inquisition I shall first briefly represent the nature of true Holiness and shew the beauty and excellencie of it Secondly I shall discourse of its rule and more parricularly discover the several branches of Holiness Thirdly I shall propound several motives and inducements to engage blen to the practise of Holiness and indeed this is what I chiefly intend to insist upon Fourthly I shall remove all those Cavils and Objections that are urged against Holiness And Lastly conclude with some short Reflections and Inferences CHAP. I. Of the nature of Holiness I Intend not here to descend to the consideration of every particular branch of Holiness but to discourse of it in the general as it is the combination of all Christian vertues and as it is thus considered I need not I think in the description of it accurately study all those Logical rules Philosophers require in a good definition For may part it fully enough satisfies me to know that holiness is a conformity to the Divine Law and a hearty and sincere compliance with those original dictates of humane nature and the Commands revealed in sacred Writ So long as Man remained obedient to the Laws of his Maker his holiness was untainted and his Beauty and primitive congenite comeliness continued but by his woeful apostacy he lost that noble embellishment of his nature which did indeed give a grace to all his other accomplishments and is now become ugly and deformed Holiness and purity of Spirit are different words but of the same signification and are promiscuously used in Scripture to express the same thing Opposite to which are Sin and Vncleanness Sin being that which contaminates the Soul and robs it of that beauty which formerly did of right belong to it Although 't is not one particular good action that denominates a man holy yet every wilful aberration from and transgression of the Law constitutes man a sinner and makes him liable to the demerit of the offence Whosoever theresore intends to perfect holiness must according to the Apostle's advice cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit abstain from every appearance of evil and sincerely endeavour to perform all good actions In a word Holiness in its general notion is the comprehensive sum of the moral Law and may be very aptly described to be a ceasing from evil and doing good which in this lapsed estate consists in the sincerity of our intentions and actions and shall be perfected when mortality is swallowed up of life when those imperfections and spots that attend our natural state shall be quite removed and done away So long as our souls actuate their impure bodies sins and infirmities will cleave to the best an absolute innocence and perfect holiness is reserved for that state where all things are become new But yet so far as the frailty of our nature and the imperfection of our present state will suffer we ought sincerely to study to walk as it is said of Zacharias and Elizabeth in all the Commandments of God blameless the general course and tenour of our lives should correspond and keep a conformity with the divine precepts which as I shall just now shew are the rule of holiness Almighty God who well considers the nature of man does not esteem men to be either vicious or holy from the performance of some particular acts There is not a just man who liveth and sinneth not It is the peculiar motto of our Lord Christ That he did no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth But the imperfect obedience of good men who in the general course of their life sincerely study an universal conformity and respect to the divine Laws is esteemed by him who judgeth righteously to be sufficient in order to our acceptance with him upon the account of the merits and perfect obedience of our blessed Saviour The wise God who considers the frailties and imperfections that attend our present state expects not more from us than we are able to perform He is not so rigorous a Lord to require Brick where there is no Straw the terms of the Gospel are accommodated to our capacities and onely require a holiness which is possible for the Creature to attain at least it exacts and expects no more but that we endeavour sincerely and unfeignedly to obey all those precepts he has enjoyned that we habituate our selves to perform good actions that the general propension and inclination of our wills and appetites be towards the doing of what is imposed upon us and abstaining from all kind of evil By what hath been said it may appear that holiness consists not in Speculation but in Practice 'T is not the knowledge of duty but the actual performance of it that entitles men to be holy and that too not superficially or in a good mode and rarely performed but sincerely and throughout the whole course of our lives For men to know their duty and not perform it is to inhaunce their own misery and to secure to themselves double stripes and to perform some good actions and abstain from the grosser pollutions of the world and yet to be vicious in the general course of their lives this is such a holiness that will never profit any man The rule of holiness to which we must heartily study an actual conformity does not dispense no not with the commission of the least sin nor omission of the smallest duty But because general descriptions of things are frequently overlooked I shall not think it unnecessary to descend to a more particular survey and consider Holiness in its several branches as they are plainly described by the Christian rule of Holiness CHAP. II. Of the Rule of Holiness Although the whole Canon of Scripture is useful to instruct us in our duty yet because many things if not approved yet dispensed with under the old dispensation are now quite antiquated and abrogated I shall therefore at present confine my discourse to the Gospel Oeconomy and by the rule discover wherein the Nature of true Holiness and undefiled Religion before God consists I am a little confident it will not be expected I should prove that the New Testament is of Divine Authority and consequently an infallible rule to direct us in the way of holiness the numerous late Discourses which have excellently well performed this task against the prodigiously prophane Atheists this impure age hath to its lasting reproach hatched makes me without the least fear of censure supersede this undertaking I shall take it then for granted it being acknowledged by all rational men that the Gospel is the great and certain Standard whereby we may truly judge of any man's holiness and never doubt to conclude that he who in the general course and tenour of his life walks contrary to the Rule can lay no claim plead no interest to the title of Holiness this being no other thing as I have already shewed but a combination of those vertues the Gospel-precepts enjoyn
as the wise man tells us An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning but the end thereof shall not be blessed Prov. 20.21 Thirdly The Christian rule is a most compendious and compleat directory to men in every station and place Parents and Children Masters and Servants Husband and Wife may from hence learn their duty As it gives no encouragement to Tyrants so neither does it allow Rebellion in Subjects but condemns it as a sin heinous and unnatural But I cannot stand to enlarge upon every particular duty onely I shall infer that from the accomplishment of those duties enjoyned by the Christian rule is formed that Holiness I would fain perswade men to follow To put a close to this Chapter it will not I think be amiss to shew that the Christian rule of Holiness is the most noble and most excellent that was ever extant that it far excels the Schemes of Morality drawn by the best and most celebrated Masters of Pagan Philosophy and is more comprehensive and effectual to form men to true Holiness than the Mosaical Law I confess the Heathen Religion does not in the least deserve to be compared with the Christian no more I may say much less than the light of the dimmest Candle should be compared with the Sun in its brightness when all mists and clouds are dispelled It were indeed too great an honour to name the Alcoran with the New Testament the one being corrupt and imperfect the other pure and perfect in its tendency designing to make men truely vertuous and holy If we view the rules which the best and most refined Moralists prescribed we shall finde much Brass amongst their Gold many things exceedingly faulty which instead of forbidding encouraged many foul Vices Thus concerning piety towards God what unbecoming thoughts did they entertain of him They changed as the Apostle to the Romans observes the glory of an incorruptible God into an Image made like corruptible man Rom. 1.23 and in those moral duties that concerned themselves and others it were easie to shew how miserably they failed The famous Peripatetick pleaded for the revenging of Injuries The divine Plato allowed the community of Wives The strict Stoicks patronized the lawfulness of Self-murther and thus professing themselves to be wise they became fools And yet to the shame of Christians how conspicuous was the moral gallantry of the Romans how famous and glorious are they esteemed for their Justice and Constancy in friendship by all succeeding ages their vertue did conquer respect and esteem from their Enemies and made them beloved by those who fear'd their power And here I cannot but take notice of St. Augustin's commendation of the old Romans Because God says he would not bestow Heaven upon the Romans they being Pagans he bestowed the Empire of the world upon them because they were vertuous And yet the best rules those Illustrious Heroes and Law-givers taught are not comparable to the Laws of Christianity upon these three accounts First the Pagan Law is deficient in many things and many particular Laws mightily tend to the promoting of vice their Law-givers being ignorant of the introduction of sin never made any precepts against the first motions to forbidden objects Secondly those good Laws they taught are more clearly revealed in the Gospel Which hath brought life and immortality to light As the Gospel commands onely such things that are good and forbids onely vice so it more conspicuously manifests what is good that we may do it and what is evil that we may evite it The good Laws that Epaminondas in Thebes Lycurgus in Lacedemon and Aristides in Athens taught are in the Gospel-Oeconomy more excellently confirmed and we are now undoubtedly secured that we do well in observing what is commanded and in abstaining from what is prohibited which Numa Pompilius Marcus Antonius and all the Law-givers either of Greece or Rome could never be fully ascertained of Thirdly we have better encouragements and inducements to obey the Gospel-precepts than any other Religion prescribes The best motive to virtue amongst the Heathens was that vertue is a reward to it self that it is the means to be celebrated by after-ages and such-like which were but insignificant encouragements if compared with the eternal and unspeakably glorious reward which Christianity holds forth and those severe threatnings by which it secures its Laws of which I shall speak anon As for the Mosaical Law which next to the Christian is the most exact and incomparable there are three reasons why it is not to be compared with it being so far exceeded by the Gospel First the Mosaical dispensation is not unfitly called by the great Apostle A law of a carnal commandment Heb. 7.16 and A law which made nothing perfect v. 19. but the Gospel which is there called the bringing in of a better hope is more spiritual and refined and Jesus is said to be a surety of a better covenant v. 22. So that we may argue as the Apostle in the 11th verse of that cited Chapter doth If therefore perfection were by the Levitical Priesthood for under it the people received the Law what further need was there that another Priest should arise I confess the legal Sacrifices did shadow forth the satisfaction of Christs but yet I make no doubt but we may now understand the intent and meaning of all those Types much better than they could Secondly the Ceremonial Law as it was very burthensome so did it chiefly tend to make the observers thereof externally righteous and did not so strongly enforce the purifying of the heart As for the Moral Law the Christian rule as it does as strictly enjoyn it so it does much more powerfully excite men to the performance of it promising not a temporal but aâ— eternal reward Thirdly the Mosaical dispensation did indulge many practices which the Christian rule justly condemns such as Polygamy and Divorce and several Marriages allowed by no other Law and indeed the whole contexture of the Jewish Religion seems to be onely calculate as it did well correspond with the humour and genius of that people and could not therefore be a general Law agreeing with and well attemperate to the inclinations and humours of all Nations as the Christian rule is Any man that shall compare the Jewish Religion with the Christian shall be easily convinced that this does more effectually conduce to the purifying of us from all filthiness both of the flesh and of the spirit than the former and that of all the Schemes of Religion that ever were published none does deserve to be parallel'd with Christianity nor can adopt to them that noble character the great Apostle gives of the Gospel Rom. 1.16 That it is the power of God to salvation CHAP. III. Motives and inducements to the practice of Holiness AS the naked proposal and representation of an excellent and beautiful object is motive enough to excite our love and draw out our affections to it so methinks
pleasures he might otherwise freely enough delight in O how does it molest and torment him Nocte diéque suum gestare in pectore testem to have an inward principle of Fear haunting the sinner in his most retired enjoyment of pleasures which cannot be silenced by his utmost endeavours This this is it that torments him with anguish and confusion that allays the imaginary pleasure of the most charming Lust and in the midst of laughter makes his heart heavy which fully verifies the truth of what I said that the enjoyment of all other blessings can never free a man from torment nor a whit profit him that is destitute of Holiness Fourthly Holiness is the most incomparable blessing and frees the Soul from the worst of evils What David said of Goliahs Sword I may more safely say of Holiness There is none like it nothing in the world so apt to remove those disasters and turmoiling fears that inwardly work upon and damp the minds of men with severe checks and lashes as Holiness which being diametrically opposite to sin which is the worst of evils must therefore by a necessary consequence be the best of blessings Now seeing contraries placed near to other are the more discernable I shall therefore take a short view of the evil and malignity of sin that hereby the beauty and excellency of Holiness may appear the brighter and have the greater force to conquer our affections To express the evil and malignity of sin Scripture represents it by the most ugly and abominable things by the most dangerous and terrible Diseases Nay the great Apostle seems to want language and comparisons too to express the evil of it when he calls it exceedingly evil as if he had said it infinitely transcends all other evils the malignity of which no Pen can fully delineate and describe either in its nature or consequences In its Nature the Scripture-character of it is it is an enmity against God a transgression and voluntary violation of his most holy and righteous Law a disobedience of his Authority and a wicked contempt of all the divine Attributes 't is the woful stain and blemish of our Natures the disease of our Souls and the reproach of our Reason The consequences of sin are fearful and fatal So bad a cause can never fail to produce the worst effects for besides all the temporal calamities and mischiefs that befal Mankinde those unspeakable miseries and extream torments that accompany men to the other world are also the dreadful and sad effects of sin I have already shewed that every vice is naturally attended with some particular punishment but that indeed which is most terrible which should mightily amaze and startle the sinner are the dreadful miseries of another world Alas how dismal is the condition of those men who have lost the divine Image and consequently his love and favour and are liable to his fury and wrath who are possess'd with a legion of impure lusts which lead them captive and hurry them headlong to perdition where they must have their everlasting abode with impure spirits and devouring flames How impossible is it to give a just List and Catalogue of the sad and dreadful consequences of sin or fully describe the evil and malignity of it But yet this imperfect glance may in part satisfie and inform us that a holy and vertuous life which excludes all those mischiefs and inconveniencies which both in this and the next life attend sin is the best of blessings and frees us from the worst of evils Fifthly Holiness is the best evidence of our being in favour with God and of our adoption to Gods Family How sedulous and inquisitive are many good Christians to understand their spiritual state and condition that they may know into which of the two regions of the other world they shall be stated after death This is certainly a matter of the greatest consequence and deserves every mans most serious consideration a mistake here being so exceedingly dangerous like a wound in the vital parts it proves mortal and incurable if continued in Now the most infallible mark and character of our being in favour with God and that which comprehends all others is that which the beloved Apostle sets down 1 Joh. 3.7 8 9 10. Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous And every one that doth righteousness is born of God Chap. 2.29 He that committeth sin is of the Devil Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God Let men pretend what they will if they be destitute of righteousness they are of their Father the Devil and can claim no interest in God as their Father seeing it is purity of Spirit that gives us a title to be the Children of the most high 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty The whole tenour of the Scripture abounds with so many such instances that I shall supersede a tedious citation of texts This then being so infallible and certain a character methinks every rational man may quickly come to the knowledge of his spiritual estate A bad man may certainly enough know whether he breaks the divine Laws and goes in a continued course of sin and a good man may sufficiently know whether he obeys the divine Laws and is sincere in his actions These are things so plain and undeniable that all doubts of this kinde are ridiculous Now 't is no difficulty to draw these plain inferences I break the divine Laws therefore I am not of God or I obey them therefore I am a Child of God And thus every considering man who impartially considers and exactly examines his life and actions may be fully enough ascertained whether he be a Childe of God or not Alas how useless and dangerous is it to ascend unto Heaven to search the secret and eternal Decrees of God which belong not to us to pry into that we may know whether our Names be written in the Book of Life or not He that doth righteousness needs not fear any latent Decree concerning his reprobation and it is the vainest thing imaginable for impenitent and obstinate sinners to dream that God hath from eternity elected them to life The pure nature of God is so perfectly opposite to sin that it is quite impossible there can be any agreement betwixt him and sinners no more than there can be betwixt light and darkness The Psalmist acquaints us That he is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness And the Apostle hath told us That the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men But yet the righteous Lord loveth the righteous These are the men whom he esteems his Children to
whom the promises of eternal life belong In the last pace there is nothing in the world that will prove so effectual to comfort men at the hour of death as the sweet thoughts of their being separated from the pollutions of the world How unspeakably comfortable is it for men when they are just stepping into the other world to reflect upon the good life they have led and that they carry in their bosoms Consciences void of offence both towards God and towards man This is indeed that noble and Sovereign Cordial that revives the spirits of good men in their passage through the valley and shadow of death and makes their comforts abound and overflow Death is not so small a matter as some men think in Scripture it is not unfitly called the King of terrours Now nothing can free men from the terrour of it but a good Conscience and this cannot be had without Holiness which makes all calm and serene within It will afford men little pleasure when they come to die to reflect upon the earthly pleasures they have enjoyed these things profit not in the day of wrath but the Conscience of well doing makes men salute death without dread and astonishment and lift up their heads with joy because the day of their redemption approacheth But with the ungodly and wicked it is not so then their sins stare them in their face and so terrifie and affright them that no wonder though in the extremity of their agony they prefer strangling and death to life If holy Job doth so heavily complain of the terrours of God how much more terrifying shall the apprehensions of a severe and terrible judgement be to the unsanctified and polluted To think how shortly he must be everlastingly separate from the good things he enjoyed here and be cast into utter darkness to have his portion with the damned in devouring Flames to be an everlasting resident in the Lake of fire and brimstone where he shall be continually tormented with that gnawing worm that never dies These are the amazing thoughts that will seize upon the sinner his Conscience then will not sleep nothing will be able to allay those Storms and Tempests that are raised by the fearful expectation of the reward due to sin At death men are generally wiser than at other times then they begin to consider what they have been doing and call themselves fool a thousand times for their disobedience and wickedness The smoak of worldly cares that formerly blinded their eyes are now dispelled they see their folly when it is too late to mend it and if they do no more yet Balaam-like they will cry O that I might die the death of the righteous CHAP. IV. Frivolous Cavils and Objections removed THe former Chapters having discovered the Beauty of Holiness and the mighty power and force of Arguments that excite to the practice of it one who weighs all this by the measures of equity cannot as any man would think but look upon it as the strangest prodigie that so just a Cause should miss of its effect and finde the sons of men who pretend to be such Masters of Reason so monstrously foolish in rejecting it upon the account of some frivolous and very fallacious cavils But the truth is resolute Impiety is set upon the Bench and made Judge and no wonder though it pass an unjust sentence and condemn Holiness because of its opposition to Vice The common imputations and prejudices which wicked men load Holiness with I shall reduce to the four following Heads First Holiness lays upon men heavy burdens and grievous to be born which makes humane life joyless and uneasie they being so inconsistent first with Peace and secondly with Pleasure and Satisfaction Secondly Experience informs us that wicked men enjoy pleasure and satisfaction in their ways there being no men so jovial and merry as they and that men who pretend to Holiness are sullen and melancholy and are exposed to heavy sufferings and trials Thirdly 'T is singularity and ambition that prevail more with men than any other motive to be holy Fourthly 'T is the greatest piece of folly ignorance and impudence for men to quit with present pleasures for mere uncertainties The first being the most material Objection I shall therefore more largely and distinctly examine it and in doing of this I shall desire these four things may be considered First that the divine Laws are not grievous and uneasie Secondly that Vice is much more troublesom and difficult than Vertue Thirdly that Holiness conduceth both to the Peace and Happiness of humane Societies and to the temporal Advantage of private persons And Fourthly that there is a great deal of more pleasure in the ways of Holiness than in the commission of sin That the divine Laws are not grievous and uneasie but extreamly reasonable and wise is a truth I have already made plain when I discoursed of the rule of Holiness The whole tenour of the Laws of Christianity being so exceedingly suitable to the very nature of men it cannot be rationally supposed that they can be grievous to them St. Paul to the Philippians gives us a brief and compendious but very full and comprehensive account of what things the Laws of our Christianity enjoyn viz. Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely and whatsoever things are of good report all which are so agreeable to Reason that even the light of Nature prompts men to the doing of them and fully discovers it self to be an irreconcilable Enemy to all kinde of vices 'T is not then Reason but the impetuous Lusts of men that determines a holy Law to be grievous and uneasie and indeed no wonder though this unjust Judge make Holiness appear formidable and represent it as grievous to Mankinde it being so much the interest of this partial Judge to condemâ— it as criminal and to decrie it as a yoak intolerable and grievous to be born 'T is not probable that the most innocent shall pass uncondemned when an Enemy is set up in the Judgement seat to pass Sentence our blessed Saviour must be pronounced guilty by Pilat although even this uniust Judge openly profest he found no fault in him And seeing our great Law-giver met with so severe a sentence who can expect any more upright verdicts should pass upon his Laws But that the divine Laws are not indeed grievous to be born may easily appear from plain Texts of Scripture which is the onely infallible rule Our great Lord hath himself taught his Disciples That his yoak is easie and his burden light And one of his inspired Disciples has assured us that his commands are not grievous two Texts sufficient methinks to remove all those prejudices that are cast upon a holy life as if it were full of fatigue and trouble But besides Scripture Reason and Experience too come in to witness this truth First Reason
bears witness that the divine Commands are extreamly reasonable and natural and is it not against the common vote of Mankinde to say What is natural is uneasie and difficult Men who impose hard and grievous tasks upon others are by all men condemned as unreasonable which certainly implies that whatever is reasonable is not grievous and difficult 'T is true sinners who by their many-repeated acts of disobedience have contracted a habit of sin do indeed commit it with less trouble than those who first engage to this Tyranny as Slaves who by custom look upon that as easie which at their first entrance upon such a slavery was very difficult and grievous And yet whatever ease the most daring sinner may pretend is to be found in the acts of sin I durst appeal to his own breast whether he might not with a great deal of more ease and less fatigue have kept the divine Laws than he met with in breaking of them I confess the Laws of Christianity are not natural in a strict and confined sence but onely in so far as they correspond with and are suitable to the nature of Mankinde hence some sins are said to be unnatural not because all sins may not adopt to themselves that title but because upon a more peculiar and special account all men are sensible that they are bruitish and unbecoming any who carry in their bosom a rational Soul There is not any vice but it infests and prejudges Nature Anger is a degree of Madness that violently transports men and quite mars their inward ease and repose Revenge a more lasting and deliberate fury preys upon the Soul where it resides and so distracts and hurries it with inquietude and restlesness that nothing imaginable can be supposed a greater Enemy to Nature how sweet soever and luscious it may seem to depraved nature Intemperance and Vncleanness are sins which debase Humane nature below that of beasts and are the cause of many intolerable pains and Diseases which make Humane life but an uneasie burden But besides all these troubles we may adde that horrour of Conscience that haunts the sinner with fear and astonishment All which contribute to clear the truth of what I assert Again Reason tells a man that it cannot be grievous to him to perform that which is so much his interest and advantage Men in their secular concerns finde no difficulties in any undertaking wherein their interest is concerned and sure it is mans greatest interest to keep the divine Precepts as I have already at some length discovered 'T is an excellent saying of as excellent an Author Reason says he must first cease to be Reason and commence Phrenzie before 't is possible it can set it self in defiance of those Laws of Christ which are accommodated to its greatest interest Causes of the decay of Christian Piety Chap. 5. But besides Reason Experience bears also witness to this truth that the divine Laws are not grievous But before I proceed to prove this I shall premise two Cautions First when I say that Experience makes it plain that the Laws of Christianity are not grievous I do not mean that a sinner when he first forsaketh his sins and betakes himself to a holy and vertuous life shall encounter with no difficulties no sure this cannot reasonably be expected for his former habit in sin will at the first give him work enough he has an old custom to oppose and struggle with which will cost him no small pains to overcome Secondly far less must we fondly imagine that the Law of Christianity is so easie as supersedes and gives a discharge to humane industry vigilancy and care they are but strangers to a holy life and never knew what it is to obey Gods Commands who never were at any pains nay who are not very industrious and careful to observe them When our Saviour says his yoak is easie he does not hereby intend to perswade men to be like Solomons sluggard sure Heaven was neverdesigned for loiterres in Gods Vineyard but his intent there is to remove a common prejudice men were like to entertain against Christianity as if it were an intolerable yoak and insupportable task now this Christ forewarns his Disciples is not true These two things being premised I now appeal to Experience which often corrects errour in speculation whether the Laws of Heaven or Hell are most grievous And to condescend as far as possible I shall not here call in the Experiences of good men who all unanimously assent that there is more ease and less fatigue in obeying than in breaking the divine Laws but I shall submit to the sinners own testimony when he is in his most sober state I mean when he is under the extremity of some pain inflicted by his sins or when he lies upon his death-bed at other times when he is in the pursute of some Lust no wonder though he pass as unjust a sentence as sick men do of tastes who having their palates infected with some venomous and filthy humor judge every thing be it really never so pleasant to be bitter and harsh Go then to sinners when they come to themselves as it is said of the Prodigal He came to himself as if he had been before mad or distracted and ask them whether they sinde more trouble in their doing or omitting of sin Ask the Drunkard who by his intemperance lies smarting under the tormenting pains of the Gout whether he had been wiser and suffered less trouble if he had been temperate and abstained from excess Nay besides the diseases that many if not most of vices bring upon men there are some sins that make men sensibly in the time finde pain and trouble Go to the Lascivious and Wanton person who is tormented with the Pox and ask whether his sin be grievous to him or not There are few sins which are not attended with grievous concomitants But I shall not insist I confess no mens Experiences are so likely to demonstrate this truth nor are more pertinently appealed to as theirs who have once experimented the pleasures and pains of both states Ask therefore those who were once Drunkards and Adulterers but are now sanctified and settled in a course of Holiness and I am sure they shall verily testifie that it is only Satan's Yoak that is uneasie and burthensome But granting that there is some difficulty in the exact observation of the Laws of Christianity as sure any man who consults the corruption of his own nature and the depraved inclinations thereof against which they are levelled will never deny yet if this shall be judged a good Argument to cancel the Laws of Christianity all Laws whatsoever shall be quite dashed out and banished the world for who shall be guilty if he may have the liberty to use this for a relevant excuse This being then so unreasonable to imagine and if it should be admitted should yet never a whit excuse the sinner who to his experience findes
to God that abounds may very rationally make good men with the Psalmist say Rivers of tears run down my eyes because men observe not thy Law And thus this imputation cast upon Holiness is easily wip'd off Grief and sadness are not the effect of a good life but of an imperfect obedience And while our sins call for mourning and fasting it were a piece of madness for men to be jovial and merry and entertain themselves with those deceitful melodies which will end in weeping and gnashing of teeth And yet the sorrow of truely good men is not so obvious to the eye of men as it is to him who is the searcher of the heart it is rather the artifice of the formal Penitent and hypocritical Professor than the character of the Righteous to disfigure their faces and appear sad and demure A good man chuseth rather with David to mourn in secret and when he appears in publick to wash his face than with those Hypocrites of whom Isaiah speaks who bow down their head like a bull-rush who have chosen affliction rather than innocence The next imputation cast upon Holiness is that it is but a piece of singularity and a vain ambition to walk alone Ans I am heartily sorry that the universal deluge of Impiety should make good men say as once Elijah did in another case I am onely left the few number of good men compared with the vast multitude and Armies of transgressors makes them to be esteemed singular and precise and brings upon them the wrath and fury of ungodly sinners because they will not run with them to the same excess of riot and wallow in the mire as they do But truely this charge is not more rational than if a company of mad men should call one a singular fool because he does not comply with them in all their extravagant actings which do really rather require pity and compassion than imitation I doubt not but Singularity in some cases is a very intolerable temper and unbecoming any man who pretends wisdom but yet if it be universally condemned and in no case admitted as reasonable I don't see but the charge will rebound upon the sinner who in this degenerate age thinks the worse of himself if he exceed not others in wickedness But since Holiness is so conformable to Humane reason so advantageous and beneficial to every man what madness is it to condemn it as singular Sure he who intends to walk as a man who is of a good understanding as good men are said to be who intends to minde his interest and happiness will never be frighted from Holiness because may be it is not in vogue nor become the mode of the Kingdome If a whole Kingdom excepting a few should rebel against their Prince would it be any blot upon these sew Loyal Subjects that they affected Singularity But this cavil is so insignificant and silly that I need not enlarge Sure since Holiness is the peculiar excellency and noble embellishment of Humane nature since it is so venerable and lovely and of all perfections the most excellent he must be degenerate to the brutal nature who condemns Singularity in Holiness for this is in truth a condemning a man because he is more excellent than his neighbour as the righteous is said to be in Scripture The last heavy Charge is that it is folly and madness for men to quit with their present pleasures and expose themselves to grievous troubles for a future reward which is uncertain and which no body ever saw To this I Answer First it is a great mistake to think that Holiness exposeth men to relinquish temporal and sensual pleasures there being no men in the world so qualified to experiment the sweetness of these none who live in so happy and flourishing condition who are more healthful and enjoy a greater measure of peace and quietness than good men The onely inconveniency they are exposed to is affliction upon the account of Religion which when Christianity did commence was no rare thing but now is not so ordinary But supposing good men were exposed to greater afflictions than other men yet there is a great deal of satisfaction in submitting to them since they are but light afflictions and momentary too which work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory These small evils are rather to be endured than lasting pains and torments Sure Of two evils the least is to be chosen Secondly Although the reward of Holiness be future yet 't is not uncertain We have as great assurance that there will be a reward for the Righteous in another world as the nature of the thing is capable of and sure he is an unwise man that asks any other demonstration or proof Now that there is a reward laid up for good men which though unseen is yet as certain as if it were obvious to sense we have the greatest rational evidence and the best moral arguments to confirm it For first if there be a God Secondly if the Scriptures be the Word of God then there is not any thing more certain than that there is a state of rewards and punishments after this life First if there be a God then we can have no reasonable scruple about the future reward for since God is holy and just perfections essential to a Deity then certainly he will as the great Governor of the World reward Vertue and punish Vice But this doth not always fall out so here therefore it is reasonable to conclude that he hath reserved the wicked till that great day of wrath and prepared a reward for the righteous Secondly if the Scripture be the Word of God then he who runs may read this truth We have then the greatest moral assurance possible that there is a future reward which may sufficiently encourage men to hazard all they enjoy here for the expectation of it But I shall onely suppose that the future reward is possible which I think few will deny or can prove it to be impossible yet even upon this supposition good men who part with the transitory things of this life prove a great deal wiser than those who condemn them For if there be no life after this all the loss a good man suffers is that of temporal conveniency he hath denied himself the enjoyment of sensual pleasures so far as he judgeth them sinful he is not so intemperate as other men and perhaps is exposed to some hazards for his Religion at the most all that he is to hazard is but very small But if there be a future reward in what a dismal state are the wicked who shall everlastingly be deprived of it and be irrecoverably plunged into a state of lasting and severe torments But since we are assured of a future reward and know certainly that the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father and that the wicked shall be cast into utter darkness What folly
there is a great deal of more pleasure in the ways of Holiness than in the commission of sin which is the fourth thing proposed to be considered needs not puzzle any man to prove it How delightful are all acts of Piety and Vertue how unexpressible is that comfort that the devout Soul findes in conversing with God Well might the Psalmist say Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Psal 97.11 he often experienced that sweetness and satisfaction that is the result of obedience whileas Solomon who could pass the best verdict of sensual pleasures yet concludes them to be but vanity and vexation of spirit There be two things that allay the pleasures of sin First the unruliness of immoderate passions which fret and vex the mindes of men and hinder the sinner from tasting its pleasure Secondly the fear of an invisible being armed to punish them for their misdemeanors Conscience upon the apprehension of guilt recoils upon the sinner and mars all the pleasure he promised himself to enjoy This made Belshazzer a King and environed with his Nobles tremble and quake in the midst of his cups But supposing vices did bring as much pleasure along with them as they pretend yet upon two accounts they are not half so delicious as the pleasures that spring from a good life First the pleasures of sin are so interrupted of a short duration or as the Apostle expresseth them they are but for a season how quickly will a period be put to all these pleasures which now make so much noise They are very fitly compared by Solomon to the crackling of thorns under a pot which are scarce sooner in a blaze than they vanish but the joys that spring from a good conversation are at their lowest ebb here they do indeed continue for no man taketh away this joy but Heaven is the designed place for the good Soul to feed upon those Rivers of pleasures that are at God's right hand for evermore Secondly sensual pleasures do soon cloy mens appetites we cannot enjoy long any sensual delight but we are quickly weary of it but it is not so with spiritual delights 't is onely the absence of them when suspended for our sins that troubles and molests us 'T is impossible that sensual pleasures can satisfie the soul of man which was never framed for a Mahometan Paradise nor can it be rationally expected that he who is conscious to himself of guilt should be free from fear which being so tormenting can never permit men to enjoy pleasure freely But let us descend to sensual pleasures and we shall finde that he who is temperate and moderate is more likely to relish the pleasantness of Meat Drink and Pastime than the intemperate and immoderate He who relieves the Poor and refresheth the Needy cannot but finde more real sweetness and satisfaction in doing so than he who drinks away his Estate He who speaks the truth findes not those tormenting checks of Conscience which are the just reward of lying But all this will more plainly appear by the Solution of the next Objection The second Imputation is brought from Experience namely that wicked men are for ordinary very jovial and cheerful and enjoy a great deal of satisfacton in their ways whereas men who pretend to Piety and Holiness are very sad and disconsolate To this I answer That the Question is not whether wicked men have some pleasure in their sins or not but whether that pleasure that ariseth from a good life be not infinitely preferable to these Alas the most promising sensual pleasure supposing it to be lawful is much inferiour to the satisfaction and comfort that springs from a good Conscience How much more inconsiderable must sinful pleasures be which are attended with so black and dismal consequences Indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil Sinful pleasures are at the best but short and sure this consideration contributes very much to lessen their value But that which makes them so mean and not worth the enjoying is the painful Eternity that succeeds to them However then the wicked may appear jovial and merry yet their inward thoughts if we could discover them cannot be at quiet and ease Whatever pleasure they may reap in the present act yet they cannot afterwards look unto themselves without horrour and amazement The after-stings of sin are so painful that he buys those present pleasures at a rate no reasonable man would purchase them But that wicked men cannot really enjoy that pleasure and contentment they pretend to seems very plain from Reason For first How can any man be satisfied with those actions which are so cross to his very nature and opposite to Reason as every sin is Can a man finde pleasure in doing that which he knows he ought not to do sure the reboundings of Conscience upon the apprehension of doing amiss will soon rase out any pleasure that sin affords and a sick man may more rationally expect rest than those men pleasure and contentment Secondly it can afford little pleasure to men to act quite contrary to their own interests it is rather like the laughter of fools and mad men than a real pleasure that such men can pretend to Now every sinner quite ruines his interest and happiness while he runneth headlong to destruction and for a present pleasure which is onely grateful to the sensual appetite loseth those lasting Rivers of pleasure which though future are yet certain and which are calculated for the Soul Thirdly What pleasure can any man enjoy who is sure to be eternally tormented As there is no peace so no pleasure to the wicked who are at oddes with God whose favour is better than life But what reason have good men to be sad and disconsolate since all the causes of grief are removed from them Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart so that the Apostle had good reason to double that Exhortation Rejoyce in the Lord again I say rejoyce O how satisfying and pleasant is it for men to act reasonably and to be assured that they have done their duty and have acted for their own interest Our rejoycing is this saith the Apostle the testimony of our consciences that in all simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world Sure there was never any man who was troubled for living holily there being no reason why any should 'T is true good men may be of a melancholy disposition and naturally inclined to sadness but this can be no reflection on Holiness as if it were the cause of that melancholy temper nay the best of men have their own failings and no wonder though these breed some trouble and disquiet But this is not to be disconsolate for being good but for doing evil And indeed I may adde that the great abominations and profanity the contempt of Religion and dishonour that is done