Tears shall be able to deliver the guilty and polluted Soul from the impendent danger when it shall be said to the humble Friend sit up higher and to the proud Fool Give place to him that is more honourable than thou art when the Book of Conscience shall be opened and the Dead judged by the Contents of that Book when the Sinner will not know where to flee and his Spirits will fail him for fear of him that sitteth upon the Throne O God! Fix these Considerations in my Soul strengthen my Faith that I may believe these things unseen without wavering How apt is the World to get between this tremendous Day and my sight Quicken thou mine Eyes that I may see through all impediments into that Process and reflect what manner of Person I ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness Lord Jesu great Judge of the World let the Lines of that Judgment be written so legibly in my mind that my Soul may delight to read them that nothing may divert me from studying and considering them let this be my chief study and let me feel the fame effect that those men did who were converted at thy Apostles Sermon let me be prickt at the Heart and cry out What must I do to be saved Let the thoughts of this Day make a Reformation in my outward and inward Man that it may appear that thou hast touch'd me with a Coal from the Altar O God to whom Vengeance belongs shew thy self and disperse my foolish Desires Let my Soul feel the Transactions of that Day as well as believe them Clear my Understanding and enlighten my Mind that I may have a livelier Prospect of it I will not let thee go except thou bless me Look down from the Habitation of thy Holiness and visit my Soul Expel the Prejudices I have against Severity of Life and with the Thoughts of this Day destroy them utterly Let the consideration of this Day so work upon me that my Ambition Covetousness Pride and Anger may tremble at this sight and leave their habitation and may be ever afraid of returning Oh tell me that this Day will certainly come and that the Day of my Death will be the Emblem of it Oh assure me of the Terror of that Day that shall burn like an Oven wherein all that do wickedly shall be Stubble and the Fire shall burn them up that it shall leave them neither Root nor Branch let me not take example by the careless World that put this evil Day far from them Let it be always before me Let my Mind be never free from the Contemplations of it Let it mingle with my Business with my Meals with my Converse with my Sleep and with all my Undertakings In every Sin I am tempted to let it frighten me in my going out and in my coming in let it continually beat upon my Mind Oh my Lord let me muse upon this Day of Retribution this Day of Recompence this Day of Trouble this Day of Terror this Day of Joy this Day of Comfort this Day wherein thy Promises and Threatnings will be fulfilled this Day which must decide the controversie of my Life and Death this Day which will bring to light all hidden things this Day which will revive the good and confound the bad this Day of Consolation this Day of Consternation let me ruminate upon it till thoughts of this Judgment prevail with me to become a new Creature thy Grace must melt my stubborn Heart without thee I can do nothing O relieve me O come in with the Light of thy Countenance Stir up my Soul and rouze it from its carelesness Call to me as thou didst to thy People of old let that voice sound in my ears The great Day of the Lord is near it is near and hasteth greatly even the Voyce of the Day of the Lord the mighty Man shall cry bitterly that Day is a Day of Wrath a Day of Trouble and Distress a Day of Wastness and Desolation a Day of Darkness and Gloominess a Day of Clouds and thick Darkness a Day of the Trumpet and Alarm against the fenced Cities and against the high Towers and I will bring Distress upon men that they shall walk like blind Men be cause they have sinned against the Lord and their Blood shall be poured out as Dust and their Flesh as the Dung neither their Silver nor their Gold shall be able to deliver them in the Day of the Lord 's Wrath. O let me not lose the sense of this Day Oh let me consider how much better it is to be humble and contemptible and to hunger and thirst and to suffer here and afterwards to enter into my great Masters Joy than to be a Slave to my Lusts and Pleasures here and to be bound at last with everlasting Chains of Darkness Chains which never wear out Chains which always bind are always grievous always painful Oh let me consider how much better it is to mourn here and to water my Couch with my Tears and to afflict my Soul and after this to triumph with the Spirits of Men made perfect than to feed upon Pleasures which at the best are but like the crackling of Thorns under a Pot and then to be sent away to howl with Devils Help Lord help that my Soul may be concern'd at her danger and despise the World and prepare against that Day and encounter with Powers and Principalities and Spiritual Wickednesses in high Places if by any means I might attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead Such Prayers offered from a Heart that hath no Reserves from a Heart resolved to do any thing rather than miss of Salvation such Prayers I say if they express the very desires of our Souls will certainly put Death and Paleness into our sensual Pleasures and oblige us to entertain other Thoughts of the gauds and gaieties of the world than now we have and make us sensible that this casting such a damp on the foolish fatisfactions of the flesh with the Prospect of that Day is not only a Task fit for Hermits and Melancholick Scholars and contemplative Men but a Duty incumbent on all that carry immortal Souls in their Breasts which calls me to the Fourth Point 4. Whether every Man is bound to embitter his carnal Delights with this Prospect To this I must answer in the Affirmative For though the young Man be particularly mentioned here yet since the expression in the Text reaches all men who are fit for action all such must necessarily fall under the obligation of this Duty and all that are capable of such Delights are bound to make use of the aforesaid consideration in order to this self-denial if the young Man is obliged to this seriousness much more older Men if God will not allow of these Delights in Youth they must necessarily be intolerable in Years of greater Maturity and if the tender Age be concerned to embitter them with this Prospect
nothing so much as in these Quotations had they been false or supposititious However Plato's Writings have been conveyed to us without any signal corruption and he gives us a very accurate Account of this great Day as Hydaspes an ancient King of the Medes had done before him and the Heathen Poets though indulging their Fancies in some things yet have delivered many excellent Truths to us whereof this future Judgment is not the least we need go no farther than the Sixth Book of Virgils Aeneids where the Opinions of the Ancient Heathen Sages are collected and expressed in Verse and it is worth observing that he makes his Judge Rhadamantus inflict particular punishments on those Souls that have deferred their Repentance to their Death-Beds And how can we imagine that the whole World at least the wiser part of it should so unanimously believe a future Judgment after this Life if either there had not been a great propensity in their Nature to believe the Notion or Reason had not convinced them of the Certainty and Reality of the Thing If we grant that God hath given a Law to Man we must necessarily grant that there must be a Judge to call those to an account who have violated and broke those Laws Man we see is capable of being governed by a Law and without a Law to govern him would run wild and become a meer Brute we must therefore necessarily believe that God hath given us a Law and what Law more sutable to his Nature or the Principle of Reason than what we have in the Bible which is indeed the Law of Nature expressed in livelier and more legible Characters It is fit therefore there should a time come when the Obedience and Disobedience of Men may be taken notice of and the Obedient rewarded and the Disobedient punished God hath made Man his Viceroy here on Earth to which purpose David said Thou hast set him over the Works of thy Hands and hast put all things under his Feet and Experience shews that Man hath a dominion over all irrational Creatures and is it not convenient that at the end of the world when all Men have acted their part on this Stage this Viceroy should be examined and asked how true he hath been to his Sovereign King What he hath done with the Creatures which have been given him for his use And whether he hath not minded his own business more than his Masters If there is no Judgment to come there can be no God for without a future retribution this God cannot be just and a God that is not just is imperfect and if imperfect he cannot be God so true is that Saying of Averroes That whatever is most noble and most praise-worthy in Man must be attributed to the best and greatest Being God blessed For evermore Justice we see is that which makes a Prince on Earth great and is one of the highest Perfections he is capable of which was the Reason that when Ptolomy asked the Seventy Interpreters of the Jewish Law What King lived freest from fear and violence He was answered He that exercises Justice punishes the Bad and rewards the Good and consequently this Justice must be ascribed to God as the most perfect Being It would be the most unreasonable thing imaginable that those who love and fear him most should be most oppressed and go without reward and those that abuse and dishonour him slight and undervalue him should live prosperously and never feel his Displeasure or Indignation If God be wise and just this cannot be and since this reward of the Innocent and severity on the Wicked is not administred and dispensed in this World it must needs follow that it must be in another and the day of this future recompence we call the Day of Judgment And though the Apprehensions of that vast multitude of Men which believe or profess it about the manner and method of this day be very different yet it is enough that all agree in the thing even those who have not the revealed Scriptures of the Old and New Testament from whence we may justly fetch the truest and exactest description of it those Revelations and Writings the Christians have and what is said in them concerning the Righteousness of God being most agreeable to the Nature of God and the Actions of Men and the Rules the Supream Architect hath engraven on our Reason That there are some Men who deny a future Judgment we need wonder no more than we do that the Fool should say in his heart There is no God That which makes a Man deny the one tempts him to be bold in disbelieving the other It is the true Interest of a sinful Life there should be no Retribution and how can a Man act against God with any chearfulness or alacrity except he puts him out of his thoughts and to compleat the Folly fancies that he will never call him to a reckoning It s Mens Vices that are the cause of their Atheism and were it not that they are enamoured with their Lusts their Reason would soon joyn issue with these Verities It is not for want of Arguments that Men are Unbelievers in this knowing Age but for want of Sobriety and consideration and while they suffer themselves to be drawn away by their sensual Appetite no marvel if in time their Flesh incroaches upon their Understanding and their brutish Desires corrupt their very Reason and they begin to think that God is altogether such a one as they themselves Love to Vice darkens the Understanding which is never clearer than when Virtue governs the Man Its Notions then are clear and the Reasonableness of the things unseen appears without shadows and uncomfortable obscurities Vice by degrees clouds the Mind and Love to that makes the Man first regardless of those Truths soon after he questions those Verities and he begins to doubt whether he hath not been imposed upon all this while and at last he sinks into a downright denial The Devil we may suppose is not idle in these cases and having first debaucht the lower Faculties he soon corrupts the higher and the Sinner once in the Net comes to be involv'd in greater dangers not to mention that a just God withdraws his Light and Spirit whereby the Soul falls into greater Darkness But let 's see 2. What there is in the prospect of this future Judgment that is able to damp the greatest Mirth and Jollity 1. In the prospect of this Judgment there appears a very serious Judge even the mighty Jesus the Son of God who was seen to weep often but to laugh never even he that came into the World to teach men Self-denial in sensual Pleasures not only unlawful such as Wantonness Effeminacy Fornication Adultery Uncleanness Drunkenness Feeding our Eys with Lustful Objects and which produce ill Desires in us Deriding and Jeering our Neighbors for their Infirmities Luxury in Cloathing Eating and Drinking Mimick Gestures Filthy Jesting Love-tricks
the Gall which is part of it must be tasted too God will not be always mocked and they that durst in despight of his Will and Prohibitions feed upon that luscious Fruit shall feel the smart of the Prickles too In this Judgment their Postures Gestures and Behaviour and Deportment appear in another Figure and they that before laught at the Thunders of the Law made light of the Threatnings of the Gospel and let the Warnings of the Ministers of the Gospel go in at one Ear and out at another now call themselves Fools and Sots for doing so and they that before thought of no after-reckoning now fall a wishing but in vain O that I had been wise O that I had bethought my self O that I had looked beyond this World O that I had believed O that I had retired and considered what these Satisfactions would end in Fool that I was to think that God would prove a Liar Where was my Reason to think that all that the wisest and holiest Men have said were but Dreams and idle Tales I that might have been a terror to Devils how am I become their Scorn I that might have been a Favourite of God how am I become his Enemy I that might have triumphed with other Saints how am I fallen from their Bliss O what would not I give to be rid of the torment I feel Help help ye Souls that have any pity in you I sink under the weight of my former pleasures they are loathsom to me they appear Monsters Furies hideous things to me Cursed be that Lust I cherished Cursed be that Bed on which my wickedness was wrought O that my Tongue had dropt out of my Head when I pleased my self with lascivious discourses O that I had been deaf when I was tickled with hearing a smutty jest O that I had been struck blind when with joy and satisfaction I beheld that charming Beauty O that my Feet had failed me when I was going into that jovial Company O that I had locked my self up that I might not have seen those Temptations which enticed me O that I had spent those Hours I threw away in Carding and Dicing and Drinking and Revelling O that I had spent them in holy Contemplations of the Vanity of these sublunary Objects Now I would do it and it is too late now I would repent and it profits me not now I would be serious and it signifies nothing my Time is lost the Day of Grace is gone the Opportunities are past O that I could tear out this Heart O that I could pull out these Eyes O that I could dispatch my self O that I had a Sword that I might put a period to this miserable condition I see nothing but Ruine before me nothing but Darkness nothing but Confusion nothing but Horrors and no Creature will help me to annihilate my self I am not able to endure this Torture for a moment how shall I be able to endure it to infinite Millions of Ages I see no end of it the farther I look the more of my Misery I see Where-ever I cast my Eyes I see nothing but Terror Devils and miserable Souls in the same condition with my self all howling about my Ears A thing so far from affording Comfort that it fills me with greater Horror Whither shall I â—lee for remedy Heaven is shut up there is a vast Gulph betwixt me and that there is no passing from hence thither nor from thence to this doleful place I swim in a Sea of Sorrow I swim and see no shoare I labour and not a Plank appears on which I may save my Life here are no Hills no Mountains no Rocks I can cry to and if there were they are all deaf God hath forsaken me and good reason for I left him for a Lust and undervalued him for Trifles I pleaded I could not withstand the Charms the World offered to me Mad man I could withstand them now why could not I have withstood them then I might have considered of this Place and of this State and of these Vexations and checked my self O that I were but to live again in the World O that God would but try me again How would I scorn the very thoughts of Mirth and Raillery How would I run away from the very mention of these Impostures Break my Heart break If God will not kill thee call upon the infernal Spirits and see what they will do But Oh they delight in these groans Themselves lie under the same Condemnation banish'd from the gracious Presence of God They would die as well as I if they were able O what a Torment is iâ— I see the everlasting Joys before me and cannot reach them they are over my Head and I cannot come near them Paradise I see but cannot enter into it I knock my Head I smite my Breast I stamp with my Feet but am never the better That Jesus on whose Blood I trampled I see rejoycing with his Followers at the Right Hand of God and not a drop of Comfort drops from his Lips on mine I feel Flames within which no Waters can quench a drop of Water would be some refreshment and give me some hopes of ease but here is none All the Rivers of Consolation are dried up to me I walk in Darkness I see no Light O God tear the Heavens and come down Canst thou hear these shrieks and be unconcerned Canst thou see this poor Creature lie in torments and give no relief Hast thou no Mercy left O then my State is desperate I shall not be able to refrain from Blasphemy for I see none can help but thou and thou wilt not I rave I am distracted with fear I tremble I quake Stand off Devils I have Furies enough within Ye damned Pleasures whither have you brought me Ye have made me lose the Favour of him who alone is able to give me ease I might have been happy if it had not been for you I might have escaped these Regions of Anguish if you had not tempted me But why do I accuse you This brutish Heart of mine was in the fault my Devilish Lust hurried me into Ruine I had Reason and would not use it Means of Grace and would not apply them Offers of Mercy and would not accept of them O all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me where with the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger from above he hath sent a Fire into my Bones and it prevails against them he hath spread a Net for my feet he hath turned me back he hath made me desolate and faint all the day the Yoak of my Transgressions is bound by his hand they are wreathed and come up upon my Neck he hath made my strength to fall the Lord hath deliver'd me into their hands from whom I am not able to rise up All this certainly appears in the Prospect
of that future Judgment and consequently is enough to check and damp the greatest Jollities on this side Hell and though it 's true that it doth not cause the least disturbance in thousands of Men that drink of these stollen waters for men in this Age are as jovial as ever and a Judgment to come frights them no more than an House on fire a Thousand Miles off but sure this is for want of taking the proper way and method which God and Reason doth prescribe and what that way and method is shall be shewn in the following Paragraph 3. How the Prospect of that future Judgment must be managed that it may actually damp and put a stop to these carnal Delights This is to be done no other way but 1. By thinking reflecting and ruminating upon that future Judgment This stands to Reason for except things be made visible to us how shall they move or fright us This future Judgment being out of sight and afar off it must be brought near and set before us and there is no way to do it but by thinking Our Thoughts are the Picture-drawers which make the Land-skip of that Judgment so lively that our Faculties cannot but be signally affected with it These are the Divine Part within us which can make things past and future as present and summon the remotest Objects to become familiar and palpable These are the Glasses in which all that God hath said or promised or threatned becomes visible and with the help of these we may make that Substance which seemed but Air before and condense that into solid Notions which to a carnal Man seemed but Fancy and Wind before These can make us in a manner grasp and feel that which was out of our reach before and make us concern'd about things which we neither see nor hear nor feel with our grosser Organs These can transplant the other World into this and make Eternity appear before us though we live in Tabernacles of Clay To prove this we need only appeal to Experience Behold those pious Souls that take a course contrary to that of the World What makes them afraid of sinning What makes them afraid of running with their Neighbors into Riot What makes them that they dare not do what some of their Carnal Acquaintance and Relations do What makes them mourn What makes them rejoyce in Spirit You see nothing that have reason to mourn for They have a competency they want nothing in the World they have Necessaries and Conveniencies and they prosper in their lawful Undertakings and under some of their greatest Afflictions you see nothing that should make them chearful no outward cause of their Joy but rather all that is about them is an invitation to sorrow and dejection Why They are invisible things that make them mourn and rejoyce and by thinking of them they make them visible and so visible that they are affected with them as much as other men are with Objects that incur into their Senses by thinking they see the Terrors of the Lord and the Affronts they have offered to the Divine Majesty and the Wounds they have given to their own Souls and that makes them weep by thinking they see the Glory that is set before them and the recompence which is promised them and the Right and Title they have to it and that makes their Soul rejoyce So then by thinking this future Judgment may be seen and if it be seen in any lively colours there is no Sinner so stout no Man so perverse no Creature so dull and stupid but it will startle him and put Wormwood into his Cup. When I eat or drink or whatever I do the last Trump sounds in mine Ears and I think I hear the terrible Voice of the Arch. Angel Arise ye dead and come to Judgment saith St. Hierom These Thoughts made him eat and drink with great moderation These brought a holy Fear upon him in all his Actions These kept him from going beyond the Bounds God had set him These struck Seriousness into him in all places These made him as circumspect in the Market-place as if he had been at Church and as devout in the Street as if he had stood at the High Altar And therefore I do not wonder at that Hermit that he became so serious a Man as Antiquity reports him who carried a little Book about him consisting only of four Leaves in which he was always seen reading and after reading meditating in the first Leaf was expressed Christ's Passion and what that Darling of Mankind suffered for poor Mortals during his abode in the World in the second was represented the Process of the future Judgment with the Terrors and Consternations that guilty men will be in at that time in the third were described the Glories of Paradise and of that third Heaven which all holy Souls shall enter into there to possess the Inheritance of the Saints in light in the fourth was drawn to the life the Picture of Hell and of the Miseries which shall await the stubborn and impenitent in the next life These four Leaves were soon read over but they afforded infinite Matter for Thoughts and Meditations and by these his Soul was so warmed that he cared not what became of him here so he might but enjoy the promised Glory and that Life and Immortality Christ had brought to light by the Gospel So true is that Saying of St. Chrysosiom There is no Man that thinks much of Hell that will ever fall into it as indeed there is no Man who makes light of it that will ever escape it For as it is among men they that are afraid of the Penalties of the Law seldom or never feel them for their Fear makes them shun those Actions which deserve them This keeps them from Theft and Rapine from Murder and Adultery from Burglary and Wrong from Violence and Oppression and consequently from the punishments the Law inflicts in such Cases The Plagues and the Stripes they fear make them cautious and whatever their inclination may be the Rods and Axes they fear restrain them whereas those that are regardless of the Mulct bring it upon themselves so it is here the frequent thinking of it is the best Antidote against the Terrors of that future Judgment If the Ninivites had not feared their overthrow they had certainly been overthrown and how could they have feared it if they had not thought of it If the men that lived before the Flood had thought of it and been afraid they would not have been drowned nor would the People of Sodom have been consumed by Fire if they had taken this course It 's a great Misfortune not to think of the fulfilling of Gods Threatnings for he that thinks not of it of all men will be the first that shall have woful experience of it It is reported of Agatho That in his last Sickness falling into a Trance for three days together he lay with his Eyes fixed
So great is thy danger and canst thou loiter So near art thou to a tremendous Eternity and Oh wilt not thou be clean Thou standest upon the brink of Hell and wilt not thou step back Thou art within a Bows-shot of the great Tribunal and doth not thy countenance change Thou art within hearing of the Thunders that come forth from the Throne of God and do not thy thoughts trouble thee Thou seest the fatal Hand upon the Wall and do not thy Knees smite one against another Thou must shortly appear before all the Host of Heaven and art not thou got farther yet in Holiness Dost not thou quake to think that the Revenger of Blood is upon thy Heels As thou art a Christian thou art a Son of God and dost thou express that filial disposition in thy Gate and Looks and Face and Life Art thou born of God and canst thou degenerate from his Nature Art thou made after his Image and by Grace renew'd after his Similitude and canst thou be contented under a temper so different from that Holiness which is thy great Father's Perfection and Glory Does God expect thee at his Tribunal with the Qualifications of a Child and wilt thou appear before him as a Rebel Hath he given his Son on purpose to adopt thee and thinkest thou to present thy self before him in the shape of a Prodigal Thou art designed for a Citizen of the Celestial Jerusalem and wilt thou appear before him as an Inhabitant of Hell Thou art one of God's Family and wilt thou appear before him as a Traytor Thou art purchased by his Blood and wilt thou live as if that Blood had been spilt in vain Thou art wash'd in the Laver of Regeneration and canst thou wallow with the Swine in the Mire Thou hast known the Way of Righteousness and wilt thou with the Dog return to the Vomit Or art thou not afraid of that Saying that Dogs must stand without Thou art called to be faithful and hast given thy Faith to God Wilt thou break thy Faith and hope to be guiltless at this Bar Will not God revenge this Breach or canst thou think he will let thee go unpunish'd for thy Treacheries How canst thou expect the performance of his Promises while thou art so false to thy Engagements Thou hast vow'd thy self to him both in Baptism and the Supper of the Lord and canst thou imagine that thy Perjuries will not be remembred when thou comest to look the Judge in the Face By giving thee opportunity of becoming a Christian God hath made thee a King and wilt thou run to the Bramble and say Come thou and reign over me As a King thou hast power given thee to vanquish Flesh and Blood to tread upon Lions and Adders to defie Principalities and Powers and to crush Devils and wilt thou make thy self a slave to those Enemies over which God hath given thee power to trample them under thy Feet As a King thou art to appear before him and wilt thou come in the posture of a miserable Vassal Shall those Passions rule over thee which thy God hath given thee for Servants and Handmaids And what a dismal sight will it be when thou art to come before the Throne laden with conquests to appear fettered with Chains and the Devils Trophies God designs thee to be his Priest This is one of the Priviledges that came by the Blood of Christ But where are thy Sacrifices The Sacrifice of fervent Prayer the Sacrifice of an humble and contrite heart the Sacrifice of Praise and Delight in God And wilt thou come without the Marâ— of thy Office before the great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls Thou art enlightned by the Spirit of God and doâ— thou think to live in Darkness and after all to share in the boundless Inheritance with the Children of Light How unlike thy self wilt thou appeaâ— before God if thou come without these Qualifications Thou art a Christian but where is the Life of Christ thaâ— should be in thee Will the Judgâ— ever take thee for his Sheep when it'â— evident thou dost not hear his Voice How ridiculous is that Man that hangs out a Bush and yet hath no Wine to sell And how foolish is that Apothecary that writes glorious Names upon his Pots when the rich Drugs that are named have no being in his Shop And will it not tend to thy everlasting confusion that thou hast had the Name of a Christian and done nothing like a Christian Thus the particular Proceedings of that future Judgment must be applied to our selves if we resolve that the Prospect of a future Judgment shall damp our carnal Delights and Satisfactions and without using this Method we do but trifle and talk of breeding Mountains and bring forth ridiculous Mice play with Religion and are not in good earnest when we say we believe a future Account 3. But neither the Reflections aforesaid nor the Application we have spoken of will make any deep impression except all be seconded with earnest Prayer that God by his holy Spirit working in our Minds would make the Attempt effectual this must set to the Seal drive in the Nail and clench it The Eternal Spirit must give Success to these Enterprizes and in vain do we plant or water except he gives the increase He is that anointing which must supple the Soul and crown all with Laurels and Victory By strength of Thought and Application the Fort of Sin may be assaulted but without this Spirit lends his helping hand it will never be taken or subdued His Power must overcome the Oppositions our Flesh and the World will certainly make in this case and if he blows upon our Hearts the strong Holds of Iniquity like the Walls of Jericho will fall and nothing can stand before him and he will certainly come in to our assistance if our Prayer and Addresses be fervent and importunate Upon such Devotions the frequent Discourses of this Day of Judgment we read or hear will be so far from bringing the thing into contempt with our Souls that our Hearts will be awakened more and it 's impossible we can miscarry in the pious Design if with strong cries we apply our selves to him who hath appointed a Day in the which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17. 31. That which we are chiefly to insist upon in these Addresses is that we may get lively Apprehensions of that Day and such Apprehensions as no Pleasure no Folly no Temptation of the World may darken or destroy And here let the Soul break forth into such Ejaculations O God great and glorious make me deeply sensible of that Day and of that Hour when the Son of Man will come when the Goats shall be separated from the Sheep the Tares from the Wheat the Good from the Bad when neither Prayers nor
Scripture speaks of cannot but conclude that there is less Danger in Seriousness and Sorrow than in Mirth and Jollity because there are fewer Temptations in the one than there are in the other Our Natures certainly are not so prone to sin in a Charnel House as they are at a Theatre nor our Affections so apt to run out into Licentiousness in a Church as they are at a publick Shew And though a Man may be strong and couragious and able to defie all Dangers yet a Sampson may be overcome by a Dalilah and if he be not overcome yet something may stick by him which may put an everlasting stop to his Growth in Grace and Virtue He that goes much to the House oâ— Mourning provides infinitely better for the Safety of his Soul than he that frequents the House of Mirth and Feasting the former walks in a beaten Path whereas the other ventures over a narrow Bridge or treads on the edge of a Wall where it 's possible he may come off with Safety but for one that escapes without a Fall there are twenty and forty that miscarry He that presses through a Hedge of Thorns may possibly get through without tearing his Cloaths but he that hath Patience till he comes to a Gate and opens it and so passes on takes the surer way The wisest Men in all Ages have judged it better to converse with Spectacles of Misery than with Objects savouring of external Splendour He that visits a Hospital where he beholds variety of distressed Creatures some lame some blind some wounded some deaf some sick some roaring under grievous Pains will certainly go away more edified than he that feeds his Eyes with all the Gayeties of a luxurious Court the former may leave some kindly Impressions upon him and oblige him to admire the distinguishing Mercy Goodness and Compassion of God who hath suffer'd no such Accident to befall him and season his Heart with Pity and Compassion with Tenderness and Charity whereas the excess and extravagance of the other will do what he can leave a touch of Lightness and Vanity upon his Affections That 's the Reason why some provident Men heretofore have carried their Winding-Sheets with them in their March others digg'd their Sepulchres and Graves in their Gardens others at their Solemn Feasts have had a Death's-Head served up and placed upon the Table others in a certain Room in their House have set an empty Coffin on purpose that looking upon these Spectacles often their Minds might be taken off from Admiration of worldly Satisfactions and placed upon Objects which might furnish them with more melancholick Contemplations and this in all Probability will be the effect of conversing with such Objects if we view them not as they belong to our Trade but as thinking Men and Philosophers The Sexton that digs his Neighbours Grave hath an Object serious enough before him but he goes to it as a Man that must maintain his Family with the Gain and therefore is never the wiser for his Familiarity with such Spectacles The Chyrurgion that goes among the Lame and Bruised and Wounded with no higher ends than to fill his Purse and to discharge the Office of his Art will come home as little edified as he went but he whose choice of such mortified Objects is voluntary and deliberate attended with suitable Designs of meliorating and advancing the Mind cannot but return enrich'd with that Wisdom the Merchandise of which is more precious than that of Gold and Silver Whatever the merry Sinner may think it 's better to weep than to laugh Our Great Master the Lord Jesus who is a good Christian's Pattern was of this Opinion and in Imitation of him not a few eminent Saints have preferr'd a Feast of Tears before a Banquet of Mirth and sensual Pleasure Arsenius Olympias Domnina Abraham the Hermite the solitary Pambo and St. Austin are famous in History for their Tears to St. Jerom they were in the nature of daily Bread and he professes that when his Eyes were fullest of Tears he saw the Quires of Angels and could discern the Orders of Seraphim and Cherubim such a Perspicuity of sight do Tears give to a Holy Soul That which made these great Men weep so much was either a Sense of their own and other mens Offences or a lively Prospect of the Love of God or a glorious foresight of the Joys above But worldly Sorrow is no Virtue and he that weeps much either because he cannot have those Conveniences he would have or is cross'd and disappointed in his Designs or because he hath lost such a great Man's Favour or because some other Loss befalls him weeps in vain nay sins by his weeping and his Sin if he continue impenitent brings on Death 2 Cor. 7. 10. Floods of Tears upon a mere temporal Account are insignificant in Heaven and no more than Water spilt upon the Ground such Tears God doth not put into his Bottle nor have the blessed Angels any Charge to number the drops that fall but where Religion and a mighty Sense of God and Tenderness of his Honour and Glory causes Rivers of Tears and where the Soul hath so delicate a Taste that it cannot think of God without weeping nor speak of him without weeping nor reflect upon his Goodness without weeping there the Man is come up to a Perfection which is the very Suburbs of Heaven It 's true all People cannot weep nor are they therefore in a damnable Condition for they may be sincere in Goodness and yet not be able to express their Sincerity in Tears though I am apt to believe that it is for want of refining the Soul into a high Relish of Divine Objects that puts a stop to these sacred Floods in most Men yet where they can weep and something they see â—n God or in the Word of God or in the Providences of God is the true Cause of those Tears every drop is richer than a Diamond and such a Soul may vye Happiness with the greatest Monarchs They are inestimable Treasures and though Man knows not how to value them yet the Spirits above esteem them at a mighty rate and magnifie them in Gods Presence Luke 15. 10. It 's a huge Mistake that Men cannot rejoyce except they laugh there are Tears of Joy as well as Tears of Grief and the very Heathen saw that true â—oy was a very serious thing Hence 〈◊〉 was that they confined true Joy to their Philosophers and left the louder â—aughter to Slaves and Carters and â—loughmen and how often have I â—en the richest Joys bubble forth from â—â—e largest Tears Nor would Men in those Circumstances change Condition with the most potent Prince in the World such Content such Satisfaction such Riches such Wealth appears in these Tears which Religion forces How much better is it to be afflicted where our Prosperity and a good Conscience are inconsistent than to enjoy Kingdoms and Principalities without the light of Gods Countenance
sawest a Man whom the Divine Bounty hath crowned with variety of temporal Blessings This Person having a mind to take his Pleasure retires with his Family to his Country-House adorned with Tyrian Silks and Persian Carpets and with all the Eastern Riches and there lives merrily and at his ease one Night being very jovial at Supper a Servant of his base and ill-natured puts some Lethargick or Opiate Potion into his Master's and Fellow-Servants Cup and having rocked them all asleep opens the Doors le ts in Thieves and Robbers who having plunder'd the House at last lay violent hands on the Master and to make sport with him drag him thus intoxicated into the open Field and there leave him In the mean while the Heavens grow black and a hideous Tempest gathers in the Clouds and the Sky begins to lighten and the Voice of Thunder to be heard and a dreadful Rain falls and in the midst of all this Noise and Confusion the besotted Master wakes looks about quakes trembles believes himself in another World is astonish'd to see himself lying on a barren Turf without Servants without Attendants without Friends without Necessaries without Conveniencies among Showers and Storms and Tempests stist with Cold frozen to Death almost and beholding nothing but Misery about him O my Soul thou canst not but look upon such a Person as the very Emblem of Confusion and while thou dread'st this fearful State take heed thou dost not prepare for it or drop into it take heed of carnal Security for that will expose thee to the Rage and Fury of hellish Thieves and make God's Indignation strangely surprizing The Terror that will seize the sleepy Soul when it is summon'd away to the Bar of a righteous God will be beyond Storms of Hail and Tempests of Rain and Flashes of Lightning and Claps of Thunder When Covetousness would entice thee shew it the miserable Gehazi trembling before the Throne of God when Luxury would tempt thee bid it look upon the wretched Belshazzar mourning to eternal Ages for his Intemperance when worldly Mindedness would debauch thee find out Nabal among the damned Spirits and with that Sight fright the foolish Lust away when Envy would enter into thy Soul call out Cain from that unhappy Crew and bid it see its Doom in his Funeral when present Satisfactions would make thee slight the after-hopes of Glory bid the profane Esau stand forth from his fiery Cell to which he is condemned and it will lose its Courage Thou readest of the Syrians how in a Consternation sent upon them from above they fled in the Night leaving all their Provision behind them But what is this to the Consternation the Judgment Seat of Christ will strike into that Man who having slighted his Commands is on a sudden ordered to come and answer the Reason of his Contempt and forced to leave all his vain Excuses and Apologies behind him The Name of some Warriours hath frighted Men Women and Children and then how terrible will the Name of the Lord of Hosts be to them that have fought against his Holy Spirit by their Stubbornness O my Soul Blessed is he that watches and keeps his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame Rev. 16. 15. 3. Walk circumspectly every Day and use that conscientiousness you would use were you sure you should be summon'd to Judgment at Night To be sure a dayly Conscientiousness can do no harm It may possibly deprive thee of the Pleasure of bad Company but where is the loss when by that means thou preservest thy better Part from being wounded May be thou may'st get the ill Will of some men that hate any man that will not run with them into excess of Riot but their Hatred is better than their Love not that a Man is to be fond of the Hatred of others but since the World does love his own and is fond only of People as loose as themselves it is a Mercy to be hated by such men because it is a sign we are not of their Temper The love of good men is ever to be valued but that of men loose and profane is but a trouble except it can be had without participating of their sins Say not next Year or when I have accomplished such a Business I will trim my Lamp and make it ready against the Bridegroom comes Every Day to live in expectation of the Summons is the act of a Wise and Blessed Servant And he that every Day walks with God walks in a mighty sense of his Omniscience and Omnipresence and in his company business conversation dealings keeps God in his Eye sets his Laws before him walks as one resolved to please God in all things le ts not a Day pass over his Head without doing some good uses the World as if he used it not and if through inadvertency he slips rises again presently and arms himself with fresh resolutions is the Person that lives every Day as if it were his last Day Sinner wert thou sure that this Night thou shouldst be summon'd to the Bar of God wouldst thou swear and lie and dissemble and be Cholerick or backward to good works Live as if thou wert sure of it For suppose thou continuest in the Land of the Living that Night thou losest nothing by this Preparation nay thou art a mighty gainer by it for hereby thy Soul is refresh'd thy Mind preserved in an excellent temper thy Goodness strengthen'd thy Graces renew'd thy Affections enlarg'd thy Understanding enlightned thy Will made more tractable thy Spirits eased thy Calmness maintain'd and thy very Body kept in Health God loves thee the Promises of the Gospel belong to thee Devils cannot hurt thee thou livest like a Christian actest like a Man of Reason preparest for thine own quiet thy Condition is happy thy Estate safe thy Life out of danger thy Conscience clear thy Confidence in God encreases thy Satisfaction swells thy Comforts grow bigger and thou freest thy self from that Mire and Clay in which so many Souls do stick and deliverest thy Soul from that terrible Pit which swallows up so many imprudent Travellers 4. When ever you see or hear of the judicial Process of a Malefactor think and reflect upon this Day To take occasion from things we see or hear to improve our Minds and to Meditate on things useful and great and beneficial is the part of a wise Man and a Christian who is to remember that his Reason is not given him only to teach him how to live easie but chiefly to direct him how to Purifie his outward and inward Man The great Design of the Gospel is to refine our Reason and to make it subservient to the Purposes of a Spiritual Life and he that makes External Objects Instruments of spiritual Thoughts and leads his Consideration from things visible to those which are not seen imitates the Holy Apostles and the best Patterns 2 Cor. 4. 18. The Judicial Process of a
Malefactor hath many Circumstances in it which very much resemble the Proceedings of the last Day Indeed our Saviour Mat. 5. 25 26. describes the last Judgment by the Processes made for Malefactors in this World Agree saith he with thine Adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him lest at any time the Adversary deliver thee to the Judge and the Judge deliver thee to the Officer and thou be cast into Prison Verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost Farthing In which Words Christ represents to us the Scene of the future Judgment and consequently intimates that when we behold the one we should spend some serious thoughts upon the other Think how terrible the sight of the Judge is to the guilty Prisoner and how much more terrible the sight of a Majestick God will be to the unhappy Sinner that would not be kept in by the Laws and Sanctions of the great Commander of the World and stood more in awe of a Child or Servant when he was going to commit lewdness than of him who gave him life and being Think how the Malefactor is frighted and confounded with the vast company of Men and Women that crowd in to hear his Tryal and how much more the impenitent Sinner will be ashamed in the last Day when all the People that have been since the Creation of the World will look upon him and hear what his fate will be some Orators have been struck dumb with the greatness of their Auditory what effect then may we suppose will the Congregation of Mankind have upon a Wretch that never saw the hundred thousandth part of them before Think how it must be with the Malefactor before the Sentence of Death passes upon him how heavy his mind is how Melancholick his Thoughts how drooping his Spirits are and what Palpitations he feels about his Heart and how far greater the heaviness of the sinful Soul must be before the Sentence of Condemnation proceeds against her from the mouth of God how much more sad remembrances how much more dismal reflections will seize upon her And if it be so sad with her before the Sentence be past what trembling and horror will invade her after it A Malefactor here on Earth may yet entertain hopes of Pardon his Prince may be merciful pity the distressed condition of his Family remember past services and relent and change the Sentence but the sinful Soul once condemned to suffer hath no hopes of forgiveness no hopes of being Repriv'd no hopes of being released not but that God is infinitely more merciful than the meekest Prince on Earth can be but the time of Mercy is past Once he was merciful to her to a Miracle his Mercy was her Shield Mercy did encompass her Mercy lay entreating her Mercy courted her Mercy though abused came again and tryed new arguments Mercy followed her Mercy preserved her from a Thousand Evils Mercy would not suffer the roaring Lion to touch her for many years Mercy stood by her even then when she desperately affronted her Maker Mercy was patient towards her Mercy wept over her Mercy call'd to her Mercy would have pull'd her away from her Errors but she thrust this bright Angel away would have none of it made light of it laught at its charms despised its entreaties scorned its carresses disregarded its smiles refused its offers rejected its embraces and therefore cannot feed her self with hopes of Pardon now Nay the Malefactor here on Earth when Men will not Pardon hath yet hopes that upon his true Repentance God will Pardon him but the Soul that departs hence in a sensual carnal condition the same she lived in hath no higher Court to appeal to none above God to make her moan to none beyond the supream Law-giver to address her self to The God she hath despised and whose Mercy could make no impression on her is to be her last Judge and therefore how much more disconsolate must her state be than the condemn'd Malefactor's here on Earth 5. Whenever you converse with sick and dying men and are present when their Breath leaves their Bodies think and reflect upon this Day He visits a dying Friend to little purpose that only comes to condole with him or to look upon him or to ask him how he doth or what Medicines he hath taken or what Physitian he hath made use of The Chamber of a dying Person should make us as serious as a Church and compose our Thoughts as much as an Oratory In such a Room there are various Objects that invite us to Pious Thoughts and do naturally suggest to us very serious Considerations the sad looks of the Spectators the Groans of Relations the Tears of Friends the Lamentations of Neighbours and the dying Persons Pain and Misery and perhaps doubts of his Salvation which are not to be beheld with a careless Eye So that when you see the dying Person near Expiring think with your selves This man is going to be judged his Soul is entring into the Territories of another World to know what her everlasting state must be This will shortly be my case I must e'er long follow her to God's Tribunal here my stay will be but short here I have no continuing City here I am not to tarry long my Friend that 's gone shews me the way that I must go I saw him expire I heard his last groans I was by when his Eye-strings broke if the Lord Jesus gave him any assurance of his favour before he died with what chearfulness will his Soul meet her Bridegroom in the Air how welcome will he be in the Court of the great King What rejoycing will there be when he and the other glorified spirits behold one another and they see that one more is added to their Number for there is no envy in Heaven no grudges no fretting because so many are admitted into the Everlasting Mansions but the more holy Souls do enter there the more their joy encreases If this my Friend hath lived above the World while he lived here with what gladness will his Soul be brought and enter into the Kings Palace How will his Name be remembred there How kindly will Angels talk of him How favourable will the Judge be to him but if his Devotion and Piety hath been but Paint and Shew what a surprize will it be immediately upon his coming among the spirits of another World to be arrested at the suit of the Great God and to be carried away to his Tryal He is taken away from his sick Bed but should his Soul be sent away with a Curse how much worse will Hell be than his sick Bed In a sick Bed Physick may yet give some ease but Hell scorns all Medicines no Drugs are of any use there no Cordials no Cataplasms are to be found there no vulnerary Herbs grow in that Wilderness On a sick Bed Friends may yet comfort us but in
Hell there is no Friend all are Enemies all hate one another because none can deliver the other from his Torments In a sick Bed Neighbours may give their advice but in Hell no advice can be given for the Inhabitants are not capable of taking it The Devils indeed may advise them to speak evil of God because of the irreversible doom they lie under but that 's a Remedy infinitely worse than the Disease and they that follow this counsel increase God's Anger and their own Plagues and as they venture upon new Sins so God must inflict new Curses and try new Rods and new Scourges which makes the misery truly infinite Such Reflections the sight of a sick and dying Man will cause nor is this judging of his everlasting and final State but a mere occasional Meditation undertaken for no other end but to affect our own Souls with the day of God's righteous Judgment to improve our own Thoughts and to make a holy use of such Occasions as God's Providence thinks fit to present to us 6. Whenever you go to a Funeral think of this Day of Judgment It 's a marvellous thing to see how Men spend their time at Funerals Though they are in the Room where the dead Body lies yet they drink and laugh and are merry and talk of any thing that their Fancy or their Business or the Reports of People abroad do suggest Though Death stands before them and the Corps seems to exhort them to Contemplations of their Mortality and the Consequences of Death yet how carefully do they shun all Discourses and Thoughts of that Nature The Life the Actions the Vertues and the good Qualities of the dead Persons might deserve some Pious Conferences or his Change and passing from this Life into another and being freed from the Burden of the Flesh and from innumerable Troubles and Vexations which this Life is subject to would be no unseasonable Subject of Discourse upon such Occasions But so great is the Aversion of most men from such kind of Entertainments that any thing rather than this though never so frivolous shall be hearken'd to and either the News of the Town or their Trade or their Merchandise or their Sports or some thing of this Nature is preferr'd before the melancholy Prospect of Eternity Or if some Pious Person begins a Spiritual Discourse or to talk of something suitable to that Occasion the Company is struck dumb on a sudden and glad when the Stream turns and some other impertinent Subject is pitch'd upon In a word Men go to a Funeral as to a Play or Shew and as they bring no serious Thoughts with them so they carry none away But thus it must not be with you who are sensible that such Opportunities are presented to you by Providence to strengthen your inward Man And therefore when you see the Mourners go about the Streets when you your selves accompany the Corps to the Grave think of the great Sentence the Soul will receive upon her Approaches to the Throne of the Heavenly Majesty St. Hierom describing the Funeral of the happy Paula that famous Saint who while she lived here was Eyes to the Blind a Nurse of the Poor a Staff to the Lame and an Example to all religious Persons tells us That when she was dead there were heard no Shrieks no Howlings no Weeping no despairing Lamentations but Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs her Corps was carried to the Grave upon Bishops Shoulders Prelates carried Lamps and Wax-Candles before her and a Quire of Singing-Men accompanied her to her Tomb and most of the People of Palestina came together to attend the Funeral The Monks crept out of their Cells the Virgins from their Retirement and good Men in all Places thereabout thought it Sacriledge not to pay the last Office to her The Widows and Orphans as in the case of Dorcas came and shew'd the Garments she had made for them and all the indigent and needy cryed they had lost a Mother and for three Days Psalms were sung in Greek Hebrew Latin and Syriack and every Body celebrated her Funeral as if it had been their own When you behold the Funeral of such a holy Person think how with far greater Pomp the Angels meet the Soul of the deceased at the Gates of Heaven and on their Shoulders carry it to the Throne of everlasting Mercy Think how joyfully those blessed Ministers conduct such a Soul to her eternal Rest and how they triumph that she is deliver'd from the Burden of the Flesh and advanced from a Valley of Tears to a place of endless Glory When the great Constantius died in Britain his Ashes were put in a golden Chest and with great Pomp carried through France and Italy to Rome but think how far greater Honour it is for such a holy Soul to be convey'd by the Spirits of Light into the City coming down from Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband the twelve Gates whereof are twelve Pearls and the Streets pure Gold as it were transparent Glass On the other side when you see the stately Funeral of a voluptuous and sensual Man such as Attila was the Soldiers tearing their Hair the Courtiers weeping the Body wrap'd up in Silk the Guard proclaiming his valiant Actions and Monuments erected upon the Grave of Gold of Silver and of Iron think on the more dismal Funeral of his Soul in case it was not wash'd here with the Waters of Repentance and which is the greatest Purification with the Blood of Jesus think if the Soul be for ever separated from the glorious Presence of God and commanded away into everlasting Darkness not all the stately Monuments raised for the honour of her Body will qualifie her Misery in the other World not all the Acclamations or Applauses of Flatterers will give her any Comfort not all the Riches she enjoy'd on Earth nor all her Wealth and Greatness and Dominion will there extinguish the least Spark of Fire her Conscience will feel This dreadful Funeral will be attended with crouds of unhappy Spirits who instead of mourning will rejoyce at the Guest that 's come into their Tents and Lycaon like cover her with eternal Darkness Such a Soul is laid in a worse Grave than her Body even in the burning Lake where the Misery is proportion'd to her former Sins and her Conscience frighted with Scenes of Horror and the Remembrance of her quondam Pomp encreases her Discontent and Anguish think of this and learn to be sober think of this and learn self-denial think of this and learn not to love the World think of this and learn to secure the Light of God's Countenance think of this and learn to honour them that fear the Lord think of this and learn to do good in your Generation 7. To avoid the Terror of this future Judgment judge your selves here on Earth for if we would judge our selves we should not be judged saith the Apostle 1 Cor.
rivers of tears That men should pretend to own the Gospel and yet live directly contrary to the Laws of it argues either Malice or Distraction or stupid Ignorance yet with such men for the most part we have to deal which makes S. Paul's Exhortation highly reasonable Finally Brethren pray for us that the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not Faith 2 Thes. 3. 1 2. 3. This embittering our carnal and sensual Delights is that which men for certain shall wish they had done when they come to stand before the great Tribunal In that Day mens Eyes will be opened and things will appear to them in other Colours than now they do Their Understandings will not be clogg'd with this World or Divertisements They will have other Apprehensions of the Nature of Vertue and Holiness and the Truth of what Christ hath delivered in the Gospel The Reasonableness of his Precepts the Equity of his Commands the Excellency of his Doctrine the Divinity of his Miracles the infallible Certainty of his Promises and Threatnings will all shine bright in their Eyes of all these they will be throughly convinced and no doubt no scruple no ambiguity will remain as to any of these Points the vileness of their Pleasures the brutishness of their Satisfactions the rashness of their Delights the baseness of their Enjoyments the brightness of those Vertues they have despised the glory of that Grace which they might have had and would not and the trivialness of the things they preferr'd before these will then appear so plain so legible that there will be no room left for Ignorance It 's true these things might be known here and would men take the right way they might come to be convinced and perswaded of them on this side Eternity for some we find are fully satisfied as to these Particulars and walk sutably to them and therefore it cannot be impossible for others to attain to it but their insensibleness is rather an Argument of stupid negligence and wilful laziness and so it must be where People are not or pretend not to be satisfied in things of this Nature It is therefore necessary there should a time come when they shall be able to make no excuse nor to evade the force of these Truths and when they shall behold how wise a choice the self-denying Soul hath made and what her mortifications and severities do end in what applauses they receive in Heaven what kind looks from the Everlasting Father what Honour what Dignity what preferment is designed and appointed for her how such a Soul Triumphs at this time over Hell and Devils dares all the Furies of the Burning-lake scorns those foes which led the sensual sinner captive makes her Nest among the Stars of Heaven is placed in the Quire of Angels meets with all the Caresses of a gracious God is encirled with Laurels and Crowns of Joy and all her Misery and Sorrows and Fears are at an end Reason tells us that the sensual Sinner when he shall behold all this will wish he had follow'd her example for that 's the necessary and eternal consequence of all imprudent Actions especially those that are grosly so for afterward men do as naturally wish that they had acted the part of wise men as Balaam that he might die the Death of the Righteous Thus men become wise after the Fact and when they find what fools they have been would be content that they had foreseen the evil and hid themselves Who would not wish in that day he had embittered his sensual delights that finds he is undone by eating of those luscious Apples And I need not tell you that it is every Man's Interest not to do that which he will wish he had not done when it is too late But of this I have said enough before The next Point follows and is a Case of Conscience how far sensual Delights must be embittered with this Prospect 5. Whether a Christian that would be saved is upon this account obliged to forbear and abandon all sensual and worldly delights and recreations whatsoever So not a few have thought in the Primitive times which made them retire from the World and deny themselves in all the Comforts of this Life and put themselves to very great hardships and self-denials being of opinion that they who laughed here would mourn hereafter and such as enjoyed the good things of this Life would be miserably poor hereafter They looked upon the two Worlds as opposites and consequently believed that the Means to arrive to the happiness of the future were directly contrary to all present satisfactions they concluded that they who would be happy hereafter must be unhappy here and that they who would be happy here could not be so hereafter from hence rose their selling all they had and giving it to the poor and the strange severities they used upon their Bodies whereof I have discoursed elsewhere and indeed the Gospel gives very little encouragement to any thing that savours of worldly pleasure nor do the Apostles allow much liberty in this particular whether it were that they thought that all sensual delights were improper for a state of persecution in which the Church then lived or whether it was that they were afraid such delights would damp their spiritual Fervour this is certain that there is little to be gathered from their Writings in favour of Sports and Recreations Yet as strict as the Gospel is it grants that we have Bodies as well as Souls and that if the Bow be not unbent sometimes the String will crack and become useless and though its possible for our Minds to soar so far above the World as to know and care for no other delights but what savour of God and the glories of another Life yet those spiritual delights will not be of any long continuance without the Body be allowed sutable refreshment and hath its intervals of ease and relaxation Were not some Divertisements lawful Christ would scarce have vouchsafed his Presence at the Wedding-Feast in Cana much less provided them Wine to encourage temperate chearfulness and hither may be referred St. John the Evangelist's playing sometimes with a Bird and going into a common Bath whereof Ecclesiastical Histories give us an Account yet since there is nothing more common with men than to confound their sinful Delights with lawful Recreations it will be necessary here to explain the Point in these following Porticulars 1. This must be laid down as a grand Principle of our Religion That a Spiritual delight in God in a Crucified Saviour and in the Blessed Effects and Influences of the Holy Ghost in the Graces and Fruits of the Spirit in feeling the Operations of the Divine Power and Glory upon our Souls in the precious Promises of of the Gospel in the Revelations God hath vouchsafed to Mankind in the Good
we see wrought in our selves and others in the Providences of God and in Contemplation of his various dealings with the several States Orders and Degrees of Men in Psalms and Hymns and Praises of the Divine Majesty in the thoughts and expectations of a better Life in the Treasures God hath laid up for them that fear him in another World and in the various Priviledges Prerogatives and Advantages of Holy Men c. It is certain I say that delighting and rejoycing in such Spiritual Objects is the chief the principal and sovereign delight which a Christian is with greatest application of Mind to labour after and in comparison of this is obliged to count all these outward Comforts Dross and Dung and Dogs meat this is the delight which must engross his Desires Affections and Inclinations this must rule in his Soul this must be Mistress and Queen Regent in his Mind to this all must stoop and then things cannot but go well if this be secured and established Without worldly Pleasure Thousands of Saints have arrived to everlasting Bliss but without this none Sensual Delights are no part of a Christians Comfort but this Spiritual Delight is the one thing necessary and till a prospect of a future Judgment causes this Delight to rise in our Souls whatever sudden impression it may make sometime the Plant is not of our Heavenly Fathers planting Such must be the temper of our Souls in the aforesaid Objects our Souls must delight more than in all Riches and this delight being once setled in us such worldly delights as are subservient to this and do neither diminish nor darken nor hinder nor quench it may justly be said to be lawful 2. This being premised we do not deny but such worldly delights as are neither sinful in themselves nor apparent Occasions of Evil are allowable And of this nature are all those Masculine Exercises whereby the Body is preserved in health and rendred more capable of serving the Soul in her Religious Severities as Walking or Riding abroad to take the Air Planting Gar dening Raising curious Plants and Flowers Running Wrestling Fowling Hawking Hunting Fishing Leaping Vaulting Casting of the Bar Tossing the Pike Riding the great Horse Running at the Ring and such Divertisements which stir the Blood make us active and vigorous fit us for greater and more useful Enterprizes and promote Chearfulness and Liveliness such cannot be supposed to be forbid by the Gospel provided that they be used 1. Seasonably not on those days and hours which are appointed either for Devotion or more weighty Business and therefore these cannot be proper Exercises of the Lords Day or Days of Fasting and Abstinence or Days of Mourning 2. With Moderation so that much time be not spent upon them and our love to them may keep within its due bounds and limits 3. For a good End which must be to render our selves fitter for the discharge of our Duty to God and Man 4. With purposes of Self denial so that we can leave or quit them for a greater Good when either a work of Piety or an act of Charity is to be performed or Scandal to be prevented where these Limitations are not observed the Honey turns into Gall and that which deserv'd only our Civility and transient Respect becomes our Idol and our Souls receive considerable hurt which had these Divertisements been used with circumspection might have been beholding to them in some measure for their welfare and edification 3. From this Rule we may rationally infer that delight in Orchards Gardens Rivers Ponds either Natural or Artificial and in the Comforts of Wife Children Friends in our Trades and Relations Houses Buildings and Possessions the bountiful hand of Heaven hath bestowed upon us is consistent with a serious prospect of a future Judgment not but that excesses may be committed in this delight as the best and most harmless things may be abused yet where we delight in them as they are the Gifts of God more than as they are Satisfactions to the Flesh and build not upon them rest not in them but still look upon them as things volatile and transitory and are ready to part with them whenever Providence shall think fit to remove them without grumbling or murmuring and do let the World see that in these delights we forget not the Rules of Gravity Modesty Decency and Charity they may lawfully be called inoffensive and as a Snake whose Teeth are pulled out handled without danger And though Solomon calls these Delights Vanity yet that which made them so was the immoderateness of his love toward them and his setting his heart and doating upon them and placing felicity in them making them his mark which should have been only a passage to nobler enjoyments and fixing there where he should have lodged only as in an Inn and so marched on to the City which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God Delight in things of this nature may soon run beyond its bounds if either too much cost be spent upon them whereby the poor are robbed of their due or Men forget to employ their Thoughts upon sublimer Objects 4. The same may be said of delight in Musick whether Vocal or Instrumental a delight harmless enough if used as Salt not as Meat as Sauce not as Food as a Bit on the By not as a standing Diet and though the Men the Prophet speaks of Isa. 5. 12. are severely checked for the Harp and the Viol the Tabret and Pipe in their Feasts yet it was because they made their Musick an Appendix to their Drunkenness and as it is said in the same Verse regarded not the work of the Lord neither considered the operation of his hands David's playing upon the Harp was no sin while it was not to encourage wantonness but with an intent either to praise God or to divert Saul's Melancholy nor can I discommend the Pythagoreans who before they went to sleep composed their Minds with Musick We read in Gellius Aelian and others how men have been cured not only of irregular Passions but of very strange Distempers of the Body by Musick and what is signally conducing to the Good and Benefit of Mankind we must suppose is allowed by that God who himself consults the health and welfare of his Creatures and this made Jubal's Profession lawful who was the Inventer of Musical Instruments and therefore called the Father of all such as handle the Harp and Organ The end for which such Delights are used makes them either tolerable or impertinent and as he that designs them to refresh either his own or other mens weary Spirits and to glorifie God by them deserves commendation so he that makes them instrumental to feed mens Lusts or to promote Lasciviousness and Lightness in Conversation renders himself unworthy of the Name of a Christian and therefore those Fidlers and Musicians who shew themselves at merry Meetings or promiscuous Dancings which serve only to pamper the