Advertisement AN Exposition on the Lord's-Prayer in several Sermons Preach'd by the Reverend Mr. Joseph Stephens Late Lecturer of St. Giles's Cripplegate St. Margaret's Lothbury and St. Michael's Woodstreet Prepared for the Press by himself in his Life-time Very necessary for all Persons and Families instructing them how to pray to God in an acceptable manner Will speedily be Publish'd and Printed for H. Walwyn at the Three Leggs in the Poultry against the Stocks-Market THE Last Sermon OF Mr. Joseph Stephens Late LECTURER of St. Giles's Cripplegate St. Margaret's Lothbury and St. Michael's Woodstreet Together with I. A Sermon Compos'd by him a little before his Death but never Preach'd being prevented by his Last Sickness II. A Sermon concerning The Hopes of the Righteous at Death III. A Sermon on Jam. IV. Verse 17th Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Lately Preach d at the said Lectures All Publish'd from his own Manuscript Copies fairly Written out for the Press by himself LONDON Printed for H. Walwyn at the Three Leggs in the Poultry against the Stocks-Market 1699. To the HEARERS of Mr. Joseph Stephens Late LECTURER at St. Giles's Cripplegate St. Margaret's Lothbury and St. Michael's Woodstreet THE following Sermons having the Late Reverend Mr. Stephens for their Author need not an Epistle to recommend them To You especially it is needless who are so well acquainted with his Worth and who at this time labour under the heavy sense of your great loss of him And indeed in the Age we live in a Minister who is indefatigable in his Endeavours after the spiritual good of his Flock ought not to be parted with without a Concern as singular as his Example is rare And I am sure the Subject of your sorrow will justify the Degree of it for such an one was Mr. Stephens One who had an unsatiable Love for the Souls of Men and for yours in particular a Love which lasts longer than his Life for when he had spent that in your Service and the time was come that be must Depart hence and be your Lecturer no more He did by ordering his Works to be Printed as it were Multiply himself among you for whereas before you had him only teaching you from the Pulpit you may now every one of you have him home with you Instructing you in your Closets at all Times and upon all Occasions so that although his Labour upon Earth be ceas'd yet he seems to be still teaching you from Heaven and shewing you the steps by which he went thither 'T was observed that when he preach'd this his Last Sermon he urg'd it with a more than ordinary Warmth as if he had known it to be the last he should utter for which reason it is publish'd first before his other Excellent Discourses and Sermons that so if he had any peculiar drift in the Choice of the Subject or the home Application of it with respect to that Circumstance of Time which I am apt to think he had we might further his intentions and leave the Effect to Providence Herewith is also Publish'd another Sermon which he composed a little before he Dyed but never Preach'd being disabled by his last Sickness Together with his Discourse concerning the Hopes of the Righteous at Death And another on Jam. 4. 17th Verse Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is Sin All which for the Relation they bear to each other and the Importance and Seasonableness of their Doctrine were thought fit to be printed together And to Conclude May you so Regulate your Lives by the Rules he gave you as it is also the Doctrine of Christ that neither these nor any other of his Works hereafter to be Publish'd may Rise up as Witness against you at the last Day is the Prayer of Your Friend and Servant JOB XXVII 5 6. Till I die I will not remove my integrity from me My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live THESE words were spoken by Job who here makes a solemn Resolution to maintain an unprejudiced Mind and an innocent Conscience to behave himself prudently and not to be guilty of that thing wittingly or â—y choice which should either shame him to reflect upon or slur his Reputation were it exposed to human knowledge It was in the midst of Adversity and depth of Disgrace when he thus covenanted with himself when his Wealth and Store were taken from him his Children spirited away and his Servants despised and his Friends stood at a distance from him when he was tormented with Pains and Sores and had not where to lay his Head In the midst of such an unhappy change of things it was that this good Man peremptorily resolved to keep a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Man As God liveth says he Verse 2. who hath taken away my judgment and the Almighty who hath vexed my soul All the while my breath is in me and the spirit of God is in my nostrils My lips shall not speak of wickedness nor my tongue utter deceit Though it were my Lot and God's determinate Will that I be thus severely dealt with all my Days yet it shall be my care and study to behave my self wisely in a perfect way neither to murmur under such Dispensations or do that thing which may stain my Integrity or expose me to humane Censure Till I die I will not remove my integrity from me My righteonsness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live A well-disciplin'd Christian's care is to carry such a temper of Mind with him out of this World which may enhance his Happiness and improve his Felicity in the next Therefore it is that he Debates and Argues Examines and Judges before he be tempted by Interest or Example Neither the prospect of Wealth or Honour or any worldly Advancement shall induce him to a low-spirited Action or put him upon unjust Ways He submits to the Government of Providence and does not seem to hasten a change of things by immoderate Wishes and Desires In fine in the whole Course of his Actions he prefers a well-pleased Conscience and will rather forego all External Goods than forfeit that which will be a continual comfort to him though in the depth of Disgrace and worldly Debasement For what outward Evils can in a sense disturb that Man who is perpetually followed with a harmless Mind which always resounds to him those best and sweetest Ecchoes Well done good and faithful servant how bravely dost thou acquit thy self how manfully dost thou resist Temptations what care dost thou take in the management of thy Affairs how little art thou influenced by Interest and Example how courageously dost thou bear up against the Flatteries of the World the Flesh and the Devil O well is thee and
Devil to exercise his Arts upon us A Self-conceited Christian is a fair invitation to him nor can he have a better prospect of success than when he finds a Man puffed up with an over-weaning Confidence of his own strength For then sometimes he works upon him by a sudden surreption or surprize as being not thoughtfully disposed nor in a watchful posture sometimes again he insinuates with and prevails upon him he not having his Mind furnished with wise Considerations He that once begins to abate his Endeavours to disuse that strict discipline he was wont to exercise himself under to admit of larger allowances and to limit himself to present attainments will go back much faster than ever he went forward for those Vertues he has acquired being not constantly exercised will by degrees grow weak and faint and at length terminate into final Apostacy And besides this it is just with God to suffer such a one finally to miscarry who has been so long taking Heaven by storm and violence has broken through so many oppositions to come at it and in despite of all the darts of temptation from without and of all the weights and pressures of inclination from within was gotten up as it were to the top of the Scaling Ladder had laid his hands on the Battlements of Heaven and was ready to leap in and take possession of the joys of it and at last slackens his hold abates his industry and sits down secure and careless I say it is just with God to permit such a one to fall and that finally That after the blessed Spirit has cultivated his Nature and planted it with Vertues he unravels his Workmanship and turns his growing Sharon into a barren Wilderness Thus we see how dangerous it is to stop at any determinate degree in goodness out of a fond conceit that we are good enough already that we are liable to relapse into our former state and shall plunge our selves into a miseferable condition The Apostle therefore wisely considered this and resolved to be still advancing more and more in the Christian Warfare I count not my self says he to have apprehended or either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus I now proceed to draw some useful and practical Inferences from what hath been said and so conclude And here First If this Life be a time of Trial and probation wherein God has appointed much work to be finished by us let us forthwith set our selves about it especially considering how uncertain our stay is here Let us never abate our endeavours nor slacken our diligence out of a fond conceit that we are good enough already lest we finally miscarry It is not enough that we correct the indecencies of our natures and stem the Tide of our evil inclinations that we forsake our Sins and hate them but that we also attain all the Christian Vertues and Graces and these to grow and flourish by exercising them about their proper Object even God Now this is not a fatigue to be accomplished on a sudden it is not an easy thing to make an evil mind comply with a Vertue here must be many Strifes and Contentions strong Disputes and shrewd Arguings before our stubborn Wills can be brought to a fair compliance with a Christian Grace and then here must be great industry used to digest it into habit and Custom or otherwise it is sooner lost than it was gained And then considering the many Temptations from without us which are continually interrupting us by their restless importunities it is very difficult to retain a Vertue after a long and tedious pursuit after it and the case being so this will keep us for ever sufficiently Employed and oblige us to Eternity to be still aspiring beyond our present Attainments Secondly Nor is there the want of Encouragement to spur us on in the Christian Warfare The Reward far exceeds our Labour will make us amends for the very worst we can undergo What is it to spend a few days or years in striving and contending with our inclinations in Consideration and Watchfulness in Earnest Prayer and Severe Refiections on our selves when we are assured before-hand that at the End of this short conflict we shall be carried off by Angels in Triumph into Heaven and there receive from the Captain of our Salvation a Crown of Everlasting Joys and Pleasures when after a few moments Pains and Labour we shall live Millions of most happy Ages in the ravishing fruition of a boundless Good I say Who that considers what great things God has prepared for them that love him would boggle at the difficulties in the Christian Warfare Is it not a ravishing Contemplation to think that the time is coming when we shall bathe our dilated Faculties in an overflowing River of Pleasures and feed upon an Happiness which is as large as our Capacities and as lasting as our Beings Let us therefore run with Patience the Race that is set before us And may the God of Peace which brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will Working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ our Lord. To whom with the Father and Ever Blessed Spirit be goven all Honour Praise Thanksgiving and Obedience now henceforth and for Evermore Amen THE THIRD SERMON Prov. XIV Latter part of the 32d verse But the Righteous lath hope in his Death BESIDES the many Blessings which Religion Intitles a good Christian to while he continues in this Life such as God's special Favour and Protection Success to his Endeavours a reputable Name and such like there is yet one eminent advantage which it produces at the last gasp as our Wise man observes in the Text and that is a solid Hope and Considence of an Inheritance with the Saints in Light an assurance of going to God and living with him to all Eternity This was it which solaced the Apostle St. Paul when under the apprehension of an approaching and cruel Death 2 Ep. Tim. 4.6 I am now ready to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand but still this is my Comfort my Life hath been spent in God's Service I have fought the good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith and therefore I rest in this that henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge will bestow upon me when he comes in the last Day to dispense his Rewards and Punishments It is a sweet Reflection to a good man when he is packing up for Eternity that
he made it his care and business to dress his Soul for the embraces of the Father of Spirits to think that he shall bathe his dilated Faculties in an overflowing River of Pleasures and feed upon an Happiness which is as large as his Capacity and as lasting as his Being to think that as soon as his Soul is stormed out of the outworks of Nature the Angels which are ministring Spirits will convey it into Abraham's Bosom I say such a thought as this upon a Death-bed mitigates the Ragings of an imperious Disease sweetens the bitter Cup and renders the approaches of Death less formidable and scaring Whereas when a Wicked man after repeated Provocations and wilful resistings of Divine Grace is flung by an invisible hand upon his Sick or Death-bed he is presently Arraigned by his injured Conscience and a large Catalogue of all his Sins is opened and read before him he is afraid to Dye because he has all along lived in Rebellion against God And here we may imagine what a surprize the Wretch is in to think that he must live out a long Eternity in unpitiable Sighs and Groans and endure the Vengeance of an irreconcilable God that no sooner will Death cut the Thread of Life but he enters into a World of despairing Ghosts and that at the Day of Judgment must change his unhappy condition for a much worse these are the Thoughts which usually attend ungodly men when they are making their Exit unless they are hardned or deprived of their senses through the Violence of their Distemper This is the last punishment of a vicious course in this Life And one would think that such an uncouth remembrance of things at such a time when a man is under the ill circumstance of an intolerable Distemper when Nature is almost spent the Eyes darkned like a sullied Mirror the Face besmeared with a clammy sweat the whole Body trembling under the Severity of death when the Soul as it were sets hovering upon the Lip just advancing upon the Shoar of another invisible World I say one would think that it were enough to make men afraid of Sin to be thus miserably tormented with the Reflections of it when they are stepping out of this into a wide World of Spirits where their sorrows will be Augmented and the remembrance how they have lived here will afflict them more than to be stung with Snakes whipt with Scorpions and all the Instruments of torture applied unto them And it is no less a prevalent Motive to the Study and Practice of Religion that it influences a man to generous Actions and to order his Conversation so that he shall not be ashamed nor afraid to look back upon the passages of his Life past when he comes to dye but revive his drooping Spirits with the Hope and Assurance of commencing a Happy and Joyful Eternity having in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God had his Conversation in the World And so says Solomon in the Text The righteous hath hope in his death the consideration of his well-spent Life lifts him up at the last gasp with the confidence of living with God Angels and Saints Which words manifestly imply this Proposition viz That a truly pious and holy Life produces a happy and comfortable Death Now my Business shall be First To prove the Truth of this Then Secondly To persuade Men to the Practice of Religion from the consideration that it brings Peace at the last and qualifies their Souls for the Embraces of the Father of Spirits First then I am to prove the Truth of this viz. That a truly Pious and Holy Life produces a Happy and Comfortable Death which is the same in sense and meaning with what the Wise-man asserts in the Text That the Righteous hath hope in his Death as if he had said That man that Exercises himself daily to have a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards man who by Study and special Arts hath contracted an intire love to God and Religion and lives in a constant and unfeigned Obedience to the Institutions of the Gospel shall be so far from having any frightful Reflection upon what is past or dismal Prospect of what is to come at the time of his Death that the very consideration of his sincerity in the Practice of Religion will revive and cheer his drooping Spirit with the Hope and Assurance of a joyful Resurrection to Eternal Life through the Merits and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ by the imputation of whose Righteousness he shall be enabled to stand blameless before God How true this is our own Experience and Observation tells us When we have visited a Friend Neighbour or Relation who have had their Conversation here in simplicity and godly sincerity with what cheerfulness have they resigned to God's Will and Disposal How little have they been concerned at the Thoughts of approaching Death With what Comfort and Satisfaction have they looked back upon and remembred the general course of their Actions How have they rejoiced in the Testimony of a good Conscience How light and easy did the Yokes of Pain and Sickness set upon them being taken up with the Thoughts of a future happy Life and Established with the assurance of Reigning the Lives of Victorious Saints What Lectures of Admonishment have they delivered to their surviving Acquaintances that they would live in the fear of God and dedicate their days to his Service for that such a Conversation only will bring them peace at the last With what Courage did they meet the King of Terrors How familiar and comfortable were his approaches to them having the same mind which was in the Apostle desirous to be dissolved being confident of spending an Eternity with Christ whose Vertues they endeavoured to imitate and whose Example they made the Pattern and Model of their Actions This is the comfortable State and Condition of good Christians when lying under the unhappy circumstances of Mortal Pains or Sicknesses neither the inconvenience of a crazy and distempered Body nor the fear of Death nor all the disturbances which usually attend a death-bed can shake their Faith or remove their Hope of a blessed Immortality For the very Design and Purpose of Religion is To teach men how to dress their Souls for the embraces of the Father of Spirits to furnish them with such necessary Graces as may prepare them to stand before the Son of Man when he comes to Judgment and he that is endued with this holy Principle and by Practice hath digested it into habit has answered the great end of his being sent into the World and is fortified with considerations sufficient against the worst that may happen to him Of such an excellent and gracious Nature is Religion that it qualifies a man for all states and conditions of Life if he be Rich it instructs him to set loose in his Affections to the Goods and Affluences of this World
not to prefer the Creature to or bring it in competition with the Creator but to use this World as not abusing it moderately embracing sublunary Blessings with a generous Resignation of mind to leave them without murmuring if Providence so ordains it either to take them from us or we from them In fine Religion also learns the Man who is fortunately blessed to be charitably disposed to feed the hungry to clothe the naked to minister to persons according to their unhappy circumstances If a man be poor Religion teaches him to be content with his Lot and to submit cheerfully to him that governs the World who knows what condition is best for us it learns him not to covet the Goods of another it being a mighty disturbance to the Tranquility of the mind to Desire and not to have it also instructs to be honestly inclined by abstaining from pilfering and stealing poverty being a strong temptation thereto without the prevention of Divine Grace In brief Religion prompts us to whatsoever things are honest just pure lovely and of good Report and he that by special arts and strengths of Mortification has reduced his nature to the evenness of Vertue and a good disposition has laid up a good foundation against the time to come Whenever God sends his Messenger to call him off the Stage of this World he comforts himself as the holy Apostle did The time of my departure is at hand I am now ready to be stripped into a naked Spirit and to lanch into a wide Eternity but this is my Consolation I have fought the good fight I have finished my course and have kept the Faith upon which I ground this assurance That when Christ who is my Life shall appear I also shall appear with him in Glory Whereas when a man whose Life has been a perpetual course of uninterrupted iniquity comes to dye with what reluctancy does he submit to the Condition of Nature and the Will of Providence What dreadful Apprehensions is his crazy mind infested with What Fears and Amazements does he labour under Conscience which before was lulled into a fatal slumber is now awakened and alarms him with a repetition of his wonted insolencies and at once gives him a View of his whole Life These things hast thou done and I kept silence but I will reprove thee and set all thy sins in order before thee This is but a bad Character to be given of a man by his own Spirit and the very consideration of it must needs invade his Mind with abundance of ill-aboding Thoughts and scaring Reflections and the more because he has no time to recover himself by Repentance and a new Life he has neither strength nor opportunity to express such sorrow for his miscarriages as may move an offended God to Reconciliation but must leave this World in doubts and fears and which he has too much reason to believe must endure the despair of a damned Ghost for ever This I say is the sorrowful conflict of a wicked man upon his death-bed a sad Reflection upon what is past and a dismal Prospect of what is to come But it is not so with him who has ordered his Conversation aright he says my Text has hope in his death that after this painful Life is ended he shall enter into an house not made with hands whose builder and maker is God where nothing shall interrupt or call him off from his Enjoyments no satiety shall render his fruition loathsom or tedious but shall spend a long Eternity in perfect constant and unmixed Happiness But thus much for the first thing which was That a truly pious and holy Life produces a happy and comfortable Death according to the Wiseman's assertion in the Text The righteous has hope in his death I proceed from hence to the Second thing which is Secondly To persuade Men to a Holy and Religious Life from the consideration that it brings peace at the last and prepares our Souls for the embraces of the Father of Spirits And here First of all Religion does not put a man upon any thing which he shall be ashamed of but as he is a rational Creature capable of distinguishing between Good and Evil only obliges him to such actions which he may give a good account of to his own Conscience and to God who is greater than his Conscience It instructs him to chuse what is good in it self and to reject what is sinfully evil Now to be thus prudent and circumspect in matters of choice in the general course of our actions What a comfort is it to a man to be followed with the joyful whispers of a well-pleased mind where-ever he goes to be caressed by an innocent Conscience and continually entertained with a sweet Reflection upon what he has done Whereas a man of a cajative disposition who gives Reins to his Passions and no Bounds to his Lusts is often put upon unmanly Prosecutions and hurried into abundance of Inconveniences to gratify his greedy and unsatiable Appetite he is frequently tempted to such low-spirited actions which he is ashamed to own and blushes at them though no body be privy To how many inconveniences is a wicked man daily exposed And what base and unmanly shifts is he put upon to extricate himself out of those difficulties wherein he involves himself What violent passions and perturbations are raised in his mind And into what wild tumults of action doth sin frequently hurry him How doth it perplex and intriegue the whole course of his Life and intangle him in a Labyrinth of Knavish Tricks and Collusions so that many times he is at his wits end and knows not which way to turn himself These difficulties and many more attend a vicious and irregular course But now Religion only engages a man to do those things which in their very nature contrive his good are commendable and praise-worthy and administer abundance of satisfaction to him when he thinks upon them it diverts him from every transaction which confronts the Law of Reason and would disturb his mind upon an after-thought In fine the very purpose and design of Religion is to make a Man happy even in this Life by managing his Concernments so that he may neither be afraid or ashamed to think upon what he has done at any time And what a comfortable state is it to be always at peace within from the consideration of a Conversation managed with Christian prudence To lie down and rise with a mind resounding those best and sweetest Ecchoes Well done good and faithful Servant How bravely dost thou acquit thy self how manfully dost thou stand to thy duty against all oppositions And with what a gallant resolution dost thou repulse temptations that bear up against thee This therefore I take to be one great and forcible Argument to a holy Life That it preserves tranquility of Mind peace of Conscience as consisting of the best actions and the best choice But Secondly As Religion
Knowledge induce a Crimson guilt as being committed with Consent and Approbation For that which maketh Sin to be so as it stands condemned and threatned with Eternal Punishments in the Gospel is the doing of that which God has interdicted which we know is in opposition to his Holiness and Purity when our Reason forbids the action but yet we commit it to please a foolish Humour to gratify a rude and ungovernable Appetite Upon which account is that of the Psalmist Thou shalt be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest Ps 51.4 implying That when God passes Sentence of Eternal death upon wicked men they shall be so far from taxing him with excess of rigour that they shall confess to the Vindication of his Justice and the Aggravation of their Shame that they are deservedly punished Sin becomes of a damning nature because it is not only a Violation of known Commandments but an outrage upon our Reason and discerning Faculties which God has endued us with to distinguish between right and wrong good and bad that we may chuse the one and refuse the other It would indeed look more like rigour in God should he hold us guilty for doing those things which we are ignorant are evils though they be and he has denounced against because it is not properly speaking a Transgression against Knowledge which extenuates the Crime and excuses our persons For even among our selves if one ignorantly offendeth us is neither moved by prejudice nor a malicious Spirit propounds to himself neither the pleasure of revenge nor any thing that looks like design we cannot unless too cholerick and unreasonable but forgive the Delinquent and bury the default in Oblivion And upon this score it was that the Apostle St. Paul quieted himself in some measure under the uncouth Reflection upon his former outrages against God and the Christian Church 1 Tim. 1.13 I was says he before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly And we read in the 19th of Deuteronomy ver 4 5 6. that God extenuates the guilt of an ignorant Murderer by appointing him a place of refuge This is the case of the slayer which shall flee thither that he may live whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly whom he hated not in time past as when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree and the head slippeth from the helve and lighteth upon his neighbour that he die he shall flee unto one of those cities and live lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer while his he art is hot and overtake him because the way is long and slay him whereas he was not worthy of death in as much as he hated him not in time past But when the evil is palpable and the precept plain when Reason comes in and forbids the action In fine When a man is conscious that such and such a commission thwarts the Law of God and of his own mind and yet breaks through these Barricadoes to gratify his stubborn and inflexible will he is without excuse his guilt is enhanced his presumption unpardonable without a speedy and proportionable Repentance and will inevitably suffer the direful effects of an unappeased Vengeance For it plainly argues that an evil is done with the consent and approbation of the will when a man notwithstanding his knowledge thereof and his modest nature blushes at the sense of the Thing and all his Superior Faculties whereby he aptly distinguishes between Right and Wrong step in and forbid the action I say when a man doth any evil against so much Light and Knowledge it speaks much guilt and matter of choice too because he knew the Sin and against all opposition yielded thereto And this is it that will shame and condemn wicked men in the Day of Judgment That they allowed themselves in the practice of those things which before they could commit them were with delight fain to give their Consciences gash after gash till by repeated blows they had rendered them callous and past feeling Or otherwise it would be almost impossible that Sinners could delight in the ways of Death that they could laugh and be merry while going in the broad way that leads to destruction if they did not in the first place lull Conscience asleep which if permitted to speak would make them very uneasy interrupt their past-time and plague them with horrid Thoughts and Reflections hence is that of the Psalmist Psal 10.4 God is not in a wicked man's thoughts that is he will not suffer himself to think of God whom he offendeth nor of the evil he committeth nor of that place of toment which awaiteth him these considerations being extinguished render his Life much more seemingly pleasant and comfortable But I proceed to the further Prosecution of my Text Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin From which words I raise these following Propositions First That the knowledge of a sin improveth guilt and leaveth a man without excuse Secondly That man is set out in the World furnished with such Faculties which are capable of distinguishing between good and evil right and wrong whereby he may be acquainted with the good enjoined and the evil interdicted I begin with the former of these two viz. First That the knowledge of a sin improveth guilt and leaves a man without excuse that is to be convinced that such a thing is really an evil in it self forbidden by God's Law condemned by our own Reason and threatned with Hell-fire and notwithstanding this sensible conviction to proceed to action induces a crimson guilt and renders a man as inexcusable to his own Mind so to God also For what can be a greater Argument of contempt of the Discipline and Constitution of Religion and what can express more a presumptuous will than to do that which I am not only taught by the Word of God and the practices of good men is sinfully evil but assured also by my own Conscience And though if we be so charitable to conjecture that a man doth not commit a sin because God has interdicted it and himself disapproves of it meaning his reason but purely to please a fond humour and an irregular appetite yet this demonstrates how little regard he has to a divine precept how light he sets by Gospel-prohibitions thus to prefer a foolish lust before a vertue the satisfaction of his own will before his who is to be the Judge of Quick and Dead the Rewarder of good and bad men And though some the better to colour their evil disposition and to take off the rigidness of censuring plead natural weakness and infirmity that though they are convinced of the evil they allow themselves in yet they cannot withstand the temptation and resist the inticement yet this also explains the bent of their hearts