias and Saphira Some Evils do fall out from the State of the World Some we bring upon our selves by Neglect or Abuse of our selves as Diseases which follow upon Intemperance Hurts upon violent Motion Some are Effects of malicious Causes for which God will challenge accountable Agents RECEIVING IN THEMSELVES THAT RECOMPENCE OF THEIR ERROR WHICH WAS MEET This gives us great Advantage to pursue this Truth that God is not to be charged with the Creatures Sin Or with the Creatures Misery For whosoever is punished doth but receive within himself the Recompence of his Error Whoever says otherwise of God that he is either the Cause of his Creatures Sin or of his Creatures Misery doth not say so well of God as a Man would think it fit to speak of a Man of common Honesty and Uprightness The greatest Suffering that is is not by any positive Infliction of God it is not God's Creation For God did not make Hell but it is the natural Issue of Creatures Miscarriage being wanting to themselves and contradicting the Principles of God's Creation And if this be true this is a sufficient Defence for God's Goodness Righteousness and Holiness And I have said enough to justifie all the Principles of Religion There is a Foundation laid of Self-condemnation to all evil doers It is a Form of Words that when I well considered them I could not overlook them that Sinners do receive in or FROM themselves the Recompence of their Error No one that fails or miscarries comes to Misery by any Soveraignty any Pleasure any thing that is Arbitrary any thing that is in it self unavoidable But Misery arises from within The Sinner destroys himself But I am well aware that it hath been the Practice of old to charge God with the ill fare of Men * that they might excuse themselves and lay the Fault upon God Where Men are voluntary as to the Antecedent in doing amiss they charge God with that which is the natural Consequent the Punishment that follows For this is most certain that the greatest Punishment of Sin is inherent in it self For tho' Almighty Power let the Sinner alone he will be his own Destroyer In this Case it may be said Let God be justified as the Lover of his Creatures as the Friend of Souls and every one that perishes be accounted the Author of his own Misery So it is in the Prophet O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Our greatest Hurt is within us from our selves Whosoever is hurt is hurt by himself INORDINATE APPETITE IS A PUNISHMENT TO IT SELF As will appear by an Account of three of the greatest Evils that we are capable of and that we lie under Guilt in Conscience Malignity and Naughtiness in the Mind A sickly diseased distemper'd Body Let any name an Evil that may befal Human Nature that is equal to these I st Guilt in Conscience This hath driven Men to cruel Practices upon themselves put them upon Despair and hurried them by their own Hands into external Hell to avoid internal Hell We are not sure of the Reason of our own Minds for own Preservation * Nor can we depend on this which is our greatest Security under God * either when our Reason is not satisfied in our Religion which makes a very uneasie Condition * or when our Practice is not justified by our Reason and Religion Now Guilt in Conscience is only consequent upon knowing and voluntary Acts when they are irregular unnatural monstrous contrary to the Order of Reason contrary to the Nature of Man For no Foreign Power whatsoever not the Almighty Power of God nor the Power of Angels nor the Power of all the Men in the World can make any Person in the World Guilty unless he doth consent to an evil Action No Man can be guilty but by his own knowing and voluntary Act For if we consent not it is not our Act. Guilt befals only moral Acts. Guilt in a Man's Conscience is his own Production 2 dly Malignity and Naughtiness of Disposition is a second Misery of Man This hath made Mens Conditions very tedious and uneasie to themselves as not having Power and Government of their Minds so having no true Self-enjoyment which can abide Reflection and after Consideration As also * this hath made them Pests and Plagues to
World been troubl'd about the Circumstance of Time and several other Things about this Sacrament And all without Foundation But there is no warrant for this from the Institution And Charity hath been wanting when Men have gone about to make out Scripture further than what hath been plainly declar'd So that I resolve with my self that GOD * having invested Man with Intelectual Nature and given him that high Priviledge and Prerogative of Reason and Understanding doth expect that he should act according to those Principles And where HE doth not constitute and appoint limit and determine that there He doth refer himself to the rational Determination of that first Principle the Principle of his Creation So that whatsoever is done throughout the Life of Man that there is Reason for it is warranted by God Provided still that a Man doth not vary from any particular and express Institution of God in Scripture And if this were understood we should have the very Foundation of Differences in the Church of God taken away It is but a vain Pretence of Zeal for GOD and doing him Service for US to limit appoint constitute and determine beyond what HE himself hath done 'T is a good Notion universally Let us be as FREE under God as we can and resolve with St. Paul Not to be brought under the Power of any Thing So far as God doth declare we must follow his Direction But it is best for us where he doth not limit and determine to follow the Reason of our own Minds in the free Use of our Liberty God doth so far acknowledge his own Workmanship as to refer himself to the Principles of Creation in Man so far forth as he doth not limit and determine For do but with Reason and you do well There is no Superstition in using Things not commanded of God But in using them as necessary Pieces of Religion they are Superstition and offensive to God I say * there is no Superstition in using Things not commanded by God even in the Worship of God if they be Comely and such as Reason doth allow of But there is Superstition in assuming to our selves Authority to use them as necessary Peices of Religion and as sanctified by Divine Institution when they are not of God's Appointment You see now that in Matters of Weight wherein the Honour of God and the Safety of Mens Souls are concerned Scripture is punctual clear full and particular That our Faith may be better directed and we our selves preserved against Cheats and Impostures But * as to other Matters they are left to Christian Prudence Discretion and Fidelity And God's Love and Goodness appears to us exceedingly in Both these Cases * Both that He is clear full and particular where 't is for our Advantage and Security And also that He doth not unnecessarily resolve or determine us where the Things themselves do not require it In the Former because if we should mistake there it would be to our Loss and great Disadvantage because of the Importance of the Matter whether it relate either to Matter of Faith or Practice In the Latter where the Matter is not so necessary in it self nor our Obligation to the Thing it self nor any intrinsick Value in it here it is God's Goodness to us that he will not limit and determine For it is hazardous to a Man in Minute Things to be obliged in Point of Conscience If the Thing be good in it self I am admonished daily how to act by the Rectitude of my Temper because the Thing is good in its own Nature and Quality But in the other * Case I have nothing but the Security of my Memory This is a great Point of Divinity that God hath left us in the Christian Religion as Free as we may be without Loss or Prejudice to our selves We being only determin'd to Things of Weight and to such Things wherein if we should fail we should greatly hurt our selves For it is a great Priviledge not to be oblig'd without Necessity not to be under Restraint through the Necessity of the Precept where there is no Necessity in the Matter And this I account one of the great Priviledges that we have by the Gospel And here as the Apostle adviseth Gal. 5 1. we should stand fast in that Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free And that this is a great Priviledge is clear from Acts 15. 10. where the Apostle calls the Ceremonies and Observances commanded under the Law a Yoak which neither They nor their Fathers were able to bear In this Dispensation there was every Thing punctually determined both for Substance and Circumstance So that they had need of very good Memories to bear them all in Mind Whereas it is a great Security for my Observance of God that I have the Security of the Goodness of my Temper as well as my Memory And thus it is in all Matters of Weight and Moment But if it be a positive Command and that of a Thing wholly Arbitrary and which * if God had pleased might have been omited then I have only the Security of my Memory And this is a choice Notion in Divinity But prepossest Minds will not bear it tho' it be never so much for their Ease and Advantage But let him that hath Ears to hear hear I will say it again There is not in Christian Religion any Obligation upon us but it is either one or other of these Two Either First the Reason of the Thing doth require it And then it is necessary in it self as is Observance of God Reverence of Deity and regardful Apprehensions of him Righteousness and Justice between Man and Man fair and equal Consideration Doing as we would be done unto or Sobriety and Temperance Purity and Chastity in the Government of our selves I say either they are such great Things as These Or else Secondly The Things commanded are Medicinal and Supplemental in Case of Guilt and contracted Impotency by Reason of Sin as going to God by Jesus Christ and the Application of the Benefits that are by our blessed Lord and Saviour the Vertue of his Blood for Pardon of Sin and what he hath done engaging in our behalf And we shall see great Cause thankfully to acknowledge God for this great Benefit if we do but consider the Occasion of Adam's Fall who did not fall upon a Transgression of a Moral Point but in Variation from a positive Institution And for ought I or any Body else know if God had not prohibited him the Tree of Life he might as well have eaten of that as of any other Tree in the Garden For She saw that it was lovely to the Eye and fit for Food And therefore she took of the Fruit of that Tree and did eat and gave unto her Husband Here they had only the Security of their Memories and not of any internal Disposition So it is said of Nadab and Abihu that they were struck dead for offering
the Places where they live as being Disturbers of the Quiet of Persons with whom they have their Habitation For their internal Rancour and Naughtiness of Mind still puts them upon plotting and contriving Mischief and makes them greedy of Opportunity to practise it * Now This Malignity and Naughtiness of Disposition is moral Pravity Deformity and Privation And therefore it cannot be natural but must be acquired For this is a certain Rule nothing Moral can be by Generation but must be by Acts Use Custom and Practice Nothing but what is purely natural can be in a Man by Traduction and Propagation We are not born with Habits but born only with Faculties This is so far true that any bodily Disposition or Inclination which is not acquired tho' it be to Good or to Evil it is neither a Vice if it be a Tendency to Evil nor a Vertue if it be a Tendency to Good For nothing is Vertue but what is the Product of a Mind actually considering and a Man's Choice upon Deliberation and Consideration And so nothing amounts unto the Degree of Vice * but in the same manner Only a Man may be wicked by Failure and Neglect Because a Man is to use the Principles of God's Creation he is to consider and he is to make use of his Reason and that is first to be set on work to discover the Way and to discern the Difference of Things It is most true in respect of every Man 's internal State every Man hath himself for Temper for Disposition for Complexion and Constitution of Soul according as he hath considered examined and used himself Now if a Man hath himself as he uses himself then whosoever is in Perverseness and Malignity of Mind he hath brought himself into it by abuse of himself Whosoever is in a naughty and malignant Disposition of Mind there is no Creature under Heaven nor nothing that is in being that brought him into that Temper but either his gross Self-neglect or voluntary Self-abuse And if there be gross Self-neglect he hath not acted according to his Principles That which is not of a Man's self it may be his Burden but never his Fault nor never is charged upon him on a moral Account 3 dly A sickly and distemper'd Body * This hath made work for the Physician and uncouth Remedies and hath prevented the natural Pleasure of temperate Eating Drinking Sleeping For in Nature's Way only is Health and Strength * Now I grant a Man may have a weak Body and unhappy Constitution without his own Fault whence some die so soon and others are so sickly But there are things which are in our Power that are mischievous to the Body I shall instance in three kinds of Vices in respect of which we may say with the Apostle These Men sin against their own Bodies 1 st Pride Envy and Malice These * carry Discontent which doth macerate the Body and melancholize the Blood Now * as the World is a very uncertain and unequal thing so * it affords frequent Matter of Offence to this * Temper If a Man will be offended he shall be offended every day The Proud and Conceited Man never hath Respect enough he is not valued by others according as he esteems himself No Man thinks so well of him as he thinks of himself And therefore he is necessarily agrieved at every Man and he lives in Discontent He is seldom satisfied but apt to interpret every Man's Carriage towards him Neglect at least if not Affront You have all this verified in the Temper of Haman to Mordecai who is dispossest of all his Enjoyments because Mordecai offends him so is in perpetual Discontent And if a Man is in Discontent he doth not only marr the Temper of his Mind but hurts his Body The Envious and Malicious are agrieved at every Body's Good They cannot enjoy the Comforts they might enjoy because others have the same Now whosoever he is that leads a grumbling repining Life as all envious Men do his very Life is a lingring pining Death Envy is the Rottenness of the Bones But the sound Heart is the Life of the Flesh. One * in whom Principles that are solid and sincere do govern he that is in the Use of sober Reason and Understanding this Man is of a sound Heart We have not more Sense of any thing in this World than that to live in Love and Good Will is to live at Hearts-ease * What great Content have they that live in Universal Love In Reconciliation with God and his whole Creation They are offended at no Body they rejoyce at any thing that happens well to any Creature whatsoever What should bear the Infirmities of the Body but the Courage and Resolution of the Mind If Men thro' Pride Envy and Malice do their Bodies Mischief is it to be imputed to God No But to themselves 2 dly Intemperance and Wantonness These bring our Bodies to noisom filthy loathsom Diseases sometimes even to Rottenness while our Souls inform them Those that live in these Vices sin against their own Bodies Dishonour themselves Make themselves vile and their Bodies unfit Tabernacles for their Souls to dwell in They alienate their Bodies from their proper Use. For what is the proper Use of the Body but to be * as the Tool and Instrument of our Mind in the Engagement * and Service of Vertue The Poet livelily describes the Effect of Drunkenness Aches in the Head Nauseousness in the Stomach Drought in the Throat Langour in the Parts Folly and Fury in the Mind a Feaver in the whole Now all these are avoided where there is due Self-government and where Men take upon them to order their Affairs according to the Dictates of true and sober Reason But if Men lay Reason aside and give themselves up to absurd Compliance if once they transgress the Principles of Reason and abuse the Principles of their Minds they abuse and spoil their Bodies 3 dly By Idleness and Sloth which are also our Bodies Enemies they come to putrifie as Water in Ponds by Stagnancy The Security of the natural State and Perfection of every thing is by Motion and Action By Lasiness and Sloth our Bodies come to be vitiated For they are deprived of their great Security And Nature's Remedy the All-preserving insensible Transpiration is advanced and maintained by Motion Whereas on the other side Vertue which is the Mind 's due Complexion is Soveraign to the Body And all the genuine and kindly Operations of Vertue and Religion are benign and favourable to our Bodies and * are our great Security Length of Days are secured by complying with the Principles of Religion Sobriety Reason and Understanding But in every Deviation from and Contradiction to Reason the contrary viz. Short Life and Diseases are founded and our Bodies spoiled and marred Thus you see God is not to be charged with that which we our selves are the sole Cause of We bring upon our selves the great
Evils We and We alone cause Guilt in our Consciences We and We alone do deform and deprave our Minds We and We alone are the Causes of Diseases and the marring of our Bodies when * we are intemperate Further to prove that MISERY IS OF OUR SELVES I shall take Two Grounds from the Apostle 1 st Man is a Law to himself That is the Effect and Purport of the Law is written in his Heart So that Man is felfcondemned if he transgress he himself being Judge And Self-condemnation is the Life of Hell What the Apostle saith of the Word of Faith of After-Revelation We need not ask who shall ascend c. But the Word of Faith which we preach is nigh thee even in thy Heart the same also may we say of the Principles of God's Creation in us which belongs to our very Make. For Man by Vertue of his Nature and Principles is as sufficient and proportionable to Acts of Reason and Understanding as any inferiour Nature is to Acts Homogenial and Con-natural And we observe that inferiour Nature fails not if it meets not with Foreign Disturbance and Impediment Man therefore out of the Way of right Reason is a Monster a Prodigy in a State of Delinquency and Deformity and he returns not to himself but by Revocation of what is unduly done and renewal by Repentance Otherwise he remains under Self-condemnation So cannot but be miserable 2 dly Great Sinners leave natural Use. Now the Propensions and Inclinations of the Powers and Faculties of our Natures are not controuled without great Violence to our selves and Affront given to God As to instance it is horrid monstrous degenerate and unnatural to live without God in the World because Mind and Understanding are God's peculiar Reserve in Man given to be employed about him So that it is Alienation and Sacriledge to divert them from him It is unnatural to be Intemperate The Desires of Nature are Modest and within Bounds and Compass And all Excess is burthensome It is Devilish to be Spiteful and Revengeful For Man by Nature is Sociable and wishes well to them in whose Company he takes delight This must be understood of Nature before it be abused by unnatural Acts ill Use Custom and Practice For the better any thing is in its Constitution and Integrity the worse it is in its Degeneracy and Depravation I infer Four Things from * hence 1. If Man's Misery be from within * and from Man's self then no Imputation lies upon God of hard Usage of his Creatures Let us therefore resolve with Elihu to give all Honour to our Maker and ascribe Righteousness to him and not entertain such Thoughts and Apprehensions of God as will not recommend him to us nor encourage our Applications to him For it is the leading Point in Religion to have in our Minds right Suppositions of God 2. If this were duly considered Men would not allow themselves to be Lawless Arbitrary Licentious Exorbitant tho' they might avoid the Danger of Divine and Human Laws For Misery arising from within Sinners would be miserable and unhappy tho' God and Man should let them alone 3. If this were duly considered Men would not be agrieved at the Shews and Appearances of this vain World so as to envy the Condition of the Fond and Foolish who intoxicate themselves with Fancies and are Self-flatterers The seeming Prosperity of the Wicked hath been a Stumbling-block to good Men in * all Ages to David Job Jeremiah till they have bethought themselves examin'd and considered But that is well which ends well The Tempter abuses credulous Persons suggesting the Day of Vengeance to be a long time hence Whereas the Sins of Men do not stay for all their Punishment till the Day of Judgment But whether external Punishment be sooner or later Wickedness carries Misery in its own Bowels Were we but at times to see the Torture and Anguish that Guiltiness gives occasion to the Unquietness of naughty malicious Minds the Perplexities and Vexations of the Envious a Man of Poverty if of Innocency and Integrity would not change Conditions with them notwithstanding their worldly Accommodations and gay Out-sides 4. This effectually recommends to us Principles of Reason and Religion as things fit to rule and govern in the Life of Man as things Soveraign to Nature * as the Law of Mens Apprehensions and the Rule of Mens Actions They moderate Mens Passions compose Mens Spirits quiet Mens Minds keep Men in their Wits suffer no abuse to their Bodies A discomposed Mind doth disaffect the Body and a distemper'd Body doth disturb the Mind There is more Satisfaction in good SELF-GOVERNMENT than in all the forced Jollities and Pleasures in the World * Therefore to obtain this Composedness of Spirit and in order to this great Work of Self-Government First I propose that we do not attempt to compound and make things stand together that are of a contrary Nature and Quality as Worldly Policy and Divine Wisdom These two things are as distinct as any things in the World the one is for compassing Ends by all Ways and Arts the other is for all Ways of Righteousness Peaceableness and Universal Good-will * Thus for a Man to resolve to get an Estate by any Ways or Means to haste to be rich and with this to retain Innocency Uprightness and Integrity than which nothing is more impossible For a Man to compound inordinate Self-love with the Love of God and his Neighbour For a Man to make * it the Employment of Mind and Understanding to gratifie Sense and serve Brutish Lusts and yet think that he may * be acted and guided by the good Spirit of God These * things will not consist together Secondly I propose that in all the Variety Difficulties and Uncertainties of this World which is subject to so many and various Changes a Man resolve to be himself as to the great things of Humane Life Let him be the same in respect of his End both intermediate and ultimate the next and the last that is let his immediate End be warrantable and lawful and the ultimate End be that which is universally good as the Observance of God and his own Happiness For these are the same and concur together Let him be the same in respect of his Aims Designs and Intentions Let these be always worthy and let him hold to them Let him be the same in respect of his Rule and Principle of Living and of Acting Tho' he fail in a particular Action yet let him hold to his Rule and as soon as he can recover himself to his Rule and Law Let him be the same in respect of his Contentment and Satisfaction Let not a Man take up and applaud himself in any Attainment or Acquisition that is short of that which will finally accomplish a Man and make him happy Let a Man always be himself in respect of his Engagements and Undertakings Let a Man conjoin with his Natural Powers