then have very short Prospects of things whatever its pure Capacities are and very perverted Notions of them see them much otherwise than they are in themselves while it not only beholds them thro' such a thick Atmosphere but as it were in an Animal Mixture and Confusion therewith For according to the Ascendency this has over the Man as it is the exalted Principle of his Life he discerns more obscurely or nothing at all of the great universal Spirit God his comprehensive Providence as to every event especially concerning any of his best his reasonable Creatures nor of a State of Immortality after this present Period is ended he cannot look above the Sphere of Matter what affects his Senses and so denies all spiritual Subsistences a God with his several Administrations and Acts as the perpetuity of particular Beings likewise whose Contexture he concludes will at last be dissolv'd and they return'd into their common Nature a first Matter whence all things happily sprung by chance being the only eternal Subject he can conceive thus the Stoics from such a kind of Philosophy argued even with respect to Souls themselves †Tull. Tusc Q. L. 1.63 M. Ant. L. 6.24 Lips Phys Stoic Lib. 3. Diss 11. They maintain'd these to be capable of Dissolution and that they should be actually dissolv'd in some time the more immers'd in this Animal State or the worst sort to continue less space after Death and even the most Vertuous who had exemplify'd the highest Morals most liv'd up to their Reason most resisted their lower Appetites or Propensions of Flesh not to surmount their fatal Period the Conflagration of the World but then to fall back into the friendly and congenial Elements as one speaks or as another the greatest of that Sect Marcus the Emperor into the seminal Forms or be dispers'd into Atoms whence we may observe their notion of Souls as to their substance that they thought them material or only more refin'd Body And therefore this Person must only be determin'd to present Satisfactions to gratifie Sense in all its Appetites and his main Designs be to compass these without any regard either to the Benefits or Rights of his Brethren unless as he stands in Society with them these comport with his own This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wisdom of the Flesh that I am afraid still so governs even the new World of the Messias in defiance of all that he has done which the Apostle immediately stiles Enmity against God where he mentions it that can never be subject to his Laws but ever vehemently resists him and urges a contrary behaviour to him 'T is the Spirit of the World still reigning in it or of the natural Man that receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God nor can know or perceive them because they are spiritually discern'd Rom. 8.7 1 Cor. 2.14 I do not deny but that there may be great fervours of Devotion rapturous Affections even truly plac'd on their Heavenly Father fervent Charity towards their Brethren strong pangs of Remorse for any inordinacies of carnal Appetite which will produce as vehement Purposes or Resolutions against them I do not deny nay I doubt not but all these may be in Persons acted by the sensual or lower Life and as this is a more impetuous Principle much more in them at certain times than in the truly Religious But then these not being of an uniform Tenour but some transient Ardours that quickly cool not bringing forth a constant Duty a Gospel Holiness in its several respects but being often interrupted by some greater Misdemeanours neglects again of these bounden Offices even where they most indispensably relate to God a Heart mainly set as may be well observ'd towards the things of this Earth one may be fully convinc'd that these gleams of Piety are only Mechanical proceeding from a certain temper of Body and not from a rightly dispos'd Spirit a Christian habit or frame of Mind Let us now consider the Fates and Consequences of this depraved Estate And first what restless Turmoils must this sensual Principle that can never be satisfy'd when it governs the Man without any Laws or Restrains upon it and what outward Afflictions what Enmities and Contests with other People whom it will ever be invading in some respect will it expose him to This is evident and obvious to all unbridl'd Lusts sensual Affections or Desires let loose are those that first fight within us cause intestine Wars and Disturbances at home and then render us obnoxious to all the Distresses that can befal us from abroad every one being as ready in this common Circumstance this sunk habit to revenge himself as any else can be to attempt an Injustice or Fraud upon him so that this will found perpetual Mischiefs continually bandied from one another Gen. 16.12 Not to mention the Bodily Diseases the Pains and Maladies as it were in the foreign subject to ones reasonable part ones true self that attend such courses As neither to insist on the impairments of Understanding the blindness and ignorance and wrong Sentiments brought into it by this means when one must walk in the dark not having the satisfaction of a right Notion and rule of Duty a steady Principle to live upon this great advantage if not belonging to a rational Creature all Mankind yet which certainly is the privilege of those who are bless'd with the Oracles of God being lost thro' the delusions of customary sin vices long indulg'd or persever'd in Whence the Judgment is deprav'd the true sense of the turpitude of Sin wholely taken away and that other great Faculty bestow'd on Man his free Determination the liberty of his Will so mightily strengthned by the Grace of the Gospel towards the better part a holy Conversation abolish'd likewise so that such a Person must be altogether manag'd by his Appetites and Passions as those drive him on and he still voluntarily undergo the worst sort of Slavery in the whole World tho' he has experienc'd the Mischiefs of it a thousand times I say not to insist on these real Miseries nor to bring into the account the Pangs of Conscience that are nearer Sufferings not so remote to us as our Bodies in the centre of Perception namely the Reproaches and Upbraidings of his Mind for his Brutish Behaviour so utterly disagreeing to the Dictates or Verdicts of Reason which Upbraidings must needs be the greatest natural Torment besides what may be inflicted in a thinking Nature when it cannot endure its own censure of its Ways or Actions and so as often as it reflects on them must ever accuse and corrode it self I say not to mention these pangs of Conscience that will then certainly even here pursue Men when the Appetites are sometimes surfeited Such contrary Tortures are in the breasts of Sinners and so by that means never intermitting Pains there of one sort or other Nor can such a Person have any comforts flowing from
after the flesh ye shall die but if thro' the spirit ye do mortifie the deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8.6 13. and again he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.8 and again in the latter respect only Rom. 7.5 The motions of sin do work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death And indeed I am apt to believe that all the reveal'd Precepts of God are only Warnings of the Events of Things what will fatally follow the kind of our Moral Behaviour or Actions and the bent of our Minds one way or t'other not what is arbitrarily dispens'd upon them and methinks this more answers the wisdom of God when things are so constituted that Mens Fortunes attend the Habitudes they are under and follow their free Actions or the Dispositions they have brought into their Minds by that means This renders God as kind to us as we will be to our selves he thus putting our Happiness in our own hands that thro' the Helps he has afforded us in his beloved Son we may obtain it to what degree we please and this acquits him of Severity which some call Injustice on the account of eternal Punishments for Temporary Faults when these are the Fates of Mens Aversion to him the wicked Temper they have voluntarily acquir'd and made in themselves I do not deny but that there will be both positive Rewards and Punishments but these are still founded and have their Cause in our own Tempers And I cannot think but the contrary Doctrine that the Heavenly Felicites are merely with respect to a tenour of Obedience that may be such an outside business without deriving its effect to the Heart and not on the ground of such an Effect or internal Habit I cannot think but this lessens the Notion of the Divine Wisdom as it takes away the relation of the two States this and that of Heaven to one another not making their Happiness both of a piece the same Temper or Principle with their proper Enjoyments carry'd on to their perfection there and as it puts the Circumstances of the next World Blessedness or Misery only upon an arbitrary Decree of God not so corresponding with the Natures of things or consequential to them Nor seems it a consistent or agreeable Proceeding with a free Creature that he should have any Events attending him but what are as it were necessary upon him the Results of that Temper he has form'd in him But that we may even have the experience of this Doctrine or observe it in others we plainly see that Habits of Life determine the sort and found the most affecting Relish or Sense of all the Enjoyments we have nay that this Relish commonly lasts not to say always after the proper time is over of pursuing those Acts from whence it was as Plutarch tells us concerning the old Olympick Wrestlers who had safely come off from so many hazards that they mainly delighted to be Spectators of those savage Exercises when years had depriv'd them of the Honour as they esteem'd it of being Parties themselves viz. of spilling their own Blood or that of others in them And we may every day sadly remark in worn out Debauchees among our selves how their Vices stick in their decrepid Natures and what polluted Souls they carry about with them and if this be so as to Vitious Courses when People are disabl'd from acting any more the wicked Instance much more will it hold with regard to the Habits of a Holy Life where the capacity of the Vertuous Act not only continues but is ever increas'd with a farther complacency that must likewise attend it Thus we lay the Foundation of our after State whether Happiness or Misery from our own Behaviour Heaven possesses us according to our Improvements of a Gospel Vertue or Hell seizes us while we persist in our Evil Courses these begin here the one and the other how they will increase or enlarge of themselves in a Spiritual World tho' we may pretty well guess at this part and what positive degrees may be added to either of them what Light and Glory or what inflicted Punishment we cannot tell farther than Revelation teaches us but be sure they are both dispens'd being said to be Recompenses and eternal too upon the ground of the use of our Wills or our voluntary Behaviour as that has wrought certain Dispositions in us or to speak the Pythagorean Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocl p. 314. as by our growth and increase in Holiness the Assimilation That founds to all good Spirits Angels and God we prepare our selves to be Partners with them in the freest Communications of that infinite Being whereon depends all the Happiness of created Natures as well theirs as ours We are thus to be quickned thro' the Efficacy of the Spirit and our earnest Diligence or Strivings with him a Christian Temper a Habit of the highest Gospel-Righteousness is thus to be obtain'd or laid in our Minds And I think no more can be urg'd to engage us to the attainment thereof than that 't will make us as knowing in the best kind and as happy as we can possibly be or our Natures will admit of both here and hereafter unless that will more prevail that the neglect of this or the contrary Habit from a course of Sin will render us miserable to the same degrees which is a matter of equal Truth and a more forcible Argument with most People tho' it express a great Depravity and Disingenuity in them That therefore by all the most prevailing Means and Motives that can be offer'd a reasonable Creature we may arrive at a State of Holiness even according to the Doctrines of our blessed Saviour God of his infinite Mercy grant thro' the Mediation of this blessed Saviour and in the helps of the eternal Spirit to whom three Persons and one undivided Essence or Nature be eternally ascrib'd by us and every Creature in Heaven and Earth all Honour Glory Thanksgiving and Praise Amen Amen THE END
being fully deliver'd by such Miraculous Testimony as cannot reasonably be deny'd so that those who will not be induc'd in the exercise of their Freedom to study this Revelation which God be thanked he has given us in Writing and observe or practice the Terms of their Happiness it proposes can never certainly be prevail'd upon by any other Courses that Heaven can design nor do I mean that this Spirit should dictate words to People which perhaps he never did either to Prophets or Apostles only presenting a Scheme of Divine Truths to their Minds but leaving the Language to themselves to be express'd according to their different ways of Education and the prevailing Temper in them as we may observe their Figures and Stile ever answer'd these I say I do not mean that the Spirit should dictate words to People enable them to speak even the known Doctrines or Rules of the Gospel after an Extempore manner which would supersede their own Faculties and probably be an occasion of their Neglects in Heavenly Knowledge as it would greatly administer to Spiritual Pride and Contempt of others both which we may see the example of in a sort of Men among us that only conceit these things of themselves But my meaning is that the Spirit communicates such Light and Grace such clearer Informations of all saving Truths with respect to the Understanding such stronger Motives towards the rectifying of the Will upon our compliance with the means afforded us our due perusal of the Sacred Volumes the Dictates of this Spirit our honest Endeavours in the ways of Godliness according to the Precepts deliver'd in those Volumes as will secure us from any dangerous Error in point of Doctrine and enable us against all our evil Affections for every Vertue of a Christian Life we ever obediently following his Guidance and comporting with him This I mean by the larger Gifts of the holy Spirit in a Gospel-state that being dispens'd on our due Concourse with his first Motions a Vertuous Temper by that means after some measure obtain'd in our Minds they are only in order to our farther attainment of that Temper to afford our infirm lapsed Natures proper Assistances for that end not to operate in fluent Discourses or particular Revelations when we already have a complete Book given forth by this Spirit of our Faith and Practice that is of our whole Duty what God enjoyns us or is requir'd of us in the nature of Things with regard to our eternal Bliss and especially we cannot suppose this holy Inspirer thus to operate after this manner where Men imploy not their main Industry do not diligently Meditate in this Heavenly Book which Moses with respect to the Old Testament commanded his Charge the Israelites to do Night and Day Deut. 6.7.11.19 nor prepare their Minds by a more eminent degree of Gospel-Morals or Holiness of Life as some People who must be Conscious of their Defects in both these Instances unreasonably maintain of themselves and others that they are enabl'd whether to Preach or to Pray and I am apt to think as much without Fore-thought or Study too as the Apostles were And then as to this Doctrine of Habits the establishing the Spiritual Life the Heavenly Felicities and Joys upon them which I all-along here do as I do likewise the more liberal Gifts of the blessed Comforter in our Souls tho' this may not possibly be admitted by all but a pure Obedience not as it any ways disposes us for them accounted the Term of those great Rewards yet this Doctrine I think however it may be rejected plainly appears to be the Import of the Gospel-Law as this is not satisfy'd with outward Performances Opus operatum bare Acts of Obedience but every where condemns such giving them their deserv'd Stile of Hypocrisie when they are alone and requiring a compliance of the reasonable part a reconcilement of the Heart to its several Precepts that these be observ'd or conform'd withal in our very Thoughts which would be quite a needless Discipline unless an inward frame thus attainable were necessary for the Graces our Lord purchased the Joys he proposes And besides our blessed Saviour expresly says he repeats it to us that we must be born again or else we cannot enter into the Kingdom of God John 1.13.3.3 5. that is as he explains it we are to obtain a new Nature quite in opposition to the Desires of Flesh have another Temper advanc'd in our Spirits according to the Mind and Will of God so as that we may be capable of his Heavenly Bliss And the Apostles frequently tell us in Emblematical Phrases with reference to Christ that we must put off the Body of the Sins of the Flesh be altogether dead to them buried with our blessed Redeemer in Baptism when taking upon us his holy Profession we are to renounce those abominable Practices and likewise thro' the Faith of the operation of God his Almighty Power declaring it self in our honest Endeavours We must be raised with him to righteousness of Life Col. 2.12 Rom. 6.3 That we must crucifie the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts whatever proceeds from that evil Principle Gal. 5.24 that we being Dead as Christians should be to these Worldly Enjoyments and our true Life hid with Christ in God we must mortifie the Members of our Unregenerate Man which are set upon the Earth Earthly Interests or Pleasures there recounted by that Apostle Col. 3.3 5. This old Man we are injoyn'd again to put off which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts and to put on the new Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4.22 24. Col. 3.9 10. we must be transform'd by the renewing of our Minds Rom. 12.2 All which places being so many Testimonies of the holy Spirit besides the plain Assertion of our Saviour evidently set forth that 't is something beyond a mere Obedience which duly distinguishing may be accounted the Effect thereof where sincerely perform'd from just Motives viz. a Habit of Piety as our Minds are recover'd from the Affections of Body a Spiritualiz'd Temper with such sort of Appetites or Desires in it that disposes Men for their eternal Bliss not the pure Instances of Obedience only which may possibly be perform'd even habitually too thro' a kind of Mechanism or for sinister Purposes without any amendment of Spirit or reformation in the Soul the sensual Nature with its proper Offspring still being the reigning Principle in such Persons And the Apostle expresly confirms this that it must be a Habit of Christian Purity a Triumph or Mastery over the Desires of Flesh that founds the Disposition for our true Happiness declaring likewise that an Indulgence of these lower Appetites is the Genuine Cause of our eternal Sufferings the fruitful Parent or Seed-plot of our Miseries whence they naturally spring To be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and Peace And again if ye live