Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A26808
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The soveraign and final happiness of man with the effectual means to obtain it by William Bates ...
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Bates, William, 1625-1699.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing B1126; ESTC R2589
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110,196
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278
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future State where the Misery is extream and nothing remains to allay it that the Damned should be in love with the unhappy good of simple being and not choose an absolute extinction if it might be If any one should be so foolish to think that custom will render that State more tolerable he may find a terrible confutation of his vain Fancy Indeed continuance under light Evils may arm the Mind with patience to bear them but in great extremities it makes the Evil more ponderous and intolerable He that is tortured with the Stone or on the Rack the longer the Torture continues the less able he is to sustain it In short as the Joy of Heaven is infinitely more ravishing that the Blessed are without fear of losing it so the Misery of Hell is proportionably tormenting that the Damned are absolutely destitute of hopes of a release O 't is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who lives for ever and can punish for ever Now the serious Consideration of this Misery is the most proper and powerful means to awaken indulgent Sinners and make them resolved to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right Eye to part with the dearest Lusts rather than be exposed to it According to the judgment of Sense would any one in his Wits choose the enjoyment of the most intense and exquisite Pleasures for a Year and afterwards be content to burn in a Fornace for a Day much less to enjoy them for a Day and to burn for a Year what stupid Beasts are they who for momentary Delights incur the Fiery and Eternal Indignation of God Do we provoke the Lord to Jealousy are we stronger than he Try but the Finger with the Flame of a Candle or touch but a hot Coal you will soon discover your weakness But alas how hardly are Men induc't to exercise their Minds on this terrible Object He thinks least of Hell who has most reason to consider it so unwilling is the carnal Heart to have represented to it the evil to come Yet this is the first Motive that compels Sinners to change their course and turn from Sin to Holiness from the Creatures to God The Joys of Heaven being Spiritual and Divine as was before observed have no attractive influence upon their Affections would never convert and reform any but the torment of Fire being most evident and vehement to Sense is strongly represented by the Imagination and affects carnal Men. How many abound with vicious obstinate habits that by solemn and believing thoughts of the unquenchable Fire have felt the Miracle upon the three Children in the Fornace renewed in themselves their strong Cords burnt asunder and all their Powers restored to the freedom of Duty the blessed liberty of Obedience The Truth is if God had not formed Hell for the Punishment of Sin and only prepared the Celestial Kingdom for the Reward of Holiness the blessed Angels would be the sole Possessors of it and Heaven would be as empty of human Souls as 't is full of Glory so foolishly and violently is the corrupt nature of Man drawn by what is pleasing to Sense though with the certain loss of the most precious and eternal good things in the Divine Treasury But the belief that within a little time nothing will remain of their sinful Pleasures but the never dying Worm and ever living Flames makes them considerative of their imminent danger and as it were by necessity to seek the Kingdom of Heaven as a secondary Object to escape from Hell As the vertue of the Load-stone when encompast and arm'd with Iron is increast and draws a far greater weight than when 't is single thus the attractives of Heaven are more powerful to move our obdurate Hearts when enforc'd from the terrors of Hell In this respect the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom of the active and best Wisdom that directs us in the way to Blessedness CHAP. XIII The last Direction Earnest Prayer to God to inlighten our Minds to believe the Eternal World and effectually turn our Wills to desire and prosecute the Blessedness to come HAving a discovery so clear and certain in the Holy Scriptures of the everlasting recompences in the next World of the Kingdom of Heaven prepared by God to shew his excellent Glory to his faithful Servants where Love and Peace and Joy dwell for ever and of the infernal Prison where despair and Rage and Sorrow and whatever is signified under the terrible allusions of Fire and Brimstone are ordained by Divine Justice for the Wicked it might be justly hoped that all Men would by a holy violence take Heaven and by the swiftest Motion flee from the Wrath to come The instinct of Nature and the light of Reason excite them to secure their most precious Interest Can there be an Expectation Desire or Capacity in Man of enjoying a Blessedness beyond what is Infinite and Eternal And can there be any Evil so formidable as Everlasting Misery Now both these Objects are set before Men and propounded to their Choice And we are infallibly assured from God himself that all who are sincere and constant in their Choice and Pursuit shall obtain Heaven and that none shall be cast into Hell but those who choose it and therefore most worthily suffer it But O astonishment if with a serious Eye we regard the course of Mens Actions 't is visible that incomparably the greatest number of Christians in Profession love Death and hate Eternal Life Not that 't is possible for the reasonable Creature to do this directly with an explicit aim but virtually and by interpretation They intend Happiness but choose Misery For he that voluntarily breaks the Law of God chooses the known Penalty of its Violation He that prefers this perishing World before Heaven rejects it in the most contumelious manner And such is the depravation of Man since his Fall the Mind being diverted by vain Thoughts and the Heart prepossessed with sensual Desires that till the Spirit of his Mind be renewed and his original Affections to the Supream Good be revived and restored by Divine Grace he is regardless of it and only applies himself to what is pleasing to Sense Therefore a most necessary Duty incumbent upon us is by humble and fervent Prayer to address our selves to God for his Spirit to enlighten our Minds that we may believe the reality and greatness of the Eternal Reward and to reform our Wills that we may feel its attractive Force Both these acts of the Spirit are requisite that the Love of God as our chief Felicity may be the regent Principle of our Hearts and Lives 1. For this end the Holy Spirit convinces Men thorowly of the reality and greatness of an invisible Happiness Indeed the Heathens saw something of this as it were in a Dream they had some transient Glances and volatile Wishes concerning it but miserably weak and ineffectual And in the most of
having found nothing within him to work upon The perfect regularity of Faculties in our Blessed Saviour was not in the least disorder'd neither by his fairest Insinuations or most furious Assaults And we might preserve our innocence inviolable notwithstanding all his Attempts did not some corrupt Affection cherish'd in our Bosoms lay us naked and open to his poison'd Darts The Apostle Peter who had a Spiritual Eye and discern'd wherein the strength of our great Enemy lies admonishes Christians Dearly Beloved I beseech you as Strangers and Pilgrims abstain from fleshly Lusts that war against the Soul And we are told by him That the Corruption that is in the World is through Lust. The outward Objects are useful and beneficial in their kind the abuse of them is from Lust. The Poison is not in the Flower but in the Spider 'T is therefore infinitely dangerous to consult or trust our carnal Faculties in this matter for they are brib'd and corrupted and will commend temporal things to our choice 3. The sensual Affections are so numerous and clamorous so vehement and hasty that if they are admitted to counsel and give the decisive Vote the Voice of Conscience will not be heard or regarded In concernments of a lower Nature 't is constantly seen that nothing more disturbs Reason and makes Men improvident and pecipitant in their Determinations than a disordered Passion From hence 't is a prudent Rule That as 't is not fit to eat in the heigth of a Fever because the Meat feeds the Disease by increasing the feaverish not the vital heat so 't is not good to deliberate in the heat of any Affection For then the Thoughts strongly blow up the Passion and smother Reason and the Mind is rather a Party than a Judge but after the declination of that Feaver in the Soul in a quiet enterval 't is seasonable to consider Now if any simple Passion when moved transports and confounds the Mind and makes it uncapable of judging aright much more the love of the World an universal Passion that reigns in Men and has so many swarming desires answerable to the variety of sensible things and therefore is more unruly lasting and dangerous then any particular Passion In short sensual Affections captivate the Mind and hinder its due considering the folly and obliquity of the carnal choice and when incenst as distracted Persons whose Strength grows with their Fury violently break all the restraints the understanding can apply from reason and revelation 2. In order to make a right choice we must be very watchful lest the general Example of Men taint our Reason and cause an immoderate esteem of temporal things The whole World lies in Wickedness in a sensual Sty without Conscience of its Misery or care of regaining its Happiness deceived and pleased with shews of Felicity The way to Hell is broad as the inclinations of the licentious Appetite pleasant as the delights of Sense so plain and easy that Men go to it blindfold and so frequented that it would force Tears from any considering Person to see Men so hasty to meet with Damnation When Calisto the Harlot reproacht Socrates that there were more followers of her Beauty than his Wisdom the Philosopher replied that was not strange because it was much easier to draw them in the way of Pleasure that is steep and slippery than to constrain them to ascend to Virtue seated on a Hill where the ascent is slow and with toil and difficulty Now there is nothing more contagious than Example We blindly consent with the Multitude and are possest with foolish Wonder and carnal admiring of worldly Greatness Treasures and Delights neglecting to make a due estimation of things 'T is the ordinary Artifice of the Devil to render temporal things more valuable and attractive to particular Persons from the common practice of Men who greedily pursue them as their Happiness As some crafty Merchants by false reports raise the exchange to advance the price of their own Wares The Men of the World are under the direction of Sense and think them only to be wise and happy that shine in Pomp abound in Riches and overflow in Pleasures The Psalmist tells us of the prosperous Worldling that while he lives he blesses his Soul and Men will praise thee when thou dost well to thy self By vicious imitation our Judgments are more corrupted and our Passions rais'd to higher degrees for painted Vanities The Affections in the pursuit of earthly things are inflam'd by the contention of others And when holy Desires and Resolutions spring up in Men yet so powerful is the custom of the World that they often become ineffectual As a Ship whose Sails are fill'd with a fair Wind but makes no way stopt by the force of the Current Now to fortify us against the pernicious influence of Example Consider 1. 'T is most unreasonable in this Affair of so vast moment to be under the direction of the Multitude For the most are sottish and sensual govern'd by the uncertain motions of a giddy voluble Fancy and roving impetuous Passions so that to be led by their example and disregard the solid immortal rules of heavenly Wisdom is as perfect madness as for one to follow a herd of Swine through the Mire and leave a clean Path that lies before him If there were but few in an Age or Country that were deluded with false Appearances it would be a disgrace to imitate the practice of the Foolish and shall the great numbers of the Earthly-minded give Reputation and Credit to their Error He were a strange Fool indeed that should refuse a single piece of counterfeit Money and receive a great heap in payment as if the number added a real value to them 'T is therefore a necessary point of Wisdom to devest all vulgar Prejudices to separate our selves from the Multitude that we may see the vanity of things that dazle inferior Minds 2. Consider the universal judgment even of the worldly Men in their last and serious Hours when the Prospect of Eternal Things is open before them How vastly different are their Apprehensions of temporal Things in the review from what they were in their vicious Desires How often do they break forth in the sorrowful Words of the Apostle We have been toiling all Night and caught nothing When there are but a few remaining Sands in the Glass of Time and Death shakes the Glass before them how powerfully do they preach of the emptiness and uncertainty of things below and sigh out in Solomon's phrase All is Vanity And this is more singularly observable in those who have had the fullest enjoyment of earthly things How do they complain of the vain World and their vainer Hearts when Experience has convinc'd them of their woful Folly Solomon who was among other Princes as the Sun in the midst of the Planets that obscures them by his illustrious Brightness He that had surveyed this Continent of Vanity