not For so filthy is sin that it makes us and all that is ours corrupt and abominable It defiles the conscience rots our good name inâ—…cts our acquaintance by the contagion of sin and makes our very Prayers abominable which otherwise might be our sweetest odors In which speculation St Basil said the Angels forsake the custody and and company of us when we forsake Holines to delight in sin And the Poet could say Accipiet nullas sordida turris aves And yet we have had but a little glimpse of this Holines in the Purity of it self and the contrary Impurity of Unholines Shall we now come a little neerer to it and take a clearer view of the large extent it hath over all virtues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew word coming from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praeparare separare implies that Holines is a separation of our selves from sin to a virtuous and godly life Which is the extent of the word Righteousnes as it is often used in holy Scripture Yet there are some that would-confine Holines to some one part Some lodge it in the ear some in the tongue Though our Saviour came not to smooth our tongues or fill our ears but to present us with pure hands and chast eyes to guide our feet into the wayes of Peace and Holines and to render all our parts and actions such as may receive purity and holines from the right Fountain the Heart it self We must begin with Holines in the Heart if we mean to see God Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God saith our Saviour Mat 5. 8. There we must begin but we must not stay there Thence we must climbe up to those several steps of Holines so often commended to our care in the word of God building up our holy Faith as St. Jude speakes till it come to a full structure To this structure you must bring in all the good works that may be making your holines passe through all Virtues St. Paul meanes that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being fruitful in every good work Col. 1. 10. But there he is in generals Will you hear him run over the particulars Then observe what he saith to the Philippians Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue if there be any praise think of these things and the God of Peace shall be with you Phil. 4. 8 9. This is the Holines that must be joyned to peace if you will hear the great Doctor of the Gentils VVill you now have some particulars from St. Peter the Doctor of the Jews Thus saith he Adde to your Faith virtue he is no Solifidian then he goes on To your virtue knowledge temperance patience godlines brotherly kindnes Charity for so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 7 8 11. i. e. so shall we be admitted to the Vision of God Shall I adde what St. Peter hath in the ninth verse he that lacks these things is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like one that is purblind and cannot see a far off or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blind outright that is he is so far from seeing God or any divine things that he sees nothing as he should do XXVI Another reflexion upon the proposal of the second meanes Hebr. 12. 14. NOw if we have them we shall not be kept long from the happy sight of him that is the God of Peace and Holines Yes Have them you will say but how shall we have them The answer is laid before our eyes in the words of sacred Scripture Follow Peace and Holines They are both so willing to be had if we will but follow them there needs no more But we must learn what it is to follow The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred by following we observed before to be a busy and active word It signifies a hearty and serious persuit an eager hunting after what we long for Having told you this I hope I shall have leave to ask one Question He that hath some faint desire hovering about the heart and breathing it self about the lips if he put himself to no farther trouble in the prosecution can he be said in this sense to follow Peace or holines I believe he that seeks or follows any thing as he should must use his head and his feet and somewhat else as well as his wishes and lip-labour And so he had need that thinks of attaining what here we speak of For can we think that peace or holines do so undervalue themselves that they will wait our leisure and â—…e whistled up when we please by the charme of a cold prayer or two Or can we imagine that such Precepts as these to follow after peace and holines without which no man shall see God are so given to us that if we like them we may use them if not we may lay them by Do we conceive that what the holy Scripture enjoyns and we are commanded to preach is left to our liberty to practice as we or you shall see cause Then may our Preaching and your Hearing quickly come to an end like a tale or dream of one running after Peace and Holines and before he came at them stumbling upon Felicity and the Vision of God Let us not deceive our selves God is not mocked He that saith there is no enjoyment of the one without following of the other no seeing God without Holines he will not dispense with the Duty and follow after us with the Reward that care not to make our selves capable of the Blessing For this will prove a necessary Duty And then there would be another Quaestion Whether we do so perform it whether we so follow after holines as if we understood what it is to follow after and what is the value of that which is set before us Shall I more fully explain what is the true Force of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Following He rightly follows a Duty that avoiding all occasions of the contrary vice watches for and apprehends all hints and opportunities of doing good He that ambitiously laies hold of a happy hour and fair way wherein to approve his virtues And this way of following and persuing we may learn from the practice of those that have little to do with Holines How doth the coveteous man follow his beloved gain Doth he not rise early and late retire himself to rest Doth he not exhaust his strength and abilities by Sea and Land to compasse what he aimes at though with hazard of health and life it self What doth the ambitious and amorous person How eagerly and with what pains do they hunt after that which they fancy their best prize and content Our following of Holines might borrow a little heat and aemulation from
aut unum saltem mensem fiat cum poenitentia sufficiet ut perfectus virtutis habitus generetur And now my Lords papers failing me I must make use of my own paines and my English tongue again for the present help of those of whom I would but cannot otherwise be understood Can we carelesly cast our eyes over such powerful Motives to a nocturnal scrutiny and Inquisition into our sinful souls Dare we venter to fleep in sin so perhaps to loose those souls before we know where to find them again May we not in such a necessary task prevail with our selves to bestow a peice of a night or two in that employment which is able to make them prove the happiest nights that ever we spent in our lives There was a time when the Royal Prophet found it so that many a night watered his bed with his teares or rather made it swimme so emphatically doth he himself express it Psal. 6. 7. with an Hyperbole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Would not St Aug. make us fear that the omitting or deferring of that Scrutiny may bring us into extream hazard For he hath said that which may prove too true in many Poenitentia quae ab infirmo petitur infirma est quae autem à moriente petitur timeo ne ipsa moriatur that is It is best to make strict examination and compleat our Repentance while we are in health and have time enough to look into all that is past and prevent all Relapses into the like sins hereafter For the future is a time most uncertain to us and wherein we know not what Indisposition Sicknesses Hinderances or Obstructions may suddainly fall out though we might chance to live longer Now therefore while it is called to day and our day lest us make haste to break off our sins and let us take a penitentiall Psalm into our mouthes or one of the publick Confessions in the first or second Service or one out of the good Bishop's Penitential papers And make a sad and serious resolution for present and real amendment of life and have a great care against all Relapses into sin especially into our darling and habituall sins without which Intention and Resolution all our Nocturnal Scrutinies will bè fruitless and to no purpose Shall I say a little more to help you forward First then I will propose several places of Holy Writ wherein we are most earnestly admonished to beware of Relapses 2. After you have chew'd a litle upon them Iwill prescribe a Prophetical Antidote by way of prevention against the foul returns of sin 1. The First shall begin with the words of the two great Apostles Grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. Receive not the grace of God in vain 2 Cor. 6. 1 Giveing all diligence adde to your Faith Virtue c. 2 Pet. 1. 5. He that lacks these things is blind and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins verse 9. If they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them then the beginning 2 Pet. 2. 20. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousnes then after they had known it to turn from the holy Commandement But it is happened to them according to the true Proverb The Dog is returned to his own vomit c. Continue thou in the things that thou hast learned 1 Tim. 3. 14. Be not shaken in mind 2 Thes. 2. 2. If I build again the things which I destroyed I make my self a transgressor Gal. 2. 18. What these two cheif Apostles have said we may find to be the frequent advise of holy Scripture elswhere Such as return back to their own wickedness the Lord will lead them forth with evil doers i. e. to be punished with them Psal. 123. ult When the Righteous turnes away c. Ezek. 18. 29. He that hath washed himself after the touching of a dead body if he touch it again what avails his washing Ecclus. 34. 25. No man having put his hand to the Plow and looking back is fit for the Kingdome of God Luke 9. 61. Therefore let not your goodness be as a morning cloud or the early dew that soon vanish away Hos. 6. 4. What God hath cleansed doe not thou make common Act. 10. 15. Be not weary of thy repenting of thy sin least God be weary of his repenting of thy punishment Jer. 16. 6. Turn not your backs and start not aside like a broken Bow Psal. 78. 5. Slide not back as a back-sliding Heifer Hos. 4. 16. But follow on to know the Lord cap. 6. 3. And bring forth fruites worthy of Repentance Mat. 3. 8. Walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his Kingdome and glory 2 Thes. 2 12. O how I wish that all men would make good use of all that refers to this Inquisition and narrow search into the state of our souls that should have more care taken upon them then is ordinarily spent upon the body every day Therefore I hope none will be offended that I mustered up so many good Admonitions together with such a noise about your eares as it were with so many Drums and Trumpets at such an unseasonable time of the night rather to keep you waking then to afford some help towards your quiet rest I think indeed the first night though you make choice of a Fasting night wherein you settle your selves to the purpose about this most Christian and most necessary expression of our duty unto God and love to our selves will prove full of trouble for that part of the night and your prayers may seem to be the voice of crying as the Royal Prophet speaks of his in his several nights Psal. 8. 6. But this is your happiness that such a troublesome and sad peice of such a night may by God's blessing work as great a Miracle as the turning the Water into Wine and the changing a Face sullied with salt teares into a most cheerfull countenance The solitariness of that part of a night may be answered with the company of a merry heart of our own which is a continual Feast all the dayes and nights of our life And after this uncertain life ended it may be crowned with everlasting Joy and Happiness in that only place of blisse where all teares shall at once be wiped quite away from all faces and all hearts compleatly filled with true Joy 2. In hope of this beleif in you I will now goe on to that which I promised in the second place Of an Antidote and Preservative against future Relapses worthy to be remembred every night You shall receive it from the hands of St. Basil that you may know to whom you are beholden for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Basil. Regul brev Interogat 28. That is If a man hath repented of a sin and after fallen into the same sinne again it is a sign that he pulled
hath moved us I know not But shall we recall to memory what we have read of our Saviour himself Jesus rising up before day went into a solitary place and there prayed Marc. 1. 35 So he did to preach too and the people flocked as early together to hear Him Luc. 21. 37. If he rose so early to pray for us and teach us shall not we sometime rise as early to pray for our selves and read and meditate upon that which he hath taught Nor must we forget that he hath done more then so For we find him Luc. 26. 23. continuing all night in prayer in our behalf That is more then our rising early in the morning to do it for our selves But without such a high Pattern may not even this of it self prevaile with us Now and then to see the beauty of the rising Sun which declares the glory of the Creator or to heare the Birds of the Aire betimes in the Morning melodiously chanting his praise While we then looke upon the Sun going forth as a gyâ—…nt to run his race it might prompt us with the memory of our race who run here for a crowne of Immortality And while we are taken with the melody of the chearfull Birds our selves might be provoked to call upon God that He would open our lips that our mouthes that are filled with more blessings may shew forth his praise IV. The entertainment of our selves at our waking looking up attiring washing c. IT were well done of us if we would se order our thoughts that every day they might first be initiated with some divine Meditation some ejaculation or expression of our Love and Service to God Upon that first good tincture and seasoning they might be the better preserved the whole day after And we may take a hint of good Meditations from some such passages as these 1. When we wake and looke up How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard A little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep c. Prov 6. 9. As a dore turneth upon the hinges so doth the slothfull upon his bed Prov 26. 14. Awake Arisâ—… be Enlightned Isai. 60. 1. For the true light is come the knowledge of thy Saviour the Sun of Righteousnesse that enlightens every man and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee Ephes 5. 14. before thou couldest wake and beg his grace to raise thee from death in sinne by the light of his countenance graciously shining upon thy dull and drousie Soule Arise for thou hast a great journey to goe I Kings 19. 7. and many obstacles in the way It is high time to awake out of our sleepe in sin For now since we have received the light of the Gospell our salvation is nearer then when we first believed Rom 13. 11. The Night is farre spent the Day is at Hand Let us therefore cast off the workes of darknesse and put on the armour of Light 1 Thess 5. 5. For we are all Children of the Light and Children of the Day We have free liberty to make our addresses to the Father of Lights and as great encouragement to expect help and succour from the power of darkness Yet a little while is the Light with us Let us walk while we have the Light Joh. 12. 35. Otherwise This will adde much to our sin and heavy punishment that Light is come into the world and men love darknesse rather then light because their deeds are evil But Open thou mine eyes O Lord that I may see the wonders of thy Law Ps. 119. 18. And love him that said I am the light of the world He that follows me shall not walk in darknesse but shall have the light of life Joh 8. 12. Open thou mine eyes O Lord that I sleep not in Death Ps. 13. 3. Let not ease and security flatter me into a dangerous sleep again nor any thing else be interposed betwixt me and the true light Rather Anoint thou mine eyes with that eye-salve that will make me see clearly Rev. 3. 18. Above all shew me the light of thy countenance and be merciful to me Ps. 67. 1. and remove from me the hazard of that blindnesse which I am apt to bring upon my self Shew me the true light which is the light and life of men The light that shineth in darknesse though the darknesse comprehend it not Joh. 1. 4. The Lord blesse me and keep me The Lord make his face to shine upon me and be gratious unto me The Lord lift up his countenance upon me and give me peace Num. 6 24. That is The Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity three Persons and one Lord and God blesse me be favourable and merciful unto me and preserve me in his Peace the peace of God that passeth all understanding 2. When we put on our apparrel we may take some hints of holy ejaculations from these following places of Scripture Take not much thought for rayment but consider the Lilies of the field how they grow they toyl not neither do they spin and yet Solomon in all his glory which cost him dear is not arrayed like one of these in their natural attire saith our Saviour Mat. 6. 28. Therefore at least let us take no thought how to make that an Instrument or Accesse to our Pride which had no other end at first then to cover our shame after the discovery of our sin as the Hebrew words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may put us in mind that carry a memorandum of them both That may put us in mind to follow the advice of John the Divine Rev. 3. 8. to purchase the white Robe belonging to them that are willing to lay down their lives for Christ as he did his for them that so in that cloathing the shame of our nakednesse may not appear Then should we be secure though our Saviour himself should come suddenly upon us like a thief in the night Rev. 16. 15. that we should not be found naked to the discoverie of our shame This should be our chief aim for apparrell that apparell that will hide our fin rather then show it as pride doth So far should we be from too much adorning the bodie that may this day be committed to putrefaction And so much it concerns us to labour for the hope of being clothed hereafter with Immortalitie 2 Cor. 5. 2. To that end Let us endeavour more and more to put off the old man with his deeds and put on the nâ—…w man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him saith St Paul Col. 3. 9. And St Peter speakes to the same purpose Our adorning let it not be that outward adorning but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible We that have been baptized into Christ let us every day put on Christ Gal. 3. 27. put on our Lord Jesus Christ with Him all Christian vertues making provision