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A42834 The way of happiness represented in its difficulties and incouragements, and cleared from many popular and dangerous mistakes / by Jos. Glanvill ... Glanvill, Joseph, 1636-1680. 1670 (1670) Wing G835; ESTC R23021 46,425 190

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bad men But then this is to be noted that 't is commonly about opinions or external rites and usages and such matters as appertain to first Table Duties while usually the same men are very cold in reference to the Duties of the Second And when zeal is partial and spent about the little things that tend not to the overcoming the difficulties of our way or the perfecting of humane nature 't is a meer animal fervour and no Divine Fire And the natural man the seeker that shall not enter may grow up to another height that looks gloriously and seems to speak mighty things As III. He may have great comforts in religious meditations and that even to rapturous excesses He may take these for sweet communion with God and the joys of the Holy Ghost and the earnest of Glory and be lifted up on high by them and inabled to speak in wonderful ravishing strains and yet notwithstanding be an evil man and in the state of such as shall be shut out For this we may observe That those whose complexion inclines them to devotion are commonly much under the power of melancholy and they that are so are mostly very various in their tempers sometimes merry and pleasant to excess and then plung'd as deep into the other extreme of sadness and dejection one while the sweet humours enliven the imagination and present it with all things that are pleasant and agreeable And then the black blood succeeds which begets clouds and darkness and fills the fancy with things frightful and uncomfortable And there are very few but feel such varieties in a degree in themselves● Now while the sweet blood and ●●●mours prevail the person whose complexion inclines him to Religion and who hath arrived to the degrees newly discours'd of though a meer natural man is full of inward delight and satisfaction and fancies at this turn that he is much in the favour of God and a sure heir of the Kingdom of Glory which must needs excite in him many luscious and pleasant thoughts and these further warm his imagination which by new and taking suggestions still raiseth the affections more and so the man is as it were transported beyond himself and speaks like one dropt from the clouds His tongue flows with Light and Glories and Communion and Revelations and Incomes and then believes that the Holy Ghost is the Author of all this and that God is in him of a truth in a special way of Manifestation and vouchsafement This is one of the greatest Heights of the Animal Religion and many times it proceeds from nothing more Divine For when melancholick vapours prevail again the imagination is overcast and the fancy possest by dismal and uncomfortable thoughts and the man whose head was but just before among the Clouds is now groveling in the Dust. He thinks all is lost and his condition miserable He is a cast-away and undone when in the mean while as to Divine favour he is just where he was before or rather in a better state since 't is better to be humbled with reason then to be lifted up without it Such effects as these do meer natural passions and imaginations produce when they are tinctured and heightned by religious melancholy To deny ones self and to overcome ones passions and to live in a course of a sober vertue is much more Divine then all this 'T is true indeed and I am far from denying it that holy men feel those joys and communications of the Divine Spirit which are no fancies and the Scripture calls them great peace Ps. cxix 165 and joy in believing Rom. xv 13 and the peace of God that passeth all understanding Phil. iv 7 But then these Divine vouchsafements are not rapturous or ●cstatical They are no sudden flashes that are gone in a moment leaving the soul in the regions of sorrow and despair but sober lasting comforts that are the rewards and results of vertue the rejoycings of a good conscience 2 Cor. i. 12 and the manifestations of God to those rare souls who have overcome the evils of their natures and the difficulties of the way or are vigorously pressing on towards this mark Phil. iii. 14 But for such as have only the forms of godliness I have mentioned while the evil inclinations and habits are indulged whatever they pretend all the sweets they talk of are but the imagery of dreams and the pleasant delusions of their fancies SECT VI. THus I have shewn how far the meer Animal Religion may go in imperfect striving And now I must expect to hear 1. That this is very severe uncomfortable Doctrine and if one that shall eventually be shut out may do all this what shall become of the generality of Religious men that never do so much And if all this be short what will be available who then shall be saved To which I Answer That we are not to make the measures of Religion and Happiness our selves but to take those that Christ Jesus hath made for us And he hath told us That except our Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees we shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of heaven Mat. v. 20 Now the Scribes and Pha●isees did things in the way of Religion that were equal to all the particulars I have mentioned yea they went beyond marry of our glorious Professors who yet think themselves in an high form of Godliness They believed their Religion firmly and Prayed frequently and fervently and Fasted severely They were ●xact and exceeding strict in the observati●n of their Sabbaths and hated scandalous and gross sins and were very punctual in all the duties of outward Worship and in many things supererrogated and went beyond what was commanded Such zealous people were They and They separated from the conversations and customs of oth●r Iews upon the account of their supposed greater Holiness and Purity These were heights to which the Pharisees arrived and a good Christian must exceed all this And he that lives in a sober course of Piety and Vertue of self Government and humble submission to God of obedience to his Superiors and Charity to his Neighbours He doth really exceed it and shall enter when the other shall be shut out So that when our Saviour saith that the Pharisaick Righteousness must be exceeded the meaning is not That a greater degree of every thing the Pharisees did is necessary but we must do that whith in the nature and kind of it is better and more acceptable to God viz. That whereas they placed their Religion in strict Fastings and nice observations of Festivals in lowd and earnest Prayers and zeal to get Proselites we should place ours in sincere subjections of our wills to the will of God in imitation of the life of Christ and obedience of his Laws in amending the faults of our natures and lives in subduing our passions and casting out the habits of evil These are much beyond the Religion of the Phanatick
Complexion and particular Nature This is a great work and will require strong Faith and many Prayers and much time and great watchfulness and invincible resolution Imploy these heartily and though thou now and then mayst receive a foyl yet give not off so but rise again in the strength of God implore new aid and ●ortifie thy self with more considera●ions and deeper resolves and then renew the Combat upon the encouragement of Divine assistance and Christs merits and intercession and the promise that sin shall not have dominion over us Rom. vi 14 Remember that this is the great work and the biggest difficulty if this be not overcome all our other labour hath been in vain and will be lost If this root remain it will still bear poysonous fruit which will be matter for temptation and occasion of continual falling and we shall be in danger of being reconciled again to our old sins and to undo all and so our latter end will be worse the● our beginning 2 Pet. ii 20 Or at least though we stand at a stay and satisfie our selves with that yet though we are contented our condition is not safe If we will endeavour to any purpose of duty or security we must proceed still after our lesser conquests till the sins of complexion are laid dead at our feet He that is born of God sinneth not and he cannot sin 1 Ioh. iii. 9 Till we come to this we are but strugling in the birth Such a perfection as is mortifying of vitious temper is I hope attainable and 't is no doubt that which Religion aims at and though it be a difficult height yet we must not sit down this side At least we must be always pressing on to this Mark if Providence cut off our days before we have arrived to it we may expect acceptance of the sincerity of our endeavours upon the account of the merits of our Saviour For he hath procured favour for those sincere Believers and Endeavourers whose Day is done before their Work is compleated this I mean of subduing the darling sins of their particular Natures But then if we rest and please our selves with the little Victories and attainments and let these our great enemies quietly alone 't is an argument our endeavours are not sincere but much short of that striving which will procure an entrance into the straight gate The n●xt thing and 't is the last I shall mention which is implyed in striving is IV. To furnish our selves through Divine Grace with the habits and inclinations of Holiness and Vertue For Goodness to become a kind of Nature to the Soul is height indeed but such a one as may be reacht the new Nature and new Creature Gal. vi 15 are not meer Names We have observ'd that some men are of a Natural Generosity Veracity and Sweetness and they cannot act contrary to these Native Vertues without a mighty Violence why now should not the New Nature be as powerful as the Old And why may not the Spirit of God working by an active faith and endeavour fix habits and inclinations on the Soul as prevalent as those No doubt it may and doth upon the Diviner Souls For whom to do a wicked or unworthy action 't would be as violent and unnatural as for the meek and compassionate temper to butcher the innocent or for him that is naturally just to oppress and make a prey of the fatherless and the widow I say such a degree of perfection as this should be aim'd at Heb. vi 1 and we should not sit down and slacken our endeavours on this side it In order to our aiming to the happy pitch we are to use frequent meditation on the excellency and pleasure of Vertue and Religion and earnest prayer for the Grace of God and diligent attendance upon the publique worship and pious company and converses For this great design these helps are requisite and if we exercise our selves in them as we ought they will fire our Souls with the love of God and Goodness and so at last all Christian Vertues will become as natural to us as sin was before And to one that is so prepared the Gate of Happiness will be open and of easie entrance the difficulties are overcome and from henceforth the way is pleasant and plain before him Prov. iii. 17 Thus I have shewn you that the formidable difficulties may be overcome and I have told you How 't is a plain course I have direct●d that will not puzzle your und●rstandings with needless niceties nor distract your memories with multitudes Walk in this way and do it constantly with vigour and alacrity and there is no fear but in the strength of God through the merits and mediation of his Son you will overcome and at last enter SECT IV. I Had now done with this general Head but that 't is necessary to note three things here 1. Those Instruments of our happiness which we must use in striving viz. Faith Prayer and active Endeavour must all of them be employed Not any one singly will do the great work nor can the others if any one be wanting If we believe and do not pray or pray and do not endeavour or endeavour without those the Difficulties will remain and 't will be impossible for us to enter 2. We must be diligent in our course If we do not exercise Faith vigorously and pray heartily and endeavour with our whole might the means will not succeed and 't is as good not at all as not to purpose The Difficulties will not be overcome by cold Faith or sleepy Prayers or remiss Endeavours A very intense degree of these is necessary 3. Our striving must be constant we must not begin and look back Heb. x. 38 or run a while and stop in midd course 1 Cor. ix 24 and content our selves with some attainments and think we have arrived Phil. iii. 14 If we do so we shall find our selves dangerously mistaken The Crown is at the end of the Warfare and the Prise at the end of the Race If we will succeed we must hold on The life of one that strives as he ought must be a continual motion forwards always proc●eding always growing If we strive thus we cannot fail if any of these qualifications be wanting we cannot but miscarry And hence no doubt it is that many that seek to enter shall not be able and the presumed sons of the Kingdom are shut out Mat. viii 12 They seek and are very desirous to be admitted They do some thing and strive but their striving is partial or careless or short by reason of which defects they do not overcome and shall not enter This is a dangerous Rock and perhaps there are as many undone by cold and half striving as by not striving at all He that hath done some thing presumes he is secure He goes the round of ordinary Duties but advanceth nothing in his way He overcometh none of the great Difficulties none of