of the Ministery that I remember to have made use of artificiall Hair I will not determine But this I may say that they found not long after followers in this way who differed in other things from them but hereupon began to be better reconciled to that injudicious crude and dangerous Doctrine of worshipping God so with the heart and Spirit as no Censure should remain for any outward indecencies in the Ministers or Worship of God but what are common to all men 8. But with me that is more wisely and authentickly deliver'd which I finde Ecclesiasticus 19. 29 30. A man may be known by his look and one that hath understanding by his countenance when thou meetest him A mans attire and excessive laughter and gate shew what he is And if they only shewed and declared what a man is inwardly either for ingenuity or Pietie the errour of affecting gentilenesse and prettinesse were more tolerable but the pride of the heart and vanity of minde doth not only give being to such outward affectations but receive back again great increase from them Whereupon the wisest of Christians have ever preached up and prescribed plainnesse with cleanlinesse of outward habits of all sorts as a notable correcter of inward vanity and lightnesse as the Philosopher writes of Mares in their Venereall furie are tamed by shaving their Manes Plinius And if Men or Women should shave off all that Art adds to them in the like kinde I am of opinion they would loose a great part of their confidence and wantonnesse and gain a neerer step to humiliation and Gods acceptance thereupon as the Scripture plainly teaches us in the case of the Children of Israel offending God highly with whome God refused to treat of a reconciliation untill they layd by their gaudinesse Exod. 33. 5. Therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee that I may know what to doe to thee And according to the Leviticall Law there were severall uncleannesses in Garments properly so called and so certainly are there in a sense spirituall when abused in such sort 9. And this I speak not so absolutely but with allowance for degrees ranks and orders of Men and Women distinguishing them but rather 't is such affectation of Habits Fashions and Gallantrie I look on and condemn as is inconsistent with Sobriety Wisdome and true Pietie which bring in a confusion of these and a scandall to Godlinesse and many times prove an introduction to grosse impieties SECT X. The Connexion of what hath passed with what ensues concerning the Seven Capitall Sins 1. BUT having thus spoken generally of the Dutie of Sanctification and Purgation of the whole Man it will be requisite for greater plainnesse and easier progresse herein to descend to some particular Sins which every good Christian is obliged to quitt himselfe of not only for their own sakes but for the tail or train of sins they draw after them For we finde a common distinction of sins into Mortall and Veniall against which or for which I shall enter into no Disputation at present only I shall presume this as granted on all sides That all sins are not equally sinfull and that some sins are more prolificall and fruitfull than others and that these however in shew they appear not foul and scandalous are indeed more dangerous and deadly than others more detested in their consequences Such for instance are Pride Covetousnesse and Slothfullnesse and some others 2. Neither shall I here contend about the number of these Capitall Sins in which I finde some difference among Authours as allso in the very kinds but shall pitch upon these Seven which I may first rank according to that distinction before given of Sins proper to Evill Spirits and of Sins more proper to Beasts Of both which miserable and frail Man too much partakes For Pride Envie and Anger may seem to have the Devill for their proper Sire And Covetousnesse Gluttonie Luxurie and Slothfullnesse are more brutish than the other And both sorts are so bad that if a man were to choose he could not tell which to be most ashamed of neither being at all desireable or cligible Sometimes the Scripture teaches us that Pride is the Originall of all sin and sometimes that Covetousnesse is the Root of all evill which are both true if we consider them thus ranged For of all mentall sins wherein man draweth neerest unto the Devill who is a Spirit Pride may be said to be the Mother And of all bodily sins viz. such as proceed properly from corrupt Flesh and Blood Covetousnesse may be said to be the root taking it especially as Saint Paul doth for a concupiscence tending to the satiating the Sences ever least satisfied where they are most cocker'd and indulged But omitting curiosity and prolixitie we shall consider them in their order mentioned giving a brief description of these distempers of the Soule and then of their Cures SECT XI Of Pride the first Deadly Sin or Capitall 1. PRIDE we know was the first Sin committed and the first spot that blemished the fair Works of the great Creatour of all things and that one of the fairest and noblest made by him For as Angells were the top and Crown of Gods Creation so was Lucifer the Head as is generally believed of Angells of his order especially And his sin was Pride and his Pride an emulation of God himselfe saying within himselfe I will ascend and be like unto God. He thought himselfe such a free-borne Subject that he ought to cast all Soveraignty off him and bring the rest of the world to be governed by Aristocracie in which he hoped for a principall place and to have a negative Voice at least But that Pride which infatuated his understanding to aspire so high weighed down his person to a base and monstrous condition both of uglinesse and torment And this his Leader the proud man followes and with the same event likewise His great designe and aym is to be high honoured and applauded and of all men is the most odious to God and man. It being said of God that he resisteth the proud James 4. 6. 1 Pet. 5. 5. and this agreeing with what we read Job 40. 11. as a property of God viz. to cast abroad the rage of his wrath and to behold every one that is proud and abase him and as if the sin of Pride were greater than the punishment of the guilty person could any waies answer God declares he will destroy the house of the proud Proverbs 15. 25. Infinite other Texts of holy Scripture testifying the like vengeance ready to fall not only on the person but familie of the proud and that where the pride of the heart aspireth to an high and perpetuall name For what can they expect from God more justly than that they should follow Lucifer in his fall whome they have imitated in his selfe-exaltation 2. And what a piece of short-wittednesse is that for men not to be able to
more durable Therefore O Man of God flee these things saith Saint Paul of Covetousnesse And let the judgement of him who was made Wisdome and Sanctification to us be preferred before the short reasonings of a worldly wise head Luke 12. 15. Take heed and beware of Covetousnesse for a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth nor indeed the life of his Familie or Posteritie but Gods Blessing SECT XV. Of the Sin of Luxurie or Vncleannesse 1. BUT flee not only Covetousnesse that civill Sin but flee youthfull Lusts allso that open daring and dangerous Sin to Body and Soule For as Covetousnesse reigneth in the aged and flourishes most when all things most decay So Luxurie rages in Youth most of all Luxurie is sometimes taken for generall indulgence to carnall Senses and the pleasures proceeding from them from whence that speciall Vice must needs become Rampant which wars against both Puritie of Minde and Chastitie of Body and may be said to be an inordinate lusting of the Flesh tending to prohibited pollution When the vain minde of man following the errour of Rehoboam consulting with the more youthfull and precipitant faculties and inclinations of a man we turne a deaff ear to the sober and grave Dictates of Reason and Religion interdicting our course letting all loose and giving the reins out of our hands permitting our selves to be hurried down-hill with an easie and suddain Passion we know not we care not we consider not whither till like the blinde Souldiers of Benhadad King of Syria our eyes being at length opened we finde our selves captivated in the Citie of our Deadly Enemie the Devill seducing us away 2. And if this Vice were peculiar to vain Worldlings it were lesse to be feared by sober Persons but we read of the complaints of such as have sequester'd themselves from the world that have enclosed themselves in bare walls and rude Cells as well as of them whose Tables are furnished with all manner of Dainties and their Parlours wainscoated with Cedar who are clothed ruggedly and fare hardly and live abstemiously yea Repentance it selfe for such fowl miscarriages while the minde dwells too long upon the subject renewing the subtile and sinfull Delectations Nay which is most wonderfull Fastings prescribed against the Lusts of the flesh shall end contrary to it The Spirit of Luxurie saith Saint Hierom boils by Night breathes forth by Day infests in Sleep molests in businesse stupifies Reason destroyes Advice disquiets the Minde urges to fall insnares the Chast burnes more by Use Pollutes the Temple of God wasteth the substance deliver'd to us by our heavenly Father turnes Man into a Beast and enslaves him with the worst of Servitudes to his Animall Part. 3. And if we consult auncient Histories we shall finde that the greatest and most lamentable subversions of Nations have been occasioned by immoderate and unjust lustings As for instance the Gauls invaded Italie took and sackt Rome it selfe being invited thither first by Aruns Clusimus in revenge against Leucemon offering such violence to his Wife And the exorbitant lusts of Vortiger the British King upon the body of Rowenna Daughter to Hengist the Saxon brought all the Brittains into perpetuall Servitude And the ravishing of the Wife of Beorn Bokard a Noble Person by Osbert King of the Northumbrians brought in the Danes into this Country who slew the King in a Battel And from the same occasion the Moors invaded Spain as might be shewed at large out of the Historie of that Countrie When King Roderick ravishing the Daughter of Count Julian he conspired against his King and Countrie in reverence of that injurie and brought in those barbarous Infidells to the enslaving and ruining that Country for many yeers And why should I tell you of the Plague brought upon the Israelites Or of Sampson and Solomon upon themselves by the same Vice and David too Or why should I speak of the mischiefs done to the very bodies of such Voluptuaries What infatuations of the minde What fears and agonies seize the Adulterer in the height of unlawfull pleasure least he should be discovered What distempers and Diseases of the Bodie arrest the Carrier of lusts Pains in the Head Gouts in the Limbs Dropsies in the whole Bodie Feavers in the Blood and rottennesse in the Bones and very Marrow so turning the Comedie of such love into Tragicall Notes and Lamentations running on this strain principally So foolish was I and ignorant I was as a Beast before thee Psal 73. 22. And How have I hated instruction 4. But lest we flatter our selves with an opinion of Innocencie when this Sin becomes not openly scandalous we must know what Solomon saith Prov. 24. 9. The thoughts of foolishnesse is sin And as Christ teacheth He that lusteth with his Eye and Heart after a Woman committeth Adultery with her in his Heart And wanton Talk especially lascivious Songs and Dalliances and uncivill though too common nakednesses in Women and severall other occasions of temptations are hereby blameable and are as Nits to Vermine bred out of them 5. But if this filthy Sin which fouls the Mouth that names it in its ordinarie course be so odious much more the transcendent crimes of Sodomie Bestiality Effeminatenesse in the sense the Apostle is generally understood 1 Cor. 6. 9. saying Be not deceived neither Fornicatours nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate that is abusers of their own bodies alone that way nor abusers of themselves with mankinde shall inherit the Kingdome of God or of Christ And this being said the sum of all is said 6. But it being said above that divers Men eminent for holinesse and austerities have not been free from this mortall evill but groaned under it no wonder we who professe not so great Mortification and Selfe-deniall should be subject to such infirmities so that it appears more veniall than mortall To which my answer is That though this Sin may have provoked the Holiest to complain of it yet never found it such favour with them as to be approved or patiently tolerated For naturall Principles in the Righteous are not extinguisht and the Law of the Flesh doth war strongly against the Law of the minde but still the godly and spirituall Man maintains the enmitie and keeps the Field as it were against the Armes of the Mighty and though many wounds may be received yet is he not overcome And if at any time unhappily overcone renews the Conflict and recovers his former station with advantage by double guards set about his Soule and diligence which re-ingratiates him into the favour of Allmighty God our heavenly Father who remembreth that we are but flesh while we contend to be spirituall But it is chiefly the captivating the will by such tryalls of our strength and constancie which God dislikes and a consent habituall and unrelenting and unrepenting yieldings which put us out of Gods favour and distinguishes from the Saints who perhaps have
of the soule or spirit of man which was variously canvased by the wise men of this world without resolution satisfactorie and that he and not naturall generation was the true cause thereof and that Christ and his Father worketh hitherto and he worketh John 5. 17. 7. Seventhly we learne from holy Writ concerning the government of the World that God leadeth not such a sedentarie and carelesse life as some Philosophers imagined after the manner of many Great Men who build fair and stately Houses and furnish them richly but so leave them to fall to decay and the things therein to be lost and spoiled neither doth he trouble his head or vex his heart as some men doe about the management of their Houses and Lands but by a mean way of sufficient protection and providence disposes all things even Good and Evill so wisely and harmoniously that no molestation is given to himselfe nor any damage to the Universe it selfe though innumerable changes are constantly wrought to the detriment of some particulars there and the like advantage to other things not before noted So that what for its time lay hid and contemptible is raised as it were out of the dust and exalted to greatnesse and splendour and for a season having so continued by the same all-disposing hand relapses into its ancient obscurity and this by a perpetuall vicissitude which some times an Age or two declareth some times not many Centuries of years And by the same Faith we according to St. Peter's Doctrine 2 Ep. 3. 7. understand that as the heavens and earth were formed and stood out of the waters so the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of Judgement 8. By Faith likewise we know that the fine and admirable Masterpiece of God himselfe Man created in the foresaid perfection and being in great honour and happinesse through his own folly as did the Angels before him fell from his stedfastnesse into blindesse povertie and generall miserie of bodie and minde contracting thereby disorder of affections inward and diseases and death outward the seeds of all which he transmitted to his posterity and is that Originall sinne all are infected and infested with This the Learning of this world could hardly or not at all instruct us in but is the office of our faith to inform us From whence also we can only give account of the many and strange exorbitances of our minde and the severall infirmities distempers and pains of our bodie before our reason comes to that ripenesse as to entitle us to the guilt of erroneous actions or free election of Good and Evill 9. Neither could humane learning or books of the greatest Philosophers informe us how tied and bound in the chain of our sins and fallen into the depth of common destruction we should recover our losses and repair our breaches neither could we our selves devise any more than we could really desire to evade the evils we were surrounded with But that light from above which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world sheweth that God out of the Abysse of his Counsells and freenesse of his Grace and Love towards Mankinde first determined the redemption of him and when the fullnesse of time was come actually sent his Son into the world in the likenesse of sinfull flesh to condemn sin in the flesh Rom. 8. 3. Galat. 4. 4. 10. And this Salvation was ratified to man soon after his fall God entring then into a new Covenant with man to the re-enstating him into his favour and restoring him to the blessed hopes of salvation eternall upon Evangelicall faith and obedience answerable thereunto And that these termes of this Covenant may as well as ought be performed on mans part though not upon his own strength is a materiall point of our faith and a prime motive to our obedience For were it not that man bounden thus to God might come up to that degree of perfection as to be judged by God to have performed what is necessary to obtaining the promises made by God no wise man would trouble himselfe to begin such an impossible work and no faithfull man or true believer could be sure of his salvation as is often taught we may and ought to be but rather every man may be sure of his damnation knowing thar he can in no wayes doe that upon which his salvation depends 11. Furthermore It is necessary to salvation as the Athanasian Creed tells us that we believe rightly the Incarnation of out Lord Jesus Christ who by taking flesh of the Virgin Mary his Mother unto the divine nature became an apt and sufficient Mediatour between God and Man and Administratour of the New Covenant made between God and Man. 12. And this administration was wrought two wayes principally First by the divine doctrine and knowledge revealed unto the world delivered by himselfe and his elect servants to that end inspired extraordinarily and contained in the severall Books of the New Testament Secondly by his Passion and death upon the Crosse as a Lamb of God offered for the sins of the whole world in which God rested satisfied and became appeased and Believers had accesse to the throne of Grace and became accepted in the beloved 13. But to the effectuall application of so glorious a benifit as this is somewhat more required of all true Believers than a Faith passive it being necessarie that first we should use the meanes ordained by God to that great end before we can have any sound hope of attaining the same And supposing faith preceding the summe of what remains and to which other duties may be reduc'd may be three fold 1. The use of the Sacrament of Baptisme instituted as a laver of regeneration and a forme of initiation into the Covenant without which we are of the number of Infidells and aliens from the Common wealth of Israel and without hope of salvation and in our sins and naturall blindnesse which hereby was so cured that the newly baptised were said in Scripture to be illuminated or enlightened Heb. 6. 4. Hebr. 10. 32. 2. And unto this comes in as an Auxiliary improving and perfecting the low beginnings of those once initiated to an high degree of holinesse and comfort The Sacrament of the Lords Supper ordained by Christ to the ratification of our Covenant entered into with God and the memorie of Christs passion and death upon the Crosse for us and our being more strictly and intimately united to Christ as shall hereafter be more fullie declared 3. A third most necessary and effectuall meanes of applying Christs merits to us is that excellent gift of God as the Scripture termes it Acts 5. 31. Acts 11. 18. Repentance of which with the concomitants of it likewise we may speak farther hereafter 14. Of the Resurrection likewise of the bodie and the reuniting of the soule unto it and upon such restauration the receiving of the proper
and deformities and finde the smart of our sores there is little probabilitie we should be sollicitous so far about our selves as to seek for redresse and remedie for the same but having attained this that which followes in the mentioned words of the Apostle viz. perfecting holinesse in the fear of the Lord may happily succeed And this advantage by the same words is put into our hands towards so great and good work as to learne the generall division of our sins and impurities to be removed and that some sins have the resemblance of a spirituall nature and others of a fleshly For according to the diverse constitution of Man consisting of Soule and Bodie whereby he partaketh both of the nature of Spirits and Beast so are his inclinations sometimes transporting him to the excesses of Evill Spirits and sometimes sinking him down towards brutish lusts but which are insinuated unto us by St. James Chap. 3. 15. thus writing This wisdome descendeth not from above but is earthly sensuall and devillish Whereby we understand that some sins and especially they of the minde of man are really devillish as having the Devill as well for their Authour as Actour viz. Envyings Gloryings Strife Lying instanced in by St. James a little before and some others of the like nature And on the other side Hatred Murthers Violences offered to others Intemperance Incontinence and slothfulnesse and such like are such which senfuall appetites dispose us unto and we have in common with beasts prone to them Yet to the shame of Man may it be spoken beasts many times governed by their senses being not so great offenders thereby as men directed to higher and better things both by Reason and Religion or Faith. For in trueth there is a fourfold restraint appointed by God for the keeping us within due compasse of living First our very Senses not made by evill customes more brutish than naturally they are doe certifie by a naturall reluctancie when we exced due measure in the use of sensible pleasures And a greater light and check to such exorbitances does our Reason give us not bribed by corruption to give false reports and dictates But the Light and Rules of Faith are yet more clear full and perfect to direction and sanctification but the life and Crown of all is the Grace of God bringing the will of man into subjection and obedience Most of which we shall here speak briefly to SECT II. Of the Office and Power of Faith in purging the Soule from sinfull defilements 1. FAith as we have shewed is by descent of heavenly extraction It is the gift of God and not owing originally to the will or election of man And it is given as an Instrument to work the work of God And this it doth well applyed and improved by the Illumination alreadie spoken of and discoveries of Gods Will and our Dutie in a clearer and fuller manner than otherwise we could attain to But this is not all this is not the greatest or chiefest part of its Power and vertue but that which impells and enables us too to doe the Will of God For as Christ our Lord and Master saies He sent me into the world to bear witnesse unto the trueth and that not by affirmation only but by exemplarie holinesse consummated in dying for the trueth so should every good Christian by doing and dying if need be testifie to the trueth 2. And surely great is the influence true and strong Faith hath to that end according to St. John 1 Ep. 5. 4. telling us This is our victory even our faith so termed because it is the principall meanes whereby we become Conquerors of Gods and our own Enemies which St. Paul 2 Cor. 10. 4. calls the pulling down of strong holds and of every thing that exalteth it selfe against God as all sinfull lusts doe and bringing it into the subjection of Christ For here is verified what Christ foretold in the Gospell A mans enemies shall be they of his own house A militant Christian never being free from intestine jars and warrings of the Law of his members against the Law of his minde and faith So that if we listen to any suggestions or lean on any other aid but what our Faith furnishes us withall we are lyable to fail and fall in our contentions For as Christ said to the Father of the Demoniacall Son. Mark 9. All things are possible to him that believeth So shall we see on the contrary all things are impossible to him that disbelieveth it being said of Christ himselfe Mark 16. 5. He could doe there viz. in his own Country no mighty works because of their unbelief as if unbelief in man had tied Gods hands and disabled him who is ever omnipotent to act accordingly though we must understand the words of Scripture not absolutely but according to the ordinary course of Gods proceeding towards man who must not expect that God will obtrude his blessings upon him contemning him as did these his Countrymen who astonished at the Wisdome and Doctrine of Christ carped at his Relations and Education and meannesse of his Person and Parentage believing with prejudice reproveable by their senses that Christ could not doe that they saw him doe and therefore refused to bring forth to him their sick and impotent so that he could not doe many mighty workes there And the case is the same in spirituall mortifications and cures of the distempered soule To him that believeth all things are possible but unbelief makes possible things impossible and easie things most difficult For Faith not doing its office of declaring to the ignorant minde the nature of God an implacable Enemie to sin and the nature of sin an intolerable Enemie to God man must needs be carried away by that false naturall light that he hath after those pleasing objects that seem rather than are good to him And again He whose faith is firme is also operative as well as intuitive and so far influenced and excited by it that he cannot choose but he must act according to his judgement perswasion and principle of life 3. For what was that which moved Moses to forsake Egypt and bid adieu to the Courtly pleasures of it and to suffer affliction with the people of God and to esteem the very reproach of Christ greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt but that as the Scripture tells us He by his faith saw him that was invisible and by his faith had respect unto the recompence of the reward He by faith both believed aright in God and by the same loved what appeared to him most noble and desireable Which held not good then only but is of perpetuall truth as is that of our Saviour Christ also According to thy faith so be it unto thee So it is and so it ever will be unto Christian Soules If a man believes truely but does not fully his faith is impotent in its hands and feet and can profit very little to the main
lost their understanding but like to that Great Example set by Christ for imitation here and salvation hereafter SECT III. That in purifying our selves principall care is to be taken of the puritie of our Faith and of the affections of the Inward Man not neglecting outward severities 1. FAith is not only by the Reformed very often but sometimes by the Unreformed also of great note compared to and call'd an Hand But if this hand of Faith be all on the taking side and little on the giving both which are properties equally of the spirituall hand then is it verie defective For the Philosopher termed the hand of the Bodie the Organ of Organs or Instrument of all other Instruments usefull to us and such is Faith to our spirituall life and actions given us to work the work of God with If therefore it be only extended to receive Christ and justification by him to the quietation of the sollicitous and troubled Conscience and not to prepare the way by diligent and dutifull actions our faith being first unfaithfull to God will in the end also prove treacherous to our own Souls And that Instrument which is blunt or ill framed in it selfe is very apt to marr the work intended Without a good Pen a man how expert soever cannot make a good letter and much lesse write a fair hand And not only an hereticall Faith subverting the true Faith but an Orthodox and sound yet barren credulous presumptuous unactive impatient of both good and evill fond contumacious turbulent or unnecessary querulous and quarrelsome being entertained and rested on drawes neerer to perdition than salvation how flattering soever it may appear to the owner of it 2. And on the other side blinde zeal and violence rather than zeal going about to reforme the Soule with an unreformed or unsanctified Faith doe oftentimes expose the Bodie and Soule to unprofitable and dangerous injuries perhaps upon a mistake of perfection commended to us in the Holy Gospell For instance If a man should put out his own Eyes lest they should or because they had misled him or to the end he might become a better Philosopher as they write of some Philosophers and it is said of Didymus the Alexandrian otherwise an holy Christian given to contemplation or if a man should mutilate himselfe because he would not be chosen a Bishop of which Antiquitie gives us instances or to prevent or to revenge acts of unlawfull Lusts should destroy what Nature hath ordained or in fine should having fallen into any great and shamefull sin think to make propitiation for the same by laying violent hands upon himselfe all this must be imputed rather to want than abundance of Faith and to impenitence accumulating sin unto sin till the Soule sinks under the weight which by true Faith might have been removed or lightened 2. The inordinate passions therefore of the minde are to be the task of every good Christian and the purging or chastizing of the irregular appetites and casting out of doors and so purging the Temple of God as Nehemiah did the profane Stuffe of Tobiah the Samaritan out of the Chambers of the House of the Lord polluted thereby Severall Inmates there are which either creep in for entertainment or perhaps plead prescription which must be dislodged or there will in a short time be found no room for the Master of the House himselfe to reside in or rule over the Soule To wash the outside of the Bouls Platters and Cups is not amisse for it is required of every man not only to be religious but to appear so lest he comes under the condemnation of those who are ashamed of Christ his Doctrine and holie Discipline but to content our selves with that pittance of performance is to rank our selves with the Pharisees and Hypocrites condemned by Christ Oh that there were such an heart in them was the wish of God himselfe to his peculiar people the Israelites Deuteron 5. 19. when they promised fair and spake well concerning obedience which God requires But not the obedience of the tongue which without the heart ends only in aery Complements absurdly used towards men and ridiculously towards God when the heart is far from him And far is that heart and must needs be so from God which is unclean and unclean it must needs be which entertains such a Rabble of lusts which like drunken Companions in Taverns or Alehouses quarrel notoriously one with another but agree to foul the Room with their Pipes Pots Glasses Liquor and perhaps with their own vomit and other evacuations The sober man seeing this disorder and hearing such noise and havock sayes I would not be bound to dwell there if I might have never so much And can we think that Gods pure and piercing Eye beholding such distempers of the Spirit and disorders which the lusts of the flesh make in the Soule and the uncleannesse contracted thereby can or will condescend to take up his habitation there Into a malicious Soule wisdome shall not enter nor dwell in the bodie which is subject to sin Wisdome 1. 4. For all sin consisteth of two things contrary to Wisdome and to God the Fountaine of Wisdome Folly and Foulnesse which cannot consist with the Spirit of Holinesse and the true Wisdome which cometh from above and is first pure and then peaceable c. 3. If it were therefore only because God so frequently so earnestly so pressingly requires inward Puritie Puritie of intention and understanding which qualifie exceedingly actions otherwise irregular and faulty Puritie of affections freed from smuttie delectations and cleer and sincere and fixed and fervent towards the best Objects and that upon the best Grounds and Motives Gods service and honour who well advised would not apply himselfe to so noble and necessary a task as the searching and trying his heart and casting out thence whatever may corâ—upt the rest of his exteriour services and offend the eyes of his heavenly Father though not scandalous to man. 4. And this may be another Motive to interiour holinesse the powerfull influence the inward temper and disposition of the minde hath upon all exteriour actions whether good or evill For according to the Regencie of the minde is the obedience of the outward man as our most wife and holie Master Christ informes us saying Mark 7. 21. From within out of the heart of men proceed evill thoughts adulteries fornications murders thefts covetousnesse wickednesse deceit lasciviousnesse an evill eye blasphemie pride foolishnesse All these evill things come from within and defile the man. All sin defiles but principally and in the first place the inward man and thence as from a bitter or corrupt Fountain-head unsound and impure actions doe flow Or as we see in Clocks and Watches the Hand outward pointing to the hour goes true or false according to the Spring and inward frame of them so our externall practices are right just and holy or on the contrarie false and depraved according to the
he will acquitt and absolve us But God undoubtedly doth remitt offences to some mens repentance which he will not doe to anothers by reason of the varietie of the circumstances of the persons As for instance If a man heinously offending God and having knowledge opportunity means and speciall motives to exercise and demonstrate the same shall speak lightly of that way and with presumption rather than Faith securely lay all the dutie on some inward trouble of minde I may justly fear such a mans repentance will fail him and frustrate his expectation though in some cases and of some persons it may be accepted No greater evill surely to Gods grace and mans well-grounded faith is there than to have recourse to what God can doe and what Christ hath done and so therein to rest as wilfully to forbear what they themselves ought to doe And men ought to doe what in them ordinarily lies to the recovery of their fall and standing right in the Court and favour of God neither attributing too much to such outward workes wrought nor too confidently laying claim to the freenesse and amplitude of Gods favour unqualified wholly for the same 5. Two eminent Examples Ancient stories afford us for the better regulating our belief and actions in this Case The one is of Father Paemen in the Apothegmes of the Fathers To whom one coming and confessing a great sin whereinto he had lately fallen humbled himselfe before him assuring him that for so doing he would doe Penance for three yeers No said the old Father it is too much A yeer then said the other It is too much said he Fourtie dayes said the offender It is too much I tell you said Paemen three dayes Penance not committing the same sin again the sin was Fornication may suffice No doubt but this resolution was sound and good because of a fervent and strong determination of taking upon himselfe a more difficult task and heavie burden through deep sense of his wickednesse which God principally regards But should any man set such like sin at so low a rate as to contemne much outward trouble and say within himselfe that true Repentance is to be sorrie at large and not to committ the same sin again I doubt whether such selfe-absolution upon such easie termes would be accepted by God. For those who probably have not fallen into such scandalous sins but devoted themselves more entirely and intimately to the service of God have judged their whole lives not too much to win Gods favour by Repentance and that of the severer sort For Gregory Nyssen in the Life of St. Ephrem the Syrian writeth of him That as it was naturall for all other men to use respiration and motion so became it customarie to him to weep so that there was scarce any day or any night or any considerable part of day or night or very short time in which he did not shed teares teaching us that we ought never to resolve against weeping for our sins or having confidence in Gods mercy where the grace of true Repentance is found and true fruits though not so high and heroicall as I may so speake are not wanting Nothing is more contrarie to the free Grace of God or our Dutie than limiting him or it where he hath not circumscribed himselfe To say within a mans selfe God will not have mercie upon me unlesse I truely repent is the Doctrine God himselfe put into a mans mouth and must be held immutably and inviolably because he hath so often said it and hath limited his pardon to that condition But to say To doe thus much in Repentance or to goe thus far only is sufficient without farther troubling flesh and blood or on the contrary to say positively God will not pardon my offences unlesse my true repentance be attended with and demonstrated by such or such outward exercises is to determine what God hath not determined and to lay the stresse of obtaining mercie upon uncommanded services as we are taught by some of late dayes to speake It is left therefore by God obscure as to the visible part of Repentance what God will accept and what he will not for reconciliation But to condemn outward severities as too many doe upon a possibilitie that God may save us without them may for ought we know turne Gods face from approving our presumed-on Repentance inward For there are so many instances of Great Sinners greatly humbled outwardly as well as inwardly upon the sight of their sins in Holy Scripture as well as monuments of the Church that it is a wonder to me to observe the confidence the moderne divinity of some hath put into the hearts of men by a prodigall faith to make up a short and easie reckoning between God and them adding taunts and reproaches to them who surpasse them in sensible exercises and concomitants of inward sorrow He therefore is in the safest way to have his soule cleansed from his sins and the scores wiped out between God and himselfe who shall bear such a venerable opinion towards Repentance such a hatred and detestation of sin such an equall opinion between the Justice and goodnesse of God as that by abundance of penances imposed on himselfe or by others whose judgement he may follow better than his own in such cases he cannot merit properly Gods favour nor keeping up a faithfull and humble spirit towards God in sincere Repentance not so fairly qualified must despair of remission For undoubtedly the contrition of the heart shall much preponderate the bodily exercises weighed together in Gods ballance but 't is no reason at all because that is principally to be done that we should leave the latter undone and that upon severall accounts not so well consisting with our present designe 6. But yet in generall to reconcile men to the complexe dutie of Repentance thus asserted I shall offer to the devouter mindes these few Considerations of the excellencie of Repentance As first that Repentance is the greatest Good God could bestow upon the lapsed Sinner so that it may be doubted whether his singular love to mankinde had appeared more conspicuously in preventing his fall by a powerfull hand than by giving him Repentance to lift him up again It was much easier for man to have persever'd in the state of Grace at first received of God and seems more easie to God if any thing may be said to be difficult to him to have preserved man so than to have restored him So that of that great evill of man Apostacie from God this great good ensued the manifestation of the greatnesse of his power and mercie in giving repentance unto man and by such an abject thing in the eyes of the world to produce so glorious effect as the conversion of a Sinner the very joy and applause of the blessed Saints and Angells in heaven Nay though Christ as a Mediatour and Redeemer was the pure gift of God to man yet the influence and effect
of Christs mediation God would have to depend wholly on Repentance as is implyed in these words Acts 5. 31. Him Christ hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sin So that as there is no forgivenesse without repentance and there is no saving repentance without Christ so is there no saving Christ without repentance For this was one end of Christs coming into the world Repentance as we read Acts 17. 20. The times of former ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men to repent every where And hence it is that the Apostles having heard what successe St. Peter's preaching had amongst the Gentiles make it matter of astonishment and glorification of Allmighty God as it is written Acts 11. 18. When they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God saying Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life 7. But farther let us see more particularly the dignitie of Repentance in the managing of which all the principall Attributes of Allmighty God are engaged as first of all that which is most formidable to a guilty and conscious Soule his Justice For when by foregoing Illumination the minde of man is brought to the knowledge of the nature of sin dwelling in it and the strong opposition which is made against it and enmity and the fearfull reward due to it who can but tremble to finde himselfe brought under the plagues due to it But withall considering the wonderfull condescension of Allmighty God entring into a Covenant of Grace and favour with Sinners upon the termes of true repentance and that he will infallibly be as good as his promises declare him the bitternesse of his Justice is changed into the sweet waters of Life to the desponding Sinner For if God had only said as he doth Exodus 34. 6 7. The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and trueth Keeping mercie for thousands forgiving iniquities transgression and sin and that will by no means cleer the guilty c. the matter had not been so wonderfull For it is imprinted in the mindes of all Believers that God is mercifull and Good to all even to Sinners that repent Allmost every Chapter in Mahomets Alchoran proclaims that aloud and this is most pleasant to the ear of a Sinner dejected for his errours but much more is that refreshing the languishing Soule to hear that Justice it selfe is turned to be a Friend to a Sinner by vertue of repentance as St. John assures us 1 Epist 1. 9. If we confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse However therefore Scholasticall doubts and disputations may be raised about the manner how God out of his justice may be said to save a man yet it cannot be doubted after such expresse words of Scripture that so it is And that this comes thus to passe that God hath so great regard and esteem for his own gift Repentance that where ever he finds that he hath obliged his honour his trueth or faithfulnesse to his word and Justice it selfe to acquitt that Sinner and cleanse him from his pollutions Not unlike to the gift of some great Prince or Person to some inferiour one who in token of his fidelitie to him and firmenesse in all great calamities and distresses endangering his life delivereth to him a Ring or other privie token well known to him advising that if ever he be call'd in question for his life or like to be oppressed by his Enemies he would send him that or show it him and it shall suffice to oblige him to come speedily to his deliverance and safety so pleaseth it Allmighty God to grant to his friends in Christ this excellent gift of Repentance which he beholding is so much affected with the dangerous condition of the miserable Sinner that in honour and justice he holdeth himselfe bound to secure him from the malice and mischiefs which his Enemies long and strain hard to bring upon him 8. And so may we say of the Omnipotencie of God concerned very much in the deliverie of the penitent Sinner For as there is guilt danger and damnation in sin so is there likewise shame and confusion of minde and face at the apprehension of so foul errours and odious spots as accompanie the commission of sins so that the same pierces into the verie soule by its stain and infests the Conscience with intolerable pain at the apprehension of such a shamefull condition What would an ingenuous Penitent give yea rather What would he not give that he had never offended so Great a God and so Good a Father With what shame the eyes of his minde being illuminate doth he reflect upon himselfe so that it is questionable in some truely repenting and generous soules whether the abhorrence of that foul state it findes it selfe in by sin be not altogether as intolerable as the foreseen punishments of Hell it selfe In such cases as this when all other hopes of being restored to its pristine integrity and purity so infinitely desireable to a true Convert faileth relief and remedie is discovered in the Allmighty power of God which and none but which could cause the Leprous and filthy parts of Naaman to returne to the soundnesse and sweetnesse of the flesh of an Infant and can as easily renew the defaced and defiled Soule so that when one day it shall appear naked at the Tribunall of Christ before the sharp-sighted Angells and men they shall not be able to discerne the least blott or blemish in the same And why because as by a second regeneration after Baptisme Repentance renews the soule by Gods powerfull Grace to a new habit and is therefore called a Second Baptisme 9. Furthermore what can be more worthy of every good Christians practice than Repentance which God honoureth above many splendid Graces in the sight of the world yea which men more thorowly seen into the divine study and art of conversing with God judge to be inferiour to none in dignitie and above all in necessitie How doe we read of Davids Repentance and Peters restoring them entirely to Gods favour so that former sins which were great obstructed not their ascent to the highest pitch of Gods favour and of Rule and Authority in the Church of God. For doth not the incomparable Parable of our Saviour Christ in the Gospell Luke the 15th of the lost Sheep of the lost Groat of the lost Son prove the certainty to us all which declare unto us this miserable state of Sinners fled from God and unreduced and the happinesse and glory upon their returne by Repentance and the joy in heaven and earth upon their conversion unto God and goodnesse as upon a Victory wun over the Devill and a soule wun to God. 10. And if we compare Repentance with other Christian vertues adorning the Soule we shall
finde great glorie ascribed unto it and set at the Right-hand of the very chiefest For what is more commended or extolled by the Holy Fathers of old than Virginitie And yet by Saint Austine Humilitie is preferred before it And Humilitie is but one branch of the main bodie of Repentance which therefore must much more excell the other And the same have many devout Hermites said as Palladius relates 11. Lastly How soure and severe soever acts of Repentance may at a distance doe appear to a naturall eye in the midst of its clouds and darknesse light doth spring out and when the greatest agonies for sin and the wounds of a Conscience stung with it smart most sorely there may arise this true ground of consolation that even this repentance as bitter as it may seem is a notable instance of Gods favour for God doth not give such singular gifts but to his beloved and chosen ones and that under his apparent frowns against a Sinner repenting are hidden reall smiles of love to such penitents ' to whome if he had not a speciall favour he would have suffered him with the throng of the world to passe without any remorse or means of readoption holinesse and happinesse but repentance proves the contrarie Which may both support the wearied minde in the midst of crushing sorrowes and excite the secure to undergoe this easie Yoke of Christ all things considered and reduce the fugitive Shulamite the straying Sheep unto the Chief Shepheard of our Soules Christ Jesus SECT VI. That this Purgative Repentance must be generall of all sins and perpetuall 1. AS God looks upon sin and as sin looks against God so must every one that is borne of God in this as other things resemble his heavenly Father There is no fin but God hateth there is no Sinner but hateth and opposeth God there is no sin but fighteth against our Soules woundeth defaceth and defileth the same there is therefore no Christian but ought to hate all sin as David may be understood when Psalm 139. he saith Doe not I hate them O Lord that hate thee and am not I grieved O Lord with them that rise up against thee I hate them with a perfect hatred even as though they were mine enemies So that he not only submitteth to but afterward demandeth a search to be made in his heart whether any kinde of iniquity lurketh there perhaps unbeknown to him which ought to be expelled 3. Learned Masters of Christian doctrine tell us that God cannot forgive absolutely one sin and leave another unpardoned and much lesse can a man denie one sin and embrace another no more than a Fornicatour can cease to be such in disliking one whorish Woman and choosing another Nor may he be said to repent that he hath abused his bodie by such unrighteous practices but that haply he had to doe with such a person so is it with the Sinner that forsaketh not wholly but changes his sin As if he hath in his young and wanton dayes lived luxuriously and prodigally and in his declining strength and yeers should begin as the Prodigall to be in want or ayme at the raising of a Family and leaving an ample Patrimonie to his Posterity and so take up basely now sparing as he spent basely formerly he may flatter himselfe and sometimes like a notable Convert and mortified person condemn his youthfull follies and mad exorbitancies and moreover speciously blesse God that he sees his errour past and securely blesse himselfe in his late wisdome and abstinences but all in vain yea more perniciously than before if he turnes pinchingly abstemious denying himselfe many things after the manner of true Asceticks and renouncers of the world and all this out of a new espoused vice Covetousnesse which infatuates his judgement so far as that he flattereth himselfe in his own eyes as it is Psalm 36. till his iniquity be found to be hatefull or Till his abominable sin be found out 3. For God who abhorreth commutations of Vertue for Vice much more abhorreth commutation of one Vice for another Whence it is that Saint James so expresly affirmeth Cap. 2. v. 10 11. Whosoever keepeth the whole Law and yet offends in one point is guilty of all For he that said Doe not committ Adultery said allso Doe not kill Disobedience Rebellion or but contempt of Gods commands is seen in one sin as well as in another And though all stains or spots upon the Face or Clothes be not of the same colour yet as they are stains and defilements are they to be equally cleansed And it is all a case whether a man be wounded with a Knife or a Sword or bruised with a blunter Weapon to his no lesse danger All Vertues are linked together in prudence faith the morall Philosopher for as much as without prudence men must needs offend even in doing good things And all sins are founded and grounded upon folly even those which carrie along with them a pretense and shew of witt and cunning all sin being errour and all errour proceeding from ignorance affected or involuntarie And all sins being managed by disobedience against God a man cannot heartily and sincerely apply himselfe to obey God in any one point unlesse he beareth about him a disposition to fulfill the will of God in all things commanded by God. 4. And this Rule extendeth it selfe likewise to our dutie towards our Neighbour whome having seen and not having seen God if we love not we deceive our selves as St. John teacheth us 1 Epist 4. 20. He that useth despitefully the Image of his Prince sheweth his malice against his Prince himselfe And no cheating or violence doth a man out of covetousnesse and desire of revenge offer to his Brother but for shame or fear or inability he would use to his Father allso yea to God himselfe This doth appear by profane blasphemous and outragious speeches often used against his God as the malice of a bitter spirit and tongue when the hands cannot reach him For I cannot but think that a man covetously bent to any great degree would if it were possible couzen God of what he hath as well as his Neighbour and tear from him by violence what may serve his turne as he sticketh not to doe from his poor and weak Brother when he is in the power of his hands But no man is made innocent from impotencie of offending And no man acquiescing in any one fault or Vice unrepented of can pronounce himselfe clean from any or hope to obtain pardon for any one 5. Again as Repentance cleansing us must extend to all manner of sins so that no man can deserve the name of a true penitent who is angerly inclined and not covetously or lustfully given and not a Drunkard or Proud and not unjust or a zealous censurer of profanenesse and deboistnesse and yet worldly or contumacious against Just Autority so must the same repentance be generall as to time allso that is
others In doing evill men are generally to feare evill but men are to feare Pride most of all when they doe well When men preach eloquently and powerfully when others pray fluently and giftedly as they suppose to the admiration and applause of others the vain spirit of man licketh up as it were and draweth greedily to it selfe the fumes of praises offered so to him as the Gentile Philosophers taught the paltrie Spirits of the air for they made severall orders of Spirits too attended the Altars at the time of Sacrificing to them and with great pleasure drew to themselves the fat vapour that ascended from thence and were nourished by the same as they tell us And if men be so wanting that they of themselves refuse to offer a sacrifice of praise answerable to the appetites of the vain expecter prettie sly artifices are invented to ensnare as it were men to ascribe something to them of which that is none of the least or rarest To cast out some light disparagement of themselves that the Friend or flatterer may catch that occasion to confute what was said and amplifie his deserts on the contrarie and extoll him as it is often seen in young Children who discerning their Parents fondnesse towards them will sometimes cast themselves down upon the ground that they may be taken up into their armes dandled and kissed 6. But so much as to point at the severall sorts of this Vice might require a greater latitude of Discourse than is proper for this place Ambition or affectation of great Power or Honours or Place is that which can hardly consist with a sincere minde or spirit truely apprehensive of the vanitie of the world or the unsociablenesse I doe not say of the things themselves for such orders and subordinations God would have in the world but of the Affectation and appetite of them so far as least of all to desire that Good work the Apostle mentions in Dignities but wholly or chiefly to desire grandeur profits and perhaps ease from inferiour labours and lesse advantageous becoming so much the lesse sollicitous and industrious as the reward requires and deserves greater Here must necessarily be either Vain-glorie or Covetousnesse or both too prevalent 7. But Saint Chrysostome gives us an Instance of vaingloriousnesse and pride of minde even after men are dead and turned to corruption an exorbitancie Great men are subject to in this sin more then in any other For other sins commonly end their dayes with the Sinner but Pride divers times manifesteth it selfe after death and Drunkennesse and Uncleannesse and Gluttony and Covetousnesse fall away with the guilty person but he that is ambitious and vainglorious provides for the continuation of his blindnesse and errour by appointing lasting and magnificent Monuments to that purpose stately devices and Edifices must declare to Posteritie that such an one was once great and renowned whether he were so or not ay and as now the wicked world goes men shall be Sainted by an Inscription who have been prophane to a great degree in their lifes-time and by stately Tombes proudly after their death cease not to prophane the Church or Chancell by usurping that part of Gods Soile dedicated to Holinesse to the celebration of rotten flesh and drie bones and it may be to the bringing down the judgement of God upon that Church which tolerates such abuses when it is in its power to hinder it which often it is not through the power and Lordlinesse of Great Persons too resolute to be diverted and too strong to be resisted in their unrighteous actions especially when it so happens that men of such advantages over poor Ministers of Christ and their Superiours too shall take a kinde of Antichristian pride in shewing how they can exalt themselves above all that is called God or reputed holy and especially in following the Fashion and that when they are dead 8. Wherefore the mischief of this Deadly evill being duly considered and observed it will concerne every true Christian truely and impartially to make enquirie into the depths of his own heart and so judge his Spirit as to deliver himselfe from the same Many for kinde are the sorts thereof and some very monstrous for nature all delusive of the affected therewith procuring him Hatred instead of Love contempt instead of esteem and honour and restlessenesse of minde ever more thirsting for that with which he can never be satisfied Let us therefore take the Apostles advice Galat. 4. and not be desirous of vainglory provoking one another envying one another And if such mutuall Emulation were all it were more to be endured but by such vainglorious provocations of God and Man we stirr them both up to the ruine and dejecting of our selves exalting our selves some Philosophers being so wise as well as some Christian contemplatours of the wayes and workes of God to see and say that God sitteth above in the highest Heaven observing who by humility is capable of Exaltation and who by exalting himselfe deserves to be crushed and confounded 9. And this is it which the wise Man Ecclesiasticus Chap. 10. v. 9. teaches us when he seem'd to be alltogether ignorant of the ground of Pride in Man. Why saith he is earth and ashes proud For asking why it is certain he knew not Why. Yea rather asking Why he knew why not Which appeareth from what he had said formerly ver 7. Pride is hatefull before God. And so ver 13. Pride is the beginning of sin and the parting from God is the beginning of it Pride and Apostacie from God are mutuall causes one of another by a kind of monstrous incest begetting one another but having for their common Father the Devill himselfe that Apostate Spirit Lucifer who first committing that sin and suffering condigne punishment for the same has made it his Office to draw men into the same offence and condemnation and losse too by aspiring as Holy and humble Job informes us Chap. 41. 34. thus speaking of him He beholdeth i. e. according to the language of the Scripture he loves and admireth all high things he is the King of all the Children of pride that is his own children made so by pride 10. And who is not ignorant of the reason why Flesh and blood should be proud which Ecclesiasticus resolves into Earth and Ashes And why so but because Ashes are barren of good and Earth is base ordained to be trampled on not lifted up but in such cases as great calamities seize on a man and then it was wont to be heap'd on the head to augment his vilenesse and misery that brought it upon him by his folly and vanity Man having by pride advanced himselfe above his originall Earth by as unnaturall a course as if the stream should rise higher than the Fountain-head reason good that Earth should recover its dignity and place by becoming higher than the calamitous proud man. 11. Let not therefore saith God by the Prophet Jeremie Chap.
9. 23. the wise man glorie in his wisdome neither let the mighty man glorie in his might let not the rich man glorie in his riches which is an Inference following upon what is said ver 22. Even the Carcasses of men shall fall as dung upon the open field Is there any so wise that he can deliver his Soule from the hand of the grave The Psalmist saith no. Psalm 49. He seeth that wise men die as well as the ignorant and foolish Or can the Rich mans wealth defend him from the violence of death Of such in the same Psalm it is said None of them can redeem his brother by any means nor give to God a ransome for him And what is beautie more than strength Nay it is much lesse For generally it fades first and while it staies what is it but an apt contemperation of blood and choler and phlegme and that more earthy humour Melancholy which to be proud of is much the same as to be proud of fine Clothes and Fashions which suddenly alter into absurdities and every night as duely as they were put on are put off and laid aside Wherefore rather as the Prophet saith He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord that is account it his greatest honour and happinesse that he knowes God and is educated in the Doctrine of Salvation which principally instructeth all true Believers in the practice of humilitie 12. And Humilitie alone made glorious by the example of Christ and made easie by the Yoke of Christ perswading to it and wearing of it and lightening it to us is instead of a thousand directions to induce an ingenuous Christian to the studie of it and imitation and will wholly leavell the towering minde of man to due compliance with the simplicitie of the Gospell and purge out the sowre and ungratefull leaven of Pride Therefore Christ exhorteth Matth. 11. Learne of me for I am meek and lowly and ye shall finde rest for your Soules Stupendious was the humilitie of Christ in his severall condescensions but whether not equally stupendious it be that after an humble God as Austin speaks there should be found a proud man I think may be doubted It is written of Heraclius Emperour of Greece that having obtained a glorious Victorie over Cosdroes or Cosroes King of Persia he was so puffed up with that successe that he made all possible preparations to enter into the Gates of Hierusalem with greatest triumph and splendour having Christs Crosse carried before him but that an Angell of God opposed him and shut the Gates against him not suffering him to enter but rebuking him said The King of heaven entred in here in mean and low estate which so far affected him that laying away his Imperiall Robes and Trophies and blushing at his own errour he lighted off his Horse or Chariot and walked into the City barefoot Which made good what St. James speakes and St. Peter allso God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble And from hence doth St. Peter exhort us to be clothed with humility which is the true Robe of Christ militant and ought to be of every one that will follow his example and obtain his Promises 13. Lastly Because I know the difficulty of Selfe-deniall in this case is no small impediment to the performance of this Dutie let the generous minde conceive from thence a resolutenesse to encounter such an Adversarie as is worthy of his Christian warfare here on earth and as that Conquest which must needs be great and in the conclusion of all glorious in the best sense because difficult but this difficultie well master'd wonderfully facilitates the Victorie we are to gain of the subordinate Vices introduced and acted principally by this leading only SECT XII Of Anger and its Concomitants the Second Deadly Sin and some Remedies thereof 1. IT is requisite for the better detecting and pursuing of this deadly Enemie that some description be premised thereof but more Divine than Philosophicall properer for other Treatises Anger therefore wrath displeasure revenge and violence in Spirit Word or Deed is a Passion properly belonging to evill Spirits and a resemblance of them furiously bent against God and all that are unlike themselves Beasts indeed have their rage and furie especially provoked but without transgressing any Rule of Reason prescribed them as angry Spirits and men doe Woe be to the earth saith the Angell in the Revelations Chap. 12. 12. For the Devill is come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth his time is short Not for any just cause given him but because his perverted nature impells him to indignation and furie and by the just Sentence of God upon him he rages by his Office thus described by the Son of Sirach Ecclesiasticus 39. 28. There are Spirits that are created for vengeance which in their furie lay on sore strokes in time of destruction they poure out their force and appease the wrath of him that made them By which it seems there should be some colour and cause for the execution of the wrath of Evill Spirits but I know no ground for the immoderate wrath of men but their lust of tormenting others contrarie to Gods institution 2. And this Vesuvian flame worketh principally three severall wayes sometimes like that fierie Mountain it frets within and consumes its own bowells with madnesse wanting power and meanes to burst out upon others Sometimes it spits fire outwardly in horrible language casts the same in the face of such as it is incensed against calling them all to naught and that if they be not so they may be such by such violence offered And sometimes violent actions assault with what comes next to hand sparing neither limb nor life of such as stand in its way And men having done what Passion urged them to they make this cold defence of their woefull effects They were in a Passion making one sin to justifie another and voluntarie Drunkennesse of minde and phrenzie to apolologize for the worst of actions 3. It is true some men are by their naturall temper more cholerick than others and furious and much more to be excused than they whose nature is more governable and not unhappie but made so by affected and acquired Habits of this nature But God having blessed every man with Princely Reason and fortified the reason of every Christian with the wise and grave Precepts and Documents of Religion and the assistance of the Holy Spirit promised to all that ask it at Gods hands Luke 11. 13. No man can reasonably excuse himselfe from the guilt of such intemperances or say they are not voluntarie in him when as he is obliged so it is in his power to bring his Passions to a conformity to Reason and Gods Will rather than to his own turbulent humour But when frequented excesses in this kinde acted outwardly shall have added strength and improvement to naturall inclinations then is the Passion wholly owing to the will of
our former sins is to act contrarie unto them and in this case especially when we have in youth ill squander'd the temporarie goods God hath lent to us for a season not to be tenacious of them in age but to employ them as freely in the service of God and promoting Pietie exiled by costly Lusts And not be like that unjust old Usurer and Oppressour of whome Henry of Huntington speakes who being exhorted towards his Death to give Almes plentifully towards the expiation of his wicked Covetousnesse refused saying No I will leave my Son all I have got and let him if he pleases give Almes out of it for the good of my Soule 5. It is therefore the advice of our Lord and Master Christ Luke 12. ver 15. Take heed and beware as if one word sufficed not to obviate such a pestilent Disease of Covetousnesse For a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth Take we heed of it for the intrinsick evill in it selfe and beware of it for the viperous brood of sins which it bringeth forth and nourisheth some of which may be these Obduration of heart against God and Man being unsensible of the Dutie of Worship Thankfullnesse and fruitfullnesse in all good works the end of his bountie to man in that kinde And a hard heart and barren womb towards the necessities of his Brother craving some little of his abundance Yea cruell is the covetous to his own flesh denying what may be convenient for the same and no better to his minde tormenting it with restlesse and endlesse cares to adde to the unprofitable heap and bring about that designe which never comes to passe For he tells others first he desires but an honest livelihood but having attained to that he proceeds and tells us He would willingly leave a competent subsistence to his Wife and Children and having gained that Point allso then he is no lesse sollicitous about that competencie never knowing when he hath it though he hath it but would make his Posterities rich too and Gentlemen and Esquires and Knights and Nobles if it were possible and what not Then should he sleep sweetly in his Grave and for his Soule it is the least part of his sollicitude But if doing no good or doing no evill but to himselfe were the evill in which the Covetous man was only guilty it were a laudable sin if any may be said so to be in comparison of the wicked Pranks it plaies upon other What Choler and wrath rages not at a triviall losse which a liberall Soule would not be moved at or stirred Break but an earthen Vessell of two pence you allmost break his heart and if he breakes your Head it is lesse than can be expected from him Violences Frauds Cheatings treacheries to God and his Country for lucre Perverting Justice by Bribery subverting the Faith and confounding Religion by Simonie and Sacriledge which he laughs out of countenance when he cannot stand the tryall of such iniquitie or boldly asking What is Sacriledge What is Simonie baffles all received Knowledge and perswasion thereof by his acute and singular Scepticism trampling on Reason and Justice and Religion all at once Adde hereunto Lying Perjuries Stealings Rapines and a benefit raised to himselfe by depopulations of Parishes reducing the well-inhabited Place to one or two great Farmes taking up a strange Paradox for his Defence that there are notwithstanding never the fewer People because Nature will work in an unknown Manner and Land. How manifestly hath experience taught us what the Prophet Habakkuk denounceth against such Engrossers Chap. 2. 9. Woe to him that coveteth an evill covetousnesse to himselfe that he may set his nest on high c. For in trueth I have by me many Instances of curses upon Persons and Families who by such ill wayes of advancing themselves have in a short time been utterly ruin'd But I will not trouble this Discourse with them So as that is happened to them which the Psalmist hath Psalm 75. 5. according to the auncienter Translation The proud are robbed they have slept their sleep and all the men whose hands are mighty have found nothing Great matters they grasped at in their projectings but in the conclusion they were forced to let goe what before they held and nothing remained But above all this men should seriously consider there is more guilt in this sin than is obvious to every eye especially having in it the Pearl of Covetousnesse and that is no lesse if St. Paul may be believed than Idolatrie Coloss 3. 5. Mammon being erected in the heart the Temple of God and preferred before God and all that are called Gods which is the Character of Antichrist 6. And the consideration of these Evills may more than sufficiently disswade the pursuit of these earthly Riches which make us poor towards God But does not Christ the Oracle of God tell us as we have it Acts 20. It is better to give than to receive And the reason hereof is not obscure because it maketh us like unto God who giveth unto all men liberally yea Psal 145. Openeth his hand and filleth all things living with plenteousnesse And believe we Solomon the wisest of Men rather than relye on our own witts naturall he telleth us that The Liberall soule shall be made fat Not unlike to those Breasts which abound by being drawn but are dried up and emptie by denying what they have to afford to others by Gods and Natures appointment 7. And there is but one or two main Objections which the Covetous is wont to alledge for his tenaciousnesse and against Bountie and Charitie especially towards Publick Good. Charitie of that nature is much perverted and abused to evill ends Which if the trueth were plainly known is not the reall reason of such Persons illiberality but the love of Money But be it so Charitable deeds are perverted to ill uses such benefactions made with pious intentions shall never be wrested by any abuses out of the hands of the giver but his reward shall be with the Lord and that an hundred fold Besides to whome can the subtillest Worldling give or leave his Estate so securely as it shall not or may not be abused He himselfe abused it and himselfe many times in getting it and keeping it which as dung ought to be spread abroad to make the Soil fruitfull And doth not Riches left to the dear Heirs of our Bodies suffer and doe more mischief to them than Good Doe they not abuse them in rioting Luxurie and Whoredome and Drunkennesse Who would have thought that the Covetous Person should be a man of so much mercie as to bring the abuse and mischief of Wealth home to his own Familie rather than the Church or State should be the worse for his freenesse But so experience often teaches us to fall out Whereas by sparing somewhat out of that we enjoy to Gods Service the remainder is sanctified and by Gods blessing becomes
is requisite that we should not rest in the opinion we have of our selves which is commonly biassed by selfe-conceit selfe-love selfe-interest all quite contrary to that great Dutie of Selfe-deniall but that we should be so true and just to our own Soules as like righteous Judges to keep one Ear for what others judge of us and impartially to give a sentence upon our selves accordingly and not slie to that base and bold subterfuge of nonplus'd and shamelesse persons I care not I care not For though Malice and ill-will may instigate some one or two and upon speciall occasion to false accusations and slanders yet if the opinion be of more and those not so prejudiced and constant and lasting in vain doe men proclaim their integrity and innocencie for such judgement of others is much more to be trusted than our own 7. Sixthly Appearance of Evill and Hypocrisie reverst as I may so speak when men seem by outward carriage to be worse than in trueth they are is allso carefully to be avoided not onely because of the sin of scandalizing our Brethren and causing an erroneous judgement and uncharitable to be entertained but because it very often happens that men fall really into that sin which they at first onely seemed to committ Therefore it is St. Pauls Rule Philip. 2. 4. Look not every man on his own things but every man allso on the things of others not by curiositie and censoriousnesse but Charitie and conscienti ous walking without offence to others and if possible to prevent sin in others as well as our selves 8. Lastly Every man should have Charitie towards his Brother but no man is to demean himselfe so as to stand in need of the charitable judgement of others For he that doth so is certainly uncharitable in the first place and being really guiltie within himselfe is most wickedly unjust in demanding that another should be so charitable as not to think so of him though there be use of Charitie even where Crimes are past defence or excuses but for men to live conscious to themselves of unrighteousness towards God and justice towards men and then because there may want notorious convictions to demand of Censurers to judge charitably is in effect to require that others should be religious and they may be wicked under the protection of others Pietie and Charitie A Prayer for Puritie of Spirit O Lord God who is like unto thee amongst the Gods Who is like unto thee glorious in holinesse fearfull in praises doing wonders And what greater wonder is there than of sons of Men we should be called the Sons of God and of Children of wrath heirs of the Kingdome of God of lost sheep be brought back to the great Shepheard of our Soules of prodigall and fugitive Sons be brought home and embraced by thee our heavenly Father making us as well as requiring us to be holy as thou art holy raising us from the death of sin to the life of Righteousnesse given us by the Spirit of Grace which worketh in us by the meanes of Grace ordained by thee to that great end Let that Spirit be never wanting in me let that Grace never be received by me in vain whereby I may be sensible of my unworthinesse and insufficiencie to any thing that is good and at least to have an hunger and thirst after righteousnesse that I may in thy due time be satisfied and in the mean time grow and increase in this desire and this desire proceed to action and this action to such perfection as to overcome and mortifie all worldly lusts and Carnall affections purifying my selfe as he is pure and taking greater content and pleasure in casting off than ever I did in taking on me the burden of sin and in purging away all my old sin than ever I did in contracting those spots and blemishes which have too much and too long defiled that pure Spirit thou once gavest me and defaced that beautifull Image thou once stampedst on me And let the pleasure of Repenting be greater to me than that of offending ever was to me though alas it was too great Lord nothing is impossible to thee who canst bring light out of darknesse and strength out of weaknesse and out of stones raise up Children unto Abraham and to thy selfe and out of the ruines of Religion in me raise up a Temple fit for thy holy Spirit to dwell in Descend into possesse and dwell in my heart by faith and love of thee which may purge out the old leaven and make me a new lump and quench all fleshly Concupiscences which have or may raign over me or rage in me For this corruptible bodie presseth down my minde musing on high and heavenly things and the weight of sin so easily besetteth me that I cannot run the Race which is set before me and the stain of sin pollutes my best actions Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this bodie of death from this bondage of corruption Thy grace I know O Lord is sufficient for me and thy Son mighty to save and that his Office is to save his people from their sins from their sins I say as well as from the punishment of sin Let that Day-star at length arise in my heart and enlighten and warm my minde with love of thee and let that breath of new life be inspired into me enliven my dead bodie and re unite and animate my drie bones and excite me with new vigour to the perfourming thy holy will that so the life I now live may be by the faith of the Son of God and being poor in spirit as he was I may be pure in spirit as he allso was for theirs is the Kingdome of God even the Kingdome of Grace here and the Kingdome of Glory hereafter whither O mercifull God and Father in thy due time bring me for thy blessed Sons sake Jesus Christ my Saviour Amen The Third Part. Treating of the UNITIVE WAY OF THE Devout Soule with God. SECT I. Of the Nature of true Vnion with God and Mysticall Theologie and of the Abuses and due Vse thereof 1. SUCH due preparation being made towards Spirituall Life in laying aside every sin so easily besetting us the remainder of our Christian Race towards God and our Union with him are more easily attained which Union is by Saint John called our fellowship with the Father and the Son 1 John 1. 3. And this is it which vulgarly is called allso Perfection Perfection being here used for Justification by faith in Christ and Christ dwelling in us and such a measure of assurance of Gods grace and favour which are competible to our Militant state in this life and incline God to the acceptation of us to a future inheritance of Immortalitie and Glorie And to this it is not absolutely necessarie that no blemish imperfection or infirmity should be incident but that none such should be found which either of it selfe should tend to corruption
in the Spirit so are we to walk in the Spirit according to St. Paul Galat. 5. 25. For by Baptisme saith the same Apostle Eph. 2. 10. we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good workes which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them and especially calling all good Souldiers of Christ Jesus as Joshuah did the chief of the Children of Israel to set their feet on the necks of the Canaanitish Princes to trample upon those seven Capitall Sins which not only fight against our Soules themselves but are leaders on of others to assault and spoil us And from hence have we led the Soule to the top of Pisgah by the Unitive Way of Contemplation and Love and Acquiescence in God to have a certain foretaste of the fruit of that Land of Promise we long after and expect by the conjunction the Soule hath with God which we finde not so extravagant a Notion straining the simpler Doctrine of Faith and Christ to a sense offensive to Eares not throughly opened to the Mysteries of Religion but a smattering thereof was had by Auncient Philosophers as appears by the disquisitions between Porphyrie and Jamblichus of the Egyptian Mysteries where great things are spoken of the Anagogicall way of conversing with the gods by elevation of the understanding through true knowledge of God and that Theurgicall Vnion i. e. as I understand his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that divinely operative conjunction whereby a man hath Communion with God but all this he swelleth with being blinded and carried away with Egyptian darknesse indeed leading to horrible superstitions to attain such Perfections whereas the light of the Gospell and Doctrine of Christ with infinite lesse superstition and more perspicuitie puritie and simplicitie conducteth to that Ascent of the Soule and resting in God which makes us like unto him and Perfect as our Father which is in heaven is perfect Matth. 5. with allowances for the infirmities of Flesh and blood and mutablenesse we are subject unto being as St. Peter saith partakers of the Divine Nature 2. For though the words of Saint Paul 2 Corinth 2. 14. Now thanks be to God which allwayes causeth us to triumph in Christ have their true sense yet that I suppose is of the state of a Christian which is firme and sure resting upon this Foundation The Lord knoweth who are his and he will never leave his chosen ones untill they totally forsake him if that may be said But as to the actuall and continuall possession by satisfaction in him and spirituall sensations the Christian is mutable here and that which not without great difficulty and industry is for some time attained unto is in a short time and suddenly interrupted and hid from the eyes to the great dismaying of the devout Soule so that great care is to be taken as well to hold that comfortable communion with God as to acquire it and to recover it intermitted as once to have attained it For as the Sheet let down from Heaven by the four Corners to Saint Peter Acts 12. wherein he saw in a Vision all manner of Fare his Appetite could long for was as suddenly again taken up into Heaven so is it with the delectations which the Spirit feeleth let down from Heaven to its wonderfull content they are suddenly taken away up into Heaven again And when we imagine our selves in the third Heaven with Saint Paul we unexpectedly feel a Thorne in the flesh to humble us lest we should be exalted above measure For Paradise here would be the greatest temptation to fall again into sin So that as we read of Abraham the Elect of God and taken by his Providence out of his own Countrie and Kindred signifying the state of Nature to us was led into the Land of Promise and shown it but had no Inheritance in it for the present no not so much as to set his foot Acts 7. So hath the religious Soule no footing firme here though by Faith and Affection it hath before its eyes the promised Possession 3. It is therefore one principall Rule of rightly using what we have at any time attained to in Consolations the fruit of Union with God but not incessant or inseparable from it to understand so much lest finding our selves frustrated of our expectations we call in question the state it selfe we are in and bring unprofitable confusions upon our selves For as the Apostle saith Coloss 3. 3. We are dead and our life is hid with Christ When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we allso appear with him in glory The time will come but is not yet come that we should see what is better now hid and kept with Christ till such time as the second fullnesse of time shall come and Christ too when our life will be manifested It may be that a loving Father towards an obsequious and dutifull Child may sometimes shew him the Grand Deed whereby he hath settled a great Estate upon him yea may carrie him out and shew him the Lands Houses Mines and Timber on them which he purposes to give him but none of these are at all necessarie to the main end it selfe but onely to his encouragement to persevere in his dutie No more is necessarie to a certainty of Salvation an assurance of Salvation or such extraordinary arguments thereof as being denied us we should fall into despondencie and sluggishnesse of Spirit or be weak-handed in Gods service 4. For secondly God may hereby have a gracious and wise designe to wean the fond minde from sensible Delectations whereby it should take up short of the ultimate end of all God himselfe seeking its will and content rather than Gods to which the more truely spirituall a man is so much more he is intent above all things and lesse mindes intermediate consolations which the lesse they are contended for the oftener they happen 5. Thirdly The Patience and constancie of the faithfull Servant of God by submission to his fatherly wisdome and pleasure in such Dispensation is exercised and manifested And that he doth not serve God nor follow Christ meerly for the Loaves which he miraculously feeds some with but for his own sake We all know the beginning middle and Conclusion of holy Job's life how religious and prosperous he was at the same time before God and how miserable he was by the same Providence remaining all that while invincible in his resolutions of adhering to God and perserving in his wonted righteousnesse whereby he declared that his Pietie was not built upon the fluid Elements of this World nor the sensible comforts pertaining to the service of God but the intrinsick excellencie of Religion it selfe carrying its Reward with it And so as Saint James speakes we know the end of him and such his patience and faith For so it pleaseth God himselfe to give an account of the hardship brought upon his own People travailing fourtie yeares in the desolate Wildernesse viz.