Laws of Generation he hath ordered all Men to come into the World weak and helpless and unable to provide for themselves he was bound in Goodness to oblige their Parents by a natural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Affection to nourish and take Care of them till they grow able to take Care for themselves that so they might not be utterly abandoned so since he hath thought good to expose us here to so many Miseries and Calamities he stood obliged by the eternal Benignity of his Nature to oblige us by all the Bowels of Mercy to succour and relieve one another till we are grown up to that Perfection of Happiness wherein we shall have no more need of Succour that so at present we may not be left destitute and forlorn but may find all that Relief in one another's Mercy which is wanting to us in his immediate Providence For 't is for wise and merciful Ends that he permits us to be miserable here to correct our Follies and polish and cultivate our Nature and train us up under a severe Discipline into a State of Everlasting Happiness and therefore for the Redress of these Miseries which for our Good he is fain to inflict upon us it was necessary he should Consign us to the Protection of one anothers Mercy that so this for the present might be a Cordial to our Griefs a Supply to our Wants an Ease to our Oppressions and a Sanctuary to our Calamities till Misery hath effected the gracious End she designed it for and then he will release our Mercy from its Work and permit it to enjoy an Everlasting Sabbath But so long as he thinks fit to continue us in this state of Misery his own Benignity will oblige him to oblige us to assist and comfort one another by the mutual Exercise of our Mercy that so being instead of Gods to one another we may not be utterly abandoned to Wretchedness but by mutually succouring each other might all of us be tolerably happy which we should all of us most certainly be were we but so benign and merciful to one another as he expects and requires CHAP. I. Of the Nature of Mortification GOD having made us free Agents and planted in our Natures an uncontroulable Liberty of Choice in Wisdom he hath so ordered and disposed things that as we cannot be Miserable unless we will so neither shall we be happy whether we will or no. For as his Goodness would not suffer him to make us necessarily miserable so neither would his Wisdom permit him to entail our Happiness on our Natures and make it inseparable to our Beings for should he have done so he must have altered the Laws of his own wise Creation and made those Beings to act necessarily which he made to act freely For Happiness is the End of all our Actions and therefore should God have made that necessary to us he must have made us to act towards it with the same Necessity as inanimate Bodies do towards their proper Center and consequently there would have been no such thing as a free Agent in the lower World That we may always act therefore according to the Condition and Frame of a free Nature the Foundations of all our Happiness and Misery are laid in the right Use or Abuse of our Liberty and do immediately spring out of the Wisdom or Folly of our own Choices so that if we chuse wisely according to the Laws of Virtue and right Reason we do thereby advance towards that happy and heavenly State we were created for as on the contrary if we chuse foolishly according to the rash Counsels of our own vicious Appetites and sensual Inclinations we thereby sink our selves deeper and deeper towards the Abyss of endless and inconceivable Misery For such is the Frame and Constitution of our Natures that we cannot be good and miserable nor vicious and happy and accordingly the Apostle sets before us the inevitable Fate of our own Actions Rom. viii 13. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live What these Deeds of the Flesh or Body are the Apostle telleth us Gal. v. 19 20 21. The works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders drunkenness revellings and such like and they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God This is the Muster-roll of that formidable Army of Wickednesses with which we are to engage and which we must vanquish or perish for ever If ye mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live i. e. if ye kill and destroy them if ye wholly cease from them both as to the outward Act of them and the inward Appetite and Inclination towards them For Mortification doth not only consist in a formal Abstinence from the outward Acts of Sin or a superficial Skinning over the Orifice of its Wounds but searches to the very bottom of that putrid Core within and eats out the inward Corruption from whence those outward Blisters arise It purges the Heart as well as the Hands and drains those impure Inclinations which are the Springs of all Impiety and Wickedness BUT to handle this Subject more particularly I shall do these three things First SHEW wherein Mortification consists Secondly WHAT are the Proper Instruments of it Thirdly WHAT are the most prevailing Motives to it I. WHEREIN doth Mortification consist I answer in these three Things 1. In Abstinence from the outward Acts of Sin 2. In not consenting unto any Sin 3. In a constant Endeavour to extinguish our involuntary Sins I. MORTIFICATION requires Abstinence from the outward Acts of Sin For it is impossible that any Man should mortify his Lusts while he indulges himself in the free Practice of them because Practice is the Fuel that foments and feeds the inward vicious Inclinations and both pampers and enrages the lustful Appetites of the Soul For that Delight which we reap from acting our own Concupiscences doth but increase and provoke them it being natural to Men when they have been pleased with any Action to be more vehemently inclined to repeat it the Delight which they found in the former Enjoyment provoking their Desires to enjoy it again So that we may as well hope to put out a Fire by a continual feeding it with Fuel and blowing it into Flame as to mortify a Lust whilst by our continued practising it we nurse and cherish it and do at once both feed and irritate its Flames If therefore we would ever mortify the Lusts of the Flesh we must strictly restrain our selves from all outward Acts of them For whilst we indulge our selves in these we feed our Disease and pamper our bad Inclinations into vicious Habits and our vicious Habits into sinful Necessities II. MORTIFICATION consists in the Dissent of our Wills from all sinful Proposals
our Toil we shall need as much at least as we did before only before we did not possess what we needed whereas now we shall need what we do possess But did we take the pains to learn that great Lesson of Christian Contentment we should then pursue the World with far less Vehemence and enjoy it with far more freedom We should be industrious without that eager Solicitude and if it pleased God to bless our Industry we should neither waste what we have nor want it and many a happy year we should enjoy that which now we consume in vexatious Care to keep and restless Desire to increase it How unpleasant is the Life of the intemperate Epicure who lives in a continual Lethargy and dozes away his time in Sottishness and Stupidity and by perpetually sucking in Rheums and Defluxions doth so weaken and dilute the Vigour of the Organs of Sense that he perceives not the briskness of his own Relishes but after his delicious Gobbets are past his Throat they load and oppress him and his Stomach is fain to do Penance for the Folly and Extravagance of his Palate and those deep Draughts wherein he seeks to drown his Conscience and his Melancholy leave behind them such an Uneasiness both in his Body and Mind as nothing can reprieve For as soon as he hath slept away the Fumes of his Intemperance he finds himself sick as well of Company as of Solitude and is fain to endure all the four Regrets both of his Conscience and his Stomach Whereas would but this Man govern his Appetite by the Laws of Temperance would he eat to satisfy and not to invite his Hunger and drink to refresh and not to force and oppress himself his Relish would be quick and vigorous his Gust sincere and his Digestion easy and his Appetite being not overloaded with the foregoing Meal would quickly return again and give a pleasing Relish to his next Morsel When he rose from his Table his Nature would not be burdened but refreshed and recreated his Eyes would not swim in Floods of Rheum nor his Brains in Seas of Liquor his Face would not be fired with the unwholesome Inflammations of his Liver nor his Reason overcast with the Clouds and Vapours of his gorged Stomach but after his frugal Meals he would still find his Organs fresh and vigorous and when he went to bed his Sleep would not be broken with so many unquiet Starts nor sickly Qualms nor in the Morning would he awake in a Feaver but all his Life would be serene and calm and he would enjoy all that is pleasant in Luxury and be only barred from the apparent Sting of it Many other Instances I might add but these I think are sufficient to demonstrate that Vice is the great Disturber even of those sensual Pleasures and Delights that it promises to us So that it plainly contradicts its own Pretensions and though it invites to Pleasure yet entertains us with nothing but Distraction and Uneasiness The Cup of Fornication which it holds out to us tho' 't is spiced at the top is Gall and Wormwood at the bottom and all those Delights that it courts us with are only so many painted Miseries which though they may look amiable and inviting at a distance yet upon a more considerate View will be found to be most wretched Cheats and Impostures So that methinks were we but ingenious Epicures that understood the Pleasures of the Body and the true Methods of enjoying them we should for their sakes discard those Lusts that are so contrary and destructive to them and it would be as impossible for us not to hate our Sins as not to love our Pleasures AND thus you see how many Mischiefs and Inconveniencies our Lusts bring upon us in respect of our Bodies and outward Circumstances so that if we had no immortal Spirit to take care of no Interest beyond the Grave to look after yet methinks had we but Reason enough to understand and Self-Love enough to pursue our present Welfare that were sufficient to oblige us to mortify our Lusts. For so long as they live they will be Plagues to us and we must never expect a quiet Possession of our own Happiness till we have utterly destroy'd these mutinous Disturbers of it that are as so many Thorns in our Eyes and Goads in our Sides But alas 't is not our bodily Happiness only that they interrupt and invade but which is more intolerable they poison our Souls with their contagious Breath and scatter Plagues and Infection over our noblest Faculties Which brings me to the Second sort of motives to persuade you to mortify your Sin viz. those that are drawn from the present Mischiefs and Inconveniencies that it brings upon our Souls which are chiefly these three First IT spoils our Understandings Secondly IT subverts the natural Subordination of our Faculties Thirdly IT disturbs the Tranquillity of our Minds I. CONSIDER how much your Sins do spoil and waste your Understandings For Sin is an Affront to our Understandings and a plain Contradiction to the Reason of our Minds there being no Vice whatsoever but what is founded in Folly and Unreasonableness Whilst therefore we live in Sin we do so far lay aside our Reason which ought to be the Moderator of our Actions and abandon our selves to the Conduct of our own blind Appetites and head-strong Passions which will naturally weaken our Rational Faculties and bring a lingering Consumption on our Understandings For as our Powers are improved and perfected by Exercise so they are impaired and wasted by Disuse and Inactivity and therefore our Reason being such a Power as is not naturally to be perfected but by Action it necessarily follows that the less active it is the more imperfect it must be Whilst therefore we live in Sin or which is all one in the Neglect of our Reason we consume and waste our Rational Faculties which being unemploy'd will naturally contract Rust and grow every day more weak and restive For a Life of Sin is all transacted by Sense and Passion Reason sits looking on and having no part in the brutish Scene melts away in Sloth and Idleness It s Vital Powers freeze for want of Motion and like standing Waters stagnate and gather Mire till they corrupt and putrify And besides this Decay that Sin brings upon our Understanding by taking us off from the exercise of it it is also injurious to those bodily Organs by which our Understanding while we are in the Flesh doth reason and operate For our Body is as it were the Musical Instrument upon which our Mind sets all its Harmony and by which it runs all the curious Divisions of Discourse And the Blood and Spirits and Brain and other Parts of it are the Strings of this Instrument upon the well-tuning of which depends all the Musick of Reason But now there is scarce any Sin that doth not some way or other indispose our Bodies for the use of
Spirit to enable us to mortify our Sins p. 349 350 351. Secondly The Necessity of our Concurrence with the Spirit p. 352 353 354 355. Thirdly The Certainty of Success p. 356 357. Fourthly The great Reason there is for our continual Prayers to God p. 358 359. Fifthly The indispensable Necessity of our faithful and sincere Endeavours in order to the mortifying our Lusts p. 360 361. Sixthly The Possibility of keeping the Commands of God in that God by his Spirit doth so powerfully Aid and Assist us p. 362 363. Seventhly The Inexcusableness of Sinners if they go on in their Wickedness p. 364 365 366. CHAP. V. OF the Eternal Reward of Mortification That there is a State of everlasting Life and Happiness prepared for good Men proved by plain and easie Arguments First Because the Law of our Natures hath not a sufficient Sanction without it 367 368 369 370 371 372. Secondly From those Desires and Expectations of it which do so generally and naturally arise in pure and vertuous Minds p. 373 374 375 376. Thirdly From the Justice and Equity of the Divine Providence p. 377 378 379. Fourthly From the Revelation of his Will which God hath made to us by Jesus Christ p. 380 381 382 383. From the Consideration of which the following Inferences are raised First What an unreasonable thing it is for us Christians immoderately to doat upon the World p. 384 385 386. Secondly How vigorous and industrious we ought to be in discharging the Duties of our Religion p. 387 388 389. Thirdly How upright and sincere we ought to be in all our Professions and Actions p. 390 391. Fourthly What great reason we have to be chearful under the Afflictions and Miseries of this World p. 392 393 394 395. CHAP. VI. OF the Necessity of Mortification to the obtaining Eternal Life proved First From God's Ordination and Appointment p. 396 397 398. Secondly From the Nature of the thing which implies a Disagreement in wicked Souls to the future Happiness p. 399. To evidence this Disagreement three things are proposed First Wherein the Felicities of the future State do consist p. 401 402 403. Secondly What the Temper and Disposition of wicked Souls will be in the future Sate p. 404 405 406 407. Thirdly How contrary such a Temper and Disposition must be unto such Felicities p. 408 409. For First There is in it an Antipathy and Contrariety to the Vision of God p. 410 411. Secondly To the Love of God p. 412 413. Thirdly To the Resemblance of God p. 414 415 416. Fourthly To the Society of the Spirits of just men made perfect p. 417 418. From all which these following Inferences are deduced First How unreasonable it is for any Man to presume upon going to Heaven upon any account whatsoever without mortifying his Lusts p. 419 420 421 422 423 424 425. 426. Secondly The indispensable Necessity of Mortification since it is plain we can't be happy without it p. 426 427 428 429 430 431. Thirdly What is the only true and solid Foundation of our Assurance of Heaven p. 431 432 433 434 435 436 437. Fourthly What is the great design of the Christian Religion p. 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445. OF THE Christian Life PART III. CHAP. I. Of Justice as it preserves the Natural Rights of Men and particularly in reference to their Bodies HAVING in a former Discourse asserted and explain'd the Nature of Moral Good and Evil in Humane Actions I shall now distinctly consider the Sum of all that Moral Duty which we owe to God and to our Neighbour as the Prophet hath compris'd it in these words He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and walk humbly with thy God Mic. vi 8. I begin with that Duty which God requires of us towards our Neighbour and 't is all imply'd in the two distinct Vertues of Iustice and Mercy IN discoursing of Iustice I shall endeavour these two things 1. To shew what that Justice is which is requir'd of us towards our Neighbour 2. To prove that it is grounded upon such immutable Reasons as do render it a Moral Good I. I shall endeavour to shew what that Justice is which is owing to our Neighbour In general therefore Iustice consisteth in giving to every one his due in which latitude it comprehendeth all matter of duty for every Duty is a due to God or our Neighbour or our selves and accordingly every performance of every duty is a payment of some due and as such is an act of Righteousness And therefore in Scripture Good Men are frequently stiled Righteous and the Whole of Vertue and Goodness is called Righteousness because it is a payment of some due either to God our selves or our Neighbours But Iustice being here consider'd as a distinct and particular Vertue must be understood in a more limited sense viz. for Honesty in all our dealings with men or giving to every man his due with whom we have any Intercourse And wherein this consisteth will best appear by considering what those things are which are due from one Man to another or what those Dues and Rights are which men may claim by the eternal Laws of Righteousness And these are twofold 1. Natural and 2. Acquired I begin with the First viz. the Natural Rights of Men which are such as appertain to Men as they are Reasonable Creatures and dwelling in Mortal Bodies and joyned to one another by their natural Relations and by Society For in all these capacities there accrue to men certain Natural Rights which we are obliged in Justice not to violate but so far as we can to secure and make good to one another First Therefore we will consider men as dwelling in mortal Bodies Secondly As Rational Creatures Thirdly As joyned to one another by natural Relations Fourthly As naturally united in Society and I will shew what Rights there are redounding to them from all these Respects and Considerations I. WE will consider Men as dwelling in mortal Bodies in which there is a twofold Right accruing to them 1. a Right to their Bodies 2. a Right to their bodily Subsistence I. As dwelling in mortal Bodies they have a natural Right to their Bodies and to all the Parts of them for their Bodies being the Tenements which the great Landlord of the world hath allotted to their Souls during their abode in this terrestrial State are upon that account their undoubted Right which unless they forfeit they cannot be deprived of without manifest Injury and Injustice For if God gave this Body to my Soul it is certain that immediately under him my Soul hath a Right to it and holding in Capite as it doth from the Supreme Proprietor is Tenant at will to none but him for this its earthly Habitation so that antecedently to all Humane Laws and Constitutions every Soul is vested with a natural Right to its own Body
Creatures and this Reason of ours is implanted in us by the great Author of our Beings for no other End but only to steer and direct us to be an Eye to our blind and brutish Affections to correct the Errors of our Imaginations and bound the Extravagances of our Passions and Appetites and to regulate the whole Course of our Actions so as that we may demean our selves as becomes such Beings as we are and placed in such Relations and Circumstances God therefore having compounded us of contrary Natures viz. Rational and Sensual which are pregnant with contrary Inclinations and Affections from hence arises the Necessity of all those Heroic Virtues which consist in the Dominion of our Reason over our Sensitive Affections and Appetites such as Chastity and Sobriety Meekness and Equanimity and the like all which are proper to us as Beings made up of contrary Principles from whence spring those contrary Inclinations in the good or bad Government whereof consists the Nature of Virtue and Vice Whilst therefore we keep our Brutal Passions and Appetites in Subjection to our Reason we follow the genuine Current of Humane Nature in which our best and noblest Principle rules and all our inferiour Powers are regularly subordinate to it But when we degenerate into a State of Sin we thereby discompose the Harmony of our Natures and put all our well-ranked Faculties into a strange Disorder and Confusion For every Sin is a Rebellion either of our Passions or Appetites against our Reason and we never commit any known Evil but we wilfully affront our own Understandings and offer open Violence to those superiour Faculties that should rule and govern us So that when by a Custom of sinning our Passions and Appetites have been train'd up for a while in Disobedience to our Reason they will by degrees grow so head-strong and ungovernable that it will be a hard matter to restrain them within any Compass of Reason and Sobriety and unless we take a world of pains to suppress them they will never leave rioting and tumultuating within us till they have broke through all their natural Confinements into a licentious wild and boundless Anarchy and having thus got head within us and beaten our Reason from its native Throne they will hurry us headlong into all manner of Follies and Extravagances For now we shall act no longer from Reason but from Sense our Nature being turn'd upside-down and the Cardinal Points of our Motion chang'd into quite contrary Positions so that our Reason will stand us in no other stead but only to cater for our Flesh and sensitive Affections and to make us Brutes with greater Luxury and Relish And being thus wholly acted by our brutish Sense and led only by the blind Instincts of the Flesh our Reason will have no hand in the Government of our Lives but like the Beasts of the Field we shall live at random and do things not because they are reasonable in themselves but because they are pleasing to our unreasonable Affections and Appetites Such a strange Disorder doth Sin bring upon our Natures so miserably doth it blend and confound our Faculties that were it not for our Speech and Shape it would scarce leave us any remaining Character of Distinction from the Beasts that perish For it dissolves our Reason into a meer sensual Sagacity and enslaves that high-born Power to every base Passion and Appetite and so reduces our well-formed Natures into an undistinguish'd Chaos where Sense and Reason Brute and Man are shuffled together in a heap of rude and undigested Ruins So that methinks had we any Reverence for that excellent Nature that we carry about with us that Nature by which we are allied to Angels and do border upon God himself we should never endure to harbour those inhumane Lusts that do so disorder and confound it that make such Spoils and Devastations within us that do so disturb the Harmony of our Faculties and disjoint the very Frame of our Beings III. SIN disturbs the Tranquillity of our Minds and this naturally follows from the former For the Mind of Man can never be at Ease so long as its Bones are out of joint and all its Faculties so wofully disorder'd For thus every thing is at Ease so long as it is in its own natural State and Condition but when once its Parts are displaced or put into a Disorder or distorted into an unnatural Figure it is in restless Motion till it returns again to the specifick State and Posture of its own Nature And so it is with the Mind of Man which while it preserves its own natural Station and Superiority over our Affections and Appetites is calm and quiet and serene and enjoys within it self perpetual Ease and Tranquility But being thrown out of its native Throne and led into Captivity by its own Vassals it can find no Rest in this preternatural State but like a disjointed Member is in perpetual Anguish and Anxiety and having like all other Things an inward strong Propension to its own natural State and Condition it will be perpetually struggling and contending towards it till it hath quite wearied and tired out it self with its own vain and ineffectual Efforts and then it will sit down and bemoan it self and pine away with Grief and Diffatisfaction And hence it is that in the Course of a wicked Life we feel such Contentions between the Flesh and the Spirit such perpetual Broils between the Law in our Minds and the Law in our Members which proceeds from this natural Struggling and Conatus of the Mind to recover its native Empire over our Affections and Appetites From which it will never wholly surcease till it is wholly subdu'd to the Will of the Flesh and when it is so it will be perpetually torn and distracted by those various wild and inconsistent Affections whereunto it will be subjected For so long as our Passions are subject to our Reason there can be no Division among them because nothing can divide our Passions but only our proposing to our selves different and contrary Ends But the Ends of Reason are all consistent with and subordinate to one another it s lesser and inferiour Ends being only the Inns at which it baits upon the Road towards its superiour ones and whilst we are under the Power and Conduct of one Sovereign End our Passions must necessarily joyn hand in hand and walk together like Brethren in Unity But when once they have shaken off the Yoke of Reason and submitted themselves to the Dominion of Sense among that great Variety of Ends and Objects which Sense proposes to them they must needs be torn and divided one from another For such is the Scantiness of Sensual Goods that we not being able to content our selves with any one of them are fain to walk the Rounds in a constant Succession and Circle of Varieties and then every one of these various Goods will create within us a various Desire And so as
special notice of them which as St. Austin tells us made them to attribute its Success to the Power of Magick thinking it impossible that it should do such Wonders without the Assistance of some powerful Spirit And indeed it is not to be supposed how it should work such strange and suddain Alterations in Men by its external Arguments and Motives without a divine Power concurring with them and animating and enforcing them and though now that Christianity hath gotten such footing in the World and is become the Religion of Nations the divine Spirit does not ordinarily work upon Men in such a strange and miraculous way but proceeds in more humane Methods by joyning in with our Understandings and leading us forward by the Rules of Reason and Sobriety so that whatsoever Aids it affords us they work in the same Way and after the same Manner as if all were performed by the Strength of our own Reason yet we have a standing Promise which extends to all Ages of Christianity that to him who improves the Grace which he hath already more Grace shall be given that if we work out our salvation with fear and trembling God will work in us to will and to do and that he will give his holy Spirit to every one that sincerely asks and seeks it For of the Performance of this Promise there are none of us all but have had many sensible Experiences for how often do we find good Thoughts injected into our Minds we know not how nor whence How frequently are we seiz'd with strong and vehement Convictions of the Folly and Danger of our own Wicked courses even in the midst of our loose Mirth and Iollity when we are rock'd into a deep Security when we have endeavour'd to chase good Thoughts from our Minds or to drown them in Sensuality and Voluptuousness How often have we been haunted with their Importunities till we have been scar'd by them into sober Resolutions And when we have complied with them what Ioys and Refreshments have we sometimes found in the Discharge of our Duty to encourage us to Perseverance in Well-doing All which are plain and sensible Instances of the internal Operations of the Holy Spirit upon our Souls So that when we comply with these inward Motions of the Holy Ghost so as to forsake those sins which they dissuade us from we do then mortify the deeds of the body by the spirit FROM the Consideration of these Benefits by the Spirit of God many useful Inferences may be deduc'd And First From hence we may discern the Necessity of the Spirit to enable us to mortify the Deeds of the Body And indeed considering the Infirmity of our Natures and the many Temptations we have to encounter how we are habituated to a Sensual Life before we are capable of exercising our Reason and how much our Wills are biass'd by our Carnal Inclinations it is hardly to be imagined how we should ever be able to retrieve our selves from the Power and Dominion of our own Lusts without some supernatural Aid and Assistance For tho' we have an Understanding capable of distinguishing between Good and Evil and of discerning all those Advantages and Mischiefs that are inseparable unto vertuous and vicious Actions though we have a Will that can comply with the Dictates of right Reason and is no ways determined and necessitated to Evil and though we can do whatsoever we will Yet if besides those Motives which arise out of the Nature of Virtue and Vice we had not supernatural Arguments to assist us our Inclinations would certainly prove too strong for our Reason If the lascivious Wanton had no other Arguments to oppose against the Temptations of Lust but that it vexes him with Impatience fills him with mad and ungovernable Desires torments him with Fear and Iealousie betrays him into Sickness and Poverty and the like How can it be expected that such slender Arguments should prevail against the Importunities of his depraved Appetite If the covetous Oppressour had no other Motive to confront his Lust with but that his Injustice exposes him to the Hatred of those whom he injures and violates the Laws of Society and consequently is destructive of the Publick Good in which his own is involved alas What thin Arguments would these be to him in comparison with the Temptations of a Bag of Gold And though to these natural Arguments God hath added sundry supernatural ones in the Revelation of the Gospel such as are in themselves sufficient to check our most outragious Appetites and to baffle the strongest Temptations Yet alas our Thoughts are so squander'd among this great Multiplicity of carnal Objects that surround us that did not the Divine Spirit frequently suggest those supernatural Arguments to us and by the powerful Influence of his Grace keep our Minds intent upon them we should never recollect our selves to such a thorough Consideration of them as is necessary to persuade our selves by them into a lasting Resolution of Amendment So that we have very great need both of the outward and inward Grace of God for though we can deliberate what is best to choose and choose what we find best upon Deliberation yet we are like Men standing in bivio between two contrary Roads and are naturally indeed free to turn either to the Right hand or to the Left but on the Left-hand way there are so many Temptations perpetually beckoning to us and inviting us unto that which is Evil and our brutish Passions and Appetites are so ready upon all occasions to yield and comply with them that we should certainty go that way did not the Holy Spirit importune us with strong Arguments to turn to the Right-hand way of Vertue and Goodness II. WE may learn from hence the Necessity of our Concurrence with the Spirit For the Spirit of God works upon us in such a way as is most congruous to our Free and Rational Natures that is it doth not act upon us by mere Force or irresistible Power but addresses to our Reason with Arguments and Persuasions and so moves upon our Wills by the Mediation of our Understandings But when He hath done all He leaves it to our own Choice whether we will reject or embrace his Proposals For although I firmly believe as no Man would be wicked were he not invited by the Temptations of sin so no Man would be good were he not solicited by the Grace of God yet I see no Reason to imagine that either the one or the other invades the Liberty of our Wills The Temptations of Sin indeed incline us one way and the Grace of God another but when all is done they leave us free to choose or refuse and neither the one nor the other forces or necessitates us And hence the Successes of the Divine Grace are in Scripture attributed to the Disposition or Indisposition of the Subject it acts upon So Matth. xi 20 21. Then began he to upbraid the Cities wherein his mighty
works were done woe unto thee Corazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes From whence I argue that that Grace which would have converted Tyre and Sidon was not irresistible for if it had it would have converted Corazin and Bethsaida too For how could they have resisted irresistible Grace And why should it not have had the same Effect on the one which it would have had on the other had there not been something in the one which was not in the other which did actually resist and vanquish it And so likewise in the Parable of the Seed sown in the High-way the stony thorny and good Ground Matth. xiii the Reason why the Seed prospered in some and not in others is plainly resolved into the different Condition of the Soil for as for those that either considered not at all or not enough the Seed of the Divine Grace proved altogether ineffectual to them but as for those who had so throughly consider'd its Proposals as to form in their Minds a firm and settled Judgment of them it produced in them a most fruitful Spring of Virtues and good Works Which is a plain Argument that the Successes of God's Grace depend upon the Concurrence of our Endeavours with it for had it wrought irresistibly upon these different Soils it must have had the same Success in all And indeed it is infinitely unreasonable to expect that God should make us good irresistibly without the free Concurrence of our own Will and Endeavours since by so doing he must offer Violence to the Frame of our Beings and alter the established Course of our Natures which consists in a free Determination of our selves according to the Dictates of our own Reason For that which is irresistible must necessitate the Subject upon which it acts and therefore if we are impell'd to be good by a Power which we cannot resist it is not in our Power to choose whether we will be good or no. Wherefore though God be infinitely desirous of our Happiness and ready to contribute whatsoever is necessary to promote it yet he will not effect it by necessary Means and Causes but in such a way only as is fairly consistent with the Liberty of our Wills that is he will not save us without our selves whether we will or no but take our free Consent and Endeavour along with him And having done all that is necessary to persuade us he expects that we should consider what he saith and upon that consent to his gracious Proposals and express this Consent in a constant Course of holy and vertuous Endeavours and if we will not do this we cannot be sav'd unless God work a Miracle for us and alters the Course of Nature which is the great Law by which his Providence doth govern all the Beings in the World And this we have no Reason to expect either from the Goodness of God's Nature or from any Revelation he hath made to us not from the Goodness of his Nature for why is it not as consistent with that to govern us as free Agents as to make us such Not from any Revelation of his Will for that indispensably exacts our free Concurrence with his Grace and Assistance and requires us to make our selves a new Heart to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling 'T is true God is also said to work in us to will and to do to create in us a new heart and to create us in Iesus Christ unto good works Which seemingly repugnant expressions can be no otherwise reconciled but by supposing God and Man to be Ioint-Causes contributing to the same Effect so that where God speaks as if He did all we must suppose the Concurrence of our Endeavours and where he speaks as if We were to do all we must suppose the Concurrence of his own Grace III. WE may be assur'd from hence of the Certainty of Success upon such a Concurrence of our Endeavours with the Spirit of God which plainly implies the Assistances of the Spirit to Be within our Power as being in an inseparable Conjunction with our sincere and faithful Endeavours And that they are so is apparent for as for the outward Assistances of the Spirit which are the powerful Arguments and Motives of the Gospel we have them always at hand and may make use of them when we please we have a free Access to this divine Armoury and may at any time furnish our selves with sufficient Weapons to assoil the most formidable Temptations And as for the inward Aids of the blessed Spirit God by his own free Promise hath inseparably entailed them upon our honest and pious Endeavours Thus he hath promised to give his grace to those who humble themselves and to draw nigh unto them who submit themselves to him Iam. iv 6 7 8. and unto every one that hath that is improveth what he hath he hath promised it shall be given and that he shall have abundance xxv Matth. 29. and to every one that asketh sincerely and honestly he hath promised to give his Holy Spirit Luk. xi 13. And thus by his own free Promise he hath tied his Spirit to our Endeavours so that we may have his Assistance when we please he being confined by his own Promise to be ready at our Call and to come in to the Aid of our Endeavours whensoever we shall need and ask his Assistance And having such a powerful Second engaged in our Quarrel what Reason have we to doubt of Success and Victory For what Lust is there so strong that we may not subdue What Habit so inveterate that we may not conquer What Temptation so powerful that we may not repulse whose endeavours are thus seconded with Almighty Aids from above For now whatsoever the Divine Spirit can do in us we can do because we can do that which being done will infallibly oblige him to concur with us And though we cannot conquer our Lusts in our own single Strength yet we can by our Endeavours engage him on our side who is both able and willing to enable us to conquer them So that if we will we may be invincible and there is no Temptation can be too strong for us if we do not by our own Sloth and Cowardice disingage the Almighty Spirit from assisting us IV. FROM hence we may perceive how much Reason there is for our continual Prayers and Supplications to God since it is so apparent that our Victory over Sin and consequently our eternal Welfare doth so much depend upon the Aids and Assistances of the Spirit of God and since God is so ready to give his holy Spirit to us whensoever we sincerely ask and desire it Now the great Reason of Prayer is Want and the greatest Encouragement to it is Assurance of
Supply but there is nothing in the world that we have more Need of and if we faithfully seek it nothing that we can have more Assurance of than the gracious Influence of the Holy Ghost We have as much Need of it as of our daily Bread because our Souls will starve and famish without it And we have as much Assurance of it as the sacred Word of the God of Truth can give us because He hath promised it to us who can as soon cease to be as to be faithful And therefore if after so much Need and Encouragement we do neglect our Prayers and turn our backs upon the Throne of Grace it is a plain Argument that either we are wretchedly insensible of our Need of God's Grace or causelesly suspicious of the Truth of his Promise And doubtless he that can pass day after day without putting up one Prayer to Heaven that can venture himself among the infinite Snares and Temptations of this world without imploring the Divine Aid and Protection is a very bold and fool-hardy Sinner one that declares he regards neither God nor his own Soul and that he cares not what becomes of him either here or hereafter Methinks did we but soberly consider how much we want God's Grace and how ready He is to afford it us we should as soon venture to rush naked into a Battle among Squadrons of Swords and Spears as to go at any time into the World without God to hazard our immortal Souls in the midst of such a numberless Battle of Temptations without arming our selves by Prayer with the Divine Grace and Assistance Wherefore since we have so much Need and if we seek it so much Assurance too of the Spirit of God let us take that excellent Counsel of the Author to the Hebrews Heb. iv 16. Go boldly and importunately to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in the time of need V. FROM hence we may perceive the indispensable Necessity of our faithful and sincere Endeavours in order to the mâ—rtifying our Lusts. 'T is a strange Principle which some Men have taken up that if their Names are recorded in the eternal Roll of Election they shall in time be made good by an irresistible Grace and that if they are not they shall never be good at all though they should endeavour it with their utmost Power and Diligence And so they think their best way is to lye still in the Harbour and expect the Event concluding it in vain to begin their Voyage towards Heaven without an irresistible Gale from thence A Doctrine which I doubt too many Men have improved to their own everlasting Ruin though it hath no Foundation at all in Reason and hath nothing to support it self but a few mistaken Phrases of Scripture But he that shall impartially consult the whole Current of God's Word will find that the ordinary Language and Sense of it is this that God desireth not the death of a sinner but would have all men to be saved but because he would save us in such a Way as is congruous to free Agents and not by fatal and necessary Means therefore he indispensably exacts the Concurrence of our Endeavours that we should run the Race that is set before us and strive to enter into the strait gate and that by patient continuance in well-doing we should seek for honour and glory and immortality And from any thing that God hath said to us we have as much Reason to hope to be nourish'd without Eating as to be sav'd without Endeavour 'T is true God hath promised by his Grace to cooperate with us to joyn in with our Faculties and bless our virtuous Essays but he is by no means obliged to work for us while we sit idle to mortify our Lusts while we feed and pamper them or to purify our Minds while we go on to pollute them with all the Filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit No if we would that God should assist us we must do what we can for our selves We can attend upon the ordinary Means and Ministries of Salvation we can ponder and consider the great Motives of our Religion and abstain at least from the outward Acts of Sin and implore the Divine Aid to prosper and succeed our Endeavours And if we will do but this and what else is in our Power let us then blame God if we are not successful and if we die in our Sins let us charge his Decrees with our Ruine But if we will disregard the publick Ministries of Religion and wilfully excommunicate all good Thoughts from our minds if we will comply with every Temptation to sin and refuse to crave Assistance from Heaven against it we have none to blame for our Ruin but our selves For God hath told us before-hand that He will not save us without our selves and therefore he that is to go a long Journey hath as much Reason to sit down in hope to be snatched up into the Air by Whirlwind and so to be carried on the wings of it to his appointed Stage as we have to neglect our Endeavours for Heaven in expectation to be haled and snatched up thither by the Almighty Pulleys of an irresistible Grace Let us not therefore upon this vain Presumption sit still any longer with our hands in our bosoms lest we perish in our Sloth and expose our own Souls to everlasting Ruin by an idle Expectation of being irresistibly saved VI. FROM hence we may discern the Possibility of keeping the Commands of God in that God by his Spirit doth so powerfully aid and assist us For supposing we cannot keep the Divine Law by our own single Strength and Power yet it is apparent that we can do that which will oblige the Divine Spirit to assist and enable us to keep it that is we can do our Endeavour which being done entitles us to the Promise of Divine Grace and Assistance And though we cannot do all our selves yet since we can do so much as will certainly oblige God to impower us to do the rest it is already in our Power to do all if we will He that is strong enough to carry a Burthen of an hundred weight but is required to carry two may carry both supposing that by bearing as much as he can he shall certainly be enabled to carry the whole Now God hath promised us by the Assistances of his Grace whatsoever is wanting in the Power of our Nature and therefore if we fall short of our Duty and consequently of the Rewards of it we can reasonably blame no one but our selves For though we cannot do all in our own Strength yet that we do not do all is as much our Fault as if we could since we may do all through Christ who would strengthen us would we but do what we can Let us therefore no longer cry out of the Impossibility of God's Commands nor charge our Disobedience to them upon the
terrifie than to please and delight us for what Pleasure could a Soul take in the Vision of that God whom She always hated and could never endure to think of Doubtless She would be so far from being pleased with the Sight of him that it would be her Grief and Torment to behold him The Sight of his Purity and Holiness would be so far from delighting her that it would but reproach her lewd and sordid Degeneracy from the Temper of a pure and immortal Spirit the Vision of his Mercy and Goodness would be so far from pleasing her that it would but upbraid the horrid devilishness of her own disposition and which way soever She turned her Eyes She would see nothing in God but what did libel and condemn her own Impurity and Wickedness And how is it possible that such a Sight should ever be pleasing unto such a Spectator Doubtless the Vision of God which is the Heaven of Godlike Souls would be a Hell to wicked Ones it would chase them out of Heaven if they were in it and cause them to fly away from before the Glory of it as Bats and Owls do from the Light of the Sun and of their own accords to wrap their guilty Heads in the Shades of eternal Darkness and Despair For how could they endure the Sight of that God in whom while they continue so infinitely unlike him it is impossible they should see any thing but Causes of Horror and Confusion For there must be in us some Likeness and Resemblance of God to dispose us to behold him with Pleasure and Delight For as Maximus Tyrius hath well observed the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine Nature which is not visible to the eye of Sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diss I. Is yet visible to that in the Soul which is most pure and beautiful and sublime and noble in respect of a certain similitude and cognation that is between them But where this similitude is wanting the Vision of God will be rather a Hell than a Heaven if there be no Correspondence between what we see in God and what we are in our selves his Glory may confound and dazzle us but it is impossible it should please us for what Pleasure can we take in seeing that which is so infinitely disagreeable to our Natures II. IN every sensual and devilish Mind there is an utter Indisposition and Contrariety to the Love of God for all Love is founded in Likeness and doth result out of some Harmony and Resemblance that there is between the Lover and the Beloved But what Resemblance can there be between a devilish and carnalized Soul and a good and holy God And if there be none Light and Darkness or Heaven and Hell may as soon agree as They. For how can a Soul whose Affections are drenched in Matter and wedded to the Flesh love the holy God who is a pure and spotless Spirit What Amity can there be in a black and devilish Nature towards the most kind and benign Being in the World Doubtless from such a Contrariety of Natures there must necessarily spring mutual Antipathies and Aversations So that could such a Soul be admitted to the Vision of God she would see nothing in him but what would enrage and canker her with Malice against him the Sight of those glorious Perfections in him which are so repugnant to her own Nature instead of enamouring her would but boil up her Hatred into an higher degree of Aversation to him For even here we see it is natural to lewd and wicked Men to picture God by the foul and monstrous Original of their own Tempers and generally the Notion which they have of him is nothing but the Image of themselves which Narcissus-like they fall in love with because it represents what they most delight in even their own darling and beloved Lusts. Which is a plain Argument that they cannot love God till they have deformed him into their own likeness and with the Aethiopians copyed him out in the Resemblance of their own black and devilish Tempers When therefore they shall see Him as He is encircled about with his own Rays of unstained and immaculate Glory the vast Unlikeness they will then discern between Him and themselves will doubtless enrage and sowr their Spirits against him and convert all their fondness towards him into an utter Antipathy and Aversation for so long as He continues what He is and they what they are there will be such an irreconcileable Contrariety between them that they must hate either God or themselves or else love Contraries at the same time which is impossible III. IN every sensual and devilish mind there is a strong Indisposition to their being made like unto God i. e. there is the same Indisposition in them to their receiving the Likeness and Image of God as there is in one Contrary to admit of another Their sensual and devilish Dispositions will as naturally resist the transforming Impressions of the divine Purity and Goodness as Fire doth Water or Moisture Drought for the Image of God being a moral Perfection must be impressed on us by the intervening Ministry of our Understandings that is by our Sight and Vision of him and hence the Apostle gives this Reason why we shall be like him when he doth appear because we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. iii. 2. But the Sight of God which assimilates us to him must be accompanied with the Love of him for it is Love that provokes to Imitation and Imitation that transforms the Lover into the Image of the Beloved For though doubtless the beatifick Vision doth work far more effectually upon prepared Souls in the other Life than the knowledg of God doth in this because here we see but in a glass darkly whereas there our Vision will be unspeakably more clear intense and vigorous yet I doubt not but in assimilating us to God it works in a moral and rational way that is by vigorously affecting our Wills with the Perfections of God so as to stir us up to an active Imitation of them and efficaciously to excite us to transcribe them into our own Natures which it cannot be supposed to do unless our Souls be in some measure predisposed by Holiness and Purity to the Love of God and of those glorious Perfections we shall then behold in him For if we do not love God the Sight of him will be so far from provoking us to imitate him that it will avert us from him and render us more unimpressive to the transforming Power of his glory 'T is true this Vision of God will perfect our Likeness to him if it be begun because then it will have a prepared Subject to act upon a Soul that is temper'd and dispos'd to the Power of it and to take Impression from it but yet it will not create a Likeness where it never was but will leave him that is wicked to be wicked still he being an incapable Subject
of its benign Influences and altogether indisposed to be wrought upon by it For as the Sun enlightens not the inward parts of an impervious Dunghil and hath no other effect upon it but only to draw out its filthy Reeks and Steams though as soon as he lifts his head above the Hemisphere he immediately transforms into his own Likeness all that vast Space whether he can diffuse his Beams and turns it into a Region of Light even so the divine Glory and Beauty which is the Object of the beatifical Vision will never illustrate lewd and filthy Souls their Temper being impervious unto his heavenly Irradiations and wholly indisposed to be enlightned by it but instead of that it will irritate their devilish Rage against it and provoke them to bark at that Light which they cannot endure whereas it no sooner arises upon well-disposed Minds but it will immediately chase away all those Reliques of Darkness remaining in them and transform them into its own Likeness But doubtless the Sight of the divine Purity and Goodness will be so far from exciting sensual and devilish Spirits to transcribe and imitate it that it will rather inspire them with Indignation against it and provoke them to curse and blaspheme the Author of it Fourthly and Lastly IN every sensual and devilish Soul there is an utter Incongruity and Disagreement to the Society of the Spirits of just Men made perfect For even in this Life we see how ungrateful the Society of good Men is unto those that are wicked it spoils them of their fulsome Mirth and checks them in those Riots and Scurrilities which are the Life and Piquancy of their Conversation So that when the good Man takes his leave they reckon themselves deliver'd his Presence being a Confinement to their Folly and Wickedness And as it is in this so doubtless it will be in the other World for how is it possible there should be any Agreement between such distant and contrary Tempers between such sensual and malicious and such pure and benigne Spirits What a Torment would it be to a spightful and devilish Spirit to be confined to a Society that is governed by the Laws of Love and Friendship What an Infelicity to a carnalized Soul that nauseates all Pleasures but what are fleshly and sensual to be shut up among those pure and abstracted Spirits that live wholly upon the Pleasures of Wisdom and Holiness and Love Doubtless it would be as agreeable to a Wolf to be governed by the Ten Commandments and fed with Lectures of Philosophy as for such a Soul to live under the Laws and be entertained with the Delights of the heavenly Society So that could these wicked Spirits be admitted into the Company of the Blessed they would soon be weary of it and perhaps it would be so tedious and irksom to them that they would rather chuse to associate themselves with Devils and damned Ghosts than to undergoe the Torment of a Conversation so infinitely repugnant to their Natures accounting it more eligible to live in the dismal Clamour of hellish Threnes and Blasphemies than to have a tedious Din of heavenly Praises and Hallelujahs perpetually ringing in their Ears And indeed considering the hellish Nature of a wicked Soul how contrary it is to the Goodness and Purity of Heaven I have sometimes been apt to think that it will be less miserable in those dismal Shades where the wretched Furies like so many Snakes and Adders do nothing but hiss at and sting one another for ever than it would be were it admitted into the glorious Society of heavenly Lovers whose whole Conversation consists in loving and reloving and is nothing else but a perpetual Intercourse of mutual Indearments For this would be an Employment so infinitely repugnant to its black and devilish Disposition that rather than endure so much Outrage and Violence it would of its own accord forsake the blessed Abodes to flee to Hell for Sanctuary from the Torment of being in Heaven But this however we may rationally conclude that so long as the prevailing Temper of our Souls is sensual and devilish we are incapable of the Society of blessed Spirits and that if it were possible for us to be admitted into it our Condition would be very unhappy till our Temper was chang'd so that it is a plain Case both from God's Ordination and from the Nature of the Thing that our eternal Happiness and Welfare depends upon our mortifying the deeds of the Body To offer some Practical Inferences from hence I. WE may perceive how unreasonable it is for any Man to presume upon going to Heaven upon any account whatsoever without mortifying his Lusts. For he that thinks to go to Heaven without Mortification and Amendment presumes both against the Decrees of God and the Nature of Things he believes all the Threatnings of the Gospel to be nothing else but so many Bugs and Scare-crows and though God hath told him again and again that unless he forsake his sins he shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven yet he fondly imagines that when it comes to the Trial God will never be so severe as he pretends but will rather revoke the Decree that is gone out of his mouth than exclude out of the Paradise of endless Delights a Soul that is infinitely offensive to him As if God were so invincibly fond and indulgent as that rather than excommunicate an obstinate Rebel from Happiness he would chuse to prostitute the Honour of his Laws and Government and commit an Outrage upon the Rectitude and Purity of his own Nature For so long as he is a pure God he cannot but be displeased with impure Souls and so long as he is a wise Governour he cannot but be offended with those that trample upon his Laws so that before he can admit a wicked Soul into Heaven he must have extinguish'd all his natural Antipathy to Sin and stifled his just Resentment of our wilful Affronts to his Authority When therefore we can find any reason to imagine that God is no Enemy to sin and that he hath no regard of his own Authority then and not till then we may have some Pretence to presume upon going to Heaven without Mortification and Amendment But supposing this Hinderance were removed and that God were so easie as to be induced to prefer the Happiness of a wicked Soul before the Honour of his Government and the Purity of his Nature yet still there is an invincible Obstacle behind that renders her future Felicity impossible and that is that it cannot be without a plain Contradiction to the Nature of Things For as I have shewed you already the Genius and Temper of a wicked Soul is wholly repugnant to all the Felicities of the other World so that if they were set before her She would not be able to enjoy them but must be forced to pine and famish amidst all that Plenty of Delights there being not one Viand in all
high Provocation it gives to God 144 145 146 147 148. Of MERCY CHAP. I. OF Mercy as it relieves the Miseries of the Souls of Men p. 149. Which Miseries are First Sorrow and Dejection of Mind p. 150 151 152. Secondly Errors and Mistakes in matters of less Importance p. 153 154 155. in which Case the proper Acts of Mercy are First Forbearance and Toleration p. 156 157. And Secondly To endeavour by all prudent and peaceable ways to rectify one anothers Mistakes p. 158. Thirdly Another of the Miseries of the Soul which Mercy relieves is Blindness and Ignorance in things of the greatest Moment p. 159 160 161 162 163 164. Fourthly Malice and Obstinacy of Will in mischievous and destructive Courses p. 164 165 166 167 168 169 170. Fifthly Impotency or want of Power to recover themselves out of their vicious Courses p. 171 172 173 174. For the enforcement of which Duty are subjoyn'd the following Considerations First The inestimable Worth of those Souls upon which our Mercy is to be employed p. 175 176. Secondly The great Interest we have in the Fate of the Souls of others p. 177 178. Thirdly The mighty Influence our Mercy may have upon their Welfare p. 179 180 181. CHAP. II. OF Mercy as it relieves the Miseries of the Bodies of Men which are reduced to five Heads First Natural Blemishes and Defects p. 182 183 184. Secondly Sickness and Diseases p. 185 186 187. Thirdly Outward Force and Violence from those in whose Power they are such as Bondage and Captivity p. 188 189. Imprisonment p. 190. bodily Torments and Persecutions p. 191 192 193. Fourthly Civil or Arbitrary Punishments inflicted on them for Injuries received p. 194. In which the Law of Mercy requires us in punishing Offenders First That we do it with a good Intention p. 195. Secondly Not to exact Punishment for small and trifling Offences p. 196. Thirdly Not to punish an Offender when we can do no Good by it either to our selves or to him or to others p. 197. Fourthly Not to punish an Offender so long as the End of punishing him is fairly attainable by gentler Means p. 198. Fifthly To inflict no more Punishment than what is absolutely necessary to the obtaining those good Ends we design by it 199. Sixthly Always to punish short of the Offence p. 200 201. Fifthly and Lastly Another of the Miseries which affect Mens Bodies is want of the outward Necessaries of this present Life wherein is shewn the proper Remedies which are to be applied to them p. 202 203 204 205. CHAP. III. OF Almsgiving as to the manner of performing it First That it ought to be performed with a good and merciful Intention p. 207 208. Secondly With Justice and Righteousness p. 209. Thirdly Readily and chearfully p. 210 211. Fourthly liberally and bountifully p. 212 213. Fifthly Timely and seasonably p. 214 215. Sixthly Discreetly and prudently p. 216 217. which ought more particularly to guide and direct our Alms First In the Method of Provision of them p. 218. Secondly In the Choice of the Objects of them p. 219 220. Thirdly In the Nature and Quality of them p. 221. Fourthly In stating the Proportions of them p. 222 223 224 225. Fifthly In the manner of bestowing and conveying them p. 226 227. The Practice of this Duty is pressed and enforced with some Motives and Arguments viz. First That it is imposed upon us as a necessary Part of our Religion p. 228 229 230. Secondly That it is highly recommended to us by the Examples of God and our Saviour p. 231 232 233. Thirdly That it is a most substantial Expression of our Love and Gratitude to God and our Saviour p. 234 235 236 237. Fourthly That it charges an high Obligation to us upon the Accounts of God and our Saviour p. 238 239 240 241. CHAP. IV. OF the eternal Reasons and Grounds of Mercy upon which it is founded and rendred morally Good This shewn in five particulars First The Suitableness of it to the Nature of God p. 242 243 244 245. Secondly The Convenience of it with the Frame and Constitution of human Nature p. 246 247. An Objection against Cruelty answered p. 248 249 250. Thirdly The near and intimate Relation of those Persons to us upon whom our Mercy is to be exercised p. 251 252 253. Fourthly The Equitableness of it to our own State and Circumstances p. 254 255 256 257. Fifthly The Necessity of it to the tolerable Well-being of humane Societies p. 258 259 260 261 262. Of MORTIFICATION CHAP. I. OF Mortification p. 263 264 265. Wherein it doth consist shewn in three particulars First In Abstinence from the outward Acts of Sin p. 266. Secondly In not consenting to any Sin p. 267 268. Thirdly In a constant Endeavour to subdue our involuntary Inclinations to Sin p. 269 270 271 272. CHAP. II. OF the Means and Instruments of Mortification which are reduced to these Six First Faith p. 274 275 276. Secondly Consideration p. 277 278 279 280 281 282. Thirdly Resolution p. 283 284 285 286 287. Fourthly Discipline which consists in three Things First In a frequent Repetition of it p. 288 289. Secondly In frequent Reflection upon and Examination of our selves p. 290 291. Thirdly In keeping our selves at as great a distance from Sin as prudently and conveniently we can p. 292 293 294. Fifthly Frequent Receiving of the Sacrament p. 295 296 297 298 299 300 301. Sixthly Constant Prayer 302 303 304 305 306. CHAP. III. OF Motives to Mortification drawn from the present Mischiefs and Inconveniences which our Sins bring us into which are first either outward and bodily or secondly inward and spiritual p. 307. The outward and bodily Inconveniences are Four First That Sin destroys our Health and shortens our Lives p. 308 309 310 311. Secondly That it stains our Reputation p. 312 313. Thirdly It consumes our Estates p. 314 315 316. Fourthly It disturbs our sensual Pleasures p. 317 318 319 320. The second sort of Motives to Mortification are drawn from the present Mischiefs and Inconveniences that Sin brings upon our Souls which are chiefly Three First It spoils our Understandings p. 322 323 324 325 326 327 328. Secondly It subverts the natural subordination of our Faculties p. 329 330 331 332. Thirdly it disturbs the Tranquility of our Minds p. 333 334 335 336 337. CHAP. IV. OF Helps to Mortification given us by the Spirit of God viz. First The external Argument and Motives of the Gospel p. 338 339. Secondly The external Providences of the Divine Spirit by which he excites us to our Duty p. 340 341 342. Thirdly The Aids and Assistances which the Holy Angels give us who are the Agents and Ministers of the Holy Ghost p. 343 344 345. Fourthly The internal Motions and Operations of the Holy Ghost upon our Souls p. 346 347 348. From the Consideration of these Benefits of the Spirit of God the following Inferences are deduced First The Necessity of the