the Augures gave an alarum to the City but if lightning struck the spire of the Capitoll they thought the summe of affairs and the Commonwealth it self was indanger'd And this Heathen folly hath stuck so close to the Christian that all the Sermons of the Church for 1600 years have not cured them all But the practises of weaker people and the artifice of ruling Priests have superinduced many new ones When Pope Eugenius sang Masse at Rhemes and some few drops from the Chalice were spilt upon the pavement it was thought to foretell mischief warres and bloud to all Christendome though it was nothing but carelesnesse and mischance of the Priest and because Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury sang the Masse of Requiem upon the day he was reconcil'd to his Prince it was thought to foretell his own death by that religious office and if men can listen to such whispers and have not reason and observation enough to confute such trifles they shall still be afrighted with the noise of birds and every night-raven shall foretell evill as Micaiah to the King of Israel and every old woman shall be a Prophetesse and the events of humane affairs which should be managed by the conduct of counsell of reason and religion shall succeed by chance by the flight of birds and the meeting with an evill eye by the falling of the salt or the decay of reason of wisdome and the just religion of a man To this may be reduc'd the observation of dreams and fears commenced from the fancies of the night For the superstitious man does not rest even when he sleeps neither is he safe because dreams usually are false but he is afflicted for fear they should tell true Living and waking men have one world in common they use the same air and fire and discourse by the same principles of Logick and reason but men that are asleep have every one a world to himself and strange perceptions and the superstitious hath none at all his reason sleeps and his fears are waking and all his rest and his very securities to the fearfull man turn into afrights and insecure expectation of evils that never shall happen they make their rest uneasie and chargeable and they still vex their weary soul not considering there is no other sleep for sleep to rest in and therefore if the sleep be troublesome the mans cares be without remedy till they be quite destroyed Dreams follow the temper of the body and commonly proceed from trouble or disease businesse or care an active head and a restlesse minde from fear or hope from wine or passion from fulnesse or emptinesse from phantastick remembrances or from som Daemon good or bad they are without rule and without reason they are as contingent as if a man should study to make a Prophesie and by saying 10000 things may hit upon one true which was therefore not foreknown though it was forespoken and they have no certainty because they have no naturall causality nor proportion to those effects which many times they are said to foresignifie The dream of the yolk of an egge importeth gold saith Artemidorus and they that use to remember such phantastick idols are afraid to lose a friend when they dream their teeth shake when naturally it will rather signifie a scurvy for a naturall indisposition and an imperfect sense of the beginning of a disease may vex the fancy into a symbolicall representation for so the man that dreamt he swam against a stream of bloud had a Plurisie beginning in his side and he that dreamt he dipt his foot in water and that it was turn'd to a Marble was intic'd into the fancie by a beginning dropsie and if the events do answer in one instance we become credulous in twenty for want of reason we discourse our selves into folly and weak observation and give the Devill power over us in those circumstances in which we can least resist him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A theef is confident in the twilight if you suffer impressions to be made upon you by dreams the Devill hath the reins in his own hands and can tempt you by that which will abuse you when you can make no resistance Dominica the wife of Valens the Emperor dreamt that God threatned to take away her only son for her despitefull usage of St. Basil the fear proceeding from this instance was safe and fortunate but if she had dreamt in the behalf of a Heretick she might have been cousened into a false proposition upon a ground weaker then the discourse of a waking childe Let the grounds of our actions be noble beginning upon reason proceeding with prudence measured by the common lines of men and confident upon the expectation of an usuall providence Let us proceed from causes to effects from naturall means to ordinary events and believe felicity not to be a chance but a choice and evill to be the daughter of sin and the Divine anger not of fortune and fancy let us fear God when we have made him angry and not be afraid of him when we heartily and laboriously do our duty our fears are to be measured by open revelation and certain experience by the threatnings of God and the sayings of wise men and their limit is reverence and godlinesse is their end and then fear shall be a duty and a rare instrument of many in all other cases it is superstition or folly it is sin or punishment the Ivy of Religion and the misery of an honest and a weak heart and is to be cured only by reason and good company a wise guide and a plain rule a cheerfull spirit and a contented minde by joy in God according to the commandements that is a rejoycing evermore 2. But besides this superstitious fear there is another fear directly criminall and it is cald worldly fear of which the Spirit of God hath said But the fearfull and incredulous shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death that is such fears which make men to fall in the time of persecution those that dare not own their faith in the face of a Tyrant or in despite of an accursed Law For though it be lawfull to be afraid in a storm yet it is not lawfull to leap into the sea though we may be more carefull for our fears yet we must be faithfull too and we may flie from the persecution till it overtakes us but when it does we must not change our Religion for our safety or leave the robe of Baptisme in the hand of the tempter and run away by all means St. Athanasius for 46 years did run and fight he disputed with the Arrians and fled from their Officers and that flies may be a man worth preserving if he bears his faith along with him and leaves nothing of his duty behinde but when duty and life cannot stand together he that then flies a persecution by delivering
come that is if it be not repented of it is punished here and hereafter which the Scripture does not affirm concerning all sins and all cases But in this the sinner gives sentence with his mouth and brings it to execution with his own hands Paena tamen praesens cum tu deponis amictum Turgidus et crudum pavonem in balneaportas The old gluttons among the Romans Heliogabalus Tigellius Crispus Montanus notaeque per oppida buccae famous Epicures mingled their meats with vomitings so did Vitellius and enter'd into their baths to digest their Phesants that they might speedily return to the Mullet and the Eeles of Syene and then they went home and drew their breath short till the morning and it may be not at all before night Hinc subitae mortes atque intestata senectus Their age is surprised at a feast and gives them not time to make their will but either they are choked with a large morsell and there is no room for the breath of the lungs and the motions of the heart or a feaver burns their eyes out or a quinzie punishes that intemperate throat that had no religion but the eating of the fat sacrifices the portions of the poor and of the Priest or else they are condemned to a Lethargie if their constitutions be dull and if active it may be they are wilde with watching Plurimus hinc aeger moritur vigilando sed illum Languorem peperit cibus imperfectus haerens Ardenti stomacho So that the Epicures geniall proverb may be a little alter'd and say Let us eat and drink for by this means to morrow we shall die but that 's not all for these men live a healthlesse life that is are long are every day dying and at last dye with torment Menander was too soft in his expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is indeed a death but gluttony is a pleasant death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this is the gluttons pleasure to breath short and difficultly scarce to be able to speak and when he does he cries out I dye and not with pleasure But the folly is as much to be derided as the men to be pityed that we daily see men afraid of death with a most intolerable apprehension and yet increase the evill of it the pain and the trouble and the suddennesse of its coming and the appendage of an unsufferable eternity Rem struere exoptant caeso bove Mercuriúmqque Arcessunt fibrâ They pray for herds of cattell and spend the breeders upon feasts and sacrifices For why do men go to Temples and Churches and make vowes to God and daily prayers that God would give them a healthfull body and take away their gout and their palfies their feavers and apoplexies the pains of the head and the gripings of the belly and arise from their prayers and powre in loads of flesh and seas of wine lest there should not be matter enough for a lusty disease Poscis opem'nervis corpúsqque fidele senectae Esto age sed grandes patinae tucetáqque crassa Annuere his superos vetuere Jov émqque morantur But it is enough that the rich glutton shall have his dead body condited and embalmed he may be allowed to stink and suffer corruption while he is alive These men are for the present living sinners and walking rottennesse and hereafter will be dying penitents and perfumed carcasses and their whole felicity is lost in the confusions of their unnaturall disorder When Cyrus had espyed Astyages and his fellowes coming drunk from a banquet loaden with variety of follies and filthinesse their legs failing them their eyes red and staring cousened with a moist cloud and abused by a doubled object their tongues full as spunges and their heads no wiser he thought they were poysoned and he had reason for what malignant quality can be more venomous and hurtfull to a man then the effect of an intemperate goblet and a full stomach it poysons both the soul and body All poysons do not kill presently and this will in processe of time and hath formidable effects at present But therefore me thinks the temptations which men meet withall from without are in themselves most unreasonable and soonest confuted by us He that tempts me to drink beyond my measure civilly invites me to a feaver and to lay aside my reason as the Persian women did their garments and their modesty at the end of feasts and all the question then will be which is the worse evill to resuse your uncivill kindnesse or to suffer a violent headach or to lay up heaps big enough for an English Surfeit Creon in the Tragedy said well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grieve thee O stranger or to he affronted by thee then to be tormented by thy kindnesse the next day and the morrow after and the freed man of Domitius the Father of Nero suffered himself to be kild by his Lord and the sonne of Praxaspes by Cambyses rather then they would exceed their own measures up to a full intemperance and a certain sicknesse and dishonour For as Plutarch said well to avoid the opinion of an uncivill man or being clownish to run into a pain of thy sides or belly into madnesse or a head-ach is the part of a fool and a coward and of one that knowes not how to converse with men citra pocula nidorem in any thing but in the famelick smels of meat and vertiginous drinkings Ebrius petulans qui nullum forte cecîdit Dat poenas noctem patitur lugentis amicum Pelidae A drunkard and a glutton feels the torments of a restlesse night although he hath not kil'd a man that is just like murtherers and persons of an afrighting conscience so wake the glutton so broken and sick and disorderly are the slumbers of the drunkard Now let the Epicure boast his pleasures and tell how he hath swallowed the price of Provinces and gobbets of delicious flesh purchased with the rewards of souls let him brag furorem illum conviviorum foedissimum patrimoniorum exitium culinam of the madnesse of delicious feasts and that his kitchin hath destroyed his Patrimony let him tell that he takes in every day Quantum Lauseia bibebat As much wine as would refresh the sorrowes of 40 languishing prisoners or let him set up his vain-glorious triumph Ut quod multi Damalis meri Bassum Threiciâ vicit amystide That he hath knock'd down Damalis with the 25th bottle and hath outfeasted Anthony or Cleopatra's luxury it is a goodly pleasure and himself shall bear the honour Rarum memorabile magni Gutturis exemplum conducendúsqque magister But for the honour of his banquet he hath some ministers attending that he did not dream of and in the midst of his loud laughter the gripes of the belly and the feavers of the brain Pallor genae pendulae oculorum ulcera tremulae
give us these gifts and when he hath finished the prayers and thanksgiving all the people that is present with a joyfull acclamation say Amen Which when it is done by the Presidents and people those which amongst us are called Deacons and Ministers distribute to every one that is present that they may partake of him in whom the thanks were presented the Eucharist bread wine and water and may beare it to the absent Moreover this nourishment is by us called the Eucharist which it is lawfull for none to partake but to him who beleeves our doctrine true and is washed in the Laver for the remission of sins and regeneration and that lives so as Christ delivered For we doe not take it as common bread common drink but as by the word of God Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world was made flesh and for our salvation sake had flesh and bloud after the same manner also we are taught that this nourishment in which by the prayers of his word which is from him the food in which thanks are given or the consecrated food by which our flesh bloud by mutation or change are nourished is the flesh bloud of the incarnate Jesus For the Apostles in their commentaries which they wrote which are called the Gospells so delivered that Jesus commanded For when he had given thanks and taken bread he said Doe this in remembrance of me This is my body And likewise taking the Chalice and having given thanks he said This is my bloud and that he gave it to them alone This one testimony I reckon as sufficient who please to see more may observe the tradition full testified and intire in Ignatius Clemens Romanus or who ever wrote the Apostolicall constitutions in his name Tertullian S. Cyprian S. Athanasius Epiphanius S. Basil S. Chrysostome almost every where S. Hierome S. Augustine and indeed we cannot look in vain into any of the old writers The summe of whose doctrine in this particular I shall represent in the words of the most ancient of them S. Ignatius saying that he is worse then an infidell that offers to officiate about the holy Altar unlesse he be a Bishop or a Priest And certainly he could upon no pretence have challenged the Appellative of Christian who had dared either himselfe to invade the holy rites within the Cancels or had denyed the power of celebrating this dreadfull mystery to belong onely to sacerdotall ministration For either it is said to be but common bread and wine and then if that were true indeed any body may minister it but then they that say so are blasphemous they count the bloud of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Paul calls it in imitation of the words of institution The bloud of the Covenant or new Testament a profane or common thing they discerne not the Lords body they know not that the bread that is broken is the communication of Christs body But if it be a holy separate or divine and mysterious thing who can make it ministerially I mean and consecrate or sublime it from common and ordinary bread but a consecrate separate and sublimed person It is to be done either by a naturall power or by a supernaturall A naturall cannot hallow a thing in order to God and they onely have a supernaturall who have derived it from God in order to this ministration who can show that they are taken up into the lot of that Deacon-ship which is the type and representment of that excellent ministery of the true Tabernacle where Jesus himselfe does the same thing in a higher and a more excellent manner This is the great secret of the kingdome to which in the Primitive Church many who yet had given up their names to Christ by designation or solemnity were not admitted so much as to the participation as the Catechumens the Audientes the Poenitentes Neophytes and Children and the ministery of it was not onely reserved for sacred persons but also performed with so much mysterious secrecy that many were not permitted so much as to see This is that rite in which the Priest intercedes for and blesses the people offering in their behalfe not onely their prayers but applying the sacrifice of Christ to their prayers and representing them with glorious advantages and tithes of acceptation which because it was so excellent celestiall sacred mysticall and supernaturall it raised up the persons too that the ministeriall Priesthood in the Church might according to the nature of all great imployments passe an excellency and a value upon the ministers And therefore according to the naturall reason of religion and the devotion of all the world the Christians because they had the greatest reason so to doe did honour their Clergy with the greatest veneration and esteem It is without a Metaphor regale sacerdotium a royall Priesthood so S. Peter which although it be spoken in generall of the Christian Church and in an improper large sense is verified of the people yet it is so to be expounded as that parallel place of the books of Moses from whence the expression is borrowed Yee shall be a kingdome of Priests and an Holy Nation which plainly by the sense and Analogy of the Mosaick law signifies a nation blessed by God with rites and ceremonies of a separate religion a kingdome in which Priests are appointed by God a kingdome in which nothing is more honourable then the Priesthood for it is certain the nation was famous in all the world for an honorable Priesthood and yet the people were not Priests in any sense but of a violent Metaphor And therefore the Christian ministery having greater privileges and being honoured with attrectation of the body and bloud of Christ and offices serving to a better Covenant may with greater argument be accounted excellent honorable and royall and all the Church be called a royall Priesthood the denomination being given to the whole from the most excellent part because they altogether make one body under Christ the head the medium of the union being the Priests the collectors of the Church and instrument of adunation and reddendo singula singulis dividing to each his portion of the expression the people is a peculiar people the Clergy a holy Priesthood and all in conjunction and for severall excellencies a chosen Nation so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Priesthood of the kingdome that is the ministery of the Gospell for in the new Testament the kingdome signifies the Gospell and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kingly is of or belonging to the Gospell for therefore it is observable it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not well rendred by the vulgar Latine regale sacerdotium as if Kingly were the Appellative or Epithete of this Priesthood it
God confirmed by miracles was an intire faith and although they might have false opinions or mistaken explications of true opinions either inartificiall or misunderstood yet we have reason to beleeve their faith to be intire for that which God would have the Heathen to beleeve and to that purpose prov'd it by a miracle himselfe intended to accept first to a holy life and then to glory The false opinion should burn and themselves escape One thing more is here very considerable that in this very instance of working miracles God was so very carefull not to hear sinners or permit sinners till he had prevented all dangers to good and innocent persons that the case of Christ and his Apostles working miracles was so clearly separated and remarked by the finger of God and distinguished from the impostures and pretences of all the many Antichrists that appeared in Palestine Cyprus Crâ—te Syria and the voicinage that there were but very few Christians that with hearty perswasions fell away from Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Galen It is not easie to teach anew him that hath been taught by Christ And St. Austin tels a story of an unbeleeving man that being troubled that his wife was a Christian went to the Oracle to aske by what means hee should alter her perswasion but he was answered it could never be done he might as well imprint characters upon the face of a torrent or a rapid river or himself fly in the air as alter the perswasion of a hearty and an honest Christian I would to God it were so now in all instances and that it were so hard to draw men from the severities of a holy life as of old they could be cousened disputed or forced out of their faith Some men are vexed with hypocrisie and then their hypocrisie was punished with infidelity and a wretchlesse spirit Demas and Simon Magus and Ecebolius and the lapsed Confessors are instances of humane craft or humane weaknesse but they are scarce a number that are remarked in Ancient story to have fallen from Christianity by direct persuasions or the efficacy of abusing arguments and discourses The reason of it is the truth in the text God did so avoyd hearing sinners in this affair that he never permitted them to doe any miracles so as to doe any mischief to the souls of good men and therefore it is said the enemies of Christ came in the power of signes and wonders able to deceive if it were possible even the very elect but that was not possible without their faults it could not be the elect were sufficiently strengthened and the evidence of Christs being heard of God and that none of his enemies were heard of God to any dangerous effect was so great that if any Christian had apostatized or fallen away by direct perswasion it was like the sin of a falling Angell of so direct a malice that he never could repent and God never would pardon him as St. Paul twice remarks in his Epistle to the Hebrews The result of this discourse is the first sense and explication of the words God heareth not sinners viz. in that in which they are sinners a sinner in his manners may be heard in his prayer in order to the confirmation of his faith but if he be a sinner in his faith God hears him not at all in that wherein he sins for God is truth and cannot confirm a lye and when ever he permitted the Devill to doe it he secur'd the interest of his Elect that is of all that beleeve in him and love him lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting 2. That which yet concerns us more neerly is that God heareth not sinners that is if wee be not good men our prayers will doe us no good wee shall be in the condition of them that never pray at all The prayers of a wicked man are like the breath of corrupted lungs God turns away from such unwholsome breathings But that I may reduce this necessary doctrine to a method I shall consider that there are some persons whose prayers are sins and some others whose prayers are ineffectuall some are such who doe not pray lawfully they sin when they pray while they remain in that state and evill condition others are such who doe not obtain what they pray for and yet their prayer is not a direct sin the prayer of the first is a direct abomination the prayer of the second is hindred the first is corrupted by a direct state of sin the latter by some intervening imperfection and unhandsome circumstance of action and in proportion to these it is required 1. that he be in a state and possibility of acceptation and 2. that the prayer it selfe be in a proper disposition 1. Therefore wee shall consider what are those conditions which are required in every person that prays the want of which makes the prayer to be a sin 2ly What are the conditions of a good mans prayer the absence of which makes that even his prayer returns empty 3ly What degrees and circumstances of piety are required to make a man fit to be an intercessor for others both with holinesse in himself and effect to them he prays for And 4ly as an appendix to those considerations I shall adde the proper indices and significations by which we may make a judgment whether God hath heard our prayers or no. 1. Whosoever prays to God while he is in a state or in the affection to sin his prayer is an abomination to God This was a truth so beleeved by all Nations of the world that in all Religions they ever appointed baptismes and ceremoniall expiations to cleanse the persons before they presented themselves in their holy offices Deorum Templa cum adire disponitis ab omni vos labe puros lautos castissimósque praestatis said Arnobius to the Gentiles When you addresse your selves to the Temples of your Gods you keep your selves chast and clean and spotlesse They washed their hands and wore white garments they refused to touch a dead body they avoyded a spot upon their clothes as they avoyded a wound upon their head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That was the religious ground they went upon an impure thing ought not to touch that which is holy much lesse to approach the Prince of purities and this was the sense of the old world in their lustrations and of the Jews in their preparatory baptismes they wash'd their hands to signifie that they should cleanse them from all iniquity and keep them pure from bloud and rapine they washed their garments but that intended they should not be spotted with the flesh and their follies consisted in this that they did not looke to the bottome of their lavatories they did not see through the vail of their ceremonies Flagitiis omnibus inquinati veniunt ad precandum se piè sacrificasse opinantur si cutem laverint tanquam libidines intra pectus inclusas ulla amnis abluat
he can goe that goes from God his owne sorrowes will soon enough instruct him This fire must never goe out but it must be like the fire of heaven it must shine like the starres though sometimes cover'd with a cloud or obscur'd by a greater light yet they dwell for ever in their orbs and walk in their circles and observe their circumstances but goe not out by day nor night and set not when Kings die nor are extinguish'd when Nations change their Government So must the zeal of a Christian be a constant incentive of his duty and though sometimes his hand is drawne back by violence or need and his prayers shortned by the importunity of businesse and some parts omitted by necessities and just complyances yet still the fire is kept alive it burns within when the light breaks not forth and is eternall as the orb of fire or the embers of the Altar of Incense 3. No man is zealous as he ought but he that delights in the service of God without this no man can persevere but must faint under the continuall pressure of an uneasie load If a man goes to his prayers as children goe to schoole or give alms as those that pay contribution and meditate with the same willingnesse with which young men die this man does personam sustinere he acts a part which he cannot long personate but will find so many excuses and silly devices to omit his duty such tricks to run from that which will make him happy he will so watch the eyes of men and be so sure to doe nothing in private he will so often distinguish and mince the duty into minutes and little particles he will so tie himself to the letter of the Law and be so carelesse of the intention and spirituall designe he will be punctuall in the ceremony and trifling in the secret and he will be so well pleased when he is hindred by an accident not of his own procuring and will have so many devices to defeat his duty and to cosuen himselfe that he will certainly manifest that he is afraid of Religion and secretly hates it he counts it a burthen and an objection and then the man is sure to leave it when his circumstances are so fitted But if we delight in it we enter into a portion of the reward as soon as we begin the worke and the very grace shall be stronger then the temptation in its very pretence of pleasure and therefore it must needs be pleasing to God because it confesses God to be the best Master Religion the best work and it serves God with choice and will and reconciles our nature to it and entertaines our appetite and then there is no ansa or handle left whereby we can easily be drawne from duty when all parties are pleased with the imployment But this delight is not to be understood as if it were alwayes required that we should feele an actuall cheerfulnesse and sensible joy such as was that of Jonathan when he had newly tasted honey and the light came into his eyes and he was refreshed and pleasant This happens sometimes when God please to intice or reward a mans spirit with little Antepasts of heaven but such a delight onely is necessary and a duty that we alwayes choose our duty regularly and undervalue the pleasures of temptation and proceed in the work of grace with a firme choice and unabated election our joy must be a joy of hope a joy at least of confident sufferers the joys of faith and expectation rejoycing in hope so the Apostle calls it that is a going forward upon such a perswasion as sees the joyes of God laid up for the Children of men and so the sun may shine under a cloud and a man may rejoyce in persecution and delight in losses that is though his outward man groanes and faints and dies yet his spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inner man is confident and industrious and hath a hope by which it lives and works unto the end It was the case of our blessed Saviour in his agony his soule was exceeding sorrowfull unto death and the load of his Fathers anger crushed his shoulder and bowed his knees to the ground and yet he chose it and still went forward and resolved to die and did so and what wee choose wee delight in and wee thinke it to be eligible and therefore amiable and fit by its proper excellencies and appendages to be delighted in it is not pleasant to the flesh at all times for its dignity is spirituall and heavenly but therefore it is proportioned to the spirit which is as heavenly as the reward and therefore can feel the joys of it when the body hangs the head and is uneasie and troubled These are the necessary parts of zeale of which if any man failes he is in a state of lukewarmnesse and that is a spirituall death As a banished man or a condemned person is dead civilly he is diminutus capite he is not reckoned in the census nor partakes of the priviledges nor goes for a person but is reckoned among things in the possession of others so is a lukewarm person he is corde diminutus he is spiritually dead his heart is estranged from God his affections are lessened his hope diminished and his title cancell'd and he remains so unlesse 1. he prefers Religion before the world and 2. spiritually rejoyces in doing his duty and 3. doe it constantly and with perseverance These are the heats and warmth of life whatsoever is lesse then this is a disease and leads to the coldnesse and dishonors of the grave SERMON XIV Part III. 3. SO long as our zeal and forwardnesse in Religion hath only these constituent parts it hath no more then can keep the duty alive but beyond this there are many degrees of earnestnesse and vehemence which are progressions towards the state of perfection which every man ought to design and desire to be added to his portion of this sort I reckon frequency in prayer and almes above our estate Concerning which two instances I have these two cautions to insert 1. Concerning frequency in prayer it is an act of zeal so ready and prepared for the spirit of a man so easie and usefull so without objection and so fitted for every mans affairs his necessities and possibilities that he that prayes but seldome cannot in any sense pretend to be a religious person For in Scripture there is no other rule for the frequency of prayer given us but by such words which signifie we should do it alwaies Pray continually and Men ought alwayes to pray and not to faint And then men have so many necessities that if we should esteem our needs to be the circumstances and positive determination of our times of prayer we should be very far from admitting limitation of the former words but they must mean that we ought to pray frequently every day For in danger and trouble naturall Religion
teaches us to pray In a festivall fortune our prudence and our needs inforce us equally For though we feel not a present smart yet we are certain then is our biggest danger and if we observe how the world treats her darlings men of riches and honour of prosperity and great successe we cannot but confesse them to be the most miserable of all men as being in the greatest danger of losing their biggest interest For they are bigger then the iron hand of Law and they cannot be restrain'd with fear the hand grasps a power of doing all that which their evill heart can desire and they cannot be restrained with disability to sin they are flatter'd by all mean and base and indiligent persons which are the greatest part of mankinde but few men dare reprove a potent sinner he shall every day be flattered and seldome counselled and his great reflexions and opinions of his condition makes him impatient of reproof and so he cannot be restrain'd with modesty and therefore as the needs of the poor man his rent day and the cryes of his children and the oppression he groans under and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his uneasie ill sleeping care will make him run to his prayers that in heaven a new decree may be passed every day for the provisions of his daily bread so the greater needs of the rich their temptations and their dangers the flattery and the vanity the power and the pride their businesse and evill estate of the whole world upon them cals upon them to be zealous in this instance that they pray often that they pray without ceasing For there is great reason they should do so and great security and advantage if they do For he that prayes well and prayes often must needs be a good and a blessed man and truly he that does not deserves no pity for his misery For when all the troubles and dangers of his condition may turn into his good if he will but desire they should when upon such easie terms he may be happy for there is no more trouble in it then this Aske and ye shall receive that 's all that is required no more turnings and variety in their road when I say at so cheap a rate a poor man may be provided for and a rich man may escape damnation they that refuse to apply themselves to this remedy quickly earnestly zealously and constantly deserves the smart of his poverty and the care of it and the scorne if he be poor and if he be rich it is fit he should because he desires it dye by the evils of his proper danger * It was observed by Cassian orationibus maximè infidiantur Daemones the Devill is more busie to disturb our prayers then to hinder any thing else For else it cannot be imagined why we should be brought to pray so seldome and to be so listlesse to them and so trifling to them No The Devill knowes upon what hard terms he stands with the praying man he also knows that it is a mighty cmanation of Gods infinite goodnesse and a strange desire of saving mankinde that he hath to so easie a duty promised such mighty blessings For God knowing that upon hard terms we would not accept of heaven it self and yet hell was so intolerable a state that God who loved us would affixe heaven to a state of prayer and devotion this because the Devill knowes to be one of the greatest arts of the Divine mercy he labours infinitely to supplant and if he can but make men unwilling to pray or to pray coldly or to pray seldome he secures his interest and destroys the mans and it is infinitely strange that he can and doth prevail so much in this so unreasonable temptation Opposuisti nubem ne transirot oratio the mourning Prophet complained there was a cloud passed between heaven and the prayer of Judah a little thing God knowes it was a wall which might have been blown down with a few hearty sighs and a few penitentiall tears or if the prayers had ascended in a full and numerous body themselves would have broken through that little partition but so the Devill prevails often opponit nubem he claps a cloud between some little objection a stranger is come or my head akes or the Church is too cold or I have letters to write or I am not disposed or it is not yet time or the time is past these and such as these are the clouds the Devill claps between heaven and us but these are such impotent objections that they were as soon confuted as pretended by all men that are not fools or professed enemies of Religion but that they are clouds which sometimes look like Lions and Bears Castles and wals of fire armies and horses and indeed are any thing that a man will fancy and the smallest article of objection managed and conducted by the Devils arts and meeting with a wretchlesse carelesse indevout spirit is a Lion in the way and a deep river it is impassable and it is impregnable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Sophister said in the Greek Comedy Clouds become any thing as they are represented Wolves to Simon Harts to Cleonymus For the Devill fits us with clouds according as we can be abused and if we love affairs of the world he can contrive its circumstances so that they shall crosse our prayers and so it is in every instance and the best way to cure this evill is prayer pray often and pray zealously and the sun of righteousnesse will scatter these clouds and warm our hearts with his holy fires But it is in this as in all acquired habits the habit makes the actions easie and pleasant but this habit cannot be gotten without frequent actions habits are the daughters of action but then they nurse their mother and produce daughters after her image but far more beautifull and prosperous For in frequent prayer there is so much rest and pleasure that as soon as ever it is perceived the contrary temptation appears unreasonable none are so unwilling to pray as they that pray seldome for they that do pray often and with zeal and passion and desire feel no trouble so great as when they are forced to omit their holy offices and hours of prayer It concerns the Devils interest to keep us from all the experience of the rewards of a frequent and holy prayer and so long as you will not try and taste how good and gracious the Lord is to the praying man so long you cannot see the evill of your coldnesse and lukewarm state but if you would but try though it be but for curiosity sake and informe your selves in the vanity of things and the truth of pretences and the certainty of Theologicall propositions you should finde your selves taken in a golden snare which will tye you to nothing but felicity and safety and holinesse and pleasures But then the caution which I intended to insert is this that
pleasure from emptynesse and variety from poverty or a humble Table Plerumque gratae principibus vices Mundaeque parvo sub lare pauperum Coenae sine aulaeis ostro Sollicitam explicuere frontem But however of all the things in the world a man may best and most easily want pleasure which if you have enjoyed it passes away at the present and leaves nothing at all behinde it but sorrow and sowre remembrances No man felt a greater pleasure in a goblet of wine then Lysimachus when he fought against the Getae and himselfe and his whole Army were compell'd by thirst to yeeld themselves to bondage but when the wine was sunk as farre as his navel the pleasure was gone and so was his Kingdome and his liberty for though the sorrow dwells with a man pertinaciously yet the pleasure is swift as lightning and more pernicious but the pleasures of a sober and a temperate Table are pleasures till the next day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Timotheus said of Plato's Scholars they converse sweetly and are of perfect temper and delicacy of spirit even the next morning whereas the intemperate man is forced to lye long in bed and forget that there is a Sun in the skie he must not be call'd till he hath concocted and slept his surfeit into a trace and a quiet respite but whatsoever this man hath suffer'd certain it is that the poore mans head did not ake neither did he need the juice of poppies or costly cordials Physitians or Nurses to bring him to his right shape again like Apuleius's Asse with eating roses and let him turne his hour-glasse he will finde his head akes longer then his throat was pleased and which is worst his glasse runs out with joggings and violence and every such concussion with a surfeit makes his life look neerer its end and ten to one but it will before its naturall period be broken in pieces If these be the pleasures of an Epicures Table I shall pray that my friends may never feele them but he that sinneth against his Maker shall fall into the calamities of intemperance 3. Intemperance is the Nurse of vice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Venus milk so Aristophanes calls wine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mother of all grievous things so Pontianus For by the experience of all the world it is the baud to lust and no man must ever dare to pray to God for a pure soul in a chaste body if himself does not live temperately if himselfe make provisions for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it for in this case he shall find that which enters into him shall defile him more then he can be cleansed by those vain prayers that come from his tongue and not from his heart Intemperance makes rage and choler pride and fantastick principles it makes the body a sea of humours and those humours the seat of violence by faring deliciously every day men become senselesse of the evills of mankind inapprehensive of the troubles of their Brethren unconcerned in the changes of the world and the cryes of the poor the hunger of the fatherlesse and the thirst of widows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Diogenes Tyrants never come from the cottages of them that eat pulse and course fare but from the delicious beds and banquets of the effeminate and rich feeders For to maintain plenty and luxury sometimes wars are necessary and oppressions and violence but no Land-lord did ever grinde the face of his Tenants no Prince ever suck'd bloud from his subjects for the maintenance of a sober and a moderate proportion of good things And this was intimated by S. James Doe not rich men oppresse you and draw you before the Judgment seat For all men are passionate to live according to that state in which they were born or to which they are devolved or which they have framed to themselves Those therefore that love to live high and deliciously Et quibus in solo vivendi causa palato who live not to God but to their belly not to sober counsels but to an intemperate table have framed to themselves a manner of living which oftentimes cannot be maintain'd but by injustice and violence which coming from a man whose passions are made big with sensuality and an habituall folly by pride and forgetfulnesse of the condition and miseries of mankind are alwayes unreasonable and sometimes intolerable regustatum digito terebrare salinum Contentus perages si vivere cum Jove tendis Formidable is the state of an intemperate man whose sin begins with sensuality and grows up in folly and weak discourses and is fed by violence and applauded by fooles and parasites full bellies and empty heads servants and flatterers whose hands are full of flesh and blood and their hearts empty of pity and naturall compassion where religion cannot inhabit and the love of God must needs be a stranger whose talk is loud and trifling injurious and impertinent and whose imployment is the same with the work of the sheep or the calfe alwayes to eat their loves are the lusts of the lower belly and their portion is in the lower regions to eternall ages where their thirst and their hunger and their torment shall be infinite 4. Intemperance is a perfect destruction of Wisdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a full gorg'd belly never produc'd a sprightly mind and therefore these kind of men are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 slow bellies so S. Paul concerning the intemperate Cretans out of their owne Poet they are like the Tigres of Brasil which when they are empty are bold and swift and full of sagacity but being full sneak away from the barking of a village dog So are these men wise in the morning quick and fit for businesse but when the sun gives the signe to spread the tables and intemperance brings in the messes and drunkennesse fills the bouls then the man fals away and leaves a beast in his room nay worse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are dead all but their throat and belly so Aristophanes hath fitted them with a character carkasses above halfe way Plotinus descends one step lower yet affirming such persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are made trees whose whole imployment and life is nothing but to feed and suck juices from the bowels of their Nurse and Mother and indeed commonly they talke as trees in a wind and tempest the noise is great and querulous but it signifies nothing but trouble and disturbance A full meal is like Sisera's banquet at the end of which there is a nail struck into a mans head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Porphyrie it knocks a man down and nayls his soul to the sensuall mixtures of the body For what wisdome can be expected from them whose soul dwels in clouds of meat and floats up and down in wine like the spilled cups which fell from their hands when they could lift them to their heads no longer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
passes the time with incogitancy and hates the imployment and suffers the torments of prayers which he loves not and all this although for so doing it is certain he may perish what fruit what deliciousnesse can he fancy in being weary of his prayers There is no pretence or colour for these things Can any man imagine a greater evill to the body and soul of a man then madnesse and furious eyes and a distracted look palenesse with passion and trembling hands and knees and furiousnesse and folly in the heart and head and yet this is the pleasure of anger and for this pleasure men choose damnation But it is a great truth that there are but very few sins that pretend to pleasure although a man be weak and soon deceived and the Devill is crafty and sin is false and impudent and pretences are too many yet most kinds of sins are reall and prime troubles to the very body without all manner of deliciousnesse even to the sensuall naturall and carnall part and a man must put on something of a Devill before he can choose such sins and he must love mischief because it is a sin for in most instances there is no other reason in the world Nothing pretends to pleasure but the lusts of the lower belly ambition and revenge and although the catalogue of sins is numerous as the production of fishes yet these three only can be apt to cousen us with a fair outside and yet upon the survey of what fruits they bring and what taste they have in the manducation besides the filthy relish they leave behind we shall see how miserably they are abused and fool'd that expend any thing upon such purchases 2. For a man cannot take pleasure in lusts of the flesh in gluttony or drunkennesse unlesse he be helped forward with inconsideration and folly For we see it evidently that grave and wise persons men of experience and consideration are extremely lesse affected with lust and loves the hare-brain'd boy the young gentleman that thinks nothing in the world greater then to be free from a Tutor he indeed courts his folly and enters into the possession of lust without abatement consideration dwels not there but when a sober man meets with a temptation and is helped by his naturall temper or invited by his course of life if he can consider he hath so many objections and fears so many difficulties and impediments such sharp reasonings and sharper jealousies concerning its event that if he does at all enter into folly it pleases him so little that he is forced to do it in despite of himself and the pleasure is so allayed that he knowes not whether it be wine or vinegar his very apprehension and instruments of relish are fill'd with fear and contradicting principles and the deliciousnesse does but affricare cutem it went but to the skin but the allay went further it kept a guard within and suffered the pleasure to passe no further A man must resolve to be a fool a rash inconsiderate person or he will feel but little satisfaction in the enjoyment of his sin indeed he that stops his nose may drink down such corrupted waters and he understood it well who chose rather to be a fool Dum mala delectent mea me vel denique fallant Quà m sapere ringi so that his sins might delight him or deceive him then to be wise and without pleasure in the enjoyment So that in effect a man must lose his discerning faculties before he discerns the little phantastick joyes of his concupiscence which demonstrates how vain how empty of pleasure that is that is beholding to folly and illusion to a jugling and a plain cousenage before it can be fancyed to be pleasant For it is a strange beauty that he that hath the best eyes cannot perceive and none but the blinde or blear-ey'd people can see and such is the pleasure of lust which by every degree of wisdome that a man hath is lessened and undervalued 3. For the pleasures of intemperance they are nothing but the reliques and images of pleasure after that nature hath been feasted For so long as she needs that is so long as temperance waits so long pleasure also stands there But as temperance begins to go away having done the ministeries of Nature every morsell and every new goblet is still lesse delicious and cannot be endured but as men force nature by violence to stay longer then she would How have some men rejoyced when they have escaped a cup and when they cannot escape they pour it in and receive it with as much pleasure as the old women have in the Lapland dances they dance the round but there is a horror and a harshnesse in the Musick and they call it pleasure because men bid them do so but there is a Devill in the company and such as is his pleasure such is theirs he rejoyces in he thriving sin and the swelling fortune of his darling drunkennesse but his joyes are the joyes of him that knowes and alwayes remembers that he shall infallibly have the biggest damnation and then let it be considered how forc'd a joy that is that is at the end of an intemperate feast Non benè mendaci risus componitur ore Nec benè sollicitis ebria verba sonant Certain it is intemperance takes but natures leavings when the belly is full and nature cals to take away the pleasure that comes in afterwards is next to loathing it is like the relish and taste of meats at the end of the third course or the sweetnesse of honey to him that hath eaten til he can endure to take no more and in this there is no other difference of these men from them that die upon another cause then was observed among the Phalangia of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some of these serpents make men die laughing and some to die weeping so does the intemperate and so does his brother that languishes of a consumption this man dies weeping and the other dies laughing but they both die infallibly and all his pleasure is nothing but the sting of a serpent immixte liventia mella veneno it wounds the heart and he dies with a Tarantula dancing and singing till he bowes his neck and kisses his bosome with the fatall noddings and declensions of death 4. In these pretenders to pleasure which you see are but few and they not very prosperous in their pretences there is mingled so much trouble to bring them to act and injoyment that the appetite is above half tired before it comes It is necessary a man should be hugely patient that is ambitious Ambulare per Britannos Scythicas pati pruinas no man buy 's death and damnation at so dear a rate as he that fights for it and endures cold and hunger Patiens liminis atque solis The heat of the sun and the cold of the threshold the dangers of war and the snares of a crafty enemy he lies