all outward things are more in appearance than they are in experiment and acutual probation the reason is because the Soul looking on them in their approach and doting on the gains which is coming towards her concludes they are as thick in substance as ravishing in their anterior fairness but after they have met and embraced she finds that they are both in haste to be gone and are but a bare frontispiece of Beauty like the Portraictures of Kings and Queens painted upon a flat which behind are nothing but dusty canvase Another thing which doth much lessen the pleasure of them is that the Soul in her reflex actions is still accusing her self and thus expostulating with her self Why am I thus conversant about transient things how long have I sought for true pleasure and satisfaction in them but cannot find it certainly I was design'd for matters of a higher concernment since I find I can look above them and beyond them how do I dishonour those noble Objects and injure my self in descending to these mean entertainments These and the like contrariant thoughts are a great allay to those imaginary pleasures and being mixt with the enjoyments give them a very disgustfull relish These circumstances well considered will I suppose very much shrink up that bulk of delight which to the abused fancy seems to be united to outward things before enjoyment even within the limits of Moderation when it is distinct from Virtue Let us now look into the third Postulatum or circumstance required to make up true pleasure which is the certainty of its Duration The death of all men is so confirmed to us by Arguments à parte ante besides the Physical reasons which are produced for the necessity of it that he that should question the continuation of it à Parte post may carry about him his Phantastick head to dispute it by himself till it be laid at rest in its own Grave to receive conviction Here then the question is Whether the Sensualist hath any firm ground of hope for a reversion of his pleasures after Death The Alchoran makes fair promises to Mahomet's disciples that they shall meet with sensual Pleasures again in the next world and if any Voluptuous man shall presume to urge the authority of it he is but that in profession now which he was before in Practice But I do assert the contrary that it is impossible that the Sensualist should be re-estated in the same Species of delight in which he solaced himself during his temporal life or in any other from reasons Physical Moral and Theological First then the body will most certainly at its re-union with the Soul exist after a manner as much different from this which is temporal as to be eternally durable differs from being dissoluble or in a state of corruption for eternal duration being that Divine Boon which shall be conferred upon the Totum Compositum the entire person of man both Soul and Body the Body which is the material part and which will be the Instrumental or intermediate cause under God the Efficient of its own duration being by the wisdom of God fitted with those affections and properties which shall be requisite to that great end of Eternal duration will in degrees proportionate to those future consequences differ from it self as it is now under a state of corruption For take any two different Effects in Nature and it will be found that the proximate and immediate causes of them do differ between themselves in the same degree that the Effects do Ex. Gra. Take a piece of Wood and a piece of Iron both of them smooth and of the same figure and bigness the Wood swims the Iron sinks proportionably to the speediness of the Irons sinking it must differ in solidity or closeness of parts from the Wood which swims This similitude is very Analogical and by the same reason the consistency of the Body in the state of Glory will as much differ from its consistency here as the consequences of duration and dissolution do these being likewise two Effects of two immediate causes Now then to come to the thing that is to be proved therefore the objects of Pleasure must be likewise disparate from if not adverse to what we meet withall here because these here are terminable of which nature there will be nothing after Death For the Body and the Soul being made durable to all Eternity it is most reasonable to think that all their Celestial Accommodations must be durable too for else there would not be a completion of happiness there being a discrepancy between the recipient and the object But to go a step farther That a Sensual man should meet with his old ones or any other sort of Pleasures after death is oppugnant to the precepts of Morality By a Sensual man I mean such a one as makes the attainment of corruptible things his ultimate end whether under a Notion of moderation or of excess and the word excess is to be taken in a double consideration either excess as to the quantity of the thing or excess as to the propriety of the thing First let us consider the person exceeding as to Quantity The Miser never hath pelf enough to satisfie his avaritious mind for he is alwayes coveting more while his thoughts and appetite do terminate in Gold and Silver as the ultimate object they aspire to therefore he loves nothing beyond that or above it for if he did the desire of that would in process of â—ime cease and he would desire something beyond it or above it since desire is a necessary effect of Love issuing immediately from it as from its proximate and contiguous cause if then he loves nothing beyond it or above it he sins against his natural Conscience which still presents the Deity to him as an object which only merits the whole stream of his affections for ignorance of which he hath no plea since the universal voice of nature proclaims a Divine power and in this every man is a Plato to himself Here then is a Moral Trespass or the Commission of an Act against the secret impresses of Nature Now the mind presently enters into consideration whether it ought to run counter to these infused habits or not if a thought propounds to it that it may it presently asks why then these Notions were Imprinted in it either they were given in vain or else that they should be practised If in vain that clashes with a Moral Axiome Natura semper agit propter finem if to be practised then an accusation of Guilt ensues and from thence naturally arises not an expectation of Pleasure but of Mulct from the Original Justice of that first Cause which fixed these Principles in the Mind So much then for excess in Quantity that I may avoid the surplusage of Argument In the next place I must take a view of the Person who exceeds as to Propriety Every Soul not obstructed
sort have the greater cause for mirth and consequently must needs be more truly merry for true mirth is a complacency of the mind arising from the apprehension of our personal happiness yet while we are in the body laughter is natural and if it be kept within its bounds and placed upon right subjects is both allowable and conducing to health but is not tyed to the Glass or Bowl This caution against drinking concerns those chiefly whose bodies require strong drinks in some small proportion for none do much since those who are of another temperament will abstain without any mans counsel or any virtue of their own which is only seen where there are propensities to the contrary though some men of this sort may contract habits to themselves contrary to the first requisites of nature I cannot methinks disswade men enough from this sin because I have so often drawn others into it and therefore hope to make some reparation for the spiritual hurt I may have done them who are yet living whiles for those of my associates who are departed this life I hope the mercies of God did overtake them and I wish from my soul that the spiritual dangers which I have experimented and do know to be in that which we call good fellowship or a chirping Cup two seducing terms and the great scandal besides the sin it self which is in staggering drunkenness may have such an influence upon those who have no account to make for any thing that they have yet done as to this sin that they may never commit it and for those who have and do yet continue in it that considering the great dangers attending upon it which though now drown'd in the lavers of the Grape will one day rise up and shew themselves to their terrour they may start from it with as terrible apprehensions while they may prevent the danger as the reprobate will do at Hell when time is past and he cannot escape it For my own particular I have habituated my self to this vice from my youth and of later years have continued in it upon a misapprehension that the predominancy of my temperament being Melancholy which is cold and dry it did require the supply of some accidental heat to correct it but I do now think I have mistaken my self all this while since looking back upon my beginning I do not find I was so when I was under tutelage and therefore do impute it to a habit contracted since and some intervening causes of discontent but since it is so easie a thing to be cheated into an ill custom and so dangerous to be under it it behoves us to be very vigilant against this adversary which comes in the shape of nature and hath such great advantages upon us Custom hath an interest in the actions of the whole world in good men it disposeth them to goodness though the first Principle that moves in them is a Principle of Grace but when the sanctified Soul hath made some progress in a good life custom comes in and promotes it and facilitates our perseverance in bad men likewise it disposeth and enclines them the more strongly to vice and you shall find that men who accustom themselves to a constant afternoons-draught in the week dayes seldomest go to an afternoons Sermon upon the Sunday if they go at all because the ill habit prevails so strongly that the vitiated stomach must have its false wants supplyed though the soul miss of her spiritual repast To prevent the contracting of this habit upon such as are yet free and to set those at liberty who are enslaved by it I shall propose this general remedy be alwayes employed in lawfull exercises It is an Epidemical disease amongst the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation to be sick of their time which is such a burthen to them that being tired with the tediousness of the day they must either drink or trifle it away to avoid a surfeit this as it is a disparagement to their judgments so it is an exceeding detriment to their souls for since man hath a soul which must be eternally sav'd or damn'd he is a fool that thinks he wants employment and he doth every minute draw nearer to the ruine of himself therefore let none of us ever pretend that we want business If I have no accounts to take concerning my estate no Law-suits to follow though I am not a Magistrate or a Divine though I have no Office at Court though I have the Gout and cannot walk though I am blind or shut up in a dungeon from conversing either with Men or Books or whatsoever can befall me yet still I have a soul which is in her militant estate and in the worst of these conditions I can do acts of repentance reflecting with sorrow and detestation upon my sins past and renewing my purposes of amendment I can meditate upon Gods Mercies and all his Attributes I can perform acts of Praise to him and for those publick actions which I cannot do if I am denied the liberty of my body and the society of men yet I can have them in voto and desiring to do what I am denied and so I can keep on my journey to Heaven though I lie shakled in a dungeon But indeed employment is as generally mistaken as mirth for most men think they want it if their time be not spent in some bodily exercise or upon some slight or common subject but for meditation upon God and the Soul the concernments of it that 's accounted a symptom of Melancholy and reading writing or discoursing of any thing that is serious or profitable which comes the nearest to it A great cause of this evil ariseth either from the carelesness of Parents in not giving their Children a literate education or their own neglect of improving it when they are at liberty from their Tutors or Parents or whoever had the charge of them for as the Principles of Learning and Knowledge do wear out so the delight in superficial things grows more strong and prevalent because the knowledge of any one thing and the delight in it alwayes go and come together since we cannot take pleasure in any thing which we are ignorant of therefore Hawking Hunting Horse-matches Gaming Stage-plays and the like are made the business of our time in which our delights do terminate which should only be used to unbend the mind and give it relief after serious employments and to exercise the body for the preservation of health being altogether subordinate to greater ends and this is one reason why Taverns are so much frequented because Libraries are out of request and holy learned or serious communications do not relish with us But this is not sufficient to excuse them for though men either want education or stifle it yet they cannot extinguish Reason and lose the Principles of Religion which they have in their Catechisms in their Bibles and by Preaching and therefore upon that account it
which was not long after but in the midst of my idle and sensual life I had intermissions of consideration not without some trouble my bashfulness which I always had in a measure more than ordinary did much incline me to drink finding that did embolden me for which reason I have wisht I had been brought up at some publick School rather than in my Fathers House supposing that strange company and being from under the tender wing of my dearest Mother I might have been rouzed up by being put more to my shifts and my bashfulness abated by being accustomed to the company of strangers And indeed I found manifestly that being so much confined to home through the carefull fear and love both of my Father and Mother bashfulness and melancholy did so gain upon and take root in me that it was always a great disturbance to my life I found likewise my memory both slow and not retentive occasioned by that fixtness which was upon me and that occasioned by the want of business to employ my memory and inform my judgment and excite my thoughts which contributed much to fix me more in melancholy and want of confidence which though not so considered of by my Father and Mother yet I found manifestly in my self it was a great occasion of mischief to me and did expose me to a loose life But Lord had I stirred up in my self that stock of Grace and those Divine Principles which were infused into me by thy self the fountain of holiness and purity and the instiller of holy motions thou wouldest undoubtedly have come into my soul with such controuling power as would have reduced my disordered mind to an obedience to thy heavenly will the absence of which hath bred in me so great matter of discomfort but if thy goodness shall spare me for so much future obedience as may place me in the favour of thy self I shall more esteem it than thousands of Gold and Silver A Prayer I Desire Eternal Jesus to call upon Thee from the depth of my sorrows upon Thee O Divinity incarnate whose mercies are bottomless and whose Merits can bury the most vast extuberances of repented sin from the eye of thy Fathers Justice and secure the relenting sinner from the stroke of his Omnipotent hand which nothing can intercept but thy self who art all and whose intire Obedience can answer all the objections of Divine fury and out-wrastle Justice when she makes her greatest assaults But O my presumptuous soul though it be true that the Mercies of God in Christ exceed all proportions and that there are continuall springs of compassion which are ever flowing from the breasts of his goodness yet how can that avail thee while thou art bathing thy self in sensuality and courting thy treacherous lusts who were the murtherers of the blessed Jesus whom if thou chase from thee which thou must needs do if thou welcome thy sins she goes along with the blessed Lamb and never leaves him where he is she is still to be sound and had not he come into the visible world she had never presented her self to mankind but they must have been ever separated from the Glories of Eternity What can the best extracted cordial do to a man who is naturally dead neither can these cordials of salvation advantage thee who art spiritually so Most blessed Lord make me a subject capable of thy mercy by faith and repentance for else the preparations of thy mercy will be my greatest misery to see redemption at a distance causeth a languishment of the soul here if she have any residues of Grace while mercy is not irrecoverable but to see her removed when she can never return yet so many times offered in the day of Grace is the most bitter ingredient of eternal misery Suffer me most glorious Jesus who am but dust and ashes to speak unto my Lord and let me ask at the mouth of wisdom how it comes to pass that my heart should pant after thee now and anon grow cold and disobedient can Christ and Belial be inmates together If I love thee and desire thee above all things to day why do I leave thee next since thou art more delectable the second day than the first and the third day than the second since thy essential sweets do not like those thou hast created glut the appetite but become the more gratefull the more frequently they are tasted Oh it is my original corruption which strives to demolish those reparations of Grace which are in my soul by thy death and to obscure those reinfused sparks But Lord let thy additional Grace joyned to that twinkling light which yet remains in me improve it to such a flame by thy frequent supplies that by its light I may discover my sins and by its heat they may be consumed who would betray me into that fire which should ever light me and ever burn me but never consume me Blessed Redeemer I have not onely my own inherent sinfulness and the spirit of spirits separated from thy self to encounter withall but there is another cause in nature which depresses my soul from rising up to her Lord the flesh which is ever warring against the spirit and besides the usuall evils of it there is more in me than the bodies of men do often bring with them thou know'st it Lord for thou made'st me and since thou did'st I am silent I know thou madest me to thy Glory what though I have more of earth in the composition of my body than others have by which the motion of my animal and vital spirits is obstructed though my apprehension and memory be not so quick and retentive if I obey my Redeemer and hearken to his charms the spirit of Jesus shall inspire and quicken my soul which if it be nimble and active in its correspondencies to the Rules of Christ I shall have a large amends for the splene and dulness of my body But when I have been troubled with the incumbency of this weight I have not looked up unto my blessed Jesus whom I might have seen through my thickest blood since that excellent spirit which I am by Creation doth not require the body to its sublime operations but instead of this most injured Saviour I have run to thy Creatures for help yet that I might have done for they had not been but to preserve my being and support my natural life but ah wretch that I am I have made an inordinate use of them and turned thy blessings into my own curses instead of putting my soul into a more serviceable estate for thy glory by correcting the disproportions of my temperament I have defaced her beauty with intemperance and exposed her to the assaults of Lusts and Devils But Oh most meek and mercifull Jesus though I made a resignation of my self thou didst not give me away by substracting the residues of thy Grace but my spirit even in her most deliberate aberrations from thy Rule was the