Religion is in its essence an inward and spiritual Holiness outward actions can be considered but two wayes either as the means and instruments or else as the fruits and effects of Holiness and both ways a sober temperate Life as to the general course of it is indispensably necessary tho I cannot here deny but that there must be an allowance made for the variety of Tempers and the different strengths of grace c. proportionable to each mans different case Having thus given an Account of the nature of the Holiness which the Gospel requires I come 2. To shew that it tends to promote Gods Glory and Mans Happiness 1. Gods Glory 1. Though a right understanding be wholly necessary to yet it self is no part of Divine worship it is not meer knowledge or belief of a truth but Love and Fear and Obedience by which we honour God and devote our selves to him there is no where more light of knowledge Heaven excepted than in those Regions of darkness where the most impious Spirits dwell but no body will say that they there worship God 't is true an understanding illuminated is certainly a beautiful thing but then if it be joyn'd to an unsanctified will the Man in the whole is the most deform'd and loathsome thing imaginable for he is made up of two the most disproportionable and contradictory things as if he were formed as the Poet fancies men growing out of the slime of the Deluge the upper parts enlivened flesh and bloud the lower mud and clay the light of the understanding enhaunces the guilt of malice and degeneracy in the Will for to see God and not love and obey him is strangely malicious but if his beauty be not ador'd by things that have no eyes to see it 't is not to be wondred at If you had been blind then had you had no sin 2. The Heavens saith the Psalmist declare the glory of God c. Their brightness and vastness whilst they engage our wonder invite us to the contemplation of the Power and Infiniteness and Majesty of their Architect so Holy and Good men declare his glory too for being renewed after his Image in Holiness and righteousness they represent to the World an imperfect draught of some of the glorious attributes 〈◊〉 God they worship thus as the power of Miracles imported to the Apostles forc'd the Beholders to glorifie God who had given such gifts unto men so too Christ exhorts his Disciples to let their Light shine before men that when they see those good works they may glorifie God who is in Heaven induc'd by the loveliness of that Goodness deriv'd from him as the other were by his power 3. It is Goodness by which we own a God and acknowledge him to be ours Divine worship is the confession of our meanness and his Majesty and conformity to his Laws is the fullest proof we can give of our Allegiance and his Supremacy and therefore they who live irreligiously let 'em pretend to believe and think what they will are said to be without God in the world and to deny him in their works 4. Holiness or Goodness is really Divine worship and therefore it is in Scripture defin'd to be Religion and Wisdome and Knowledge To know God this is Wisdom and to depart from evil this is understanding To do Justice to releive the Poor and Needy is not this to know God saith the Lord pure Religion and undefiled is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their affliction and to keep ones self unspotted from the world more plainly what is worship but the cleaving to God with purity and earnestness of Affections acting in conformity to his Law as those Affections shall invite and inable us and this is the very same thing with Holiness So that it is plain that Holiness and Goodness contribute to Gods Glory the two only wayes we are only capable of glorifying him that is by our own particular worship and by the influence our example hath upon others § 2. It is most serviceable to the Happiness of Man here and hereafter 1. Here. 1. All the advantage of peacefu Governments friendly Neighborhood I comfortable and closer unions and pleasant Retirements depend on and arise from Goodness But suppose the World planted with Covetousness instead of Justice Pride instead of Meekness Cruelty instead of Compassion Revenge and Malice instead of Mildness and Charity falshood and lying instead of Constancy and Truth c. and imagine if you can whether all Societies would not be torn into as many Factions as there are cross interests and opposite passions whether any Commerce could be just and smooth any tie lasting and delightful whether it were possible to find security or pleasure either in a private or a publick Life 2. It is Holiness which best secures a mans inward peace guards and arms him against those impressions which outward temptations make prescribes bounds to our Desires scatters our Fears confirms our Hopes raises our Affections to things of true and lasting Excellency that is in few words it not only settles our peace by establishing the empire of the mind over the inferiour Appetites but also provides for our pleasure by filling the mind with spiritual Joyes and Peace and Hope 2. Hereafter 3. Goodness is wholly necessary 1. To recommend us to the Love of God whose infinite purity and excellency cannot approve of any thing that is sinful and unholy This is the Message that we have received of him that God is Light c. Where you see that the Law is founded in his Nature hath an intrinsick resemblance to his own Holiness and by consequence he can neither alter it nor dispence with its Observation 2. To qualifie us for Heaven for it is Goodness which weans the Soul from all fondness for the Body and the World and possesses it with an intense Love of God and Holiness which two things do first capacitate it for that world wherein God and holy Spirits dwell and Secondly recommend it to greater degrees of Glory and Happyness in it Besides all this the Scripture speaks This Doctrine in express terms the grace of God which hath appear'd unto all men teacheth us c. This was the great business of our Saviours Life he was still instructing men in the doctrine of the Kingdome that is Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety His Miracles did confirm the Divinity of his Person and this too was carefully secur'd to gain authority to his Doctrine I will conclude this Chapter with the absurdity of the contrary Doctrine Of what use would the Gospel be in relation either to God's Glory or Mans happiness if it were onely to be believ'd and not obeyed To what purpose is light come into the world if men may still love darkness to what purpose did the Son who lay in the bosome of the Father reveal him more gloriously to us if knowing him as God it be yet lawful for us not to glorifie him
as such And as insignificant would this opinion render it to the happiness of Man for of what use will all the excellent rules of Justice Charity Meekness Temperance c. prove if we continue peevish and revengeful intemperate and lustful c. to what purpose are the fuller discoveries of another World Life and Immortality and the Belief of Jesus being the Son of God if they do not enable us to conquer the world and mortifie the flesh and if I walk according to the Laws of the Flesh i. e. Violate the Laws of the Spirit can I choose but dread a God whom I have wrong'd and will not unruly Passions and a troubled Conscience make a Christian as miserable as a Jew or Heathen If Goodness now be the end and drift of the holy belief of Christians then I infer 1. That the best Man is the best Son of the Church and he whose affections are more rais'd and heavenly and hath least of the mixture of sensuality is of the highest form in the School of Christ because he doth best answer the design of his Lord and walks in some measure as he walk'd 2. That the most infallible characters of a true Faith are to be taken from the government of our Passions our conquest o're the world and the increase of our inward joy and peace and hope Good Lord how apt are we to put a a cheat upon the World and our selves to perswade it and our selves that we believe tho there be no change in our Souls and Conversations and therefore consequently we do nothing less I shall hereafter never think that I believe aright till I have a Love for all his Commandments till I can meditate delightfully pray vigorously relie constantly obey readily suffer patiently rejoyce humbly expect reverently and happy is me if I attain that height earnestly too the hour of my death or the appearance of my Lord. I shall never hereafter think that I have studied or known divine truth to any purpose till the Truth hath made me free rescued me from the bondage of Sin and fears of Death The Prayer THou Holy Pure and Eternal Spirit who canst not indure iniquity who dost so love goodness that thou hast sent thy Son into the world to promote it his Life and his death his Pains and his blood were spent in this Cause O enable thy poor Servant who names the name of Christ to hunger and thirst after righteousness and to depart from iniquity Lord let thy truth and thy Spirit be powerful in me to the subduing all of evil inclinations I believe that all things are naked and bare before thee and therefore that thou canst not be mock'd or impos'd upon by specious pretences or formalities That I am not to expect to appear any other in thy Eyes than such as I am in my self inable me therefore to confess thee in my practice as well as words to live like one who believ'd thy holy Truths Let my heart be fixt in Honesty and uprightness to obey all thy Commandments Let the Belief of things not seen have the same influence upon me they had upon all thy holy Saints Martyrs and Confessors i. e. Perswade me to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and holily in this present world through Jesus Christ Sect. 2. Of doing Good There are a sort of People who indeavour all they can to withdraw from the world and rid their hands of business and think it abundantly sufficient if they can discharge their duty towards God in their Retirements This is Lawful nay commendable only upon two accounts 1. If my Temper or Circumstances be such that my Conversation cannot be publick and safe too for then the Salvation of my own Soul is naturally the most near and dear concern or 2. If my qualifications are such that my retirement is likely to prove more advantagious to the publick than my filling any other Post for then I act according to the Rules of Charity There are two other Inducements to a retir'd Private Life The one founded in a vice the other in a mistake 1. The First is when Men withdraw from the Business as from the trouble of the World and their Pleasure not Religion is their first and chief motive They meet with many rubs and oppositions in a busie Active Life and then they grow soft and weak and lasie and they want Courage and Industry and the frequent interruptions of their private peace and enjoyment is uneasie and they would withdraw to enjoy themselves and this is unchristian and unmanly 't is Epicurism not Contempt of the World 2. The mistake is when we look upon a Monastical kind of life as the whole of Christianity and the meer Perfection of the Regenerate state and place Piety so wholly in acts of solitary Devotion as to seclude the doing good and communicating c. It will behove such to consider 1. That true and apparent Motives Pretence and Religion are sometimes so twisted together that it is hard for a man to distinguish 'em and therefore some secret weakness or reserve may be the real whilst zeal is made the pretended cause of this choice 2. That the Busie and Active Life is the more Excellent and the more necessary 1. the more excellent as being fuller of hazards and troubles and temptations there is a larger field for virtues for Patience Courage Meekness Reliance c. in an active than speculative life and such will receive more Crowns And when I consider the Nature of God and necessities of Mankind I cannot but think acts of Charity as prevalent to the wiping off our guilt as the severest penances A vigorous and active life spent in promoting the welfare of others is a more perfect instance of self denial speaks a greater contradiction to our ease and pleasure commits more violence upon our inclinations than any acts of private Austerity can pretend to do for besides the Pains the watching and the fasting incident to both a like the trouble of Contrivance the industry of addresses the uneasiness of refusals c. sufficiently weigh down the one side Besides this Confinement imprisons our light under a bushel it is a Cover a Napkin for our Talents to conceal them and render them useless to others and therefore our reward will be less in another world and our graces the fainter in this For to him what hath i. e. useth shall be given Grace like the Widows Oile increases by being charitably imparted That Flame which warms my Neighbour reflects back with a double heat upon my self and that Goodness which cherishes his heart softens and sanctifies my own And over and above all this I enjoy a strange delight in doing good and in beholding the fruits which my own hands have planted And my assurance and the confidence of my hopes encreases by the conscience of that Love which my works convince me I have for my Brethren 2. That a busie
imployment of our selves for the advantage of others is of more absolute necessity The world is one intire Body and each member must be serviceable in its place nor can any part withdraw it self from the whole at its pleasure hence it is that the greater part of the Law of our blessed Saviour are Rules of Society of Justice Charity c. and he himself the best example made his Retirements by night but by day he went about doing good Nature hath founded a cognation amongst us as we pertake of the same form shape reason But the Christian Religion hath cemented us in closer unions made us the Members of the same Body tied us together by faith and love by the same Sacraments the same Promises and the same hopes and therefore we cannot in reason think we do one another all the good we are bound to by a meer abstinence from doing wrong and by sequestring our selves from the service and concerns of our Brethren 2. Because the Glory of God is more concern'd in the deportment of whole Societies than a few private persons as much as the safety of a multitude is more valuable than that of a very few and goodness redounds more to his honour when publique and almost universal than when cloystered up in the Bosomes of a few therefore all good men must needs be obliged to promote the interests of Holiness and goodness in the publique because the Divine Glory is so deeply concern'd in it 3. Which ought well to be consider'd The nature of Goodness is such that it cannot well be conceiv'd how the being good is separable from doing good God tho his own Heaven and Happiness did yet found a World to which he might be an universal Benefactor his Goodness was certainly the most powerful motive to his Creation not any considerable accession that his happiness was to receive from it This Goodness therefore in Man ought to be a Vigorous and Active Principle and render 'em the Benefactors of Mankind It is indeed hardly conceivable how men should be zealous Patrons of virtue and goodness and yet not concern'd to protect and own them to promote and incourage 'em in the world or how men can be inflam'd with a very strong Love of God and yet not indeavour to establish a true sense of his Beauties and excellencies in the minds of Men or how lastly any can be possess'd with a passionate kindness for a Brother and yet never mingle with the concerns of his Soul or Body Lastly The great motives of the Gospel are The example of our Lord and Saviour whose Disciples we profess ourselves whom we are bound to imitate and he went about doing good The glorious rewards annex'd to all those who any wayes benefit Mankind either by instructing the mind or relieving the body The Character of the Children of God at the last Judgement is compos'd wholly of Acts of Charity all which suppose an active life Conformable to this Doctrine is that of Heb. 13.15 16. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of Praise to God continually that is the fruit of our Lips giving thanks to his Name But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased we must pray but prayer without doing good is an unpleasing sacrifice without Charity our very Devotion is unchristian and our Religion unnatural This let those mind who are long in their Prayers severe in their outward deportment frequent hearers of the Word and yet we can discern in them no fruits of Meekness or Charity let 'em consider whether they do not mistake the nature of Religion whether they do not choose the more easie Sacrifice because it costs them nothing whether they have not a secret reserve of Covetousness or Frowardness c. Having spoke this much of the Necessity of doing good and the Motives to it I 'le propose three or four Rules and submit 'em to your Consideration 1. That we must judge of our call to do good by the capacities and fitnesses with which God hath endow'd us and here I cannot but proclaim our own glorious priviledge That tho to do good be so great and glorious a thing that it is a kind of imitation of God himself a thing our blessed Saviour came down on earth for yet it hath pleas'd God so to multiply the instances and opportunities of goodness that there is none so unfortunate as to be uncapable of doing good The happy by their wealth the wise by their knowledge even the miserable themselves may by their patience and courage and prayer comfort and relieve the world and we are to judge by our Parts and Fortunes the way that God hath mark'd out for our Charity and be content to obey him in his own methods 2. Let Meditation and Prayer administer to our good actions and like oil to a Lamp give our Charity fresh Spirits and Flame for as private Religion is deficient without publique Charity so Charity unless often refresh'd by Retirement Devotion and Heavenly Reflexions will cool and languish our Hearts will be tough and insensible and our doing good will be onely the effect of Custome or Prudence or Activity of Spirit not of Religion or Charity and if which is the best can be suppos'd the man consecrates the whole Mass of his Actions by purity of intention and continues an obstinate observer of Prayer as far as he thinks strict duty obliges him to yet for want of more leasurely Meditation and more serious Reflexions his addresses will lose their warmth his Soul will abate much of its Love and whilst his Religion loses so much of its pleasure and sweetness what wonder if his Charity relish more of drudgery than delight 3 That we may not be discourag'd from doing good by any difficulty or misfortune which may attend us in it in our nightly Reflexions let us judge not the hapiness of our success but the integrity of our endeavour and let us think it sufficient reward that we have obeyed God or if we will measure our success let us examine how much our experience hath improv'd our Meekness our Patience our Reliance or Charity for scarce any action but will exercise some of these graces 4. Look upon doing good as truely your Business as Prayer or Hearing the Word or Meditation c. And therefore never think your time mispent which is laid out in visiting the imprison'd or sick relieving the necessitous comforting the afflicted and reducing those that erre into the paths of Sobriety and Truth tho this time be par'd off from our Meditations Prayer and Sacrament He is a good man indeed who prefers meek attendance and ministry and importunate addresses to the Souls of men before much knowledge passionate disputes and high pretences O Charity how lovely must thou needs be in the eye of Heaven for wert thou planted in all our hearts Earth would resemble that place above I will be pleased therefore with
dark chamber and mark how thou must lie in thy bed of sickness and of Death consider how all thy hopes and comforts all thy designs and purposes as far as they concern this world must vanish like a dream and think what need thou wilt then stand in of all the strength and comfort which Reason and Religion the Ministry and Prayers of thy Spiritual guide and Friend and the Conscience of a well spent Life can furnish thee with then thou wilt need a strong Faith and a vigorous Love and an entire Humility to enable thee to bear thy agonies patiently and part with the world chearfully and meet thy God compos'dly 4. Do not indulge thy self in the Enjoyment of the utmost liberty which is consistent with Innocence vice borders very closely upon vertue he that will not be burnt must not approach so nigh the fire as to be sing'd besides such freedomes do insensibly instill sensuality into the soul at leastwise if so thick an aire do not sully the soul it is too gross and mixt to whiten and clear it 5. Catch at every opportunity of a holy discourse and learn to raise from every thing a heavenly thought and to mannage every Accident to some spiritual purpose embrace all examples of an Excellent vertue and search after all occasions of doing good declining by all the Arts of prudence and Religion what ever either company or discourse whatever either sight or entertainement may soften thy temper thaw thy Resolutions discompose thy calm or alay thy heavenly mindedness or endear the world to thee sin steals in thorough the eye or ear c. dressed up in Beauty Mirth Luxury c. but it wounds whilst it delights and it stains where it touches and it captives what it once possesses 6. Be sure that thy Religion be plac'd in substantial and weighty things not fancyful and conceited for example 1. As to matters of Faith make it thy business to know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent the riches of divine Love and the merit of Christs sacrifice and do not mispend thy time nor weary and disturb thy Soul with Curiosities and vain disputes which usually grow out of interest and pride or an impertinent and trifling spirit 2. As to practice let thy Religion be made up of Fundamental Duties not conceits or will worship of Charity and Humility Obedience Mortification and Purity pure Religion and undefiled is this to visit the Fatherless and the Widowes and to keep ones selfe unspotted from the world Religion is not a devout whimsey a sullen Austerity or a blind and giddy passion but all that promotes the Honor of God the good of Mankind and the peace of our own Souls The Prayer O Most glorious and Eternal God guide me I beseech thee in the paths of Holyness I am the purchase of thy Sons blood I have known the truth of thy glorious Gospel and receiv'd the earnest of thy Love thy Holy Spirit O grant that I may not receive thy Grace in vain that I may not suffer wreck in the sight of my Haven But assist me by the might of thy Spirit in the inward Man to perfect Holyness in the fear of God to go on to the full assurance of Hope mortifying each day more and more the outward man and growing in all godliness and vertue and every thing that is praise worthy that so the nearer I approach Eternity the fitter for it I may be that my state here being a state of spiritual delight and pleasure each day may give fresh vigour to my Devotion so that I may not faint till I enter into the Joyes of my Master and receive a Crown Amen Amen Holy Jesus I have consider'd 1. Our Obligation to Religion upon the account of our own Souls which can neither be happy in this Life nor that to come without it 2. The Nature and Substance of that Religion we profess as it regards either Belief or Practice from all which it appears that the Christian Philosophy is nothing else but a Systeme of most exalted Holyness such as may become Men who are design'd for another life it remains now 3. To consider by what powerful motives the Gospel engages us to duties which are so far above our natural state and strengths Practical Christianity Part II. CHAP. I. Of the Motives which the Gospel proposes to Holiness THe Motives by which the Gospel obliges us to Holiness are 1. The Reward of Vertue and Punishment of Vice in another World 2. The Consideration of the Divine Nature 3. The Consideration of the whole History of our Saviour 4. The consideration of the vanity of all those things which are the temptations to sin 5. The nature of virtue and of vice 6. The assistance of the Divine spirit and 7. The consideration of the nature of the Gospel Covenant which leaves a place for Repentance 1. Of the first Motive Upon what account Life and Immortality is said to be brought to light thorough the Gospel I 'le not determine but it is certain that the Gospel shews us how Death is abolish'd and how Life and Immortality may be attain'd 2 that it hath manifested this to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews and that 3. The Discovery of it is in full and clear words laid down in almost every Page of it The Wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment and the Righteous into Life eternal Mat. 25. and Ro. 2.5 there is a day mention'd which is call'd The Day of the Revelation of the righteous judgement of God because he will then render to every man according to his Deeds to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory and honour and immortality eternal Life but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile but glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile This being so to sin must needs be so silly and weak a thing no man of common sense would be guilty of for can any man of reason be at a loss in such a choice as this whether he will live eternally or die whether he will be happy for ever or for a moment upon supposal that sin could make me live one happy moment 'T is true if there were no prospect of another Life no account to be taken in another world the case would be much alter'd for the Law of our nature being I humbly conceive nothing else but the Law or Dictates of Reason and the business of Reason being in this respect at least only to distinguish between good and evil our Reason would talk to us at another rate because it would proceed by different principles good and evil would then peradventure be different things for whatever would make for the pleasure and interest of
implanted in the heart hath to these it is call'd the Divine Nature and the Image of God and it is highly reasonable that the worship should be suitable to the God it is paid to and therefore the Rule and Standard of Holiness is the Divine Nature and nothing else the beauty of Holiness and the deformity of sin is not to be deriv'd at least primarily from the conveniency or inconvenieney of the one or other in this present life but from a tendency to imprint or efface this Divine Image in us This is the way of our Saviour's and his Apostles arguing from the Divine Nature to our Duty thus because God is a Spirit therefore he is to be worshipp'd in Spirit and in Truth because he is pure therefore they must purifie themselves who approach him because he is holy therefore his worshippers must be holy too and because he is love therefore they who abide in him must abide in love all his Children must imitate the perfections of the Divine Nature Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect From hence it is easie to discover why the God of Heaven hath such an Everlasting Quarrel against sin and why he delights so much in Holiness and Righteousness Sin embases the man and depraves the spirit which is in him into a sensual natural man and sets him at the farthest distance from and contradiction to God but Holiness is a reflexion of his own Beauty and Excellency it is the exalting man into a spiritual and heavenly Nature This is a plain account of the Nature of Holiness and Sin how the one is so lovely and the other so ugly how the one is so dangerous and the other so advantagious 2. The knowledge of the Divine Nature convinces us of the reasonableness of serving God There can be but two reasons for service either 1. An Obligation to the person we serve and then our service is either Duty or Gratitude or else 2. A regard to our own interest or pleasure In the knowledge of the Divine Nature we shall find all these Obligations to his services If we consider God as that Principle in whom we live and move and have our being Act. 17.28 or as one who doth us good gives us rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness Act. 14.17 What can be more reasonable than that we should be thankful to him but if we consider him further as Redeeming us by the Blood of his Son instructing us by the Light of his Gospel assisting us by the Power of his Spirit and adopting us into the hopes of an Incorruptible Crown what can be more reasonable than that we should devote our selves to his service and offer up our selves a holy living and acceptable Sacrifice to him If we consider him as our Creator and the Lord of Heaven and Earth what can be more reasonable than that we his Creatures should obey his Laws If we have regard to our own Interest all our present enjoyments and future hopes depend upon him to be guided by Infinite Wisdom to be protected by Infinite Power to be blest by him who is above all things and can make us as happy as he pleases are things which a wise love of our selves would make us earnestly desire As for pleasure besides that which flows from the perswasion of all these advantages which accrue to us from his service and besides the peace and true freedom which Devotion gains us there is a strange pleasure in the contemplation of the most Excellent Being in whom is united all that is any way taking with a Rational and Immortal Soul 3. This knowledge of God will confirm us in a firm perswasion of the reward of Vertue and punishment of Vice for whilst it discovers sin so exceeding hateful not only upon the account of its contradiction to the Divine Nature but also its base ingratitude and folly and discovers the Excellency and Loveliness of Holiness it doth at the same time manifest the reason why God who is a holy God doth incourage the one by such glorious promises and deter us from the other by such amazing threats for whether we consider him in himself the purity of his own nature makes him love goodness and hate vice and how contemptible were either his love or hate if happiness be not the effect of one and misery of the other or if you consider him as the Governour of this world it is inconsistent with his Majesty to suffer the violation of his Laws without punishing the bold Offender So that now there 's nothing further necessary to work this perswasion in us but that 1. We should be perswaded that neither our good nor evil actions can be conceal'd from him And 2. That he is arm'd with sufficient power to bless and reward the righteous and avenge himself of the sinner and both these Truths we learn from his infinite Knowledge and infinite Power both which we are abundantly taught in the Gospel of Christ to belong to God God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell Mat. 10.28 And this God thus knowing and thus powerful without any respect of persons judgeth according to every mans work 1 Pet. 1.17 All this now amounts to thus much that Vertue and Vice are not indifferent things but that the one is most lovely the other most loathsom to God therefore the one is most fatal and the other most benificial to its Votaries for there is an infinitely glorious Being who is most deeply concern'd and every way able to poure forth blessings on the righteous and vengeance on the sinner The Prayer O Glorious God let my knowledge of thy Nature teach me to deny all iniquity and to be holy as thou art holy Let thy goodness make me love thee and thy Power and Justice make me fear thee and let both wing my Devotion and clog and damp my Lusts Let thy Truth and thy Power beget in me a perfect affiance in thee Let thy Wisdom and thy Love perswade me to submit quietly to thy Will that I may walk before an Almighty God and be perfect and so may enter into thy joys in the life to come thorough Jesus Christ our Lord. SECT III. Of the third Motive to Holiness i.e. the Consideration of the whole History of the Son of God Jesus Christ OUr Lord and Saviour may be consider'd either in his Life his Death or Glory beginning in his Resurrection the knowledge of him in each of these is a strong ingagement to Holiness and a determent from Vice 1. In his Life and here we may look upon him with reference to his Doctrine or Example both which conspire in this one aim to implant Holyness in the world and to root out sin for look upon him with reference to his
And grant that I may abhor those sins which efface thy Image and debase my Nature which render me a burthen to my self the hate of God and scorn of Man which make me unhappy here and miserable hereafter Grant this I beseech thee through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen SECT VI. Containing the sixth Motive to Holiness the assistance of the Divine Spirit I Do not think that in a Discourse of this Practical Nature it will behove me to enter into any Dispute about the strengths of laps'd Nature about the nature and necessity of Supernatural Grace I may in short affirm that we find in Scripture sometimes the birth sometimes the growth sometimes the perfection of the New Creature assign'd to the Holy Spirit as the great Author of it all which doth not yet discharge Man from the necessity of exerting all the strength and endeavour that he can for by those frequent Exhortations address'd to Man we may justly infer some ability suppos'd in him and by the frequent promises of the assistance of the Divine Spirit we may as reasonably infer an impotence which stands in need of this relief and from altogether we may conclude that the Spirit of God is so far forth dispens'd as serves the end of the Gospel and the necessities of mankind Our blessed Saviour after he had deliver'd upon the Mount a System of the most refin'd Precepts of Devotion and Purity Mortification and Charity as if he had foreseen that his Hearers would be dazled by the brightness of this Divine Image and look upon the Pattern as too high for the attainments of Humane Nature doth close the discourse first with an assurance of a Supernatural assistance of the Spirit of God And then secondly with asserting the necessity of a real and actual conformity of our lives to those holy Precepts Matth 7. v. 7. c. Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be open'd unto you for every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be open'd Where our Endeavours and the Divine Assistance are joyn'd together as being both necessary towards the great Work of Sanctification in the 9 10 11. verses he goes on to confirm them in the belief of this Promise from the example of Natural Parents who though evil have that Natural Affection for their Children that if a Son ask bread they will not give him a stone or if he ask a Fish they will not give him a Scorpion Much more is it inconsistent with the goodness of the Divine Nature to refuse Man that assistance which is indispensably necessary to the propagation of Holiness inconsistent with his Paternity to deny his craving Children that which is as necessary to their spiritual life as food is to their natural If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things his holy Spirit as appears from parallel places to them that ask him And when he had acquainted them with this I do not wonder that he concludes all with averring the necessity of Obedience to all those Excellent Precepts from verse 13. to the end for in vain do men quarrel at the purity of the Christian Doctrine as if it were a Religion fit for Angels rather than men in vain do they complain of the prevailing passions of flesh and blood and of the soft insinuations of a flattering World our ability to obey the Gospel is not to be measur'd by the strength of Nature but of the Spirit that God who hath call'd us to the profession of such Exalted Vertue hath allotted us an assistance suitable to so glorious an end so that these complaints are not the groans of a Penitent but the excuses of a fond and carnal mind All this certainly amounts to a very clear proof of the necessity and Excellency of Real and Inherent Holiness for to what purpose should we call down an assistance from Heaven to what purpose should the Divine Spirit be powred forth upon men if either there were no need or no use of such a Holiness which he is the Divine Principle of or if this Holiness were so impure and imperfect that it were not acceptable to God thorough Christ And which way now shall the impenitent sinner escape Divine Justice what Excuse can he frame for the defence of his Impiety he sins and dies not because he cannot do otherwise but because he will do so he perisheth not through impotence but obstinacy and what punishment think we can sufficiently avenge a contempt of or despight done to the Spirit of God! The Gentile is unexcusable because he did not obey those Laws which his Conscience did dictate to him though the Characters they were publish'd in were dark the Motives to and the Principles of his Obedience weak and feeble at least comparatively what tribulation and wrath and anguish then will punish our disobedience who have not only our duty openly publish'd by the Son of God and inforc'd upon our hopes and fears by glorious promises and dreadful threats but also the Spirit of God promis'd to enlighten our understandings to enfranchise and strengthen our wills to imprint the Motives of the Gospel in more sensible Characters on our spirits c. We must expect that our tribulation in the world to come will be proportion'd to our obstinacy in this and the anger of Almighty wrath will boil to a heat answerable to that infinite love and goodness we have despis'd The Prayer O My God how reasonable is it that I should obey thee since thou commandst me nothing but what thou giv'st me strength to perform I feel the weakness of my Nature and the strength of Temptations but this shall never discourage me thorough the might of thy Spirit I shall be sure to conquer it must be a weakness indeed which Omnipotence cannot relieve it must be a strange assault made by the world which can storm that Fort which the Spirit of the Almighty defends and that Law must be more than Seraphick which is exalted above the imitation of a Soul inspir'd and actuated by thee No no if thou vouchsafe but one Ray of thine Infinite Power I shall soon subdue the World and mortifie the Flesh I shall do the things which please thee here and I shall obtain everlasting life afterwards which grant for thy Mercies sake and thy Son Christ Jesus sake Amen SECT VII Of the Gospel-Covenant as it is a Motive to Holiness THe Covenant of Works was Do this and live Life was the reward of an unerring obedience and Death the punishment of every transgression of the Law so that by vertue of this Covenant none could expect to be Justified but he who had no sin to be charg'd with and therefore since there never was any such Man but Christ Righteousness could not be by the Law but now the
Nuns their Frolicks and Entertainments c. several times printed in French and now faithfully done into English Mary Magdalen 's Tears wiped off or the Voice of Peace to an unquiet Conscience A Sermon preached by that eminent Divine Henry Hammond Dr. in Divinity The Golden Remains of that ever memorable Mr. John Hales of Eaton Colledge c. The second Impression with many additions not before published in Quarto Episcopacy as established by Law in England written by the command of the late King Charls by Robort Sanderson late Lord Bishop of Lincoln in Octavio A Collection of Articles Injunctions Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions Ecclesiastical and other publick Records of the Church of England with a Preface by Anthony Sparrow Lord Bishop of Norwich A Rationale on the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England with his Caution to his Diocess against false Doctrines by Anthony Sparrow Lord Bishop of Norwich in Octavio Whole Duty of Man laid down in a plain familiar way for the use of all but especially the meanest Reader Necessary for all Families With private Devotions on several Occasions in Octa. Gentlemans calling written by the Author of the whole Duty of Man Octa. The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety or an impartial Survey of the Ruins of Christian Religion undermined by unchristian Practice by the Author of the whole Duty of Man Octa. A Scholastical History of the Canon of Holy Scripture or the certain and indubitable Books thereof as they are received in the Church of England by Dr. Cosin Lord B. of Durham Quarto An Historical Vindication of the Church of England as it stands separated from the Roman c. by Sir Roger Twisden Baronet Quarto Mr. Chillingsworths Reasons against Popery perswading his Friend to turn to his Mother the Church of England from the Church of Rome The Book of Homilies appointed to be read in Churches Fol. Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical Quarto Divine Breathings or a Pious Soul thirsting after Christ in an hundred excellent Meditations Hugo Grotius de Rebus Belgicis or the Annals and History of the Low Countrie wars in English wherein is manifested that the United Netherlands are indebted for the glory of their Conquests to the valour of the English Octa. A Treatise of English Particles shewing much of the variety of their significations and uses in English and how to render them into Latin according to the propriety and elegancy of that language with a Praxis upon the same by William Walker B. D. School-Master of Grantham The Royal Grammar commonly called Lillies Grammar explained opening the meaning of the Rules with great plainness to the understanding of Children of the meanest capacity with choice observations on the same from the best Authors by William Walker B. D. Author of the Treatise of English Particles A Treatise proving Spirits Witches and Supernatural operations by pregnant instances and Evidences by Meric Causabon Octa. A Catalogue of all the Parliaments or reputed Parliaments from the year 1640. A Narrative of some passages in or relating to the long Parliament by a Person of Honour Nemesius Nature of Man in English by George Withers Gent. Inconveniencies of Tolleration Quarto Tolleration intollerable Quarto A Letter about Comprehension Quarto A Thanksgiving Sermon preached before the King by J. Dolbin D. D. Dean of Westminster B. Brownrigs Sermons on Gunpowder Treason A Narrative of the burning of London 1666. with an Account of the Losses and a most remarkable parallel between it and MOSCO both as to the Plague and Fire Lluellins three Sermons on the Kings murther Iter Lusitanicum or The Portugal Voyage with what memorable passages interven'd at the Shipping and Transportation of her sacred Majesty Katharine Queen of Great Britain from Lisbon to England by Dr. Samuel Hind A Charge given by the most eminent and learned Sir Francis Bacon at a Sessions for the Verge declaring the jurisdiction thereof and the Offender herein inquirable as well by the Common Law as by several Statutes Quarto Mr. Whites learned Tractates of the Laws of England Graphice or the use of Pen and Pencil in designing drawing and painting by Sir William Sanderson Kt. Hippocrates Aphorismes Oct. in English The Communicant instructed for worthy receiving the Lords Supper by Thomas Trot of Barkstone near Grantham Petavius's History of the World Military and Maritine Discipline viz. The exercise of Horse and Foot with Sir Francis Veers directions and a Treatise of Invasion by Capt. Tho. Venn the fortifying Towns with the wayes of defending and offending the same by the learned Mathematician and Tacquet also Sir Samuel Morelands method of delineating all manner of Fortifications together with the art of founding great Ordnance the making Gunpowder taking heights and distances with the manner of Fire-works Sir Francis Moors Reports Baron Savils Reports And All sorts of Law Books FINIS
Doectrine and we shal find this was the great business of his Life to instruct men in the will of God to acquaint them with a true and spiritual holyness for as the Law came by Moses so grace and truth came by Jesus Christ in regard of which he calls himself the way the truth and the Life and all this by Commission from the Father Jo. 15.15 All that I have heard of the Father I have manifested unto you From hence I may infer That the planting the world with Holyness was an undertaking becoming the Son of God a Design worthy of his Incarnation the Jewes vainly expected that he should have built them up into a glorious Empire and secured to them the Enjoyment of Honour and pleasure in this Life but since the meek and humble Jesus despis'd this as a trifling design it manifestly appears that Mortification in him self denial is above all the Romantick gallantry of ambitious spirits That to be Good is somewhat more noble than to be Great to despise the world is more than to conquer it to subdue the flesh a richer happyness than to be able to caress it with all the flatteries of Luxury and greatness and to know God and obey his will a greater honour and happyness than to command the Lives and fortunes of Mankind How can this consideration chuse but beget in the minds of men a strange veneration for Religon and a Love of Holyness why should we with a prepostrous ambition affect those fooleries of the world and neglect true honor and happiness true greatness perfection tho we our selvs should not be able to discover it yet we may very reasonably collect both the beauty and necessity of Holyness from the value an infinitly wise God hath of it which he doth sufficently express in labouring the reformation of the world with so much earnestness in imploying so much care and so much wisdome about it in makeing use of so glorious an instrument as his own Son the brightness of his Fathers Image c. The works of nature and providence together with that light he shed upon our nature being sufficient to work in us a natural Religion had left our disobedience inexcusable when he added so many other miraculous manifestations of his glory and his will and the instruction of Prophets authoriz'd by Miracles and foreknowledge of things to come all this must needs render them to whom it was address'd much more inexcusable and what shall we think of our selves to whom he hath in the dispensation of the fullness of time sent Jesus Christ declared to be the Son of God by Power by the spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the Dead God might well expect as the Lord in the Parable Surely they will reverence my Son The greatness of his Person is very fit to beget an Awe and Belief too therefore as the Grace is greater so must the punishment of its rejection This is the conclusion S. Paul draws from the Divinity of his Person prov'd in the first Chapt. to the Heb. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip for if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast And every transgression and disobedience receiv'd a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord c. Heb. 2. If we secondly consider the Life of Jesus only as a great example of the most exalted Holiness of obedience towards God charity towards his Neighbour purity and self-denial towards himself we shall not only find in it a clear light to direct us in the practice of vertue but also powerful motives to ingage us to it for if our great Lord and Master the Son of God did thus deny himself and renounce the world what kind of Humility and Mortification will become us who are so far beneath him and in whom are such violent propensions to sin how will it become us to walk who profess our selves the Disciples of so holy and so excellent a Master we cannot be his Disciples unless we walk as he walk'd for this was it he aim'd at to set us an example and the thing we are to learn of him is his Holiness If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed c. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest to your souls He that saith he abides in him ought himself also to walk so even as he walked All which imports a necessity of our imitation of him and implies our straying from his example to be an interpretative Renunciation of our Discipleship Secondly In the example of his Life we may discern the Beauty and the Happiness of a Holy Life how lovely how great how Majestick was that Goodness and Innocence which shin'd in him and as a consequence of this Holiness with what serenity and calmness of affections did he enjoy himself with what assurance of mind did he encounter all afflictions and look forward towards another life these are pleasures which all must needs value who can understand them and all may enjoy them who will lead godly lives Thirdly from him we learn how wise and reasonable a thing it is to prefer all the hardships which accompany Religion to the vanities of this world since he who was best acquainted with the happiness of another life and could have commanded all the advantages of this despis'd all the flattering pleasures of this life and chose the Cross and the afflictions of Righteousness that he might obtain an Everlasting Crown Let us chuse as he did and we shall never be mistaken nor let us be frighten'd at any difficulty the same Spirit which strengthen'd him shall make us too Conquerours nor can the World menace us with any thing worse than what he endur'd Want and Scorn and Travel and Death a shameful and a painful death which is that which constitutes the Second part of the History of our Saviour and is a very passionate invitation to Holiness considered either as an Expiatian of our sins or as an act of his obedience to God as an Expiation it must 1. Plainly convince the world of the fatal deadly nature of sin for when I see the Son of God strugling with the torments of the Cross groaning under the pain of his Wounds pale and gastly breathing forth his Soul in the agonies of Death I cannot think that the goodness as well as wisdom of the Divine Nature could have thought fit for sin to have been atton'd by so bitter a Sacrifice unless the weight and horrour of it had call'd for such an Expiation and shall I play and fool with sin as a harmless thing when its guilt can't be cleans'd but by the Blood of the Son of God Surely the greatness of the Sacrifice was intended to intimate to mankind the