Mind but never benefit it but there are others which are in the Language of Solomon like Health to the Navel and Marrow to the Bones Wisdom and Vertue Life and Honour the Favour of God and Man attend them where e're they dwell And these are the Truths which Illuminate Truths that are Active and Fruitful that make us wise and good perfect and happy such as we have a mighty Interest in such as have a strong Influence upon us such as give a new Day to the understanding and new Strength and Liberty to the Will such as raise and exalt our Affections and render the whole Man more rational more steady more constant more uniform These are the Truths which make Men great and modest in Prosperity erect and couragious in Adversity always content with this World yet alway full of the Hopes of a better Serene Calm and well assured in the present state of their Souls and yet thirsting after Perfection Maturity and the absolute Consummation of Righteousness in the World to come Now the Truths that effect all this are all reducible to those which I have mentioned under the former Head For in those we find all that is necessary to Life and Godliness to Vertue and Glory in those we find all that is necessary to raise and support true Magnanimity to enlarge and free the Mind and to add Strength and Courage to it For what can more certainly promote all this than Immortality and Glory What can be a surer Foundation for the Hope of both to rest on than the Favour of God himself And what can more effectually reconcile and ingratiate us with God than sincere universal Righteousness and the Mediation of his dearly Beloved Son 3. The Third Character of Illuminating Truth is that they are Pleasant and Agreeable to the Soul Hence it is that the Royal Psalmist pronounces the Word of God sweeter than the Honey and the Honey Comb that he ascribes to it Delight and Joy For he tell us that it rejoyces the Heart that it enlightens the Eyes And accordingly we find the true Servants of God not only continually blessing and praising God in the Temple but magnifying him by Psalms and Hymns in their Prisons and rejoycing in the midst of Tribulation But when I reckon Pleasure and Delight amongst the Fruits of Illumition I must add that there is a vast difference between the Fits and Flashes of Mirth and the serenity of a Fixt and Habitual Delight between the Titillations of Sense and the solid Joys of the Mind and lastly between the Pleasures of Fancy and of Reason And when I say Illumination consists in the Knowledge of pleasant and agreeable Truths I mean it of rational Pleasure an habitual Tranquility of the Mind And then the Matter is beyond Question Whatever Truths do contribute to promote this the Study and Contemplation of them must be our true Wisdom Joy when 't is solid and rational does enlarge and exalt the Mind of Man 'T is as it were Health to the Navel and Marrow to the Bones it renders us more thankful to God more kind and courteous to Man 'T is an excellent Preparation to invite more Plentifully Influxes of the Spirit of God Hence did Elijah call for a Musical Instrument when he desired to Prophesie And we find the Company of Prophets rejoycing with Hymns Musick and Dances all outward Testimonies of the inward Transports and Ravishment of their Minds And as I am perswaded that that which distinguishes a Godly sorrow from a Worldly or Impious one Repentance and Contrition from the Agonies and Perplexities of Dispair is the peace and tranquility which attends it so am I perswaded that God does press and invite us to Mourning and Sorrow for Sin for this Reason not excluding others because it naturally leads on to Peace and Joy A soft and tender Sorrow dissipating the Fears and Distresses of Guilt like mild and fruitful Showers that do lay Storms In a word there is no such powerful Antidote against Sin nor spur to Holy Industry as Holy Pleasure Pious Joy or Spiritual Peace and Tranquility This is a Partaking or Anticipating the powers of the World to come and the mightiest Corroboration of every thing that is good in us The Study then of such Truths is true Wisdom And Illumination thus far will consist in quitting those Errors which beget Melancholy Superstition Desperation and in such Truths as enlarge our view of the Divine Perfections and exhibit to us a nearer Presence of his Goodness and Glory Such again as unfold the Dignity of Human Nature and the wise and gracious Ends of our Creation Such Lastly as extend our Prospect and enlarge our Hopes support our Frailties and excite our Vigour 4. The last property of those Truths in the Knowledge of which Illumination consists is that they are such as procure us a Reward If we reflect upon those three Heads under which I ranged those Truths which Illuminated the Gentile and Jewish World we shall easily discern how well they fit this Character They fill the Mind with Joy and Peace and make it abound in Hope they Purge the Man from his natural Corruption and fortifie the Mind against such Impressions from outward Good or Evil in this World as disquiet and torment the Sinner they procure him the Protection of God's Providence and the Assistance of his Spirit in this Life and they invite him to hope for Glories and Pleasures in another far above any thing that the Heart of Man can conceive God is the God of Hope He has all Fulness and Sufficiency in himself And therefore Blessed must all they be who have the Lord for their God Jesus is the Fountain of all Consolation He is made unto us of God Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption Happy is he that does rejoyce always and glory in Him Righteousness is a state of Health and Strength of Perfection and Beauty of Peace and Tranquility of Rest and Hope Blessed are they who are possessed of it who are made free from Sin and become Servants of God who have their Fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life Such are already past from Death to Life for the Spirit of Life and Holiness of God and Glory rests upon them This is the Character that distinguishes Gospel Knowledge from all other sorts of Knowledge No knowledge of Arts or Sciences and much less the most exquisite knowledge of all the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Darkness can pretend to an Eternal Reward A short and impure Pleasure and a transcient Interest is all that this sort of Knowledge can bestow and very often instead of Pleasure and Profit it requites its Disciples with Pain and Trouble The Gospel only contains those Truths which confer Life and Immortality on those that Believe and Obey them 'T is the Gospel alone that teaches us how we are to gain the Love and Favour of God and 't is God alone who Rules and Governs
the Children of God and the blessed Fruit of it Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost would easily furnish me with invincible Arguments Nor would the contrary Opinion ever have been able to have kept the Field so long as it has done had it not been favoured by a weak and decayed Piety by the Fondnesses of Men for themselves in spight of their Sins and Frailties and by many mistaken Texts But that this Matter may if possible be freed from all Objections 1. I here distinguish between Inordinate and Natural Affections By Inordinate Affections I mean the Tendencies of the Soul towards that which is Vnlawful by Natural its Propension to the Body with which it is invested the Desire of its Health and Ease and the Conveniencies and Necessaries of Life for this end Now when Religion enjoyns Repugnances to the former Appetites the Obedience of the Perfect Man has no Reluctancy in it but when it enjoyns things as sometimes occasionally it does which thwart and cross the latter here the Obedience even of Christ himself could not be exempt from Conflict for our Natural Appetites in this sense of them will never be put off till our Bodies be I think this is so clear it needs not be illustrated by Instances or else 't were easie to shew that though good men have practised Temperance Chastity Charity and other Vertues of this kind with ease and pleasure too yet has Nature shrunk and startled at Persecution and Martyrdom though even here too the Courage and Resolution of some hath appear'd to be much above what Human Nature ever seem'd capable of 2. I do not in the least suppose that Nature is so changed but that the Inclinations to sinful Pleasure or Profit or any other forbidden Object will soon revive again even in the Perfect Man unless he keep a watch and guard upon himself and pass the time of his sojourning here in fear Not to be subject to disorderly Desires not to be liable to irregular Motions is the Priviledge of Souls when stript of a Mortal Body or cloath'd with an Immortal one Till then the Conjunction of Flesh and Blood will ever render the poor Soul obnoxious to carnal and worldly Appetites And the natural Appetites of the Body do so easily pass those Bounds that divide them from sinful ones that the best of men can never be secure but when the Mind is taken up in Contemplation Devotion good Works or engaged in the Prosecution of some just and honest Design or amused by some innocent Recreation for in these Cases the Body is either made the Instrument of Righteousness or at least wise 't is innocently busied and diverted from those Objects to which it has too too impetuous a Tendency I have now I think sufficiently stated the Notion of true Liberty and I hope sufficiently guarded it And have nothing to do but to proceed to the Fruits of it Which will serve for so many Motives or Inducements to its Attainment § 2. Of the Fruits of Liberty These may be reduced under four Heads 1. Sin being a great Evil Deliverance from it is great Happiness 2. A second Fruit of this Liberty is Good Works 3. It gives us a near Relation to God 4. The great and last Fruit of it is Eternal Life These are all comprised by the Apostle in Rom. 6.2.1 22 23. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed For the end of those things is death But now being made free from Sin and become Servants to God ye have your fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life For the wages of sin is Death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And these are the great Ends which the Gospel that perfect Law of Liberty aims at and for which it was Preached to the World as appears from those Words of our Lord to St. Paul Acts 26.17 18. unto whom now I send thee to open their Eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of Sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by Faith that is in me I will here insist on these Blessed Effects of Christian Liberty not only because the Design of the Chapter demands it but also to prevent the being obliged to any tedious Repetition of them hereafter under every distinct Branch of Christian Liberty § 1. Sin is a great Evil and therefore Deliverance from the Dominion of it is a great Good To make this evident we need but reflect a little on the Nature and Effects of Sin If we enquire into the Nature of Sin we shall find that it is founded in the Subversion of the Dignity and defacing the Beauty of Human Nature and that it consists in the Darkness of our Understanding the Depravity of our Affections and the Feebleness and Impotence of the Will The Vnderstanding of a Sinner is incapable of discerning the Certainty and Force of Divine Truths the Loveliness of Vertue the unspeakable Pleasure which now flows from the great and precious Promises of the Gospel and the incomparably greater which will one day flow from the Accomplishment and Fruition of them His Affections which if fix't and bent on Vertue had been Incentives as they were designed by God to noble and worthy Actions being biass'd and perverted do now hurry him on to lewd and wicked ones And by these the Mind if at any time it chance to be awakened and render'd sensible of its Happiness and Duty is over-power'd and oppress'd If this were not the true State of a Sinner if the strength of Sin did not thus consist in the Disorder and Impotence of all the Faculties of the Soul whence is it that the Sinner acts as he does Is it not evident that his understanding is infatuated when he lives as if he were meerly wholly Body As if he had no Soul or none but one resulting from and dissolv'd with its Temperament and Contexture One designed to no higher purpose than to contrive minister to and partake in its Sensualities Is it not evident that He has little expectation of another World who laies up his Treasures only in this and lives as if he were Born only to make Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof 'T is true all Sinners are not equally stupid or obdurate but even in those in whom some sparks of Vnderstanding and Conscience remain unextinguished how are the weak Desires of Vertue baffled and over-power'd by the much stronger Passions which they have for the Body and the World Do they not find themselves reduced to that wretched state of Bondage wherein the good that they would do that they do not but the evil that they would not do that is present with them 'T is plain then that Sin is a Disease in our Nature that it not only extinguishes the Grace of the Spirit and obliterates the Image of God stampt
on the Soul in its Creation but also scatters and diffuses I know not what Venome and Infection thorough it that makes it eagerly pursue its own Misery 'T is a Disease that produces more intollerable Effects in the Soul than any whatever can in the Body The Predominancy of any noxious Humour can breed no Pain no Disturbance equal to that of a Predominant Passionâ— no Scars or Ruins which the worst Disease leaves behind it are half so deformed and loathsom as those of Vice Nay that last Change which Death it self produces when it converts a beautiful Body into Dust and Rottenness is not half so contemptible or hateful as that of Sin when it transforms Man into a Beast or Devil If we do not yet sufficiently comprehend the Nature of Sin by viewing it as it exists in our Minds and Hearts we may Contemplate it in our Actions And here 't is Blindness and Folly Rashness and Madness Incogitance Levity Falshood and Cowardise 't is every thing that is mean and base and all this aggravated by the most accursed Ingratitude that Human Nature is capable of These and the like Reflections on the Nature of Sin cannot chuse but render it hateful And if Secondly we make any serious ones on the Effects of it they cannot fail of rendering it frightful and dreadful to us These Effects may be especially reduced to Three 1. The ill Influence Sin has upon our Temporal Concerns 2. Guilt And 3. Fear As to the First of these I shall only say that we suffer very few Evils but what are owing to our own Sins that it is very rarely any Calamity befalls us but we may put our Finger on the Fountain the Sin I mean from whence the Mischief flows Whence come Wars and Fighting amongst you saith St. James come they not from your Lusts which war in your Members This is every jot as applicable to Private as Publick Contentions and where Envy Strife and Contention is no evil Work no Disaster will be long absent I might run through all the different kinds of Evils that infest the Body or embroil the Fortune that blast our Hopes or stain our Desires and easily shew that they all generally spring from our Vices Nay what is worse yet I could shew that Sin converts our good things into evil and our Enjoyments into Punishments that it renders the slightest Evils intollerable turns Scratches into Wounds and Wounds into Gangrenes But this is too copious a subject and would insensibly render me Voluminous when I would be as short as possibly I can A Second Effect of Sin is Guilt which is nothing else but a Consciousness of having done ill and an Obligation to Punishment resulting from it And though Men often Sin with Hopes of Impunity yet it is hard to imagine even on this supposal that they should sin without suffering the Reproaches of their own Minds which surely must be very uneasie to them To be perpetually vex't at ones own Folly to commit those things which we inwardly condemn and be in continual Pain lest they should come to Light to be always displeased at ones self and afraid not only of the Reflections of others but our own This is methinks a great Evil did no other attend our sin But Thirdly Fear is almost inseparably joyned with Guilt for Guilt does not only damp the Chearfulness and enfeeble the Vigour of the Mind it does not only destroy that Confidence Man would otherwise naturally have in God and render him Cowardly and Pusillanimous but it terrifies his Soul with Melancholy Apprehensions and makes him live continually in fear of Death and Punishment And thus the Scripture represents the state of a sinner The wicked flee when none pursue but the righteous are bold as a lion Prov. 28.1 If our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things 1 John 3.2 There is no peace to the wicked saith the Lord Isa 48.22 To deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 2.15 The sinners in Zion are afraid fearfulness has surpised the Hypocrites who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Isa 23.14 Nor let any one wonder that notwithstanding the outward Gaiety of the sinner the Spirit thus describes the inward Condition of his Soul As long as Men retain the Belief of a God it is impossible they should wholly free themselves from the Fear of him They may indeed forget him in the Fits of Lust or Passion but in their Intermissions his Terrours will return upon them with more Violence Again as long as Men retain the common Principles of Truth and Justice if they acknowledge but the Obligation of that universal Law Thou shalt do to others as thou wouldest they should do unto thee 't is impossible they should reflect on their sins without Regret and uneasiness for there is no sin but has more or less Repugnancy in it to Truth Justice and Goodness Finally as long as Men are perswaded that there is such a Faculty as Conscience that God has prescribed them a Law and that they are accountable to Him the natural Conscience cannot chuse but by Fits and upon Occasions scourge and torture lance and gash them And 't is a hard matter to wear out these Notions they are so natural and obvious the Proofs of them are so clear their Reputation and Authority in the World is so well established and the Providence of God so frequently inculcates them Men may easily wear out all sense of the Beauty and of their Obligations to the Heights and Perfections of Vertue but they cannot so easily do this in reference to Virtue in general because 't is temper'd and accommodated to Human Nature and Society and necessary to the tollerable well-being of the World Men may soon I confess extinguish their Christianity but not Humanity and while this remains Sin will leave a Stain and Guilt behind it and Guilt will be attended by uneasiness and Fear The very Pagans who had advanced so far in Wickedness as to be given up to all dishonourable Passions and to commit all Vncleanness with Greediness had not yet so mortified and stupified their Consciences but that it gave them much Disturbance Rom. 1. ver 32. 't is said of them that they knew the Judgment of God that they which committed such things were worthy of Death And Rom. 2.15 their Consciences are said to accuse and condemn them And 't is of very wicked Men that the Author to the Hebrews affirms that through fear of Death they were all their life time subject to bondage But are there not will some say many Ingenious and Brave Spirits who have dispersed these vain Spectres and burst those superstitious Fetters by which you labour to scare and enslave the World I do not doubt indeed but that there are too many who have vigorously endeavour'd to cashier all Principles of Natural
of Men who at the last Day will fall under the same Character and Condemnation not because they perform no Duties but because their Performance of them is depretiated by Coldness and Formality Men who make a fair Appearance of Religion and yet have no inward spiritual Life Men who do generally observe the external Duties of Religion but with so little Gust with such Indifference and Lukewarmness that they are neither acceptable to God nor useful to themselves This State of Deadness may be consider'd either more generally as it runs thorough the whole course of our Lives and Actions or more particularly in this or that Instance of Religion 1. When 't is so general that the Bent and Course of our Lives is for want of relish of the Things of God perverted and depraved when we have no Designs drive on no Ends that are suitable to the Excellency and Dignity of our Nature to the Holiness of our Profession and to the great and manifest Obligations of God when we have no Joys or Pleasures no Thirsts or Appetites that do truly become a Christian when we make no Progress no Advance towards our great End when our Discourses and Employments have no Tincture of the Spirit and no Tendency to Edification I think we may then boldly conclude that this is a state of Carnality and Death And that this want of Relish in the general Course of our Lives proceeds from a real want of a Sincere Faith and true Illumination For were the Mind once truly Enlighten'd were it once clearly convinc'd firmly and habitually perswaded of the Beauty and Excellence of the Things of God as we should have Notions different from those of worldly carnal Men so would there consequently be a Difference in the Nature of our Hopes and Fears of our Desires and Designs of our Joys and Sorrows and as necessarily in the main Scope and Tendency of of our Conversation Whoever therefore finds this general Stupidity in the Course of his Life let him not flatter himself in the Performance of any of the Duties of Religion he has a corrupt carnal and blind Heart his Performances proceed not from true Principles and have not that Life and Vigour in them that they ought they are as different from the Performances of a Man truly regenerate and sanctified as the Civilities and Complements of a well-bred Acquaintance from the substantial Offices of a Sincere and affectionate Friend Nor can any Man who will take the least pains to examin himself be ignorant of or mistaken in the Condition of his Soul if this be it For whoever will act honestly and impartially ought not to pass a Sentence of Absolution on himself upon the bare Performance of some relative or instrumental Duties of Religion but he ought to Inquire First What Vertues he Practises which put him upon Expence Hazard or Travel what Works of Piety or Charity he performs and what Proportion they bear to his Ability Next he ought to consider the Design and End he proposes to himself in all his Religious Performances whether he seek the Honour of God the Welfare of Man and his own Improvement and Growth in Goodness or whether he does this meerly to acquit himself of a task and discharge himself of what he takes for granted as a Duty though he finds no pleasure no advantage in it Thirdly he must reflect upon the Frame and Temper of his Mind in reference to these Duties what hunger and thirst he has for Righteousness what Warmth Ardor Elevation or Earnestness of Mind accompanies his Performances what Peace and Pleasure his Reflection on them or whether Religion be not a burthen to him or something to which Custom only reconciles him Lastly he ought to examine what Operation what Influence his Religious Performances have upon him Prayer Hearing Reading and such-like Duties do naturally tend to enlighten the Mind purifie the Heart increase our Love strengthen our Faith and confirm our Hope and therefore where this is not the Effect of them we may conclude that they are not discharg'd in that manner and with that Sincerity they ought He therefore that will examin himself aright must not ask himself how often he reads how often he hears c. and then rest there but must ask himself what Effect these Performances have had upon his Mind which he will soon discern if he demand of himself what the bent and scope of his Life is how much he advances and improves in the Conquest of any Vice and the Attainment of any Vertue what he loves or what he hates what Esteem he has for the Things of God and what for the things of Men. And in a word how he follows after Universal Righteousness and how he encreases in Purity of Heart and Poverty of Spirit 2. Lukewarmness or Coldness may be consider'd more particularly as it discovers it self in the Performance of this or that Duty in Hearing Reading Prayer and Participation of the Lord's Supper Now 't is certain that there is a Deadness in these Duties which proceeds from a carnal and unsanctified Heart and is a plain Symptom of a State of Sin And yet it is too common that they who are subject to it make little Reflection upon it and are little concerned for it On the other hand many complain of Lifelessness in Duty where there is no just ground for this Complaint And this is no small Evil to such for it disturbs the Peace of their Minds damps the Chearfulness and Alacrity of their Service and clogs and encumbers their Religion with needless doubts and Scruples Some have gone about to set this matter right very unskilfully and whilst they have as they thought shun'd Enthusiastick Raptures and irregular Heate have really betray'd the Cause of true and solid Fervency of Spirit and talked of Prayer and such other Duties in such a manner as cannot but reflect disadvantagiously on themselves amongst such as are moderately vers'd in the Scriptures and have any Experience of the Power of God's Word and Spirit upon their Souls But what surprises me most is that some of very deserved Repute have taught That the seeking spiritual Pleasure in Prayer is an Enemy to Perfection That Heat and Ardor of Spirit in Prayer does often happen to the weakest Christians and very seldom to the Perfect But my business not being to combat the Opinions of Men but to advance Truths in the most charitable and in the most effectual manner that I can Therefore without taking Notice of the Motives or Reasons which have byass'd any on this Subject I will lay down two or three Propositions which will I hope clear this Matter and promote the Design I am now carrying on 1. Then Lifelessness or Lukewarmness in these Duties must never be constant There is a vast Difference between habitual and accidental Coldness in Duty the Former is the Symptom of worldly carnal and unregenerate Minds but not the Latter Many are the Accidents which