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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50548	A sermon preached at White-Hall in Lent, March the 16, 1682/3 by Richard Meggott ...	Meggott, Richard, d. 1692.	1683 (1683)	Wing M1627; ESTC R17024	12,299	42

a Debauch first give a Shout which they say is a Warning to their Souls to retire into their Heels that they may not be Witnesses to their intended Bestiality All others in such Cases are fain to do in Effect use Arts to shift and get rid of themselves before they can comply well There are none but feel this at one time or other and whatever they do themselves cannot but inwardly approve of those as the most excellent Persons that deny the Sensual Part even in things where the Body would receive no Prejudice by being gratified Now how could this be if there were nothing but Corporeal and Material Soul in us Where then should be the differing Parties Doth the same Fountain send forth both sweet Waters and bitter Can the same thing be adverse and contrary to it self Is it so with the Dog in his Vomit No this perpetual Discord argueth there is something peculiar in the Sons of Men And that is a Second Difference between our Spirits and theirs a Difference in our Wills A Third there is in our Habits I speak not of acquired ones those which are the Fruits of frequent Exercise and Industry but those which by the Schools are called infused Such Dispositions and Capacities as are communicated to and engrafted in each by the Author of their Beings And of this kind we have one of mighty Moment so peculiar to us that if there were nothing else to instance in might of it self convince us sufficiently and that is Religiousness an Universal Bent and Inclination to the Worship and Fear of God They who are most for levelling us with the Inferiour Animals their most eager Advocates freely grant them so far from this that they will not allow them the least Apprehension of such a Being Nor indeed is it possible they should have any How can they that have only Corporeal Phantasms frame any Idea of him These are so far from helping us in forming a distinct Conception of an Infinite Immaterial being that Experience sheweth they but distract and hinder us when we attend to it And yet Mankind of all Ages former and later of all Places civil and barbarous of all Complexions sanguine and melancholly of all Capacities wise and weak as by Instinct and secret Impulse own and feel after him I know there have been some Atheists in the World but I dare say not half so many as there have been Monsters and if these do not make us alter our Opinion of what is Natural as to our Shapes why should those make us call in Question what is so as to our Minds They that pretend this is not any natural Impression but only the Influence of Education contrived for Convenience by Politicians may as well say of the Trees in the un-inhabited parts of the World that they were not produced by the Nature of the Earth but secretly planted by a Knot of Gardiners If it were merely Artificial it would not be Universal and where it was would decay without Care and constant looking to But on the contrary it is so agreeable to the Humane Soul that it springeth up in all of them and they who do all they can are not able utterly to extirpate it so much as out of their single Selves From this Principle and Propensity cultivated spring Faith Devotion Love Sincerity Softness of Heart Denyal of our selves Sorrow for Sin Care for Eternity with many other Heavenly and distinguishing Qualities by which Glorious Things are spoken of thee Oh thou Inward Man And do these look like the Product of Matter and Motion Can Sence be the Parent of Moral Vertue Have Brutes such a Faculty in them as Conscience Are the Horse and the Mule Subjects capable of Divine Grace If they are not why should it be thought they have such Spirits as we That is a Third Difference between our Spirits and theirs a Difference in our Habits I shall add a Fourth as apparent as any and that is a Difference in their Illuminations This I mention distinct from the Understanding as meaning by it only that part of their Knowledge wherein both are merely passive and contribute nothing Of this kind the Creatures about us every one have their Omer what is sufficient and convenient for them unaccountably put into them by the provident Hand of him that made them but with Men besides that Candle of the Lord as the wise Man calleth it set up in the whole Species there is sometimes a Supernatural Light that shineth in upon Indidividuals and the Father of Spirits upon Occasion hath been pleased to honor them with Revelations at sundry Times and in divers Manners speaking to them himself immediately For though there have been great Frauds and Impostures about these matters and such things have often been pretended by some and as oft believed by others where there was no Realty Yet he must be very skeptical indeed that upon that Account will give Credit to none Who can reasonably doubt but the Divine Mysteries of our Faith were communicated this way when he recollecteth by how many mighty Miracles this manner of their Conveyance hath been confirmed to us Who can make any Question but that the several Prophesies in Scripture were imparted in this manner when he findeth how the Events many Hundreds of Years after so punctually and precisely answered the Predictions It is true this hath been the Case comparatively but of few Persons but being as well satisfied as we can be of Matter of Fact that it hath been of any the Argument hath still the same Force and equally proveth what it is alleadged for as if it were universal and constant viz. that we have a more peculiar way of Illumination by Vrim and Thummim by Dreams and Visions by Angels and Inspirations things above our Understanding and Secrets that were then to come have been manifested to some for the Benefit of all And is this to be over-looked as nothing Shall it procure them no Veneration that God himself taketh such Signal Notice of them Are any but ours Partakers of this Priviledge The Three former speak a clear Difference in Kind and are also such probable Arguments of the Immortality of our Spirits though theirs are mortal that they and such like have always obtained general Belief I will not say they are so concluding as that nothing can be objected against them Perhaps Natural Light cannot fully demonstrate it But if we take in this last also that of Divine Revelations then there remaineth no more place for doubting For besides the great unlikelihood that the Almighty should manifest himself in such gracious needless manner to Spirits of that low Rank Doth God take Care for Oxen this is one thing he hath revealed to them that they are not such and that there is not only a Difference as to their Kind but also as to their End The Spirit of the Man goeth upward c. And were this reflected on so seriously as it ought that our

Spirits die not with our Bodies but have an Everlasting Duration what manner of Persons would it make us How careful that it may be well with them when they go from hence To this Solomon ascribeth the Sins and Vanities he complaineth of in Humane Life that they were not so well convinced and did not so well consider their own Excellency and Immortality And this bringeth me to the last Proposition I am to speak to Namely that The Observation and considering of this Difference between our Spirits and those of the Beasts would be an Excellent Means for the mortifying and amending the Miscarriages and Vanities of Humane Life Who knoweth c. The reason of them he supposeth is their not being sufficiently possessed and affected with this When Saint Paul reasoned of Judgment to come it made Licentious Felix tremble We Italian-like that ring the Bells to drown the Noise of thunder expel out of our Minds such severe and startling thoughts with the lowd Iustruments of this Worlds Business and Enjoyments did we not it must needs be so with us too It is the not meditating upon our future State that maketh us behave our selves as we do a conceit that they may dye like Beasts that hardneth Men to live so The most Notorious Miscarriages of Men Solomon in this Book hath ranked under these three Heads Voluptuousness Earthly mindedness and Prophaneness These are the unhappy Mothers of all the other either Sins or Follies he maketh remarques on Now the firm belief and Solemn Consideration of this great Article he more than once remembreth us would be a Cure for all of them First for Voluptuousness A receipt for this ought not a little to be prized if it were but for the rifeness of the Distemper which is so very catching Indeed none so apt to be infected with it as those in great and Prosperous Circumstances their Temptations are extraordinary and though sometimes their understandings be so too yet they are violently born down by them It appeareth by his own Pen here Chap. 2. so it fared with Solomon himself for some Years notwithstanding all his Knowledge and Accomplishments but though these chiefly it is not these only that are ensnared by her She hath Idolatries of all sorts and not only they that wear soft Cloathing but they that are scarce able to cover their Nakedness devote themselves to her Now if with such our Inclinations there should meet this sad Delusion that there is no Life but this what hopes would there be of amending or reclaiming Men When once they have imbibed this Opiat Principle there will be no awakening them then they will reckon it not their fayling but their Philosophy to indulge themselves Accordingly this sort of People used among the Antients to place a Scull upon the Table at their Feasts not to correct but provoke their Extravagancies to keep them Sober but to make them Madder that seeing they must shortly be such as that they should live as fast as they could and be diligent to get their fill of Sensuallity But with what Horror doth he that is convinced of his existence beyond the Grave look upon such Resolutions what Stomach can he have to such dangerous Dainties that looketh forward upon the everlasting Consequences It was wittily said of the Poet in Atheneus If the Head-ach did but come first Men would not be drunk And St. Austin descanting upon that desperate Passage of them in the Prophet Isaiah 22. Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die Certainly saith he these men were distracted as well as debauched that could conclude thus Had they been themselves it would rather have been Let us fast and pray let us repent and redeem our time for to morrow we shall die This is sound and proper arguing such as Conscience can make no Reply to and therefore no more is said to the wild Extravagant Chap. 11.9 but only this Know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment It is supposed such a Rational Creature as Man when he cometh to think seriously upon this will be wiser than to walk in the ways of his own Heart and the Light of his own Eyes That is a First thing insisted on that a due Consideration of the Nature of our Spirits would prevent the Sins of Voluptuousness A Second is Earthly-mindedness This he speaketh of in the fourth and again Chap. 6. as another Reigning Vanity The former is a Sin against our selves this against our Neighbours being the Cause of all that Oppression Cousenage Uncharitableness Envying Ambition Contention that the World is pester'd and disturbed with Whence come all these unseemly and mischievous Doings but from not considering that this is but our Passage to the place we must dwell for ever in and that according to our Behaviour in the way here will be our Entertainment at our Journeys End Were this well imprinted on us as much need as we have of these things surely we could never think we have so much as for the while the uncertain little while we can enjoy them to do that in pursuit of them that will make us either blush or tremble be either asham'd or afraid when we are to leave them When Scipio in Tully is relating the Dream of his Ascension among the Stars he saith as he looked down from thence upon the Earth the whole looked like so dull and inconsiderable a Spot that he was abashed and out of Countenance to think of the Meanness of Men in making such a Stir and Bustle for any of the Scraps and Pieces of it Indeed he that goeth up into the Mount and looketh upon the things above the Transcendent Glories that we are designed for must needs have the same Thoughts the things of this World cannot but from thence look very small and little to him The Apostle speaking of them that died in Faith in the Faith of these Great Articles Hebr. 11. giveth them this Character that they looked upon themselves as Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth No more set their Hearts upon that than the Traveller on the Inn he only lodgeth in for a Night and on the morrow must be gone from think of it for their present Convenience but by no means dote of it as their Standing Happiness This is the Natural Result and Consequence of such Perswasions and Meditations And that is a Second sort of Evils the Consideration of the Nature of our Spirits would prevent those of Earthly-mindedness The Third is Profaneness which is mentioned in this and again treated on more largely Chap. 9. as under the First Head are comprehended the Sins against our selves under the Second those against our Neighbour so under this those more directly and immediately against God Atheism Infidelity Blasphemy and those foolish as much as hurtful Sins that bring as great Reproach as Guilt upon them they are found with Plutarch saith of Sylla that he was much more exasperated against the