inquisition I shall first briefly represent the nature of true Holiness and shew the beauty and excellencie of it Secondly I shall discourse of its rule and more parricularly discover the several branches of Holiness Thirdly I shall propound several motives and inducements to engage blen to the practise of Holiness and indeed this is what I chiefly intend to insist upon Fourthly I shall remove all those Cavils and Objections that are urged against Holiness And Lastly conclude with some short Reflections and Inferences CHAP. I. Of the nature of Holiness I Intend not here to descend to the consideration of every particular branch of Holiness but to discourse of it in the general as it is the combination of all Christian vertues and as it is thus considered I need not I think in the description of it accurately study all those Logical rules Philosophers require in a good definition For may part it fully enough satisfies me to know that holiness is a conformity to the Divine Law and a hearty and sincere compliance with those original dictates of humane nature and the Commands revealed in sacred Writ So long as Man remained obedient to the Laws of his Maker his holiness was untainted and his Beauty and primitive congenite comeliness continued but by his woeful apostacy he lost that noble embellishment of his nature which did indeed give a grace to all his other accomplishments and is now become ugly and deformed Holiness and purity of Spirit are different words but of the same signification and are promiscuously used in Scripture to express the same thing Opposite to which are Sin and Vncleanness Sin being that which contaminates the Soul and robs it of that beauty which formerly did of right belong to it Although 't is not one particular good action that denominates a man holy yet every wilful aberration from and transgression of the Law constitutes man a sinner and makes him liable to the demerit of the offence Whosoever theresore intends to perfect holiness must according to the Apostle's advice cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit abstain from every appearance of evil and sincerely endeavour to perform all good actions In a word Holiness in its general notion is the comprehensive sum of the moral Law and may be very aptly described to be a ceasing from evil and doing good which in this lapsed estate consists in the sincerity of our intentions and actions and shall be perfected when mortality is swallowed up of life when those imperfections and spots that attend our natural state shall be quite removed and done away So long as our souls actuate their impure bodies sins and infirmities will cleave to the best an absolute innocence and perfect holiness is reserved for that state where all things are become new But yet so far as the frailty of our nature and the imperfection of our present state will suffer we ought sincerely to study to walk as it is said of Zacharias and Elizabeth in all the Commandments of God blameless the general course and tenour of our lives should correspond and keep a conformity with the divine precepts which as I shall just now shew are the rule of holiness Almighty God who well considers the nature of man does not esteem men to be either vicious or holy from the performance of some particular acts There is not a just man who liveth and sinneth not It is the peculiar motto of our Lord Christ That he did no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth But the imperfect obedience of good men who in the general course of their life sincerely study an universal conformity and respect to the divine Laws is esteemed by him who judgeth righteously to be sufficient in order to our acceptance with him upon the account of the merits and perfect obedience of our blessed Saviour The wise God who considers the frailties and imperfections that attend our present state expects not more from us than we are able to perform He is not so rigorous a Lord to require Brick where there is no Straw the terms of the Gospel are accommodated to our capacities and onely require a holiness which is possible for the Creature to attain at least it exacts and expects no more but that we endeavour sincerely and unfeignedly to obey all those precepts he has enjoyned that we habituate our selves to perform good actions that the general propension and inclination of our wills and appetites be towards the doing of what is imposed upon us and abstaining from all kind of evil By what hath been said it may appear that holiness consists not in Speculation but in Practice 'T is not the knowledge of duty but the actual performance of it that entitles men to be holy and that too not superficially or in a good mode and rarely performed but sincerely and throughout the whole course of our lives For men to know their duty and not perform it is to inhaunce their own misery and to secure to themselves double stripes and to perform some good actions and abstain from the grosser pollutions of the world and yet to be vicious in the general course of their lives this is such a holiness that will never profit any man The rule of holiness to which we must heartily study an actual conformity does not dispense no not with the commission of the least sin nor omission of the smallest duty But because general descriptions of things are frequently overlooked I shall not think it unnecessary to descend to a more particular survey and consider Holiness in its several branches as they are plainly described by the Christian rule of Holiness CHAP. II. Of the Rule of Holiness Although the whole Canon of Scripture is useful to instruct us in our duty yet because many things if not approved yet dispensed with under the old dispensation are now quite antiquated and abrogated I shall therefore at present confine my discourse to the Gospel Oeconomy and by the rule discover wherein the Nature of true Holiness and undefiled Religion before God consists I am a little confident it will not be expected I should prove that the New Testament is of Divine Authority and consequently an infallible rule to direct us in the way of holiness the numerous late Discourses which have excellently well performed this task against the prodigiously prophane Atheists this impure age hath to its lasting reproach hatched makes me without the least fear of censure supersede this undertaking I shall take it then for granted it being acknowledged by all rational men that the Gospel is the great and certain Standard whereby we may truly judge of any man's holiness and never doubt to conclude that he who in the general course and tenour of his life walks contrary to the Rule can lay no claim plead no interest to the title of Holiness this being no other thing as I have already shewed but a combination of those vertues the Gospel-precepts enjoyn
of the Lords mercy that we are not consumed sure many who have offended less have been justly sent to everlasting burnings do now dwell with devouring flames and why should a living man complain it were certainly more rational to be humbled for the evil that occasioned the rod that our present misery may not be the prelude to more lasting torments Nay there is nothing that more offends God that is more contrary to the pattern set before us than to murmur and repine let us therefore study to bear the resemblance of our eldest Brother that our Heavenly Father may acknowledge us for his Children In the next place Christ's obedience to the Will of his Father is set forth as our president and can any thing more powerfully perswade us to obedience than his example which not onely discovers our duty but also inspirits and enables us to perform it If the marvelous pattern of Christ's entire obedience does not form our wills to do what God enjoyns I scarce know any argument that will prove â—ffectual And now how serious was our Lord Christ in dispatching that business his Father intrusted him with The work that his Father gave him to do he finished it Joh. 17.4 and he testifieth of himself That he did always those things that pleased his Father Joh. 8.29 and that he might more emphatically express this he tells us Joh. 4.34 My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work and indeed in that he so entirely resigned the whole power of his Will to his Father Not my will but thy will be done we have the most unquestionable proof of his perfect obedience He was as the great Apostle tells us Obedient to the death of the Cross submitted to the most dreadful sufferings that he might instruct us to keep his commandments even as he kept his Fathers commandments Joh. 15.10 and that the same mind be in us that was in him But God knows how little we regard either his Precepts or Examples for although our great Master has made his obedience our rule yet how ready are we to despise it if in the least it cross our humors or carnal interest Alas little do we consider that obedience is essentially necessary in order to our supream happiness and that torments as severe and intolerable as they are lasting are the lot of the disobedient It were to be wished that the rebellious posterity of Adam would but seriously ponder what they will be able to say in the great day of Audit Sure I am the whole Contexture and Harmony of the divine Precepts and Doctrines are equitable and just and therefore call for our hearty compliance with them The wise God never issued out any Command which could not be obeyed He is not like the Aegyptian Task-masters to require Brick while there is no Straw Nay indeed our duty and interest are coupled together so closely that if we disobey and rebel we may thank our selves for the misery we have chosen And as his obedience is set before us for imitation so is his Love Charity and Compassion also His whole life was spent in doing good to men how transcendent is his love in pitying us in our degenerate and forlorn estate when we were at odds with Heaven and incapable to help our selves then even then did he commiserate our case and by his own Blood reconciled us to the Father It is the greatest demonstration of love imaginable for a man to lay down his life for his friend Joh. 15.13 and yet more wonderful was the love of our Redeemer in passing through so many cruel sufferings for us who were but Rebels and Enemies O how should the remembrance of his boundless compassions transport and ravish us with love how strange is it that the highest endearments of Love have not inflamed our spirits and made Love mutual and reciprocal Love is a most excellent affection of a noble original by which we resemble the best of beings the great God being by the beloved Disciple described to be Love and indeed well does this description sute with his dealings with men But alas how unlike are we to God in this there is scarce any duty more frequently inculcated by our Saviour than Love John 15.12 This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you and yet how little efficacy has either his precept or example with us Blessed Redeemer how unworthy do impure Earth-worms require thy love thou hast not been wanting to conquer our affections and to inflame our frozen hearts with love to thee and to our Neighbours also Thy life and Death comprehend the most endearing arguments imaginable and yet well maist thou ask us as once thou didst Peter Love you me but God knows there are but a very few who can unfeignedly say as this Disciple did Lord thou knowest that I love thee We can remember all thy sorrows without tears and look upon thy agonies with an unconcerned eye We can view thee in the Garden when grief and pain made thee sweat drops of bloud and behold thee as thou stoodst accused as a Malefactor before Pilate as thou wert contemned scourged and derided by impure worms and most spitefully represented in a fools habit we can ascend Mount Calvary and contemplate thee as enduring the most shameful death of the Cross and hanging betwixt two Thieves and all this time have Adamantine hearts which receive no impression Blessed Redeemer come touch these hearts of ours that they may be overcome with love that our wills and affections may be perfectly moulded according to thy pleasure Sure if we had any sparks of Generosity or common Ingenuity we could not thus despise so much love The very Publicans who were reputed the worst of men yet loved those that loved them And it hath even in the most degenerate times been reckoned the highest baseness to contemn Benefactors yet more brutish are we become than these and may very fitly be ranked in a Category inferior to that of bruits For the Ass as sacred Writ tells us knoweth his masters crib and the Ox his owner Isa 1.3 The very beasts in their own manner express a kinde of love to their Benefactors and yet although our Redeemer hath made our peace by his blood on the Cross and hath reversed that sentence of Damnation passed upon us although he hath endured the greatest dishonour and pain imaginable that we might be delivered from the wrath to come yet this unparallel'd kindness the greatest endearment of love hath not had the kindly effect to quicken our dead and benummed hearts but like a lifeless carcass we remain insensible without the least return of love And indeed it can scarce be well expected that the example of his love to us should engage us to love one another since it hath produced so little love in us to himself But however I need not take much pains to prove that hereby we demonstrate
our selves to be of all men the most ungrate and justly liable to the severest punishment ever inflicted upon the greatest criminal It would be too prolix to enumerate the several instances wherein Christ is set forth as our Pattern sure I am he hath by his example taught us the exercise of all vertues and I may say as himself said in another case If we know these things happy are we if we do them To sum up this Section it will not be amiss to obviate an Objection which is indeed but very trivial although it be too commonly urged the Objection is How is it possible for men to conform to Christ and be holy as he is holy Ans I have already told that it is not expected that we should imitate our blessed Redeemer in all and every of those actions he performed but in all those moral duties which he hath enjoyned by his righteous precepts and encouraged us by his example to perform these we must by no means neglect and to manifest the possibility of doing these we may satisfie our selves by viewing the pious and devout lives of primitive Christians It is a great mistake to think we are commanded to a rigorous and strict conversation which cannot be attained the faithful in former ages have run the same race that is set before us they have fully enough cleared the possibility of our duty Wherefore seeing we also as the Apostle argues are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us Heb. 12.1 For shame let us rather imitate the excellent holiness of primitive Christians than the impure practices of those who are strangers from the sacred Covenant O the perfect love and imitable kindness of the first professors of the Gospel what purity what integrity and innocence appeared in their lives how ravishing and splendent were their vertues and graces their Patience in suffering their Courage and Magnanimity in death their Temperance and Moderation their Charity and Compassion their Equality and Justice and their Contempt of this World and all earthly concerns for the sake and honour of their Master These were the vertues they were adorned with which made the Heathen world who hated the Doctrine they professed yet esteem and reverence them Bonus vir Cajus Sejus nisi Christianus SECT 2. Holiness the condition of future Happiness The desire of Happiness is so natural to all that partake of humane nature that it can no more be separate from it than heat can be from fire 'T is true the mistakes concerning happiness are as numerous as dangerous every one in this corrupt state is apt to frame a happiness which best suits his inclinations but yet there is no man so devoid of reason who doth not desire to be happy although indeed there be but a few who make use of the right means to attain to true felicity Daily experience puts it beyond doubt that a carnal and fictitious felicity is by the unwise sons of men pursued with the most indefatigable pains and industry possible Now how strange to amazement is it to think that men should be so sedulous in hunting after a fancied felicity and yet so negligent so careless and unconcerned about a real happiness which is both satisfying and lasting But not to digress that which I am now to urge is since happiness is that which excites men to perform any thing chearfully in order to the attaining of it how mightily should the expectation of a future felicity induce them to the practice of Holiness for betwixt the two our blessed Saviour has made an inseparable connexion Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in spirit for they shall see God and indeed it is the height of folly and madness for impure wretches to expect they shall be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints of light for as the Apostle tells us There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Rev. 21.27 Holiness is the established condition of happiness Heb. 12.14 Without holiness no man shall see God Hence is it that all the promises concerning our future felicity are onely made to those men who purifie themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and the great design of them is to encourage us to Holiness upon which account St. Paul draws a very pressing inference 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these promises of which he spake in the foregoing Chapter let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God There is nothing more certain than that onely holy souls are in a capacity of participating of that future felicity and these may without the least charge of presumption claim an interest in it But for those vitious wretches who are wholly polluted who have devoted themselves to commit sin with greediness and take pleasure in doing evil how utterly incapable are they if they continue such to dwell in his presence who is not a God that taketh pleasure in wickedness And now seeing there is such an inseparable connexion between Happiness and Holiness it cannot be amiss if we take a short view of the excellency of this coelestial felicity that it may more plainly appear what a notable encouragement and motive it is to holiness There be two things that forcibly recommend the excellency of that future state of bliss First A perfect freedom and immunity from all evils And Secondly a perpetual enjoyment of the chief good First it is a blessedness wholly exempt from evils whether of sense or loss 't is a happiness attended with no inconveniencies nor dismal circumstances as the happiest state here is we now walk in the midst of perplexing doubts and fears temptations increase our inquietudes and dangers our continual fears our complaints are by far more numerous than our joys nay what is our whole life but a scene where sorrow and fears act their parts Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of evil But our future blessedness quite excludes all those evils there is nothing admitted to imbitter that pleasant state Rev. 21.4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away The holy soul shall then no more complain of any dolorous hours the heavenly Jerusalem is a place unacquainted with every thing that is uneasie and troublesome And yet this is but the least part of the Saints felicity for as they shall enjoy a perfect freedom from evil so shall they also be advanced to the fullest fruition of that God where all the streams of goodness do finally empty themselves Blessed are the pure in spirit for they shall see God Matth. 5.8 They shall see him not as now through a Glass
Sir Joseph Copâ—ley Baâ—â— Without holiness no man shall see the lord Heb 12 14 Sold by R Sollers at the kings Armes Bible in St Pauls C yard F. H. Van Houe Sculp THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS WRITTEN By the Author of the Whole Duty of MAN c. To which is Added HOLY DEUOLIONS UPON Several Occasions Fitted to the Main Uses of A Christian Life 1. Chron. 16.29 Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness Heb. 12.14 Without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord The Fourth Impression LONDON Printed for Benjamin Crayle at the Lamb in Fleetstreet next White-Fryers-Gate 1684. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. OF the Nature of Holiness page 7. CHAP. II. Of the Rule of Holiness 11 CHAP. III. Motives and inducements to the practice of Holiness 48 Sect. 1. The noble pattern of Holiness 49 Sect. 2. Holiness the condition of future happiness 74 Sect. 3. Holiness the onely safe way to escape the wrath to come 82 Sect. 4. Holiness the main designe of the Gospel and the end of all Christs sufferings 87 Sect. 5. Holiness the most proper and effectual means for obtaining length of days 91 Sect. 6. Holiness that which makes men honourable Vice rendering men mean and ignoble 96 Sect. 7. Holiness attended with the most solid and real Pleasures 106 Sect. 8. Holiness accompanied with peace 114 Sect. 9. Holiness the best evidence of true Wisdom and real Worth and Courage 119 Sect. 10. Holiness universally profitable and above all things most advantageous 124 CHAP. IV. Frivolous Cavils and Objections removed 142 THE INTRODUCTION MAN in his original condition when he first came out of the hands of his Maker was a very noble and venerable Creature adorned with many peculiar excellencies and as the Psalmist observes Onely made a little lower than glorious Angels But of all his perfections Holiness as it was the principal and most oriental so did it also give a beauty and lustre to the rest It made his Authority and Power lovely and desirable his Wisdom and Knowledge venerable and every other attribute which without this is terrible and dreadful to be comely and praise-worthy This was that single perfection that raised Man above the beasts that perish and made him Heavens great favourite and darling which if it had been carefully preserved had undoubtedly secured our first Parents in Paradise and prevented that dreadful calamity that hath seized upon their Posterity But alas how are we fallen from Heaven to Earth from a Paradise of pure pleasures to a miserable and painful Prison We have lost that divine Image that was impressed upon Man in his primitive state which indeed compleated and alone preserved its beauty and comeliness and with it have also lost every thing that did then contribute to make us happy and are now become vile and abominable and as miserable as we were formerly happy How much a serious view of that primitive felicity Man in his innocent state enjoyed would contribute to plant in us a holy life I know not but I am sure it could not but mightily inhaunce the value of Holiness and make it lovely and desirable That man that reflects upon the dismal miseries he is exposed to in this lapsed estate to what an infinite number of inexpressible evils of insupportable pains he lies upon how he is hurried from a state of perfect bliss to a woful hell of extream torments How exceedingly amazing is this The very Poet could say Miserum est suisse heatum But God knows this is out very seldom and if ever but faintly reflected upon we are to our sharow become contented slaves and satisfied to bear Fetters and Chains we continually live in the midst of all evil never enjoy a moments solace or comfort notwithstanding of which like mad-men we are content with our state and like the Sow take pleasure to puddle in the mire And although that same diffusive and boundless goodness that first breathed in us the breath of life and framed us in his own likeness and image again pitied us in our low estate and provided the most valuable and Soveraign remedie to recover us from this mortal disease though he has procured a compleat Ransom to liberate us from the insupportable slavery and tyranny of sin has offered to restore our former beautie to repossess us of that happiness we had lost and to make us again Favourites and Freemen yet how insolently have we rejected this kinde offer how impiously have we cut those cords of love asunder and refuse to be healed 'T is indeed matter of great sadness to consider the lofty and intolerable affronts that are now cast upon Holiness how men are arrived at that pitch of impietie to scorn and deride Religion which former ages were at some pains to advance as if Holiness were inconsistent with the principles of Generosity and onely becoming mean and morose spirits How transcendent a folly and madness this is will easily appear by what I shall afterwards lay down Methinks the naked representation of Holiness should be motive enough if not to court it yet to engage men to correct their unreasonable prejudices they entertain against it and even force its greatest Antagonists to become its Advocates But alas vice hath cast such a dark shadow upon mens Judgements that they are become as unfit Judges of its beauty as blind men are of colours otherwise we might yet expect to see contemned Vertue much more in vogue than ever Vice was To excite our desires Scripture has represented it under the most comely dress has discovered its beauty and excellencie and recommended it by the most endearing motives which are apt to work both upon our hope and fear Vpon our hope by proposing an infinitely valuable reward to the righteous besides the present advantages that attend it Vpon our fear by opening to our view the powers of the world to come and discovering the insupportable misery that the damned suffer day and night so that if men would but so far actuate their Reason as soberly to consult their own interest and happiness I doubt not but this alone should be motive enough to excite them to the practise of Holiness and scare them from those ways of sin that lead down to the chambers of death It would make one would think the greatest Sensualist to relinquish the momentary pleasures he enjoys here to be possest of those eternal joys that the pure in spirit shall reap in the Kingdom of their Father and the most hardned and impregnable sinner tremble to think of dwelling with devouring flames Now the onely infallible way to attain those coelestial felicities and to evite the miserable consequences of vice and those pains and tortures that it exposeth its votaries to is to abandon every lust be it never so impetuous and to cleanse our selves as the Apostle adviseth us from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God For the better directing our present
loathsome diseases is attended with a prodigious multitude of temporal evils Prov. 23.22 and threatned with lasting eternal torments hereafter Hence our Royal Master fails not to exhort his Disciples to Take heed to themselves lest at any time they be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness Luke 21.34 And one of his blessed Apostles tells us that Drunkards shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.10 And indeed daily experience puts it beyond all doubt that those ignoble sins naturally tend to impoverish men and fully verifie the wise mans prediction That the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty Prov. 23.21 But passing those vertues that concern our Bodies I come now to consider those that adorn our Souls and I shall confine my discourse to those which are the peculiar graces of Christians and which the Christian rule does more particularly recommend Such as Humility Meekness Contentment and Self-denial If we enquire narrowly into the Lives of Heathen Philosophers we shall finde their pride and vain-glory stained the best of their actions Self-denial was a vertue never taught in their Schools and for Contentment the rules they prescribed were but ineffectual to recommend it But the Gospel couples our Duty and Interest together it commands Humility and recommends its advantages and alluring attractives It discovers the dangers that attend Pride and the great folly of being vain of Beauty Strength Wit Riches Honours or Preferments Of all these I may use the Apostle's phrase 'T is not expedient doubtless for men to glory 2 Cor. 12.7 Are not these the free gifts of Divine goodness and what can be more unreasonable than for dependent creatures to be proud Humility is indeed so amiable so endearing dearing a quaâ—ity and so noble an embelishment of our nature that where this is wanting all other advantages are little regarded and not onely men but the great God also resists the proud it being a vice which besides Christianity Morality also condemns as universally unbecoming to Humane nature and that which not onely disturbs ones self but also disquiets whole societies But God gives grace to the humble he takes such persons into favour as being more pliable to receive the impress of his love And as a humble so also a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price And can there be a more convincing motive than this to recommend meekness to Christians And indeed we cannot pretend to be the Disciples of holy Jesus if we refuse to learn that lesson he hath copied out to us Matth. 11.29 Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart Although a calm and quiet spirit is a reward to it self as every vertue is yet it wants not a claim to a temporal felicity also Matth. 5.5 Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth These be the persons to whom by right of promise this stately Fabrick of earth belongs And if we now view that unpleasant vice of Anger opposite to it this will yet adde more to its lustre and help to recommend it the more effectually Anger being such an unpleasant humour that it makes those men it possesses unfit for humane society it being not unfitly defined by the Poet to be a short madness which indeed agrees very well with the Wise mans verdict of it Eccl. Anger rests in the bosom of fools If then men would but compare the calm and happy serenity of Meekness with that inward and outward trouble and disquietment that is the effect of Anger they could not but esteem the one and declaim against the other In the next place our Christian rule recommends Contentment as the most precious Jewel in the Saints Diadem 't is that noble ingredient that makes the most bitter cup sweet and pleasant it renders things otherwise unsavory and burthensome to be indeed relishing and easie This is it that seasons the meanest meal makes a dish of herbs a feast and a cup of cold water please the palate This is that vertue which makes men in the midst of storms represent a calm and in the saddest circumstances to sing sweetly He who has learned St. Paul's lesson how to want and how to abound is not discomposed either by Prosperity or Adversity but in both cases can behave himself like a man in reason This is it which is inseparably connected with Godliness is the same thing expressed by different names This is a vertue so lovely and desirable attended with so many advantages that we have all imaginable encouragements to hearken to the Apostles advice Heb. 13.5 Be content with such things as ye have and in the evil day to heed that advice Christ gives his Disciples to possess our souls with patience But how disquieting and tormenting are its contraries Ambition makes men restless in raising their own value and esteem above others it prompts them to be always in dislike with their own present condition the least advancement of others above them gnaws and torments their spirits and oftentimes hurries them headlong to the greatest dangers Murmuring is a most fretting evil a most painful distemper a sin attended with the most dangerous consequents and which imbittereth the happiest state of life here Envy is a vice nothing less criminal attended with as dismal effects as any as the Apostle St. James tells Jam. 3.16 Where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work And lastly Covetousness is so mean and ignoble a vice that I think although it were not as the Apostle describes it the root of all evil yet gallant spirits should dislike it as being base and contemptible In the last place the Gospel recommends Self-denial as the Christians peculiar Character If any man says our Master Christ will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me And this precept he backs with the most powerful incitement For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it Mat. 16.24 25. I doubt not but flesh and bloud will cry out as once Christ's own Disciples did in another case This is a hard saying who can bear it 'T is indeed no small matter to bring down the carnal part of man to submit to the loss of Relations Interest and Life But since the advantage and danger of both cases is so clearly revealed what fools will men prove if to gain this life they lose the recompence of a better rewad As the rule of Holiness does thus instruct us in those duties that concern our selves so it also teacheth us how to carry towards others And in the first place it recommends the Royal Law of love as the spring and source of all other duties Rom. 13.9 If there be any other commandment 't is briefly comprehended in this saying namely Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self This for its excellency and comprehensiveness is said to be the fulfilling of the Law as those
Psalmists Example Psal 119.59 I thought on my ways I doubt not but they should also imitate the course he did take I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments But men consider not what they are doing and so no wonder though they perish no wonder that they prefer darkness to light and despise Holiness as a thing of no value Let us therefore humbly and heartily invoke the Father of Lights to open the Eyes of men whom the God of this world hath blinded that they may flee from the wrath to come by cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God Holy Devotions OR A COLLECTION OF PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGS Fitted to the main uses of a Christian Life PHILIP 4.6 Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God London Printed for Rob. Sollers at the Kings Arms and Bible in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. HOLY DEVOTIONS OR A Collection of Prayers A Prayer for Families on the Lords day in the Morning O Most holy and eternally blessed The heavens and the heaven of heavens is thine the earth also with all that therein is Thou art everywhere and canst not be excluded from any place but art present to the greatest secrets of our Souls and seest the closest and most retired thoughts of our Hearts Thou knowest very well with what designs and Affections we now bow our selves before thee and canst not be deceived by any words that we are able to speak in thy praise whilst our Hearts are far from thy fear and love Behold O Lord our Hearts are full with desires to be possessed with a mighty reverend sense of thee and all the benefits thou hast bestowed on us and be lifted up to Heaven in Love to thee and Joy in thee whilst we bless and praise thee and speak good of thy Name We here remember with all humility and thankfulness that thou art our Creator and acknowledge thy care and providence over thy antient People in blessing and Sanctifying a day wherein thou thy self restedst from thy works that they might cease from all other employments and admire thy wonderful works extol thy Power bless thy Goodness and be astonished at thy Wisdom in making preserving adorning and governing this excellent frame of the World The Heavens declare thy glory O God and the Firmament sheweth thy handy-work The Sun the Moon and all the Host of Heaven proclaim the greatness and splendour of thy Majesty The whole Earth is full of thy rich goodness so is the great and wide Sea wherein are things moving innumerable both small and great living Creatures There is nothing but what speaks of thee and above all the Children of men whom thou hast wonderfully made curiously wrought and impressed with thy own Image that they might understand thee and love thee in all and above all things The variety the order the stedfastness of all thy works in this great World abundantly utter thy adorable perfections But thou O Lord by thy goodness in giving thy Son for us and then raising him up from the Dead and setting him at thy right hand hast given us new matter of wonder and praise and consecrated a better rest and holy day of rejoycing wherein we should behold the glories of another World and have before our Eyes the happiness thou intendest for us there together with all the excellent means which lead unto it Thou givest us occasion not onely to reflect upon all the good things thou hast provided for our bodies which we can never acknowledge enough the very Health and Ease of one day deserving the thankfulness of many but we must also remember that we are thy redeemed ones and that thou hast done great things for our Souls in thy Son Jesus who is entred into the Heavens for us and gone to prepare a resting place for all those that follow him This exceeding riches of thy grace infinitely surpasses all our acknowledgments since all the praises we are able to render thee are less than is due for thy temporal blessings To this Love we owe the knowledge of thee the true and onely God our freedom from Idolatry and a vain Conversation the true principles of Holy living the benefit of repentance the promise of a pardon the assistance of thy Holy Spirit the ministry of thy Angels the hope of immortal Life and the pledges our Lord hath left us of his endless love To this we owe thy forbearance in the days of our ignorance thy unwearied patience towards us in a continued Rebellion and thy earnest intreaties of us when we were passionately bent upon our own destruction Thou hast sent us in much love many Holy Instructors and Guides to blessedness we have had the benefit of sundry Pious Sermons good Examples holy Admonitions and serious Councels of the Power of the Holy Ghost and divers restraints of Fear and Shame and Love and thou still pursuest us with thy merciful kindness and beseechest us to attend to thy gracious invitations and receive thy blessings and make thee our choice and be Eternally happy in thy divine favor and likeness What shall we render to the Lord for all his benefits towards us O help us to manifest our real and unfeigned desires to make some worthy returns to thee by our careful improvement of the Holy opportunity which thou this day puttest into our hands O that our mindes may be more enlightened to understand the Truth as it is in Jesus that our wills may be more stedfastly resolved to cleave unto it that our Affections may be excited to a stronger and more ardent Love to thee and a greater delight in thee and all the powers of our Souls disposed to serve thee at all other times more cheerfully and readily in all the Duties of Piety Soberness Righteousness and Mercy So that every day may become an Holy rest to the Lord by ceasing to do Evil and constantly doing well that we may Glorifie thee throughout our whole life in all our actions shewing forth thy praise who hast called us out of Darkness into thy marvellous Light And enlighten good Lord the whole World with the beams of thy Glorious Gospel and dispose the Hearts of all Christian People among whom the Son of righteousness hath shone so long to walk as Children of the Light that so they may offer unto thee this day most acceptable Sacrifices for themselves and for all mankind and be fitted and prepared by serving thee in Righteousness and true Holiness here to shine for ever in his Heavenly Kingdom with Christ Jesus our Saviour by whom thou hast given us good hope in thee that thou will hear our Prayers and do for us above all that we can ask or think which we humbly beg in those Holy words which he hath taught us saying Our Father c. Another for the Lords-day at Night O Most blessed for