my self only in proportion to what I share of thee for I know this is the Standard by which God now value me and will hereafter judge me If this be the end of Religion onely to implant goodness and charity amongst us to make us holy and like God and kind and beneficial one to another what is it that the World hates it for I may say concerning those who persecute Christianity as St. Peter did of those who Crucified its Author I wot that through ignorance ye did it Act. 3 17. Surely it is because you do not discern its beauty that you do not Love it If any retir'd life promote the end I have mention'd as well as an Active once I would not be thought to condemne it The Prayer O God the Heaven and Earth are full of thy goodness the faculties of our souls and the senses of our bodies are all imploy'd in the contemplation and enjoyment of it O make us who worship thee to imitate thee too that we may be thy children indeed make our souls delight to do goood and imprint in us such tender and compassionate Bowels towards one another as our dear Lord and Master had towards us Amen Amen blessed Jesus CHAP. IV. Of Chrictian practice in particular HAving consider'd the Nature of Christianity in respect to practice in the general I am now to speak of it more particularly but not pretending to give an account of every single virtue I will dwell upon Three Which contain the substance of the Christian duty i.e. Faith Love and Humility I will not apologize for the unphilosophical placing of Faith amongst practical duties the following discourse will clear the reason of it I place humility in the last place not because there is not an humility which is precedent to and disposes men for the reception of faith but because I look upon that humility which is consequent to and caus'd by it and which must always accompany it to render it acceptable in a more peculiar and proper sense an Evangelical grace 1. Of Faith When I read the glorious Achievements of a true Faith Heb. 11. That it subdued Kingdomes wrought Righteousness obtained promises c. and in one word supported men under the greatest miseries and arm'd them against the most taking pleasures of this World I cannot sufficiently wonder that a fuller and clearer discovery of a Heaven confirm'd to us by the strongest evidences i. e. the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power should have so weak an influence upon us Christians we take no more pains for Heaven than if we did not believe there were such a place and we have the same cares and fears in respect of the things present which Heathens and Infidels have so that tho' we talk much of Faith we make little or no use at all of it Therefore least any man delude and fool himself with a perswasion of being endowed with that Faith which he hath not I 'le give such an account of it as agrees with the Gospel of the Kingdom as suits with and serves the necessities of mankind and the end and Aims of God Faith saith the blessed Apostle is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen the substance or presence the evidence or Proof 't is not a slight transient glance drowsie imperfect assent a staggering wavering opinion but 't is a lively representation an affective vision a full perswasion of the glorious truths of the Gospel when the Objects are so fully and clearly evident that they not onely convince but take us too it is having the mind enlightn'd and so looking upon things with the eys of Angels and judging by the light of the blessed Spirit It is not only to see that the things invisible are but to see them in some measure such as they are Eternity as Eternity and Heaven as Heaven that is a state of truely great and glorious happiness on this account the things present may have a different face and aspect when regarded by the eyes of Faith and when of Sense for sense stops in the things themselves and regards their usefulness to the pleasure or profit of this present life but Faith carries its sight forward and compares the things which are seen with those hoped for the things temporal with those eternal and then all below appears but meer vanity This whole account of Faith we may find in the 13 verse of Heb. 11. These all died in Faith and what it is to dye or live in Faith the following words explain not having reciev'd the promises i.e. the accomplishment of them but having seen them a far off i. e. by divine Revelation were perswaded of them and embraced them and the natural consequence of this was and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth Now Faith is unalterable as to its essence but its objects may vary they may be more or fewer clearer or darker according to the Nature of divine revelation Heb. 1.1 its evidence may be fuller or weaker but still it must be such as may suffice to convince man of the Divine authority of the Revelation As to the Christian Faith 2. Its objects are the whole Gospeâ—â— of Christ God the Father such as he is reveal'd by the Son God the Son incarnate crucified c. The Rewards and punishments contain'd in it and all in order to engage us to an entire obedience to its holy and righteous Precepts By Faith I see that God who is invisible who tho he dwels in Heaven doth yet humble himself to behold all that is done upon Earth nor doth he only behold but govern all things too And whilst I contemplate his Wisedom Power Truth Goodness Holiness Justice c. manifested to me in the Gospel I adore and worship him I love and fear him I call on and relie upon him I endeavour to walk before him and be perfect I know nothing like him and therefore I desire nothing beside him or equal to him in Heaven or in Earth By Faith I see the Son of God abandoning the bosome and the Glory of his Father descending upon Earth and assuming the form of a Servant that by his doctrine and example he might propagate Righteousness and holiness in the world I trace him thorough all the Stages of his sufferings and travel till I behold him fasten'd to the Cross and bleeding out his meek and holy Soul at those painful wounds the nails had made and all this for my sins and the sins of the whole World and then with what a strange mixture of Passions that sight fills me with grief and shame and yet with love and hope too How I am amaz'd to see what indignation a holy God hath discover'd against Sin and how my heart bleeds to think that my sins have treated thus despitefully and cruelly my dear Lord and Master and with what a melting passion and vigorous resolutions of a fervent industrious service and an everlasting zeal
Religion is in its essence an inward and spiritual Holiness outward actions can be considered but two wayes either as the means and instruments or else as the fruits and effects of Holiness and both ways a sober temperate Life as to the general course of it is indispensably necessary tho I cannot here deny but that there must be an allowance made for the variety of Tempers and the different strengths of grace c. proportionable to each mans different case Having thus given an Account of the nature of the Holiness which the Gospel requires I come 2. To shew that it tends to promote Gods Glory and Mans Happiness 1. Gods Glory 1. Though a right understanding be wholly necessary to yet it self is no part of Divine worship it is not meer knowledge or belief of a truth but Love and Fear and Obedience by which we honour God and devote our selves to him there is no where more light of knowledge Heaven excepted than in those Regions of darkness where the most impious Spirits dwell but no body will say that they there worship God 't is true an understanding illuminated is certainly a beautiful thing but then if it be joyn'd to an unsanctified will the Man in the whole is the most deform'd and loathsome thing imaginable for he is made up of two the most disproportionable and contradictory things as if he were formed as the Poet fancies men growing out of the slime of the Deluge the upper parts enlivened flesh and bloud the lower mud and clay the light of the understanding enhaunces the guilt of malice and degeneracy in the Will for to see God and not love and obey him is strangely malicious but if his beauty be not ador'd by things that have no eyes to see it 't is not to be wondred at If you had been blind then had you had no sin 2. The Heavens saith the Psalmist declare the glory of God c. Their brightness and vastness whilst they engage our wonder invite us to the contemplation of the Power and Infiniteness and Majesty of their Architect so Holy and Good men declare his glory too for being renewed after his Image in Holiness and righteousness they represent to the World an imperfect draught of some of the glorious attributes 〈◊〉 God they worship thus as the power of Miracles imported to the Apostles forc'd the Beholders to glorifie God who had given such gifts unto men so too Christ exhorts his Disciples to let their Light shine before men that when they see those good works they may glorifie God who is in Heaven induc'd by the loveliness of that Goodness deriv'd from him as the other were by his power 3. It is Goodness by which we own a God and acknowledge him to be ours Divine worship is the confession of our meanness and his Majesty and conformity to his Laws is the fullest proof we can give of our Allegiance and his Supremacy and therefore they who live irreligiously let 'em pretend to believe and think what they will are said to be without God in the world and to deny him in their works 4. Holiness or Goodness is really Divine worship and therefore it is in Scripture defin'd to be Religion and Wisdome and Knowledge To know God this is Wisdom and to depart from evil this is understanding To do Justice to releive the Poor and Needy is not this to know God saith the Lord pure Religion and undefiled is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their affliction and to keep ones self unspotted from the world more plainly what is worship but the cleaving to God with purity and earnestness of Affections acting in conformity to his Law as those Affections shall invite and inable us and this is the very same thing with Holiness So that it is plain that Holiness and Goodness contribute to Gods Glory the two only wayes we are only capable of glorifying him that is by our own particular worship and by the influence our example hath upon others § 2. It is most serviceable to the Happiness of Man here and hereafter 1. Here. 1. All the advantage of peacefu Governments friendly Neighborhood I comfortable and closer unions and pleasant Retirements depend on and arise from Goodness But suppose the World planted with Covetousness instead of Justice Pride instead of Meekness Cruelty instead of Compassion Revenge and Malice instead of Mildness and Charity falshood and lying instead of Constancy and Truth c. and imagine if you can whether all Societies would not be torn into as many Factions as there are cross interests and opposite passions whether any Commerce could be just and smooth any tie lasting and delightful whether it were possible to find security or pleasure either in a private or a publick Life 2. It is Holiness which best secures a mans inward peace guards and arms him against those impressions which outward temptations make prescribes bounds to our Desires scatters our Fears confirms our Hopes raises our Affections to things of true and lasting Excellency that is in few words it not only settles our peace by establishing the empire of the mind over the inferiour Appetites but also provides for our pleasure by filling the mind with spiritual Joyes and Peace and Hope 2. Hereafter 3. Goodness is wholly necessary 1. To recommend us to the Love of God whose infinite purity and excellency cannot approve of any thing that is sinful and unholy This is the Message that we have received of him that God is Light c. Where you see that the Law is founded in his Nature hath an intrinsick resemblance to his own Holiness and by consequence he can neither alter it nor dispence with its Observation 2. To qualifie us for Heaven for it is Goodness which weans the Soul from all fondness for the Body and the World and possesses it with an intense Love of God and Holiness which two things do first capacitate it for that world wherein God and holy Spirits dwell and Secondly recommend it to greater degrees of Glory and Happyness in it Besides all this the Scripture speaks This Doctrine in express terms the grace of God which hath appear'd unto all men teacheth us c. This was the great business of our Saviours Life he was still instructing men in the doctrine of the Kingdome that is Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety His Miracles did confirm the Divinity of his Person and this too was carefully secur'd to gain authority to his Doctrine I will conclude this Chapter with the absurdity of the contrary Doctrine Of what use would the Gospel be in relation either to God's Glory or Mans happiness if it were onely to be believ'd and not obeyed To what purpose is light come into the world if men may still love darkness to what purpose did the Son who lay in the bosome of the Father reveal him more gloriously to us if knowing him as God it be yet lawful for us not to glorifie him
God and inform'd by man and therefore on all these accounts an humble Man can never be enthusiastical obstinate or seditious for he can never arrive at that height of Spiritual pride as to conceit himself the onely favourite of Heaven and fit for extroardinary illuminations nor at that height of carnal pride as to be a buisie body a stiff asserter of his own humour or judg of his superiours on earth and so think himself more fit to Reign than to suffer In one word Humilities whole deportment is sweet and gentle its very zeal is modest its reprehension soft and timerous its Prayers awful its reflections mournful and its hopes of Heaven softly growing it is neither severe nor peevish obstinate nor hasty bold nor selfish insolent nor querulous it can suffer its wounds to be prov'd and search'd and kisses the hand whilest it loaths the filth it doth not insult o're anothers errours nor excuse its own nay rather its modesty conceals its beauties and blushes at the discovery of its own excellencies it never prostitutes to beg praises nay if it accidentally meet them it is rather burden'd and oppress'd than puff'd up by them I will then account my self to have attain'd to some degree of this grace when I can possess my soul at rest when I delight in the milk of Gods word more than its heights and entricacies in obedience more than disputes and fancies when I can receive evil from the hand of God as well as good when I can sacrifice my own will to the caprice of a Superiour the obstinacy of an inferiour or the humour of an equal when I can suffer wrongfully and yet meekly when I can look upon the glories and the power of this World and contentedly say I am not born for these I am not call'd to the enjoyment of these but of the Cross here and Glory hereafter I am to tread in the steps of my dear Lord and Master and nothing shall make me have any other designs than those he had and when I have done all this and am assur'd that I love and serve my God I relie onely upon the merits and sufferings of my Saviour for Salvation and a Crown This duty of Humility is the most useful and the most difficult in Christianity the most useful for it recommends us to God indears us to men and establishes a Peace and calm in our own bosomes the most difficult for it is to renounce what is most near and dear to us our interest and pleasures our reputation nay our very selves our understanding will and affections There are two mighty motives wich are most insisted on by the holy Spirit the one is that Humility is the way to the increase of Grace here and to greater measures of Glory hereafter God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted the other is the example of our Saviour who tho so great as to be the Son of God and to think it no Robbery to be equal to God so innocent that he had no guilt upo him none could accuse him of sin so dignified as to be Prophet Priest and King did yet debase himself to the meanest services on purpose that he might leave his Disciples a pattern to imitate tho he were adorn'd by all that might give him a just claim to Honour as Birth Virtue and the Dignity of the most illustrious functions yet he was as much the humblest as he was the greatest as much the most meek as the most innocent of the Sons of Men and if he our Lord and Master stoopt so low what can we who are at that vast distance beneath him do or suffer that is capable of disparaging us Besides these considerations it will be very useful towards implanting humility in us to know God and our selves his Dayes are without Beginning or Ending his perfections have no bounds he is Independent and immutable he is his own Heaven and his own happiness but we are dust and the Sons of Corruption born yesterday and we shall dye to morrow our bodies heavy sluggish crafie beings of a few spans long our souls are blind and ambitious passionate froward jealous inconstant foolish things those are the seat or abode of numerous pains and diseases These of as numerous and as painful passions the World we live in is a meer phantasm and cheat that first invites and then deludes our appetites for enjoyment it self is but a dying itch and the mockery of a waking dream the time past reflects our sins and follies the present is troubled with regret and desires and vexations and the future will be what the present now is for when all is nothing what can be the end of our hopes and cares but disappointment And all this consider'd is not God most fit to Govern and we to obey he to be exalted and we to be humbled but why do I compare Man to God! let us compare him but to the Angels of God and how inconceiveably more excellent is their being and their state than ours how wise and knowing how refin'd and pure their substances we see but thorough a Cloud and are clad with an earthy body they dwell in the Circles of Glory in the Sun-shine of the Almighty's presence and in a numerous Choire of the most pleasant and delightful company We in long Nights and cold Winters and barren Soils and lonesome-shades tir'd with sullen toilsome business and dull insipid conversation and only wait for the approaching day and the rendevouz of blessed Spirits in Heaven Lord what is Man The Prayer O Thou God who resistest the Proud and givest grace to the Humble possess me with a meek and humble Spirit teach me to tread in the steps of my blessed Saviour to serve and Minister to obey and suffer teach me to know Thee my God and my self that the sence of thy incomprehensible glory and my meanness may level all my foolish conceits of my self and cloath me with humility through Jesus Christ our Lord. O my God make me resign'd and obedient to thee Subject to my Superiours modest towards my equals and meek to my Inferiours make me to despise the praise and honour of man being content with the conscience of doing good make me see the imperfections of my best actions and relye upon thy mercy for Salvation thorough the blood of Christ that my Soul may here find rest and hereafter Glory Amen Amen Blessed Jesus Sect. 5. Of Perfection It is an opinion generally receiv'd that the least degree of true Faith will save the soul but I hope men mean such a degree of it as overcomes the World and subdues the Flesh for otherwise I should very much question whether it be not that seed which becometh unfruitful thorough the cares of the World and deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things Mar. 4.19 If they say that that Faith which doth not overcome the World and the Flesh is
that its acts are easie and delightful for Habit is but another Nature so Holiness is call'd in Scripture a new Nature and what is natural is pleasant when our graces are full of Life and Vigour when our sight is grown clearer and our affections warmer and we converse with God and Heaven then it is that we begin to enjoy the sweets of Religion that we anticipate our Heaven by performing his will on earth as it is done in Heaven Religion is at first employed in the unpleasant tho wholesome severities of cutting off Right Hands and pulling out Right Eyes Lusts become so natural they were become our members but afterwards having conquer'd the World his commandements are not grievous but full of delight and satisfaction in Conversion as in the alteration of an Old building we first demolish those parts which are not uniform and beautiful and this presents us with nothing but rubbish and ruins but afterwards we raise up an orderly beautiful and lightsome building where we may solace and entertain our selves 3. An Exalted Holiness is not only delightsome in the very acts and exercises of its graces but in the fruits and effects of them Joy and Peace and Hope are the natural consequences of this State of Perfection and its actions because such a mans Love of God is now so evident and manifest he hath no longer room to doubt of it and then what a ravishing pleasure must it be to be able to survey all the glorious promises of the Gospel as such which himself is an heir to who can with full assurance think himself just upon the confines of Heaven within a moment of entring into joy without a very sensible transport 4. It 's entitled to greater measures of Glory in the Life to come Tho the lowest degree of future glory be above the merit of the most holy Life and tho God may do what he will with his own so that the chiefest Saint could not have just reason to complain tho the meanest were equall'd with him yet it is plain that there will be order in another World and those stars of the Morning of the Resurrection will differ in Glory and this will be proportion'd to their Behaviour in this life he which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully 2 Cor. 9.6 Is it not therefore highly reasonable on this account that we should aspire after the greatest degrees of Holiness we can for who would not desire to be as happy and as glorious as he can It is now apparent that perfection is a duty propos'd to us upon very powerful and glorious motives for who that is wise will not take pains to arrive at that perfection which is a State of greater security greater ease and pleasure more acceptable to God and entitled to greater degrees of Glory in Heaven For the attainment of this State observe these few Rules 1. Believe a Holy Just Almighty God every where present neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 Nay God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things If Heaven be his Throne Earth is his Footstool and therefore walk not only as preparing to meet him but as already before him this will awe a wandring spirit and it will not be easie to fear and sin and it will awaken a decaying affection and it will not be easie to omit a duty it will teach us how to judg our actions impartially and we shall neither impose upon our selvs by fondness nor do any thing for opinion sake when we consider that we have God for a Judge and Spectator I am th' almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect Gen. 17.2 2. Consider frequently and seriously the Life and Death the sufferings and the Crown of the blessed Jesus for his Life will convince you how lovely and pleasant virtue is altho' it seem to the World foolish contemptible and painful his death will inform you what Obligation you lye under to Holyness for will you not love and obey that Saviour who hath redeem'd you by his Blood and are you not sensible that our Heavenly Father is strangely in love with Holiness since he doth propagate it by such a method his Crown and his Kingdome will breath fresh Life and Spirits into your affections this is the motive which the Apostle Heb. 12. Makes use of to perswade us to lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and to run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despised the shame and is set down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself least ye be wearied and faint in your minds upon the same bottom is grounded that exhortation of St. Paul 1 Cor. 15.58 Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. 3. Each morning endeavour to foresee what temptations you are to encounter that day and summon up all the strengths of Grace and Nature of Religion and reason against the hour of Tryal survey each part of the Fort and having discover'd which is the weak place of the soul and most approachable secure it by a strong guard by arguments and Prayers and a diligent watch there are many things harsh to flesh and blood which are to be undergone for the sake of Christ and therefore weigh well the strength of your own resolutions whether you are able to engage so powerful an enemy as the World and Flesh thus our blessed Lord when Luk. 14.26 27. he had told them that if they would be his Disciples they must bear his Cross exhorts them to consider beforehand their engagement and to see that their preparations be suitable to the difficulty by the examples of a builder who first sitteth down to count the cost whether he have sufficient to finish his intended building and of a King who going to War with another King doth first sit down and consider whether he hath strength enough to meet him and when you have done this commit your self by Prayers to God and then march forth out of your Chamber into the World like a Souldier out of his Camp into the field upon the day of battle And each evening look over all the passages of the Day and see how you have behaved your self what victory you have gain'd what ground you have got what grace is most faint and sickly c. and alwayes close this exercise with a serious Reflection upon the nature of thy Life how fast it steals away into Eternity enter in fancy into the
Doectrine and we shal find this was the great business of his Life to instruct men in the will of God to acquaint them with a true and spiritual holyness for as the Law came by Moses so grace and truth came by Jesus Christ in regard of which he calls himself the way the truth and the Life and all this by Commission from the Father Jo. 15.15 All that I have heard of the Father I have manifested unto you From hence I may infer That the planting the world with Holyness was an undertaking becoming the Son of God a Design worthy of his Incarnation the Jewes vainly expected that he should have built them up into a glorious Empire and secured to them the Enjoyment of Honour and pleasure in this Life but since the meek and humble Jesus despis'd this as a trifling design it manifestly appears that Mortification in him self denial is above all the Romantick gallantry of ambitious spirits That to be Good is somewhat more noble than to be Great to despise the world is more than to conquer it to subdue the flesh a richer happyness than to be able to caress it with all the flatteries of Luxury and greatness and to know God and obey his will a greater honour and happyness than to command the Lives and fortunes of Mankind How can this consideration chuse but beget in the minds of men a strange veneration for Religon and a Love of Holyness why should we with a prepostrous ambition affect those fooleries of the world and neglect true honor and happiness true greatness perfection tho we our selvs should not be able to discover it yet we may very reasonably collect both the beauty and necessity of Holyness from the value an infinitly wise God hath of it which he doth sufficently express in labouring the reformation of the world with so much earnestness in imploying so much care and so much wisdome about it in makeing use of so glorious an instrument as his own Son the brightness of his Fathers Image c. The works of nature and providence together with that light he shed upon our nature being sufficient to work in us a natural Religion had left our disobedience inexcusable when he added so many other miraculous manifestations of his glory and his will and the instruction of Prophets authoriz'd by Miracles and foreknowledge of things to come all this must needs render them to whom it was address'd much more inexcusable and what shall we think of our selves to whom he hath in the dispensation of the fullness of time sent Jesus Christ declared to be the Son of God by Power by the spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the Dead God might well expect as the Lord in the Parable Surely they will reverence my Son The greatness of his Person is very fit to beget an Awe and Belief too therefore as the Grace is greater so must the punishment of its rejection This is the conclusion S. Paul draws from the Divinity of his Person prov'd in the first Chapt. to the Heb. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip for if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast And every transgression and disobedience receiv'd a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord c. Heb. 2. If we secondly consider the Life of Jesus only as a great example of the most exalted Holiness of obedience towards God charity towards his Neighbour purity and self-denial towards himself we shall not only find in it a clear light to direct us in the practice of vertue but also powerful motives to ingage us to it for if our great Lord and Master the Son of God did thus deny himself and renounce the world what kind of Humility and Mortification will become us who are so far beneath him and in whom are such violent propensions to sin how will it become us to walk who profess our selves the Disciples of so holy and so excellent a Master we cannot be his Disciples unless we walk as he walk'd for this was it he aim'd at to set us an example and the thing we are to learn of him is his Holiness If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed c. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest to your souls He that saith he abides in him ought himself also to walk so even as he walked All which imports a necessity of our imitation of him and implies our straying from his example to be an interpretative Renunciation of our Discipleship Secondly In the example of his Life we may discern the Beauty and the Happiness of a Holy Life how lovely how great how Majestick was that Goodness and Innocence which shin'd in him and as a consequence of this Holiness with what serenity and calmness of affections did he enjoy himself with what assurance of mind did he encounter all afflictions and look forward towards another life these are pleasures which all must needs value who can understand them and all may enjoy them who will lead godly lives Thirdly from him we learn how wise and reasonable a thing it is to prefer all the hardships which accompany Religion to the vanities of this world since he who was best acquainted with the happiness of another life and could have commanded all the advantages of this despis'd all the flattering pleasures of this life and chose the Cross and the afflictions of Righteousness that he might obtain an Everlasting Crown Let us chuse as he did and we shall never be mistaken nor let us be frighten'd at any difficulty the same Spirit which strengthen'd him shall make us too Conquerours nor can the World menace us with any thing worse than what he endur'd Want and Scorn and Travel and Death a shameful and a painful death which is that which constitutes the Second part of the History of our Saviour and is a very passionate invitation to Holiness considered either as an Expiatian of our sins or as an act of his obedience to God as an Expiation it must 1. Plainly convince the world of the fatal deadly nature of sin for when I see the Son of God strugling with the torments of the Cross groaning under the pain of his Wounds pale and gastly breathing forth his Soul in the agonies of Death I cannot think that the goodness as well as wisdom of the Divine Nature could have thought fit for sin to have been atton'd by so bitter a Sacrifice unless the weight and horrour of it had call'd for such an Expiation and shall I play and fool with sin as a harmless thing when its guilt can't be cleans'd but by the Blood of the Son of God Surely the greatness of the Sacrifice was intended to intimate to mankind the
thou hast done in all Meekness and Charity and Faith and Hope that I may be fitted for those Mansions thou art gone before to prepare for me Amen Amen SECT IV. Cantaining the fourth Motive to Holiness i. e. the Consideration of the vanity of all those things which tempt us to sin A Man who should have seriously laid to heart the strength and importance of these Motives to Holiness which I have considered would be apt to think that nothing less than some unimaginable temptation or some unavoidable necessity in the contrivance of our natures could provoke men to cast off all these Obligations and break thorough all these obstructions that he might sin and die but on the quite contraty which doth strangely reproach the folly of the sinner 1. Those things which are the allurements to fin have little or no temptation in them 2. Sin it self is a silly base thing And 3. Man hath strength enough offer'd to enable him to avoid it 1. The first I shall have occasion to consider fully in the third part of this Treatise and thither I refer the Reader only by the way we must take notice there is no more sttess to be laid upon this Argument than it will bear and that this Argument hath still respect to the joys and punishments of another life the sensual satisfactions of Man are very little and trifling compar'd with the pleasures of Heaven and it can never be worth a mans while to be damn'd for them yet sure if there were no life to come it would behove every man to be content with and make the most of this nor do I at all doubt but that men may manage their lusts so as that they may not be able to infer Reason enough to relinquish them from any influence they have upon their interest or if any one should think it necessary to purchase a pleasure by the shortning of his life or the lessening of his Estate I cannot see why he may not have reason on his side for a short life and a merry one and my mind to me a Kingdom is would upon the former supposition be a wise Proverb for upon this supposition the pleasure of the mind would be very narrow and faint and the checks of Conscience would be none or insignificant But as the case stands now though there be pleasure in sin and deceitfulness in lust granted in Scripture to abandon the hopes of Heaven for some carnal pleasures upon Earth is like Esau to sell his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage and on the other hand to renounce all present enjoyments for the sake of Heaven is like Peter to forsake a worn Fisher-boat and broken Nets a troubled Lake and uncertain Hopes for the assurance of a Crown and Kingdom which is surely very reasonable And now I pass on to the second thing and fifth Section SECT V. Containing a fifth Motive to Holiness from the Nature of Vertue and Vice IN 1 Ep. Jo. 1. this is set down as the great Message which Christ came to acquaint the world with that God is light and in him is no darkness at all and therefore they who walk in the light have fellowship with him and they that walk in darkness have none where it is plain that S. John founded the necessity of Holiness in the Divine Nature because God is holy therefore he must first renounce his own Nature e're he can establish any other contrary Laws or love or hate on any other condition than Holiness and sin This being so I think the best way to discover the Nature of Vertue and Vice is to consider how the one renders us like God and the other unlike him The Account we have of the Nature of God is that he is a Spirit of Eternal Life Infinite Power Wisdom Goodness Justice and Truth these are the chief of his Attributes and such as Reason it self acknowledges to be the highest perfections and excellencies imaginable If Holiness therefore tend to implant and improve some resemblances of them in men and Vice to efface and extinguish them it will easily appear how the one makes us like God and the other unlike him 1 God is a Spirit it is true that Vertue and Vice do not change the substances of things and make Spirit Flesh or Flesh Spirit yet because they do so wonderfully transform things by instilling new qualities and so altering the operations of beings they are in Scripture said to do so Thus because Vertue raises and refines the Soul frees it from those Fogs which a sensual dotage casts about it scatters a new light upon it and mortifies those affections which reign in the body and render it more obedient to the mind so that the man lives the life of Faith as becomes a wise and an immortal being therefore it is said in the Language of the Holy Ghost to have render'd him a spiritual man and on the other side because sin doth stupifie and sensualize the mind imbolden and pamper the body so that the soul seems to have chang'd its nature into flesh and relishes nothing of those pleasures which are properly spiritual but is wholly taken up with those enjoyments which are the proper and natural entertainments of flesh and blood not a Spirit therefore sin is said to have rendred the man a natural man 2. Eternal Life is the second Attribute of God Life in man is either of the Body or Soul as to the former Temperance Imployment and a chearful spirit are the great Preservatives of Health and the best supports of such crazy beings as our bodies are Religion injoyns the two former for no man can be holy without being temperate and imploid at least in doing good and it contributes very effectually to the later i. e. chearfulness of spirit by begetting in us a peaceful Conscience a resign'd mind and glorious hopes but sin shortens our hasty days by exposing us to diseases violence the Law and by the ill influence which a distemper'd mind hath upon the body as to the Soul Righteousness is the life of it it is the nourishment and pleasure the freedom and the security of it but sin is the death and plague of it non est vivere sed valere vita it is not the meer existing but the welfare and happiness of a being which is its life and if so how can a soul which is sick of passions daily tortur'd and distracted by an ill Conscience be said to live Besides sin doth impair the faculties o'recast the light and fetter the powers of the mind so that it neither understands nor wills nor commands as it ought to do it is rendred a poor sickly despicable being and therefore the sinner is said to be dead in trespasses and sins or at least because the Metaphor is not to be press'd too far as appears from the Text following if it hath any life it is as imperfect as that of a Lethargick drowsie body all 's a thick night
And grant that I may abhor those sins which efface thy Image and debase my Nature which render me a burthen to my self the hate of God and scorn of Man which make me unhappy here and miserable hereafter Grant this I beseech thee through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen SECT VI. Containing the sixth Motive to Holiness the assistance of the Divine Spirit I Do not think that in a Discourse of this Practical Nature it will behove me to enter into any Dispute about the strengths of laps'd Nature about the nature and necessity of Supernatural Grace I may in short affirm that we find in Scripture sometimes the birth sometimes the growth sometimes the perfection of the New Creature assign'd to the Holy Spirit as the great Author of it all which doth not yet discharge Man from the necessity of exerting all the strength and endeavour that he can for by those frequent Exhortations address'd to Man we may justly infer some ability suppos'd in him and by the frequent promises of the assistance of the Divine Spirit we may as reasonably infer an impotence which stands in need of this relief and from altogether we may conclude that the Spirit of God is so far forth dispens'd as serves the end of the Gospel and the necessities of mankind Our blessed Saviour after he had deliver'd upon the Mount a System of the most refin'd Precepts of Devotion and Purity Mortification and Charity as if he had foreseen that his Hearers would be dazled by the brightness of this Divine Image and look upon the Pattern as too high for the attainments of Humane Nature doth close the discourse first with an assurance of a Supernatural assistance of the Spirit of God And then secondly with asserting the necessity of a real and actual conformity of our lives to those holy Precepts Matth 7. v. 7. c. Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be open'd unto you for every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be open'd Where our Endeavours and the Divine Assistance are joyn'd together as being both necessary towards the great Work of Sanctification in the 9 10 11. verses he goes on to confirm them in the belief of this Promise from the example of Natural Parents who though evil have that Natural Affection for their Children that if a Son ask bread they will not give him a stone or if he ask a Fish they will not give him a Scorpion Much more is it inconsistent with the goodness of the Divine Nature to refuse Man that assistance which is indispensably necessary to the propagation of Holiness inconsistent with his Paternity to deny his craving Children that which is as necessary to their spiritual life as food is to their natural If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things his holy Spirit as appears from parallel places to them that ask him And when he had acquainted them with this I do not wonder that he concludes all with averring the necessity of Obedience to all those Excellent Precepts from verse 13. to the end for in vain do men quarrel at the purity of the Christian Doctrine as if it were a Religion fit for Angels rather than men in vain do they complain of the prevailing passions of flesh and blood and of the soft insinuations of a flattering World our ability to obey the Gospel is not to be measur'd by the strength of Nature but of the Spirit that God who hath call'd us to the profession of such Exalted Vertue hath allotted us an assistance suitable to so glorious an end so that these complaints are not the groans of a Penitent but the excuses of a fond and carnal mind All this certainly amounts to a very clear proof of the necessity and Excellency of Real and Inherent Holiness for to what purpose should we call down an assistance from Heaven to what purpose should the Divine Spirit be powred forth upon men if either there were no need or no use of such a Holiness which he is the Divine Principle of or if this Holiness were so impure and imperfect that it were not acceptable to God thorough Christ And which way now shall the impenitent sinner escape Divine Justice what Excuse can he frame for the defence of his Impiety he sins and dies not because he cannot do otherwise but because he will do so he perisheth not through impotence but obstinacy and what punishment think we can sufficiently avenge a contempt of or despight done to the Spirit of God! The Gentile is unexcusable because he did not obey those Laws which his Conscience did dictate to him though the Characters they were publish'd in were dark the Motives to and the Principles of his Obedience weak and feeble at least comparatively what tribulation and wrath and anguish then will punish our disobedience who have not only our duty openly publish'd by the Son of God and inforc'd upon our hopes and fears by glorious promises and dreadful threats but also the Spirit of God promis'd to enlighten our understandings to enfranchise and strengthen our wills to imprint the Motives of the Gospel in more sensible Characters on our spirits c. We must expect that our tribulation in the world to come will be proportion'd to our obstinacy in this and the anger of Almighty wrath will boil to a heat answerable to that infinite love and goodness we have despis'd The Prayer O My God how reasonable is it that I should obey thee since thou commandst me nothing but what thou giv'st me strength to perform I feel the weakness of my Nature and the strength of Temptations but this shall never discourage me thorough the might of thy Spirit I shall be sure to conquer it must be a weakness indeed which Omnipotence cannot relieve it must be a strange assault made by the world which can storm that Fort which the Spirit of the Almighty defends and that Law must be more than Seraphick which is exalted above the imitation of a Soul inspir'd and actuated by thee No no if thou vouchsafe but one Ray of thine Infinite Power I shall soon subdue the World and mortifie the Flesh I shall do the things which please thee here and I shall obtain everlasting life afterwards which grant for thy Mercies sake and thy Son Christ Jesus sake Amen SECT VII Of the Gospel-Covenant as it is a Motive to Holiness THe Covenant of Works was Do this and live Life was the reward of an unerring obedience and Death the punishment of every transgression of the Law so that by vertue of this Covenant none could expect to be Justified but he who had no sin to be charg'd with and therefore since there never was any such Man but Christ Righteousness could not be by the Law but now the
with or the frequent sins to which the lusts of it have betraid us will discern Reason enough to invite him to this Duty either in order to our Mortification and our future security or as an act of Affliction and Revenge for our past faults Therefore 2. Who ever totally neglects this Duty upon pretence of the ill effects it hath upon either Body or Mind ought well to be assur'd that the uneasiness of the one or other be not the effect of a wanton and carnal Mind rather than of the temper of the Body and that his Body will admit of no degrees of this Duty otherwise he is oblig'd according to his capacity 3. To Fasting must be joyn'd Alms and Prayer and Vain-glory must be separated from it without the former it is insignificant with the latter it is a sin But if any just Reasons disable any man to give Alms or to devote the day intirely to Spiritual Exercise I cannot yet think but that Fasting may be us'd as an act of Affliction provided it be consecrated to God by a holy intention at least The Prayer GLorious God I see in what a world I live and what a Body this Soul of mine doth dwell in how little kindles those Lusts which blast the Innocence of my Soul and destroy my peace I remember how often I have behav'd my self unbeseeming a Child of God only to gratifie the inclinations of an ungovernable Body Enable me therefore so to mortifie and subdue it that I may enjoy an entire peace and conquest so to humble and afflict it that my revenge may testifie the sorrow I feel for my misdemeanours and accept thou my sorrow to the attonement of my sins thorough the Blood of Christ Amen The Conclusion I Am now earnestly to beseech the Reader to reflect seriously upon this whole Discourse and consider whether the Christian Religion be not a System of most glorious delightful and important Truths whether any Principles can raise Man to such an entire Conquest o're the world and himself whether Holiness doth not transform him into a great and a glorious thing whether any knowledge can create in him so perfect a peace and so undisturb'd a joy whether there be any thing besides Religion can make a man spurn fawning pleasures and out-brave his fears whether there be any thing which would turn the world into so much Paradise and secure our peace and interest on such unshaken bottoms and lead on the whole Train of a publique or a private life in such a safe and pleasant method What then Art thou fond of ruin or hath damnation any charm in it that thou wilt still resolve to persevere in such a manifold contradiction to the Laws of the blessed Jesus Wilt thou suffer thy soul to be miserable here through those numerous lusts which are the incessant torments of it and canst thou think of abandoning all the hopes of a glorious immortality Or dost thou indeed look upon the Gospel of Christ as cunningly devised Fables and readest these kind of arguings as only wise and politique harangues Surely so much Holiness confirm'd by so many miracles must needs witness its divine authority and if thou wouldst but trie thy self the practice of it thou wouldst feel its divine principle in the Life and the joyes of the Spirit But I am perswaded the greater part of mankind cannot choose but indespight of Inclination acknowledge the truth of the Gospel and the Excellency of virtue and confess that their vices are the effect not of their choice but weakness Blessed God! What account then will these men give of their Disobedience at that day when Christ shall come to render the vengeance to all who have not obeyed his Gospel when they shall be put in mind of the prevalent motives made use of to endear Holiness to them and of the mighty assistance of the Divine Spirit which was offer'd them towards enabling 'em to live well when they shall see as a perfect Refutation of all such excuses so many millions I hope of blessed Saints who tho liable to the same Passion and encompass'd by the same Temptations did yet conquer all and enter'd into Life thorough the Strait-gate But if this little Treatise should light into the hands of a perfect Atheist or at least of one who laughs at every particular Sect of Religion to such a one I address these last lines and I beseech him to allow them so much Consideration as he would to any other thing which pretended to so much concernment and importance 1. If there be a God Nature seems to dictate that he is a Rewarder of those that seek him and forgets not the Wise and Virtuous neither in Life nor Death and Men as wise and rational Creatures are his peculiar Off-spring and more nearly related to him and on this Argument Socrates in his Apology founded his hopes of another life an argument much of a kin to that of our Saviour God is the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob now God is not the God of the dead but of the living at the smartness and clearness of which arguing the people were astonish'd And If there be another Life Virtue and Goodness must needs be the proper qualities to recommend and endear us to the God who presides in that other World for I can never fancy a Bruitish and irrational Deity If there be no God which is impossible it is a thing impossible to be prov'd and therefore an Atheist can never possess his Soul in any Rest and Peace and besides if there be none the belief and practice of this Religion of Christianity as I 'le make appear presently can do no man any harm and what madness then is it not to take the safest side in a mat-ter of this dear concernment 2. In behalf of Christianity in perticular I beseech such a one to consider That if those Miracles and Proofs of Divine Authority which the Gospel relates were true and real then the matter is beyond dispute If they were not I would fain see some probable account how Christianity could so generally obtain in despight of all the disadvantages it was to encounterâ— having neither interest nor pleasure nor force to countenance it against the establish'd Superstitions and Vices of the Age. That it concern'd them of Judea which was the Scene of our Saviours Actions to have given the world a manifest account of the Imposture and so have provided for the security of Judaisme which was subverted by it that the wisest and most religious Sects amongst both Jew and Gentile were quickly swallowed up into Christianity That those early dayes were the most fit for a confutation of the Proofs on which Christianity is bottom'd as being most nearly conjoyn'd to the times of our Saviours and his Apostles actions and therefore capable of being easily inform'd and yet we find no such thing done which must needs suppose the world either monstruously ignorant or