thou hast done in all Meekness and Charity and Faith and Hope that I may be fitted for those Mansions thou art gone before to prepare for me Amen Amen SECT IV. Cantaining the fourth Motive to Holiness i. e. the Consideration of the vanity of all those things which tempt us to sin A Man who should have seriously laid to heart the strength and importance of these Motives to Holiness which I have considered would be apt to think that nothing less than some unimaginable temptation or some unavoidable necessity in the contrivance of our natures could provoke men to cast off all these Obligations and break thorough all these obstructions that he might sin and die but on the quite contraty which doth strangely reproach the folly of the sinner 1. Those things which are the allurements to fin have little or no temptation in them 2. Sin it self is a silly base thing And 3. Man hath strength enough offer'd to enable him to avoid it 1. The first I shall have occasion to consider fully in the third part of this Treatise and thither I refer the Reader only by the way we must take notice there is no more sttess to be laid upon this Argument than it will bear and that this Argument hath still respect to the joys and punishments of another life the sensual satisfactions of Man are very little and trifling compar'd with the pleasures of Heaven and it can never be worth a mans while to be damn'd for them yet sure if there were no life to come it would behove every man to be content with and make the most of this nor do I at all doubt but that men may manage their lusts so as that they may not be able to infer Reason enough to relinquish them from any influence they have upon their interest or if any one should think it necessary to purchase a pleasure by the shortning of his life or the lessening of his Estate I cannot see why he may not have reason on his side for a short life and a merry one and my mind to me a Kingdom is would upon the former supposition be a wise Proverb for upon this supposition the pleasure of the mind would be very narrow and faint and the checks of Conscience would be none or insignificant But as the case stands now though there be pleasure in sin and deceitfulness in lust granted in Scripture to abandon the hopes of Heaven for some carnal pleasures upon Earth is like Esau to sell his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage and on the other hand to renounce all present enjoyments for the sake of Heaven is like Peter to forsake a worn Fisher-boat and broken Nets a troubled Lake and uncertain Hopes for the assurance of a Crown and Kingdom which is surely very reasonable And now I pass on to the second thing and fifth Section SECT V. Containing a fifth Motive to Holiness from the Nature of Vertue and Vice IN 1 Ep. Jo. 1. this is set down as the great Message which Christ came to acquaint the world with that God is light and in him is no darkness at all and therefore they who walk in the light have fellowship with him and they that walk in darkness have none where it is plain that S. John founded the necessity of Holiness in the Divine Nature because God is holy therefore he must first renounce his own Nature e're he can establish any other contrary Laws or love or hate on any other condition than Holiness and sin This being so I think the best way to discover the Nature of Vertue and Vice is to consider how the one renders us like God and the other unlike him The Account we have of the Nature of God is that he is a Spirit of Eternal Life Infinite Power Wisdom Goodness Justice and Truth these are the chief of his Attributes and such as Reason it self acknowledges to be the highest perfections and excellencies imaginable If Holiness therefore tend to implant and improve some resemblances of them in men and Vice to efface and extinguish them it will easily appear how the one makes us like God and the other unlike him 1 God is a Spirit it is true that Vertue and Vice do not change the substances of things and make Spirit Flesh or Flesh Spirit yet because they do so wonderfully transform things by instilling new qualities and so altering the operations of beings they are in Scripture said to do so Thus because Vertue raises and refines the Soul frees it from those Fogs which a sensual dotage casts about it scatters a new light upon it and mortifies those affections which reign in the body and render it more obedient to the mind so that the man lives the life of Faith as becomes a wise and an immortal being therefore it is said in the Language of the Holy Ghost to have render'd him a spiritual man and on the other side because sin doth stupifie and sensualize the mind imbolden and pamper the body so that the soul seems to have chang'd its nature into flesh and relishes nothing of those pleasures which are properly spiritual but is wholly taken up with those enjoyments which are the proper and natural entertainments of flesh and blood not a Spirit therefore sin is said to have rendred the man a natural man 2. Eternal Life is the second Attribute of God Life in man is either of the Body or Soul as to the former Temperance Imployment and a chearful spirit are the great Preservatives of Health and the best supports of such crazy beings as our bodies are Religion injoyns the two former for no man can be holy without being temperate and imploid at least in doing good and it contributes very effectually to the later i. e. chearfulness of spirit by begetting in us a peaceful Conscience a resign'd mind and glorious hopes but sin shortens our hasty days by exposing us to diseases violence the Law and by the ill influence which a distemper'd mind hath upon the body as to the Soul Righteousness is the life of it it is the nourishment and pleasure the freedom and the security of it but sin is the death and plague of it non est vivere sed valere vita it is not the meer existing but the welfare and happiness of a being which is its life and if so how can a soul which is sick of passions daily tortur'd and distracted by an ill Conscience be said to live Besides sin doth impair the faculties o'recast the light and fetter the powers of the mind so that it neither understands nor wills nor commands as it ought to do it is rendred a poor sickly despicable being and therefore the sinner is said to be dead in trespasses and sins or at least because the Metaphor is not to be press'd too far as appears from the Text following if it hath any life it is as imperfect as that of a Lethargick drowsie body all 's a thick night
satisfaction before all the world unless I could chose to be miserable and delight to be unhappy 3. This very Consideration supposing the uncertainty of another World would yet strongly engage me to the service of Religion for all it aims at is to banish sin out of the world which is the source and Original of all the troubles that disquiet the mind for 1. Sin in its very Essence is nothing else but disordered distempered passions affections foolish and preposterous in their choice or wild and extravagant in their proportion which our own experience sufficiently convinces us to be painful and uneasie 2. It engages us in desperate hazards wearies us with daily toils and often buries us in the ruins we bring upon our selves and lastly it fills our hearts with distrust and fear and shame for we shall never be able to perswade our selves fully that there is no difference between good and evil that there is no God or none that concerns himself at the Actions of this life and if we cannot we can never rid our selves of the pangs and stings of a trembling Soul we shall never be able to establish a peace and calm in our bosomes and so injoy our Pleasure with a clear and uninterrupted freedome But if we could perswade ourselves into the utmost height of Atheism yet still we shall be under these two strange inconveniences 1. That a life of Sin will be still irregular and disorderly and therefore troublesome 2. That we shall have dismantled our Souls of their greatest strengths disarm'd them of that Faith which only can support them under th' afflictions of this present Life Not to mention that after all the sad Stories of another Life will not be strait way nonsense because we think them so they will continue at leastwise disputable and who would but a desperate-Sot commit his Soul to such a venture Sect. 2. 4. But when I consider that the immortality of the Soul is a perswasion which generally obtain'd in the Heathen world That the more wise and virtuous any of 'em were the more deeply were they possess'd by the belief and hopes of it that the reasons Plato Cicero c. founded this assertion in deriv'd from the nature of the Soul its operations its little affinity to any visible matter its resemblance of the Deity c. have rendred it so highly probable that it hath shed a very powerfull influence upon the Lives of many 5. But especially and above all when I consider that the Holy Scripture whose Divine Authority is clear'd by as strong evidences as any matter of that nature is capable of assures me that this Soul whether in its own nature immortal or no I 'le not now examine shall not perish in the Dissolution of this Earthly Tabernacle as Eccles 12.7 Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it and Mat. 10.28 Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul The Soul it seems is not liable to the injuries of a Disease or the violence commited on the Body but doth subsist when the Body is dissolv'd into its dust When I consider all this I can never so far renounce my Reason and harden my self against all the tenderness and passion I have for my self as to be content that this Soul should be lost in that other State provided I be fortunate and successeful in this for what satisfaction can I then reap from a patrimony or purchase wide as the world it self in a state wherein I shall be depriv'd of all means and opportunity of enjoyment What can the Wealth or Power or Beauty of the World signifie to me when the Body which is the proper instrument of earthly pleasure shall lie stark dead and cold in the Grave shall have no passions no appetites nor can all the Rhetorick or wanton charms on Earth awaken in it one languishing desire or one imperfect act of Life and as to the Soul it must dwell in the Mansions of a new world far far remote from this wherein every thing will be strange wonderful unalterable and eternal But I must pursue this thought a little further and not stopping in the contemplation of the uselessness of the World after the Souls departure from it go on to consider the Soul in its intermediate state between Death and the Resurrection that I may know the utmost if I can that the loss of a Soul imports and here I would suppose my self surprised in the midst of gavety and pleasures of Love and Honour by a violent inexorable disease I resign up my dear objects and my dotage together I am torn from my possessions and my hopes and when the storm hath burst the Cable and shatter'd the Hulk of this frail Bark the Body it casts my Soul that is all that remains of me upon an unknown strand naked and poor and desolate without interests or friends or hopes it must dwell in the dismal blackness of eternal night and Melancholly rackt by despair and guilt scourg'd by shame and rage tortur'd with envy and vexation stab'd by regret and repentance not a calm and soft but a tempestuous and painful one then like some sick body which rowles and tumbles for an easie posture rather out of an inability to suffer pain than any hope of finding rest it sometimes languishes and looks back upon the world vanisht like a dream and repeats ineffective wishes for the Body but it shall return to its dear wealth and beauty no more for ever Sometimes like Dives in the flames it looks towards that Region where Light and holy Souls do dwell but the unpassable gulph of the Almighty's Decree cuts off all hopes of that so that that Light onely augments its envy and despair and Heaven it self adds misery to the wretched Souls hell This is the natural and unavoydable state of a wretched Soul dislodg'd from the body despair and rage and shame and guilt and fear and grief and anguish gnaw and devour the miserable creature and for ever must encrease Blessed God! need there any chains to sink it lower than its own weight hath done Needs there any other darkness cover that Soul which such a cloud of sorrows hath benighted Tell me no more of pleasures these thoughts are enough to make me tremble and grow pale at the approach of a temptation rather than my Soul should dwell in such a state a thousand years may shame and poverty be my portion in this life may the hatred of powerful enemies or what is worse the scorn of my dearest friends persue me may my Body be but a Scene of Diseases and so incapable of the least gust of pleasure and more than this may an awakened tender Conscience every moment flash Death and Hell into my face or if there be any thing worse let me suffer it so it but preserve my Soul from Sin here and from that inexpressible
as well as theirs engages us to Charity for we are become both Criminals and Judges at once and whilst we forgive others we are merciful to ourselves and whilst we revenge and hate others we are cruel and barbarous to ourselves 3. The Gospel establisheth a closer Relation between mankind than that of Nature by the communion of the same Faith the same Spirit the same Sacrament whereof one is but a holy league of Charity and so in one word we are incorporated and become all but members of the same body and therefore as in Joseph nature prevail'd above the sense of wrongs and remembring not that they were his enemies but that they were his Brethren he fell upon their necks and kissed them and wept through joy and tenderness towards those Brethren who without the least softness or relenting had expos'd him if not to a certain death to banishment and slavery so must we Christians remembring by what ties we are fastened and united no more harm or hate one another than we would our own limbs our own Bodies 4. The Gospel convinces us of the meanness and worthlesseness of all things here below not only of Wealth but even of Reputation and Life too of the Body the Soul 's secur'd beyond the reach of man and so makes it both the easier task to part with them in the service of Religion and not so easie to ground the subject of a quarrel on them 5. It annexes precious promises to the performance of this duty i. e. an assurance of Reward in this Life and in the other of happiness in overflowing measures By this time it is easie to discern 1. What kind of thing true Charity is How sweet and gentle how kind and meek a temper it is how beneficial to mankind how delightsome to our selves and how like God and acceptable to him it makes us 2. What a Stress God layes upon this duty how dear a value he hath for it that Charity is the very Life and Soul of Religion and that to be a Christian without Charity is an unnatural contradiction And therefore It cannot choose but raise my wonder to observe thar there are a sort of people who tho' they do no harm do no good neither who study nothing but their proper interest and pleasure and so if just which is the most are far from Charitable and yet they hope to be sav'd Much more am I amaz'd to observe that there are another sort who are meer Lyons in their families Bears and Wolves in the Neighbourhood and it may be worst in the State who are bad Neighbours worse Husbands and Masters worse Subjects and yet they call themselves Christians which is for men who are not fit to live on earth to hope for Heaven And yet I still wonder more when I observe that there is another sort of men who are great Devotionists long and sometimes passionate too in their prayers unless the passion be meerly threatical which is not a settled affection but the meer sally of a sudden heat severe and grave in their outward deportment and huge zealots for this or that cause or particular doctrine and yet they are froward and peevish sower and sullen and censorious and covetous and proud and insosolent and disobedient and yet these men are so far from calling into question their Salvation that they count themselves spiritual and the especial Favourits of God despising the rest of mandkind as carnal moral blind things by what means they arrive at this dangerous state I will not now examine but I will beseech all such to lay to heart these general truths that he who Loves his God must Love his neighbour too he that prayes must do good and communicate too he that is devout and zealous must be meek and humble and charitable and obedient too or else their Religion is unnatural their devotion a meer humour or melancholly or any thing but holiness they are so far from being Christians that they want some degrees of humanity to perfect them into Men. The Prayer O Most gracious and Merciful God enlighten my understanding that I may know thee and discern the loveliness and beauty of all thine attributes especially thy goodness towards the Sons of Men and shed forth thy spirit of Love in my heart that I may seek thee and delight in thee and make it my business to contemplate and to serve thee And may the example of thy Mercy toward Mankind and me in particular and the example of my blessed Saviour laying down his life for his enemies enkindle in me such a true affection towards my neighbour that I may Love him as my self or as Christ Loved me that I may walk as the blessed Jesas did in abundance of kindnesses and meeknesses and patience and in all instances of a Heavenly Charity and so may at last enter into that Heaven which is the eternal abode of peace and Love Amen Amen blessed Lord. Sect. 3. Of Temperance By Temperance is meant such an abstinence from the pleasure of the body as the Gospel requires and therefore I will enquire 1. What rules of Temperance it prescribes us 2. What motives to the duty it makes use of and 3. What method it enjoyns for the attainment of this grace 1. Of the Rules of Temperance The common Rule and Standard which most have made use of to conduct men in eating and drinking c. is the end of those Acts that is the health and strength the welfare of the body but I have great reason to dislike of this Rule for if extended any further than to eating and drinking it is apparently false and I hope none will affirm that all those pleasures which are not inconsistent with the welfare of the body are therefore not inconsistent with Religion being applyed to eating and drinking c. in a strict and close sense it layes a snare for mens consciences and must reduce all to the meer necessities of Nature and so many enjoyments which are innocent enough nay sometimes upon some emergences necessary will be utterly sinful and Religion will be made a meer burden and mens minds be fill'd with endless scruples if taken in as wide a sence as some men I see understand it it opens a gap to sensuality and unchristian freedomes for I do not question but that any man without prejudice to the happiness of his body may be guilty of intemperance in that notion that I have of it that is any man may eat or drink to the enraging of his lust to the softening and sensualizing of his mind c. without the hazard of a Fever or a head ach On these accounts I cannot but look upon this Rule as very useless and improper if not dangerous for a Christian and a proper rule of nature only in such a state which hath no prospect of another life and therefore I think my self oblig'd to inquire in the Gospel for better I think then we shall easily find what