fatal nature of sin the blood of Bulls and of Goats purified the flesh indeed but to purge the Conscience another kind of Sacrifice was needful even the Blood of the Son of God I can easily read in these sufferings of my Saviour that the wages of sin is death and sin is not grown less ugly or less hateful to God since the Death of his Son before the strength of i. e. that which gives the fatality to sin was the Law but now much more the Gospel I mean not as the one was a Covenant of Works and the other is of Grace but as the one i. e. the Law had the Majesty of God stamp'd upon it and so each transgression was an affront to the Divine Glory this other i. e. the Gospel arms its Laws with a double Obligation of infinite Glory and inexpressible goodness so that the death of the Son of God doth exceedingly enhance the guilt and aggravation of sin and makes sin become exceeding sinful For 2. To lay down his life thus for our sakes to expiate our sins by his blood was an act of such amazing love as should transport us into a chearful and ready obedience The love of Christ should constrain us to live not to our selves but to him who died for us and rose again That the belief of his bitter passion for our sakes should beget in us no tenderness nor affection towards him at all is unnatural and unpardonable or that we should love him and not obey him is as unnatural but that we should be so far from loving him that we should hate and persecute him is a baseness I want words to express and yet not only Apostacy but any course of sin doth crucifie him afresh and put him to an open shame for whoever is an Enemy to Holiness and Goodness is so to him too If we look upon his Death as an Act of Obedience to his God then we learn from it the indispensable necessity of parting with life it self for the sake of those truths we profess that nothing ought to be so dear to us as obedience to God We learn the great Lesson of Mortification call'd in Scripture being crucified with him made conformable to his Death in the subduing all our carnal affections it being highly unreasonable that we should expect an entrance into Glory by any other path than that of suffering and unreasonable to expect a share in the Resurrection to Glory if we do not first die with him 3. His Glory is the third and last part of our Saviours History which is a powerful inducement to Holiness this begins in his Resurrection Now the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead is a very clear proof of our Resurrection as S. Paul argues 1 Cor. 15. and so the great Argument to a good Life i.e. a Resurrection being demonstrated to the very senses of Mankind leaves no excuse for sin the wicked cannot flatter their Consciences into confidence by denying it nor can the hopes of good men droop and languish thorough doubting of it No if Christ be risen then there is a Resurrection from the Dead and the same power which rais'd him will raise us too at his coming and they who have done well shall enter into that glory which Christ now enjoys at the right hand of God as a reward of his obedience unto death Phil. 2. and all who imitate his Life shall in their several degrees and proportions partake of a reward of the same nature for we shall reign with him we shall sit with him in his Throne And surely this example of the reward of goodness cannot but commit a kind of pleasing violence upon the affections of man and transport him above temptations this was that Prospect which ravish'd the first Martyr into an Extasie though on the brink of dangers and death Act. 7.56 Behold I see the Heavens open'd and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God And if we could often lift up our eyes and fasten them upon this pleasing sight it would unavoidably raise us above this present world we should not be discourag'd at the poverty or reproach of our Saviours Life at the pain or the anguish of his death if we did but often contemplate the peace and the glory and the happiness which now Crowns his Conquests It is very true that a life led in Prayers and Meditation and Sacraments and an Abstinence from sensual pleasures doth not appear very gaudy or taking to a carnal man but if the same man could but behold one who had liv'd thus translated into Heaven how would he adore the wisdom and happiness of the Saints and how devout and holy how pure and mortified would be his life afterwards It is said of the Disciples who saw our Saviour carried up into Heaven that they return'd to Hierusalem with great joy and were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God a clear proof that there would be no painfulness in the industry and fervency of a spiritual life if we did often reflect upon the joys such a life prepares us for there would be nothing harsh unpleasant or dishonorable in the modesty and mortification of a Christian state if we did but look forward to the Crown and Kingdom it doth gain for us who that had seen our Blessed Lord received up with glory into Heaven would not have wish'd it had been his turn too that he had liv'd and died suffer'd and conquer'd with him and had been to ascend with him out of a troublesome sinful World with joy and triumph into Heaven And thus now it evidently appears that every part of our Saviours History is full of very powerful Motives to Holiness that all he did and suffer'd tended to destroy the works of the Devil and to implant goodness and Holiness in the world and we must not think that a Design carried on by God in such a wonderful manner can be otherwise than strangely dear to him and that we must not think that if we through our obstinacy and unnatural disobedience defeat this Design we can ever escape utter Damnation a Damnation more unsufferable than that of sinful Heathens c. Therefore The Prayer O Blessed and holy Jesus grant me thy holy Spirit that I may lay to heart the instruction of thy Doctrine and thy Life and may not only know but do thy will when I look up on thy Crucified Body on the Cross may I tremble at the guilt and weight of my sins which stood in need of so bloody a Sacrifice and may thy bitter Agonies for me melt me into love and passion for thee and this love constrain me to obey thee O may I be willing to sacrifice all my pleasures to thy Commands who hast laid down thy Life for me and being made conformable to thy Death then I may look up with pleasure on thy Glory and Lord grant that the hope of partaking in it may make me purifie my self and walk as
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
satisfaction before all the world unless I could chose to be miserable and delight to be unhappy 3. This very Consideration supposing the uncertainty of another World would yet strongly engage me to the service of Religion for all it aims at is to banish sin out of the world which is the source and Original of all the troubles that disquiet the mind for 1. Sin in its very Essence is nothing else but disordered distempered passions affections foolish and preposterous in their choice or wild and extravagant in their proportion which our own experience sufficiently convinces us to be painful and uneasie 2. It engages us in desperate hazards wearies us with daily toils and often buries us in the ruins we bring upon our selves and lastly it fills our hearts with distrust and fear and shame for we shall never be able to perswade our selves fully that there is no difference between good and evil that there is no God or none that concerns himself at the Actions of this life and if we cannot we can never rid our selves of the pangs and stings of a trembling Soul we shall never be able to establish a peace and calm in our bosomes and so injoy our Pleasure with a clear and uninterrupted freedome But if we could perswade ourselves into the utmost height of Atheism yet still we shall be under these two strange inconveniences 1. That a life of Sin will be still irregular and disorderly and therefore troublesome 2. That we shall have dismantled our Souls of their greatest strengths disarm'd them of that Faith which only can support them under th' afflictions of this present Life Not to mention that after all the sad Stories of another Life will not be strait way nonsense because we think them so they will continue at leastwise disputable and who would but a desperate-Sot commit his Soul to such a venture Sect. 2. 4. But when I consider that the immortality of the Soul is a perswasion which generally obtain'd in the Heathen world That the more wise and virtuous any of 'em were the more deeply were they possess'd by the belief and hopes of it that the reasons Plato Cicero c. founded this assertion in deriv'd from the nature of the Soul its operations its little affinity to any visible matter its resemblance of the Deity c. have rendred it so highly probable that it hath shed a very powerfull influence upon the Lives of many 5. But especially and above all when I consider that the Holy Scripture whose Divine Authority is clear'd by as strong evidences as any matter of that nature is capable of assures me that this Soul whether in its own nature immortal or no I 'le not now examine shall not perish in the Dissolution of this Earthly Tabernacle as Eccles 12.7 Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it and Mat. 10.28 Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul The Soul it seems is not liable to the injuries of a Disease or the violence commited on the Body but doth subsist when the Body is dissolv'd into its dust When I consider all this I can never so far renounce my Reason and harden my self against all the tenderness and passion I have for my self as to be content that this Soul should be lost in that other State provided I be fortunate and successeful in this for what satisfaction can I then reap from a patrimony or purchase wide as the world it self in a state wherein I shall be depriv'd of all means and opportunity of enjoyment What can the Wealth or Power or Beauty of the World signifie to me when the Body which is the proper instrument of earthly pleasure shall lie stark dead and cold in the Grave shall have no passions no appetites nor can all the Rhetorick or wanton charms on Earth awaken in it one languishing desire or one imperfect act of Life and as to the Soul it must dwell in the Mansions of a new world far far remote from this wherein every thing will be strange wonderful unalterable and eternal But I must pursue this thought a little further and not stopping in the contemplation of the uselessness of the World after the Souls departure from it go on to consider the Soul in its intermediate state between Death and the Resurrection that I may know the utmost if I can that the loss of a Soul imports and here I would suppose my self surprised in the midst of gavety and pleasures of Love and Honour by a violent inexorable disease I resign up my dear objects and my dotage together I am torn from my possessions and my hopes and when the storm hath burst the Cable and shatter'd the Hulk of this frail Bark the Body it casts my Soul that is all that remains of me upon an unknown strand naked and poor and desolate without interests or friends or hopes it must dwell in the dismal blackness of eternal night and Melancholly rackt by despair and guilt scourg'd by shame and rage tortur'd with envy and vexation stab'd by regret and repentance not a calm and soft but a tempestuous and painful one then like some sick body which rowles and tumbles for an easie posture rather out of an inability to suffer pain than any hope of finding rest it sometimes languishes and looks back upon the world vanisht like a dream and repeats ineffective wishes for the Body but it shall return to its dear wealth and beauty no more for ever Sometimes like Dives in the flames it looks towards that Region where Light and holy Souls do dwell but the unpassable gulph of the Almighty's Decree cuts off all hopes of that so that that Light onely augments its envy and despair and Heaven it self adds misery to the wretched Souls hell This is the natural and unavoydable state of a wretched Soul dislodg'd from the body despair and rage and shame and guilt and fear and grief and anguish gnaw and devour the miserable creature and for ever must encrease Blessed God! need there any chains to sink it lower than its own weight hath done Needs there any other darkness cover that Soul which such a cloud of sorrows hath benighted Tell me no more of pleasures these thoughts are enough to make me tremble and grow pale at the approach of a temptation rather than my Soul should dwell in such a state a thousand years may shame and poverty be my portion in this life may the hatred of powerful enemies or what is worse the scorn of my dearest friends persue me may my Body be but a Scene of Diseases and so incapable of the least gust of pleasure and more than this may an awakened tender Conscience every moment flash Death and Hell into my face or if there be any thing worse let me suffer it so it but preserve my Soul from Sin here and from that inexpressible
worthy of Christs descent into Earth which promotes the Glory of God and the Happiness of Man and that is only Goodness or Holiness concerning which I will 1. Enquire what kind of Goodness or Holiness that is which the Gospel of Christ requires And 2. Prove that it tends to advance the Glory of God and Happiness of Mankind which will serve not onely as a proof of its being the scope and drift of Christianity but also for a strong enforcement and motive to it Of the 1. Holiness is compriz'd in three things living soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.12 That hereby is forbid all plain and open violations of the Commandements such as are 1. All debasing of God in our imaginations and deprav'd Acts of worship consequent to this and all unthankfulness to him 2. All sorts of Falshood and Injustice 3. All kind of unnatural Lusts and Excess destructive to our Health or Reason is too plain to be prov'd All this being nothing else but that ungodliness and Worldly Lusts which we are to deny and the very Heathens by the Light of Nature Rom. 1.32 Knowing that they who do such things are worthy of death But whether Christian Holiness imports any thing more than the mere avoiding those Sins upon the principles and assistances of Religion whether the positive part of the command in the later part of the Verse doth not intend something more than the negative in the former part of it is very well worth our Consideration because it is plain that the Scripture speaking with respect to the Life of Gentiles which was deprav'd even below the Light of Nature doth by mortification mostly intend an abstinence from those actions amongst them which were manifest transgressions of the Law Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the Earth Fornication Vncleanness c. Col. 3.5 And because most men do by interpreting the Gospel to this sense embrace Christianity themselves and recommend it to others under the Character of a Debonnair and Complaisant Religion so that the way to Life seems to me so exceeding broad and the Gate so very wide that unless a Man be born with a most villainous temper and that be improv'd by a loose and undisciplin'd Education a Man may make a shift to enter in without much striving or strugling which seems to me very opposite to the meaning of our Saviour I will therefore answer to this Quere by degrees Having first remov'd the Objections by telling you 1. That Mortification is but one part of Christian Holiness and that Abstinence from gross Sin is but half of Mortification And 2. That I hope they who speak such soft things of Christianity do intend it of a spiritual pleasure or else of that more perfect State wherein they who are arriv'd at it know how to abound because having obtain'd a more compleat conquest over the Body and the world they are not so easily ensnar'd as new Converts And I proceed now to the Query it self 1. Acts of Sobriety and Justice perform'd without any deliberation by the meer inclination of Nature if such may be are meerly natural Actions neither good nor evil neither rewardable nor punishable 2. Acts of Sobriety and Justice perform'd upon the sole instigation of pleasure and conveniency which attends such a Life in this present world are very proper and natural effects of Reason but under the Gospel they do not constitute any parts of the Righteousness of the Kingdom because our Actions are to proceed from nobler Motives not that I deny but that to us Christians Worldly Happyness may be a very lawful incentive to Holiness but then it must be in its place not the sole and great but a subordinate inducement Thus tho the Apostle invites us to goodness by Praise and a Good Report yet he who is vertuous meerly that he may be fam'd for it is a vain-glorious Sinner so though the promises of this Life annext to Godliness may encourage us to embrace it yet if any Man be godly meerly for present pleasure and happiness of this Life he is but a Worldly Man nor do I here only mean that worldly pleasure must not be the sole but that it must not be the great the principal allurement to Religion something it may contribute but it must be in its place and its Degree and thus far I have treated the Quere with more favour than I should by making use of the words Acts of Sobriety and Justice which is not taken for granted in the Question and now I must premise once for all that a meer abstinence from evil is not a Doing or Being good and then I proceed to resolve 3. That to deny any Sin upon the account of Religion i. e. The Fear and Love of God and Hopes of Salvation is certainly an acceptable Sacrifice but because in all our Actions there are generally many motives twisted together and because Man out of fondness for himself is very apt to attribute the work to that motive which it is his interest should be uppermost therefore it will very nearly concern every one to examine seriously the degrees and strength of this Faith he pretends to for peradventure tho this Faith be strong enough to restrain him from wild and unnatural Lusts because it leaves him enjoyments and pleasures enough to entertain him with more delight in their stead and gives him up to a Life no less sensual tho the instances of sensuality be more regular Yet it may not be powerful enough to crucifie all worldly and carnal affections and to force him to do perfect violence to his Inclinations His fondness for the pleasures of this Life may be too stubborn to give way to a Faith which is not more deeply rooted nor arm'd and wing'd with holy passion and the Body may be too high fed to surrender up all its satisfactions upon the demands of a drowsie Faith so that the Man doth not intirely deny himself because Religion commands it but thus far he thinks fit to comply with Religion because it doth him no harm it doth not intrench upon his sensual injoyment and if this be his Case tho the Man may have call'd in Faith to the assistance of Reason yet he doth not suffer it to reign and by consequence his Life is still the Life of Sense and not of Faith Faith comes in but slantingly and collaterally into his Life it is not the main and chief inducement to his Actions 4. And lastly A Life lead in meer abstinence from evil and yet an allowance of the utmost freedomes we can with innocence injoy upon supposal that such a Man could so love God and Heaven as to be able to renounce all when call'd thereto a supposition I can very difficultly be reconcil'd to is but the minimum morale if Holiness yet the lowest degree of it and the Gospel seems to me to have a further aim to propose a greater height and to expect from its
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
there much more do so because being rais'd spiritual it seems to me that it will be knit in a closser union and be more capable of those influences but besides this 2. It will have pleasures agreeable and natural to it self which it will reap 1. From the glory and perfection it possesses which will be one peculiar to it self and of a different nature from that of the Soul thus in our Saviour on the Mount from whose transfiguration we may receive a little light they were two different things which made up the beauty of his mind and of his body Wisdome Love Holiness c. were the charmes and graces of his Soul but light and glory and proportion the Majesty and Beauty of his body and since this body will be in its nature distinct from the soul for though spiritual it will not be intelligent therefore too it will have objects fit to entertain it what those objects will be that I 'le not endeavour to discover the Scripture doth in the general tell us that the place it self will be fill'd with a mighty glory that our conversation will be strangely delightfull that there are things prepar'd for us which are not therefore God himself which the eye hath not seen c. if that place be to be understood of the entertainments of another life but least any should mistake me I doe not in the least dream of any gross pleasure not the pleasure of the glorified body will be as spiritual a the body and no more from all that I have said I infer 1. That the joy and pleasure of the Life to come is most perfect and Excellent for the more excellent the being the more delicat and refin'd its pleasure or else there could be no difference between the happiness of an Angel that 's ravisht with the enjoyment of Heaven and an Hog that fattens in is stie and grunts at a full meal and if so how unconceiveably great will our pleasures be in that State wherein the worse and meaner part of us our very bodies shall be spiritual and incorruptible 2. That there is no reason that we should be the less mov'd and captiv'd by the promises of such pleasures in another life because they are pourtrayed to us in such an excellence and lustre as doth rather dazle and amaze than take and please us for tho now we are as far beneath them as we are at a distance from them yet then our natures will be made equal to them and when we stand upon the same level with Angels what makes up their Heaven will constitute ours too And now what can man fancy more than this that our natures should be rais'd to the highest perfection they are capable of and be entertain'd by the most glorious objects imaginable there is only one thing more to be added that this State be Eternal that we not only have all which our hearts can desire but also that we have all this for ever and ever and this is one property of Heaven too the things which are seen are Temporal the things which are not seen are Eternal now Eternity is a duration that never passes a stream of time which still glides on and yet never runs quite away a day that never sets in any Cloud or night a State of Life which shall never grow old by time nor decay by age a pleasure which will alwayes delight and never surfeit us a meeting of the dearest friends never to part again O my God how unconceiveable is the Glory thou dost design me for I cannot comprehend what I am going to be and what can be the influence of all this but that I should count all the advantages of this present Life dung and dross in comparison of the happiness of the Life to come that I should count all the afflictions of this present life not worthy to be put in the balance against the glory that is to be reveal'd how is it almost possible for me to resist the charms of such a Heaven or not to despise this World who have the prospect of such a one to come I need but cast an eye of Faith upon the joyes of Heaven and it will be enough to confront and baffle all the allurements of flesh and blood and all the gawdy nothings of this fading World one thought a day of Heaven will raise me so far above all the fears and troubles which distract and disquiet this present State that I could sit with unconcernment and see all my hopes and interests lost and shipwrackt on the billowes of an inconstant Word whilest I knew that my Heaven my Eternity were sure nay death it self would be the onely thing on this side Heaven which would be an object fit for my desires and wishes what is it then can tempt a man to sin who is thus arm'd who is proof against the flatteries or menaces of the World against the soft addresses of a Wanton or the impatiences and querulency of a weak tender body what conflict if possible can be difficult which is to be thus rewarded who can faint or languish in his race who hath his eye fixt upon such a Crown The Prayer O Most glorious God strengthen my Faith in the belief of the invisible things of another World that it may inable me to conquer this imprint in my Soul such a lively Image of that future State as may make me run with patience and chearfulness the race which is set before me O let me not chuse my portion in this Life Let me not exchange the Crown and Glories of Eternity for the pomp and vanity of this Life Let me not forfeit the pleasure and peace of that State of bliss for the dull momentary Lusts of this mortal earthly State but let me who have this hope purifie my self Let me make it my business to be doing thy Will for which way can I so advantagiously lay out my time and strength as for an infinite reward O my God let these considerations prevail with me to Live so that when I come to dye I may have nothing to do but to receive a Crown Amen Amen Blessed Jesus Of Hell Now tho a meer exile from this Heaven were Hell enough and there needed no flames nor darkness to make that State miserable for that there should be an eternal day whose light should never shine on me that there should be full tides of pleasures which I should never taste of this is Hell enough Yet besides all this there are real and endless torments to be inflicted upon all impenitent sinners when Christ shall come to take vengance on all them who know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ The place is a Lake of Fire and Brimstone of flame and darkness which together with a worm that never dies imports the excess of that torment which shall produce weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth The Company is the Devil and his Angels the fearful
and unbelieving the abominable and Murtherers Whoremongers and Sorcerers Idolaters and Lyars and all the Enemies of God and Goodness The Duration of this State is for ever as Eternal as the Joys of Heaven an Everlasting Punishment the Worm never dies and the Fire cannot be quenched And though the Almighty may not be bound up to fulfil his threats which whether so applicable to God as Man I 'le not dispute yet certainly our Saviour and his Apostles in giving us a Narrative or History of the different Issues of things are bound to speak truth Hell then is a fixt state of misery wherein men have bid adieu to the pleasures of Earth and to all hopes of Heaven the memory of past pleasures doth but increase their pain and what 's beyond all the misery of this world they enjoy not as much as the deceitful Dreams of flattering hopes Hell where there 's no light nor ease nor God nor any harmless pleasure to divert the pain a moment Hell where only the wretched Objects of an Incens'd God do for ever weep and wail Is this the Death which is the wages of Sin Can Sin offer me any pleasure that can countervail this Eternity of miseries or is there any thing in poverty or shame or banishment or death equal to this Hell if not what blind brutish madness pusheth me on to sin Can I dwell with Everlasting Burnings Can I be content to live in an endless Night of pains and horrours Adieu my fatal pleasures I had rather starve and macerate this Body into sobriety than by Indulgence betray it to the rage and fury of Almighty Vengeance I 'le shut my eyes against all forbidden Fruits rather than for ever deprive 'm of the sight of Heaven and close them up in an Eternal Night Welcom whatever Penances Religion may impose upon me whatever the World may threaten me with for the discharge of a good Conscience I 'd watch and fast till Death rather than be Damn'd I 'd be the scorn and hate of Mankind rather than of God Are not these terrible Truths Are they not arm'd with Lightning and Thunder enough to startle the most harden'd sinner Good God what makes the World so dead so callous that such dreadful Objects cannot rouze nor pierce them It must needs be because they put that evil day so far off that the biggest terrours of it look but like Moats at such a distance But surely we mistake our selves in our computation we are now in Time how narrow is the Isthmus which parts Time from Eternity or is there any Partition at all but one groan that the frame of our Nature cracks with but one parting moment wafts us over upon the shore of another world Heaven and Hell they are not at the distance of so many years from this world but just of so much time as will serve us to die in And is this so much that we should frolick and wanton in our sins as if we were not within ken of danger there 's scarce a moment in the day wherein some Soul or other in some part of the world doth not make its Exit into another life and shall I sin as securely as if my time and death were at my own disposal I came but a few years ago into the world and within a few more I must go out on 't how soon this day will come I know not I 'm sure that the Sentence of Death is past upon me already I only wait the hour of Execution which any trifling cause can be the instrument of I may die of pleasure or of pain I may die of want or fulness I may die of desire or enjoyment what is it then which cannot give Death the very heighth of health is a degree of sickness my Scull is weak my skin and flesh thin and soft my heart tender and my passions easie my inner part is full of strange mazes vessels curiously contriv'd and subtilly dispos'd what a little will ravel this intricate contexture and discompose this delicate frame and shall I be as secure as if my strength were Iron and my sinews Brass and the position of my parts fixt as the Decrees of Heaven No no I 'le live in continual expectation of my Death I 'le examine my Soul each Evening and close my eyelids as if I were to awake next morning in another world I 'le often take my leave of this world and fancy I shall see this or that pleasant object no more no more and I 'le address my self to my God as if my Soul were ready to take wing and I 'le soberly consider the Nature of my God the value of Christs Sacrifice and the Truth of my Faith and so I shall learn to disingage my self from this world and to die handsomely and comfortably if not in rapture The Prayer O Most gracious God who hast hedg'd about our ways that we may not stray and wander into ruine who hast endeavour'd to frighten us into happiness by the dread and terrours of a Hell O grant that this fear may be fixt in my very flesh and produce in me a cautious and a wary depormtent that I remembring that our God is Consuming Fire may not dare to provoke thee to wrath and indignation against me And grant O most merciful Father that I may not put the day of death far from me and flatter my self into security and misery but live each day as if it were my last because I do not know but that it may be so that I may enter at last into that state where there shall be no more conflict with sin nor fear of death through Jesus Christ our Lord. SECT II. Of the second Motive to Holiness i.e. the consideration of the Divine Nature THe knowledge of the Nature of God is so powerful an inforcement to Vertue and a determent from Vice that Religion and the knowledge of God and Irreligion and a want of that knowledge are made use of by the Spirit of God as expressions of the same import as 1 Cor. 15.34 Awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God And this not without reason for the knowledge of God will 1. Discover to us the Nature of Holiness and of Sin 2. It will convince us how reasonable it is that we should serve him And 3. It will confirm in us a full perswasion of the Reward of Vertue and Punishment of Vice To this purpose therefore let us consider the Nature of God as it is taught us in the Gospel of that Son of God who lay in the Bosom of his Father and hath declar'd him to us And the first thing is that God is a Spirit Jo. 4.24 and those Attributes which the Gospel assigns him and which are a fuller discovery of his Nature are Knowledge Wisdom Holiness under which may in the opinion of some be comprehended Goodness Justice and Power and Dominion Now from that resemblance which Religion
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
and steep about it Hence is the address of the Spirit Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead c. Eph. 5.4 3. Power is the third Attribute of God Religion promotes even this in us by inspiring the mind with courage and by the addition of strength conjoyn'd to it Innocence makes a man bold as a Lyon it makes one dare and hope well Religion is a confederacy with th' Almighty and he becomes the good mans strength Ps 18.1 19.4 it creates an awe and reverence for him amongst men and it makes him approach as near to self-sufficiency as the state of a Creature will let him he is independent on the world and hath not half the hopes nor fears nor cares that the wicked man hath for this man hath an ill Conscience and is therefore timerous he that fears not God dreads every thing besides he hath many passions that are to be gratified and therefore he is very dependent on the world he lives ill and therefore is the scorn of Man and the hate of God 4. Wisdom The fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom and therefore this is easily prov'd for Religion is nothing else but the knowledge of the most Excellent Truths the contemplation of the most glorious Objects and the hope of the most ravishing Pleasures and the practice of such Duties as are most serviceable to our happiness and to our peace our health our honour our prosperity and our eternal welfare but sin on the other hand besots and infatuates the man it makes him passionate and foolish consult ill and execute worse he is blind to the most glorious Truths and hath no taste or relish of those glorious Objects of another world and he lives as if he were in love with ruine and though he see death and confess it in the way he is spurr'd on by his passions and dares not shun it he covets meer trifles vanishing fading pleasures meer apparitions and dreams of happiness and he flies from real and substantial delights and satisfactions that would never have an end he trembles where no fear is and yet is steeled and senseless against Almighty Vengeance and if this be not to be foolish I know not what is The fifth and last now is Goodness by which I mean kindness and serviceableness to others this Religion so far advances that each man is so far Christian as he is thus good this goodness or love is the meer substance of the Gospel so that where ever the Spirit of Christianity hath planted it self the man is not only just but good and kind he doth not only put off revenge and frowardness and hard-heartedness but he puts on the contrary Vertues Meekness Tenderness Charity his goods and life are not too dear a price to pay for the welfare of a Brother but sin on the quite contrary arms man against another and sows nothing but dissention and ruine amongst mankind injustice cruelty rapin murther covetousness hard-heartedness are the Characters which constitute a sinner Justice and Truth are as Essential parts of Holiness as Goodness and therefore need not be spoken to Thus you see how Vertue and Holiness perfect and exalt the man how it makes him more spiritual gives him power life wisdom goodness allies him to the Angels and makes him like God but sin defaces all those Excellencies makes him a meer heap of Rubbish and Ruines a silly empty Creature that the Spirit might well say of such Rev. 3.17 That they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked And who can now look upon sin as a little harmless indifferent thing He that should rob the ambitious man of his Honour the covetous of his Wealth the vain person of his trifling gaity should be thought to have committed an unpardonable offence against them and yet sure power and wisdom and goodness are things of far greater Excellency than wealth or honour or gaity they are the Attributes of God the things that make him God and when he pleases to communicate and impart to his Creatures some tho slender proportions of these what can be a more fatal Enemy to the Creature than that sin which spoils and rifles him of these he that should stab the body and through as many gashes as those of Caesar in the Senate let out the imprison'd Soul commits no murther like that of sin which quenches in man the spiritual life and robs him of Eternity O my Soul doth every intemperate draught every sensual pleasure quench the light and damp the spirit within me and yet shall I still go on Is it so inconsiderable a loss to change from Spirit into Flesh Doth all my sinful passions for this world Ambition Covetousness Dotage c. deface all Power Wisdom and Goodness in me and make me weak and wicked impotent and foolish and yet shall I still go on to dote Is it so little desirable to be like God Is it so inconsiderable a change like the unhappy Angels to fall from light to darkness forgive me O my God I now begin to see a horrour in my sins I see its poysonous nature and the mighty wounds it gives and I will shun it hereafter more than Death and Ruine more than the Sword the Plague or Famine for I am well convinc'd that there is nothing so excellent as Spiritual Life Peace Power Wisdom and Goodness and nothing can wound or blast these but sin And if secondly Life and Goodness Power and Wisdom are such excellent things how dear must they be to God and how contradictory to his Will must be all those Methods which men take to deface them and this he hath sufficiently taught in that he hath thought it worthy the Incarnation Life and Passion of his own Son to root out and banish iniquity and transgression from the Earth being things contradictory to his Nature and to his Design too in the Creation From all this you see that Holiness is agreeable to the Divine Nature sin is contradictory to it and by consequence that he who works Righteousness is born of God and he who commits sin is of the Devil and that it is as necessary to be really holy as it is to be in the favour of God for he cannot love the unholy unless he can renounce his own Nature The Prayer O Thou God who art light and in whom there is no darkness at all a holy and pure Spirit how infinitely are the sons of men oblig'd to thee that thou hast givee them Immortal Spirits and dost travel by thy Word and Spirit to form and fashion them into thy glorious Image to make them share in thy Perfections that they may do so in thy Happiness too O grant that I may hunger and thirst after Righteousness that I may labour day and night to water and improve those Resemblances of thy Divine Perfections which thou hast imparted to me by thy Spirit that so I may through Christ increase in favour with God and Man
place i. e. Sacraments Prayer and Fasting each of which may be consider'd in a threefold respect 1. As Parts of Divine Worship or of Holiness in general 2. As Instruments of advancing Holiness 3. As Remedies and Antidotes against Temptation In each of which Relations I will consider each of them a little And 1. Of Baptism COnsider'd in the first sense of the three it contains a Solemn Profession of the Christian Faith an actual Renunciation of those Enemies of Christianity the World the Flesh and the Devil and a listing ones self into the service and obedience of Christ And because I cannot think that there is any Essential part in the System of Christianity meerly Ceremonial I cannot think but that besides the Admission into the Church which is the Body of Christ and consequently a Title to all the glorious priviledges of its Members our blessed Saviour doth endow the Person baptized with power from on high to perform all those great ingagements he takes upon him as will appear to any one who shall consider the Nature of Christianity which doth alway annex a Grace to the external Mean or Instrument or 2. The great things spoken or this Sacrament or 3. The value all understanding Christians have had for it or the effects which follow'd it when practis'd in the Infancy of the Church and I humbly conceive this to be the sense of the Church of England which supposes the thing signified by the outward Ceremony of Baptism to be a Death unto sin and a New-birth unto Righteousness But whatever become of this motion it is certain that it is a strange Obligation to a Holy Life and a Remedy against Sin as being a most solemn ingagement of our selves to the obedience of Christ from which we cannot start back without drawing upon our selves the guilt and punishment of Perjury and forfeiting all those advantages we partake of by it and I wish all would lay this to heart who plead the Obligations of Civility and Friendship Custom and Fashion in defence of their sins as if any trifling Ceremony were sufficient to supersede our Obligation to Christ and acquit us of that guilt which the breach of the most sacred Covenant brings upon us The Prayer BLessed and holy Saviour give me grace to remember my Baptismal Vow to remember that I am a sworn Enemy to the World the Flesh and the Devil and inable me to fight the good fight of Faith under thy Banner the Cross Let me have no truce entertain no friendship with thine and my Enemies Let them flatter me if they will with smiles and promises I am sure they mean nothing to me but death and ruine how shall any fantastick Obligations Cancel my duty to thee resulting from so solemn a Covenant In vain doth the World disguize its temptations under the forms of Civility and Honour I know no Civility which can oblige me to renounce my Vows no Honour that can excuse my Perjury in vain doth the World assault me by Greatness and Wealth and Glory these are the very things I resolv'd against when I took up the Cross of my Crucified Saviour in my Baptism Grant O blessed Lord that I may have mortified affections and a Victorious Faith an humble meek Spirit and glorious Hopes that after this troublesome life is ended I may rest with thee in Everlasting Glory Amen Amen Of the Lords Supper THe Supper of our Lord may fall under the same forms of Consideration which Baptism did that is it may be consider'd 1. As a part of Divine Worship 2. As an Instrument of Holiness 3. As a Remedy against Temptation I will look upon it briefly under each of these notions and herein I will guide my self by that incomparable Office of this Church which hath admirably express'd and reduc'd to a method the whole mind of the Gospel relating to this matter for which I have often bless'd God whilst I beheld and reverenc'd that Primitive plainness and truly Christian Spirit visible in it First then our Lords Supper consider'd as an act or part of Religious Worship or Holiness contains in it these four things 1. An humble acknowledgment of our sins 2. A devout Profession of our Faith in Christ that we are the Disciples of a Crucified Saviour and expect Salvation by no other way than that Sacrifice of his Body and Blood offer'd upon the Cross 3. A solemn Oblation of most humble and hearty thanks to God for this inestimable benefit his bestowing his Son upon us to die for us and to our Master and only Saviour Christ for his exceeding great love in dying for us 4. A most solemn Oblation of our selves souls and bodies to be a holy lively and acceptable Sacrifice unto God so that this Sacrament consists of a whole Constellation of Graces Repentance Faith Hope Charity It is a nearer approach into the presence of God and more solemn exercise of the Graces of the Gospel and this gives a very fair account of the reason of its frequent practice for nothing can be Secondly A more effectual instrument of Holiness upon these and the following accounts 1. That the preparation necessary as a condition of our worthy Reception doth awaken our Souls and refresh all our Graces and mortifie all our sensual Lusts and draws us nearer to Heaven and the necessity of such a preparation as the Church-office prescribes appears from hence that Repentance and Faith and Charity are absolutely necessary to inable a man to exert those acts before-mention'd which constitute this Sacrament consider'd as a part of Divine Worship and therefore to approach that holy Table without a Soul so qualified is to affront and mock the Majesty of Heaven 2. That the exercise of our Graces in receiving doth increase and improve them that act of humble Adoration and profound Prostration of our selves before God under a sense of his Purity and Majesty and our sinfulness and meanness that lively Acts of Faith whereby the Soul doth profess its firm belief of and dependance upon the Death and Passion of its dear Lord and Saviour for Salvation that love whereby the Soul offers its praises and its self a Sacrifice to God do leave such lively and lasting impressions upon mens minds as are not quickly nor easily effac'd and the Soul by the delight it finds in its exerting these Graces is inkindled with a desire of repeating the same Acts. 3. That the Sacrament it self hath a natural tendency to promote Holiness 1. By its sensible Representations of a Crucified Saviour the Symbols themselves being fit to bring into our minds the pain and sufferings of our dear Lord and Master 2. By that inward Grace inseparable from the worthy Reception of it bestow'd upon us to refresh and strengthen our Souls to root and confirm our Faith to inflame our Love and perfect our Hopes 3. By being a Pledge and Assurance to us of the pardon of our sins thorough the Blood of Christ 4. That it is