sure Argument that God was fully reconciled and Life purchased for us Which assurance we could not have had if Christ our pledge had still remained under the power of death for as much as his continuance in his payment would ever have argued the imperfection of it The summ of all is this That our Justification was begun in Christ's Death but was perfected by his Resurrection That we have Redemption by his abasement and Application of it by his advancement 3. Again The pacification of our Consciences the confirmation of our Faith and the support of our Hope depended all upon the Exercise of his Regal Office which was mainly to triumph over his and our Enemies the last of them especially Death which he could never be said to have done while he still remained under its Dominion For then he had never ransomed Men from the power of the Grave nor redeemed them from Death but as it followeth in Hosea 13. 14. Death had been his Plague and the Grave his Destruction and so ours too So far should he then have been from swallowing it up in victory or leading captivity captive that himself should have been a slave and a captive to them so far from spoiling Principalities and Powers or making a shew of them openly triumphing over them that the gates of Hell should have prevailed against Himself and consequently against his Church contrary to his express Word and Promise Mat. 16. 18. 4. Not possible as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implies an unsuitableness or incongruity as well as an absolute impossibility for id possumus quod jure possumus And according to this notion of the word 't was impossible that is 't was altogether unsuitable and unbecoming as I may so say God to suffer Christ to be under the power and dominion of Death It did not become his Love thus to forsake his only beloved Son nor his Justice to suffer his Holy One to see Corruption to leave his Soul in Hell i. e. the Grave who had done no violence neither was guile found in his mouth or to let him go without his reward who by his active and passive Obedience the Sufferings in his Life and Obedience at his Death had merited Heaven for himself and us It being most unfit that he should remain any longer in Death's prison who had paid his own and our debt even to the discharging of the very uttermost farthing And to conclude this point How unbeseeming the Power of God was it also even in the judgment of Reason That he that looseth the bands of Orion should not be able to break Death's cords That that Death which God never made a meer privation should fetter him who made all things and that nothing command Omnipotency its self That the Devil should be said to have the power of death and the Prince of life be under that power Such Chains of darkness suit well with that roaring Lion who goes about seeking whom he may devour but not at all with the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who was to rescue the prey out of his jaws Certainly He that had the keys of Hell and Death could open the gates of Death to himself as well as to all believers The Grave to him was no other than a Womb which soon grew weary of its load and 't was as natural for Christ to force his passage out thence as for the Child now ripe for the Birth to drop from his Mother 's Womb. If the Creature groans to be delivered from the bondage of her Corruption it is but reasonable to imagine that the Earth could not chuse but be in pain so long as she became an Instrument of her Creator's captivity and 't was as absolutely necessary for those Iron gates of death to let out the Lord of life as it was for those Everlasting ones to be lifted up to receive the King of Glory into Heaven And into that place whereinto his Resurrection has made a way for Himself we hope one day to enter that where the Head is there the Members may be also We have ground for this Hope from St. Paul 1 Cor. 6. 14. God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power He can for he did raise up others before he raised himself Jairus Daughter the Widow's Son Lazarus after four days rotting in the Grave are all pregnant instances of his Power Et ab esse ad posse valet consequentia What he has done he can still doe unless we shall fancy his Arme shortned or that the Ancient of days has lost his strength And that he will we have his own Word for it Joh. 6. 40. Whosoever believeth in me may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day If he can and will why should we doubt of it Who hath resisted his Will Or what can tie up his Hands Death we see could not her Cords were too weak to Manacle him and why should we think they can now hold us He that could break them off from himself can he not dissolve ours too Let me then put St. Paul's question to the most doubting Sceptick Act. 26. 8. Why should it be thought an impossible thing that God should raise the dead Since we see he has effectually done it in the Person of Christ and every day does it in Nature For what is Nature its self but a continual Resurrection We may see it every Day in a perpetual orderly Succession of Nights and Days in the Setting and Rising of the Sun in Winter and Spring The Serpent's casting off his old Skin the Eagle's renewing his strength with his Beak not to mention the Phoenix rising from her Ashes which yet some of the Fathers as Clement and Tertullian use as an argument to prove the Resurrection the Seed corrupted in the Earth and thence springing up into a full Ear our Lord's and St. Paul's instances all Emblems or rather Demonstrations of it Our very Bodies to go no farther than our selves even in our life-time are continually altered and those we now carry about us are not the same they were a few years past so that we may change the Tense and reade not that we all shall be but that we are continually changed Our sleep what is it but a shorter death and our awaking thence but a return to life What are Church-yards but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sleeping-houses from whose Graves as from so many Beds we are one day to be raised up by the sound of the last trump And as Nature so Art shadows forth a Resurrection That Art whereby a little rude piece of Earth is refin'd into pure Metal whereby a Chymist can raise a flower out of ashes at least to shape and colour And shall not God be able to change our vile Bodies and make them like unto his glorious Body And when he has
Glorious things are spoken of the City of God and we may say of them what the Queen of Sheba said of the Glory of Solomon's kingdom that the half thereof is not told us But surely among those many glorious things spoken of it nothing is more glorious than this That it is a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11. 10. And that in Heaven we have an house not made with hands but eternal An House that shall last as long as its Builder and whose Inhabitants shall last as long as both and dwell therein for ever For what would all the Glories of Heaven be to us if we had no other advantage but what Solomon says worldly men have of their riches to behold them with our eyes What should we be the better for them if we might never enjoy them and have no right to the place where they are to be found What is a Kingdom to him to whom it belongs not Or a Crown of glory to that man whose head shall never wear it Had we such a sight of all the kingdoms of the world and of the glory of them as the Devil shewed our Saviour but withall as little right to any part of them as that Tempter could give Him That glittering sight might perhaps dazle our eyes but never raise any other passion in us than that of Envy towards them who should enjoy them And thus it would be with us as to the kingdom of Heaven To behold this spiritual Canaan afar off without any hope of ever possessing it to view it as another's Countrey not our own would be but such a sad and melancholy prospect as the rich man had when he saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom or as our Lord gave the Jews when he told them that they should see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the kingdom of God when they themselves should thence be thrust out Luk. 13. 28. There is no true satisfaction to be had in any thing wherein we have no Interest no lasting Propriety Without this Heaven it self would be a Hell to us as it is to the Damned But 't is the peculiar advantage and comfort of God's Saints that they can look upon it even while here below as their Inheritance Christ hath entail'd it upon them Matt. 25. 34. Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you They have his word for it which is as sure to them as Free-hold II. But what kind of Inheritance is prepared for them The Text tells us 'T is an Inheritance in light and that in opposition to another sort of Inheritance if I may so call it styled in the following Verse the power of darkness yea and Darkness it self Act. 26. 18. As that which lies in darkness is maintained and upheld by it and shall bring men without repentance into outer darkness into the blackness of darkness for ever From which dismal state the godly being delivered are said to be called out of darkness into God's marvellous light 1 Pet. 2. 9. Out of the darkness of ignorance the natural state of man into the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ which will at last bring them to that of eternal glory So that the Inheritance here is an Inheritance in light in two respects 1. In respect of the light of Faith and the knowledge of God which englightens us in this life And 2dly In respect of that light of Glory which shall adorn and crown us in the next We have here the outward light of the Word before us and the inward light of the Spirit within us And if we walk in these lights as children of the light we have a promise of shining forth hereafter as the Sun in the kingdom of our Father Matt. 13. 43. Both which lights are in effect but one That of Faith a light in part and that of Glory a full and perfect light For Grace is nothing else but the dawning of Glory They differ not in substance but in degree no otherwise than as light in the Sun when it first peeps out above our Horizon from that of the same Sun when it is in its Vertical point shining out in its full strength Both these lights I say of Faith and Glory make up but one great united Light And therefore 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text An Inheritance not in lights but in light There being but one Light as there are but one sort of Inheriters thereof The Saints For who fit to partake of this glorious unspotted light but they who are so themselves or who have a proper right to this Inheritance but the Children of the most Highest Psal. 82. 6. So St. Paul argues Rom. 8. 17. If Children then Heirs Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ Heirs of God indeed but through Christ Gal. 4. 7. Holding their Inheritance in Capite in the right of Him who is the Heir of all things Heb. 1. 2. He the natural Heir They but adopted ones Rom. 8. 15. But still in Him Ephes. 1. 5. Having predestinated us unto the Adoption of Children by Christ Jesus unto himself Whence they claim the Inheritance by promise also For being Christ's says the same Apostle they become Abraham's seed and Heirs according to the promise Gal. 3. 23. And so Heb. 9. 15. They receive the Promise of an eternal Inheritance Not that they have not the Promise also of temporal Inheritances For Godliness hath the Promise of the life that now is as well as of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. But because the Heavenly is setled only upon them whereas Temporal Inheritances may and do fall to their share and that in large Proportions who have neither part nor lot in the Heavenly I have blessed Ismael says God Twelve Princes shall he beget but my Covenant will I establish with Isaac Gen. 17. 20 21. Esau had the like Temporal blessing as Jacob had But not with a God give thee the Dew of Heaven Gen. 27. 28. God gives gifts unto men even to the rebellious Psal. 68. 18. Common giftless gifts But the Inheritance and to abide in his house for ever is for the Children Joh. 8. 35. Nor will these be put off or sent away with a few gifts as the sons of Abraham's Concubines were nothing less will content them than the Inheritance it self The Children of this world indeed have their Portion in this life and they are satisfied with it This is our Portion and our Lot is this say they Wisedom 2. 9. But the Children of light and of a better world reckon otherwise The Lord himself is the Portion of mine Inheritance says David Psal. 16. 6. They are fellow Citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem Ephes. 2. 19. Their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Burgeship is there They live according to the Laws of Heaven and even while on Earth enjoy the Priviledges thereof being
even now Heirs of a kingdom Jam. 2. 5. The wise that shall inherit Glory Prov. 3. 35. Heads destinated to a Diadem in Tertullian's expression which their Heavenly Father hath prepared for and will at last put upon them who alone too makes them fit to wear it meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in light III. How differently soever the Children of God may share in the same Inheritance This is certain that every one's share therein shall be the Gift of his Heavenly Father The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here imports it The Apostle alluding to the Division of the Land of Canaan a Type of Heaven which God had appointed to be done by lot wherein Himself we know had the main hand according to that of Solomon Prov. 16. 33. The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposition thereof is of the Lord. Thus it was in the Choice of Matthias to the Apostleship Act. 1. And thus it is as to our share in the Inheritance of Glory It falls to us by lot by the disposition of God the Father we have no part here but what he gives us And if so then no merit of Condignity nor so much as of Congruity can be pleaded by us And truly one would think it were sufficient to partake of the Inheritance without making out our own Title to it That we might be content to be Heirs without coming in as Purchasers or if we will needs be so to be Purchasers on Christ's score and not our own But this is too low and mean for some men who come with Counters in their hand ready to reckon with God to shew Him how much he is in their debt and who stick not to tell Him to his face that He is an unjust Master if he pay them not their due wages But 1. Our Lord Himself hath told us That God is beforehand with us That whatsoever we can doe is due from us to Him That when we shall have done all those things which are commanded us we must say that we are unprofitable servants and have done but that which was our duty to doe Luk. 17. 10. And then what merit can there be in paying just debts And 2. St. Paul hath told us That we can doe no good thing without Him too who worketh in us both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. So that He crowns His own gifts in us and rewards not our deservings Besides 3. Our goodness extendeth not to God says David Psal. 16. 2. And being unusefull how can it be meritorious Nay our best works are so imperfect and so sinfull too that the utmost they can expect is but a Pardon and not a Reward And were they never so good and perfect yet what proportion can they bear to such a Reward as an Inheritance in light Our light affliction which is but for a moment to a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. where we must not let pass an elegant Antithesis For Affliction there is Glory For Light affliction a Weight of glory And for Momentary affliction an Eternal weight of glory to shew the vast disproportion between these things so vast that even Martyrdom it self the highest utmost proof of our love to God is in St. Paul's account nothing in comparison of that Glory we expect For I reckon says he that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. 8. 18. IV. And lastly The very word Inheritance excludes all Purchase on our part For this were to renounce Succession to cast off all Filial Duty and Affection not to own our selves Sons but mercenary Purchasers yea and Purchasers of an Inheritance already purchased for us by Christ and for his sake freely bestowed upon us by our Heavenly Father out of His own pure Goodness and Bounty to which alone we must ascribe it For we all the best of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3. 23. And we are told ch 6. 23. that The wages of sin our proper wages is death but the gift of God is eternal life The Apostle might have said and indeed the Antithesis or Opposition there seem'd to require it But the wages of Righteousness is eternal life But he altered the Phrase on set-purpose and chose rather to say The gift of God is eternal life That we might from this change of the Phrase learn That although we procure Death unto our selves yet 't is God that bestows eternal life on us That as He hath called us to his kingdom and glory 1 Thess. 2. 12. so he gives that glory and that kingdom for no other reason but because He is pleased so to doe It is your Father's good pleasure for into God the Father's good pleasure Christ resolves it to give you a kingdome Luk. 12. 32. No merit nor so much as any good disposition in us for it He propares it for us Matt. 20. 23. And he prepares us for it too here in the Text by making us meet to be partakers thereof For what meetness could he find in us for such an Inheritance Title to it we have none being by nature the Children of wrath and disobedience Eph. 2. 2 3. Mere Intruders here and Usurpers The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and we the violent take it by force Mat. 11. 12. Qualifications proper for it we have none too That An Inheritance in light we darkness That An Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1. 4. we corruptible polluted and still decaying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cries out our Apostle We are not sufficient not fit for the word signifies either as of our selves but our sufficiency or fitness call it which you will is of God 2 Cor. 3. 5. 2 Pet. 1. 4. who as He makes us Partakers of his divine Nature so meet Partakers of the divine Inheritance not by pouring out the divine Essence but by communicating to us those divine Qualities which will fit and prepare us for the Sight thereof by putting light into our Understandings and holiness into our Wills without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. By cleansing our hearts and washing our hands that so we may ascend into the hill of the Lord dwell and rest in his Tabernacle Psal. 15. 24. He gives us Faith and with that a Prospect of our Inheritance and He gives us Hope and with that an Interest therein And to summ up all in one He gives us his Holy Spirit the earnest of that Inheritance Eph. 1. 14. who worketh all our works in us writes his laws in our hearts and by softning makes them capable of his divine Impressions In short That divine Spirit which by Regenerating makes us new Creatures and so fit Inhabitants for the new Jerusalem calling us first to Vertue and then to Glory to that as
who as He is the Fountain of the Deity and of all operations in the Divine Nature so of all our gifts and graces too Every good and every perfect gift whether of Nature Grace or Glory coming down to us from the Father of lights Jam. 1. 17. especially the Inheritance in light which is so peculiarly his gift that our Saviour appropriates it to Him telling his Apostles Mat. 20. 23. That it is not his to give but the Father's Hence that Blessing of St. Paul Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Ephes. 1. 3. directing his Thanks to Him as the Original of all our Blessings whether Temporal or Spiritual Now of these two sorts the latter being far the greatest our Thanks for them ought to be so too We are to thank God then 1. That He hath made us partakers and 2. meet partakers of the Inheritance in light First I say That He hath made us partakers of so glorious an Inheritance as that in light it being nothing less than his very self who is Essential light and who dwelleth in that light which no Man can approach unto 1 Tim. 6. 16. A rich and a glorious Inheritance indeed fit for the Majesty and Mercy of an Almighty God to bestow the unvaluable Bloud of his Son to purchase and the dearly beloved of his Soul to enjoy How thankfull ought we then to be for being made partakers of such an Inheritance as is as far above those here below as Heaven is above the Earth or God above All things But this is not All. We are in the second place to thank God the Father for making us meet partakers thereof which is a greater Blessing than we are aware of We would fain have the Inheritance at any rate but we consider not whether we be fit for it or no and if we be not Heaven it self will be no place of Happiness to us nor shall we take pleasure therein For Pleasure being nothing else but the suitableness of the Object to the Faculty because things agreeable alone can agree together then what satisfaction should we find in Heaven while our selves were altogether Earthly Light is a pleasant thing to an Eye prepared for and that can bear it not to that of a Bat or of an Owl nor to that of a Man that should suddenly be brought into it out of a dark Dungeon it would rather blind his Eyes than delight them And what would the Inheritance in light be to a Child of Darkness but as the pleasure of a rational Man is to a Beast or of an Intelligence to a bruitish Man He who is wholly taken up with Sensual Objects and so unacquainted with Intellectual rests there and seeks no farther Tell a Mahumetan of such a Heaven as the Gospel describes and you may then make him fall in love with that place when you can persuade a Hog to leave his Stye for a Palace or that to lye in perfumes were better for him than to wallow in the mire What a Transcendent blessing then is it and how thankfull ought we to be to God for it that He makes us meet for the Inheritance above in order to our better partaking of it that He gives us his Grace here as a preparative to Glory hereafter makes us Holy in this life that we may be capable of being Happy in the next his Goodness being not more conspicuous in the reward He designs us than in the manner of bestowing it in giving us a Crown of Glory than in fitting our Heads for it 'T is a greater honour to be accounted worthy of it than to wear it As Vertue is beyond a Title and a Man more than a Place And now since our lot is fallen unto us in so fair a ground and that we have so goodly a Heritage let us highly value it make it our chief Treasure that our Hearts may still be there where we have such a glorious Inheritance laid up for us and such an indefeisible Estate as shall never be either in another's power to defeat us of or in our own to lose when once possest of How do we value our Earthly Inheritances How dear are they to us How loth are we to part with them The Lord forbid it me that I should give the Inheritance of my Fathers unto thee said Naboth to Ahab when he would have wrested it from him 1 King 21. 3. And yet this being but an Earthly Inheritance whereas ours is an Heavenly He chose rather to part with his Life than with the Inheritance of his Fathers and we are willing to part with the Inheritance of the Saints in light for nothing to sell our spiritual Birthright with profane Esau for a mess of Pottage while every trifling Argument shall make us disbelieve and every trifling Lust make us forfeit it Is the price of Christ's bloud the purchase he has made for us of an Eternal Inheritance become so cheap unto us in comparison of those uncertain perishing ones which the malice of Men can and death in a very short time will be sure to strip us of so subject to alteration and decay so polluted and defiled The Inheritance of the Saints in light is by St. Peter described by three such properties so peculiar to it that they are not to be found in worldly ones He tells us 1 Pet. 1. 4. That 't is an Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away Now 1. Worldly Inheritances even Kingdoms are Transitory whereas that of Heaven cannot be moved Heb. 12. 28. Estates here shift their Landlords what is one Man 's to day is another's to morrow nay all the evidence Men have of their Estates here shall one day be burnt with the World and be made void at the Day of Judgment And yet how do they call their Lands after their own names when those names and those very lands that are called after them shall perish together when they who are Owners of them shall one day become part of their own lands retain nothing of all their Possessions but Graves and in a short time scarce be distinguished from that Earth wherein they were buried 2. Again Should Inheritances here be continued to their Owners never so long yet are they fading still losing their beauty verdure and lustre there is some moth or canker that continually frets and at last eats them up But in Heaven as we shall have an Incorruptible so an Immarcessible Crown Not like Olympick ones of Bays or Herbs which immediately withered even on the heads of those that wore them but always fresh and green 3. Lastly Worldly Inheritances are so far from being undefiled that their Owners may well blush when they consider how many times they come by them with how much sin Themselves enjoy and Others to whom they must leave shall spend them Yet as pitifull things as they are how thankfull
this that there is something in its self so bad that natural Conscience startles at it and Reason abhorrs And something so good that at first blush it gains our approbation and commends it self to our choice Nor is it enough to say That such Fears proceed from a false prepossession fomented by ignorace and custom of God's being angry with Men for their faults which makes them timorous As Children are apt to fear every thing in the dark For were this an effect only of such an erroneous persuasion it could never be so universal as we find it is All panick fears and groundless misapprehensions dye as soon as born whereas those which are founded in nature are perpetual and lasting Time says Tully confutes those Errors which owe their rise to Opinion but confirms and strengthens the Sentiments of Nature And therefore whatsoever does constantly maintain it self must needs be more deeply rooted than in uncertain apprehensions The Epicureans we know have still made it their business to deliver Men of those natural Terrors by openly preaching Impiety As the Prophet David too complains of some such Fools as denied a God or at least his Providence But all in vain For 't was not in the power of all their Sophistry assisted by Men's strong Inclinations to Profaneness and Licentiousness to suppress and stifle those implanted Notions Nature and the Fear of God's wrath still prevailed against all those petty Arts. They could doe no good upon the Authors themselves much less upon their Disciples And common experience shews That the more wicked Men strive to subdue the fiercer their Consciences are and that when Impiety hath invented all the ways it can think of to satisfie its self it usually takes Sanctuary in Superstition The stoutest Offenders to find ease must at last betake themselves to their Devotions Their Fears still drag and hale them like unwilling Sacrifices to the Altar Or if Religion cannot lay that evil Genius that haunts them they will seek to charm it by drowning their Reason in Sensuality which recovering it self a-fresh grows more importunate and troublesome than ever It faring with such Men as it does with drunken Malefactors who when those fumes of wine wherewith they strive to smother their discontents and abate the edge of their melancholy are evaporated and their sober thoughts have leisure to reflect on their Crimes tremble at the apprehension of those Racks and Gibbets that are preparing for them Which is so true and so common to all Men that they who have no cause to fear others do notwithstanding fear themselves and never more than at the approaches of Death which as it is most dreadfull and ghastly to the bad so is it most welcome and lovely to the innocent and vertuous who by clearing their accompts here secure themselves from the danger and apprehension of an after-reckoning And as the Passion of Fear discovers a natural difference between good and bad so does that of Shame no less which as soon as our reputation is wounded veils the face with a ruddiness as if it proceeded from that wound And so apprehensive is Nature of every little thing which seems to reproach it that a bare suspition thereof shall many times create a bashfulness and innocence it self will sometimes be dipt in a blush as well as guilt not for any conscious ground in its own bosome but out of a timorous apprehension of sinister thoughts in others We see that 't is not in the power of the worst Men wholly to master this Passion and he that is most deep in the guilt of a sin will labour all he can to avoid the imputation of it Whence is it that the most impudent whose faces continual sinning hath hardnes against the tenderness of a blush seek corners to hide their foulest actions Why do they not act them without doors and in the face of the Sun with the Cynicks or why do they varnish them over with false colours Does not Hypocrisie it self wear the mask of Piety and the mantle of Religion Does it not still appear abroad in its garb and dress and though it want the substance court the shadow of it And when this Satan transforms it self into an Angel of light will it not doe all it can to hide its cloven foot Did not Vice take upon it some fair disguise surely no Man would entertain so vile a guest Covetousness must be called good-husbandry and prodigality generosity And the lewdest Persons many times do most affect the reputation of being chast Est aliqua ' prostitutis modestia ipsum lupanar honestum est What sad shifts do Men betake themselves to when they are obnoxious to any thing that looks base in the world and to avoid a just blame what unjust excuses will they not take up or If they cannot wholly excuse at least they will extenuate their error by necessity humane frailty ignorance false information or guile and with Pilate wash their hands of it if they cannot cleanse their consciences Which evidently shows that the hardest hearts have sometimes tender foreheads Charge a Malefactor never so home he will hardly confess his crime to the rack and perhaps better endure that or which is a harsher punishment his own guilt than he will dare to publish it a secret smart being not so quick as a publick shame Which is a sufficient indication of the deformity of Vice of whose least approaches Nature is so tender And so sensible are Men of what it owns as its disgrace that they are ready to fly in the face of those that upbraid them with it Such a vile Master is Vice that the greatest Slaves to it dare not wear its livery It s best Friends scorn to be Retainers to it They may love the Treason but naturally hate this Traytor and so loth are they to father such a brat that although they doe all they can to procure themselves a bad name yet even then are they most studiously concerned for the reputation of a good one But here some may say Are not many things reputed vile and dishonourable which in themselves are not so True indeed But then this false apprehension can never alter the nature of the things themselves Satan will still be a Devil though we cloath him with a garment of light nor is he one jot less ugly because some put a glory about his head no more than a good Angel is black because Ethiopians to flatter their own hue paint him so There are I confess who blush at Vertue and think Modesty the only thing to be asham'd of A Vertue which in the common esteem of some not only beggars all other vertues but reproaches them But how few are such monsters in comparison of the rest of mankind And what incompetent Judges of what is vile or honourable From these we must appeal to the general sense of sober mankind as to the true value of things Did ever any rational sober Man commend