one against the other For certainly the least impression which the consideration of these things can make upon a man is to render sin very uneasy to him and to spoil his greatest jollities Forasmuch as every time he knowingly or willfully commits it he not only judges himself unworthy of eternal life but defies God Almighty and treasures up against himself wrath against the day of wrath And the reflection on this must needs make the prospect of death very terrible to him when these things shall come into Plea and when what before was only feared must now be felt and undergone and without a perpetual debauch it will be hardly possible for him to avoid thinking of this unpleasant Subject since while he hath his senses about him he cannot but take notice how daily that unacceptable Guest makes his approaches towards him And if Death be terrible to a man it is certain thenceforward life cannot be very comfortable for every accident will discompose him every Disease is dreaded by him as the Harbinger of that King of terrors his Spirits are convulsed his Joys are blasted his diversions afford him no relief he sees reason to be afraid of every thing and is tempted basely to flatter and humour every man because every body hath it in his power to bring upon him the summ of all Calamities that is to kill him Against all this there is no protection no Sanctuary but in Religion if the Sinner flee not to that he perishes and which is worse feels himself tormented before the time this therefore he is mightily prest to do by the terrors of another World And although it is true that it is not in the nature of fear even of Hell it self to make a man generously good because it only cramps his powers and is not a principle of action yet it is an instrument of caution and if it be attended to will make him less evil wherein the first work of Religion namely Reformation begins And then so long as there is Hope also in the other Scale it may happily not end there The Apostle hath told us the law which was a Ministry of fear and death made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did by the which we draw nigh to God Hebr. 7. 19. For the hopes of that unspeakable felicity and glory which as I shew'd before doth await all good men in another World is able to make a man forget flesh and infirmity to despise danger and difficulty and to raise him above himself 2 Pet. 1. 4. Those great and precious promises which are propounded to us by the Gospel do make a man partaker of a divine nature For great hopes raise brave Spirits and effect wonders The mere perswasion that I have an immortal Soul is of mighty efficacy to make me value my self more than to think my self made to eat and drink and will not permit me to drown this divine particle in drink and debauches nor exert it only in folly and buffonry but will prompt me to cultivate this immortal part to furnish it with wisdom and knowledge that I may enjoy it the better in another World To subdue my sensual inclinations that I may learn betimes to live like an Angel and to castigate my anger and wrath and fury and malice those unsociable vices that I may be fit for that peaceable conversation and Everlasting Friendship in Heaven The thoughts of living for ever will not suffer a man to be fond of the present life but will inable him to banish all servile fear to defy danger to flatter no bodies follies to comply with no bodies vices but to dare to be good in spight of an evil Age and bad Examples For what should cow him that hath this Armour of proof and is every way invulnerable The contemplation of those inestimable good things laid up for good men in Heaven is not only able to restrain sensuality rapine injustice treachery but to make self-denial very easy and to place a man so high above the vanities of this World that he shall only look down upon the things themselves with contempt and scorn and upon the men that dote upon them with wonder and pity He that hath hopes given him of seeing and enjoying the blessed Jesus in Heaven will according to the Apostle S. John 1. Epist 3. 3. find himself powerfully obliged to purify himself as he is pure And to say no more he that believes that God is and that he is such a rewarder of those that diligently seek him must needs find great inducements to seek and serve him accordingly CHAP. V. What particular Religion we should apply our selves to HAving in the premisses discovered the ground and foundation of Religion in general and thereby made it appear to be so highly reasonable that it is every mans wisdom and interest to comply with it We now proceed to inquire what mode or profession of Religion in special he ought to apply himself to who is convinced of the necessity of it in the general And this is the rather to be done because some men make the variety of Religions which they observe in the World an argument against them all and because there are so many forms of it that they cannot easily resolve which to addict themselves to these men as they think very wisely pitch upon none but fairly stand Neuters Now for prevention of this mischief as well as to make way for the resolution of the great Question before us let us consider these two things First that it is not only an impious but a very foolish and frantick resolution to stand off from all Religion upon pretence that there are differences and disputes about it For 1. Men will not be content to go by that rule in other Cases no man will conclude there is no such thing as meum and tuum or right and wrong in their Civil interests because they observe Lawyers to wrangle at the Bar or to give different opinions in particular Cases nor because Physicians often disagree in their Judgments of Diseases will any discreet man refuse their assistance and resolve to let his Disease take its course this objection therefore of sceptical men is but a mere pretence made use of to countenance their aversation to Religion and not a real Maxime of Reason with them 2. The ground of this objection is foolishly or maliciously represented for it is plain that the main things of Religion are very little or nothing in dispute but are confessed and agreed in by all Or if there be some points of moment disputed they are generally such as are speculative not matters of practice For who disputes whether God should be worshipped whether a man should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World in such things as these all discreet and well disposed men agree Let the sceptical person therefore agree to these too and practise them or else let him be so ingenuous as to
shall meet with that apply themselves in earnest to Christianity For certainly if there had been no considerable difficulty in the Christian Religion the first Lesson of it would not have been that a man must deny himself Nor would our Saviour have required us that if our right eye or right hand offend us we must pluck out the one and cut off the other that we may enter into Life CHAP. VII Cautions against some opinions which are hindrances both of an Holy and of a Comfortable Life WHen a man hath setled his Principles and made a good choice of his Profession of Religion he is then in a fair way towards an Holy and a Comfortable Life yet there are several vulgar opinions which if they be not carefully avoided will have an unhappy influence upon both and therefore it is expedient he should be cautioned against them especially such as those whereof I will here give a Catalogue in the particulars following To which I will premise this in the general that although some of the opinions that shall be mentioned may seem only mere speculations in the first view of them and perhaps may go no further with some persons whose singular probity and sincerity of heart may antidote them against the malignity of such tenets yet in their own nature and the genuine consequences of them they are very dangerous as shall now be made appear in particular 1. Therefore let him that would make a due improvement of the Principles of Christianity take care of allowing himself to pry too curiously into the secret counsels of God or of marshalling too confidently the Decrees of Election and Reprobation and especially of arguing presumptuously concerning his own or other mens Salvation or Damnation from them There is no question with me but that God Almighty foreknew from all Eternity whatsoever should come to pass in after times and let it be taken for granted also that from the same Eternity he decreed with himself whatsoever he would afterwards effect or permit nay let us moreover suppose he hath expresly determined with himself who shall be saved and who shall be damned and that so peremptorily that only they shall be saved whom he hath so decreed to save and those shall certainly be damned whom he hath past such a Decree upon But what then the proper and only reasonable use we can make of these suppositions is to admire the Divine Eternity Soveraignty Power and Omniscience here is neither matter for our curiosity nor for our reason to descant upon not for our curiosity since it is plainly impossible to know what the particular import of those Decrees is or whom they concern and less for our reason since if we will argue any thing hence it must be no better than deducing conclusions from unknown premisses The very prying into these Cabinet Counsels besides the folly and immodesty of it tends to very ill purposes for it certainly either blows men up with presumption or casts them headlong into desperation The sanguine and confident and self-applauding are filled with vain hopes by these speculations and the modest melancholy and despondent tempers are inclined to despair by them But the arguing and drawing consequences of Salvation or Damnation from thence contradicts the design of the whole Scripture which charges us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling and to use diligence to make our calling and election sure Nay it turns into ridicule all the Exhortations threatnings and promises of the Gospel For to what purpose doth God perswade us when he hath irrevocably determined our fate with himself It discourages all use of means and all comfort in so doing since it will be labour in vain it baffles Conscience whensoever it either checks us for sin or would comfort us for doing virtuously for what matter is it what Conscience saith when God hath decreed it renders the solemnity of the great day of judgment a mere piece of empty pomp and pageantry seeing mens Cases are all decided before-hand nay it makes the very coming of our Saviour his Life Death Propitiation and Intercession to be illusory and insignificant things forasmuch as upon this supposition men are saved or damned antecedently to his undertaking Now if after all this any man will be so desperately absurd and fool-hardy as to say nevertheless Gods Decrees are irrevocable and therefore the matter of fact is true that if I be decreed to Salvation I shall then be saved without more ado and if I be decreed to be damned I must perish and there will be no help for it it will be in vain to use means seeing I shall but strive against the stream my Doom is past and I may bewail my hard fortune but cannot reverse it I would only further ask such a man this plain Question viz. How he came to perswade himself that God Almighty hath decreed to save and damn men right or wrong as we say i. e. whether they repent and believe in Christ Jesus or no. Forasmuch as it is evident that he that harbours such an opinion of the Divine Majesty contradicts the very notion of a God and represents him to be the worst and most hateful Being imaginable a Being that hath only power and will but hath neither love nor hatred neither wisdom justice nor goodness in him at all that hath no esteem for Faith Virtue or Piety no sense of gratitude and ingenuity nor any aversation to baseness and villany but as if he were an unmoved rigid Idol is inflexible by any repentance prayers tears addresses and importunities and insensible of and unprovoked by all the affronts and insolencies that can be done to him to be sure he that can think thus of God will easily believe him to have set a mean value upon the blood of his only Son forasmuch as he hath given him up to Death to no purpose upon the aforesaid supposition Now unless all this be true which is impossible there can be no colour nor foundation for such an horrid and barbarous opinion And if this be false as most certainly it is then we shall easily be led into this Scriptural Hypothesis of the divine Decrees viz. that as he decreed from all Eternity to send his Son to be the Saviour of the World so he then also determined that as many as should believe on him should be saved and such as did not so should be damned And then what if we find it to follow from the nature of Gods Omniscience that he must foreknow the individual persons that shall be saved or damned or from the nature of his determinations that only such and no other can be saved namely those he hath decreed to it yet then it will be evidently to no purpose to gaze up to Gods Decrees for then whatever hath been written in the Archives of Heaven it is certain it cannot contradict this That if I believe and repent and become a good and holy man I shall be
binds them over to answer for them another day now all these things being the hand-writing of our Creator upon our Souls are more than probable Arguments of another World 6. God hath declared there shall be such a state He that created Mankind at first hath assured them he will revive them after Death and reward and punish them in another World proportionably to their carriage towards himself in this This comes home to the purpose whereas all that which hath been said hitherto how reasonable soever depends upon the uncertain and fluctuating Discourses of men though it is very true that wherever there hath been wisdom and virtue in conjunction they have seldom failed to render this great point competently clear to those who had no other light But some are more stagger'd with a trifling objection than convinced by a demonstration and others are not able to follow so long a train of consequences as is necessary to make out so great a Question But now we come into the Day-light and have divine Revelation for our guide and Gods veracity for our assurance I confess I might have fallen upon this way of proof at first and so have saved all the labour of what I have been saying hitherto but that I partly thought it useful to shew how far natural Theology would go in this business and principally I took this method to the intent that this great Doctrine of Christianity might not seem strange to any one but might be the more readily entertained when it is prefaced to and usher'd in with so much probability of humane reason Now I say God Almighty hath himself assur'd us that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord that Piety shall not go unrewarded in another World nor Impiety unpunished this he hath innumerable times expresly affirmed in the Gospel and with such circumstances as may both best assure our judgments and awaken our affections He hath told us he will hold a solemn Judgment at the end of the World at which all men shall appear and receive their Doom he hath declared who shall be the Judge and confirmed him to be so by that wonderful instance of raising him from the Dead He hath foretold the circumstances and the manner of proceeding at that great day he hath described as well as words could admit it the Joy and Glory that holy and good men shall thenceforth be put into the Everlasting possession of and set out the torments and anguish that shall be inflicted upon the Ungodly I shall not need to go about to aggrandize these things since they are so vastly great and concerning that there is no way to despise them but by disbelieving them But what colour or pretence can there be for that after God hath said it and sent his Son to declare this great news to the World Will men be so wretchedly absurd as to say still it is impossible that men should live again after they are once dead when there is plain matter of fact against this suggestion which is beyond all the arguments in the World for was not our Saviour most certainly put to Death and did he not also exhibit himself alive afterwards to the Eyes and Ears and very feeling of his Apostles and many others Will men say Heaven is but a Dream or a Romantick fancy when there were so many Eye Witnesses of our Saviours Ascension to Heaven and that he was alive and in power there there was that glorious proof the descent of the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles on the famous day of Pentecost according to his promise made whilst he was upon Earth Will they say God hath a mind to impose upon men when he hath no ends to serve by it when he can compass his designs without it and when he hath it in his power to dissolve a World that would not comply with him and make another in its stead Or Will they say that men impose upon one another and there was never any such matters of fact as we have here supposed But why do they not then disbelive all History all antient Records give the lie to all great actions and abrogate all Faith amongst men yea although there be never so plain never so numerous so concurrent and so disinteressed testimonies all this and more than this they must do that deny the matters of fact we speak of and if they do not do so they must of necessity believe another Life an Hell and an Heaven And then if those be believed Piety will be the best Wisdom and Religion the greatest Truth Sin will then be the greatest Folly and trifling with God and Religion the most dangerous thing imaginable but that we shall more particularly make out in the next Chapter CHAP. IV. Of the great influence and mighty force of believing Heaven and Hell or rewards and punishments in another World THere are a sort of men who being too much in love with this World to have any great mind to the other will pretend that the grounds to believe these things are not sufficient and that there are as the case stands neither incouragements enough to make a man Religious nor Arguments powerful enough to restrain Vice because we are only prest upon by hopes and fears of hereafter but nothing befals presently These men require that for the countenance of Religion there should be a present discrimination between him that serves God and him that despises him that the Sinner should be taken and Executed in the very fact and the good man Crowned upon the spot or at least they think it not an unreasonable demand that if it be the will of God that evil men should be reprieved and good men kept in suspence till another World yet he should give Mankind a view of what shall befal hereafter that they might have a sight of Heaven and Hell and so dispose themselves accordingly The former part of this phancy was taken notice of by Solomon Eccles 8. 11. Because Sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed therefore the heart of man is fully set to do wickedly The other part of it is much like that of the Forlorn wretch in the Gospel Luke 16. 30. who thought it reasonable to ask that one might be sent from the dead to convince his relations of the reality of another World But all these men as they do too palpably betray they have no love to Religion nor no desire it should be true so they evidently discover that they neither understand what satisfaction is fit for God to give in these matters or for man to require nor do they consider what the nature of Virtue and Religion will admit of no nor do they understand themselves so well as to know what motives will work upon men nor lastly have they applied their minds to take a just estimate of the value and efficacy of these motives of hopes and fear which it pleases God to set before them First They