thou hast done in all Meekness and Charity and Faith and Hope that I may be fitted for those Mansions thou art gone before to prepare for me Amen Amen SECT IV. Cantaining the fourth Motive to Holiness i. e. the Consideration of the vanity of all those things which tempt us to sin A Man who should have seriously laid to heart the strength and importance of these Motives to Holiness which I have considered would be apt to think that nothing less than some unimaginable temptation or some unavoidable necessity in the contrivance of our natures could provoke men to cast off all these Obligations and break thorough all these obstructions that he might sin and die but on the quite contraty which doth strangely reproach the folly of the sinner 1. Those things which are the allurements to fin have little or no temptation in them 2. Sin it self is a silly base thing And 3. Man hath strength enough offer'd to enable him to avoid it 1. The first I shall have occasion to consider fully in the third part of this Treatise and thither I refer the Reader only by the way we must take notice there is no more sttess to be laid upon this Argument than it will bear and that this Argument hath still respect to the joys and punishments of another life the sensual satisfactions of Man are very little and trifling compar'd with the pleasures of Heaven and it can never be worth a mans while to be damn'd for them yet sure if there were no life to come it would behove every man to be content with and make the most of this nor do I at all doubt but that men may manage their lusts so as that they may not be able to infer Reason enough to relinquish them from any influence they have upon their interest or if any one should think it necessary to purchase a pleasure by the shortning of his life or the lessening of his Estate I cannot see why he may not have reason on his side for a short life and a merry one and my mind to me a Kingdom is would upon the former supposition be a wise Proverb for upon this supposition the pleasure of the mind would be very narrow and faint and the checks of Conscience would be none or insignificant But as the case stands now though there be pleasure in sin and deceitfulness in lust granted in Scripture to abandon the hopes of Heaven for some carnal pleasures upon Earth is like Esau to sell his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage and on the other hand to renounce all present enjoyments for the sake of Heaven is like Peter to forsake a worn Fisher-boat and broken Nets a troubled Lake and uncertain Hopes for the assurance of a Crown and Kingdom which is surely very reasonable And now I pass on to the second thing and fifth Section SECT V. Containing a fifth Motive to Holiness from the Nature of Vertue and Vice IN 1 Ep. Jo. 1. this is set down as the great Message which Christ came to acquaint the world with that God is light and in him is no darkness at all and therefore they who walk in the light have fellowship with him and they that walk in darkness have none where it is plain that S. John founded the necessity of Holiness in the Divine Nature because God is holy therefore he must first renounce his own Nature e're he can establish any other contrary Laws or love or hate on any other condition than Holiness and sin This being so I think the best way to discover the Nature of Vertue and Vice is to consider how the one renders us like God and the other unlike him The Account we have of the Nature of God is that he is a Spirit of Eternal Life Infinite Power Wisdom Goodness Justice and Truth these are the chief of his Attributes and such as Reason it self acknowledges to be the highest perfections and excellencies imaginable If Holiness therefore tend to implant and improve some resemblances of them in men and Vice to efface and extinguish them it will easily appear how the one makes us like God and the other unlike him 1 God is a Spirit it is true that Vertue and Vice do not change the substances of things and make Spirit Flesh or Flesh Spirit yet because they do so wonderfully transform things by instilling new qualities and so altering the operations of beings they are in Scripture said to do so Thus because Vertue raises and refines the Soul frees it from those Fogs which a sensual dotage casts about it scatters a new light upon it and mortifies those affections which reign in the body and render it more obedient to the mind so that the man lives the life of Faith as becomes a wise and an immortal being therefore it is said in the Language of the Holy Ghost to have render'd him a spiritual man and on the other side because sin doth stupifie and sensualize the mind imbolden and pamper the body so that the soul seems to have chang'd its nature into flesh and relishes nothing of those pleasures which are properly spiritual but is wholly taken up with those enjoyments which are the proper and natural entertainments of flesh and blood not a Spirit therefore sin is said to have rendred the man a natural man 2. Eternal Life is the second Attribute of God Life in man is either of the Body or Soul as to the former Temperance Imployment and a chearful spirit are the great Preservatives of Health and the best supports of such crazy beings as our bodies are Religion injoyns the two former for no man can be holy without being temperate and imploid at least in doing good and it contributes very effectually to the later i. e. chearfulness of spirit by begetting in us a peaceful Conscience a resign'd mind and glorious hopes but sin shortens our hasty days by exposing us to diseases violence the Law and by the ill influence which a distemper'd mind hath upon the body as to the Soul Righteousness is the life of it it is the nourishment and pleasure the freedom and the security of it but sin is the death and plague of it non est vivere sed valere vita it is not the meer existing but the welfare and happiness of a being which is its life and if so how can a soul which is sick of passions daily tortur'd and distracted by an ill Conscience be said to live Besides sin doth impair the faculties o'recast the light and fetter the powers of the mind so that it neither understands nor wills nor commands as it ought to do it is rendred a poor sickly despicable being and therefore the sinner is said to be dead in trespasses and sins or at least because the Metaphor is not to be press'd too far as appears from the Text following if it hath any life it is as imperfect as that of a Lethargick drowsie body all 's a thick night
And grant that I may abhor those sins which efface thy Image and debase my Nature which render me a burthen to my self the hate of God and scorn of Man which make me unhappy here and miserable hereafter Grant this I beseech thee through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen SECT VI. Containing the sixth Motive to Holiness the assistance of the Divine Spirit I Do not think that in a Discourse of this Practical Nature it will behove me to enter into any Dispute about the strengths of laps'd Nature about the nature and necessity of Supernatural Grace I may in short affirm that we find in Scripture sometimes the birth sometimes the growth sometimes the perfection of the New Creature assign'd to the Holy Spirit as the great Author of it all which doth not yet discharge Man from the necessity of exerting all the strength and endeavour that he can for by those frequent Exhortations address'd to Man we may justly infer some ability suppos'd in him and by the frequent promises of the assistance of the Divine Spirit we may as reasonably infer an impotence which stands in need of this relief and from altogether we may conclude that the Spirit of God is so far forth dispens'd as serves the end of the Gospel and the necessities of mankind Our blessed Saviour after he had deliver'd upon the Mount a System of the most refin'd Precepts of Devotion and Purity Mortification and Charity as if he had foreseen that his Hearers would be dazled by the brightness of this Divine Image and look upon the Pattern as too high for the attainments of Humane Nature doth close the discourse first with an assurance of a Supernatural assistance of the Spirit of God And then secondly with asserting the necessity of a real and actual conformity of our lives to those holy Precepts Matth 7. v. 7. c. Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be open'd unto you for every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be open'd Where our Endeavours and the Divine Assistance are joyn'd together as being both necessary towards the great Work of Sanctification in the 9 10 11. verses he goes on to confirm them in the belief of this Promise from the example of Natural Parents who though evil have that Natural Affection for their Children that if a Son ask bread they will not give him a stone or if he ask a Fish they will not give him a Scorpion Much more is it inconsistent with the goodness of the Divine Nature to refuse Man that assistance which is indispensably necessary to the propagation of Holiness inconsistent with his Paternity to deny his craving Children that which is as necessary to their spiritual life as food is to their natural If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things his holy Spirit as appears from parallel places to them that ask him And when he had acquainted them with this I do not wonder that he concludes all with averring the necessity of Obedience to all those Excellent Precepts from verse 13. to the end for in vain do men quarrel at the purity of the Christian Doctrine as if it were a Religion fit for Angels rather than men in vain do they complain of the prevailing passions of flesh and blood and of the soft insinuations of a flattering World our ability to obey the Gospel is not to be measur'd by the strength of Nature but of the Spirit that God who hath call'd us to the profession of such Exalted Vertue hath allotted us an assistance suitable to so glorious an end so that these complaints are not the groans of a Penitent but the excuses of a fond and carnal mind All this certainly amounts to a very clear proof of the necessity and Excellency of Real and Inherent Holiness for to what purpose should we call down an assistance from Heaven to what purpose should the Divine Spirit be powred forth upon men if either there were no need or no use of such a Holiness which he is the Divine Principle of or if this Holiness were so impure and imperfect that it were not acceptable to God thorough Christ And which way now shall the impenitent sinner escape Divine Justice what Excuse can he frame for the defence of his Impiety he sins and dies not because he cannot do otherwise but because he will do so he perisheth not through impotence but obstinacy and what punishment think we can sufficiently avenge a contempt of or despight done to the Spirit of God! The Gentile is unexcusable because he did not obey those Laws which his Conscience did dictate to him though the Characters they were publish'd in were dark the Motives to and the Principles of his Obedience weak and feeble at least comparatively what tribulation and wrath and anguish then will punish our disobedience who have not only our duty openly publish'd by the Son of God and inforc'd upon our hopes and fears by glorious promises and dreadful threats but also the Spirit of God promis'd to enlighten our understandings to enfranchise and strengthen our wills to imprint the Motives of the Gospel in more sensible Characters on our spirits c. We must expect that our tribulation in the world to come will be proportion'd to our obstinacy in this and the anger of Almighty wrath will boil to a heat answerable to that infinite love and goodness we have despis'd The Prayer O My God how reasonable is it that I should obey thee since thou commandst me nothing but what thou giv'st me strength to perform I feel the weakness of my Nature and the strength of Temptations but this shall never discourage me thorough the might of thy Spirit I shall be sure to conquer it must be a weakness indeed which Omnipotence cannot relieve it must be a strange assault made by the world which can storm that Fort which the Spirit of the Almighty defends and that Law must be more than Seraphick which is exalted above the imitation of a Soul inspir'd and actuated by thee No no if thou vouchsafe but one Ray of thine Infinite Power I shall soon subdue the World and mortifie the Flesh I shall do the things which please thee here and I shall obtain everlasting life afterwards which grant for thy Mercies sake and thy Son Christ Jesus sake Amen SECT VII Of the Gospel-Covenant as it is a Motive to Holiness THe Covenant of Works was Do this and live Life was the reward of an unerring obedience and Death the punishment of every transgression of the Law so that by vertue of this Covenant none could expect to be Justified but he who had no sin to be charg'd with and therefore since there never was any such Man but Christ Righteousness could not be by the Law but now the
place i. e. Sacraments Prayer and Fasting each of which may be consider'd in a threefold respect 1. As Parts of Divine Worship or of Holiness in general 2. As Instruments of advancing Holiness 3. As Remedies and Antidotes against Temptation In each of which Relations I will consider each of them a little And 1. Of Baptism COnsider'd in the first sense of the three it contains a Solemn Profession of the Christian Faith an actual Renunciation of those Enemies of Christianity the World the Flesh and the Devil and a listing ones self into the service and obedience of Christ And because I cannot think that there is any Essential part in the System of Christianity meerly Ceremonial I cannot think but that besides the Admission into the Church which is the Body of Christ and consequently a Title to all the glorious priviledges of its Members our blessed Saviour doth endow the Person baptized with power from on high to perform all those great ingagements he takes upon him as will appear to any one who shall consider the Nature of Christianity which doth alway annex a Grace to the external Mean or Instrument or 2. The great things spoken or this Sacrament or 3. The value all understanding Christians have had for it or the effects which follow'd it when practis'd in the Infancy of the Church and I humbly conceive this to be the sense of the Church of England which supposes the thing signified by the outward Ceremony of Baptism to be a Death unto sin and a New-birth unto Righteousness But whatever become of this motion it is certain that it is a strange Obligation to a Holy Life and a Remedy against Sin as being a most solemn ingagement of our selves to the obedience of Christ from which we cannot start back without drawing upon our selves the guilt and punishment of Perjury and forfeiting all those advantages we partake of by it and I wish all would lay this to heart who plead the Obligations of Civility and Friendship Custom and Fashion in defence of their sins as if any trifling Ceremony were sufficient to supersede our Obligation to Christ and acquit us of that guilt which the breach of the most sacred Covenant brings upon us The Prayer BLessed and holy Saviour give me grace to remember my Baptismal Vow to remember that I am a sworn Enemy to the World the Flesh and the Devil and inable me to fight the good fight of Faith under thy Banner the Cross Let me have no truce entertain no friendship with thine and my Enemies Let them flatter me if they will with smiles and promises I am sure they mean nothing to me but death and ruine how shall any fantastick Obligations Cancel my duty to thee resulting from so solemn a Covenant In vain doth the World disguize its temptations under the forms of Civility and Honour I know no Civility which can oblige me to renounce my Vows no Honour that can excuse my Perjury in vain doth the World assault me by Greatness and Wealth and Glory these are the very things I resolv'd against when I took up the Cross of my Crucified Saviour in my Baptism Grant O blessed Lord that I may have mortified affections and a Victorious Faith an humble meek Spirit and glorious Hopes that after this troublesome life is ended I may rest with thee in Everlasting Glory Amen Amen Of the Lords Supper THe Supper of our Lord may fall under the same forms of Consideration which Baptism did that is it may be consider'd 1. As a part of Divine Worship 2. As an Instrument of Holiness 3. As a Remedy against Temptation I will look upon it briefly under each of these notions and herein I will guide my self by that incomparable Office of this Church which hath admirably express'd and reduc'd to a method the whole mind of the Gospel relating to this matter for which I have often bless'd God whilst I beheld and reverenc'd that Primitive plainness and truly Christian Spirit visible in it First then our Lords Supper consider'd as an act or part of Religious Worship or Holiness contains in it these four things 1. An humble acknowledgment of our sins 2. A devout Profession of our Faith in Christ that we are the Disciples of a Crucified Saviour and expect Salvation by no other way than that Sacrifice of his Body and Blood offer'd upon the Cross 3. A solemn Oblation of most humble and hearty thanks to God for this inestimable benefit his bestowing his Son upon us to die for us and to our Master and only Saviour Christ for his exceeding great love in dying for us 4. A most solemn Oblation of our selves souls and bodies to be a holy lively and acceptable Sacrifice unto God so that this Sacrament consists of a whole Constellation of Graces Repentance Faith Hope Charity It is a nearer approach into the presence of God and more solemn exercise of the Graces of the Gospel and this gives a very fair account of the reason of its frequent practice for nothing can be Secondly A more effectual instrument of Holiness upon these and the following accounts 1. That the preparation necessary as a condition of our worthy Reception doth awaken our Souls and refresh all our Graces and mortifie all our sensual Lusts and draws us nearer to Heaven and the necessity of such a preparation as the Church-office prescribes appears from hence that Repentance and Faith and Charity are absolutely necessary to inable a man to exert those acts before-mention'd which constitute this Sacrament consider'd as a part of Divine Worship and therefore to approach that holy Table without a Soul so qualified is to affront and mock the Majesty of Heaven 2. That the exercise of our Graces in receiving doth increase and improve them that act of humble Adoration and profound Prostration of our selves before God under a sense of his Purity and Majesty and our sinfulness and meanness that lively Acts of Faith whereby the Soul doth profess its firm belief of and dependance upon the Death and Passion of its dear Lord and Saviour for Salvation that love whereby the Soul offers its praises and its self a Sacrifice to God do leave such lively and lasting impressions upon mens minds as are not quickly nor easily effac'd and the Soul by the delight it finds in its exerting these Graces is inkindled with a desire of repeating the same Acts. 3. That the Sacrament it self hath a natural tendency to promote Holiness 1. By its sensible Representations of a Crucified Saviour the Symbols themselves being fit to bring into our minds the pain and sufferings of our dear Lord and Master 2. By that inward Grace inseparable from the worthy Reception of it bestow'd upon us to refresh and strengthen our Souls to root and confirm our Faith to inflame our Love and perfect our Hopes 3. By being a Pledge and Assurance to us of the pardon of our sins thorough the Blood of Christ 4. That it is
satisfaction before all the world unless I could chose to be miserable and delight to be unhappy 3. This very Consideration supposing the uncertainty of another World would yet strongly engage me to the service of Religion for all it aims at is to banish sin out of the world which is the source and Original of all the troubles that disquiet the mind for 1. Sin in its very Essence is nothing else but disordered distempered passions affections foolish and preposterous in their choice or wild and extravagant in their proportion which our own experience sufficiently convinces us to be painful and uneasie 2. It engages us in desperate hazards wearies us with daily toils and often buries us in the ruins we bring upon our selves and lastly it fills our hearts with distrust and fear and shame for we shall never be able to perswade our selves fully that there is no difference between good and evil that there is no God or none that concerns himself at the Actions of this life and if we cannot we can never rid our selves of the pangs and stings of a trembling Soul we shall never be able to establish a peace and calm in our bosomes and so injoy our Pleasure with a clear and uninterrupted freedome But if we could perswade ourselves into the utmost height of Atheism yet still we shall be under these two strange inconveniences 1. That a life of Sin will be still irregular and disorderly and therefore troublesome 2. That we shall have dismantled our Souls of their greatest strengths disarm'd them of that Faith which only can support them under th' afflictions of this present Life Not to mention that after all the sad Stories of another Life will not be strait way nonsense because we think them so they will continue at leastwise disputable and who would but a desperate-Sot commit his Soul to such a venture Sect. 2. 4. But when I consider that the immortality of the Soul is a perswasion which generally obtain'd in the Heathen world That the more wise and virtuous any of 'em were the more deeply were they possess'd by the belief and hopes of it that the reasons Plato Cicero c. founded this assertion in deriv'd from the nature of the Soul its operations its little affinity to any visible matter its resemblance of the Deity c. have rendred it so highly probable that it hath shed a very powerfull influence upon the Lives of many 5. But especially and above all when I consider that the Holy Scripture whose Divine Authority is clear'd by as strong evidences as any matter of that nature is capable of assures me that this Soul whether in its own nature immortal or no I 'le not now examine shall not perish in the Dissolution of this Earthly Tabernacle as Eccles 12.7 Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it and Mat. 10.28 Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul The Soul it seems is not liable to the injuries of a Disease or the violence commited on the Body but doth subsist when the Body is dissolv'd into its dust When I consider all this I can never so far renounce my Reason and harden my self against all the tenderness and passion I have for my self as to be content that this Soul should be lost in that other State provided I be fortunate and successeful in this for what satisfaction can I then reap from a patrimony or purchase wide as the world it self in a state wherein I shall be depriv'd of all means and opportunity of enjoyment What can the Wealth or Power or Beauty of the World signifie to me when the Body which is the proper instrument of earthly pleasure shall lie stark dead and cold in the Grave shall have no passions no appetites nor can all the Rhetorick or wanton charms on Earth awaken in it one languishing desire or one imperfect act of Life and as to the Soul it must dwell in the Mansions of a new world far far remote from this wherein every thing will be strange wonderful unalterable and eternal But I must pursue this thought a little further and not stopping in the contemplation of the uselessness of the World after the Souls departure from it go on to consider the Soul in its intermediate state between Death and the Resurrection that I may know the utmost if I can that the loss of a Soul imports and here I would suppose my self surprised in the midst of gavety and pleasures of Love and Honour by a violent inexorable disease I resign up my dear objects and my dotage together I am torn from my possessions and my hopes and when the storm hath burst the Cable and shatter'd the Hulk of this frail Bark the Body it casts my Soul that is all that remains of me upon an unknown strand naked and poor and desolate without interests or friends or hopes it must dwell in the dismal blackness of eternal night and Melancholly rackt by despair and guilt scourg'd by shame and rage tortur'd with envy and vexation stab'd by regret and repentance not a calm and soft but a tempestuous and painful one then like some sick body which rowles and tumbles for an easie posture rather out of an inability to suffer pain than any hope of finding rest it sometimes languishes and looks back upon the world vanisht like a dream and repeats ineffective wishes for the Body but it shall return to its dear wealth and beauty no more for ever Sometimes like Dives in the flames it looks towards that Region where Light and holy Souls do dwell but the unpassable gulph of the Almighty's Decree cuts off all hopes of that so that that Light onely augments its envy and despair and Heaven it self adds misery to the wretched Souls hell This is the natural and unavoydable state of a wretched Soul dislodg'd from the body despair and rage and shame and guilt and fear and grief and anguish gnaw and devour the miserable creature and for ever must encrease Blessed God! need there any chains to sink it lower than its own weight hath done Needs there any other darkness cover that Soul which such a cloud of sorrows hath benighted Tell me no more of pleasures these thoughts are enough to make me tremble and grow pale at the approach of a temptation rather than my Soul should dwell in such a state a thousand years may shame and poverty be my portion in this life may the hatred of powerful enemies or what is worse the scorn of my dearest friends persue me may my Body be but a Scene of Diseases and so incapable of the least gust of pleasure and more than this may an awakened tender Conscience every moment flash Death and Hell into my face or if there be any thing worse let me suffer it so it but preserve my Soul from Sin here and from that inexpressible
as such And as insignificant would this opinion render it to the happiness of Man for of what use will all the excellent rules of Justice Charity Meekness Temperance c. prove if we continue peevish and revengeful intemperate and lustful c. to what purpose are the fuller discoveries of another World Life and Immortality and the Belief of Jesus being the Son of God if they do not enable us to conquer the world and mortifie the flesh and if I walk according to the Laws of the Flesh i. e. Violate the Laws of the Spirit can I choose but dread a God whom I have wrong'd and will not unruly Passions and a troubled Conscience make a Christian as miserable as a Jew or Heathen If Goodness now be the end and drift of the holy belief of Christians then I infer 1. That the best Man is the best Son of the Church and he whose affections are more rais'd and heavenly and hath least of the mixture of sensuality is of the highest form in the School of Christ because he doth best answer the design of his Lord and walks in some measure as he walk'd 2. That the most infallible characters of a true Faith are to be taken from the government of our Passions our conquest o're the world and the increase of our inward joy and peace and hope Good Lord how apt are we to put a a cheat upon the World and our selves to perswade it and our selves that we believe tho there be no change in our Souls and Conversations and therefore consequently we do nothing less I shall hereafter never think that I believe aright till I have a Love for all his Commandments till I can meditate delightfully pray vigorously relie constantly obey readily suffer patiently rejoyce humbly expect reverently and happy is me if I attain that height earnestly too the hour of my death or the appearance of my Lord. I shall never hereafter think that I have studied or known divine truth to any purpose till the Truth hath made me free rescued me from the bondage of Sin and fears of Death The Prayer THou Holy Pure and Eternal Spirit who canst not indure iniquity who dost so love goodness that thou hast sent thy Son into the world to promote it his Life and his death his Pains and his blood were spent in this Cause O enable thy poor Servant who names the name of Christ to hunger and thirst after righteousness and to depart from iniquity Lord let thy truth and thy Spirit be powerful in me to the subduing all of evil inclinations I believe that all things are naked and bare before thee and therefore that thou canst not be mock'd or impos'd upon by specious pretences or formalities That I am not to expect to appear any other in thy Eyes than such as I am in my self inable me therefore to confess thee in my practice as well as words to live like one who believ'd thy holy Truths Let my heart be fixt in Honesty and uprightness to obey all thy Commandments Let the Belief of things not seen have the same influence upon me they had upon all thy holy Saints Martyrs and Confessors i. e. Perswade me to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and holily in this present world through Jesus Christ Sect. 2. Of doing Good There are a sort of People who indeavour all they can to withdraw from the world and rid their hands of business and think it abundantly sufficient if they can discharge their duty towards God in their Retirements This is Lawful nay commendable only upon two accounts 1. If my Temper or Circumstances be such that my Conversation cannot be publick and safe too for then the Salvation of my own Soul is naturally the most near and dear concern or 2. If my qualifications are such that my retirement is likely to prove more advantagious to the publick than my filling any other Post for then I act according to the Rules of Charity There are two other Inducements to a retir'd Private Life The one founded in a vice the other in a mistake 1. The First is when Men withdraw from the Business as from the trouble of the World and their Pleasure not Religion is their first and chief motive They meet with many rubs and oppositions in a busie Active Life and then they grow soft and weak and lasie and they want Courage and Industry and the frequent interruptions of their private peace and enjoyment is uneasie and they would withdraw to enjoy themselves and this is unchristian and unmanly 't is Epicurism not Contempt of the World 2. The mistake is when we look upon a Monastical kind of life as the whole of Christianity and the meer Perfection of the Regenerate state and place Piety so wholly in acts of solitary Devotion as to seclude the doing good and communicating c. It will behove such to consider 1. That true and apparent Motives Pretence and Religion are sometimes so twisted together that it is hard for a man to distinguish 'em and therefore some secret weakness or reserve may be the real whilst zeal is made the pretended cause of this choice 2. That the Busie and Active Life is the more Excellent and the more necessary 1. the more excellent as being fuller of hazards and troubles and temptations there is a larger field for virtues for Patience Courage Meekness Reliance c. in an active than speculative life and such will receive more Crowns And when I consider the Nature of God and necessities of Mankind I cannot but think acts of Charity as prevalent to the wiping off our guilt as the severest penances A vigorous and active life spent in promoting the welfare of others is a more perfect instance of self denial speaks a greater contradiction to our ease and pleasure commits more violence upon our inclinations than any acts of private Austerity can pretend to do for besides the Pains the watching and the fasting incident to both a like the trouble of Contrivance the industry of addresses the uneasiness of refusals c. sufficiently weigh down the one side Besides this Confinement imprisons our light under a bushel it is a Cover a Napkin for our Talents to conceal them and render them useless to others and therefore our reward will be less in another world and our graces the fainter in this For to him what hath i. e. useth shall be given Grace like the Widows Oile increases by being charitably imparted That Flame which warms my Neighbour reflects back with a double heat upon my self and that Goodness which cherishes his heart softens and sanctifies my own And over and above all this I enjoy a strange delight in doing good and in beholding the fruits which my own hands have planted And my assurance and the confidence of my hopes encreases by the conscience of that Love which my works convince me I have for my Brethren 2. That a busie
and unbelieving the abominable and Murtherers Whoremongers and Sorcerers Idolaters and Lyars and all the Enemies of God and Goodness The Duration of this State is for ever as Eternal as the Joys of Heaven an Everlasting Punishment the Worm never dies and the Fire cannot be quenched And though the Almighty may not be bound up to fulfil his threats which whether so applicable to God as Man I 'le not dispute yet certainly our Saviour and his Apostles in giving us a Narrative or History of the different Issues of things are bound to speak truth Hell then is a fixt state of misery wherein men have bid adieu to the pleasures of Earth and to all hopes of Heaven the memory of past pleasures doth but increase their pain and what 's beyond all the misery of this world they enjoy not as much as the deceitful Dreams of flattering hopes Hell where there 's no light nor ease nor God nor any harmless pleasure to divert the pain a moment Hell where only the wretched Objects of an Incens'd God do for ever weep and wail Is this the Death which is the wages of Sin Can Sin offer me any pleasure that can countervail this Eternity of miseries or is there any thing in poverty or shame or banishment or death equal to this Hell if not what blind brutish madness pusheth me on to sin Can I dwell with Everlasting Burnings Can I be content to live in an endless Night of pains and horrours Adieu my fatal pleasures I had rather starve and macerate this Body into sobriety than by Indulgence betray it to the rage and fury of Almighty Vengeance I 'le shut my eyes against all forbidden Fruits rather than for ever deprive 'm of the sight of Heaven and close them up in an Eternal Night Welcom whatever Penances Religion may impose upon me whatever the World may threaten me with for the discharge of a good Conscience I 'd watch and fast till Death rather than be Damn'd I 'd be the scorn and hate of Mankind rather than of God Are not these terrible Truths Are they not arm'd with Lightning and Thunder enough to startle the most harden'd sinner Good God what makes the World so dead so callous that such dreadful Objects cannot rouze nor pierce them It must needs be because they put that evil day so far off that the biggest terrours of it look but like Moats at such a distance But surely we mistake our selves in our computation we are now in Time how narrow is the Isthmus which parts Time from Eternity or is there any Partition at all but one groan that the frame of our Nature cracks with but one parting moment wafts us over upon the shore of another world Heaven and Hell they are not at the distance of so many years from this world but just of so much time as will serve us to die in And is this so much that we should frolick and wanton in our sins as if we were not within ken of danger there 's scarce a moment in the day wherein some Soul or other in some part of the world doth not make its Exit into another life and shall I sin as securely as if my time and death were at my own disposal I came but a few years ago into the world and within a few more I must go out on 't how soon this day will come I know not I 'm sure that the Sentence of Death is past upon me already I only wait the hour of Execution which any trifling cause can be the instrument of I may die of pleasure or of pain I may die of want or fulness I may die of desire or enjoyment what is it then which cannot give Death the very heighth of health is a degree of sickness my Scull is weak my skin and flesh thin and soft my heart tender and my passions easie my inner part is full of strange mazes vessels curiously contriv'd and subtilly dispos'd what a little will ravel this intricate contexture and discompose this delicate frame and shall I be as secure as if my strength were Iron and my sinews Brass and the position of my parts fixt as the Decrees of Heaven No no I 'le live in continual expectation of my Death I 'le examine my Soul each Evening and close my eyelids as if I were to awake next morning in another world I 'le often take my leave of this world and fancy I shall see this or that pleasant object no more no more and I 'le address my self to my God as if my Soul were ready to take wing and I 'le soberly consider the Nature of my God the value of Christs Sacrifice and the Truth of my Faith and so I shall learn to disingage my self from this world and to die handsomely and comfortably if not in rapture The Prayer O Most gracious God who hast hedg'd about our ways that we may not stray and wander into ruine who hast endeavour'd to frighten us into happiness by the dread and terrours of a Hell O grant that this fear may be fixt in my very flesh and produce in me a cautious and a wary depormtent that I remembring that our God is Consuming Fire may not dare to provoke thee to wrath and indignation against me And grant O most merciful Father that I may not put the day of death far from me and flatter my self into security and misery but live each day as if it were my last because I do not know but that it may be so that I may enter at last into that state where there shall be no more conflict with sin nor fear of death through Jesus Christ our Lord. SECT II. Of the second Motive to Holiness i.e. the consideration of the Divine Nature THe knowledge of the Nature of God is so powerful an inforcement to Vertue and a determent from Vice that Religion and the knowledge of God and Irreligion and a want of that knowledge are made use of by the Spirit of God as expressions of the same import as 1 Cor. 15.34 Awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God And this not without reason for the knowledge of God will 1. Discover to us the Nature of Holiness and of Sin 2. It will convince us how reasonable it is that we should serve him And 3. It will confirm in us a full perswasion of the Reward of Vertue and Punishment of Vice To this purpose therefore let us consider the Nature of God as it is taught us in the Gospel of that Son of God who lay in the Bosom of his Father and hath declar'd him to us And the first thing is that God is a Spirit Jo. 4.24 and those Attributes which the Gospel assigns him and which are a fuller discovery of his Nature are Knowledge Wisdom Holiness under which may in the opinion of some be comprehended Goodness Justice and Power and Dominion Now from that resemblance which Religion
fatal nature of sin the blood of Bulls and of Goats purified the flesh indeed but to purge the Conscience another kind of Sacrifice was needful even the Blood of the Son of God I can easily read in these sufferings of my Saviour that the wages of sin is death and sin is not grown less ugly or less hateful to God since the Death of his Son before the strength of i. e. that which gives the fatality to sin was the Law but now much more the Gospel I mean not as the one was a Covenant of Works and the other is of Grace but as the one i. e. the Law had the Majesty of God stamp'd upon it and so each transgression was an affront to the Divine Glory this other i. e. the Gospel arms its Laws with a double Obligation of infinite Glory and inexpressible goodness so that the death of the Son of God doth exceedingly enhance the guilt and aggravation of sin and makes sin become exceeding sinful For 2. To lay down his life thus for our sakes to expiate our sins by his blood was an act of such amazing love as should transport us into a chearful and ready obedience The love of Christ should constrain us to live not to our selves but to him who died for us and rose again That the belief of his bitter passion for our sakes should beget in us no tenderness nor affection towards him at all is unnatural and unpardonable or that we should love him and not obey him is as unnatural but that we should be so far from loving him that we should hate and persecute him is a baseness I want words to express and yet not only Apostacy but any course of sin doth crucifie him afresh and put him to an open shame for whoever is an Enemy to Holiness and Goodness is so to him too If we look upon his Death as an Act of Obedience to his God then we learn from it the indispensable necessity of parting with life it self for the sake of those truths we profess that nothing ought to be so dear to us as obedience to God We learn the great Lesson of Mortification call'd in Scripture being crucified with him made conformable to his Death in the subduing all our carnal affections it being highly unreasonable that we should expect an entrance into Glory by any other path than that of suffering and unreasonable to expect a share in the Resurrection to Glory if we do not first die with him 3. His Glory is the third and last part of our Saviours History which is a powerful inducement to Holiness this begins in his Resurrection Now the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead is a very clear proof of our Resurrection as S. Paul argues 1 Cor. 15. and so the great Argument to a good Life i.e. a Resurrection being demonstrated to the very senses of Mankind leaves no excuse for sin the wicked cannot flatter their Consciences into confidence by denying it nor can the hopes of good men droop and languish thorough doubting of it No if Christ be risen then there is a Resurrection from the Dead and the same power which rais'd him will raise us too at his coming and they who have done well shall enter into that glory which Christ now enjoys at the right hand of God as a reward of his obedience unto death Phil. 2. and all who imitate his Life shall in their several degrees and proportions partake of a reward of the same nature for we shall reign with him we shall sit with him in his Throne And surely this example of the reward of goodness cannot but commit a kind of pleasing violence upon the affections of man and transport him above temptations this was that Prospect which ravish'd the first Martyr into an Extasie though on the brink of dangers and death Act. 7.56 Behold I see the Heavens open'd and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God And if we could often lift up our eyes and fasten them upon this pleasing sight it would unavoidably raise us above this present world we should not be discourag'd at the poverty or reproach of our Saviours Life at the pain or the anguish of his death if we did but often contemplate the peace and the glory and the happiness which now Crowns his Conquests It is very true that a life led in Prayers and Meditation and Sacraments and an Abstinence from sensual pleasures doth not appear very gaudy or taking to a carnal man but if the same man could but behold one who had liv'd thus translated into Heaven how would he adore the wisdom and happiness of the Saints and how devout and holy how pure and mortified would be his life afterwards It is said of the Disciples who saw our Saviour carried up into Heaven that they return'd to Hierusalem with great joy and were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God a clear proof that there would be no painfulness in the industry and fervency of a spiritual life if we did often reflect upon the joys such a life prepares us for there would be nothing harsh unpleasant or dishonorable in the modesty and mortification of a Christian state if we did but look forward to the Crown and Kingdom it doth gain for us who that had seen our Blessed Lord received up with glory into Heaven would not have wish'd it had been his turn too that he had liv'd and died suffer'd and conquer'd with him and had been to ascend with him out of a troublesome sinful World with joy and triumph into Heaven And thus now it evidently appears that every part of our Saviours History is full of very powerful Motives to Holiness that all he did and suffer'd tended to destroy the works of the Devil and to implant goodness and Holiness in the world and we must not think that a Design carried on by God in such a wonderful manner can be otherwise than strangely dear to him and that we must not think that if we through our obstinacy and unnatural disobedience defeat this Design we can ever escape utter Damnation a Damnation more unsufferable than that of sinful Heathens c. Therefore The Prayer O Blessed and holy Jesus grant me thy holy Spirit that I may lay to heart the instruction of thy Doctrine and thy Life and may not only know but do thy will when I look up on thy Crucified Body on the Cross may I tremble at the guilt and weight of my sins which stood in need of so bloody a Sacrifice and may thy bitter Agonies for me melt me into love and passion for thee and this love constrain me to obey thee O may I be willing to sacrifice all my pleasures to thy Commands who hast laid down thy Life for me and being made conformable to thy Death then I may look up with pleasure on thy Glory and Lord grant that the hope of partaking in it may make me purifie my self and walk as
Covenant of Grace is Believe and repent and you shall be saved our sins cannot exclude us from Heaven if we forsake them for the time to come and relye upon the Mercy of God thorough the Blood of Christ for he died to this purpose that every one which believeth in him might not perish but have everlasting life Which Mercy extends it self not only to the sins which precede Conversion p. 76. but to those also which follow it as I have before prov'd Now the result of all this is 1. That the overture of pardon incourages us to repentance 2. That the sense of the love and goodness of God obliges us to love and obey bim Despair clips the wings and cramps the vigour of the Soul no man would be good if he knew it were to no purpose to be so for why should he deny his sensual satisfactions if he could expect no fruits of his Mortification but when the Almighty makes a tender of Mercy and invites the sinner to be reconcil'd what will not he do who is sensible of the advantage of his favour or the dreadfulness of his anger that he may avoid the one and gain the other The trouble of a wounded Conscience is an uneasie thing to bear and who would not rid himself of it and possess his Soul of an entire peace when he sees that he may who can be willing to be all his life in bondage who may be translated into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God who would feed the slavish fears of an approaching Death in his bosom who may extinguish and dispel them if he will Salvation is not so inconsiderable a matter but that every one makes this naturally his enquiry What shall I do to be sav'd and therefore when to do ones best is to do all and to be sorry for our sins is to attone them in the acceptance of God who would slight the happiness of the Divine Favour and Heaven tender'd upon these terms O my Saviour thou hast indeed brought Life and Immortality to light thou hast freed me from the curse of the Law and thou hast open'd a plain and easie way to Reconciliation and Heaven thorough thy Body upon the Cross without this the Contemplation of Gods Justice would have o'rethrown all those hopes which I could have deriv'd from the Contemplation of his Mercy and Goodness and I could never without an affront to his Holiness have flatter'd my self from his Clemency into the hopes of pardon for those numerous sins I have committed against my Conscience For ever blessed be thy Name that thou hast taken the weight and burden of my sins upon thee that thou hast suffer'd that I might be justified through thy Blood I will no longer deliberate whether I shall ease me of my sins and guilt whether I shall be happy or no! I come I come blessed Lord I renounce all the sins and vanities of my former life and desire to devote my self a holy living and acceptable Sacrifice to God for the time to come for why should I any longer sin against so much love and goodness When I had broken the Laws of God and given manifest affronts to that glorious Being who created and doth preserve me when I had trampled upon all his Obligations and abus'd all his Mercies into wantonness without any temptation to it besides the baseness of my own Nature I might have expected that a just Wrath would have reveal'd it self in Thunder and Lightning in Judgments and Death but instead of that he continues the overtures of his Mercy and Courts me with the tenderness of an Indulgent Father O my God thou hast conquer'd me by thy patience and long-suffering thou hast taken me by thine infinite love and goodness I adore thy Clemency and Wisdom and am asham'd of the wildness and extravagancy of my own folly O pardon me and my mourning and revenge shall witness what resentments I have of thy sweetness and tenderness I will serve and love thee much because thou hast forgiven me much Farewel my sloth and ease I have devoted my self to my great Creator and I must redeem the time that I have spent amiss Farewel my sinful pleasures and my vain diversions I will no longer indulge that Body which hath betray'd my God which hath made me a Rebel against a gracious Father Farewel my ambitious and vain-glorious aims these are not the Ornaments which become an Humble Penitent These and such like Resolutions are I think the natural results of a serious consideration of the Divine Goodness manifested in this Covenant of Grace no man can believe himself in a capacity of Pardon and Salvation but he must naturally desire to be rid of those fears which accompany his guilts and to be secur'd of Heaven no man can see the Majesty of Heaven contending for Conquest over us by love and goodness but he must blush at his ingratitude and melt at the sense of the Stupendious Mercy The Prayer O Glorious Ood grant that these may be the effects of my knowledge of thy Covenant of Grace that thy goodness may lead me to Repentance and that I may not by the contempt of thy Mercy treasure up to my self wrath against the day of wrath Lord what should make me backward if thou art forward to a Reconciliation what should make me refuse thy pardon when thou art willing to bestow it Is it not worth my while to be sav'd or can I be sav'd in despight of God! Lord I cannot be so blind to think so grant me then the Grace to repent to day whilst it is call'd to day to mind the things which belong to my peace before they are hid from mine eyes Amen Amen blessed Jesus And now I have finish'd the second part of this Discourse and consider'd all or at least the main Motives to Holiness which the Gospel contains nothing is here wanting that can justly beget our love or hate nothing wanting that can work upon our hopes or fears nothing more to be desir'd which can invite or incourage us all the Arguments of interest and pleasure of necessity and possibility of obligations and duty are here combin'd and twisted to make the Cords that should draw us strong enough that one might justly wonder how any man can resist the power of such Arguments and how it is possible to be damn'd And yet we cannot see what effect Christianity hath upon the generality of mankind they are as loose as Heathens as covetous as Jews and in a word as much addicted to the pleasures of the world and flesh as if neither Life and Immortality had been brought to light nor there were any promises of Supernatural assistance It will become us therefore in the third place to enquire into the reason of this and to discover those Temptations which detain men captive to sin notwithstanding all the Son of God hath done to redeem them Practical Christianity Part. III. Of Temptations to Sin THe
worthy of Christs descent into Earth which promotes the Glory of God and the Happiness of Man and that is only Goodness or Holiness concerning which I will 1. Enquire what kind of Goodness or Holiness that is which the Gospel of Christ requires And 2. Prove that it tends to advance the Glory of God and Happiness of Mankind which will serve not onely as a proof of its being the scope and drift of Christianity but also for a strong enforcement and motive to it Of the 1. Holiness is compriz'd in three things living soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.12 That hereby is forbid all plain and open violations of the Commandements such as are 1. All debasing of God in our imaginations and deprav'd Acts of worship consequent to this and all unthankfulness to him 2. All sorts of Falshood and Injustice 3. All kind of unnatural Lusts and Excess destructive to our Health or Reason is too plain to be prov'd All this being nothing else but that ungodliness and Worldly Lusts which we are to deny and the very Heathens by the Light of Nature Rom. 1.32 Knowing that they who do such things are worthy of death But whether Christian Holiness imports any thing more than the mere avoiding those Sins upon the principles and assistances of Religion whether the positive part of the command in the later part of the Verse doth not intend something more than the negative in the former part of it is very well worth our Consideration because it is plain that the Scripture speaking with respect to the Life of Gentiles which was deprav'd even below the Light of Nature doth by mortification mostly intend an abstinence from those actions amongst them which were manifest transgressions of the Law Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the Earth Fornication Vncleanness c. Col. 3.5 And because most men do by interpreting the Gospel to this sense embrace Christianity themselves and recommend it to others under the Character of a Debonnair and Complaisant Religion so that the way to Life seems to me so exceeding broad and the Gate so very wide that unless a Man be born with a most villainous temper and that be improv'd by a loose and undisciplin'd Education a Man may make a shift to enter in without much striving or strugling which seems to me very opposite to the meaning of our Saviour I will therefore answer to this Quere by degrees Having first remov'd the Objections by telling you 1. That Mortification is but one part of Christian Holiness and that Abstinence from gross Sin is but half of Mortification And 2. That I hope they who speak such soft things of Christianity do intend it of a spiritual pleasure or else of that more perfect State wherein they who are arriv'd at it know how to abound because having obtain'd a more compleat conquest over the Body and the world they are not so easily ensnar'd as new Converts And I proceed now to the Query it self 1. Acts of Sobriety and Justice perform'd without any deliberation by the meer inclination of Nature if such may be are meerly natural Actions neither good nor evil neither rewardable nor punishable 2. Acts of Sobriety and Justice perform'd upon the sole instigation of pleasure and conveniency which attends such a Life in this present world are very proper and natural effects of Reason but under the Gospel they do not constitute any parts of the Righteousness of the Kingdom because our Actions are to proceed from nobler Motives not that I deny but that to us Christians Worldly Happyness may be a very lawful incentive to Holiness but then it must be in its place not the sole and great but a subordinate inducement Thus tho the Apostle invites us to goodness by Praise and a Good Report yet he who is vertuous meerly that he may be fam'd for it is a vain-glorious Sinner so though the promises of this Life annext to Godliness may encourage us to embrace it yet if any Man be godly meerly for present pleasure and happiness of this Life he is but a Worldly Man nor do I here only mean that worldly pleasure must not be the sole but that it must not be the great the principal allurement to Religion something it may contribute but it must be in its place and its Degree and thus far I have treated the Quere with more favour than I should by making use of the words Acts of Sobriety and Justice which is not taken for granted in the Question and now I must premise once for all that a meer abstinence from evil is not a Doing or Being good and then I proceed to resolve 3. That to deny any Sin upon the account of Religion i. e. The Fear and Love of God and Hopes of Salvation is certainly an acceptable Sacrifice but because in all our Actions there are generally many motives twisted together and because Man out of fondness for himself is very apt to attribute the work to that motive which it is his interest should be uppermost therefore it will very nearly concern every one to examine seriously the degrees and strength of this Faith he pretends to for peradventure tho this Faith be strong enough to restrain him from wild and unnatural Lusts because it leaves him enjoyments and pleasures enough to entertain him with more delight in their stead and gives him up to a Life no less sensual tho the instances of sensuality be more regular Yet it may not be powerful enough to crucifie all worldly and carnal affections and to force him to do perfect violence to his Inclinations His fondness for the pleasures of this Life may be too stubborn to give way to a Faith which is not more deeply rooted nor arm'd and wing'd with holy passion and the Body may be too high fed to surrender up all its satisfactions upon the demands of a drowsie Faith so that the Man doth not intirely deny himself because Religion commands it but thus far he thinks fit to comply with Religion because it doth him no harm it doth not intrench upon his sensual injoyment and if this be his Case tho the Man may have call'd in Faith to the assistance of Reason yet he doth not suffer it to reign and by consequence his Life is still the Life of Sense and not of Faith Faith comes in but slantingly and collaterally into his Life it is not the main and chief inducement to his Actions 4. And lastly A Life lead in meer abstinence from evil and yet an allowance of the utmost freedomes we can with innocence injoy upon supposal that such a Man could so love God and Heaven as to be able to renounce all when call'd thereto a supposition I can very difficultly be reconcil'd to is but the minimum morale if Holiness yet the lowest degree of it and the Gospel seems to me to have a further aim to propose a greater height and to expect from its
relye upon Christ And it will highly oblige him to both or 2. In a state of Regeneration and then according to that experience and proof a man hath of the truth and sincerity of his Conversion such is the proportion and degree of his assurance and hopes which doth not exclude but suppose Faith in Christ for this is no more then to believe that now his sins are pardon'd his prayers heard his services accepted and he shall at last bere warded if he persevere unto the end in and thorough Christ Or 3. In a state of Relapse and even here he hath yet hopes if he repent thorough the blood of Christ For this is frequently asserted in Scripture I 'le urge but one place 1. Jo 2. 1 2. My little Children regenerate certainly These things write I unto you that ye sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins c. that by these sins are not understood the unavoidable frailties and imperfections of the best men but plain and manifest transgressions of the Law is plain 1. From hence that this is the general notion of sin in this Epistle 2. from the manner of speaking that ye sin not if any man sin which cannot be sense if applied to the unavoidable errours and imperfections of the best of men 3. They are here said to be of the number of those sins for which Christ shed his blood and are equall'd with the sins of the rest of the World And besides these Three uses of Faith I know none nor what more can be attributed to or desir'd from the blood of Christ I cannot see unless men will wilfully abuse their Faith into an impunity and patronage for sin or what disparagement it can reflect upon this sacrifice of Christ That it obligeth us to Holiness and rescues us from the power as well as guilt of sin I am not able to comprehend as to the silly scandal of trusting in works they that know what these words or terms Justified by works and justified by Repentance and Faith mean know that the one implies a perfect contradiction to the other for the former denyes any sin or iniquity and the latter doth directly suppose it 4. Without some degrees of Faith it is impossible that a wicked man should be awaken'd into any serious sence of his condition or should be induc'd to set himself in good earnest to please and obey God without a good measure of this Faith the very regenerate will never be able to conquer the World and subdue the flesh and enter into their rest I mean with th' Apostle a Rest from sin for their endeavours will be but weak and languishing their prayers cold and faint the Acts and instances of Religion will be undertaken as a Duty of necessity not delight the whole Progress of their Christian warfare will like the driving of Pharoahs Charriots when the Wheels were off beslow and uneasie they will be liable to frequent relapses their Life will not be a firm Peace but an unstedy truce with conscience and their Death will be mixt and checker'd with jealousies Distrusts and faint hopes like a sky spotted with numerous Clouds But if we arrive at a good degree of this precious Faith we shall be more than Conquerors o're the World and ourselves we shall be plac'd above the Reach of Temptations preserv'd thorough the power of Faith unto Salvation we shall be too great to be swoln with vanity in prosperity or to be cast down in affliction we shall find all the wayes of wisedome wayes of pleasantness and all her paths peace in one word we shall rejoyce always with joy unspeakable and full of Glory and when our glass is run and our Lives spent we shall be translated to the blesed Seats of Perfection and Peace 5. For the obtaining and improving and confirming of this holy Faith it is necessary that our Religion be not meer Credulity or Custome but that we seriously weigh those two great witnesses our Saviour appeals to for the proof of his coming from God his Works and Doctrine the Power of the one and Holiness of the other being sufficient evidences of his Commission from above To which we must add the Testimonies God himself gave him from Heaven his resurrection from the Dead and ascention into glory and all those mighty works perform'd by his followers in the virtue of Faith in his name and to be firmly rooted and grounded in Faith through these arguments is that which St. Peter exhorts Christians to 1 Pet. 3.15 To be ready alwayes to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you 2. By frequent retirements and sosolemn and devout Meditation to acquaint our selves as intimately as we can with the glorious Truths of the Gospel of Christ to draw the representations of them as lovely as may be and to dwell and gaze on the things we believe till the light of the understanding hath shed it self thorough the inferiour Soul warm'd all our passions and the Body it self seem to relish and partake of the pleasure of the mind The most useful matter of our Meditations will be 1. The Nature of the the God we worship I mean the glorious Attributes Mankind is most concern'd in His Truth and Wisedom his Power and his Goodness And 2. The Sufferings and the Glory of our blessed Redeemer as the sole ground of inexpressible comfort as the most indearing Obligation to Holiness as the most perfect pattern of Virtue and the most lively instance of its reward 3. We must add to both these means incessant prayers offer'd up with a fervent Spirit at the Throne of Grace for considering the darkness and indisposition of our Natures we have altogether need of the assistances of the Divine Spirit and therefore The Prayer O Eternal God the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Author of all good gifts enlighten my understanding that I may believe thy Gospel set at liberty my will that I may approve and love the things that are excellent that the belief of the Gospel of the blessed Jesus may engage me to Love Obey and Relie upon him give me such a lively sight and firm belief of the things not seen as may raise me above all the corruptions which are in the world through Lust and make me partake of the Divine Nature that so my Life may be full of Joy my latter end of Peace my Soul in its Separation of Rest and my whole man in the Resurrection full of Delight and Glory Amen Amen Blessed Jesus Section 2. Of Love 1. Of God 2. Of our Neighbour Of the Love of God Love is not a meet Approbation of the understanding but also an affection of the Will or Heart in Scripture phrase And therefore Coldness and Indifferency in Religion and warmth and passion for the world cannot be justified by
that its acts are easie and delightful for Habit is but another Nature so Holiness is call'd in Scripture a new Nature and what is natural is pleasant when our graces are full of Life and Vigour when our sight is grown clearer and our affections warmer and we converse with God and Heaven then it is that we begin to enjoy the sweets of Religion that we anticipate our Heaven by performing his will on earth as it is done in Heaven Religion is at first employed in the unpleasant tho wholesome severities of cutting off Right Hands and pulling out Right Eyes Lusts become so natural they were become our members but afterwards having conquer'd the World his commandements are not grievous but full of delight and satisfaction in Conversion as in the alteration of an Old building we first demolish those parts which are not uniform and beautiful and this presents us with nothing but rubbish and ruins but afterwards we raise up an orderly beautiful and lightsome building where we may solace and entertain our selves 3. An Exalted Holiness is not only delightsome in the very acts and exercises of its graces but in the fruits and effects of them Joy and Peace and Hope are the natural consequences of this State of Perfection and its actions because such a mans Love of God is now so evident and manifest he hath no longer room to doubt of it and then what a ravishing pleasure must it be to be able to survey all the glorious promises of the Gospel as such which himself is an heir to who can with full assurance think himself just upon the confines of Heaven within a moment of entring into joy without a very sensible transport 4. It 's entitled to greater measures of Glory in the Life to come Tho the lowest degree of future glory be above the merit of the most holy Life and tho God may do what he will with his own so that the chiefest Saint could not have just reason to complain tho the meanest were equall'd with him yet it is plain that there will be order in another World and those stars of the Morning of the Resurrection will differ in Glory and this will be proportion'd to their Behaviour in this life he which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully 2 Cor. 9.6 Is it not therefore highly reasonable on this account that we should aspire after the greatest degrees of Holiness we can for who would not desire to be as happy and as glorious as he can It is now apparent that perfection is a duty propos'd to us upon very powerful and glorious motives for who that is wise will not take pains to arrive at that perfection which is a State of greater security greater ease and pleasure more acceptable to God and entitled to greater degrees of Glory in Heaven For the attainment of this State observe these few Rules 1. Believe a Holy Just Almighty God every where present neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 Nay God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things If Heaven be his Throne Earth is his Footstool and therefore walk not only as preparing to meet him but as already before him this will awe a wandring spirit and it will not be easie to fear and sin and it will awaken a decaying affection and it will not be easie to omit a duty it will teach us how to judg our actions impartially and we shall neither impose upon our selvs by fondness nor do any thing for opinion sake when we consider that we have God for a Judge and Spectator I am th' almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect Gen. 17.2 2. Consider frequently and seriously the Life and Death the sufferings and the Crown of the blessed Jesus for his Life will convince you how lovely and pleasant virtue is altho' it seem to the World foolish contemptible and painful his death will inform you what Obligation you lye under to Holyness for will you not love and obey that Saviour who hath redeem'd you by his Blood and are you not sensible that our Heavenly Father is strangely in love with Holiness since he doth propagate it by such a method his Crown and his Kingdome will breath fresh Life and Spirits into your affections this is the motive which the Apostle Heb. 12. Makes use of to perswade us to lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and to run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despised the shame and is set down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself least ye be wearied and faint in your minds upon the same bottom is grounded that exhortation of St. Paul 1 Cor. 15.58 Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. 3. Each morning endeavour to foresee what temptations you are to encounter that day and summon up all the strengths of Grace and Nature of Religion and reason against the hour of Tryal survey each part of the Fort and having discover'd which is the weak place of the soul and most approachable secure it by a strong guard by arguments and Prayers and a diligent watch there are many things harsh to flesh and blood which are to be undergone for the sake of Christ and therefore weigh well the strength of your own resolutions whether you are able to engage so powerful an enemy as the World and Flesh thus our blessed Lord when Luk. 14.26 27. he had told them that if they would be his Disciples they must bear his Cross exhorts them to consider beforehand their engagement and to see that their preparations be suitable to the difficulty by the examples of a builder who first sitteth down to count the cost whether he have sufficient to finish his intended building and of a King who going to War with another King doth first sit down and consider whether he hath strength enough to meet him and when you have done this commit your self by Prayers to God and then march forth out of your Chamber into the World like a Souldier out of his Camp into the field upon the day of battle And each evening look over all the passages of the Day and see how you have behaved your self what victory you have gain'd what ground you have got what grace is most faint and sickly c. and alwayes close this exercise with a serious Reflection upon the nature of thy Life how fast it steals away into Eternity enter in fancy into the
dark chamber and mark how thou must lie in thy bed of sickness and of Death consider how all thy hopes and comforts all thy designs and purposes as far as they concern this world must vanish like a dream and think what need thou wilt then stand in of all the strength and comfort which Reason and Religion the Ministry and Prayers of thy Spiritual guide and Friend and the Conscience of a well spent Life can furnish thee with then thou wilt need a strong Faith and a vigorous Love and an entire Humility to enable thee to bear thy agonies patiently and part with the world chearfully and meet thy God compos'dly 4. Do not indulge thy self in the Enjoyment of the utmost liberty which is consistent with Innocence vice borders very closely upon vertue he that will not be burnt must not approach so nigh the fire as to be sing'd besides such freedomes do insensibly instill sensuality into the soul at leastwise if so thick an aire do not sully the soul it is too gross and mixt to whiten and clear it 5. Catch at every opportunity of a holy discourse and learn to raise from every thing a heavenly thought and to mannage every Accident to some spiritual purpose embrace all examples of an Excellent vertue and search after all occasions of doing good declining by all the Arts of prudence and Religion what ever either company or discourse whatever either sight or entertainement may soften thy temper thaw thy Resolutions discompose thy calm or alay thy heavenly mindedness or endear the world to thee sin steals in thorough the eye or ear c. dressed up in Beauty Mirth Luxury c. but it wounds whilst it delights and it stains where it touches and it captives what it once possesses 6. Be sure that thy Religion be plac'd in substantial and weighty things not fancyful and conceited for example 1. As to matters of Faith make it thy business to know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent the riches of divine Love and the merit of Christs sacrifice and do not mispend thy time nor weary and disturb thy Soul with Curiosities and vain disputes which usually grow out of interest and pride or an impertinent and trifling spirit 2. As to practice let thy Religion be made up of Fundamental Duties not conceits or will worship of Charity and Humility Obedience Mortification and Purity pure Religion and undefiled is this to visit the Fatherless and the Widowes and to keep ones selfe unspotted from the world Religion is not a devout whimsey a sullen Austerity or a blind and giddy passion but all that promotes the Honor of God the good of Mankind and the peace of our own Souls The Prayer O Most glorious and Eternal God guide me I beseech thee in the paths of Holyness I am the purchase of thy Sons blood I have known the truth of thy glorious Gospel and receiv'd the earnest of thy Love thy Holy Spirit O grant that I may not receive thy Grace in vain that I may not suffer wreck in the sight of my Haven But assist me by the might of thy Spirit in the inward Man to perfect Holyness in the fear of God to go on to the full assurance of Hope mortifying each day more and more the outward man and growing in all godliness and vertue and every thing that is praise worthy that so the nearer I approach Eternity the fitter for it I may be that my state here being a state of spiritual delight and pleasure each day may give fresh vigour to my Devotion so that I may not faint till I enter into the Joyes of my Master and receive a Crown Amen Amen Holy Jesus I have consider'd 1. Our Obligation to Religion upon the account of our own Souls which can neither be happy in this Life nor that to come without it 2. The Nature and Substance of that Religion we profess as it regards either Belief or Practice from all which it appears that the Christian Philosophy is nothing else but a Systeme of most exalted Holyness such as may become Men who are design'd for another life it remains now 3. To consider by what powerful motives the Gospel engages us to duties which are so far above our natural state and strengths Practical Christianity Part II. CHAP. I. Of the Motives which the Gospel proposes to Holiness THe Motives by which the Gospel obliges us to Holiness are 1. The Reward of Vertue and Punishment of Vice in another World 2. The Consideration of the Divine Nature 3. The Consideration of the whole History of our Saviour 4. The consideration of the vanity of all those things which are the temptations to sin 5. The nature of virtue and of vice 6. The assistance of the Divine spirit and 7. The consideration of the nature of the Gospel Covenant which leaves a place for Repentance 1. Of the first Motive Upon what account Life and Immortality is said to be brought to light thorough the Gospel I 'le not determine but it is certain that the Gospel shews us how Death is abolish'd and how Life and Immortality may be attain'd 2 that it hath manifested this to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews and that 3. The Discovery of it is in full and clear words laid down in almost every Page of it The Wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment and the Righteous into Life eternal Mat. 25. and Ro. 2.5 there is a day mention'd which is call'd The Day of the Revelation of the righteous judgement of God because he will then render to every man according to his Deeds to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory and honour and immortality eternal Life but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile but glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile This being so to sin must needs be so silly and weak a thing no man of common sense would be guilty of for can any man of reason be at a loss in such a choice as this whether he will live eternally or die whether he will be happy for ever or for a moment upon supposal that sin could make me live one happy moment 'T is true if there were no prospect of another Life no account to be taken in another world the case would be much alter'd for the Law of our nature being I humbly conceive nothing else but the Law or Dictates of Reason and the business of Reason being in this respect at least only to distinguish between good and evil our Reason would talk to us at another rate because it would proceed by different principles good and evil would then peradventure be different things for whatever would make for the pleasure and interest of
there much more do so because being rais'd spiritual it seems to me that it will be knit in a closser union and be more capable of those influences but besides this 2. It will have pleasures agreeable and natural to it self which it will reap 1. From the glory and perfection it possesses which will be one peculiar to it self and of a different nature from that of the Soul thus in our Saviour on the Mount from whose transfiguration we may receive a little light they were two different things which made up the beauty of his mind and of his body Wisdome Love Holiness c. were the charmes and graces of his Soul but light and glory and proportion the Majesty and Beauty of his body and since this body will be in its nature distinct from the soul for though spiritual it will not be intelligent therefore too it will have objects fit to entertain it what those objects will be that I 'le not endeavour to discover the Scripture doth in the general tell us that the place it self will be fill'd with a mighty glory that our conversation will be strangely delightfull that there are things prepar'd for us which are not therefore God himself which the eye hath not seen c. if that place be to be understood of the entertainments of another life but least any should mistake me I doe not in the least dream of any gross pleasure not the pleasure of the glorified body will be as spiritual a the body and no more from all that I have said I infer 1. That the joy and pleasure of the Life to come is most perfect and Excellent for the more excellent the being the more delicat and refin'd its pleasure or else there could be no difference between the happiness of an Angel that 's ravisht with the enjoyment of Heaven and an Hog that fattens in is stie and grunts at a full meal and if so how unconceiveably great will our pleasures be in that State wherein the worse and meaner part of us our very bodies shall be spiritual and incorruptible 2. That there is no reason that we should be the less mov'd and captiv'd by the promises of such pleasures in another life because they are pourtrayed to us in such an excellence and lustre as doth rather dazle and amaze than take and please us for tho now we are as far beneath them as we are at a distance from them yet then our natures will be made equal to them and when we stand upon the same level with Angels what makes up their Heaven will constitute ours too And now what can man fancy more than this that our natures should be rais'd to the highest perfection they are capable of and be entertain'd by the most glorious objects imaginable there is only one thing more to be added that this State be Eternal that we not only have all which our hearts can desire but also that we have all this for ever and ever and this is one property of Heaven too the things which are seen are Temporal the things which are not seen are Eternal now Eternity is a duration that never passes a stream of time which still glides on and yet never runs quite away a day that never sets in any Cloud or night a State of Life which shall never grow old by time nor decay by age a pleasure which will alwayes delight and never surfeit us a meeting of the dearest friends never to part again O my God how unconceiveable is the Glory thou dost design me for I cannot comprehend what I am going to be and what can be the influence of all this but that I should count all the advantages of this present Life dung and dross in comparison of the happiness of the Life to come that I should count all the afflictions of this present life not worthy to be put in the balance against the glory that is to be reveal'd how is it almost possible for me to resist the charms of such a Heaven or not to despise this World who have the prospect of such a one to come I need but cast an eye of Faith upon the joyes of Heaven and it will be enough to confront and baffle all the allurements of flesh and blood and all the gawdy nothings of this fading World one thought a day of Heaven will raise me so far above all the fears and troubles which distract and disquiet this present State that I could sit with unconcernment and see all my hopes and interests lost and shipwrackt on the billowes of an inconstant Word whilest I knew that my Heaven my Eternity were sure nay death it self would be the onely thing on this side Heaven which would be an object fit for my desires and wishes what is it then can tempt a man to sin who is thus arm'd who is proof against the flatteries or menaces of the World against the soft addresses of a Wanton or the impatiences and querulency of a weak tender body what conflict if possible can be difficult which is to be thus rewarded who can faint or languish in his race who hath his eye fixt upon such a Crown The Prayer O Most glorious God strengthen my Faith in the belief of the invisible things of another World that it may inable me to conquer this imprint in my Soul such a lively Image of that future State as may make me run with patience and chearfulness the race which is set before me O let me not chuse my portion in this Life Let me not exchange the Crown and Glories of Eternity for the pomp and vanity of this Life Let me not forfeit the pleasure and peace of that State of bliss for the dull momentary Lusts of this mortal earthly State but let me who have this hope purifie my self Let me make it my business to be doing thy Will for which way can I so advantagiously lay out my time and strength as for an infinite reward O my God let these considerations prevail with me to Live so that when I come to dye I may have nothing to do but to receive a Crown Amen Amen Blessed Jesus Of Hell Now tho a meer exile from this Heaven were Hell enough and there needed no flames nor darkness to make that State miserable for that there should be an eternal day whose light should never shine on me that there should be full tides of pleasures which I should never taste of this is Hell enough Yet besides all this there are real and endless torments to be inflicted upon all impenitent sinners when Christ shall come to take vengance on all them who know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ The place is a Lake of Fire and Brimstone of flame and darkness which together with a worm that never dies imports the excess of that torment which shall produce weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth The Company is the Devil and his Angels the fearful
implanted in the heart hath to these it is call'd the Divine Nature and the Image of God and it is highly reasonable that the worship should be suitable to the God it is paid to and therefore the Rule and Standard of Holiness is the Divine Nature and nothing else the beauty of Holiness and the deformity of sin is not to be deriv'd at least primarily from the conveniency or inconvenieney of the one or other in this present life but from a tendency to imprint or efface this Divine Image in us This is the way of our Saviour's and his Apostles arguing from the Divine Nature to our Duty thus because God is a Spirit therefore he is to be worshipp'd in Spirit and in Truth because he is pure therefore they must purifie themselves who approach him because he is holy therefore his worshippers must be holy too and because he is love therefore they who abide in him must abide in love all his Children must imitate the perfections of the Divine Nature Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect From hence it is easie to discover why the God of Heaven hath such an Everlasting Quarrel against sin and why he delights so much in Holiness and Righteousness Sin embases the man and depraves the spirit which is in him into a sensual natural man and sets him at the farthest distance from and contradiction to God but Holiness is a reflexion of his own Beauty and Excellency it is the exalting man into a spiritual and heavenly Nature This is a plain account of the Nature of Holiness and Sin how the one is so lovely and the other so ugly how the one is so dangerous and the other so advantagious 2. The knowledge of the Divine Nature convinces us of the reasonableness of serving God There can be but two reasons for service either 1. An Obligation to the person we serve and then our service is either Duty or Gratitude or else 2. A regard to our own interest or pleasure In the knowledge of the Divine Nature we shall find all these Obligations to his services If we consider God as that Principle in whom we live and move and have our being Act. 17.28 or as one who doth us good gives us rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness Act. 14.17 What can be more reasonable than that we should be thankful to him but if we consider him further as Redeeming us by the Blood of his Son instructing us by the Light of his Gospel assisting us by the Power of his Spirit and adopting us into the hopes of an Incorruptible Crown what can be more reasonable than that we should devote our selves to his service and offer up our selves a holy living and acceptable Sacrifice to him If we consider him as our Creator and the Lord of Heaven and Earth what can be more reasonable than that we his Creatures should obey his Laws If we have regard to our own Interest all our present enjoyments and future hopes depend upon him to be guided by Infinite Wisdom to be protected by Infinite Power to be blest by him who is above all things and can make us as happy as he pleases are things which a wise love of our selves would make us earnestly desire As for pleasure besides that which flows from the perswasion of all these advantages which accrue to us from his service and besides the peace and true freedom which Devotion gains us there is a strange pleasure in the contemplation of the most Excellent Being in whom is united all that is any way taking with a Rational and Immortal Soul 3. This knowledge of God will confirm us in a firm perswasion of the reward of Vertue and punishment of Vice for whilst it discovers sin so exceeding hateful not only upon the account of its contradiction to the Divine Nature but also its base ingratitude and folly and discovers the Excellency and Loveliness of Holiness it doth at the same time manifest the reason why God who is a holy God doth incourage the one by such glorious promises and deter us from the other by such amazing threats for whether we consider him in himself the purity of his own nature makes him love goodness and hate vice and how contemptible were either his love or hate if happiness be not the effect of one and misery of the other or if you consider him as the Governour of this world it is inconsistent with his Majesty to suffer the violation of his Laws without punishing the bold Offender So that now there 's nothing further necessary to work this perswasion in us but that 1. We should be perswaded that neither our good nor evil actions can be conceal'd from him And 2. That he is arm'd with sufficient power to bless and reward the righteous and avenge himself of the sinner and both these Truths we learn from his infinite Knowledge and infinite Power both which we are abundantly taught in the Gospel of Christ to belong to God God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell Mat. 10.28 And this God thus knowing and thus powerful without any respect of persons judgeth according to every mans work 1 Pet. 1.17 All this now amounts to thus much that Vertue and Vice are not indifferent things but that the one is most lovely the other most loathsom to God therefore the one is most fatal and the other most benificial to its Votaries for there is an infinitely glorious Being who is most deeply concern'd and every way able to poure forth blessings on the righteous and vengeance on the sinner The Prayer O Glorious God let my knowledge of thy Nature teach me to deny all iniquity and to be holy as thou art holy Let thy goodness make me love thee and thy Power and Justice make me fear thee and let both wing my Devotion and clog and damp my Lusts Let thy Truth and thy Power beget in me a perfect affiance in thee Let thy Wisdom and thy Love perswade me to submit quietly to thy Will that I may walk before an Almighty God and be perfect and so may enter into thy joys in the life to come thorough Jesus Christ our Lord. SECT III. Of the third Motive to Holiness i.e. the Consideration of the whole History of the Son of God Jesus Christ OUr Lord and Saviour may be consider'd either in his Life his Death or Glory beginning in his Resurrection the knowledge of him in each of these is a strong ingagement to Holiness and a determent from Vice 1. In his Life and here we may look upon him with reference to his Doctrine or Example both which conspire in this one aim to implant Holyness in the world and to root out sin for look upon him with reference to his
Doectrine and we shal find this was the great business of his Life to instruct men in the will of God to acquaint them with a true and spiritual holyness for as the Law came by Moses so grace and truth came by Jesus Christ in regard of which he calls himself the way the truth and the Life and all this by Commission from the Father Jo. 15.15 All that I have heard of the Father I have manifested unto you From hence I may infer That the planting the world with Holyness was an undertaking becoming the Son of God a Design worthy of his Incarnation the Jewes vainly expected that he should have built them up into a glorious Empire and secured to them the Enjoyment of Honour and pleasure in this Life but since the meek and humble Jesus despis'd this as a trifling design it manifestly appears that Mortification in him self denial is above all the Romantick gallantry of ambitious spirits That to be Good is somewhat more noble than to be Great to despise the world is more than to conquer it to subdue the flesh a richer happyness than to be able to caress it with all the flatteries of Luxury and greatness and to know God and obey his will a greater honour and happyness than to command the Lives and fortunes of Mankind How can this consideration chuse but beget in the minds of men a strange veneration for Religon and a Love of Holyness why should we with a prepostrous ambition affect those fooleries of the world and neglect true honor and happiness true greatness perfection tho we our selvs should not be able to discover it yet we may very reasonably collect both the beauty and necessity of Holyness from the value an infinitly wise God hath of it which he doth sufficently express in labouring the reformation of the world with so much earnestness in imploying so much care and so much wisdome about it in makeing use of so glorious an instrument as his own Son the brightness of his Fathers Image c. The works of nature and providence together with that light he shed upon our nature being sufficient to work in us a natural Religion had left our disobedience inexcusable when he added so many other miraculous manifestations of his glory and his will and the instruction of Prophets authoriz'd by Miracles and foreknowledge of things to come all this must needs render them to whom it was address'd much more inexcusable and what shall we think of our selves to whom he hath in the dispensation of the fullness of time sent Jesus Christ declared to be the Son of God by Power by the spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the Dead God might well expect as the Lord in the Parable Surely they will reverence my Son The greatness of his Person is very fit to beget an Awe and Belief too therefore as the Grace is greater so must the punishment of its rejection This is the conclusion S. Paul draws from the Divinity of his Person prov'd in the first Chapt. to the Heb. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip for if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast And every transgression and disobedience receiv'd a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord c. Heb. 2. If we secondly consider the Life of Jesus only as a great example of the most exalted Holiness of obedience towards God charity towards his Neighbour purity and self-denial towards himself we shall not only find in it a clear light to direct us in the practice of vertue but also powerful motives to ingage us to it for if our great Lord and Master the Son of God did thus deny himself and renounce the world what kind of Humility and Mortification will become us who are so far beneath him and in whom are such violent propensions to sin how will it become us to walk who profess our selves the Disciples of so holy and so excellent a Master we cannot be his Disciples unless we walk as he walk'd for this was it he aim'd at to set us an example and the thing we are to learn of him is his Holiness If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed c. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest to your souls He that saith he abides in him ought himself also to walk so even as he walked All which imports a necessity of our imitation of him and implies our straying from his example to be an interpretative Renunciation of our Discipleship Secondly In the example of his Life we may discern the Beauty and the Happiness of a Holy Life how lovely how great how Majestick was that Goodness and Innocence which shin'd in him and as a consequence of this Holiness with what serenity and calmness of affections did he enjoy himself with what assurance of mind did he encounter all afflictions and look forward towards another life these are pleasures which all must needs value who can understand them and all may enjoy them who will lead godly lives Thirdly from him we learn how wise and reasonable a thing it is to prefer all the hardships which accompany Religion to the vanities of this world since he who was best acquainted with the happiness of another life and could have commanded all the advantages of this despis'd all the flattering pleasures of this life and chose the Cross and the afflictions of Righteousness that he might obtain an Everlasting Crown Let us chuse as he did and we shall never be mistaken nor let us be frighten'd at any difficulty the same Spirit which strengthen'd him shall make us too Conquerours nor can the World menace us with any thing worse than what he endur'd Want and Scorn and Travel and Death a shameful and a painful death which is that which constitutes the Second part of the History of our Saviour and is a very passionate invitation to Holiness considered either as an Expiatian of our sins or as an act of his obedience to God as an Expiation it must 1. Plainly convince the world of the fatal deadly nature of sin for when I see the Son of God strugling with the torments of the Cross groaning under the pain of his Wounds pale and gastly breathing forth his Soul in the agonies of Death I cannot think that the goodness as well as wisdom of the Divine Nature could have thought fit for sin to have been atton'd by so bitter a Sacrifice unless the weight and horrour of it had call'd for such an Expiation and shall I play and fool with sin as a harmless thing when its guilt can't be cleans'd but by the Blood of the Son of God Surely the greatness of the Sacrifice was intended to intimate to mankind the
and steep about it Hence is the address of the Spirit Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead c. Eph. 5.4 3. Power is the third Attribute of God Religion promotes even this in us by inspiring the mind with courage and by the addition of strength conjoyn'd to it Innocence makes a man bold as a Lyon it makes one dare and hope well Religion is a confederacy with th' Almighty and he becomes the good mans strength Ps 18.1 19.4 it creates an awe and reverence for him amongst men and it makes him approach as near to self-sufficiency as the state of a Creature will let him he is independent on the world and hath not half the hopes nor fears nor cares that the wicked man hath for this man hath an ill Conscience and is therefore timerous he that fears not God dreads every thing besides he hath many passions that are to be gratified and therefore he is very dependent on the world he lives ill and therefore is the scorn of Man and the hate of God 4. Wisdom The fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom and therefore this is easily prov'd for Religion is nothing else but the knowledge of the most Excellent Truths the contemplation of the most glorious Objects and the hope of the most ravishing Pleasures and the practice of such Duties as are most serviceable to our happiness and to our peace our health our honour our prosperity and our eternal welfare but sin on the other hand besots and infatuates the man it makes him passionate and foolish consult ill and execute worse he is blind to the most glorious Truths and hath no taste or relish of those glorious Objects of another world and he lives as if he were in love with ruine and though he see death and confess it in the way he is spurr'd on by his passions and dares not shun it he covets meer trifles vanishing fading pleasures meer apparitions and dreams of happiness and he flies from real and substantial delights and satisfactions that would never have an end he trembles where no fear is and yet is steeled and senseless against Almighty Vengeance and if this be not to be foolish I know not what is The fifth and last now is Goodness by which I mean kindness and serviceableness to others this Religion so far advances that each man is so far Christian as he is thus good this goodness or love is the meer substance of the Gospel so that where ever the Spirit of Christianity hath planted it self the man is not only just but good and kind he doth not only put off revenge and frowardness and hard-heartedness but he puts on the contrary Vertues Meekness Tenderness Charity his goods and life are not too dear a price to pay for the welfare of a Brother but sin on the quite contrary arms man against another and sows nothing but dissention and ruine amongst mankind injustice cruelty rapin murther covetousness hard-heartedness are the Characters which constitute a sinner Justice and Truth are as Essential parts of Holiness as Goodness and therefore need not be spoken to Thus you see how Vertue and Holiness perfect and exalt the man how it makes him more spiritual gives him power life wisdom goodness allies him to the Angels and makes him like God but sin defaces all those Excellencies makes him a meer heap of Rubbish and Ruines a silly empty Creature that the Spirit might well say of such Rev. 3.17 That they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked And who can now look upon sin as a little harmless indifferent thing He that should rob the ambitious man of his Honour the covetous of his Wealth the vain person of his trifling gaity should be thought to have committed an unpardonable offence against them and yet sure power and wisdom and goodness are things of far greater Excellency than wealth or honour or gaity they are the Attributes of God the things that make him God and when he pleases to communicate and impart to his Creatures some tho slender proportions of these what can be a more fatal Enemy to the Creature than that sin which spoils and rifles him of these he that should stab the body and through as many gashes as those of Caesar in the Senate let out the imprison'd Soul commits no murther like that of sin which quenches in man the spiritual life and robs him of Eternity O my Soul doth every intemperate draught every sensual pleasure quench the light and damp the spirit within me and yet shall I still go on Is it so inconsiderable a loss to change from Spirit into Flesh Doth all my sinful passions for this world Ambition Covetousness Dotage c. deface all Power Wisdom and Goodness in me and make me weak and wicked impotent and foolish and yet shall I still go on to dote Is it so little desirable to be like God Is it so inconsiderable a change like the unhappy Angels to fall from light to darkness forgive me O my God I now begin to see a horrour in my sins I see its poysonous nature and the mighty wounds it gives and I will shun it hereafter more than Death and Ruine more than the Sword the Plague or Famine for I am well convinc'd that there is nothing so excellent as Spiritual Life Peace Power Wisdom and Goodness and nothing can wound or blast these but sin And if secondly Life and Goodness Power and Wisdom are such excellent things how dear must they be to God and how contradictory to his Will must be all those Methods which men take to deface them and this he hath sufficiently taught in that he hath thought it worthy the Incarnation Life and Passion of his own Son to root out and banish iniquity and transgression from the Earth being things contradictory to his Nature and to his Design too in the Creation From all this you see that Holiness is agreeable to the Divine Nature sin is contradictory to it and by consequence that he who works Righteousness is born of God and he who commits sin is of the Devil and that it is as necessary to be really holy as it is to be in the favour of God for he cannot love the unholy unless he can renounce his own Nature The Prayer O Thou God who art light and in whom there is no darkness at all a holy and pure Spirit how infinitely are the sons of men oblig'd to thee that thou hast givee them Immortal Spirits and dost travel by thy Word and Spirit to form and fashion them into thy glorious Image to make them share in thy Perfections that they may do so in thy Happiness too O grant that I may hunger and thirst after Righteousness that I may labour day and night to water and improve those Resemblances of thy Divine Perfections which thou hast imparted to me by thy Spirit that so I may through Christ increase in favour with God and Man
a new and repeated Engagement of our selves to the service of Christ to an obedience to his Laws and a Renunciation of those Enemies of the Christian the World the Flesh and the Devil From all this it is easie to infer 3. That it is a strong Fence and Antidote against Temptations for these fresh impressions of our Saviours love the new strengths of Divine Grace the vigour of a new and solemn Ingagement to Obedience fill the Soul with a holy zeal against sin and with a glorious contempt of sensual pleasures The Prayer ANd now O my God what should make me so prodigally venturous of my own safety as to neglect the frequent use of this holy Sacrament Have I not need frequently to examine my self Are not thy Graces apt to wither and decay unless thus water'd and refresh'd Doth not my converse with the World and my communication with Flesh and Blood render it necessary for me to renew my resolutions against them as often as I can or is there not a holy delight in the exercise of all this that surpasses all the pleasures of a sensual life and is it not a Sacrifice that my Lord and Saviour is highly pleas'd with and is it not reasonable that I should oblige him who died for me with this frequent acknowledgment of his infinite love evidenc'd in his death Pardon me O my God that I have been so ungrateful to thee so sensless of my own welfare and advantage for the time to come I will delight in this holy Communion I will often offer up my self a Sacrifice to thee and profess my Faith in a Crucified Saviour and there beg thy assistance and conduct through the difficult paths of this present life And O my God accept thou of my addresses and praises thorough thine infinite Mercies and the Blood of Christ Amen Of Prayer PRayer may be consider'd under those three Heads I before mention'd And 1. As a part of Holiness It is an acknowledgment of God's being our God a confession of his Majesty and our meanness being a solemn Adoration and Worship of him 't is a Sacrifice of praise to him 't is an act of Humiliation and of Repentance and of Faith and Reliance upon him And from hence we may infer what preparation of the Soul is necessary to a right discharge of this Duty that extempore Addresses are the most improper and the most unwelcom to God for these are at best but imagin'd to raise those passions or dispositions in the Soul which ought to be presuppos'd in it before-hand to the rendring of our Prayers acceptable for we draw near in prayer to offer up a Sacrifice which we had prepar'd before And we may secondly conclude that what ever the gifts of Prayer be the Spirit of Prayer is that which doth dispose and prepare the mind by such qualities as are fit to exert the acts I nam'd before and I am apt to think that a Soul which thus prepar'd and fixing it self in the immediate presence of God dwells with an inward devotion upon those acts of Adoration and Praise Humiliation and Faith without expressing these actings of the mind in words I speak of private prayer doth in S. Pauls sense Rom. 8.26 pray by the Spirit and consequently in publick those prayers are most spiritual which share most of this preparation 2. As an Instrument of Holiness it doth exercise all our graces and refresh and improve them by exercising the breathings of the Divine Spirit which is in an extraordinary manner assistant in this holy exercise fill the minds of men with joy and peace and hope which confirms them in their Christian Warfare and makes them disrelish all the pleasures of a sinful life Lastly Prayer hath extraordinary promises annext to it of receiving whatsoever we ask with Faith Mat. 7.7 Ask and it shall be given to you 3. It is an Antidote against Temptation for it possesses the Soul with an Awe of the Divine Majesty with a sense of his unspeakable love and with a horrour against sin whilst we enumerate his benefits and our sins with all their aggravating circumstances And certainly no man can be so sensless as to repeat those sins which he did just now bemoan and abhor renounce and resolve against before God nor will it be easie for him to fall who comes forth forewarn'd and arm'd to encounter a Temptation Lastly Prayer convinces a man of the loveliness and happiness of a holy life for he finds that his peace and reliance grows up or decays together with his Vertue If I did pray earnestly and often how humble how holy how heavenly and exalted would my Soul be with what glorious Notions of the Divine Majesty what dreadful apprehensions of sin what an unquenchable thirst of Holiness what fears and jealousies of the World and Flesh would my Spirit be possess'd by and what a mighty influence would all this have upon my Conversation how humbly how warily how fervently should I walk But when I do not pray often or with this care and preparation how lazy and careless is my life how dim and imperfect my conceptions how stat and tastless my relish of spiritual things how doth a worldly sensual temper grow and increase upon me and the Divine Life within droop and languish The Prayer O Therefore my God give me grace to be frequent and fervent in Prayer assist me by thy Spirit to dress and prepare my Soul for this more solemn approach to thee and then I shall experience this to be the high way of Commerce with Heaven I shall feel the wind blowing upon the Garden of my heart and the Spices flowing forth I shall feel the Spirit fanning that spark of holy life it kindled into a flame and I shall feel my self transported and ascending up above this vain world and all the allurements of it O therefore grant me O my God thy holy Spirit that I may pray with understanding and fervency with a prepar'd and a devout Soul that my prayer may not be the sacrifice of Fools and turn'd into sin but an acceptable Sacrifice to thee an Instrument of Holiness and a Guard against sin enabling us to fight the good fight of Faith that I may receive an Everlasting Crown and all for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen I should now add something concerning Fasting which the Universal practice of the Church besides our Saviours Rules prescrib'd to it do plainly suppose to be a Duty of Christianity but yet such a one as is a Free-will offering and so dependent of various circumstances that the practice of it cannot be fixt by particular Rules and therefore as I did on purpose omit speaking to it when I had a fair offer under that Head the means to obtaining Temperance consider'd as a habit in the mind so now I 'le only consider it very briefly 1. Who ever shall consider the constant practice of the devoutest men the Nature of this Body we are cloathed
with or the frequent sins to which the lusts of it have betraid us will discern Reason enough to invite him to this Duty either in order to our Mortification and our future security or as an act of Affliction and Revenge for our past faults Therefore 2. Who ever totally neglects this Duty upon pretence of the ill effects it hath upon either Body or Mind ought well to be assur'd that the uneasiness of the one or other be not the effect of a wanton and carnal Mind rather than of the temper of the Body and that his Body will admit of no degrees of this Duty otherwise he is oblig'd according to his capacity 3. To Fasting must be joyn'd Alms and Prayer and Vain-glory must be separated from it without the former it is insignificant with the latter it is a sin But if any just Reasons disable any man to give Alms or to devote the day intirely to Spiritual Exercise I cannot yet think but that Fasting may be us'd as an act of Affliction provided it be consecrated to God by a holy intention at least The Prayer GLorious God I see in what a world I live and what a Body this Soul of mine doth dwell in how little kindles those Lusts which blast the Innocence of my Soul and destroy my peace I remember how often I have behav'd my self unbeseeming a Child of God only to gratifie the inclinations of an ungovernable Body Enable me therefore so to mortifie and subdue it that I may enjoy an entire peace and conquest so to humble and afflict it that my revenge may testifie the sorrow I feel for my misdemeanours and accept thou my sorrow to the attonement of my sins thorough the Blood of Christ Amen The Conclusion I Am now earnestly to beseech the Reader to reflect seriously upon this whole Discourse and consider whether the Christian Religion be not a System of most glorious delightful and important Truths whether any Principles can raise Man to such an entire Conquest o're the world and himself whether Holiness doth not transform him into a great and a glorious thing whether any knowledge can create in him so perfect a peace and so undisturb'd a joy whether there be any thing besides Religion can make a man spurn fawning pleasures and out-brave his fears whether there be any thing which would turn the world into so much Paradise and secure our peace and interest on such unshaken bottoms and lead on the whole Train of a publique or a private life in such a safe and pleasant method What then Art thou fond of ruin or hath damnation any charm in it that thou wilt still resolve to persevere in such a manifold contradiction to the Laws of the blessed Jesus Wilt thou suffer thy soul to be miserable here through those numerous lusts which are the incessant torments of it and canst thou think of abandoning all the hopes of a glorious immortality Or dost thou indeed look upon the Gospel of Christ as cunningly devised Fables and readest these kind of arguings as only wise and politique harangues Surely so much Holiness confirm'd by so many miracles must needs witness its divine authority and if thou wouldst but trie thy self the practice of it thou wouldst feel its divine principle in the Life and the joyes of the Spirit But I am perswaded the greater part of mankind cannot choose but indespight of Inclination acknowledge the truth of the Gospel and the Excellency of virtue and confess that their vices are the effect not of their choice but weakness Blessed God! What account then will these men give of their Disobedience at that day when Christ shall come to render the vengeance to all who have not obeyed his Gospel when they shall be put in mind of the prevalent motives made use of to endear Holiness to them and of the mighty assistance of the Divine Spirit which was offer'd them towards enabling 'em to live well when they shall see as a perfect Refutation of all such excuses so many millions I hope of blessed Saints who tho liable to the same Passion and encompass'd by the same Temptations did yet conquer all and enter'd into Life thorough the Strait-gate But if this little Treatise should light into the hands of a perfect Atheist or at least of one who laughs at every particular Sect of Religion to such a one I address these last lines and I beseech him to allow them so much Consideration as he would to any other thing which pretended to so much concernment and importance 1. If there be a God Nature seems to dictate that he is a Rewarder of those that seek him and forgets not the Wise and Virtuous neither in Life nor Death and Men as wise and rational Creatures are his peculiar Off-spring and more nearly related to him and on this Argument Socrates in his Apology founded his hopes of another life an argument much of a kin to that of our Saviour God is the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob now God is not the God of the dead but of the living at the smartness and clearness of which arguing the people were astonish'd And If there be another Life Virtue and Goodness must needs be the proper qualities to recommend and endear us to the God who presides in that other World for I can never fancy a Bruitish and irrational Deity If there be no God which is impossible it is a thing impossible to be prov'd and therefore an Atheist can never possess his Soul in any Rest and Peace and besides if there be none the belief and practice of this Religion of Christianity as I 'le make appear presently can do no man any harm and what madness then is it not to take the safest side in a mat-ter of this dear concernment 2. In behalf of Christianity in perticular I beseech such a one to consider That if those Miracles and Proofs of Divine Authority which the Gospel relates were true and real then the matter is beyond dispute If they were not I would fain see some probable account how Christianity could so generally obtain in despight of all the disadvantages it was to encounterâ— having neither interest nor pleasure nor force to countenance it against the establish'd Superstitions and Vices of the Age. That it concern'd them of Judea which was the Scene of our Saviours Actions to have given the world a manifest account of the Imposture and so have provided for the security of Judaisme which was subverted by it that the wisest and most religious Sects amongst both Jew and Gentile were quickly swallowed up into Christianity That those early dayes were the most fit for a confutation of the Proofs on which Christianity is bottom'd as being most nearly conjoyn'd to the times of our Saviours and his Apostles actions and therefore capable of being easily inform'd and yet we find no such thing done which must needs suppose the world either monstruously ignorant or