and has no Liberty to walk abroad only she may look out of the Windows of her Gaol till Death comes and unlocks the Doors unlooses those Bonds that fasten her to the Body and sets her at Liberty yet during this Life she contracts a kind of acquaintance with her Prison-house and a Love to her Fetters She is courted and sometimes seduc'd by external Objects she pertakes of Anger 's Fury and loves Fondness and forgetting her native Country and her Heavenly Nature doats oftentimes upon low and base Objects in this strange Land In this present Condition Temperance opens and clears the outward Windows and Knowledge regulates her Perceptive Faculties and both these strengthen and preserve the superiour Faculties which shews her her Errour and helps her to avoid it Hence the Charms of Voluptuousness are dissolv'd her Inchantments ended and the Soul recovers her primitive Light and Purity Thus the Understanding becomes enlightned and the Candle of the Lord burns without the Interposition of the Clouds of Ignorance Thus the Memory is purg'd of polluted Images and made a Treasury of such useful Idea's as Nature first design'd it And thus the Will becomes regular the Desires limited to that which is good the Heart pure and the Spirit rectified from whence proceeds Innocency and Peace which is the special Gift of Autocracy and deserves our further Consideration § 18. What the Ancient Pythagoras said of Piety in general may be affirmed of Autarchy in particular when he says it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Peace in the whole Soul with Cheerfulness For Sensuality fills us full of Fears and Jealousies Expectations and Disappointments and is like the Lower World the Seat of Storms and Tempests whilst Piety would render our Minds as the pure Aethereal Regions above all Winds Meteors and Alterations quiet and at rest The Mind of a pious Man is a Heaven upon Earth and presages to what place he must ascend His meek and innocent Conversation produces outward Peace amongst all for who would disturb him that wrongs no Man nor gives any Offence by word or deed And as he is guilty of no Crime so he fears no Danger but is at peace with himself No Heavy and Dismal Clouds of Despair obscure the Serenity of his Soul His Mind is always temperate free from torrid Desires and frozen Despondings He knows not the Terrors of a guilty Mind and is ignorant of Fears because he is ignorant of Sin His Conscience is void of offence towards God and Man and therefore under no dread from either He is contented with his present Condition and therefore feels not Fear 's Ague nor Envy's Consumption Briefly he is in a continual Calm though in a stormy World and whilst others fret themselves under their Load and struggle in their own Toils he is contented with his Lot and at rest § 19. Thus for the Concupiscible and then for the Angry Passions he governs them also Hence it is that Abuses and Railery move him not and he distinguishes betwixt the effects of Madness for such he takes Rage to be and the friendly Rebukes of a Wise Man He hears the Taunts of the Scornful unconcern'd as he doth the Barking of a Dog and only takes care that he be not bitten He looks upon a dissolute Tongue with pity and is more troubled at the Commendations of some Men than at their Abuses And certainly there is nothing so undecent and ill becoming as well as troublesome nothing that makes us more ridiculous or that gives an Enemy greater advantage than unbridled Fury nor can any Plague torment the Soul and Body and prey upon both more than secret Malice Whereas 't is a God-like thing to forgive It elevates us above humane Nature may I not say above the Angelical Besides 't is the truest pleasure to be able to pardon To deserve well and yet suffer patiently without Reward is a part of Greatness unknown to any but the Autarchist To suffer wrong silently and being injur'd to seek a Reconciliation 'T is more generous sure not to seek Reward but to receive it and save our selves the trouble of pursuing that which will be forc'd upon us for rewarded here or hereafter we must and shall be as long as our Lord's Promise stands good Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in Heaven And as there is a future so there must be a present Reward which is Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost An internal Comfort an ineffable Pleasure which arises out of a clear Conscience which is a continual Feast This is a Treasure far surpassing all the Riches of Nature and the Pleasures of Sin though drest up to the utmost advantage for they are but for a Season but this shall not be taken away from us Joh. 16. 22. Deny me O Lord Riches Health Prosperity Liberty or whatsoever else is most dear to the Animal Life only deny me not this Exercise me in what Trials and with what Afflictions thou pleasest only allow me this Cordial and I shall be sufficiently happy This will be a sufficient Compensation for all Sufferings and Support in them all It will be a Light to guide us in this dark Sphere and a Defence against all Dangers It is an internal Armour which will render us unconquerable till we have past all the Perils of this World and are arriv'd at Heaven where confirm'd and never-ending Joys attend us For the proof of all which I appeal to the Experience of every Man that hath been acquainted with Vertue and Piety and observ'd their Effects I appeal to the Noble Army of Martyrs and Confessors who suffer'd in their Quarrel and became by this more than Conquerours See then the different ends of Vice and Vertue The First presents you with some Shadows of Pleasures which prove both Vanity and Vexation This Second bestows upon you True Pleasures both outward and inward solid and durable which neither Pain nor Sickness nor Death it self arm'd with all its Terrors can deprive you of and which will never forsake you till they have brought you to that place where there is fulness of Joy and Pleasures for evermore § 20. I have at large discours'd of the true Nature of the Pleasures of Sensuality that cheat so many into their Ruine and after an impartial Discovery of their Inside I hope I have sufficiently expos'd their Falshood Vanity and Insufficiency I have added to this an imperfect Account of the Pleasures of a well-govern'd and vertuous Life Imperfect I say for they are to be felt not express'd I have nothing to add to this Letter but some few Reflections upon these Two Heads I. The Difficulties and II. The Miseries that in the beginning of this Discourse were objected to attend this Duty And then conclude the trouble of this Letter c. § 21. As to the pretended Difficulties of Autarchy I have this Answer 1. That Autarchy in it self is neither hard nor ungrateful but easie and natural
when you arrive at the End Be content therefore to be a Jewel though sometimes you lie neglected in the Dust and to shine though none takes notice of you 'T is a greater thing to deserve to be a Prince than to be one actually and he is indeed a King that reigns over himself and his own Appetites though he hath none other Subjects Remember that Vertue is its own Reward here though it had neither Riches nor Honours attending besides it must be rewarded hereafter Those internal Blessings of Peace and Joy are its own and when it hath no other Reward in this World which is very seldom God takes notice of it and his Reward is with him and the greater because deferr'd And therefore upon the whole matter I must conclude That Autarchy is the only way to true Glory here and Immortality hereafter § 12. By this time you must confess that Godliness and Autarchy is nothing else but the Power it exerts over the furious and raging Passions hath usually the promise of this Life as well as that which is to come That her outward Advantages are great as well as her inward Her ways are ways of Pleasantness and all her paths are Peace Length of days are in her Right hand and in her Left Riches and Honours These are the Privileges that Solomon annexes to a Heavenly Wisdom of which Self-Government is the greatest and hardest part I might here further add to its Advantages that of outward Peace with Men for Peace of Mind was proved to be her gift in the last Discourse the quiet I mean Good Will and Neighbourhood she would settle in the World and the Dissentions she would banish out of it It would restore the terrestrial Paradise again together with its pristine Innocence and make that a Tempel of God which is now become a den of Thieves It would cast out the Devil of Hatred and Malice of Self-Love and Covetousness of Pride and Revenge those Fiends that will not suffer us to live in Peace and restore Love Meekness and Humility to bring the Frame of Nature in order again Thus it would make us all happy if we would accept of Happiness and we should while we live here have some Fore-tastes of the Felicity we are to receive hereafter These are some of the Advantages of Autarchy I might add many other and make many ingenious and surprizing Observations thereupon But it is time to retire and try to practise mine own advices Besides I have in some measure discharg'd the Promise made in the First of these Essays and therefore after a brief review of the whole I will descend to the Conclusion § 13. You have heard therefore my studious Dorotheus in the First Paper the Doctrine of Autarchy explain'd together with the several Rules of Practice In the Second I have I hope satisfied you that its Pleasures are true substantial and durable whilst those of Sensuality are delusive uncertain and unsatisfactory That its regimen is not so grievous or difficult as the World would persuade you but that it is attended with the best inward and outward Pleasures In this Last I have endeavoured to shew its outward Advantages as Health Long Life Riches and Honours in this World as well as Eternal Life in the World to come if it fails in any outward Blessing 't is but in order to a greater it naturally leads to 'em and if it sometimes miss let not that be your discouragement Food may by accident cause Diseases and that which is the means of Life cause Death However it cannot fail of Life with the Ancient of days and the Riches and Honours of a Heavenly Kingdom This is the Argument of what I have writ upon this Subject and my Design and great End in all this is to excite you to the Practice of those Vertues included under the Notion of Autarchy and such are Patience Meekness Humility Temperance Continency Charity and such like And to this End I will commend to you these Considerations I. It is a Duty not only according to original and incorrupt Nature in which the lower part is design'd to obey the upper and join'd to it for its service but also worthy of it It is the peculiar Character of a good and wise man of him that lives the Life of Angels here and is design'd to live with them hereafter It is the only way to restore the defac'd Image of God recover our lost Integrity and the Aethereal Seats from whence we are fallen which is our business in this World for we are sent hither to be exercised in Vertue that we may be fitted for Light and Glory And he that doth not answer this end of his Creation in this Life shall sink down in the next he shall have cause to lament that he had any Being here and shall be so much the more miserable by how much he might have been happy II. It is an Exercise that hath the reality of all the true Pleasures that God usually bestows upon the Sons of Men in this Vale of Tears whilst the Pleasures of Sin are false counterfeit and momentary Besides it is a Preparative for future and greater Joys when God shall lift up our poor dejected Souls out of their terrestrial Prisons to the Aethereal Seats and Offices nearer to himself To which add That it hath as you have heard prov'd all the outward Advantages we can expect in this state of Darkness and Death For it hath been evidenced That nothing can tend more to Health and Long Life Riches Credit Respect yea an immortal Name if any such thing can be obtain'd here or is worth the pursuit than this Great Duty Thus 't is an Aggregate of all the poor present Joys of these lower Regions and an earnest of those of a higher and if any thing can make us happy here 't is only this III. It is an Exercise that the World as well as Religion will in some sense exact of us For though Christianity requires stricter Rules of Discipline for the Body by how much its Principles are higher nobler and more remov'd from Corporeity yet Autarchy is daily and in some respects must be used in every condition of Life Every prudent Man must use it and so hath done from the beginning and that Man doth not live who denies himself nothing If mortal Desires were all to be satisfied they would be soon too clamorous to be endured and would in a short time destroy themselves as well as us We daily deny our selves some thing and look upon it to be no burthen but are content so to do Subjects deny themselves the Pleasures of Regality and Princes willingly relinquish the Liberty and Recesses of Subjects The poor are contented â—o fare hard and be without the Varieties of the Rich Man's Table and the Rich Man is forc'd to want the Appetite and Freedom of the Poor We look upon it to be our Fate to be without many things upon prudential and
for no other use but to emasculate the Spiritual part weaken her Powers defile her Purity debauch the Mind and set up Sense in the Throne of Reason But as the greatest evil of all which for a while disables the whole Man the Soul in its Faculties and the Body with its Members avoid Drunkenness This is a Sin which when in intense degrees brings a kind of Death upon the Body as well as Mind and so intermits the Exercise of both Judicatures but every Tendency to it more or less undermines sober Reason slackens the Reins of her Government blinds the Understanding and by degrees casts her into a deep sleep and thus weaken'd lets loose the Philistines upon her And though I confess there be different degrees of this Sin and different Constitutions of Men so that some are made more wicked by it than others and thus some excellent Natures may be free from its usual Attendants the greater Crimes I mean in the use of it yet no Man I 'm sure can retain his Wisdom and Discretion You cannot but remember the old Proverb to this purpose Inebriari simul sapere ipsi Jovi non competit Drunkenness makes all Men Fools most Beasts and some Devils And what it naturally tends to learn from the Mouth of the wise Solomon who describes its Effects so sensibly and truly as though he had tried it and observ'd it often Prov. 23. 29. to the end of that Chapter Let your Intellect therefore prescribe the Times Methods and Measures of your Feastings Mirth Diversions and Compotations consult not Sense about these her near Friends to whom she is so much allyed least she deceive and betray you § 23. Fifthly If by the Importunity of the sensual Part the Persuasion of those falsly term'd Friends or the Example of others you have been seduced to do any thing unworthy of your self and thereby have proved Rebel to your better Part upon the first return of your Reason and the recovery of your Understanding from its Eclipse for the opacous Body will soon remove and righteous Râ—â—son shine out again and by its Light shew you your Sin I say then your great care must be immediately to fall down upon your Knees and humbly implore Forgiveness of your Creator for this Offence committed against him and his Vice-gerent At which time you are not only to renew your Resolutions of Amendment and fortifie your self against ensuing Temptations but also to inflict some Penance upon your self for your defection This cannot but be pleasing to Almighty God when he observes how you not only pass sentence but do execution upon your self and thereby anticipate his Judgments Besides it will prevail with the Divine Benignity for a supply of extraordinary Aids for the future make you more circumspect over your self when you know that you must suffer for it and satisfie your own Conscience of the Truth of your Repentance § 24. Sixthy and Lastly because in many things we offend all and so must shall do during this state of Imperfection above all things beware of the Habits of Vices and that you do not give 〈◊〉 â—ensual Part at least the usual 〈◊〉 Habits you know of all things especially of Vice stick hard and are not easily removed Sensuality a little encouraged will grow strong insolent and play the Tyrant and warm'd with the Snake in the Fable begins to hiss gather Poison and keep Reason out of doors the longer we delay to humble him which yet must be our Task at one time or other unless we resolve to be miserable for ever the harder our work will be And believe me a Man besotted to his Vices or in the Apostle's Phrase dead in Trespasses and Sins is next the damned the most lamentable Spectacle and the direct way to this Condition is to gratifie our Appetites so long till we must deny them nothing yea and at last destroy Appetite it self by pleasing it And though this may seem strange yet 't is the true end of all Debauchery for Sensuality doth at last devour itself and the inferiour Soul if let alone like the Worm in the Fruit will become its own Executioner § 25. But this case is God be thanked not so common Such a Man must have lost all Sense of Vertue be fully reconciled to his Vices though never so destructive and resolv'd on his own Ruine He must be deaf to all Counsel hardned beyond all Impressions of Reason and Conscience The Spiritual Life must be totally swallowed up of the Sensitive and he must be a hardned impenitent and contented Sinner content to lose Heaven and endure Hell If he hath any apprehensions of his Sin and Danger he is not irrecoverably lost but may admit of Help To which Purpose I will in the Close of this Discourse lay down these Rules for his Recovery I. Let him be truly convinc'd of his Condition his present and future Miseries his unworthy Bestial and Brutish Life and the Sorrows to which he is posting For if he can be but made sensible of his Condition so as to desire Help he is capable of it and may have it The Understanding must be clear'd and the Will rectified and the Man made throughly willing to be cured Wilt thou be made whole saith our Lord to the impotent Man that had lain at the Pool of Bethesda thirty and eight Years and having understood his willingness he received the powerful Command of Rise take up thy Bed and walk II. Let him then leave off all the Incendiaries to Vice as Wine and Strong-Drink and the Converse Company and Society of those Betrayers of Souls those Panders for Hell which have hitherto accompanied him into Debauchery and let him frequent the Society of Wise and Vertuous Men who will direct and encourage him by their Advice and Example III. Let him call upon God who is always ready with his Grace to assist Pious Eneavours who gives liberally and upbraids no man IV. Let him begin with the Out-works of Sensuality deny himself in smaller Matters first and retrench himself by degrees If he can conquer in a little he may be sure to proceed and the more he prevails the more he shall be enabled till at last he becomes more than Conquerour and can do all things thro' Christ that strengthens him V. And for his Encouragement let it be considered that the old habituated Sinner's state is not so desperate but that he also hath some advantages of Piety his Lusts and Appetites by continual fruition are become tired nauseate and by the decay less importunate His Heats are cooled his Rashness moderated and Righteous Reason is ready to convince him That all sinful Enjoyments are but Vanity and Vexation of spirit That the days are come in which he can find but little pleasure in them For a Young man may in some measure be excused but an Old man cannot because even Nature joins with Grace to sound a retreat his Appetites are ready every foot to
and rewarded and Religion is not now to be espoused in Chains but upon the Throne So that notwithstanding the extraordinary examples of some of God's dear Servants in the Old Testament and of many more in the New I am bold to conclude That Autarchy tends naturally and of it self to present as well as to future Pleasures whether it be of the Mind or a Regulated Body and to make us happy here and hereafter And thus having made what Observations and Reflections I thought suitable upon the Vanity of the pretended Pleasures of Sensuality having pleaded the Cause of Self-Government and vindicated it from the Acccusations of Tyranny or Cruelty over the Body or her attendant Passions I will reserve her Outward Advantages to be the Subject of the Third Letter ἈΥΤΑΡΧΊΑ· OR THE DUTY of Self-Government The Third PART Of the Outward Advantages of Autarchy and an Exhortation thereunto § 1. I had not long finished the Second Part of this Moral Essay in which I hope I have somewhat contributed to the allaying the Heats of your Sensual Desires and rebated your Prejudices to the Oeconomy of Self-Government but I be thought my self of my Promise made in the Conclusion of it to treat of the Outward Advantages of Autarchy 'T is true my Dorotheus the inward Pleasures mentioned in my last of Joy Peace and the Testimony of a good Conscience are the greatest Blessings we are capable of on this side Heaven but then the other outward Blessings are not to be despised As long as we are here we all naturally desire those Delights that caress Humane Nature and he must be more than an ordinary Philosopher that can over-look all corporeal Pleasures He is happy that can gratifie his Soul but yet he is thought more happy that can gratifie his Soul and Body both and yet preserve his Innocency If then Autarchy be a Friend to both these its Government sure cannot be refused What it is in respect of Pleasures hath been the Subject of the former Paper and what it is in respect of all Outward Advantages shall be the Subject of this After which I shall draw up all the Premisses into one conclusion and tying a Knot upon it leave it with you to the judgment of after Experience § 2. The Outward Advantages of Autarchy which I have not discours'd of in my former may be reduc'd to these Three Heads 1. A Healthful and Long Life 2. A Competent Estate or Sufficiency 3. Honour and Respect from all Men. These are the Three Principal Favourites of the Body and are courted as our greatest Happiness while we are here A sickly long Life is therefore thought so much the more miserable because it is long and a Healthful Short Life miserable by reason of its Shortness And both Health and Length of Life cannot make us happy according to the vulgar Opinion if we are condemn'd to Poverty and to eat the Bread of Carefulness And there be many that will not be satisfied without a third accessional I mean Honour and Respect And there is no Man but the highest Christian that can wholly lay them all aside and say with St. Paul That he counts all things but dung and loss so that he may win Christ I cannot expect you should arrive at this Spiritual Life this Perfection of Wisdom these many years It will be sufficient if you attain it at last with all the Aids of Morality and Religion In the mean time it will be sufficient to alliciate a young and unexperienc'd Nature by that which seems most inviting in this World though it be but as Children with Toys and such are most of us in a spiritual Sense I mean with Earthly Blessings such as Life Estate and Honour My Business therefore shall be to demonstrate to you not that Autarchy will infallibly make you live long Healthful Rich and Honourable or instate you presently in the Possession of these Three Blessings for there may be many Circumstances which may hinder the Effect and God may not prosper the Means for the Ends designed nor do I intend to affirm that this Duty will enfeoff you with the intense degrees of each i. e. that it will make you live to threescore years and ten or fourscore and all that while in abundance of outward Prosperity Riches and Grandeur for this is not entail'd upon any Duty but That it is the readiest Way and the most probable Means to obtain a convenient portion of each and enough to ascertain an outward Happiness That it naturally tends to long Life and Health Sufficiency of Estate and Respect and where it is not hinder'd of its effect will ensure them Thus as the Reasons of the former Paper will make you a Votary to the Spiritual Government as a Christian and a Philosopher so those of this may work upon you as a Man I begin with the first of its Temporal Advantages A Healthful and Long Life § 3. Of all the outward Blessings that God usually crowns Man with in this World Health and Long Life ought to be first named because most desired The First begets the Second and they mutually caress each other and would do so eternally When things are as they should be Nature abhorrs an Alteration for fear of a Dissolution The sullen Rocks cling together and oppose Separation and the soft Waters which are dasht into a thousand pieces against them reunite their Parts which will not separate till Gravity and the indispensible Laws of the Universe compel them The Vegetables though they die at Winter do yet retain the Seeds of Life against their Resurrection in the Spring and accordingly appear again in their various Figures and Colours The Birds and Beasts labour night and day to preserve a belov'd though to themselves an unprofitable Life and when they can no longer escape the Snares of the cunning Fowler or cruel Hunter they mournfully utter out their resentments of Man's Tyranny in their inarticulate Rhetorick Man the Lord of the visible Creation preserves his own Life by destroying others and pays Nature in himself what he has robb'd her of in other Creatures We are apt to admire the Happiness of Methusalah and if we thought it to any purpose would desire to live as long as he We complain of Nature's unequal bounty to the Antediluvian World whilst she confines us to Threescore or Fourscore Years To live long and see many happy or rather than die unhappy days to live though old lame decrepit and despis'd much more when young healthful and strong is the universal desire of deluded Mortals inamour'd of their Sorrows and besotted of their Chains Nor can Reason Counsel or Experience without a Diviner Ray darted from Heaven into their Souls undeceive them And after all it is something unaccountable to find that though most Men make Long Life the chiefest Petition in all their Addresses to Heaven yet there are few that will confess they have received it though they have pass'd their great
Climax So great is our aversion to Death our greatest Friend that would put an End to our Troubles and lay us up in Peace Young men put it far from them and Old men do not care to hear of it though descending down towards their Grave And I have experienc'd in my self now entring into my Declination a kind of Reluctancy to be told I was so far on my Journey I conclude therefore that there is something in Nature some Relict of the Old man that is afraid of Death though she carries it within her and thus perhaps it will be with you and therefore to please the lower Soul and reconcile it to the Government of the upper I shall endeavour to shew that it is the usual Gift and natural Consequent of Autocracy § 4. To this Purpose it will suffice to propose this one Consideration viz. That There is nothing that can conduce more directly to the Health of the Body and consequently to its Preservation to Old Age than the regular Vse of Meat Drink and animal Pleasures which Self-Government enjoins This alone is able to preserve Health and to recover it when lost and if some Original Distemper or fatal Providence interpose not to convey it down to Old Age to procure the Vigour of Youth in Age and a healthful and strong Constitution and consequently a Long Life c. This Truth is self-apparent and shines by its own Light for most Diseases are confess'd to be the Effects of Intemperance Vice tends to our Ruine from its first Entertainment and the Body of Sin naturally leads us to the Body of Death Excesses bring Sickness and Surfeiting will turn to Choler By surfeiting many have perished but he that taketh heed prolongeth his Life saith the wise Son of Sirach Ecclus 37. 30. Instances will best illustrate this Truth for their Conviction For thus the Glutton lives to eat not eats to live but to die when by contrarieties of Meats and Drinks he hath vitiated his Appetite and collected a Mass of Crudities in his Stomach the morbifick Matter which at last sends him out of the World Thus the Drunkard drowns himself in a Dropsie or by a Collection of Adventitious Heats inflames his Blood into a Fever when he shall call for Drink without Satisfaction and use it without Offence And I wish it were seriously considered how peculiar an Enemy this Sin is to our Lives and of how many sad Accidents it is the cause some times fatal to Body and Soul of which we have too many Examples So false is that flattering Proverb A Drunkard never takes hurt And indeed Drunkenness is a kind of Daemoniacism and taking away the use of the Members of the Body and Operations of the Soul the evil Spirit casts him sometimes into the Fire and sometimes into the Water Nor is it a wonder that when the internal Principle of Direction the Understanding is destroyed the Guardian Angel driven away and kept at a distance the Devil should take the advantage to do a Man a Mischief In a word Intemperance is such an universal Purveyor for the Grave that it is become long since a Proverb Plures gulâ quam gladio c. The Throat is the greatest Enemy as well as Preserver to it self and destroys more than the Sword Thus the impure Slave that with an Adulterous Eye pursues every Woman besides his Fears and Dangers wears out his Body and twists up his own Scourge A Disease I mean that destroys his Form and Beauty torments him with Pains when he should take his rest makes him water his Couch with his Tears and his Bed to be the Place of his Punishment because it was the Place of his Folly and at last consigns him over to Rottenness and to become his own Sepulchre And if Whoredoms and Adulteries do not always produce such Tragedies 't is because they are in some Measure restrain'd and so it is the Effect of Autarchy Nay those immaterial Diseases those of the Mind I mean that are not so conversant with gross Matter even these become prejudicial if not fatal to our Lives and Health Covetousness pines and withers the Body Envy dries it up and makes it pale and Pride begets Quarrels Contentions and Wars that send thousands to the Grave together I need not instance in more for 't is the Confession and Complaint of emasculated Debauchees that their Vices have been their Enemies and contributed to their Destruction So that there is a natural Reason as well as Providence in the Sentence of the wise Solomon Evil shall pursue the Sinner and he shall not prolong his days Prov. 10. 27. 13. 21. Eccles 8. 13. 'T is Autarchy alone that prescribes Moderation that distinguisheth betwixt the Abuse and Use betwixt the Poison and Nutriment of Meat and Drink that maintains a due Temperament and satisfies that Nature that she preserves § 5. And here I cannot conceive what Sensuality hath to say for it self and in its own defence unless it is by way of Recrimination Unless she leads you to the Cells of Asceticks and the Oratories of Recluses and shews you the pale and lean Effects of Fasting and Mortification the Skeletons of some few Saints who chose to anticipate Death and die whilst they lived See there will she say the Effects of Bigottism and Religious Frenzie what she would reduce the World to if she could procure once a perfect Empire there And what can Luxury it self do more Besides thou mayst observe that Wise men die as soon and as well as Fools and the Righteous fall promiscuously with the Wicked Alas Death makes no difference nor can Integrity Wisdom Valour or Parts oppose him The End of Man is determin'd and then why should the Means be blam'd he was to die at that time and therefore why should his Vices be accus'd for bringing him thither Thus Sin is ready to excuse it self though she lays the Fault at God's door and on his everlasting Decrees To all which I answer briefly First Waving the Question about the determination of our Lives of which I shall find occasion to give you mine opinion towards the end of this Discourse I say as to the Hardships Fastings and Mortifications of restraining Vertue I cannot find as I noted before that Autarchy absolutely and universally prescribes them but only where our particular necessities require them God hath given his Creatures richly though moderately to be enjoy'd and having given us his Son with him hath given us all things But when the Beast within the Sensual part begins to wax fat and kicks against its Master and Maker both there is then but too apparent Symptoms of a Spiritual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an evil Habit of Mind and then Fasting and other Ghostly Exercises become our Duty For it is Physick to the Body as well as Soul and serves mutually their Necessities Besides I do not find any Command even in that Case to make our selves sick or to impair our