bad men But then this is to be noted that 't is commonly about opinions or external rites and usages and such matters as appertain to first Table Duties while usually the same men are very cold in reference to the Duties of the Second And when zeal is partial and spent about the little things that tend not to the overcoming the difficulties of our way or the perfecting of humane nature 't is a meer animal fervour and no Divine Fire And the natural man the seeker that shall not enter may grow up to another height that looks gloriously and seems to speak mighty things As III. He may have great comforts in religious meditations and that even to rapturous excesses He may take these for sweet communion with God and the joys of the Holy Ghost and the earnest of Glory and be lifted up on high by them and inabled to speak in wonderful ravishing strains and yet notwithstanding be an evil man and in the state of such as shall be shut out For this we may observe That those whose complexion inclines them to devotion are commonly much under the power of melancholy and they that are so are mostly very various in their tempers sometimes merry and pleasant to excess and then plung'd as deep into the other extreme of sadness and dejection one while the sweet humours enliven the imagination and present it with all things that are pleasant and agreeable And then the black blood succeeds which begets clouds and darkness and fills the fancy with things frightful and uncomfortable And there are very few but feel such varieties in a degree in themselvesâ— Now while the sweet blood and â—â—â—mours prevail the person whose complexion inclines him to Religion and who hath arrived to the degrees newly discours'd of though a meer natural man is full of inward delight and satisfaction and fancies at this turn that he is much in the favour of God and a sure heir of the Kingdom of Glory which must needs excite in him many luscious and pleasant thoughts and these further warm his imagination which by new and taking suggestions still raiseth the affections more and so the man is as it were transported beyond himself and speaks like one dropt from the clouds His tongue flows with Light and Glories and Communion and Revelations and Incomes and then believes that the Holy Ghost is the Author of all this and that God is in him of a truth in a special way of Manifestation and vouchsafement This is one of the greatest Heights of the Animal Religion and many times it proceeds from nothing more Divine For when melancholick vapours prevail again the imagination is overcast and the fancy possest by dismal and uncomfortable thoughts and the man whose head was but just before among the Clouds is now groveling in the Dust. He thinks all is lost and his condition miserable He is a cast-away and undone when in the mean while as to Divine favour he is just where he was before or rather in a better state since 't is better to be humbled with reason then to be lifted up without it Such effects as these do meer natural passions and imaginations produce when they are tinctured and heightned by religious melancholy To deny ones self and to overcome ones passions and to live in a course of a sober vertue is much more Divine then all this 'T is true indeed and I am far from denying it that holy men feel those joys and communications of the Divine Spirit which are no fancies and the Scripture calls them great peace Ps. cxix 165 and joy in believing Rom. xv 13 and the peace of God that passeth all understanding Phil. iv 7 But then these Divine vouchsafements are not rapturous or â—cstatical They are no sudden flashes that are gone in a moment leaving the soul in the regions of sorrow and despair but sober lasting comforts that are the rewards and results of vertue the rejoycings of a good conscience 2 Cor. i. 12 and the manifestations of God to those rare souls who have overcome the evils of their natures and the difficulties of the way or are vigorously pressing on towards this mark Phil. iii. 14 But for such as have only the forms of godliness I have mentioned while the evil inclinations and habits are indulged whatever they pretend all the sweets they talk of are but the imagery of dreams and the pleasant delusions of their fancies SECT VI. THus I have shewn how far the meer Animal Religion may go in imperfect striving And now I must expect to hear 1. That this is very severe uncomfortable Doctrine and if one that shall eventually be shut out may do all this what shall become of the generality of Religious men that never do so much And if all this be short what will be available who then shall be saved To which I Answer That we are not to make the measures of Religion and Happiness our selves but to take those that Christ Jesus hath made for us And he hath told us That except our Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees we shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of heaven Mat. v. 20 Now the Scribes and Phaâ—isees did things in the way of Religion that were equal to all the particulars I have mentioned yea they went beyond marry of our glorious Professors who yet think themselves in an high form of Godliness They believed their Religion firmly and Prayed frequently and fervently and Fasted severely They were â—xact and exceeding strict in the observatiâ—n of their Sabbaths and hated scandalous and gross sins and were very punctual in all the duties of outward Worship and in many things supererrogated and went beyond what was commanded Such zealous people were They and They separated from the conversations and customs of othâ—r Iews upon the account of their supposed greater Holiness and Purity These were heights to which the Pharisees arrived and a good Christian must exceed all this And he that lives in a sober course of Piety and Vertue of self Government and humble submission to God of obedience to his Superiors and Charity to his Neighbours He doth really exceed it and shall enter when the other shall be shut out So that when our Saviour saith that the Pharisaick Righteousness must be exceeded the meaning is not That a greater degree of every thing the Pharisees did is necessary but we must do that whith in the nature and kind of it is better and more acceptable to God viz. That whereas they placed their Religion in strict Fastings and nice observations of Festivals in lowd and earnest Prayers and zeal to get Proselites we should place ours in sincere subjections of our wills to the will of God in imitation of the life of Christ and obedience of his Laws in amending the faults of our natures and lives in subduing our passions and casting out the habits of evil These are much beyond the Religion of the Phanatick
Lord I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest Christ tells him that he must expect from him no worldly honours or preferments no power or sensual pleasure no not so much as the ordinary accommodations of Life The Foxes have Holes and the Birds of the Air have Nests but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head Luk. ix 5.8 He would not have the man that likely might look for these upon the opinion of his being the Messias in the Iewish sense one that should at last whatever the meanness of his condition was at present appear as a Mighty and Triumphant temporal Monarch I say our Saviour would not have the Man follow Him for that which he had not to bestow upon him Since then that he who would not put us upon fruitless labours hath commanded us to strive to enter 't is evident that an entrance may be procured into the gate by striving and that the difficulty may be overcome SECT II. THE next thing in my method is to shew How The manner is implied in the â—ext and exprest in the Proposition viz. By striving and by this is meant a resolute use of those means that are the Instruments of happiness They are three Faith Prayer and active Endeavour I. Faith is a chief Instrument for the overcoming the Difficulties I have mentioned And Faith in the general is the belief of a Testimony Divine Faith the belief of a Divine Testimony and the chief things to be believed as encouragements and means for a victory over the Difficulties in Religion are these That God is reconciled to us by his Son That he will assist our weak endeavours by the Aids of his Spirit That he will reward us if we strive as we ought with immortal Happiness in a world of endless Glory By our belief of Gods being reconciled we are secured from those â—ears that might discourage our approaches and endeavours upon the account of his Purity and Iustice By the Faith of his Assistance all the objections against our striving â—hat arise from the greatness of the Difficulties and the disproporâ—ionate â—malness of our strength are answered And from our believing eternal rewards in another world we have a mighty motive to engage our utmost diligence to contest with all difficulties that would keep us from it What satisfaction is there saith the believer in the gratification oâ— my corrupt inclinations and senses â— in comparison with that which ariseth from the favour of God and an interest in his Son What difficulties in my Duty too great for Divine Aids What pains are we to undergo in the narrow and difficult way that the glory which is aâ— the end of it will not compensate â— What is it to deny a base inclination that will undo me itâ— obedience to Him that made and redeemed me and to despise the little things of present sense for the hope of everlasting enjoyments Trifling pleasure for Hallelujahs What were it for me to set vigorously upon those Passions that degrade my noble nature and make me a slave and a beast and will make me more vile and more miserable when the Spirit of the most High is at my right hand to assist me Why should my noble Faculties that were design'd for glorious ends be led into infamous practices by base usages and dishonourable Customs What is the example of a wicked sensual wretched world to that of the Holy Iesus and all the Army of Prophets Apostles and Martyrs What is there in the world that it should be loved more than God and what is the Flesh that it should have more of our time and care than the great interests of our Souls Such are the Considerations of a mind that Faith hath awakened and by them it is prepared for vigorous striving So that Faith is the Spring of all and necessary to the other two instruments of our Happiness Besides which it is acceptable to God in it self and so disposeth us for his gracious helps by which we are enabled to overcome the Difficulties of our way While a man considers the Difficulties only and weighs them against his own strength Let him suppose the Liberty of his will to be what he pleaseth yet while 't is under such disadvantages that will signifie very little and he that sees no further sits down in discouragement But when the mind is fortified with the firm belief of divine help he attempts then with a noble vigour which cannot miscarry if it do not cool and faint For he that endures to the end shall be saved Mat. xxiv 13 Thus Faith sets the other Instruments of Happiness on work and therefore 't is deservedly reckoned as the first and 't is that which must always accompany the exercises of Religion and give them life and motion SECT II. II PRayer is another means we must use in order to our overcoming the Difficulties of the way Our own meer natural strength is weakness and without supernatural helps those Difficulties are not to be surmounted These Aids then are necessary and God is ready to bestow them on us For He would have all men to be saved and to come to the Knowledg of the Truth 1 Tim. ii 4 But for these things he will be sought unto And 't is very just and fit that we should address our selves to him by â—rayer to acknowledg our own insufficiency and dâ—pendence on him for the mercies we expect and thereby to own Him for the giver of every good and perfect gift and to instruct our selves how his favours are to be received and used viz. with reverence and thanksgiving This I say 't is highly fit that we should do and the doing it prepares us for his blessings and He fails not to bestow them on those that are prepared by Faith and Prayer For he giveth liberally and upbraids not And our Prayers are required not as if they could move his will which is always graciously inclined to our happiness But as it 's that tribute which we owe our Maker and Benefactor and that without which 't is not so fit he should bestow his particular favours on us For 't is by no means becoming the Divine Majesty to vouchsafe the specialties of his Grace and goodness to those that are not sensible that They want them and are not humbled to a due apprehension of their weakness and dependence But for such as are so and express their humble desires in the Ardours of Holy Prayer God never denies them the assistances of his Spirit For if ye being evil saith our Saviour know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to those that ask Him Mat. vii 11 And These Divine Helps obtain'd by Faith and Prayer and join'd with our active constant endeavour â— will not fail to enable us to overcome the Difficulties and to procure us an entrance at the straight gate And so I come to the Third
To be Meek Mat. xi 29 and Patient Jam. v. 8 and Humble 1 Pet. v. 7 and Iust Mat. vii 12 and Charitable Heb. xiii 16 and Holy as be that called us is holy 1 Pet. i. 15 And he hath promised to save upon no other terms For all these are included in Faith when 't is taken in the justifying sense and this is the way of Happiness If we walk not in this but in the paths of our own choosing our relying upon Christ is a mockery and will deceive us We may indeed be confident and we ought that he will save all those that so believe as to obey him but may not trust that he will save us except we are some of those To rely upon Christ for our salvation must follow our sincere and obedient striving and not go before it The mistake of this is exceeding dangerous and I doubt hath been fatal to many The sum is To rely on Christ without a resolute and steady endeavour to overcome every sin and temptation will gain us nothing in the end but shame and disappointment For 't is not every one that saith unto him Lord Lord shall enter into heaven but he that doth the will of his Father which is in heaven Mat. vii 21 The foolish Virgins relyed upon him and expected he should open to them Lord Lord open to us Mat. xxv 11 but he kept them out and would not know them v. 11. Thus of the First imperfect Mark of Godliness A man may upon the account of meer Nature arrive to all the mentioned degrees of Faith and yet if his endeavours in the practice of Christian virtues be not sutable he will certainly come short at last SECT III. II. A Man may be very devout and given much to Prayer be very frequent and earnest in it may have the gift of expâ—essing himself fluently without the help of Form or Meditation yea he may be so intent and taken up in these exeâ—cises that he may as it were be ravish't out of himself by the fervours of his spirit so that he really kindles very high affections as well in others as in himself And yet if he rests in this and such like things as Religion and reckons that he is accepted of God for it if he allow himself in any unmortified lusts and think to compound for them by his Prayers he is an evil man notwithstanding and one of those seekers that shall not be able to enter The Pharisees we know were much given to Prayer They were long in those devotions and very earnest in them often repeating the same expressions out of vehemence Ignatius Loyola founder of the Jesuites was a man almost ecstatical in his Prayers and Hacket the Blasphemer executed in the days of Queen Elizabeth was a person of Seraphical Devotion and would pray those that heard him even into transports Basilides the cruel Duke of Mosco is said to have his hands almost continually lifted up in Prayer except when they were imployed in some barbarous and bloody Execution And we have known and felt one not much unlike him There are infinite instances in our dayes of this dangerous sort of evil men And we may learn hence that the greatest gift of Prayer and earnestness and frequency in it is no good mark of Godliness except it be attended with sincere constant and virtuous endeavours For some men have a natural spice of Devotion in a Religious Melancholy which is their temper and such have commonly strong Imaginaâ—ions and zealous affections which when they are heated flame forth into great heights and expressions of devotion The warm phancy furnisheth words and matter readily and unexpectedly which many times begets in the man a conceit that he is inspired and that his Prayers are the breathings of the Holy Ghost or at least that he is extraordinarily assisted by it which belief kindles his affections yet more and he is carried beyond himself even into the third heavens and suburbs of glory as he fancies and so he makes no doubt but that he is a Saint of the first rank and special favorite of Heaven when all this while he may be really a bad man full of Envy and Malice Pride and Covetousness Scorn and ill Nature contempt of his Betters and disobedience to his Governors And while it is so notwithstanding those glorious things he is no further than the Pharisee Hearty and humble desire though imperfectly exprest and without this pomp and those wonders is far more acceptable to God who delights not in the exercises of meer Nature Psal. cxlvii 10 but is well pleased with the expressions of Grace in those that fear him So that a sincere and lowly-minded Christian that talks of no immediate incomes or communications and perhaps durst not out of reverence trust to his own present conceptions in a work so solemn but useth the help of some pious form of words sutable to his desires and wants who is duly sensible of his sins and the necessity of overcoming them and is truly and earnestly desirous of the Divine aids in order to it such a one as this Prays by the Spirit and will be assisted by it while the other doth all by meer Nature and imitation and shall not have those spiritual aids which he never heartily desires nor intends to use This I think I may truly and safely say But for the Controversie between Forms and Conceived Prayers which of them is absolutely best I determine nothing of it here And indeed I suppose that in their own nature they are alike indifferent and are more or less accepted as they partake more or less of the Spirit of Prayer viz. of Faith Humility and holy desire of the good thing we pray for and a man may have these that prays by a Form and he may want them that takes the other way and thinks himself in a dispensation much above it So that my business is not to set up one of these ways of Devotion against the other but to shew that the heights and vehemencies of many warm people in their unpremeditated Prayers have nothing in them supernatural or Divine and consequently of themselves they are no marks of Godliness which I hope no one thinks I speak to discredit those pious ardours that are felt by really devout souls when a vigorous sense of God and Divine things doth even sometimes transport them Far be it from me to design any thing so impious My aim is only to note that there are complexional heats raised many times by fancy and self-admiration that look like these in persons who really have little of God in them and we should take care that we are not deceived by them Thus far also those may go that notwithstanding shall not enter I add SECT IV. III. A Man may endeavour some things likewise and so strive in the last sense and yet for want of some of the mentioned Qualifications his work may miscarry and himself with it 1.
to all thy Commandments saith the Kingly Prophet Psal. cxix 6 'T is shameful to give off when our work is but half done what we do casts the greater reproach upon us for what we omit To cease to be prophane is something as a passage but nothing for an end We are not Saints as soon as we are civil 'T is not only gross sins that are to be overcome The wages of sin is death not only of the great and capital but of the smallest if they are indulged The Pharisee applauded himself that he was not like the Extortioners Adulterers and unjust nor like the Publican that came to pray with him Luk. xviii 11 and yet he went away never the more justified The unwise Virgins were no profligate livers and yet they were shut out He that will enter must strive against every corrupt appetite and inclination A less leak will sink a Ship as well as a greater if no care be taken of it A Consumption will kill as well as the Plague yea sometimes the less Disease may in the event prove more deadly than the greater for small distempers may be neglected till they become incurable when as the great ones awaken us to speedy care for a remedy A small hurt in the finger slighted may prove a gangreen when a great wound in the head by seasonable applications is cured 'T is unsafe then to content our selves with this that our sins are not foul and great those we account little ones may prove as fatal yea they are sometimes more dangerous For we are apt to think them none at all or Venial infirmities that may consist with a state of grace and Divine favour we excuse and make Apologies for them and fancy that Hearing and Prayer and Confession are atonements enough for these Upon which accounts I am apt to believe that the less notorious Vices have ruined as many as the greatest Abominations Hell doth not consist only of Drunkards and Swearers and Sabbath-breakers No the demure Pharisee the plausible Hypocrite and formal Professor have their place also in that lake of fire The great impieties do often startle and awaken conscience and beget strong convictions and so sometimes excite resolution and vigorous striving while men hug themselves in their lesser sins and carry them unrepented to their graves The sum is We may overcome some sins and turn from the grosser sort of wickedness and yet if we endeavour not to subdue the rest we are still in the condition of unregeneracy and death and though we thus seek we shall not enter 4. A Man may perform many duties of Religion and that with relish and delight and yet miscarry As 1. He may be earnest and swift to hear and follow Sermons constantly from one place to another and be exceedingly pleased and affected with the Word and yet be an evil Man and in a bad state Herod heard Iohn Baptist gladly Mark vi 20 and he that received the seed into stony places received it joyfully Mat. xiii 20 Zeal for hearing doth not always arise from a conscientious desire to learn in order to practise but sometimes it proceeds from an itch after novelty and notions or an ambition to be famed for Godliness or the importunity of natural conscience that will not be satisfied except we do something or a desire to get matter to feed our opinions or to furnish us with pious discourse I say earnestness to hear ariseth very often from some of these and when it doth so we gain but little by it yea we are dangerously tempted to take this for an infallible token of our Saintship and so to content our selves with this Religion of the ear and to disturb every body with the abundance of our disputes and talk while we neglect our own spirits and let our unmortified affections and inclinations rest in quiet under the shadow of these specious services So that when a great affection to hearing seiseth upon an evil man 't is odds but it doth him hurt It puffs him up in the conceit of his Godliness and makes him pragmatical troublesome and censorious He turns his food into poyson Among bad men those are certainly the worst that have an opinion of their being godly and such are those that have itching ears under the power of vitious habits and inclinations An earnest diligent hearer then may be one of those who seeks and is shut out And so may 2. He that Fasts much and severely The Iews were exceedingly given to fasting and they were very severe in it They abstained from all things pleasant to them and put on sackcloth and sowre looks and mourned bitterly and hung down the head and sate in ashes so that one might have taken these for very holy penitent mortified people that had a great antipathy against their sins and abhorrence of themselves for them And yet God complains of these strict severe Fasters Zach. vii 5 That they did not Fast unto him but fasted for strife and debate Isa. lviii 4 Their Fasts were not such as he had chosen to loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burden and to let the oppressed free vers 6. But they continued notwithstanding their Fasts and Gods admonitions by his Prophets to oppress the widow and fatherless and poor Zach. vii 10 Thus meer natural and evil men sometimes put on the garb of Mortification and exercise rigors upon their bodies and external persons in exchange for the indulgences they allow their beloved appetites and while the strict Discipline reacheth no further though we keep days and fast often yet this will not put us beyond the condition of the Pharisee who fasted twice in the week as himself boasted Luke xviii 12 And 3. An imperfect striver may be very much given to pious and religious discourses He may love to be talking of Divine things especially of the love of Christ to sinners which he may frequently speak of with much earnestness and affection and have that dear name always at his tongues end to begin and close all his sayings and to fill up the void places when he wants what to say next and yet this may be a bad man who never felt those Divine things he talks of and never loved Christ heartily and as he ought 'T was observed before that there are some who have a sort of Devoutness and Religion in their particular Complexion and if such are talkative as many times they are they will easily run into such discourses as agree with their temper and take pleasure in them for that reason and for this also because they are apt to gain us reverence and the good opinion of those with whom we converse And such as are by nature disposed for this faculty may easily get it by imitation and remembrance of the devout forms they hear and read so that there may be nothing Divine in all this nothing but what may consist with unmortified lusts and affections And though such talk
Pharisee â— not in shew and pomp but in real worth and divine esteem So that upon the whole we have no reason to be discouraged because They that do so much are cast out since though we find not those heats and specious things in our selves which we observe in them yet if we are more meek and modest and patient and charitable and humble and just our case is better and we have the Power of Godliness when theirs is but the Form And we whom They accounted aliens and enemies shall enter while they the presumed friends and domesticks shall be shut out But 2. I expect it should be again Objected against this severity of Discourse That our Saviour saith Mat. xi 20 That his yoke is easie and his burden is light which place seems to cross all that hath been said about the Difficulties of Religion And 't is true it hath such an appearance but 't is no more For the words look as cross to the expressions of the same Divine Author concerning the straightness of the Gate and narrowness of the Way as to any thing I have delivered from those infallible sayings Therefore to remove the semblance of contrariety which the objected Text seems to have to those others and to my Discourse we may observe That when our Saviour saith that his yoke is easie the word we read easie is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth very good excellent gracious and the meaning I suppose is That his Precepts had a native beauty and goodness in them That they are congruous and sutable to our reasonable Natures and apt instruments to make us happy In which sense this expression hath no antipathy to the Text or to any thing I have said And whereas 't is added My Burden is light I think by this we are to understand That his Commands are not of that burdensome nature that the Ceremonies of the Iewish Laws were Those were very cumbersome and had nothing in their nature to make them pleasant and agreeable whereas his Religion had no expensive troublesome Rites appendant to it nor did it require any thing but our observation of those Laws which eternal Reason obligeth us to and which of our selves we should choose to live under were we freed from the intanglements of the World and interests of Flesh. So that neither doth this Objection signifie any thing against the scope of my Discourse CHAP. IV. INFERENCES from the whole concerning 1 The true notion of a state of Grace and Nature 2 The great design of Religion to perfect humane nature 3 The agreement and oneness of Christianity and Morality 4 The method of of Grace on the souls of men 5 The nature of the Animal Religion 6 The certain mark whereby to know our state 7 The power of Godliness and the Forms of it SECT I. AND now I am at liberty to descend to the Improvement of what I have said and the things I have to add will be comprehended under these two Generals 1 Inferences and a plain 2 Advice in order to practice I begin with the Inferences and Corollaries that arise from the whole discourse And 1 We may collect What is the state of Nature and what the state of Grace We have seen that 't is the great business of Religion to overcome evil Inclinations and the prevailing influence of sense and passion and evil customs and example and worldly affections And therefore the state of Nature consists in the power and prevalency of These This is that the Scripture calls the Old man Eph. iv 22 The Image of the earthy 1 Cor. xv Flesh Gal v. 17 Death Rom. vii 24 Darkness John iii. 19 and old leaven 1 Cor. v. 7 On the contrary The state of Grace is a state of sincere striving against them which if it keeps on ends in Victory And this is call'd Conversion Acts iii. 19 and Renovation while 't is in its first motions And the Divine Nature 2 Pet. i. 4 the image of the heavenly 1 Cor. xv 20 The Spirit Gal. v. 16 Light Ephes. v. 8 and Life 1 Joh. iii. 14 when 't is arriv'd to more compleatness and perfection For our fuller understanding this we may consider That grace is taken 1 for Divine favour 2 for Christian Vertue As it signifies Divine favour so it is used 1 For those helps and aids God affords us viz. the Gospel Joh. i. 17 and the influences of his Spirit 1 Cor. xii 9 In this sense we are deliver'd from the state of nature by Baptism viz. We are intitled to divine helps which is a kind of regeneration for we are born in a condition of impotence and weakness and destitution of spiritual assistances This is the world of meer nature But then in Baptism we are brought into the world of the spirit that is are put under its influences and are assured of its aids and so are morally born again Not that this Regeneration alone will save us without our endeavours it imports only an external relation and right to priviledges and by these we may be powerfully assisted in our striving if we use them But then 2 Grace too as it signifies divine favour implies his special love and kindness such as he vouchsafes to holy and vertuous men so that we may observe that there may be a distinction between a state of grace and a state of salvation A state of Grace in the former sense is a condition assisted by the influences of Gods Spirit and all baptized persons are in that But if they use not those hâ—lps they are not in Gods special favour and so not in a state of Salvation But when those assistances are duly imployed and join'd with our sincere endeavour then the person so using them is in a state of Salvation also and in Gods special love and favour Thus of the state of Grace in the first sense as taken for divine favour 2 The word is also used for Christian Vertue 2 Peter iii. 18 and vertue is call'd grace because 't is wrought in us by the assistance of Gods Spirit and the light of the Gospel which are divine favours and to be in a state of grace in this sense is to be a virtuous man which supposeth divine aids and intitles to divine love These things I have taken an occasion thus briefly to state and I have done it because there is oft-times much confusion in mens discourses about Grace and Nature from which much trouble and many controversies have arisen And by what I have said also in these brief hints the Doctrine of our Church in the office of Baptism may be understood cleerly and will appear to be very sound and true notwithstanding the petty exceptions of those that understand not what they say nor whereof they affirm SECT II. II I may infer That the great design of Religion and the Gospel is to perfect Humane nature The perfection of our natures consists as I have intimated in the subjection and
5. Chapter of Matthew is an excellent Lecture of this kind So that to disparage morality is to disgrace Christianity it self and to vilifie one of the ends of Christs coming into the world For all Religion and all duties respect either God our neighbour or our selves and the duties that relate to these two last are moral vertues The Apostle St. Iames counted these Moralities of visiting the Widow and Fatherless to be the pure Religion and undefiled â— Jam. i. 17 And the Prophet Micah intimates that those moral virtues of justice and mercy were some of the main things that God required of us Mich. vi 8 Our Saviour saith that the whole Law is summ'd up in these two to love God with all our souls and our neighbour as our selves Math. xxii 13 which latter contains the duties of morality And that which the grace of God in the Gospel teacheth according to St Paul is to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. ii 11 There is no godliness without morality All the fruits of the Spirit reckon'd up Gal. v. 22 are moral virtues And when we are commanded to groâ— in grace 2 Pet. iii. 18 vertue is partly understood For one branch of what is call'd Grace in us is moral vertue produced by divine aids Christian principles and incouragements though 't is true the word is extended to those duties that relate immediately to God also By which we see how ignorantly and dangerously those people talk that disparage morality as a dull lame thing of no account or reckoning Upon this the Religion of the 2d Table is by too many neglected and the whole mystery of the new Godliness is lay'd in frequent hearing and devout seraphick talk luscious phancies new lights incomes manifestations sealings in-dwellings and such like Thus Antinomianism and all kinds of Phanaticism have made their way by the disparagement of morality and men have learnt to believe themselves the chosen pretious people while their hearts have been full of malice and bitterness and their hands of violence while they despised dominions and spoke evil of dignities rebel'd against the Government destroyed publique peace and endeavoured to bring all into misery and confusions 'T is this diabolical project of dividing morality from Religion that hath given rise and occasion to all these villanies And while the practisers of such things have assumed the name of the only godly Godliness it self hath been brought into disgrace by them and Atheism incouraged to shew it self in open defiance to Religion Yea through the indiscretions and inconsiderateness of some preachers the phantastry and vain babble of others and the general disposition of the people to admire what makes a great shew and pretends to more then ordinary spirituality things are in many places come to that pass that those who teach Christian vertue and Religion in plainness and simplicity without senseless phrases and phantastick affectations shall be reckon'd for dry moralists and such as understand nothing of the life and power of Godliness Yea those people have been so long used to gibberish and canting that they cannot understand plain sense and vertue is become such a stranger to their ears that when they hear it spoken of in a pulpit they count the preacher a broacher of new divinity and one that would teach the way to heaven by Philosophy And he escapes well if they do not say That he is an Atheist or that he would reconcile us to Gentilism and Heathen Worship The danger and vanity of which ignorant humour the contempt of morality is apparent in the whole scope of my Discourse and therefore I add no more concerning it here but proceed to another Inference which is SECT IV. IV. That Grace and the new Nature make their way by degrees on the soul for the difficulties will not be removed nor the corrupt nature subdued all at once Habits that grow by repeated acts time and continuance will not be expelled in a moment No man can become greatly evil or good on a sudden The Path of the just shines more and more to a perfect day Prov. iv 18 We do not jump from darkness into full light We are not fully sanctified and converted in an instant The day begins in an insensible dawn and the Kingdom of heaven is like a grain of Mustard seed Mat. xiii 31 It doth not start up presently to the stature of a tree The Divine birth begins like the Natural in an imperfect embryo There are some seeds of Knowledge and Goodness that God hath sown in our natures these are excited by the Divine Grace and Spirit to convictions which proceed to purposes these to resolutions and thence we pass to abstinence from all gross sins and the performance of outward Duties and so at last by degrees to vigorous attempts for the destruction of evil habits and inclinations When Grace is arrived to this eminent growth 't is very visible as the Plant is when 't is above the ground But the beginnings of Conversion are not ordinarily perceived So that to catechize men about the punctual time and circumstances of their Conversion is an idle device and a great temptation to vanity and lying Who can tell the exact moment when the night ends and the dawn enters 'T is true indeed the passage from the excesses of Wickedness which begins in some extraordinary horrors and convictions is sometimes very notable but 't is not not so in all or most The time of St. Paul's Conversion was eminent but that change was from great contrarieties and miraculous and therefore 't is not to be drawn into instance Both the beginnings and minute progressions of Grace are usually undiscerned We cannot see the Grass just putting out of the earth or actually growing but yet we find that it doth both And Grace is better known in its fruits than in its rise By their Fruits ye shall know them saith our Saviour Mat. xii 33 and the same way we may know our selves SECT V. V. We see that there is an Animal as well as a Divine Religion A Religion that is but the effect and modification of complexion natural fear and self love How far these will go we have seen and how short it will prove in the end The not noting this hath been the sad occasion of deceiving many Some observing great heats of zeal and devotion in the modern Pharisees take these to be the Saints and good people believing all the glorious things which they assume to themselves When others that know them to be envious and malitious unjust and covetous proud and ungovernable and cannot therefore look on them as such choise holy people are apt to affirm all to be hypocrisie and feigning In which sentences both are mistaken for want of knowing that there is a meer Animal Religion that will produce very specious and glorious effects So that though the Pharisee Prays vehemently and Fasts severely and talks much of the love of
feigned Piety But all the fine things of the Animal Religion I have mentioned are of this kind and they are the worst sort By the grosser Forms men hardly deceive others by these they effectually gull themselves So that many that vehemently oppose Forms are the greatest Formalists themselves Forms of Worship may well agree with the Power of Godliness when as zeal against Forms may be a Form it self whatever makes shew of Religion and doth not make us better that 's a Form at least to us There are Spiritual Forms as well as those of the other sort and these are most deadly Poyson is worst in Aqua-Vitae He that speaks his Prayers ex tempore with vehemence and lowdness if he strive not against his ill nature and self will is as much a Formalist as he that tells his Prayers by his Beads and understands not one word he saith And those that run away from Forms in Churches meet more dangerous ones in Barns and private corners Orthodox Opinions devout Phrases set Looks melting Tones affected Sighs and vehement Raptures are often meer Forms of Godliness that proceed from the Animal Religion which it self is a Form likewise O that the observers of so many motes in their Brothers eye would learn to throw out the Beams of their own The Form of Godliness that pretends it self to be no more is not so hurtful But the Forms that call themselves the Power are deadly 'T is the Formality and Superstition of Separatists that keeps on the Separation They contend for phancies and arbitrary trifles We for order and obedience The People are abused by names and being frighted by the shadows of Superstition and Formality they run into the worst Formality and silliest Superstition in the World The Kingdom of heaven consists not in meats and drinks Rom. xiv 17 neither in Circumcision nor Uncircumcision 1 Cor. vii 19 not in zeal for little things nor against them both the one and the other are equally formal The power of Religion lies in using Divine aids heartily and constantly in order to the overcoming the Difficulties of our way This Godliness is not exercised so much in reforming others as our selves The chief design is to govern within and not to make Laws for the World without us This is that Wisdom that is from above which is pure and peaceable Jam. iii. 17 It makes no noise and bluster abroad but quietly minds its own business at home So that certainly the best men have not always had the greatest fame for Godliness as the wisest have very seldom been the most popular They are the effects of the Animal Religion that make the biggest shew The voice of true Religion is heard in quiet it sounds not in the corners of the street The power of Godliness is seen in Iustice Meekness Humility and Charity things that look not so splendidly as the Spiritual Forms And thus of the INFERENCES and COROLLARIES that may be drawn from my Discourse which though they cannot all be inferred from any of its minute and separated parts yet they lie in the design and contexture of it CHAP. V. Practical Advice for a CONCLUSION I Hasten now to Advice for Practice The way of Happiness is difficult but the difficulties may be overcome by striving A little will not do many seekers are shut out what remains then but that we perswade our selves to strive and that diligently with constant resolution and endeavour We were made for Happiness and Happiness all the World seeks Who will shew us any good Psal. iv 6 is the voice of all the Creatures We have sought it long in emptiness and shadows and that search hath still ended in shame and disappointment Where true substantial Felicity is we know and the Way we know Joh. xiv 4 It is not hid from us in Clouds and thick Darkness or if it were 't were worth our pains to search after it It is not at so great a distance but it may be seen yea it may be brought so near as to be felt Though the way is streight yet 't is certain or if it were otherwise who would not venture his pains upon the possibility of such an issue Many Difficulties are in it but our Incouragements and Assistances are infinite The love of God and the gift of his son the bloud of Christ and his intercession the aids of the Spirit and the directions of the Gospel the Invitations and Promises the rare Precepts and incomparable Examples of those holy men that have gone before us These are mighty helps and great motives to assist us in striving and to quicken us to it Let us then arise in the strength of Faith and in the incouragement of those aids and attempt with courage upon the Difficulties of our way Let us ingage our deepest Resolutions and most diligent endeavours Here is no need to deliberate the things are necessary the benefits unspeakable and the event will be glorious It is no Question I hope whether God or the Creature is to be first chosen whether Heaven or Hell be better and therefore there is no cause that we should stay and consider we cannot be rash here we cannot hurt our selves by a too sudden ingagement we have delayed too long already and every moment we sit still is one lost to our Duty and our Happiness Let us resolve then and begin with courage and proceed with diligence 't is our End and Felicity for which we are to strive and every thing is active for its End and Perfection All Creatures are diligent in serving the Designs of Providence the Heavens are in restless motion and the Clouds are still carrying about their fruitful Waters the sluggish Earth it self is always putting forth in variety of Trees and Grass and Flowers the Rivers run towards the Sea the Brooks move towards them and the Sea within it self Thus all things even in inanimate Nature may mind us of acting towards our end And if we look a little higher the Beasts of the Field the Fowls and Cattel and creeping things are diligent in striving after the good and perfection of their Natures and Solomon sends the Sluggard to those little Insects the Ant and Bee to teach him activity and diligence Prov. vi 6 And shall the Beasts act more reasonably than the professed Sons of Reason May it not shame us that we need instruction from the Creatures that have no understanding With what face can we carry our heads so high and look down with Contempt upon inferiour Animals when they live more wisely and more regularly than we The Sum is All things are incessantly moving towards an End and Happiness is ours which therefore should ingage our most careful Thoughts and most active Endeavours We are solicitous and diligent about things of infinitely less moment and in effect of none viz. uncertain Riches sensual Pleasures and worldly Honours though the way to these is sufficiently difficult and uneasie yet we are not discouraged