our adverse state why do we repine and complain If we did indeed compare our Mercies with our Sufferings our Receipts with our Merits or our Condition with that of some others we could not but be convinced of our folly but we still pore upon the sore all our thoughts are taken up and in exercise about our affliction if we would deal rationally let us view the sufferings of our blessed Redeemer and see if we dare make a contrary conclusion to that of the Apostle 1 Pet. 4.1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in flesh let us arm our selves likewise with the same minde He suffered patiently and calmly for us and it is but reasonable that Servants imitate their Master and suffer the disasters they meet our rule yet how ready are we to despise it if in the least it cross our humours or carnal interest Alas little do we consider that obedience is essentially necessary in order to our supream happiness and that torments as severe and intolerable as they are lasting are the lot of the disobedient It were to be wished that the rebellious posterity of Adam would but seriously ponder what they will be able to say in the great day of Audit Sure I am the whole Contexture and Harmony of the divine Precepts and Doctrines are equitable and just and therefore call for our hearty compliance with them The wise God never issued out any Command which could not be obeyed he is not like the Aegyptian Task-masters to require Brick while there is no Straw Nay indeed our duty and interest are coupled together so closely that if we disobey and rebel we may thank our selves for the misery we have chosen And as his Obedience is set before us for imitation so is his Love Charity and Compassion also His whole life was spent in doing good to men how transcendent is his love in pitying us in our degenerate and forlorn estate when we were at odds with Heaven and incapable to help our selves then even then did he commiserate our case and by his own Blood reconciled us to the Father It is the greatest demonstration of love imaginable for a man to lay down his life for his friend Joh. 15.13 and yet more wonderful was the love of our Redeemer in passing through so many cruel sufferings for us who were but Rebels and Enenemies O how should the remembrance of his boundless compassions transport and ravish us with love how strange is it that the highest endearments of Love have not inflamed our spirits and made Love mutual and reciprocal Love is a most excellent affection of a noble original by which we resemble the best of beings the great God being by the beloved Disciple described to be Love and indeed well does this description sute with his dealings with men But alas how unlike are we to God in this there is scarce any duty more frequently inculcated by our Saviour than Love John 15.12 This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you and yet how little efficacy has either his precept or example with us Blessed Redeemer how unworthy do since it hath produced so little love in us to himself But however I need not take much pains to prove that hereby we demonstrate our selves to be of all men the most ungrate and justly liable to the severest punishment ever inflicted upon the greatest criminal It would be too prolix to enumerate the several instances wherein Christ is set forth as our Pattern sure I am he hath by his example taught us the exercise of all vertues and I may say as himself said in another case If we know these things happy are we if we do them To sum up this Section it will not be amiss to obviate an Objection which is indeed but very trivial although it be too commonly urged the Objection is How is it possible for men to conform to Christ and be holy as he is holy Ans. I have already told that it is not expected that we should imitate our blessed Redeemer in all and every of those actions he performed but in all those moral duties which he hath enjoyned by his righteous precepts and encouraged us by his example to perform these we must by no means neglect and to manifest the possibility of doing these we may satisfie our selves by viewing the pious and devout lives of primitive Christians It is a great mistake to think we are commanded to a rigorous and strict conversation which cannot be attained the faithful in former ages have run the same race that is set before us they have fully enough cleared the possibility of our duty Wherefore seeing we also as the Apostle argues are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us Heb. 12.1 For shame let us rather imitate the excellent holiness of primitive Christians than the impure practices of those who are strangers from the sacred Covenant O the perfect love and imitable kindeness of the first professors of the Gospel what purity what integrity and innocence appeared in their lives how ravishing and splendant were their vertues and graces their Patience in suffering their Courage and Magnanimity in death their Temperance and Moderation their Charity and Compassion their Equality and Justice and their Contempt of this World and all earthly concerns for the sake and honour of their Master These were the vertues they were adorned with which There is nothing more certain than that onely holy souls are in a capacity of participating of that future felicity and these may without the least charge of presumption claim an interest in it But for those vitious wretches who are wholly polluted who have devoted themselves to commit sin with greediness and take pleasure in doing evil how utterly incapable are they if they continue such to dwell in his presence who is not a God that taketh pleasure in wickedness And now seeing there is such an inseparable connexion between Happiness and Holiness it cannot be amiss if we take a short view of the excellency of this coelestial felicity that it may more plainly appear what a notable encouragement and motive it is to holiness There be two things that forcibly recommend the excellency of that future state of bliss First A perfect freedom and immunity from all evils And Secondly a perpetual enjoyment of the chief good First it is a blessedness wholly exempt from evils whether of sense or loss 't is a happiness attended with no inconveniencies nor dismal circumstances as the happiest state here is we now walk in the midst of perplexing doubts and fears temptations increase our inquietudes and dangers our continual fears our complaints are by far more numerous than our joys nay what is our whole life but a scene where sorrow and fears act their parts Man that is
contribute to make any thing delectable 't is a way pleasant for its plainness and desirable for its end There is not indeed any thing wanting in it that usually draws out mens delight All beauty falls inconceivably short of this it being Holiness alone that makes the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father without this all natural comeliness is imperfect and as the Wise man expresses it is deceitful and vain Prov. 3â— 30 And yet what an universal Empress is external beauty become nothing being of equal force to attract the eye of beholders as it doth How hath she conquered the mighty and made the Nobles of the Earth Vassals to lacquey after her There is an almost irresistible power and force in her charmings which conquereth the hearts of men insensibly Now if Beauty mixed with so much deformity accompanied with so much attendance and slavery be so enchanting and attractive how much more powerfully should the Beauty of Holiness which is every whit perfect and unspotted and attended with no dismal accidents raise our admiration and make us say as David of Goliah's Sword There is none like it Alas all earthly beauty will be quickly laid in the dust a little time will deface the fairest face and make its beauty consume like a Moth an unexpected accident may disfigure it and marre the most lovely features and there is no doubt but old Age which draws on apace will make wrinkles in the smoothest face and make it wither as a flower But the Beauty of Holiness is lasting it fades not with time nor can it be impaired by the most loathsome and nauseating disease Since then Pleasure is so ready to excite our affections and draw out our complacency 't is pity that the noblest the most satisfying and most lasting should be so much contemned Eccl. 5.10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase All the caresses of this World are unable to satisfie the Soul but how ravishing are the joys of a holy conversation The pleasures of this world are short and momentary are onely as the Apostle phraseth them for a season which quickly passeth but the joy of the Holy Ghost is as lasting as unspeakble and this joy saith Christ to his Disciples no man shall take from you It is without the reach of the malice of men and Devils too Alas how dimunitive does it make the pleasures of the wicked to say they are short how exceedingly does this one circumstance diminish them But indeed this were not so very considerable if there were a concurrence of no worse circumstances but that which mostly is an allay and damp to temporal pleasures is the consequence a painful and lasting eternity of the severest punishments 'T is this life that puts a period and conclusion to the joys of wicked men whileas the pious have Rivers of pleasures for evermore to delight and ravish them 't is at Death that they enter into joy of their Lord. This is a subject so ravishing and pleasant that I cannot without reluctancy conclude it O how unsatisfactory are all the delights of Sense if compared with those Spiritual Joys the holy Soul partakes of The delights that the Drunkard hath in his Cups and Companions the Covetous in his Riches the Ambitious in his Preferments c. fall all incomparable short of that joy that is the lot of the righteous The delights that the holy man enjoys do upon a double account far over-poise the transitory pleasures of the wicked First the present satisfaction that the holy Soul tastes of in this valley of tears is incomparably greater than the delights that arise from sense The soul that hath once tasted of the love of God findes more pleasure in the very acts of mutual love than in all the feasts of delight that sense is capable to enjoy Food is indeed sweet to the hungry and drink to those who are languishing with thirst the taste does without doubt finde some meats sweet and relishing even where there is no extremity of hunger much more where it is for to the hungry every bitter thing is sweet Beauteous Sights ravish the Eye melodious Musick the Ear and Odoriferous things please the Smell But alas how far beyond these is the delight which the devout soul receives in Ordinances the antipasts of joy which their Heavenly Father bestows upon them are more delightful than the concurrence of all sensual pleasures The soul that is in trouble can fetch more consolation from the promises of the Word than the carnal man can from his pleasures Vnless thy Law had been my delight saith the Psalmist I had perished in my affliction Other things could not avail him they could afford no relief but to have access to God in prayer and to pour out our complaints to our willing God this is more ravishing than I can express And I am sure there is no man who hath tasted these joys who would part with them for sensual pleasures and no man dare inveigh against those spiritual delights but strangers who intermeddle not with this joy The very Heathens have taught us that Vertue is a reward to it self they experimented more real satisfaction in moderation and temperance than in Drinking and Whoring But Christianity gives us more uncontrolable evidences of the reality of that joy that good men even in this state of absence taste of Into what a rapture and unexpressible extasie of joy did the abundance of revelation St. Paul met with put him and the Apostle St. Peter was so transported with joy when he did see Christ in his Transfiguration that he could not forbear crying Master it is good being here How full of joy have Martyrs been in the midst of the flames what comforts have they even then expressed And is not all this evidence that the joy of holy men is more real more sweet and ravishing than the transitory pleasures of the wicked which in several seasons can afford no delight a little pain or disease is such an allay and damp to their pleasures that it quite extirps them But besides those foretastes of joy that the holy Soul experiments here which as I have shewed infinitely overwhelms all trouble and pain that which contributes most to advance the joy of good men are those felicities above which are prepared for them and to these wicked men can lay no claim their farthest prospect being confined to temporal delights What abundance of delights and unexpressible pleasures are laid up for the holy Soul above How delectable will it be to be constant residents in the Heavenly Jerusalem whose Streets are pure Gold and whose Gates are Pearl how ravishing will it be to be always in his presence where there are Streams and Rivers of perpetual pleasures How sweet will it be to be a member of that blessed Society of the first-born in Heaven where there is a perfect concord and agreement
born of a woman is of few days and full of evil But our future blessedness quite excludes all those evils there is nothing admitted to imbitter that pleasant state Rev. 21.4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away The holy soul shall then no more complain of any dolorous hours the heavenly Jerusalem is a place unacquainted with every thing that is uneasie and troublesome And yet this is but the least part of the Saints felicity for as they shall enjoy a perfect freedom from evil so shall they also be advanced to the fullest fruition of that God where all the streams of goodness do finally empty themselves Blessed are the pure in spirit for they shall see God Matth. 5.8 They shall see him not as now through a Glass darkly but then face to face 1 Cor. 13.12 they shall as the Angels in heaven always behold the face of their Father Matth. 18.10 in whose presence as the Psalmist assures us is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore Psal. 16.11 O the unspeakable delectability of the Saints future state where the most blessed God shines forth in his Glory where the beams of beauty ravish the beholders who stand continually in his presence receiving the manifestations of his Glory Sure if the faint expectation of enjoying the company of vertuous men in their fancied Elyzium did instigate some Heathens to imitate their vertues how much more perswasive should the heavenly Jerusalem and the City of the living God be where the holy Soul shall be admitted to converse with an innumerable company of holy Angels and taken into the blessed Society and Church of the first-born where all those imperfections that imbitter our communion here are removed where the holy Soul shall see Jesus the blessed Mediator of the new Covenant Heb. 12. who suffered so much for sinners now sitting in glory and majesty not crowned as once he was with thorns nor wearing a purple robe but having on his head the most transplendent Diadem and cloathed with Majesty and Beauty Methinks the thoughts of beholding this glory and participating of so much felicity should excite the most lazie to follow Holiness and to walk worthy of him who hath called us to his Kingdom and glory But I confess I am not able to express half of the glory of that future felicity The blessed Apostle seems to intimate that all Hyperbolical expressions fall short in describing it 2 Cor. 4.17 where he stiles it A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory and 1 Cor. 2.9 he tells us Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what God hath pepared for those that love him For although we may be assured that the reward is of infinite value and that the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father yet the most glorious part is hid from the eyes of viators 't is onely those who taste the Honey-comb that can best discover its sweetness And yet it is prodigiously strange that the imperfect glance of future Glory that men may here behold is so ineffectual to form them to Holiness that men who know they may be for ever happy if they would study and endeavour to be holy in all manner of conversation yet live as if they thought such a happy state not worthy to be noticed I confess if the faithful and true God had not promised this state of blessedness and discovered by revelation the truth and reality of it we could never have dreamed of partaking of so much happiness The Heathen world could never be ascertained by Natures dim light that the Soul is beyond all doubt immortal and that there is a future state of rewards and punishments The wisest of their Philosophers by their most laborious search were exceedingly confused in their thoughts about it and could at the most onely entertain some probable guesses and conjectures founded upon moral arguments which could never perfectly conquer their doubts They did indeed think it was very reasonable to believe that God who is holy just and good would in another life since he did it not in this reward good men and punish the bad but they could not be beyond all doubt ascertained that it would be so The most celebrated Socrates who parted with this life in expectation of a better plainly told his Friends it was God onely who knew whether there were a future felicity or not much less could either he or any other without revelation discover the nature and quality of the blessedness of that future state And indeed although they entertained some imperfect notions of a future life of bliss for the Soul yet they never thought of the resurrection of the Body although 't is true the felicity they formed was more congruous by far to satisfie sensual appetites than rational Soule the Poets Elyzium being much of the same nature with the Mahometan Paradise exactly accommodated to their flesh and senses In these thick clouds of darkness and ignorance did the wisest of the Heathens walk Exceedingly perplexed they were what to think their doubts being greater than their hopes But the arising of the Sunshine of Righteousness hath wholly dispelled all that darkness the Gospel hath brought life and immortality to light 2 Tim. 1.10 and hath undoubtedly assured us that there is a reward for the Righteous and that Holiness shall be crowned with Happiness SECT 3. Holiness the onely safe way to escape the wrath to come Fear is a passion so extreamly violent and repugnant to Humane nature that nothing imaginable is of more force to conquer the unruly wills of men to duty Hence is it that even humane Laws are much more secured by punishments than rewards Therefore if the promise of Heaven be not forcible enough to work upon our rebellious Wills we have a Map of eternal and intolerable torments to excite our fear and to affright us from the commission of those sins that lead down to the chambers of death and that drawn so exactly that it is the greatest miracle that men will notwithstanding slight Holiness which is the onely means to evite these lasting tortures In sacred Writ the torments of the damned are represented by such terrifying expressions that it is a wonder they impress not a fear and terrour upon the most daring sinner The Apostle St. Jude describing Hell calls it The vengeance of eternal fire and the blackness of darkness for ever Jude 7 13. And the Apostle St. John calls it A lake of fire and brimstone Rev. 20.10 15. Our Saviour more emphatically describes it to be A fire that can never be quenched and where the worm dieth not Mark 9.46 All which phrases do most significantly express the severity and intolerableness of the torments for
what punishment is so terrible as that of Fire and how unspeakably does it inhance the misery in that it is eternal and that too as inflicted by an offended God who is executing his vengeance upon sinners Would God sinners would seriously consider whether they are able to endure the eternal pains of a gnawing Conscience or can patiently dwell with devouring Flames Whether the momentary pleasures of sin are to be balanced with those furious reflections those horrid stings and intolerable tortures the damned suffer day and night where nothing of life remains but the sense of pain Alas will no argument prevail with men how amazing is it to think that the everlasting God has used all the methods of love to excite men to Holiness and to reclaim them from sin and all to no purpose May I not well say to such men as St. Paul said to the Galatians Vnwise sinners who hath bewitched you they endure we may also adde that celestial felicity they are for ever excluded from How tormenting will it be to think of an everlasting separation from the divine Presence and instead of a holy Society to keep a continual correspondency with impure Spirits Would God that this brief discovery of the powers of the world to come might prevail with men to be holy in all manner of conversation But methinks I hear the over-zealous Professor too ignorantly objecting that it is servile mercenary and legal to be holy for love of Heaven or fear of Hell Truely if it were so as these men teach I know not what can be the intent and designe of all the promises and threatnings of the Gospel And although I question not but it is a generous and Christian principle to serve God out of pure love yet I can never be induced to think that to be holy for love of Heaven and fear of Hell can be separate from that principle of love to God God knows how much in need men stand both of arguments to work upon their hope and fear to excite them to duty And since he who knows our natures has used promises to allure us and threatnings to awaken us we must not pretend to be wiser than God and reject those motives he has thought fit to prescribe and indeed if it were not for the fear of evil and the hope of good 't is to be feared the pressing of other motives should be but a mere beating of the Air. But that this is not servile and mercenary needs no other argument to prove it but our Saviour's enduring the Cross and despising the Shame for the joy that was set before him a Scripture sufficient enough to stop the mouths of all opponents SECT 4. Holiness the main designe of the Gospel and the end of all Christs sufferings Subjects who know the intent and designe of those Laws issued forth by their Prince will be loath to contemn his Authority especially when the whole intent of these is to make them by their obedience the more happy and sure 't is the most unaccountable thing that can be if they notwithstanding despise his Laws and quite counter-act his designe Now the main designe of the Christian help himself our blessed Lord redeemed us from our captivity by offering up himself a ransom to satisfie divine Justice and all this that we might walk in newness of life And now what ingratitude is it to despise so much love Sure If he that despised Moses law died without mercy of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the Bloud of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing Heb. 10.28 29. He must certainly be of a very base and disingenuous spirit who takes pleasure in sin when he considers how dearly Christ paid for it Hath he been at so much pains undergone such dismal sufferings to purchase our peace and will we notwithstanding frustrate his designe how strange to astonishment is this that men should prefer captivity to freedom Alas is it not enough that our blessed Master was so barbarously and despitefully used by the Jews and Roman Souldiers but must we be also Actors in the Tragedy and by our sins crucifie him again Did he not die that we might live and shall we spend our life in offering despite unto him Strange that so much madness should lodge in the breasts of any into whom God hath breathed the breath of life I might here also adde that it is a contemning and offering of the greatest despite to the Holy Spirit to despise Holiness for upon this account is the third person of the blessed Trinity called the Holy Ghost because his peculiar office is to enable us to perform holy actions now if we continue in our rebellion if we reject the offers of grace and the internal motions of the Spirit to Holiness we do hereby become guilty of quenching the Spirit of God and offering despite unto him which is so horrid a piece of villany that Heaven threatens it with the severest torments SECT 5. Holiness the most proper and effectual means for attaining length of days Of all outward and temporal blessings length of days hath justly the precedency since without this all others can afford little or no comfort The possession and enjoyment of other mercies can bestow no satisfaction to men lying on their beds Prov. 23.29 30. Who hath woe who hath sorrow who hath wounds without cause they that tarry long at the wine c. Holiness is repugnant and inconsistent with excess which naturally puts a period to the lives of men It forbids all manner of vice which leads down to the chambers of death and keeps men within due bounds in their eating and drinking Before mankinde had corrupted themselves by their notorious and impudent vitiousness we read of their great length of days but the increase of sin multiplied diseases which hurry men to untimely deaths I deny not but the great Lord and Master of the Universe may for holy and wise ends known unto himself cut short the lives of the righteous yet surely if we consult either Experience or Reason we shall finde it certain beyond doubt that vertuous men enjoy for ordinary far the longest lives Some good men may be naturally of a brittle constitution yet how strangely has their life been protracted by their moderation and sobriety and how many strong men have had their days shortened by their intemperance and excess Indeed he that considers this well shall finde that Holiness is the most effectual means to promote long life both upon a moral and natural account Upon a moral account long life is the reward which the divine promises do secure to such men and on the contrary wickedness is threatned with shortness of days Upon a natural account the fire doth not more naturally produce heat than Holiness does procure health and length of days and there is nothing more evident than that the most
the Book of Life or not He that doth righteousness needs not fear any latent Decree concerning his reprobation and it is the vainest thing imaginable for impenitent and obstinate sinners to dream that God hath from eternity elected them to life The pure nature of God is so perfectly opposite to sin that it is quite impossible there can be any agreement betwixt him and sinners no more than there can be betwixt light and darkness The Psalmist acquaints us That he is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness And the Apostle hath told us That the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men But yet the righteous Lord loveth the righteous These are the men whom he esteems his Children to whom the promises of eternal life belong In the last place there is nothing in the world that will prove so effectual to comfort men at the hour of death as the sweet thoughts of their being separated from the pollutions of the world How unspeakably comfortable is it for men when they are just stepping into the other world to reflect upon the good life they have led and that they carry in their bosoms Consciences void of offence both toward God and towards man This is indeed that noble and Sovereign Cordial that revives the spirits of good men in their passage through the valley and shadow of death and makes their comforts abound and overflow Death is not so small a matter as some men think in Scripture it is not unfitly called the King of terrours Now nothing can free men from the terrour of it but a good Conscience and this cannot be had without Holiness which makes all calm and serene within It will afford men little pleasure when they come to die to reflect upon the earthly pleasures they have enjoyed these things profit not in the day of wrath but the Conscience of well doing makes men salute death without dread and astonishment and lift up their heads with joy because the day of their redemption approacheth But with the ungodly and wicked it is not so then their sins stare them in their face and so terrifie and affright them that no wonder though in the extremity of their agony they prefer strangling and death to life If holy Job doth so heavily complain of the terrours of God how much more terrifying shall the apprehensions of a severe and terrible judgement be to the unsanctified and polluted To think how shortly he must be everlastingly separate from the good things he enjoyed here and be cast into utter darkness to have his portion with the damned in devouring Flames to be an everlasting resident in the Lake of fire and brimstone where he shall be continually tormented with that gnawing worm that never dies These are the amazing thoughts that will seize upon the sinner his Conscience then will not sleep nothing will be able to allay those Storms and Tempests that are raised by the fearful expectation of the reward due to sin At death men are generally wiser than at other times then they begin to consider what they have been doing and call themselves fool a thousand times for their disobedience and wickedness The smoak of worldly cares that formerly blinded their eyes are now dispelled they see their folly when it is too late to mend it and if they do no more yet Balaam-like they will cry O that I might die the death of the righteous CHAP. IV. Frivolous Cavils and Objections removed THe former Chapters having discovered the Beauty of Holiness and the mighty power and force of Arguments that excite to the practice of it one who weighs all this by the measures of equity cannot as any man would think but look upon it as the strangest prodigie that so just a Cause should raiss of its effect and finde the sons of men who pretend to be such Masters of Reason so monstrously foolish in rejecting it upon the account of some frivolous and very fallacious cavils But the truth is resolute Impiety is set upon the bench and made Judge and no wonder though it pass an unjust sentence and condemn Holiness because of its opposition to Vice The common imputations and prejudices which wicked men load Holiness with I shall reduce to the four following Heads First Holiness lays upon men heavy burdens and grievous to be born which makes humane life joyless and uneasie they being so inconsistent first with Peace and secondly with Pleasure and Satisfaction Secondly Experience informs us that wicked men enjoy pleasure and satisfaction in their ways there being no men so jovial and merry as they and that men who pretend to Holiness are fullen and melancholy and are exposed to heavy sufferings and trials Thirdly 'T is singularity and ambition that prevail more with men than any other motive to be holy Fourthly 'T is the greatest piece of folly ignorance and impudence for men to quit with present pleasures for mere uncertainties The first being the most material Objection I shall therefore more largely and distinctly examine it and in doing of this I shall desire these four things may be considered First that the divine Laws are not grievous and uneasie Secondly that Vice is much more troublesom and difficult than Vertue Thirdly that Holiness conduceth both to the Peace and Happiness of humane Societies and to the temporal Advantage of private persons And Fourthly that there is a great deal of more pleasure in the ways of Holiness than in the commission of sin That the divine Laws are not grievous and uneasie but extreamly reasonable and wise is a truth I have already made plain when I discoursed of the rule of Holiness The whole tenour of the Laws of Christianity being so exceedingly suitable to the very nature of men it cannot be rationally supposed that they can be grievous to them St. Paul to the Philippians gives us a brief and compendious but very full and comprehensive account of what things the Laws of our Christianity enjoyn viz. Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely and whatsoever things are of good report all which are so agreeable to Reason that even the light of Nature prompts men to the doing of them and fully discovers it self to be an irreconcilable Enemy to all kinde of vices 'T is not then Reason but the impetuous Lusts of men that determines a holy Law to be grievous and uneasie and indeed no wonder though this unjust Judge make Holiness appear formidable and represent it as grievous to Mankinde it being so much the interest of this partial Judge to condemn it as criminal and to decrie it as a yoak intolerable and grievous to be born 'T is not probable that the most innocent shall pass uncondemned when an Enemy is set up in the Judgement-seat to pass Sentence our blessed Saviour must be pronounced guilty by Pilat although even this